Friday, June 7, 2013

Evolve or Die

Ok, a little ranting here.

I see in the blogging community a lot of disenchantment and readiness to leave the game. Couple this with the recent loss of subscriptions and a game that is now an elder in the industry, we see a lot of discontent. I understand it, people will always have issues with game changes. I know I get irritated from time to time as well.

BUT! Evolve or die. The game as it is now, is very different from when it first came out 9 years ago. It had to in order to survive. Player bases change, the MMO culture has changed. Developers understand this and evolve the game in accordance with it's paying customers. That's business. I left other games with no hard feelings because I didn't like the direction the game took. Those games still have a following and still get profits without me. I am not offended. It is a business in the end no matter how individuals feel.

Recently we have seen changes in the pvp realms, and in the near future the raiding realms. The changes are not always easy to take, but they can be workable. How many old veterans remember when there was no cross server tech and had to wait for hours just to get into a single instance? I remember pre BC how hard it was leveling in greens and rarely seeing an instance, missing out on a lot of content. It's a lot easier now. The Flex system may give more people the opportunity to raid in a meaningful way. It does require a little work (god forbid that 4 letter word) of the player base to make acquaintances to build teams that meet when possible, but so what? Before he went to college, my son had created such a network of friends that he could fill any raid spot necessary to get a raid formed. This was due to his work. He knew that not everyone could be at a raid every time. Real life is real life. So he made his successes by doing a little leg work. In doing so he was a valued member of his guild and never had a raid canceled. That was because he felt that the game owed him nothing other than the opportunity of enjoyment. He did the work to make the game more enjoyable. This by the way while holding a 4.0 GPA in school, doing his chores and being productive. He wasn't lazy. No one told him to do this, he just did it.

What I'm getting at here is that by and large the game is there, but players need to work within the rule set or walk away. It's ok to walk away, but there are still so many opportunities out there to enjoy WoW.

It's time to evolve with the game. Run with the flow and see where it takes you. Keep an open mind, don't be stubborn. Give things a chance, you might be surprised. Yes there are times I bitch about mechanics. It's not that I'm opposed the the changes but just wish things would be tweaked to make them work better beyond theory.

This is my 2 cents for what it's worth.

Have fun out there!