A Tale of Two Viewpoints: World of Warcraft Grouping

Recently, Tobold wrote about What can be done to save grouping in WoW? The comments all revolved around Blizzard making it more feasible for everyone to be able to more easily do a little bit of everything. Using my words, they want a Jack-of-all-Trades.

I definitely didn't agree with the comments, maybe perhaps because I'm a healer myself and experienced tanking while leveling as a Paladin. So I posted a comment that I will admit became somewhat long-winded. I wanted to address several points that were being made, that I consider to be part of the "I'll never be happy with the system" crowd. I honestly believe these people will always find one more thing to complain about and never be happy with the system.

Evidently I'm not the only person who thinks so and over at Blessing of Kings there's a post that sums up what I was trying to say.

The best thing about MMOs is that you can play with other people.

The worst thing about MMOs is that you have to play with other people.

Here's the comment I posted:

I’m going to approach the other side of the argument here and say that the current system is generally fine. I do believe that Blizzard’s LFG system is completely broken. Nobody uses it and spams the Trade channels. Blizzard needs to create the LFG channels in every city too. I can’t get into the channel in most cities without first activating the LFG. Stupid way of doing it.

“i would really like to see the day that a guild is looking for well geared pvpers for something more meaningful than rolling pugs.”

Set up a pvp guild. Don’t know if there are any out there, but you could be the first.

“I've always liked the duel spec idea”

Unless I’m misunderstanding this comment, dual spec refers to being able to change specs on the fly. If we’re able to do that, then what’s the point of having specs anyway? You could change it mid instance, switch your gear, and go. This effectively removes a large majority of the challenge in the game. If it became too easy, would you really want to play?

“They need to make choosing to be a Healer or Tank more attractive to people”

“A main tank or a healer absolutely has to be on the ball in most of these dungeons in order to succeed. It's a role that brings a lot of attention if you are struggling.”

“Every healer/tank I know has a dps alt, but not every dps player I know has a tank/healer alt (most have other dps alts).”

I don’t know that they need to make this more attractive to people. I think the real problem here is that the average person is going to find tanking and healing extremely boring compared to dishing out the hurt. Also when the blame game starts, who gets blamed? Tanks and healers. Generally DPS only gets blamed when they break crowd control or don’t watch their aggro. This is a general statement so take it with a grain of salt, but it takes a particular mindset/personality to have fun playing a tank or healer.

“…think the tank/dps warrior roles need to be combined into one class… you could dispense with Healers altogether, and if not, seriously nerf the amount of healing that is required in the average instance…”

The problem with these comments is you are asking for a class that can do it all. What then would be the point of some of these classes? Each class/spec should have a particular strength above all others or what’s the point of even offering that class/spec? And shame on you for suggesting the removal of healers! [I’m a holy pally. :)] You’re attempting to make the group content the same as the solo aspect and I believe they should be distinctly different and offer completely different challenges. Part of that challenge should be more specialization in my opinion. Remember ultimately WoW is a multi-player game. Making classes that can do it all removes a lot of the need for that multi-player aspect. May as well go play a single player role-playing game at that point. Final Fantasy anyone?

Anyway, bottom line I think the system is fine. I enjoy the customization inherent with specializing. It allows for more freedom of play. Is it frustrating to level a tank or healer? Yeah! Get out there and make some friends for the harder stuff. It’s an MMO people.