It has been a crazy 24 hours for Codfish.  I was on a podcast and I also got my twitter / twitch banner updated.  It is so funny how little things like that can make you feel so good.  So I wanted to take the time to thank @Leeta and @ash for all of the love.  Words can’t describe the renewed vigor I have now to be a better person.

I also have to thank my friends at the Convert to Raid guild.  They are an amazing group of people and gamers.  If you are looking for an amazing Alliance community…you should check them out.  They are also looking for people to back their Blizzcon party.  If interested you can check our their kickstarter .

Lastly,  Thanks to everyone else who has been checking on me and Mrs.Codfish .  It really helped me stay sane and helped her get better.  You guys are the real MVP!

Well…it didn’t take long for me to finally have that one conversation that forced me to write this post.  This is not a bad thing…actually it is quite freeing.  Finally I get to write what I have been keeping in my mind for so long.  So…buckle up…this will be a long post.  Also…I know you are wondering…and yes my title is referring to the song from Rent (Link here) ***Special note…these are my feeling…my ideas…my opinions.

Background

I have been playing Wow (on and off) since launch.  I started on a PVP server (Stormreaver I think) and got ganked as soon as I ventured out into Darkshore.  It was a fun feeling but man I felt like that was unfair.  So…I packed up and went to a PVE server (after reading about the difference between the two).  After landing on a PVE server I took my time and leveled up to 60.  I played a warrior.  Me and my warrior had so much fun leveling, but I wanted to try tanking.  My first instance was Lower Blackrock Spire.  I went into the instance with a two handed sword and got laughed at.  After leaving the instance I went and bought a one -hander and a shield and started leveling my weapon skills (if you remember those).

While I was having so much fun leveling up the skills…I rolled a druid.  A class that can shape-shift…awesome.  Next thing I know….I am at max level and had little to no interest in tanking any longer…I wanted to heal.  I decided to heal a couple of  instances and I had so much fun.  So much fun that I decided to try something called progression raiding.  I started raiding about 4-5 hours a night for 3-4 nights.  We raided things like MC, etc.  It was fun.  I thought I had finally found my niche.

Well….I found me a pretty lady and my priorities changed.  No more late night raids….just leveling toons.  Remember these were times before LFR…so raiding was off for me during BC.  I spent time leveling and just running dungeons.  It may not have been the most fun…but it kept me interested in the game.  Now…in a blink of an eye…the WOTLK expansion was being teased….maybe I could find something called a casual guild?

When WOTLK dropped I decided to play a hunter.  I thought they were really cool and I like the pets.  I remember rushing through the content just to get working on heroics.  Those DPS queues…ick.  Well…then we started raiding.  We raided 3 times a week for 2 hours a night.  It was amazing.  Wife was happy….I was happy…and I felt needed.  One night the raid leader asked me in vent to level up my druid and play balance for them.  I was so excited because I felt needed.  Once I got my boomkin up to speed…we were rushing through TOGC, Naxx, LK.  It really was the sweet spot in Wow gaming for me.

Well….Not really much to say about Cata and Mop.  Things just fell apart.  Cata was the destroyer of all casual raid guilds (generalization) and Mop (with the inclusion of LFR) saw most causals just stop raiding normal.  I found myself looking at all sort of guilds for WoD.  Casual, hardcore, alt runs, etc.  Anything to find a place to call my home.

This just about gets us to now.  I finally found a guild….a place…a home…but what exactly does that mean?  It seems that true happiness, at least for me, comes at a price.  I found a great group of people to play with…but not raid….really to do nothing with.  There, of course, are tons of raid groups out there…but since I am so far behind there is no reason to stress raiding now.  So I spend my time leveling alts and listening to music.  So yes….I am a silly casual looking for casual people like myself.

3-16-2016 ( The tipping point)

As most of you already know…I am a pretty positive person.  I give people warm thoughts and hugs when needed…I’m just “there”.  Today was not an exception to the rule.  I woke up…did my morning rituals…things were fine.  I logged into my normal wow streamers and watched gameplay….but something was off.  One of the major streamers made a comment.  This comment proceeded to trigger me like I have never been triggered before.  This brings us to what happened on twitter today.  A comment was made about the few amount of people that were on the alpha server.  Of course….when you have thousands of people watching your stream you are just begging people to react (see reactions to water striders and haste “removal”).  And that is exactly why I got triggered today.

So…as a triggered scorned Wow player….I gave into the rage.  I wrote some tweets today that may have been “not me” but I am glad I wrote them (maybe should have used some different words though).  Look.  Blizzard has their own way of doing things…and that is ok….I don’t have to like them.  I can have opinions…I can voice displeasure.  Now…I will be a big boy and back my ideas up.  If you remember I wrote in a previous blog about the perceived groupings of wow players (Just some feelings.)…and I believe these exist and are causing an irreversible rift between players.

Today was a great example.  After making some points earlier, the Mythic raiders vs Casual comment came up.  Now…if you have been around for awhile….you probably have heard this debate / conversation about a hundred times.  But the simple fact that this conversation is one of the first things that comes up shows us it is on people’s minds.  Lets be honest….the divide is there….but there is nothing “wrong” with it if it is taken care of and no special treatment is shown.  At a glance you can look at how Blizzard has handled their Legion Alpha and see there seems to be some special treatment…which causes this divide to grow.

When alpha was announced we had information from multiple 13/13M guilds saying they got into the beta.  Now…there is nothing wrong with that.  I understand that these guys need to get in and start testing, etc.  They are the unofficial best of the best according to Blizzard.  What was interesting was it wasn’t just the raiders…it was the whole guilds who were getting in.  Interesting.  We also saw a whole bunch of people who had their accounts lapse get invited…which I still scratch my head about.  If a person isn’t actively playing your game why would you invite them to alpha?  Maybe to entice them to come back?  Who knows.  Now…these were not the only people who got in…there were some random people who got access and another up-in-coming group known as the content creators / Friends and Family.

Now…I understand Wow has a list of F&F that get invited to almost everything..most companies do.  I rather not mention names because I see how they react to anything written about them on a daily basis.  I do, however, wish that these F&F guys were put under a strict NDA.  I mentioned before about the haste “removal” earlier.  One F&F streamer got his stream so upset about the changes that they started going to twitter and actively tweeted at the devs.  Had this mob had waited about 30 mins….the misinformation was explained and cooler heads prevailed.  This….This is why we cannot have nice things.  The same people who call others phlebs, casuals, etc….this cult / mob mentality stems from these privileged F&F’ers (Friends and Family and not F’ers like the cuss word).

There is no way to stop this.  This gap exist.  No one can fix it….it is there and will remain.  The question really is…how do we keep this from growing?  How do we keep blow ups on twitter from happen regarding this topic?  I believe the answer is open communication.  Tell us how you invited people, tell us who your friends and family are, be open with your intentions.  If not…then lock all of this information away from the general public and NDA everything until open beta.  If not…you will have situations like today where a streamer complained that there were only a couple people on….while he had 4,000 people begging for access.  Stop shooting yourself in the foot Blizz….you don’t owe us anything.  Also…please stop with the “its just Alpha” talk….because we know that is farther from the truth.  Blizzard puts out their Beta when its like 90% done….and only need small changes.

Lastly, I am human. I feel and bleed just like the rest of you.  Yes I put my heart on my sleeve but damn I love Wow.  I will play it until they shutdown the servers….it is my passion.  Please don’t ever question my loyal to the people playing the game or the game itself.  I am passionate about my gaming and feel it is necessary to talk about what is happening with the Wow community.  Understand I am not calling anyone out….I am simply making observations and trying to set some boundaries.

TLDR

TLDR:  I have been playing this game a long time.  I love this game…I love you all….but if you cannot accept that I will have opinions and am willing to fight for what I believe…then look elsewhere.  I do not fling hate towards anyone but I cannot stand the divisions the Wow players have been separated into. To anyone who felt offended…sorry.  To anyone who think I took it too far today….sorry.  But I am not sorry for what I said…and am not sorry for what I believe.  Please respect my opinions and ideas just like I respect yours.

I wrote this in response to one of my buddies who wrote this wonderful piece:   https://marathalbt.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/thoughts-on-alphabeta/

I though it would be cool to share my responses on both his page and mine.

My response:

I find myself so torn on this. So let me bite off little pieces. Again…these are all my opinions and no maliciousness is meant.

Blizzards outsourcing:

To a point I agree. They put the information out there so people can data mine and pick apart the alpha / beta / notes etc. As you say…you dont have to look at it. But Blizzard uses these sites now as a marketing source. I think they are doing a great job of causing a buzz about the games (both positive and negative). I get people do not want to be spoiled….but sadly…no way around this one. Sadly we are too entitled of a community to have it any other way.

Player advantage:

I get the feeling that alpha / beta people have an advantage because they get to play months ahead of time…but is that really true? There seems to be this underlying idea that everyone has a chance to be world first…which is farther from the truth. I am sure there is a method (see what I did there) to the madness but its not like they are getting months of practice over others. Also, if someone feels so inclined they can always watch the streams of these guys trying strats, etc.
I would love to see the % of people who actually complete / compete for world first. I cannot imagine it is a huge percentage of players. Also remember that World / server first are almost meaningless now. It is not like it is an E-sport. One thing to remember….this is the biggest overhaul that Blizzard has had to implement….so I understand the months upon months of testing needed. Just for a quick count: Artifacts, PVP changes, New Class, Class overhauls, Class orders.

Feedback and burn out:

I watch a lot of streamers…a lot. Some who play alpha ~ 8 hours a day 5 days a week. I still do not understand this idea of burn out? You have access to test classes… which is what you should be doing. 12 classes – Artifact quest – Artifact leveling- leveling – dungeons – Do feedback on forums….there is a ton of stuff to be tested. Honestly…if someone is burning out…then they are not a good person to do testing. Lets remember that Alpha testing should be used for reporting bugs and not blazing through content to see how fast you can get through. Which…if I may say….is the problem with how Blizzard does their testing…but that is another long conversation. Anyway….if someone is burning out…they are doing it wrong.

As for people asking for new content quicker….blizzard (until Legion) states that Mythic raiding is the end game….if you are 13/13M….you have a right to say you are bored…anything else…your just going to have to wait. IMO.

Destroying the game?:

I would love to hear more how you think boost are destroying the game. I mean a person could just boost 11-12 characters and wait for the xpac…but that doesn’t teach them anything. Its also not like you can boost to the latest level until later in the xpac….so I have no problem with people needing to have another option if they cannot level traditionally.

Now…how do I feel:

Lets call it what it is. Wow has one of the most entitled communities out of all the MMO’s out there. Sadly…nothing we can really do at this point. Blizzard has already gone down a slippery path that has lead us to these type of conversations. We find ourselves separating into three types of groups: Raiders and Hardcore , Casuals, others.

Hardcore and raiders are finding any way to get ahead. Spoilers, data mining, theory crafting, videos, streams, etc. Their job is to pound through leveling…get to max level and start raiding ASAP. Also known as the people who barely interact with others and set the unreachable / insane ilevels for groups, etc. Only the best of the best play here…but only with themselves. End goals are Mythics or bust.

Casuals love the game but only as long as it is feasible for them. If the content gets too hard…they do other things. If the content is too easy…they repeat until they burn out then move on. Casuals love the game and love doing things with other casuals. Some raiding…but not much more than Heroics. They generally stay away from spoilers and only “cheat” when needed. Referred to as plebs by the raiders and hardcore guys.

Now the others. The special unicorns of wow. These people love to do everything in game especially the things that most people forget about. PVP / Alts / Pet battles / mount farming / old raids/ etc. They play with others when needed and stay away from the hardcore raiders. Great group of people….love the game….friendly….what I consider the great players of wow. I term them the Golden Girls (and guys).

Ok Cod…whats the point? They point here is…it is a lose…lose…lose situation for Blizzard. Keep alpha and beta NDA’ed….no hype about the next expansion, limited community feedback and people will slowly die off with no news. Make alpha and beta non-NDA….everyone and their mother is data-mining and getting all the information before the xpac launches….many upset people but better community feedback. There is a third option: Forget the testing and just push the button. Quality takes a hit but everyone is truly on equal footing…. 99.9% do not want this.

So lets just open up this conversation….what do you do? You are going to get at least one of the major category of players mad at you….which one do you upset? In a situation where it cannot go both ways…you must choose your own adventure (demise) here.

TLDR version: Generally speaking we are an entitled group that will always find something to complain about but yet we keep coming back over and over. Even though I do not agree with a 9-10 month alpha / beta…..it is well needed for all of these changes. Spoilers will always exist and I don’t believe boost this late in an expansion is a horrible thing.