Handling the reaction to the Priest Nerfs

Blizzard Poster Nethaera opened a thread in the World of Warcraft Forums entitled Test Realm and Feedback. The thread was created with the intention of providing Forum members a means of voicing their concerns and feelings toward the recent priest nerf in a constructive way.

He says that yes, he is aware that at the moment it looks like all priests have received so far are nerfs, and he reassures that Circle of healing is being looked at for better utility. He adds that Lightwell MAY be looked at, however he can’t promise anything on that front. Anyway, the point of the thread is so that he will be able to gather the feedback and relay it to the rest of the Blizzard team.

He reassures that he’ll do his best to continue to give feedback to the developers and make sure that they are made aware of how the community feels. He says that he understands that the community may be generally angry at the moment, but he will continue doing his duties and carry the community message to the development team.

  

Blizzard Poster Nethaera  opened a thread in the World of Warcraft Forums entitled Test Realm and Feedback. The thread was created with the intention of providing Forum members a means of voicing their concerns and feelings toward the recent priest nerf in a constructive way.

He says that yes, he is aware that at the moment it looks like all priests have received so far are nerfs, and he reassures that Circle of healing is being looked at for better utility. He adds that Lightwell MAY be looked at, however he can’t promise anything on that front. Anyway, the point of the thread is so that he will be able to gather the feedback and relay it to the rest of the Blizzard team.

He reassures that he’ll do his best to continue to give feedback to the developers and make sure that they are made aware of how the community feels. He says that he understands that the community may be generally angry at the moment, but he will continue doing his duties and carry the community message to the development team.

Kelemvor had a very well thought out reply:

The fact that you are here implies fear. You fear the response from the priest class. Your hope is to come at us in a “its not my fault” manner and hope to control the outcry. I have been a customer service manager for about 10 years now so I get it.

But, the fact is, you failed us. See, I have a little secret to tell. I went to Blizz headquarters and I spoke directly with some of the CM’s personally. I asked nicely and had a nice sit-down with 3 of you. You were not one of the ones I spoke with because at the time you were not hired.

In that talk I found out a few things. Mainly, that CM’s speak directly with the design team on a fairly regular basis and, assuming you really know the class, you do have influence. You have the ability to fight for the class. It is in your power to step up to the plate and be a cheerleader for the priest class or any other class you “get” to represent. I say get because its not a right, its a privilege.

I also found out that, frankly, the CM’s dont reveal to us HALF of what they know. They told me to my face and I quote “The WoW community is not mature enough to handle it.” I agree with this statement in general. I can see how letting a 12 year old in on some cool stuff coming out, only to have it be canceled (see hero classes), can really come back to bite you.

But, it does not excuse this. You have an obligation to let us know what is coming. Not when its coming out on the test realms. You have an obligation to LET US KNOW the Developers/Designers are thinking of nerfing x and y and we need your feedback as to why or why not this should happen. We would also like to get your feedback on what should be fixed so that things will balance out more equally.

LIKE FOR EXAMPLE, HALF THE HOLY TREE. It is not that its terrible, its just not viable in its current order. It has too many restrictions in what you can use. ALSO, CAN YOU PLEASE FIX THE BUFF ICON FOR IMPROVED PW: FORTITUDE EVER BEFORE THE GAME IS OVER PLEASE KTHX. I mean my god, its been over 2 years and its STILL bugged. Is that a big deal? NO, but its ridiculous that you have not fixed a bug that would require all of 30 seconds to code in. And 30 seconds might be a little longer than reality.

Back to whats important. You job is to communicate with us BEFORE we are upset. PRO-ACTIVELY help us to understand what is going on. Viewing patchnotes for a test realm is NOT Pro-Active. Yes, we will outcry and there is a decent chance some of these nerfs wont come to fruition, but that is NOT THE POINT!

And, unless your powers as a CM have been diminished in the last 18 months from when I spoke face to face with 3 CM’s, then you are not being completely honest about your influence. You are not just a messenger, you are the feeler for the community. You are the one that tells them the attitude and general feeling amongst the class. Math is not ALWAYS the answer. When every single class in the game feels sorry for you because of the nerfs it should TELL YOU SOMETHING!

Since the expansion I saw ONE Rogue post a nerf PoM post because he was not able to stunlock kill a priest 100% of the time like he was used to. ONE!!!, yet apparently the math suggested it was overpowered. If this was the case, then where were all the nerf priest posts that you see for EVERY OTHER class that really is OP?

I would LOVE to have a real discussion with you, but if you are going to come in the guise of a simple messenger, then dont waste out time. You are much more than that, and hiding behind it only makes it worse. At least have the common courtesy to say you are sorry, because you ARE responsible for us whether you want to admit it or not.

We’ll update you on  further developments on the situation.

Via WoW Forums