I really wanted to get into discussing the blue post concerning stat points in the future and how to get around the exponential growth problem, but I have resigned myself to finishing what I started (though I also pseudo-promised this would be published Monday and it is in fact Tuesday). Therefore, I ought to finish up talking about the talents as we know them.

Before we can get into the issue of actually picking talents, we need to understand the role which the Feral of MoP will need to play in PvP. By the looks of the talents, Feral has access to some truly amazing utility talents which could potentially net us some truly interesting builds, and if nothing else we will have a wide arsenal of abilities which lay outside the scope of dealing damage. Additionally, we cannot take for granted that which we currently have; with the talent tree toss up coming in MoP, we may end up losing some current talents in favor of ground-shaking balance adjustments - we may not have Predator's Swiftness any longer and therefore may not have the ability to throw out instant Cyclones after finishers.

Why do I say that particularly? Well, if I look at the talent trees directly, I notice that all Druids have access to Nature's Swiftness in the second tier. Further to that, it also increases the duration by 50%, so that Cyclone would last 8 seconds in PvP (9 otherwise) like most other CCs. Again, this is just speculation and should be taken with a grain of salt, but it is important to acknowledge these types of possible caveats so as to not get one's hopes up. Personally, I do not believe that Blizzard will allow Nature's Swiftness to go ahead as-is because an 8s duration instant Cyclone from a Resto Druid would be an atrocity.

Okay, as the title suggests - let's talk turkey!

I find the first tier the most interesting, though not for obvious reasons. I think that every Feral sees the allure of an ability like Displacer Beast; we all have begged for something like this for a LONG time, but the cooldown is much longer than I would have imagined. Again, taking nothing for granted and treading lightly, we may be cautiously optimistic that simply specializing in Feral will innately lower this cooldown somewhat while leaving it as a longer cooldown for Resto/Balance, but I do not know for sure. The truly interesting thing about the first tier is that of the other two abilities, they were something which we had taken entirely as Feral previously - we are accustomed to moving 30% faster while in Cat Form and for the last few months breaking roots and snares when using either Sprint or Stampede. Yes, this tier is the most interesting to me because it implies a lot about the state of talent trees and how Blizzard aims to force choices amongst players in the future. Personally, I am leaning towards Displacer beast simply because of the huge number of things it does - teleports in a random direction 20 yards (quite a distance), removes all periodic damage effects (CloS on steroids), and puts us into prowl for 10 seconds.

Essentially, Displacer Beast is Blink, Cloak of Shadows, and Vanish rolled into one on a 3min CD. This can be used either offensively (again, assuming that we will continue to have access to Feral Charge Cat and it providing a free Ravage after use) or defensively as a get out of jail free card. Its true utility will only be seen in implementation; by this I mean that if we purge all DoT effects, stealth, THEN teleport so as to keep enemies from even GUESSING to where we have gone, then it will truly be an amazing talent (and one which even Restos and Balance druids will likely take). Even if it teleports us, then applies the purge+vanish effect it will still be worth-while, I imagine, but it will give away our "random" positioning which would truly be the strength of the former.

My pick: Displacer Beast

The second tier is interesting in that Nature's Swiftness has been changed to allow for an 8s Cyclone castable in Cat Form every three minutes. This is basically Blind on PCP... there is only one thing in the game that can break Cyclone (another taken-for-granted assumption) and that is the trinket. Most Druid teams essentially fish out trinkets with Cyclone and then use their longer CC-trains on the target when trinket is down. This allows for a longer train, in many cases, but also gives potential to dispels and damage-breaks and the like. However, if Cyclone is now a does-not-break-on-anything Blind which also keeps the target from receiving healing, then it may be worth taking just to set up some extreme CC-trains.

Again, I do not expect Blizz to allow NS to go live as-is... it would truly be too overpowered even at a 3min CD. The other option for Feral is Renewal. Essentially, every 2min I can simply give myself 30% of my hp as a self-heal in case I need a button to survive. I suspect that we will not have access to Survival Instincts any longer in MoP being as the Bear and Cat specializations are being pulled apart at the seam, but I could be wrong. My guess is that Renewal will be the button we press instead of SI when we need to survive a few more seconds, but I could be way off base and maybe we will still have SI in our arsenal (would be great) and this is just another button to press when your healer eats a CC train.

Because Cenarion Ward is a heal and based around spell power, I do not see Ferals picking it up.

My pick: If we do not have Predator's Swiftness anymore, Nature's Swiftness; else Renewal.

The third tier is another amazing tier in terms of interest. Faerie Swarm is basically our Feral Faerie Fire as-is, except there is a tacked on 50% snare thrown into the mix. Now, I have no idea what Blizz is playing at here; it could be that Blizzard is removing Infected Wounds in favor of forcing Ferals to pick up Faerie Swarm and gain a ranged snare on the GCD (a la hamstring + range), but who knows at this point. I suspect (and truly hope) that Infected Wounds remains in the game and Faerie Swarm is simply a snare aimed at helping Balance and Resto, though if Resto has access to a snare, then they would be the only healer with one (as far as I know) and that seems a little bit weird to me. If I were in Blizz's position here, I would be looking to give Balance a ranged snare (a la Slow) and some added utility for mixing with physical damage-dealers, so I would rewrite Faerie Swarm to say "When in Boomkin form, Faerie Swarm also causes a 50% snare for 15 seconds" so that the intention is clear. This would allow Infected Wounds to remain as-is and would give Balance Druids an option for ranged utility and a snare for escape.

Mass Entanglement was something I was truly excited to see until I read the "Cannot be cast while in Bear Form or Cat Form". I do not know why this stipulation is on there, as having a 2s cast AoE root effect would be strong but probably not overpowered, particularly if we are forced to stand still while casting it. Oh well. It looks like it's going to be an area of effect spell like Death and Decay, but then apply Entangling Roots to everyone standing there once it fires. I expect Restos will take this in a heartbeat, but the other option is also interesting.

Typhoon is back! I do not know why this is not simply a staple of the Balance specialization; it has been as long as Typhoon has been. I guess the new staple is Solar Beam, though I would be lying if I said I had not hoped that Solar Beam was going to be one of the new talent choices which Feral could acquire. If Infected Wounds remains in the game for Feral as our snare, then I will definitely be picking up Typhoon. Having played Boomkin for a while during season 8 (for funsies and to get my Arena Master title; Boomer was for 5s while Feral kind of sucked in 5s), I can say that Typhoon is one of those abilities that can entirely change the game, and while Feral is up in people's grills most the time, we occasionally need to peel someone off of Guntir, and Typhoon gives a 6s 50% snare and knocks the target away, and since priests have access (currently; no idea if this will remain in MoP) to an ability which breaks snares, Typhoon is a must-have for a Priest healer on the team. Additionally, Typhoon allows Ferals to cheese some fights on certain maps by knocking a player down and making a match 2v1 or 3v2/1 for a bit, and that advantage is HUGE.

My pick: If we have Infected Wounds, then I will take Typhoon. If we no longer have Infected Wounds as a snare, I have to take Faerie Swarm.

The fourth tier is another one of those tiers which caused me to sit and think for a few minutes. Wild Charge looks like it will likely be the Feral Charge equivalent and while it does not currently have a Cat Form version, I expect it to be the Feral Charge Cat we have come to know and love of late - charge an opponent and allow a Ravage out of stealth with no positional requirement for 8 seconds. However, maybe this is just a utility talent and there will be something else in store for Cat Form and the Feral specialization will have the Feral Charge Cat functionality built into the spec. I cannot know at this time.

Incarnation is, essentially, Shadow Dance on ... I am running out of drugs that make people stronger at this point. It allows the Feral to use abilities which require stealth for 30 seconds AND it allows, during those 30 seconds, for the Feral to use Prowl. The latter portion mentioned here may seem like a non-issue, but recall that being able to use Ravage instead of Shred is a huge dps boost, and having access to a combo-building stun instead of a combo-consuming stun means utility and damage output. I have been asking for a long time to have access to Pounce on a cooldown instead of Maim, and now I apparently have access to such a talent. Although, a three minute cooldown for 30 seconds of crazily increased damage output and control may actually overwhelm my need for Feral Charge... I know... that is how insane this talent is.

Think of it this way: for THIRTY seconds, you are allowed to use Ravage instead of Shred. Shred requires Mangle be applied and a Bleed be applied in order for it to do great damage, then you have to get behind your opponent and start Shredding. It is difficult to get behind an opponent sometimes and getting there while Mangle/Bleeds are applied is even tougher. Ravage, on the other hand, requires you to be behind your opponent for full damage. One would still want to have Mangle and Bleeds applied for additional supplemental damage, but Ravage will do full damage regardless. Additionally, one can use Pounce to stun the target in place for four seconds to line up a few Ravages. However, the kicker is yet to show itself; Ravage costs 60 energy, so it is a bit expensive and cannot really be spammed. That is, unless the Feral has Berserk activated at the same time, then someone could fire off 4 Ravages in a row before becoming energy-starved under normal circumstances. I really do not know how I feel about this talent versus the ability to use Feral Charge Cat, but if FCC is baked into the specialization and Wild Charge does nothing for us, then the choice is a no-brainer.

Force of Nature is unwieldy at present and the damage from the tree posse is less than amazing, but as an honest talent, it may receive some much needed love from the Devs and get an overhaul. Additionally, the talent states that capabilities will vary from specialization to specialization, so it may have some truly interesting abilities to offer Feral once the specifics have been worked out. I will keep my ears open on this one.

My pick: If we have FCC from the specialization, then I will take Incarnation; if Wild Charge ends up replacing FCC, then I think I will likely take Wild Charge, but Incarnation is still on the table if mobility is strong enough without the charge and some dps is required.

The fifth tier is absolutely my favorite tier. This is the CC-tier, if there is such a concept. Demoralizing Roar is essentially an AoE blind that lasts for 4 seconds on anyone within 10 yards of the Druid (which is reasonably large, but not super-large of a radius). Additionally, the talent reads that using this ability would force the Druid INTO Bear Form instead of requiring Bear Form, so it seems like this will truly be accessible for Ferals to use while in Cat Form; maybe this ability is a set-up for Bash on a CC-target (Demo-roar everyone, follow those 4 seconds with a 5s stun in bash on the train, follow that with a cyclone???). Additionally, this is on a 30s CD... this is absolutely bonkers to me being that it is an AoE CC that does not (at present) share diminishing returns with either Cyclone, Stuns, or Roots. I would imagine Restos take a good long look at this one.

Ursol's Vortex is like... no I'm going to stop that now. Essentially, it is an AoE Deathgrip on a 30s CD. The talent suggests that it is useable in all shapeshift forms, which leaves me wondering if that means that it cannot be used while not in form (Caster Form)... which would mean that Resto could not pick it up, though they probably would not anyway as they are usually trying to escape from baddies, not bring them closer for hugs and kisses. I like this talent for Feral, maybe more than Demo Roar (even though the idea of having even MORE CC appeals to me greatly). Think about it in terms of "with Typhoon"; if I go to a ledge on Blade's Edge or Sewers maps and bring everyone to me, I have to take one step and turn around to Typhoon - instant match-reset button. I am really looking forward to testing this out.

Bear Hug is an interesting ability, but as it is largely a self-CC that does pretty decent damage to the target (it will do 30% of your HP to the target and we can basically assume that that will be about 30% of their HP as well) it is not an ability I will be considering at first.

My pick: PROBABLY Ursol's Vortex just for the added control outside of the scope of CC. Also, bringing a kiting player to me for damage is a huge boon for when Feral Charge Cat is on CD.

The last tier is arguably the worst and most boring. Heart of the Wild is still in the game as a "do some other role almost half as well as the main-spec'd would" on a HUGE 6 minute cooldown. I simply do not see this talent as being anything good. It could be that Innervate has finally been removed from the game and HotW is how Feral is supposed to regain our mana, but we really should be past the point of relying on mana anyway (unless we're spamming heals in a probable-loss situation). Additionally, it increases our hit rating... Blizzard still does not seem to grasp, or they have more changes in store to address, why Feral does not really care about hit rating past the 4% (or w/e) needed to land a kick in PvP.

Master Shapeshifter is another, albeit passive, talent which allows the Druid to perform some non-main-spec'd role poorly-but-better. Essentially, it says that throwing out 3 non-instant spells would increase attack power by 30% for 15seconds. I have no idea what the wash is, but my guess is that the 10-15 seconds it would take a Feral to lob out 3 spells to gain that 30% more attack power would be more than lost in damage NOT dealt during the ramp-up time. Blizzard keeps trying these hybrid styles of play and they simply never work. Bear and Cat are different specs now... Blizzard can allow Druids to stop being hybrids in this ridiculous sense.

Disentanglement heals the Druid for 20% of his maximum hp every time they shift with a 30s CD in addition to allowing the Druid to remove Roots and Snares via Shapeshifting. This is a no-brainer; every Feral will take this ability unless shapeshifting has been drastically changed for MoP.

My pick: Disentanglement (though I hope that Blizz does something to change HotW and Master Shapeshifter... they are simply awful at the moment and I would like a choice at the highest talent tier).

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Well, those are my picks for the moment. Of course, I will try and keep everything as up-to-date as possible and post updates when applicable, but I am excited about the prospect of some of these combinations (like Typhoon and Ursol's Vortex). We shall see.

Next time, I hope to get into the stat crunch and Blizzard's musing on how best to address exponential stat growth throughout expansions as it is truly an interesting subject of debate.

Hello, my name is Reygahnci, and I have a problem.

Well, technically my name is neither Reygahnci nor do I have just one problem. I meant to write a few posts since the last one, but life has taken some unexpected turns in the last few months. I mentioned my engagement which is coming along well, but is requiring a lot of planning and taking up a lot of my time. Additionally, I'm in the middle of buying my first home and hoping to close escrow pretty soon, which will mean a multitude of packing and planning and calling ISPs and a-hundred-and-one small annoyances over the next month. On top of all that, I am still doing my gym-going after work now (I've lost 70 pounds since last November when I started) and so I get home tired and beat after about 10 hours away from the house.

So, here I am at home playing some casual game like L4D or reading a good book when Blizzard says "oh, done playing WoW, are you!?" and hits me in the face with their Blizzcon announcements.

• No more traditional talent trees
• Druids have four specialization options

There were, obviously, way more announcements than simply those two, but to be perfectly fair, those two were enough to actually peak my interests. I called up Guntir (who moved for a job as well as my various other business) and said "dood, they may have got me back for the next expansion..." My guess is that Feral will still be a second-class spec and I don't expect 2v2 to be around much longer, but I do think that the new specialization direction is one with the potential to be good for the game, particularly with regard to balance in PvP.

For those who live under a rock or simply no longer keep up with the day-to-day announcements, Blizz has publicly stated that talent trees are going away forever in the next expansion. Well, not exactly "going away" as much as "changing so dramatically that they might as well be going away entirely." At present, there are 7 tiers of talents in every tree, which each subsequent tier requiring 5 talents points minimum to progress to the next. At level 85, one will have 41 talent points to spend however they choose, but the majority of these talents are "mandatory and boring" in that they are of the flavor "increases your damage by 1/2/3/4/5%". If one's role is to deal damage, then this talent is one which must be taken to improve worth in one's role. In reality, the choices to be made are largely along the lines of "there are 3-4 talents per tier, you can take 1-2 of them". This makes it something like 14c8 for the main tree alone and more likely 18c8 when you consider the other two trees as choices as well... that's over 40,000 combinations from which to choose.

Now, here is the problem: when one really gets down to the nitty-gritty, those "choices" are more like what I mentioned before - most of the talents from which a player chooses are considered "mandatory and boring" and nothing is truly a choice. For a PvP Feral, the first tier is "take them all", the second tier is 2/2 Primal Fury and 2/2 Infected Wounds, tier 3 is 3/3 KotJ, Feral Charge, and 2/2 Stampede, tier 4 is "all of them", tier 5 is SI and 2/2 Endless Carnage, tier 6 is 3/3 Rend and Tear, and FINALLY the player gets to make a true choice. Two points are now a free choice to the player, and for a PvP Feral, it is between talents like Feral Aggression, Fury Swipes, Blood in the Water, etc. None of these are quote fun end-quote talents.

These types of "choices" are the bane of the talent system for the most part, and in Cataclysm Blizzard aimed at making talent trees more "fun" by reducing talent count and giving out fewer talents over all. This allowed Blizzard to condense the trees into more "fun" talents, but it still left filler that was necessary, which is why talents like Fury Swipes and Thick Hide still exist. Blizzard could not properly break down specializations into roles in Cataclysm, but not for lack of trying.

This is why I am excited for Mists of Pandaria (or MoP - an awesome acronym) - Blizzard has finally said "those boring talents are not truly choices". Blizz is right in this revelation! Choices should be fun and game-changing rather than "increases/decreases X by Y" regardless of the flavor (Fury Swipes, for instance, is just a confusingly worded "increases your damage by X% over long fights"; it is done in an interesting way, but not reactionarily or thoughtfully as it pertains to the player). So, Blizzard has gotten rid of the talents trees entirely and instead gives the player these types of interesting-but-boring mechanics at level increments, which is how they should be doled out anyway. Additionally, the "new" talent system is just a revamp of the old one, but in a much more interesting way.

I have been waxing a bit here; let me just speak frankly. When one looks at a talent tree like Feral, they see a HUGE assortment of talents, but ultimately there are a handful of 2-3-point talents from which to choose and one or two really neat 1-point talents that will be buttons to press in the game. These talents are the interesting ones; players do not remember talent trees by name as much as by the defining ability of said talent tree: Feral is known for Berserk; Assassination is known for Mutilate; Discipline is known for Penance; etc. These are the types of things that define the class but also end up being "boring". Again, these are not choices; there are no Ferals out there who simply do not take Berserk, nor are there PvP Ferals who do not take Feral Charge.

Outlined in the last paragraph is the biggest problem facing Blizzard for MoP - at what point do you label an ability a "choice" over a staple of the class? For instance, Mangle used to be one of those staples in the talent tree, then it was made into a baseline ability when one specialized as Feral and got it for free at level 10. Presumably, Feral will be getting Berserk "for free" having specialized in Feral at level 30 (or whenever). Okay, so all those "boring-but-mandatory" buttons will likely be "spec-free", but what about the non-mandatory but interesting talents which currently change up rotations and what-not? Where does Blizzard draw the line? Will Feral(Cat) be given Blood in the Water at level 50, or is Blood in the Water going to get axed? What about Primal Madness? How about Nurturing Instinct?

Obviously, this question will be answered before too long, but it does make one sit back and say "okay, so I get all this stuff for free now... where does choice come in again?"

Okay, the new talent trees are where choice is made. Six tiers of options as opposed to six tiers of mandatory boring background noise. Here they are in detail at a tier-by-tier layout of choices (or alternatively, here is a link to the screens) -

Tier 1:

• Feline Swiftness - Passive - Increases your movement speed by 10% and by an additional 20% while in Cat Form.
• Displacer Beast - Instant 3min CD - Teleports the Druid up to 20 yards in a random direction, purging all periodic damage effects and providing stealth for 10 seconds. Attacking or using an ability cancels this effect. Using this ability activates Cat Form.
• Tireless Pursuit - Instant 3min CD - Removes all roots and snares, and increases movement speed by 70% while in Cat Form for 15 seconds. Does not break Prowling. Using this ability activates Cat Form.

Tier 2:

• Nature's Swiftness - Instant 3min CD - When activated, your next Cyclone, Entangling Roots, Healing Touch, Hibernate, Nourish, Rebirth or Regrowth becomes instant, free, and castable in all forms. The healing and duration of the spell is increased 50%.
• Renewal - Instant 2min CD - Instantly heals the Druid for 30% of maximum health. Usable in all shapeshifted forms.
• Cenarion Ward - 7680 mana, instant 30s CD - Protects a friendly target, causing any damage taken to heal the target for 2600 every 2 seconds for 6 seconds. Gaining the healing effect consumes the Cenarion Ward. Lasts 30 seconds.

Tier 3:

• Faerie Swarm - Instant - Decreases the target's armor by 12% for 5 menutes and reduces the target's movement speed by 50% for 15 seconds. While affected, the target cannot stealth of turn invisible. Deals 49 damage when cast from Bear Form. Useable in all forms, but incurs a 6 second cooldown while in Bear Form or Cat Form. This talent replaces Faerie Fire.
• Mass Entanglement - 4480 Mana, 30y range, 2sec cast, 1min CD - Roots all enemies within 12 yards of the destination for 8 seconds. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. Cannot be cast while in Bear Form or Cat Form.
• Typhoon - 5120 Mana, instance 20s CD - Summons a violent Typhoon that strikes targets in front of the caster within 30 yards, knocking them back and dazing them for 6 seconds. Useable in all forms.

Tier 4:

• Wild Charge - No official CD listed, probably instant 3min CD - Grants a movement ability that varies by shapeshift form.
  Caster Form: Fly to an ally's position and your next healing spell costs no mana.
  Bear Form: Charge to an enemy, immobilizing them and granting you 30% haste.
  Moonkin Form: Bound backward and gain 20 Lunar or Solar Energy, whichever is more beneficial to you.
  Cat Form: None listed [maybe FCC is baseline for Feral spec now?]
• Incarnation - Instant 3min CD - Activates a superior shapeshifting form appropriate to your specialization for 30 seconds.
  Feral: King of the Jungle - Improved Cat Form that allows the use of all abilities which normally require stealth, and allows use of Prowl while in combat.
  Restoration: Tree of Life - Tree of Life Form that increases armor by 120% and enhances Lifebloom, Wild Growth, Regrowth, Entangling Roots, and Wrath spellcasts.
• Force of Nature - Instant 3min CD - Summons 3 treants to assist in the Druid's current combat role. Treant capabilities vary by specialization. Useable in all shapeshift forms.

Tier 5:

• Demoralizing Roar - Instant 30s CD - The Druid roars, disorienting all enemies within 10 yards for 4 seconds. Using this ability activates Bear Form.
• Ursol's Vortex - Instant 30s CD - Conjure a vortex of wind that pulls all enemies within 15 yards toward your own location. Useable in all shapeshift forms.
• Bear Hug - Instant 1m CD - Melee attack that stuns the target and deals 10% of the Druid's health in damage every 1 second for 3 seconds. Effect canceled if the Druid moves away, attacks, or takes any other action. Using this ability activates Bear Form.

Tier 6:

• Heart of the Wild - Instant 6min CD - Dramatically improves the Druid's ability to serve combat roles outside of normal specialization for 45 seconds.
  Balance: Healing spells generate Lunar or Solar Energy and benefit from Lunar and Solar Eclipse. In addition, grants 50% of Intellect as Agility, 100% of hit rating as expertise rating, and increases armor by 95% while in Bear Form.
  Feral: Grants 50% of Agility as Intellect, increases hit rating by 100%, and increases armor by 95% while in Bear Form. In addition, regenerates 2% of maxmum mana every 5 seconds.
• Master Shapeshifter - Passive - Improves the Druid's effectiveness at briefly switching between forms. Your melee abilities increase your spell damage by 10% and your non-instance spellscasts increase your attack power by 10%. Both effects stack up to 3 times and last 15 seconds. Each ability used which benefits from one of these effects consumes one application of that effect.
• Disentanglement - Passive - Shapeshifting now removes roots. In addition, shifting into a form heals the Druid for 20% of maximum health. This heal cannot be received more often than once every 30 seconds.

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Okay, let us take a moment to breath, reread, soak it all in... that is a lot of new stuff. The first thing to note is that under this new system, one does not have "points" to spend, per se. Instead, a player will have to truly make a choice at each tier (which is every 15 levels) between the three talents at that tier. So, for the first tier regardless of which specialization the Druid has chosen, he will have to choose between Feral Swiftness, Displacer Beast, and Tireless Pursuit. The second thing to note is that each tier has a "flavor" as to how the talents are divided. Notice, the first tier is a "mobility" flavor as each one of the options has to do with some form of mobility. Similarly, the fifth tier seems to be a CC tier as every talent choice is some form of control. The third, and last, thing to note is that no tier is some top-tier amazingness; no tier has that one ability that every player of Feral spec (or any other spec, for that matter) will say "that is the OBVIOUS choice!" as in the case of Berserk... while Berserk is the only "choice" to be made at the 31-tier currently, there are still 3 choices at every tier in the new talent system.

Okay, now that we got all that out of the way, how awesome are these talents? I admit that I was unimpressed at first, but after talking with Guntir about some of them I became really excited. This is where the "God Damn It Blizz" comes from: they are going to get me back in the next expansion. These talents are so small-scale that balance changes can be made without too much ado, and no more min-maxing through player selection of mandatory talents (Blood of the North anyone? That talent has had its percentage changed 100 times because it was the balancing point around which all abilities scaled for DKs).

This post has been pretty significantly long so far, so I will hold off describing what I expect my Feral setup will be, but for now color me excited!

I have not posted in a while, but I came across this on Reddit today and felt it deserved to be brought up. Swifty (a long time wow-er) was banned rather recently for accidentally causing a world server crash due to his popularity and streaming live causing people to log on and find him in game. In this YouTube video he goes into detail over how it is not "just a game" to him or his online friends. He even mentioned that he could roll a new toon and it just would not be the same. I think this was the biggest tell concerning how WoW's player-base has changed over the years. Many well known players feel attached to their characters beyond the basic game-play elements; they are part of whom they play.

I tried playing different toons a number of times. I had fun on my Warlock, enjoyed my Rogue a lot, and thoroughly enjoyed being overpowered on my Hunter. There is no denying that the game is still FUN for these reasons... if I had an end-goal for which was worth striving, I would play one of my other toons. Unfortunately, I only played WoW from the get-go to PvP. Early on, I played it for World PvP, and when BGs were introduced I started hating the game. BGs are just another system of control; more grinding to keep us paying our $15/month. When Arenas came along, they were in their simplest design and arguably their best at an infrastructure level.

Let me be extremely clear on that last bit: the arenas, initially, were extremely unbalanced. They provided a crucible for finding everything imbalanced in the game amongst all classes. I can remember War+HPal from season one, and let me tell you, that was the penultimate overpowered team (War+Druid from season three edging it out slightly). HOWEVER, the arenas were NOT another grind system in place to keep us paying. The arenas were honestly a fun environment which pitted players versus players to attain a higher goal. Be it a title, a mount, fame, or just having fun for hours on end, there existed a goal that was outside the scope of gear or grinding ratings (in most cases; the r1s had to grind, but that was part of their goal and the best loved it).

It was for this reason that Guntir and I picked up and continued playing the game. Guntir has always been something of a grinder; he actually enjoys grinding up new alts and grinding honor under the old system (his undead priest hit r10 as did his pally on a different server... as ret... when it was awful). I, however, have always been a "fun the lulz" kind of player. I played Counter Strike back in the 1.5 days and well into the 1.6 setting, and the game started to fall apart for me when I started doing the Cal league competitively; the goal was not to be the best or have fun - it was to rank the highest and to hell with friendship. I remember having screaming matches over Vent at the time about strats and who missed their rotation and everything else... it simply was no longer fun.

Similarly, the first season or two of the arenas, I had fun trying to climb the ladder as high as I could. The "rewards" were simply part of the balancing system. We got gear the more we played and eventually we were geared out and playing on the same level as our rivals. We were not the best, we did not have the best comps, but we were having fun competing regardless. We did not need an overly complicated system to keep abusers in line, we did not need restrictions on who could attain what gear, we did not need everyone to know how awesome we were with titles. These things came, in time, but that was not the reason behind us playing the game.

It was fun.

At this point, I feel I have exhausted this topic. I know, I know... I have said all this before, but I feel that as time goes on the more notable players will continue being removed from the game, either under their own volition or by the "man". Swifty was a lot of fun to watch and argue with on the forums. I already miss him (and I will throw shout-outs to Elle and Datah while I am naming names) and I am saddened by Blizzard's banning because I felt he was a kindred spirit toward the game at heart; that is, he enjoyed the game as his toon and a newer-and-better one simply will not suffice.

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I am still a subscriber to Squanky's (squanky9) YouTube channel because he had not posted anything for a long time, then posted TONS of videos over the weekend (it seems). The first of which was a Survival+Feral unedited 2v2 session, and I could not resist the old urge to see Feral in action on the latest patch. I was so tempted to re-up my account to test it out after hearing some of their skype conversations, but after the dust had settled and I thought about it a bit, I decided to not. I heard something along the lines of "I dropped a 47k Ravage on that Rogue" and thought "WoW, maybe Ferals are actually at a decent spot, now!" However, the more I thought of this, the more I was reminded of season eight and how simply doing more burst damage is just a way to win, not necessarily a fun way. Additionally, I continued hearing things that dissuaded me further: "I only do 2s to help my friends get points; I do rBGs for mine", "I hit 2750 and only got a Duelist title", and the like. Once again, I was reminded of why I stopped - the goal is gone. No one plays 2s anymore except when helping their friends, and everyone must do rBGs for points to get the gear they MUST have to compete.

When the goal is to attain everything you need to compete but there are no rewards for competing itself, competition dies. The game becomes another grind-fest no worthy of participation.