Friday, May 29, 2009

10 reasons to QQ

I've noticed lately how there seems to be more and more whining/qq about the game everywhere. Of course there are some who seem to have turned QQ into a profession, but mostly we love this game, right?

Right.

So why then does there seem to be such an increase in whiners at the moment?

Over the past couple of days I've asked this to some people and the answer were very varied. I figured I would start with giving the 10 reasons I think that people QQ mostly, and on the right you will find a poll, so you can let me know what your number 1 reason is to QQ. The poll will stay open until next week Friday. I'm curious to see the answers!

1. Class Imbalance (perceived/actual)
Number one by a big lead I think (we'll see) is class balance. People seem to constantly be scared that Blizzard favors one class over the other and I honestly think that every class is by now OP except the one that is the choice of the QQing player.

I think it's actually rather funny how you see just about every class going on about how badly designed their class/abilities are compared to all the other classes. Everybody wants to be more powerful, and everybody feels that the rest has gotten more and better tools to work with.

I think in reality it rarely happens that a class stays OP for too long, if there even are seriously OP classes. Simply because it isn't in Blizz's best interest to create class imbalance. If a class is indeed too powerful compared to other classes Blizzard will discuss it and fix it as soon as they have found a way to do so without breaking the game.

But, as I work in an IT company, I can tell you that fixing one thing can often lead to another falling over. Class balance is the same thing. Fix the DK, and see all the other tanks become OP. Give the pallie healer more tools, and watch the other healing classes cry. Give a rogue an extra, and hey wait...why is that fury warrior doing so much dps...oh crap, it's because we did so and so to the rogue.

Blizzard must have a hell of a job to keep the balance of classes just that, balanced, and I salute them for doing a pretty darn good job.

2. Loot
Ninja whining is probably about the most common type of loot QQ, but there are other types of loot whining. So and so item doesn't drop often enough, or it drops too often. The stats are wrong, the color is wrong, the look is wong altogether, or hey, why on earth can priests not use swords.

3. Other Players
Good players whine about bad players spoiling their raids, and bad players whine about good players not wanting to bring them along. Then there is of course all the guild drama, raid drama...WoW.com has a whole lot of examples of drama involving other players.

4. Patch Day
The closer a patch day comes, the more QQing I seem to see. People are always scared for change, and we have seen a lot of big changes in a very short time in the game.

The other type of QQ you see around patch day is of course the 'your addon is out of date' fear. I mean lets face it, having to update most of your addons just isn't fun. And in the worst case you'll find out that your much beloved addon isn't supported at all anymore, and you'll have to find an alternative.

5. Boredom
I think this is currently a big reason behind the QQ. In fact, if I myself would QQ this would be my reason. I now have levelled 3 characters to 80, and am working on 4 and 5, and I've seen the content.

This reason is not often recognized as it is though. People complain about quests, about dungeons, about all sorts of stuff, but in the end it just comes down to being bored. And I guess the whole being bored can come with a fear of not feeling motivated to play at all anymore, and losing the game you have cherised and loved for so long. And what then to do in the time you just gained by not playing?

6. Too Difficult/Easy
In BC we heard the whole too difficult a lot. And I have to say, it was hard progression. My guild managed to get Illidan down before WotLK, but not before the famous patch that made it all easier. And we never even saw Sunwell until we were all level 80 and went back for our achievement.

Now however you often hear complaints about things being too easy. I can sort of agree to a point that I do feel that Blizzard has made the progression rate too easy. Not so much the raiding, but the dungeons and questing.

I remember doing quests in Netherstorm that really required a group to do, but this time around the most difficult quests still only required two. I think a lot of people are done with the casual content, the content that you can just slip in for an hour. And maybe, just maybe, it had been better for the game to make the dungeons slightly less easy.

7. PVP
There are various reasons people would QQ about PVP. It can be the battle ground layout, or the arena size/shape/objects. It can also be abilities used against them, or in the case of Wintergraps lag issues, or the fact that defending is easier than attacking or the other way around.

Justified QQ or not, PVP is definitely one of the number one causes for some good old whining.

8. Summer
Ahhh..sun, beach, trees, cloudless skies...who wants to be inside when there's all that to enjoy out into the Real World. A lot of guilds will soon start feeling it again, in fact I think it has already started happening. The summer lull.

People take holidays, go outside more often, or simply don't feel much like playing in this time of year. To all the QQers with this problem I would say, "It happens every year, it'll be better in fall, you'll see."

9. Blue QQ
GC never checks my threads, GC probably thinks that shaman are OP, GC needs to check out engineering. CHECK THIS OUT GC!

People QQ when they get a blue tag, and they QQ when they don't get a blue response..make up your mind people.

10. Technical Issues
This, to a certain extent, is actually a very valid QQ at times. If the server is down, the server is down. The lag in Wintergrasp is causing the game to be less fun, people not being able to connect due to problems with authenticating...no fun.

All I can say about any type of QQ is that in the end it just doesn't make the game more fun. It only makes people get snarky at each other and dislike the game more. It makes people quit guilds, and give up something they really enjoyed.

My suggestion for it all?

Lets QQ a bit less, and make the WoW a better place. Kay?

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Edit: AAAARGH...the polls don't work!! WHINE QQ CRY!

I'll come back with it later...

5 comments:

  1. Needs moar rogue lewtz!

    Arena... definitely makes me swear. Want to know the irony? I hate other rogues in pvp. Only I should get to use those abilities!! LOL

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  2. Hmm test comment, tried to add my armory to as at the end of my posts from now on.

    ;)

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  3. I tend to whine most about loot and other people.

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  4. I don't QQ so much.

    I like to QQ for stupid things like : "why is that the only agility food is fish, that you can only fish in one lake, in stupid pools, and of course, someone else is already fishing in it..."

    But I try not to complain too hard, I make it fun and silly, because it's a game, I prefer to turn it to ridicul... ^_^

    Nef

    Recent blog post: Making the big jump…

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  5. I think the biggest reason that people QQ more now is simply the rate of change. Blizzard has picked up the pace of change and the QQ is following, that's all.

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