Goodbye Hunter Forum?
[edit: Please see the update at the end of this post.]
So Blizzard has announced that they will be shutting down the official class forums and replacing them with three role-based forums: Tanking, Healing, and Damage Dealing.
(Actually, it looks like the EU will be keeping their class forums, and Tyren posted later in the same thread to say that depending on feedback, the US might keep theirs as well.)
Why am I posting about this? It’s not directly pet-related, after all. But I am very curious to know how often people go to the Hunter forum, both now and when you first started playing a hunter.
My own reaction, which I left as feedback for Blizzard, is that while the class forums are a noisy, less than optimal learning environment, they do have the big advantage of being an obvious place to start for many players.
Utterly confused about how to feed your pet on your brand-new level 10 hunter? You might try Googling it, but for many gamers the first place to try is the forums — most likely the class forums, since feeding your hunter pet is obviously a hunter issue.
You may or may not have your question answered (and it may or may not be quick, accurate, or helpful) but the hunter forum acts as an accumulator for new hunters and therefore for some people who like answering new hunter questions — like me, when I have time.
But that’s just my experience. I’m curious to know how other people use the Blizzard class forums. Do you go there regularly? If so, what draws you? And will that draw be handled better or worse by the role-based tank, heal, and DPS forums?
[edit] As Jester points out in the comments, Blizzard has now updated their announcement to indicate that the class forums will be staying with us (although they do note that the focus of their posting about class roles will on the role-based forums).
I’m still very interested to hear whether or not you use the Blizzard forums, and if so how often and for what specific reasons.
54 Comments
I think that if anything this will make the forums much noisier and far less organized or helpful. Now instead of just filtering through hunter noise on the forums while looking for the little nugget of real info, I’ll also have to filter through rouge, warlock, mage, shadow priest, exc. exc. noise, and if these people feel tempted to post on a hunter related thread, there’s a VERY good chance they will have no real idea what they’re talking about.
I really think this is a bad change. All it will do is allow people who like nothing better then to flame x class a better oppurtunity to do it. I also feel that yea, while the forum comminity isn’t great for newbie hunters, it still provided some help, and I know I try to make helpful posts to the new hunters when I can. I’m sure there are others that do it, and I don’t think the new hunters will be able to ask any questions without getting flamed for a few pages.
I’m really only drawn to the hunter forum for the discussions about shot rotations/specs that trickle down from EJ, and also helping the new people. With this change, I see myself only going to EJ or Brig’s forums.
I used to use the official forums all the time as I was learning to play the game. Now I spend a lot more time on blogs like your own, forums for certain guilds, and the various wikis.
But I still check the official forums every now and then. Like you said, they’re the first place I’d go if I was a new player and there are still guides in some of the forums that are very useful. Also, often you can quickly catch up on what the hot issues are by scanning the first couple pages of the forums.
About the prosed change, I agree it’s a bad idea. There’s a ton of information that’s class specific that simply wouldn’t be as easy to find in role-focused forums.
Pets are an obvious example. A thread about improving DPS with exotic pets seems easy — put it in the dps forums (where you’d expect hunter stuff to be). But want to know more about using a tenacity pet for tanking? Where should you look first — the dps forum or the tanking forum?
It gets even worse with hybrid classes. Does it really improve things to spread all the druid threads across the tanking, healing and dps forums. Into which one would you put a thread about the druid epic flight form quest?
Adding role-based forums as *additional forums* might make sense (I actually wonder if it wouldn’t just be pouring gasoline on the class v. class flame wars and QQing).
But replacing the class forums with role ones just doesn’t.
I think it’s a horrible idea really. While I understand why they might do this, (to stop the “go back to your own forum _________” crap) as has been said, the class forums are the very first place new players go. You know what will happen is threads will develop named after each class and they’ll effectively have nested forums within forums, except for two key differences. Threads have a set amount of replies AND they are prone to implosion.
Bad idea. Keep the class forums as they are. They need to stop being lazy, use some of that HUGE MOUND OF MONEY we give them and hire more moderators.
Next they’ll just rename the classes after the new forums and simplify even more!
This makes no sense to me. As other posters have pointed out- Pidge especially - having class specific forums allows everyone to stay with-in their comfort zone while asking questions related to a certain class. And all the info is fairly easy to find… when the search feature actually works!
Heck, when I was playing a paladin for a while I was posting more regularly on the pally board than to the hunters, even though my signature remained my typical hunter signature. I would always ask questions on the Pally board then swing over to the Hunter board to check and see if any newbie hunter questions needed answering, sometimes posting on my pally because I forgot to switch avatars between posts.
I’ve not been to the official forums since the 3.0.2 changes have gone live. I was barely there while testing the PTR changes out. I often end up getting a majority of my news from WoWInsider, Mania, BRK, and the other blogs I have side-barred on my blog.
Three forums… and hunters in the DPS forums… gods I can see the nasty posts now. >.< Though, I could also see a question from a hunter : “How do I kill a Warlock in PvP?” being answered by several warlocks with a “this is how you kill us.” But, we get that kind of news already from those kind enough to frequent the hunter forum.
Of course, on the flip side, blizzard would only have three forums to deal with and post to, so with three forums instead of having nine (with death knights added) it would make blue posters less needed. Hey, you only have to have three blues instead of nine and who cares if those three only play one of the classes… if its a DPS, Tank, and a Healer then everything is covered… right?
Yes, I know I’m cynical when it comes to things like this… I’m the kind of person that dislikes change. I’ve seen Blizzard screw up a few times already, kinda happens when playing for three years in one class.
I really don’t see it being much of a difference. Honestly, I found only the beta-hunter Forum and the suggestion forum to be decent. The current Hunter forum (mind you I’m US) is 95% trash in my opinion. Most people who have legitimate class questions either get directed here (if they’re hunters), BRK’s page, other class-famous blogs or Elitist Jerks. Many people know better than to even ask for class help on those forums because of “QQ newb” “quit your class” and other like-minded nasty replies people get.
The only forums I even find myself touching daily is the WotLK forum, Beta Forum, General Forum and PTR when that’s up. I went maybe once or twice a week to the Hunter class forums both when I joined WoW and currently.
I guess I don’t really care for the change. It won’t make matters better or worse in my opinion. If people need questions answered, it’s better to ask in game, or research it on google then touch the “cesspool known as class forums” as most of my realm calls them.
I think this change is going to be the opening of a huge flame war that will need MORE moderation than separate class forums….
I very seriously hope they decide against it.
Bad idea. All DPS in one forum?? Good lord, what a nightmare. Not to mention the pages would flow so fast it would be insane.
I don’t go to the forums very often but this seems like a REALLY BAD IDEA. Hunters and Warlocks on the same forum? Considering how much hate BM hunters get from locks alone, I see this being very bad for multiple classes since they either don’t like each other or argue that theirs is better. I bet this idea was drafted by the same guy who put in A Mask for All Ocassions!
On the brighthand, BRK and Mania’s forums will be all the more important and popular :-D
I hit a point where I feel like we should just shut down the forums period.
Right on, Seidouyumi. Have you seen how caustic it is over there? It’s all insults or spam. There are friendly, helpful forum communities that feel like little families, and then there are ones that revolve around bickering and insults that aren’t any fun to visit. Blizz has the later.
I wouldn’t mind if blizzard deleted their forums entirely. People get away with saying all kinds of pointless crap and just being generally mean spirited to each other and no real discussion is ever had.
I hit the Bliz forums daily, and I think this is a horrid idea. The average person posting a honest question will have his post on page 3 before he gets any replies due to the ongoing discussions. There’s entirely too much posting to have this work.
Class forums aren’t being deleted.
http://blue.mmo-champion.com/1/12065149823-class-forum-change.html
Yeah. The DPS forums are going to be the scariest thing in the history of WoW-dom D:
I like going to the hunter forums to read hunter stuff, not general dps stuff :(
Jester: Thanks for pointing out that update!
yeah i love hunter forums how els would we talk bout oter classes behind there backs!! O= O_o lol
I don’t want to read about the best spec for mages, or the most useful demon for a warlock. I use the hunter forums more than any other Blizz forum, so I don’t see why Blizz should get rid of it.
I don’t go near the Blizz forums, mainly because the one time I did (to suggest that pets should get cosmetic gear like collars or armor) not only did I get flamed for the suggestion, I also got a bunch of people not reading the post at all and started complaining and whining. (saying that pets shouldn’t get extra armor etc even tho I said it should be cosmetic, just to look cool)
I have been playing a Hunter since Valentines day 2007, and although I have 2 other 70’s she is my main, I love her to death.
I am not a big fan of the official forums. I feel that it is, overall, too negative of an environment and puts a lot of emphasis on certain things (serious arena, serious raiding)… and I REALLY dislike the “spec peer pressure”. During BC, if you didn’t spec 41/20/0 Beast Mastery, you were laughed at. And now, going back just recently… it’s the Beast Masters getting laughed at, especially Beast Masters with exotic pets. It just runs rampant and I can’t be in an environment where people don’t support playing the playstyle you like best.
That said, I have seen some VERY helpful posts and threads there that I refer to often and even link to on my blog. So it can be a valuable resource, but really… do tread with caution, and don’t let the negative people get to you.
They changed their minds. The class forums will stay online along the 3 new forums. Confusing.
Announced today.
I agree with Pike… in the middle of the annoying and sometimes rude posts, there is some excellent infos and I like to help the new Hunters with legitimate questions. But it’s true that 75% of the actual posts are about complaining, key loggers and whining.
The problem is not enough moderation by Blizzard…
PS: sorry for the double post, I clicked “Submit” too early ;)
I must admit, due to the immense amounts of trash on the official forums, I ONLY go there if someone links me to a particularly funny or interesting thread. Apart from that, I stay away. There are plenty of other places to get serious and good advice and information (like here, for example!), so I see no need to bother with the chaos.
I don’t visit the WoW forums, due to the overall negative nature of forums in general, however I feel that a dps forum would be even more problematic.
Gypsyrose-being able to outfit your pet with customizable collars and stuff would be fantastic. The only reason I started playing this game (besides peer pressure ;P) was because I could roll a class where I could tame pets and name them. Being able to customize your pets appearance would be awesome.
In fact…my warlock would be a much higher level if I could name her demons. :P
In the beginning i used WoW forums alot, but must admit that when i discovered petopia i always went here for my pet related question.. but other stuff like interface and shot rotations i still go to the forums. I think its a very bad idea to remove the class forums.
To be honest I dont really use forums…It takes to long to find the info I am looking for. Infact, Petopia is the only place I go for all my hunter info and questions. It’s small, straight to the point, and very very informative. Though, I would think that the removal of class forums would be a really bad idea. If its hard enough to find the info your looking for unde clas forums, then its deffinitally going to be even harder to find the info under such general forums…
My sentiment is that it seems the people from Blend Tech have infiltraited Blizzard… Where once there was a cesspool of a-holes, they wish to make is an arena filled with shite & Golgothi…
or in simpler terms: It’s not going to affect me as I gave up on trying to get usefull info from the forums since the inception of arena… too many kids whining about XYZ and telling others to stfu because of arena rating and lesser extent lack of high end raid gear..
I Never read the wow forums, and never will, unless they start moderating them in a proper fashion. Considering that you have to sign into your account to post, there’s no excuse for allowing all the trolling that goes on.
I never, ever used the Blizzard forums. I found them too noisy, too hectic, too rude, and too… well… cluttered. Thus, when I look for something, I turn to Google and to my main places for hunter information (Petopia, BigRedKitty, and WOWHead).
That being said, I think that gathering all the ‘class’ boards into three major ones is just the worst idea ever. Because, tell me: is a Fighter doing DPS the same as a Hunter doing DPS? What about a Hunter and a Mage? And a Mage and a Shadow Priest? How about that Shadow Priest and a Ret Paladin? … you see why I personally think this is the worst idea ever?
If I’m looking for a general idea on how to do epic damage, I don’t want to have to wade through 5 zillion rogues giving ideas on stunlock, 5 zillion fighters comparing attack rotations, and 5 zillion mages debating the best DPS between fire spec and arcane spec. I want to go directly to where all the hunters are and ask them ‘Hey! How do I do epic damage?’. Because a hunter will have a different outlook on how to do the best damage (”3:2 Steady Shot macro”) than a Rogue (”SS until you have 5 combo points, then Eviscerate and repeat”), a feral Druid (”Forget mangle; in raid you want to use Shred and Rip”), or a mage (”Lots of Fireballs will do better than one Pyroblast!”).
Note: the above are not examples of *real* theorycraft, so don’t get into debate; I’m probably wrong about all of them. I was just giving examples of how vastly different the ‘damage dealing’ would be between the groups. ;)
Anyway, my thought: bad idea. Don’t do it, Blizz!
Meh Oboards=Plague if i want to talk about hunter stuff i use allakhazam.com or MMO-champion.
why on earth would blizzard do that to the forums? stupid idea.
Too bad the forums aren’t dissappearing. It seems to be the griefers area of fun - bordering on rude and crude most of the time, but there is some good info to be gleam from them. And of course it doesn’t help that “how to search” isn’t explained very good and the same questions keep getting asked over and over and over (HELP! How do I feed my pet, lol.).
I rarely go there anymore, instead relaying on bloggs such as this one for information needed. (Thank you Mania)
If the forums are to be kept, then the forums do need to be re-organized. For example, the section on guilds looking for new members needs to be re-done. Should be broken down into the realms 1st, then horde or alliance under the realm, then the guilds wanting/looking for new blood. Instead of having every realm jumbled up in one huge mess.
( Continued from above - oops, like Pepp above - hand locked up and submitted to early.)
Blizz could do what they want but put a sub cat under the “DPS” breaking it down (for example) “Hunters”,”Others”, etc. Then maybe breaking each of those down to (again for example) “Hunter Armor”, “Hunter Talents”, “Hunter Weapons”, “Hunter Pets”, “Hunter play” and “Hunter anything else”. But the griefers would have a field day.
Sorry, there goes more insight into how I think. Everything has a box and into the box it goes…. Happy Holloween
As a tank, I love the change. Getting a better feel for how the other tanking classes work makes my job that much easier as both a raid leader and tank.
As a hunter, I am unsure. there are sooo many dps classes/specs out there, that the dps forums will be a mess for a long while. I think that in the short-term, you will see alot of misinformation being passed around, but that overall you will see large quantities of good information actually start coming out of the role forums. Rogues will have a better understanding of how hunter dps works. Shamans will learn how to better optimize their totems/dps for other classes relying on them. It will be a good overall experience I think, and also allow for more “general” dps questions to be asked and answered without wading through 8 individual forums looking for answers.
I’m glad they’re keeping the class forums. We can always browse through other class forums to get a feel for how they work (or just talk to them in game), but I think a dps-only forum would get really crowded and confusing. Tank/healer ones might be okay, but since any class can try out a dps spec, dps forums by themselves probably wouldn’t work.
After that long speech, no I don’t read blizzard forums at all. If I have a class-specific problem/question that I absolutely can’t resolve on my own, I ask in guild (or the class leader or other knowledgable person in guild). We have class-specific forums in our guild forums, and most of the tougher stuff (for me at least) can be answered in the stickies there. Specific macros and mods and weapons (and possibly a link to something explaining why that faster/slower bow is better for X spec) are all on there.
My two cents….
I rarely visit forums other than to try to garner a specific answer or out of sheer boredom. When I do, however, I typically use the Wowhead ones vs. the blizzard supplied ones as I feel they are more compact (if that makes sense) and I can usually find my answer faster.
IMO, a large majority of forums are fairly mean spirited, actually. Elitist, if you will. I am not, nor will I ever be, some uber-hunter that has done all, seen all, knows it all and is geared out the wazoo. I respect those that are, for the commitment it takees is epic (no pun intended ;) ) but….this game and forums in particular seem to bring out a mean-spiritedness in a lot of those people. I don’t appreciate being called a “noob” because I have not raided the Sunwell, may never do it and yet I may want to learn something new anyway.
Forums, in many ways, are just vehicles for people to show their arrogance and how easily they forget that, at some point in time, they were once a “noob” too.
…btw, that is why I enjoy your pages so much, as they are a refreshing break. Supportive, knowledgable, helpful people make up 99% of the posters in here. I may say something idiotic, or that is not agreed upon by the majority, but here I know that it may cause a spirited ‘debate’, but I will not get royally flamed for it either.
This idea is bad bad bad.
1. Look at the hunter forum, when a rogue, warrior, mage, etc posts there, its all insults, flames, and attacks. This goes for all forums.
2. It’s hard enough to find real, useful hunter information in the hunter forum. Now make it 1 forum for EVERY DPS class (hunter, rogue, warrior, paladin, druid, shaman, mage, warlock, death knight, priest)…yeah, that’s going to make it easier to find useful info. This will cause even more reposts of similar info as everything will fall down the page so fast that within a few seconds of posting, your post will already be on the 2nd or 3rd page, unanswered as no one saw it.
3. Hybrid classes have no where to go at all.
I really don’t think they’ve thought this idea through. I occasionally hit the forums if I’m looking for some specific issue, or opinions on an upcoming change to our class…but there is no way I’d waste my time going to this general of a forum.
I wasn’t too thrilled about the forum change when I read about it earlier. While role forums could be handy in some ways, I tend to think that class forums are ultimately more useful.
The how-to’s of the roles vary by class. If I have a tanking question related to my warrior, I’d rather go to the warrior forum than to a general tanking forum. Sure, druids, paladins, and warriors can all tank, but they do it differently. I know some truly amazing druid and pally tanks, but I don’t go to them for warrior tanking tips, advice, or commentary.
The same goes for my other characters. I imagine a hunter related question in a general dps forum is going to end up with plenty of trolling responses from other dps classes. It’ll also be tougher to find useful information posted by others due to the sheer volume that lumping so many classes together will create.
And then there are the classes who can do multiple roles. I suspect there will be many posts in the ‘wrong’ forum from hybrids who have something to say that’s not definitively dps, tanking, or healing.
I really have to wonder if reducing the number of forums is simply a way to attempt to reduce the workload of the CM’s. I think that ultimately, getting rid of class forums will lead to less communication and a reduced exchange of information among the players.
I agree with the sentiments of pretty much everybody above who has posted. While we do know that they won’t be dismissing the class forums, role-specific forums (especially on the WoW site) would be a mess of flamers and trolls. If they were thinking to lessen the load on the CM’s, they’re doing just the opposite.
Because the game mechanics were always so different for each class (a rogue does not DPS the same way a hunter or a mage does, for instance), there has never been any particular need for role-specific forums since each class filled it’s own niche.
However, with all the “homogenization” passing around after patch 3.0 and further into WotLK (equality in classes?! /gasp), there may be some small amount of utility if certain classes need to ask general raid or PvP questions (i.e. “How do I tank so-and-so”, “What gems do I use to raise my dps in this fight?”, and other generally vague questions). I do think it’ll be a total mess with all the idiocy and bad manners that run rampant on the WoW forums, though.
Thank god for user-friendly blogs like your own, Mania! Being only a recent blogger myself, I can honestly say I have gleaned more information and gotten more help (and in a very timely manner!) from yours and several other sites than WoW ever has. EVER. ^^
The Blizzard forums are a cesspool, I haven’t bothered to look there in years. Fortunately there are people out there who run places like this for the benefit of all, and the atmosphere is so much easier to breathe here. :)
Uh…
I’ve never used the forums. Or read them, for that matter.
I prefer the Arcania. ;)
I’ve never once gone to the forums. Even when just starting out it was easier to ask in game or(unlike a lot of players) read quest, NPC, and skill text to learn how to do this and that.
I never read the forums unless directed to a specific one that’s useful. Back when there were no online help sites like Wowhead or Wowwiki I went to the forums once or twice - but was so turned off by “teh prowdlee stupidz” and the bile that I never went back. Now I find that many people will ask questions in general chat and other players will quickly give them info, usually suggesting websites. No one ever suggests the forums. Frankly because the information is unorganized and there are too many useless comments that one must slog through to find anything useful.
My first thought when I heard about this was that Blizzard was looking far ahead to the potentially troublesome economy, and their upcoming holiday season/expansion which will mean a larger workload. If things get worse - longterm - than many people will stop their subscriptions, knowing that their characters will be saved in cold storage whenever they can return. Short term I’m sure it has something to do with workload. Many people have no idea how many hours it takes to do customer service - which is basically what those manning the forums are doing, not to mention the in game GMs taking care of tickets and sending those email replies. All of those instances have to be documented (GMs have to show what they’ve been doing for their paycheck). And there are the phones to be answered - even though the numbers aren’t given out people will still call in. Want to know who was doing some of the random grunt work at Blizzcon? Customer Service people. Major companies use their CS workers for a LOT of different jobs - there’s NEVER a time when they’re not incredibly busy. And to do that job you have to train people - you can’t just toss anyone into the mix straight out of a job interview. So decreasing the forum work would lessen the workload. With WotLK coming out and the holiday season the CS work will only increase, and Blizz may be thinking ahead to try and make it a more manageable job.
I no longer use the class forums, nor do I go to the official forums at all. As a result, my enjoyment of the game has recovered significantly. The amount of complaining that occurs on the forums guarantee that I will leave feeling less happy about the game, whereas the game is fine if I just play it. And the amount of puffing and strutting some people do is often sickening. I wouldn’t mind if the class forums disappeared. It might cut down on the class-crying if people had to do it in a forum where the other classes posted — does one really want to whine about the inability of one’s class to DPS around other people who are looking to do the same job in a group? Or admit to priests and shamans that paladins are a bad healing class (this is hypothetical; my paladin is 14 so I don’t know)?
I also wish Blizzard would put the “Welcome to WoW” forum where people might find it more easily. It would be a fine place to ask how to feed one’s pet, and the hunter math can still go to the DPS forum.
I meant “nor do I go to the official forums much at all.”
I occasionally check the class forums when levelling a new character, and wanting to learn a decent talent build, and what not. Sites like ElitistJerks tend to only talk about endgame, so I’ve found the official forums the best spot for things before that.
Not a bad idea. I find the official class forums to be pretty much useless anyway, just nothing but people whining and complaining all the time. Maybe this new way will be better? I doubt it though…
The official Blizzard forums are a cesspit that I avoid if at all possible. I much prefer coming here!
q-”I must admit, due to the immense amounts of trash on the official forums, I ONLY go there if someone links me to a particularly funny or interesting thread. Apart from that, I stay away. There are plenty of other places to get serious and good advice and information (like here, for example!), so I see no need to bother with the chaos.”
/agree completely
I go there all the time.I’ve helped many people new to being hunters over there,as have many others.Sure they get massive doses of the “STFU L2P” crowd,but they eventually get help if they need it.
What was really needed in my opinion,was a separate forum for each talent tree.MM hunter threads always degenerated into “spec BM” when they really just wanted to talk to fellow marksmen about how to improve in their chosen spec.And survival almost always just got laughed at.
Instead they decide to “homogenize” all into DPS,Healers,and Tanking.Which is just silly really.A hunter does not need advice about stacking spell power,nor does a mage need assistance choosing the right +Agility enchants/gems.
While I see great sense in having forums for roles, my first thought about this was that no one will want to know about or care about hunter pets and their specs. I have seen some of the more recent comments about the likes of Mortal Strike from the devs and how they see homogenisation as a bad thing. Also the idea of roles doesn’t cover solo play well. Where are you supposed to talk about how well a pet bear can tank or how well a warrior can farm? I think that having the 2 would be smarter but that would also make it more complex for the devs to keep track of stuff.
I do not approve. :(
The hunter forums are noisy enough, with cross-class bashing, trolling, etc.
I think this will only get WORSE if we lump classes together based on role.
I do think that a Tank, Healer, and DPS set of forums would be an interesting addition, but NOT at the cost of our class-specific forums.
It won’t be funny when I go to the tanking forum asking pet related tanking questions… *shudder*
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