Well I will say that the reason i quit wow was the simple fact due to the hours i worked i could not get into raids and had done everything possible you can do solo or in 5 man runs to the point were i had 3 70s maxed, only thing that would get me anything new was raiding. The elite set guilds that did raid wouldn't even consider someone that could only go with them one or two days a week. If you don't have evenings free you can't raid usually.

All you need to know is that Blizzard is in this to make a profitable game. And by taking the steps they're taking, they continue to make the game profitable for the company. End of story really.

Welcome to World of Casualcraft tbh

Of course they want it dumbed down, face it, WoW is an easy game that designed from the starts to attract the most people, they think by making dumber they can claim a million more (they faking numbers anyway) subscribers.

WoW never offered to me any challenge and thats why I dont play it.\

Try EvE-Online, to pvp there is trully challenging because losing has some serious penalties.

Personally, I think WoW has become 'too easy', but this isn't necessarily just due to the changes coming in 2.4.

Recently I leveled my 4th character to 70. The previous three happened before the changes to XP in pre-Outlands questing, the 4th after the changes, and the difference is night and day. Pre-change, I would count myself lucky to get a level+ a day, with some heavy questing. After, I got from 56.5 to 60 in a long 6-hour grind and I still had leftover rested. I also managed to skip Tanaris almost altogether using my pre-change leveling path, and nearly Feralas as well.

How can't anyone spot the most obvious answer?
I mean, gear is becoming damn easy to get, even the "best" current instances are "publicly" available, and the whole content currently available is being opened more and more to the general public...

Why, is what you are asking... There is only one answer, I'd say.
Think about it, is there anything big coming up?
Something, that will probably render all current gear and every instance useless?

The answer is clearly Wrath of the Lich King.
Blizzard is prepping for the release by making a bigger base of players get to see the whole amount of current content available. They make everybody feel like kings for a couple of moths, and then bang, everyone is back at square one. No great epics, no attunements, no nothing completed. Everything you have done is worth nothing, and has to be done again anyways.

So no matter how much/little the game gets dumbed down, all those "raidnights after raidnights, week after week" are soon useless anyway.

Edit: Hmm, this might be enough to make an article... What do you think? Still, it's quite a rant =D
I tought this stuff is pretty much public knowledge...

I completely agree with the post form the thread. If you put your heart and soul into getting into the endgame content and finally accomplish it it's enough to make you cry when the gear you worked so hard to get is just being handed out like candy. I want the badge gear myself no doubt but this is devauling all the effort the big time guilds have put into obtaining the gear and their positions as the top guilds. So sad.

I read the whole thing and I agree with them removing the attunements for the reason he said in the article, For people to be able to experience all the different instances before WotLK.

First of all, dumping attunements is probably for one thing only.. Letting more people see and experience end game raids BEFORE WotLK. Second of all. The game has always been more casual then alot of the mmorpgs out there and it has indeed proven to be the best move they could ever have done since casual means more player, which means more money. All the gear they are handing out sure is nice, but then again.. WotLK is coming closer and closer so all that gear we see and like will be replaced pretty soon anyway, this is just a way of letting people who arent raiding experience the feel of beeing geared up.

And wtf is the matter with people complaining about badgegear? I play raids in this game for one thing, and one thing only. The fun of trying to bring down a boss, and this isn't something you can do with just good gear or even with the nerf they throw in. You need to cooperate, yell and look at eachother and really function as a grp to make these bosses go down. Even with the nerfs that isn't the easiest to do.

Thank you, someone understands what's actually going on here.

Yes, Blizz is in for the money, etc etc, but that's only the bottom line, Making a good game covers that without issue.

But Fnazze hit the nail on the head, and it's something that I've been asking for for a long time: The ability to see content without having to be a hardcore elite. Everyone already knows who the top guilds are on their server and in the world, this isn't taking anything away from them, it's opening it up the the people that would otherwise have absolutely no chance to see it. It's incrimental "dumbing" until the release of WotLK, which will reset the "ladder" once again. This answers the wants of both the hardcore and the more casual.

This is the nature of MMOs, to be completely honest. I've seen it before in previous games, and it'll pretty much always be the case. As content ages, it becomes more accessible to the general public. Blizzard is simply embracing this, rather than trying to prevent it.

People seriously need to read this before accusing Blizzard of trying to "claim another million."

I can't find anything wrong with the above post.

EDIT: It still will take "days and days" to get the said badges. And it's not like people with BT-like gear will be skilled enough to clear Hyjal/BT if they are fresh 70s and don't have 9 other level 70s.

The attunements aren't dumbing it down, they're just a pain.

What is dumbing down the game is the removal of AoE attacks from breaking crowd control. Come on, lets leave some small amount of skill in this game of button mashing.

I have not even made it to a high enough level to do these dungeons , and I don't think it is fair that they are just handing out things for badges , There are to many who worked their behinds off to get the things they are now handing out , if they are going to change it, then they need to give the ones who worked their butts off something extra in some way

majority wins, learn it, live it, deal with it

Removal of attunement doesn't make the game more easy, but make the content more accessible.
Go in Black Temple with your green gear and face the truth...

However, change in AoE move not breaking CC do make the game easier.
One of the biggest druid concern was swiping without breaking CC. (flip mob, move, train them to another location, etc). This won't be necessary anymore. This make the game easier for this particular role.

If dumbing down means that I might actually see Black Temple one day without devoting my life to Raiding, then by all means:
Dumb it down.

"At least pretend that hardcore raiders are important and introduce some kind of reward or recognition"

you are not a beautiful and unique snow flake, neither are you in any way as special as your mother tells you.

The World of Warcraft is not meant to be a measure of Self-Esteem. If your value as a person hangs on the state of your gear, them you need to stop playing and go find some real friends to show you what having a real life means.

When everyone is special, no one will be. This is their fear. It's called balance. They fear balance, just as much as PvPers fear it. Balance=No Edge.