Wow has lost its touch. Is cata responsible?

[tekac]

I totally agree with silencer, but I thought this particular sentence was worth the quote... may even make it my signature

I completely agree with this statement. Vanilla WOW was where it was it in regards to community. Mainly because of the huge influx from Everquest IMO. There was a wait period in between EQ and WoW/EQ2 coming out.

The community on Everquest still is amazing, it is such a HUGE difference its not even funny. I have been playing EQ for a few weeks and its astounding. I just got back into multiboxing and now have 5 WoW accounts and I don't feel like talking to anyone because its all hatred. Crap like "WTF U NOOB"

[Yahtzee]

I completely agree with this statement. Vanilla WOW was where it was it in regards to community. Mainly because of the huge influx from Everquest IMO. There was a wait period in between EQ and WoW/EQ2 coming out.

The community on Everquest still is amazing, it is such a HUGE difference its not even funny. I have been playing EQ for a few weeks and its astounding. I just got back into multiboxing and now have 5 WoW accounts and I don't feel like talking to anyone because its all hatred. Crap like "WTF U NOOB"

Not only that, people actually go out of their way to attack you (Verbally, not referring to PvP). I've had people just sit in a battleground and do nothing other than insult and call me down to the dirt. I used to get it here-and-there back in Wrath, but it has gotten so much worse in Cataclysm.

It really ruins the experience at times. For example, last week I was doing 5v5's (I quad-box with a separate person healing me) and knocked out 3 of the opposing teams members while still having everyone alive. The last two people alive were two rogues, and they would stealth around the map and grab the shadow sights and instantly restealth. Even if I got to knock them out of stealth, they would just cloak and vanish, so it was a cat and mouse game the entire time. Other members of their team would create characters on my server with offensive names and whisper obscenities to me, all the while saying they weren't going to let me win because I was boxing.

It was clear that what they were doing was harassment, so we opened a GM ticket and explained the situation. The GM watched the rest of the match (20-25 minutes worth) and seen the vulgar whispers I was getting but did nothing to intervene in the match, I was actually in awe. This team had successfully wasted 45 minutes of my night because they were vehemently opposed to my multi-boxing.

What really bothers me is.. the next day we opened another GM ticket for clarification of the situation and we were told they are in fact allowed to intervene in arena matches under those circumstances.

[Ualaa]

Not only that, people actually go out of their way to attack you (Verbally, not referring to PvP). I've had people just sit in a battleground and do nothing other than insult and call me down to the dirt. I used to get it here-and-there back in Wrath, but it has gotten so much worse in Cataclysm.

It really ruins the experience at times. For example, last week I was doing 5v5's (I quad-box with a separate person healing me) and knocked out 3 of the opposing teams members while still having everyone alive. The last two people alive were two rogues, and they would stealth around the map and grab the shadow sights and instantly restealth. Even if I got to knock them out of stealth, they would just cloak and vanish, so it was a cat and mouse game the entire time. Other members of their team would create characters on my server with offensive names and whisper obscenities to me, all the while saying they weren't going to let me win because I was boxing.

It was clear that what they were doing was harassment, so we opened a GM ticket and explained the situation. The GM watched the rest of the match (20-25 minutes worth) and seen the vulgar whispers I was getting but did nothing to intervene in the match, I was actually in awe. This team had successfully wasted 45 minutes of my night because they were vehemently opposed to my multi-boxing.

What really bothers me is.. the next day we opened another GM ticket for clarification of the situation and we were told they are in fact allowed to intervene in arena matches under those circumstances.

I'd be very inclined to post their comments (screen shots) along with the GM responses that this is a valid tactic in World of Warcraft.
Make a post on a few sites, like MMO-Champion... to the effect, does Blizzard really want this in their game?

While a GM might think nothing is wrong with it, I can pretty much guarantee the higher ups in Blizzard don't want this kind of negative publicity associated with their game.

If it's okay now, it probably won't be okay in the future if you post it a bit, so potential customers don't want to play in an environment where this is explicitly allowed.

If it is okay for five players to do this to a boxer, it's also okay for five players to do this to another five players... so post this as a valid tactic on arena junkies.

[Yahtzee]

I'd be very inclined to post their comments (screen shots) along with the GM responses that this is a valid tactic in World of Warcraft.
Make a post on a few sites, like MMO-Champion... to the effect, does Blizzard really want this in their game?

While a GM might think nothing is wrong with it, I can pretty much guarantee the higher ups in Blizzard don't want this kind of negative publicity associated with their game.

If it's okay now, it probably won't be okay in the future if you post it a bit, so potential customers don't want to play in an environment where this is explicitly allowed.

If it is okay for five players to do this to a boxer, it's also okay for five players to do this to another five players... so post this as a valid tactic on arena junkies.

I'll try to put together a cohesive packet of screen shots and GM responses, I'm almost positive that I captured most of everything. I'll see if MMO champ is interested in posting it, too. It was definitely a frustrating situation that the GM was okay with just sitting there and watching it happen.

What's worse, the week after a different team 'tried' to do the same thing. They weren't quite as graceful though, and didn't waste too much time. I'm worried that this is going to become a problem week after week without a chance of recourse. ;\

[Anthrox]

Normally I'd be taking a break from WoW about this time, but the one thing that those sneaky bastards put in Cata that keeps me logging back in is the Guild Level. Leveling up a guild takes a while for a normal guild, but it's an insane timesink for a multiboxer. I just want to have the same benefits others get with a max guild level, so I grind every day.

I'm also thinking about doing a 70-74 arena bracket team -- leveling up team 4 now and that guild level 20 heirloom item is on my want list.

I'm making progress (will ding guild level 20 in a week), so I keep logging in. Once I hit 25 though, I think I'm taking a break.

[zenga]

It really ruins the experience at times. For example, last week I was doing 5v5's (I quad-box with a separate person healing me) and knocked out 3 of the opposing teams members while still having everyone alive. The last two people alive were two rogues, and they would stealth around the map and grab the shadow sights and instantly restealth. Even if I got to knock them out of stealth, they would just cloak and vanish, so it was a cat and mouse game the entire time. Other members of their team would create characters on my server with offensive names and whisper obscenities to me, all the while saying they weren't going to let me win because I was boxing.

It was clear that what they were doing was harassment, so we opened a GM ticket and explained the situation. The GM watched the rest of the match (20-25 minutes worth) and seen the vulgar whispers I was getting but did nothing to intervene in the match, I was actually in awe. This team had successfully wasted 45 minutes of my night because they were vehemently opposed to my multi-boxing.

What really bothers me is.. the next day we opened another GM ticket for clarification of the situation and we were told they are in fact allowed to intervene in arena matches under those circumstances.

The obscenities shouldn't determine the outcome of the match. Yet I agree obscenities should be punished, though people tend to have a different sensitivity meter.

Either way, let's say that the killed guys did not log on to your realm and whisper you. But the rogues would sitll play hide and seek, yet their motivation is still the same: you are a boxer and they don't let you win. Would you still consider that a 45m waist of your time?

In the end you are the boxer, you are the one who can't deal with 2 hiding rogues. Stealth, cloack of shadows, vanish are class abilities. You should know that the moment you step into arena. And if you disagree you could always forfeit the game.

[Yahtzee]

The obscenities shouldn't determine the outcome of the match. Yet I agree obscenities should be punished, though people tend to have a different sensitivity meter.

Either way, let's say that the killed guys did not log on to your realm and whisper you. But the rogues would sitll play hide and seek, yet their motivation is still the same: you are a boxer and they don't let you win. Would you still consider that a 45m waist of your time?

In the end you are the boxer, you are the one who can't deal with 2 hiding rogues. Stealth, cloack of shadows, vanish are class abilities. You should know that the moment you step into arena. And if you disagree you could always forfeit the game.

The obscenities were nothing but a minor annoyance during the match, however they did outline pretty clearly, for the GM to see, what their goal was. Mainly when they said that they weren't going to let us win because I was boxing. A team of similar composition would've had the same problem with these rogues, it has nothing to do with the fact that I was boxing.

It was obvious, even before the whispers, what they were trying to do to us. There's no other explanation for their actions. The whispers and obscenities just pushed it even further into the realm of harassment.

I'm not sure why you think that I figure the outcome of the match should be determined from people spouting obscenities at me, but clearly their intention was harassment. A GM response the day after confirmed that they are indeed allowed to interfere with a match under such circumstances. I'm baffled why the GM we had the night before didn't think so. That's more where I'm concerned.

Just because a class has the abilities doesn't mean that anything they do with them is okay, they can still be abused. Just because they can do it, doesn't make it okay.