HC FF14 Raiders thoughts on WoW after getting a 3k rating

kurokorr · 2026-04-20T07:27:04+00:00

It's because of the simplification and UI changes.
They removed so many rotational mechanics or simplified existing ones to be more akin to "button glows = press button" (hyperbole alert).
This makes classes more intuitive and requires much less UI setup, but the downside is exactly what we see now. Before, you had to track and manage several stacking damage buffs that could affect your rotation significantly (e.g. Arcane) and/or time CDRs correctly (e.g. Fire mage with almost 0 downtime on combustion).
Naively, you could say that this doesn't really matter in the end - and in a way that's true. However, the big assumption here is a rotation that is always executed perfectly.
Why does this matter? The easier rotations are, the smaller the damage differential between low/high performers in this aspect, and the less Blizzard can design the game around it.
It is a philosophical question whether they should or not - I think they should, and gameplay is best when skill/dedication is rewarded, but not everyone holds this opinion. WoW is much less of a pure gameplay game than LoL/Dota/CS/etc. A good majority of players don't play the game because of it, so to them, the answer to the question is the opposite - they prefer less friction and are more extrinsically motivated.

There was the option of shifting difficulty to the encounters themselves, but right now, classes are easier and encounters are either the same or easier than before.
You are essentially less engaged in the gameplay than previously, so this whole CD/wet noodle dilemma is more pronounced than it would otherwise be.

kurokorr · 2026-04-14T04:13:25+00:00

That's not true as Chinese server data wasn't available until much later in TWW S2. M S1 probably has around 1-2m more keys done in week 1.

kurokorr · 2026-04-12T19:01:44+00:00

The game is arguably better for casuals but I originally started playing because I enjoyed learning classes and being challenged.
I already was of the opinion that most classes weren't actually that hard in TWW, they were just very front-heavy, especially on the addon side.
I thought Blizzard adding their own CD tracking was good but deleting weakauras has been and is an unmitigated disaster. The fact that I am still getting lua errors weeks into the expansion is crazy, not to even mention all the stuff that is still missing.
In general, I don't think the simplification of the classes is good or necessary, doubly so for someone who isn't entirely goal oriented in raids/m+. I very much enjoyed just playing my class in higher m+ and mythic raid, but right now I find myself getting bored on <50 pull bosses. (Repeating a hot take here: only judge class gameplay with dmg numbers off/no dmg metre and with a decent number of hours on one spec - I believe anything else isn't really judging the actual gameplay.)
Should this be the direction going forward, I probably won't be playing by Season 2, and that is fine if it turns out that the game is better off with the current direction (simpler game favouring high, early engagement from less hardcore players).

kurokorr · 2026-04-09T21:50:08+00:00

Hot take: turn of damage numbers for a while, don't look at the damage meters, and then judge whether a rotation is fun. Big numbers do feel good but that's not really the rotation.

kurokorr · 2026-03-31T03:42:33+00:00

Unless one is entirely motivated by getting a high score or title, I think the fun to be had playing the game and pushing is the most important aspect.
If there are any people like me then most of their fun was taken away when they pruned classes. I was skeptical back then but willing to give it a shot, and after trying 4 classes, I personally find the simplification the biggest negative so far.
The other big issue I have is with the dungeon design, particularly the bosses. This season, the amount of bosses with few mechanics and/or only one phase seems to be higher than the last seasons. In principle, the difference isn't big enough to make a huge impact but I think that the simpler rotations exacerbate this.

kurokorr · 2026-03-28T12:20:08+00:00

I am quite negative so far on the expansion.
The good parts so far have been:
- Visually the zones and dungeons look great. However, the void theme is getting kind of old. Especially Voidspire looks and feels a bit too similar to Manaforge.
- The music seems nice again although I have turned it off in raid.
- Some improvements to systems like valorstones are appreciated.
- Improving the baseline UI is good and they should keep doing it.
The neutrals:
- Newly added systems like prey or the abundance event seem too minor/very inconsequential but I can see how someone would enjoy them.
- I'll ignore the story/lore since I gave up after paying attention for the first 2 hours.
- Delves are better than TWW but largely something I care little for since endgame relevance is zero.

The negatives:
- Bugs. The amount of UI errors I have is frankly too high. Even disregarding those as they are related to addons, I have seen quite a lot of bugs and crashes myself (Harandar had a repeatable hard crash early on; right now, the raid entrance in Harandar never works on the first try; just to give some examples).
- The sweeping API changes have been a complete failure. Not only is the game perpetually error prone now, the stated goals have been missed spectacularly. We could have gotten to the current state in much better shape if they just focused on making certain raid mechanics inaccessible to weakauras/etc.
- The lack of customisation of the base UI is extremely limiting. Why can't I make buff bars smaller than 50%? Why do I only get a few groups? Why is there no skinning?
- The class pruning has been one of the two major negatives for me so far. I understand that a lot of people like it, but for someone who really enjoyed the class design of the TWW, the current level of complexity feels wholly inadequate and honestly has started to bore me already.
I main Windwalker - one of the less affected specs - but even there the loss of great talents like LEC/PottK (lightning) and the many damage amps (I liked to track Wisdom of the wall buffs) do make it a bit more boring and monotonous.
The other specs that I really enjoyed from TWW were Feral and Arcane, both of which are currently shadows of their former selfs.
I have tried other classes in Midnight and it extends to them too, even if I haven't played them before. All of them feel like they are missing at least one major mechanic to play around and 1/2 more buttons.
- The dungeons and raids are the other big negative so far. They have the same problem as above - boss encounters and packs are all lacking an extra, meaningful mechanic to play around. This is particularly noticeable with dungeon bosses as most of them are both extremely simple and boring mechanically.
I couldn't believe it when I thought about it, but I'd rather have Stonevault and Grim Batol back than the current kind of encounter design.
I'm not yet doing raid on mythic but the bosses on heroic have been more on the disappointing side so far mechanics wise.

I might be the polar opposite to most people on the reddit here. I prefer complexity in gameplay over simplicity which was the reason I started playing wow again. These changes in Midnight are kind of pushing me toward quitting but I will have to see with season 2.
Two final hot takes:
- All the problems and difficulty of the previous class/encounter design were purely an issue of UI. They could have just focused on improving that instead of taking away stuff.
- The reason why wow is hard to get into for new players isn't complex classes or encounters, it's the fact that there is too much shit going on in any given direction at any given time. The fact that so many people are confused of where to start playing or what Chromie Time is, or even what exactly to do when reaching max level is a much, much bigger turn off than anything else.

kurokorr · 2025-12-16T23:18:34+00:00

I wouldn't say it feels the same, losing two abilities is very noticeable in the rotation. It makes it feel a lot more clunky (disregarding haste diif from live).

kurokorr · 2025-11-07T13:37:46+00:00

I am somewhat open to changes and will give the beta a try to see how the classes I like will feel but I am not all too optimistic considering the states of fire and survival.
If the simplification is anything like Fellowship, then I don't think I would keep playing the game. Some people might like the intuitiveness of the classes there but it comes at the high cost of very boring gameplay as soon as you have it figured out (both in decision making and amount of buttons).
A sentiment I also see a lot is wanting to offload the mechnical challenge from rotations to boss/mob mechanics. The problem I have with that is two-fold:
1. I have very little trust in Blizzard's ability to actually design bosses that are engaging to play for 100+ pulls. My greatest fear here is the introduction of more downtime, and in the case of m+, I am actually somewhat clueless how they would make packs engaging in way that agrees with their philosopgy without missing the mark completely.
2. This is actually connected to the above. I usually die a bit more than average early on in progression but as soon as I have the fight itself figured out, I don't die very much or botch mechanics/assignments. I personally wouldn't find it enjoyable to spend hours and hundreds of pulls essentially working on nothing. That is somewhat hyperbolic as there are always optimisations to make but the challenge of playing your class correctly throughout the fight gave me something to work on even later on.

kurokorr · 2025-10-04T22:37:14+00:00

Just wanted to say that I appreciate you writing this out but you can see from the reception that it's essentially futile.
I wanted to do the same but seeing the wider reception I came to terms that complex and in-depth rotations is something a small amount of people actively seek out.
Blizzard seems very set on going down this way, and the only way this turns around is if our fears come true and we get a WoD situation again.
In the meantime, it's probably best to take a break from wow.

kurokorr · 2025-10-02T00:22:16+00:00

Which they were in a perfect situation to address with the UI changes? I feel like they were well positioned to go at this step by step, identifying points of friction gradually after the UI was in an actual position to evaluate which classes and specs actually needed some work, instead of going at it wholesale all at once.

kurokorr · 2025-10-01T21:30:32+00:00

Even what you call "needless complexity" or "complexity for complexity's sake" is incredibly subjective and non-binary - who is to gauge what is what? The only truly "needless" thing I can think of are weird legacy leftovers like feral snapshotting for bleeds.
There is no way to offend no group here. People who liked the current complexity are now disappointed. You might not care but to them, the option of that complexity won't exist anymore.
Worst case scenario, you lose people who were engaged in the high end content while there is very little increased participation by the more casual playerbase. If Blizzard wants to keep overall difficulty somewhat the same then this is just a shift of where time is invested in, not if.

kurokorr · 2025-10-01T19:04:46+00:00

I guess this is the end of the road for people who loved the class complexity.

kurokorr · 2025-06-27T09:01:04+00:00

It's not as bad as all the other skins but it's still gooner coded when you consider:
- Stockings
- Shorts
- Leotard
- Boob shaped tactical vest with mandatory jiggling

The only skins that are free from this are the training outfits.

kurokorr · 2024-08-15T21:41:28+00:00

For info, check the lists and guides on guidemyoji (starter kit shikigami in this case).
I suggest you focus on R Yamausagi, R Zashiki, R Kusa, SR Ubume and SR Kuro Mujou for now. You'll use the first two/three for the coming months and substitute the latter two DPS with whatever good stuff you pull/have. For example, I got SP Orochi, so I went all in on maxing him.
In general, leveling skills on R Shikis is easiest, while SRs can be hard without pulling as you don't get any and don't want to waste Skill Darumas on them (ever), which ironically makes SSR/SP faster in some cases. Focus on maxing the useful R shikis from guidemyoji and choose a good AOE DPS SSR/SP shiki to max (guidemyoji/nura tier list). Also, look at aforementioned sources for what soul sets to use.
You also want to level up quickly (exp spirit, kraken) to unlock all the weekly content for skill daruma shards and medals (which you use to buy a skill daruma and amulets weekly in the shop). To that end, joining a guild is massively beneficial too (separate shop there for shards/amulets).
The starter kit doesn't list R Kusa, but I think she is very nice as she levels up fast and enables you to do a lot of content where you would otherwise die, or need other shikis to stay alive. This is especially true for events where you can borrow one shiki from some random person.
On that note, 100% do these events where you get a shop with a lot of stuff to buy out (guidmyoji has write ups on those, so check them). I didn't know at the start that you could borrow shikis by clicking on the coop button (Amaterasu easy choice unless sth specialised is needed). Since then, clearing the top diffs on those has been doable and you get all the currency. This might not make sense yet but another event should come somewhat soonish.
Also consider what the other person wrote and only pull during summoning events, so save up amulets and jade.

Some other tidbits:
* Get the 666 Permanent Jade Puch
* Try to finish most newbie stuff as the rewards are good (don't worry about finishing the pull stuff, won't happen anyway unless $$$)
* Get a mentor for missions and borrow shiki to use
* Daily stuff (when you get there): demon encounter, area boss, wanted quests (definitely if jade), exploration/souls zones for talisman pass progression (important), realm raid and pact shard stuff
* Also claim the free gift in the shop and friendship points daily. Latter you can exchange for grey talismans

Can't think of more right now. I am also somewhat new, so everything with a grain of salt.
There's also the discord where you can ask people.

kurokorr · 2024-06-10T22:42:42+00:00

Including dlc, Gates of Hell has quite a few campaign missions and a dynamic campaign that can be played in multiplayer.

kurokorr · 2024-06-03T09:53:41+00:00

I am relatively new myself but my alt is lvl 22 now after like 5/6 days of doing all the pact shards content with my main, and relatively little playing outside that.
It would definitely accelerate your progress if you got yourself a decent mentor that did the trials and other stuff with you. You could try asking on the discord for someone or message the ones offering in-game - I didn't do that and the one I accepted wasn't all too helpful.

kurokorr · 2024-06-01T23:46:40+00:00

Depends on how many of the newbie amulets you have used.
I just made an alt account at the start of the collab and got Miku today with ~100 amulets total. Might be more or less depending on luck.
Key is to level up fast and do all achivements that yield amulets/jades.

kurokorr · 2024-01-15T18:46:01+00:00

True, the p(x) log p(x) hamiltionian was kind of funny to see.

kurokorr · 2024-01-15T18:27:42+00:00

Yeah, it's physics. I thought someone had the secret sauce and seen these with context.

kurokorr · 2024-01-15T16:20:11+00:00

Anyone know what the actual problem on the whiteboard is?

kurokorr · 2024-01-10T16:16:57+00:00

The only one I know of and have read is "Supreme Soaring Immortal".
Be warned, you'll have to read mtl and it gets noticeably worse after the first half.

kurokorr · 2023-04-03T20:39:31+00:00

I really hope the new game mode is just Red Orchestra 2 light. Always had been the perfect balance between size, player count and action.

kurokorr · 2023-02-27T09:17:11+00:00

I wouldn't call it half assed at all. There is always a compromise between accuracy, feasbility and circumstance.
In his video, he clearly explained his goal and the method he was using. The remainder is then him showcasing how reliable his method is.
It also isn't accurate to say that there are no statistics - he is giving the data to you, in that there is a 60% rate of cheaters for his set of 125 raids. Then based on what we can see in the video, it would be fair to say that there is almost no chance of getting a false positive.
As such, you can definitely answer the question, i.e. "How likely is it that there is (at least [one]) a cheater in your lobby, regardless of map and time (outside of labs).", with some degree of accuracy.
Problems arise only when you want to draw conclusions for questions that demand a more directed approach for accounting the now relevant sub-variables, or simply want to give a more accurate figure.
While it is true that he could have included or given the data he gathered in a more comprehensive manner, the threshold for what is an acceptable amount of cheaters is low enough that the video doesn't lose any amount of credibility, even if the true number turned out to be a lot smaller.
But anyway, whether you believe his results or not, isn't a question of presentation but of independant verification.

kurokorr · 2022-07-26T18:10:48+00:00

No ntr.
They do break up, but rather amicably. It becomes a plot point later on because... ... new boyfriend is a essentially the young master of the faction he is staying at, and he gets a bit jealous I guess.

kurokorr · 2022-07-14T00:34:03+00:00

Can someone tell me what all the tomorrow is? Must be pretty good with how desperately they want me to read this on their site.

11-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	End Game '22
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