Blizzard: Mixed Signals or Without a Clue?

Just days after blizzard hit the level three salvage yard so hard with the nerf bat it has actually caused some people to quit the game, one I personally know of, because they did not like the idea that people were gearing up their followers so quickly they now have nerfed the achievement [Got My Mind on My Draenor Money] by lowering the requirement from 10,000 gold looted to 2500 gold looted.

I find this to be a very confusing set of messages.  They screwed over every player with a level three salvage yard because they did not want them gearing too quickly but the lower the gold looting achievement so people can get it quicker?

Lets face it, if anyone actually played the game they are easily closing in on the 10,000 looted already.  I am not even the most active person and I most likely would have hit the 10,000 looted number this weekend as I am currently sitting a little over 9,000.  Of course my progress on this achievement was pushed along because I have a lot of alts, but that does not change the fact that looting 10,000 gold on draenor is trivial at best in terms of difficulty.

All people needed to do was actually play the game.  If you looted all the treasures on draenor for the treasure finder achievements, and garrison resources, which happens to be my main reason for doing it, you will loot around 2000 gold just from that. 

Add that to the fact every lock box you open, that gold counts toward it.  Every dungeon boss you do, that gold counts toward it.  Every end dungeon baggie you open, that gold counts for it.  Every invasion baggie you get, that gold counts for it.  Every jewel crafting daily bag you open, that gold counts toward it.  Every raid boss you loot, that gold counts toward it.  When LFR comes out even more people will be looting more gold because those gold baggies count too. 

You see where I am going here.  One dungeon alone, with luck of the baggie at the end, could net you upwards of 200 gold, 100 if you have very bad luck.  And that is just one of many things you can do to loot gold.  This game is oozing ways to get you gold, if you just go out and get it.

Basically, if you play the game, even with one character, you will get the draenor money achievement because everything you loot will count toward it.  As long as you are actually playing and not standing around in your garrison letting your brain rot while reading trade chat. 

Doing dungeons, invasions, raiding, opening lock boxes, picking up random items around the world, gold is just all over the place.  The only reason I am as close as I am already is because I have four 100s already, soon to be five.  I am sure there are hundreds if not thousands that already have the achievement because they are more active than I.

In all due fairness, if I did any dungeons on my alts, or even one a day on my main, I would have had the achievement a week ago, or even earlier.  I just have not been active on any of them other than my main and that is why I do not have it yet.

So I find it perplexing that blizzard nerfs the level three salvage yard because they do not want people gearing followers too quickly and then nerf the draenor money achievement so people can get is quicker.

Is this a case of blizzard sending mixed messages or being completely clueless with their own design?

It is like they can not make up their mind on what they want people to do.  Do they want players to be able to get things done faster, as the change to draenor money makes it seem, or do they want to slow people down to a crawl, like the change to the level three salvage yard makes it seem.

If anything I was closer to the draenor money achievement than I was to having all my followers geared.  Yet the easier to get part, draenor money, they make even easier and the harder to do thing, gearing up all your followers, they slow down.  It really seems as if blizzard doesn't have a clue.

But maybe they do...

You see, there is something both changes do have in common.  Something, that from a game designer perspective is even more confusing because isn't it a game designers wish to have people play their game?

Both changes make people have to play less.

The change to the salvage yard means people do not need to log in as often to spam the lower level missions.  They can effectively log in twice a day and just send their people out on the longer missions.  So the change to the salvage yard could very well mean people play less.

The change to the draenor money achievement down to 2,500 gold looted, which my main had by day two of release just from collecting all the treasures and doing all the quests along with the starting 5 dungeons needed for the legendary quest line, also means it inspires people to play less.

What game designer in the right mind makes changes to their game that would require people to play less?

Does blizzard remember rule number one of what made this game a success?  The carrot on the end of the stick.  Keeping us chasing after something.  Keeping us playing.  Keeping us logging in.  That is what makes people keep coming back, keep playing and more importantly, keep paying.

So why is blizzard actively pushing people away?

Do they not want us to play?

That that is one hell of a mixed message.  A game that doesn't want us to play it.