Is WoW too complex for fun?

Wow is a tough game to play. Everything was Candyland for the first 30-40 levels or so. Then, my bags filled up, stats became important and I started to sweat a little just thinking about playing. Along came level 60 and TBC. Stats became even more important, there were more of them and marginal benefit graphs started popping up. I didn't know which gem to buy (still don't). I didn't know which enchants were the best. I did't know that enchants don't proc with weapon strikes when shapeshifted?

My /played vastly underestimates the time I spent gear-searching, theorycrafting and scheming over which rep to get, which dungeon loot to pursue and which attack rotation to use. All this time, I felt that my druid was a calico, clown-car of equipment, clothes, gems and profession junk.

My conclusion.....WoW is hard. What makes WoW hard?
1) too many choices for gear
2) too many spells
3) too many ways to modify gear

As the amount of choices increases, the potential for making errors in choosing gear inceases. Also the potential for making a character incredibly powerful also exists. What if you showed up in PvP without much stamina or resilence? What if you thought attack power was better than Agi for cat dps? The gap between those who can assimilate, crunch and optimize is growing. The result is that the damage output, tanking capacity and healing ability is very high for some and vastly unrealized for others. This is especially evident in PvP, where I am routinely getting 2-3 shotted by rogues after the introduction of glyphs- they must have been given some really good ones. And what is the story with warriors getting the spinning blender ability? Healers stand their ground while I dps and heal until someone arrives to help. I

Impressive. Most impressive.



Hopefully this chasm will be reduced to allow players with less time more access to fun in PvP and more chances of contributing toward PvE goals. Reducing the amount of gear choices available, labeling gear for specific use and labeling enchants, glyphs, inscriptions, potions and other gear for specific use would be very helpful.

To reduce the amount of time it takes to find these objects, it would be very nice to have a class/spec filter at the auction house that would allow one to see (when toggled) only those items that might be improvements for class and spec given existing gear.

Additionally, if we consider instance runs a kind of shopping with a chance of getting the desired drop, a system where a dungeon drops only bracers and main hand weapons or feet and trinkets would be preferable to the current system where all drops for any slot could occur for any class. The result of the current system is that without great gear lists, which there are many, significant amounts of time are required for gear searching before you even get to the instance and have to deal with low probability of your heart's desire actually dropping.

As for the casual approach to all of this, I am lucky to have a class that has great online forums and resources. There are gear lists that are reliably and accurately updated. If I didn't have these lists, I'd hope to find an addon that would compare what I have eqiupped to what I am considering for purchase or loot. The combination of Talented and Dr. Damage will accomplish this.

There, I've said it. I don't enjoy spending hours reading about how to play this game. My attempts to play more efficiently have result in many dry-eyed Firefox sessions, which isn't much fun either. However, after 2 years of playing and reading I have finally found the instruction manuals for my class, professions and so forth in the form of various web pages. I must give credit to the forums, which occasionally have useful information, though I am likely to look there after Wowhead or wowwiki.

However, a bit of direction from Blizz would go a long way toward reducing the amount of crap-wading that must take place in order to have fun in-game.