First off I would like to say that the forums do not contain every member of the WoW population, they are a representation. The forums are here for us to discuss the issues we have with certain aspects of the game and occasionally get a response from a developer to let us know that our voices are being heard.

Now I have read a fair few posts about the new forms and can see that there are mixed views. Some people love them, some people hate them, some people like some parts of them but dislike other parts, and some people want the implementation to be changed.

The people posting their views on these forums often make very valid points and so I find it hard to believe when people flame at others for saying their opinion, given that it is just that. Their opinion.

For example, there are several posts about how people want the forms to be changed slightly or the implementation changed. And the replies from many people are 'Don't complain' and 'Don't be so ungrateful'. Well, the thing is I don't think those people are ungrateful, I think that they are happy that this moment has come, given the topic itself has been one of important discussion for so long, HOWEVER they do not think that the current status of the forms is the best it could be.

I also think that they don't want the patch to come with something they are not entirely happy with. I think they are perfectly justified in saying whether they like the forms or not. After all, they do not want to be given something they are not happy with.

There currently is big news about the new forms and word spreads quickly from these forums to the game when something like this occurs. So it is clear that they are about to be implemented very soon, which to many people means 'something is finally being done!' And it is clear to me that people want this something to be just right. That is why there are so many opinions flying back and forth.

They do not want 'the something' to be one they don't like and live in the hope that it may be changed in the future. They want 'the something' to be implemented correctly, first time round, knowing that it may be another 4/5 years before another change is made.

In this thread here: http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=9521443273&sid=1&pageNo=1

Wryxian's reply to most people's negative comments was

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Q u o t e:
I think it's important to see the new forms as what they are: a range of new models and skins that you can choose from in some way. Let's not forget that Druids have been requesting new or re-worked forms for a very long time, and now they are almost here.

Rather than potentially delaying their release by working on new or updated functions for the barbershop, we've instead got a simple way of choosing which of the new models you want. This seems to me to be a first step, much like the appearance of the barbershop with the initial selection of new hairstyles was. Now that the first step is about to be made for new forms, who knows what we might do in the future to allow Druids to choose from these models in a way other than how we currently intend to implement them.

Seems more important, at least in my eyes, that the new forms are no longer in the "new forms is something we would like to do sometime" status, and have now actually been seen by the community and are much closer to actually being in-game than ever before.

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While some parts I agree with, I think that when people requested new forms they did not intend on having to change their hair/skin colour in order to get a form colour which they liked, and so this has come as a bit of a shock. I also think that some people did not want to be pink or have necklaces or have beards or sideburns or big heads but then again some people did.

The point is that people were EXPECTING more customization and a swish new way of it being implemented i.e a barber shop etc. and so this has also come as a shock to those too. So people have made their posts displaying their opinions and many of them are very similar as lots of people want the same thing. It also seems to me that their voices are being ignored and the original implementation is going ahead as usual, DESPITE the sheer volume of equally minded protests.

I would like to bring your attention back to the Blue post which says:

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Q u o t e:
This seems to me to be a first step, much like the appearance of the barbershop with the initial selection of new hairstyles was. Now that the first step is about to be made for new forms, who knows what we might do in the future to allow Druids to choose from these models in a way other than how we currently intend to implement them.

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Something which stands out to me is the part which says:

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Q u o t e:
who knows what we might do in the future

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And THAT'S the crucial point. In the future. The reason for most of the negative opinions of the implementation and new designs is that people want it to be good NOW, first time round. They are not ungrateful. Far from it in fact. They are trying their best to let blizzard know how and on what they should improve upon, as this is one of, if not THE most important change druids have ever had. People are worried that if the new forms go live now - it will be much more difficult to change once implemented and therefore less likely to happen.

I apologise for the long post; I did not mean to write as much as this but I wanted to make sure that people understood WHY there are so many posts and negative feedback on this, and hopefully make them see things from a different point of view.

I will also hope that Blizzard reads this and may consider the points many people raise BEFORE the new forms go live, and to bear in mind whether: if the new forms DO go ahead as planned, and people want some changes to be made, will there actually be any within in a sensible amount of time, or will there be another 4 year wait?

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Q u o t e:
I will also hope that Blizzard reads this and may consider the points many people raise BEFORE the new forms go live, and to bear in mind...

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We do bear (apt word, by the way) all the feedback in mind, I assure you. The artwork has been previewed, a description of the current intention for implementing the artwork in-game has been given, but this is all in advance of testing on the PTR and bearing in mind feedback. Most everything we preview is done so with a cautionary air of "subject to change before going live" and, with the nature of MMO development as it is, is "subject to change after going live" also.

I'm going to be a bit cheeky here and insert a link:
Druid Questions

That's the Druid Class Q&A thread, and we're still very keen on hearing your questions. We're carefully gathering feedback from WoW fans all over the planet, meeting with the developers and preparing decently sized and definitely interesting responses, and then meticulously translating into many different languages for all our WoW fans to read. The time for submitting to the Druid Q&A thread is still now, and I actively welcome you to submit your well worded and important questions.