The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Well...not really. However, World of Warcraft numbers are down by more than just a few and many are quick to jump on the “the game is dying” bandwagon. Let's face it, the game is far from dead. There are still seven million active subscribers playing, which is pretty impressive for a game that just celebrated 10 years.

With all that being said, World of Warcraft has issues. Some major, some minor, but the problems are definitly there. Some problems, however, stand out above the rest. Below you will find my picks for the biggest problems facing World of Warcraft today.

Class Homogeneity

Blizzard has done a bang up job of making all classes and specializations equal. It is a great thing to log into the game and know that you won't be run out of a raid group because you are a Shadow Priest or a Feral Druid. Unfortunately, while trying to make all things equal they may have gone just a bit too far.

In general, people want to feel like real bad asses in game (myself included). They also want to feel different and important. By allowing many classes to do the same exact things, we lose this feeling of importance. Suddenly what class you are playing doesn't really matter. In the current state of the game you could go from a Hunter to a Mage and not even bat an eye.

I'm not saying that everything about a class has to be distinct. However, game play feels rather bland at the moment. Blizzard has stated the reason is “Bring the player, not the class.”, but I think we can all agree that the player IS the class. What class a player chooses defines them and it needs to start feeling that way.

Farmville Syndrome

Over the last few expansions World of Warcraft has picked up what I like to call Farmville Syndrome. Tons of mini games within the game have been added to keep players interested. In the past, these Famville-like mini games have been pretty option. However, Garrisons came along and changed all that.

Now we have a mini-game shoved right into the forefront of our game play. Players feel obligated to log in, do their “chores”, and then log off again. Mini-games are just dandy, but they need to be placed back into the back seat where they belong.

Isolation

Players in Warlords spend the grand majority of their time inside their Garrison. While they can invite party members over to hang out, this doesn't happen very often. Inside our Garrisons we are isolated, alone, and cut off from the rest of the gaming population.

Major cities are the heart and soul of any expansion and WoD fell short of the mark. While Garrisons are nice, it is not where we should be spending all of our time. Cities bring us together, give us a place to interact, see and meet other players, show off, and ultimately feel part of the whole. The multiplayer feel has almost vanished from the game. Sure, you can do things to make yourself feel less isolated, but in an MMO the multiplayer aspect should be all around you and not something you have to work for.

Lack of Content

The worst offender on this list is the utter and total lack of content we have seen thus far this expansion. Blizzard created a beautiful expansion in Warlords of Draenor and almost every player was eagerly awaiting to see what was next. Then Patch 6.1 hit. With Jukeboxes, S.E.L.F.I.E Cameras, and other nonessential items being pawned off as "major" content, this felt like a minor update rather than the first patch of a new expansion.

In Patch 6.2 things have gotten slightly better, however, it still isn't enough. Keeping players engaged and interested is the number one goal that any gaming company should have. When players lose interest, they unsubscribe and move on to other games. The next patch or expansion had better scratch that itch for new content or it is likely that many more players will feel the need to move on.