So Long, and Thanks for All the Spectral Fish
Ghostcrawler confirmed the news on the official forums.
Originally Posted by Ghostcrawler (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
You know that part at the end of raid night when the final boss is dead and you’re done handing out loot and everyone kind of goes their separate ways? Yeah, this is one of those times.

We just came off of a great BlizzCon. We had so many different games to talk about, and we were thrilled at the reception of Warlords of Draenor. It was great to meet or reconnect with so many of you. I love BlizzCon dearly, which makes it so hard to tell you that this will be my last one, or at least my last one up on stage. An opportunity has come my way, and I have made the very tough decision to move on from Blizzard.

I wanted to thank all of you for being a part of this grand quest. I have said a hundred times that having passionate gamers, including the angry ones, is a far better place to be than having a community that doesn’t care. You all care. Like us, you want the game to be the best that it can be. So I ask you to keep on providing your feedback. I promise (and I rarely promise!) that the developers care very much about what you have to say.

I’ll be out there, and I can’t imagine it will be that hard to find me.

Hugs,
Ghostcrawler

P.S. No, you can’t have a pony. Or a moose. Or a mantis shrimp. Or a tardigrade. Or a crab. Keep trying though.

P.P.S. I play a Holy Priest.
This article was originally published in forum thread: So Long, and Thanks for All the Spectral Fish started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 398 Comments
  1. ramennoodleking's Avatar
    He might actually be going into marine biology. I think that would be so awesome for him.
  1. Tython's Avatar
    Good riddance!
  1. scream123's Avatar
    all the best ghost and ty
  1. mmoc1b385c8656's Avatar
    Will seriously miss this guy, liked his straightforward attitude on twitter especially!
  1. Cakka's Avatar
    Good luck in the future, and thanks for all the great work Greg!
  1. sergel02's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Mesovr View Post
    I wonder how shocked people will be when they find out that dodgy class balance was not caused by one man. Chances are the poor guy after GC just get blamed for it as well.
    The people who post things like that probably aren't too smart (thinking that one person causes every balance issue they have in the game). Like you said, they'll probably just blame someone else for it and think it's all their fault.

    I'll miss him though. He was like part of the game for me.
  1. mmoce6d6578c3b's Avatar
    Good riddance for WoW now free from that snarky jerk.
    But bad news for whatever game he goes to.
    Would be awesome if he was hired to work on TESO, would be 2 birds 1 stone.
  1. 0502wz's Avatar
    Now I have some faith in WOD.
    After so many years Blizzard finally made the right call.
  1. Jayjayhey's Avatar
    as someone who has been playing since vanilla, you will not be missed at all
  1. Yoel's Avatar
    I wish him the best but wow balancing (PVP) went down hill when he took over
  1. mmoc472a5d728c's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Lizardprime View Post
    even ghostcrawler knows wow is a sinking ship
    Yeah, good job at decrypting that message.
  1. Yoel's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kezzik View Post
    as someone who has been playing since vanilla, you will not be missed at all
    you are correct everything went down hill when he took over
  1. Tarx's Avatar
    Ghostclawer fired holy yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
  1. Eliandal's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Animaneth View Post
    usually, high positions (or even devs) in companies are offer packages if they leave, under the condition that they do not join a competitor (most of the time direct competitors are even forbidden) and in case they remain in the industry (likely, given his experience) they are also forbidden to release any kind of howto or inner workings. Take this, with a grain of salt, since I don't work for Blizzard, but I do work as a game developer.
    While no ex Blizzard developer has ever come out and stated that there is no non-compete agreement - from the amount of ex Blizzard devs littering the gaming company landscape, one would have to assume there is not. Pretty much every company out there has at least one former employee.

    Edited to add that it's hilarious reading all the "Oh good - now there's hope for WOD" posts. Are people REALLY that clueless? According to Blizzards own timelines - it's been worked on for at least 2 years - meaning - yep - his hands were on it. Looks like you'll have a 2 year wait before coming back
  1. justandulas's Avatar
    Love him or hate him, he was one of the key people that shaped this game into what it was, is, and will be.

    ps - a holy priest?! Who'd have guessed that..... my money was always on frost mage....
  1. Animaneth's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Eliandal View Post
    While no ex Blizzard developer has ever come out and stated that there is no non-compete agreement - from the amount of ex Blizzard devs littering the gaming company landscape, one would have to assume there is not. Pretty much every company out there has at least one former employee.

    Edited to add that it's hilarious reading all the "Oh good - now there's hope for WOD" posts. Are people REALLY that clueless? According to Blizzards own timelines - it's been worked on for at least 2 years - meaning - yep - his hands were on it. Looks like you'll have a 2 year wait before coming back
    Yes and NO, one thing are devs in particular wich switch companies more often than heads of department (like GC). At the dev level you are probably right. But higher ups? that's another story I think. As I said, since I'm not a Blizzard current or former employee I can't say how this rolls out, just talking from my own experience as game developer in other companies.
  1. arthar77's Avatar
    HAPPY BLOODY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL LORE-PVP-PVE-HATER-WISEAZZ-ANY-nerd ... have a blast of a thanksgiving today and enjoy some turkey ... or any animal you guys have this day ... and other HOLIDAY ... have a nice day
  1. Deramyr's Avatar
    He'll always have my respect. I hope he does well.
  1. Octa's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by quras View Post
    I'll post it here like I did in the other thread.

    You do not hire a physician to fix your car or a landscaper to frame your house.

    In turn, you do not hire a marine biologist to lead design your video game.

    No matter how passionate he was about games, he just didn't have the skill set needed.


    Glad he's out.
    Guess you also for the decade he was a LEAD GAME DESIGJNER before he was hired on at Blizzard? 10 years as a lead game designer before he ever touched World of Warcraft.
  1. mmoc420d930b3c's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Octa View Post
    Guess you also for the decade he was a LEAD GAME DESIGJNER before he was hired on at Blizzard? 10 years as a lead game designer before he ever touched World of Warcraft.
    For RTS games though...

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