Rob Pardo Leaving Blizzard Entertainment

Oh no, the guy who oversaw the downfall of Titan and kept WoD in alpha for such a long time got fired. The man who helped ruin EQ and was hired on to blizz where he defined the most grindy time for raiding ever. He's gone. Boo, freaking, hooo. He was an over rated hack.

Originally Posted by chrisorie4

He's leaving a sinking ship while there are still rafts to get by. Good call.

We await your in-depth analysis of the eco-system that is Blizzard Entertainment with baited breath.

Does it really matter? Everyone will still play.. because we have alot of time invested in our toons if you have been around since vanilla. I agree the game has gone soft.. but as long as you find the right guild and focus on what you like to do.. its still challenging.. Old school players want to down hard bosses.. WOTLK want to face roll .. pvp is well pvp.. . Do what you like to do.. and move on

Originally Posted by bryroo

When people CEO level employees or major names in the industry leave jobs it has a much larger impact than someone who quits bagging groceries. It can sway public perception and even influence investment decisions.

Dismissing it outright is foolish.

Yet the majority of us are gamers that are making conspiracy theories on why he left and are mostly concluding it has to do with Warlords of Draenor.

Originally Posted by Rorcanna

If GW2 is the future of Mmos, then I'mma stick to single-players.

Would love some data on that statement though.

Ya I would have to agree with you, If GW2 really was the future than I would be done with MMOs.

Originally Posted by chrisorie4

He's leaving a sinking ship while there are still rafts to get by. Good call.

I wonder if some people were feeling gleeful when they heard that Titanic had sunk because they disliked its success and splendor.

Come back when the ship has actually sunk, which at this rate might take some time considering it's been sinking since the first patch ever released according to the internet.

Originally Posted by Kickbuttmario

Publishers don't matter. AT ALL. Whoever told you guys that are lying!

Oh Publishers matter, when they own the companies that make the game

EA / BioWare: a very good example

Originally Posted by lockdwn

Does it really matter? Everyone will still play.. because we have alot of time invested in our toons if you have been around since vanilla. I agree the game has gone soft.. but as long as you find the right guild and focus on what you like to do.. its still challenging.. Old school players want to down hard bosses.. WOTLK want to face roll .. pvp is well pvp.. . Do what you like to do.. and move on

So having begun in WOTLK but raiding heroic doesn't compute?

Ok...internet logics, pulled out of random peoples crapshoots.

two people leave

community: oh my god, somethin is goin on at blizz amag!

the only thing i find interesting is the part about enjoying the summer and taking time off..... typically this means he was let go or told to leave vs getting let go. If WoD had some major set backs (pretty sure it did at this point) I could see him taking the blunt of that damage and it may have cost him his position or a conflict with his bosses could've lead to it as well (happened where i work when we lost a Sr Director)

Even Rob Pardo saw what a pile of crap Blizzard has turned into. Good for him - but this just means more control from Activision.

Who is he?

Originally Posted by Kickbuttmario

He must be heading to Anet because he knows Guild Wars 2 is the future. I mean, wow has been losing subs left right and center while Guild Wars 2 has been gaining subs non stop.

Funny to hear you say that, because GW2 has no subs, genius. There's no real way to track down how many people are playing because with a lack of subs, anyone can just drop in and drop out on a whim.

But by all means, keep deluding yourself into thinking that fiasco of a game is played by 4 billion players if it makes you happy.

Originally Posted by Infernix

You don't quit a job of 17 years without having a back-up, and he doesn't have a back-up. He got shit-canned. Come to terms.

Source please or this is just conspiracy theory and those are BANNED from being acceptable subjects on mmo-c

Originally Posted by Kickbuttmario

Yet the majority of us are gamers that are making conspiracy theories on why he left and are mostly concluding it has to do with Warlords of Draenor.

I'm not getting involved in the conspiracy theories (at least not in this thread) I'm just saying you can't deny that it's news worthy.

It sounds pretty bigoted to me. "We don't want strong gay or female characters in our games,

I dont understand how a persons sexuality is so important for a game. Why is it important for people to have gay characters?

Originally Posted by Grishnok

Good luck Rob.

I see that a pattern is happening here. The same pattern that happened when Blizzard North had disagreements with how decisions were being made from the higher ups and a huge amount of extremely good developers left Blizzard. IE the developers of Diablo 1/2 and many of the vanilla starcraft and wow developers couldnt take it anymore. Greg street has bailed now as well as Rob. Things are getting worse and worse and less like a company that cares about their consumers and games and more about their profits. Im sure we can thank Bobby K for that.

Exactly this.

Originally Posted by Acelius

I dont understand how a persons sexuality is so important for a game. Why is it important for people to have gay characters?

It's important enough to force others to make the games they don't want to make but not enough for a group of gay gamers to get together and make the games they want to play.

This game has enough problems without egotistical freaks who feel they are so important that must be included whithin the game.

First of all, I don't see how his comments at the MIT speech were sexist. He never said anything negative about women or about the LGBTQ community - he simply stated that Blizzard doesn't care about politics - they make their game, and that's what they're passionate about. If you've ever actually been to the Blizzard offices or met the people who work there, not only would you find that they have a very diverse workplace, but they are all passionate gaming/RPG/sci-fi/fantasy/comic book/TCG/etc nerds to the core.
It's silly to get mad at him for the company not including LGBTQ characters, or for including overly sexualized female characters, in all their games. Why are game devs so heavily pressured to do/not do these things? Why can't they just focus on making the game as they want to make it, without having to think about all the other stuff?


Second of all, regardless of my opinion on all that, Blizzard wouldn't fire somebody SO important and influential entirely based on some community backlash from a complete misunderstanding. A misunderstanding entirely caused by an opinion piece written by one specific person on the internet, who seemed to be desperately LOOKING for a reason to hate the guy.
There isn't even all that much community backlash on it. I didn't hear about it until I glanced at the comments on this post, and it certainly never made front-page news here at MMOC.


On a lighter note: I really really look forward to hearing about what he's going to do with his life. Will he form his own start-up and design a crazy-awesome game? Will he go work for another company, like old Ghostcrawler did? I hope it's the former, out of sheer curiosity!

Also, how in the hell does somebody as big as this guy, one of the head honchos of a multi-million dollar company that is recognized around the world for their products, decide to leave... without a real plan? O_O