WoW Turns 7! Anniversary Tabard now available in-game

[Stealthedbear]

When it says kills, does that include honorable kills?

[Shuttle]

I'm disappointed that the item will go away. I wouldn't mind if it stayed.

[Geriald]

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/3...nniversary.jpg

A screenshot I've taken a year ago, at 30.11.2010, of the letter they sent when the 6th anniversary came to the game.

If to go line by line, they've added a word "yet", removed "(spoiler alert!)" and changed "this is going to be a rough year" to "this has been a rough year". Well.. basically, a copy/past, added an item that applies a minor buff and a visible, not even a physical, rehashed tabard which was used in their contest back in 2005.

A thought comes to mind.. a developer(s) who get the job to do this year's anniversary for players scratches his head, clueless and indifferent to the emotional part of the whole matter, looks at the 6-year old tabard that wasn't used for a long time, and decides to rehash it. Least possible effort in work done - same money.

And then we're talking about care and dedication to the true fans of this universe, of their passion, to their players who were with them, supporting them and their ideas for a very long time... indifference, cold, grey and bitter.

[Deleted]

where is mah pet?! I'm ragequitting to WoWinSpace:The Old Republic

[dotSeed]

Two years of subscription with Rift: Exclusive mounts, exclusive wardrobe set, plus a bunch of other goodies

Seven years of WoW: An achievement and temporary item.

You've got to admit, the difference in priority in player contentment is rather large.

[Magzilla]

You don't have to defend Blizzard as if it were a scared helpless child. It's not going to cry itself to sleep at night on piles of money because people said something mean about a half assed tabard.

[Jerakal]

Me: "Oh hey, a new anniversary event, I wonder what they're offering? (See awful pink tabard, no pet.) Me: "Nope, that's not worth re-activating even for a month."

[thraton]

I wish there was more time in the day, so I could spend even more time QQing on wow forums about every single action Blizzard makes.

[Kaldriss]

Two years of subscription with Rift: Exclusive mounts, exclusive wardrobe set, plus a bunch of other goodies

Seven years of WoW: An achievement and temporary item.

You've got to admit, the difference in priority in player contentment is rather large.

sorry the rest of the game that we get all the time makes up for it kthxbai

[Aylasita]

If they had bothered to make it a somewhat proper buff. That would reflect a proper celebration, I would not complain.

50% or even a 100% buff for 2 weeks, now that would be a celebration!
Something people could FEEL, appreciate and enjoy.
Something we could want and try to get as much out of for 2 weeks as we possibly could.
Not some little buff where I'm looking at the numbers and asking myself "Is this lil buff really working?"

We just wanna be appreciated.. is that too much to ask?

[Deleted]

Isn't it actually normal to give the one celebrating his anniversary the gifts? So instead of blizzard giving us a gift, we should give blizzard a gift....

Anyway, not too overwhelmed by the gift itself. It's nice for my rep grind, but that's about it. Don't want a new pet either, since it will be a cheap made one anyway. And it's a hell of a lot better than last years "gift".

[Menedude]

Over the next 6 months i expect 6million or more will quit wow

Hahahahahaha


also I can see why they didn't give a pet or anything, cuz they're trying to make stuff disappear less often from the game. Joining a game for the first time only to find out half the cool stuff isn't available anymore always sucks for new players. No need to be like Cartman who expects to get big gifts at someone ELSE's birthday party.

I also laugh at people saying "oh they gave us crap instead of new models or balanced pvp", what did you expect they'd release a huge secret patch just for the 7th anniversary?

And if they WOULD have made something like a new tabard or pet, wouldn't people have cried just as much that they were wasting time on new tabards instead of new models and content and balance?

[Lobstarrr]

All haters, get the fuck off of these forums, it's getting really old now.

[thraton]

All haters, get the fuck off of these forums, it's getting really old now.

couldn't agree with you more buddy

[Fralor]

People who are complaining need to shutup. They are spending alot of time on the next update. Be happy you get anything at all.

[Svovel]

Hmm am I getting this right? Alot of the whiners seem to think they've paid a monthly fee for the last seven years just to get a vanity pet? I believe you paid for the other content this game has to offer. Not a freaking pet! Get some perspective! Realize the scale of this, well, pretty much non-event. You get a small gift for a VERY small event, by doing absolutely nothing.....

[Kihlerabz]

The biggest issue I can see is just how badly Blizzard misjudge this stuff.

EVERY year, there is something about the anniversary, its pretty obvious the majority of the player-base likes it. Last year, they had a lot of moaning about no gift or pet, and said they took it on board etc. This year, they have done far less than people would have expected.
Now, there is only 3 possible reasons for this-

1) They are so busy working on new product, they simply didn't have time.
2) They have massively misjudged the community in terms of what they want (this is VERY bad when your in service industry)
3) They are so wrapped up in their own hubris, or just don't give a toss anymore. (VERY bad as well.)

Now, I am hoping it is one, but I am sadly beginning to think it is either 2, or 3. There is no point saying this doesn't matter, and its only a game etc. This is a prime example of how badly Blizzard misjudges things and get's it wrong so fundamentally from my perspective.

I'm in agreement with the spirit of Howlrunner's post. I find it more interesting to muse about Blizz's motive, thinking or rationale for chosing this (gift/reward, what-have-you) than passing judgement as to whether it's lame or not.

As far as the "entitlement" attitude some have expressed . . . I guess if it was only fireworks each year there'd be a corresponding ho-hum response each year as well, but they went a little extra in some years so naturally by doing so have set themselves up for dissappointing responses when they don't "outdo" (or roughly equal) previous years. But where does it end in trying to "outdo" themselves? Maybe the analogy is not perfect but does every Christmas, Birthday or Anniversary have to be bigger and better than the one before it? Of course it depends on the milestone achieved: a persons 100thbirthday is pretty special and there are Silver, Golden and Diamond Anniversaries. So for Blizz's WoW it's year seven. To some the 'thank-you-for-you-loyalty-and-support' celebratory token of appreciation is underwhelming. But the anology is not perfect in that this is a not a real-life person to person gift-giving situation, it's a company to consumer situation. The company has to continually strive to please the customer with their product or service.

Which brings me to the 3 possible reasons Howlrunner mentioned. I don't think it's reason number 1 -- it's hard to believe a company as big and well funded as Blizz is (i.e. monthly raking in fees from subscriber's numbering into the multi-millions) could not afford to hire for or allocate a tiny portion of their resources to come up with something more unique for the occasion or even simply to create a new pet model. And I don't think it's reason number 3 -- that they blatently don't care since I don't get the impression that they aren't making at least a good-faith effort in tyring to improve the gamel. But that's of course subjective. From what I've read some seem to feel they haven't done anything right for a long time (yet they are still investing time enough in the game to be able to express a negative opinion about changes over time). I would put my money on number 2 -- massive misjudgement of the what the WoW community wants or put another way, misjudging what would delight more veteran players. I think the newer players will probably wonder what the fuss is all about and accept the gift simply for what it is. Whereas I can certainly see how this is pretty underwhelming a token off appreciation for loyal, long-playing (and therefore long-paying) customers.

If the game lasts that long, it will be interesting to see what they do for the 10th anniversary. Perhaps they will try to really impress their customers with fireworks, a pet and a exp/rep buff dissappearing tabard?

[Kihlerabz]

McDonalds serves you a dry, old cheeseburger that's been laying around for a week. McDonalds fan boy says "You're lucky they served you anything!"

Even though I agree with the technicality and obviousness (and therefore sillyness) of the observation that "it's not in the TOS that we get anything from Blizz for their anniversaries" I find this McDonald burger analogy incredibly amusing and illuminating to the subject at hand.

+1

[furydeath]

Doesn't seem to work on WSG/AB rep for me, well this is no point for me to keep for the next 6 days other then taking up a slot.

[Golg]

People seem to not be able to read the fact that it only increases exp. and rep gains from kills. So using it for PvP rep will get you nowhere.