Ghostcrawler to leave Blizzard Entertainment

[Deleted]

people that blame everything on one person are kinda naive, sure the game got worse, but it's not the fault of ONE man, it's the fault of an entire team, luckily the old devs are back now, so WoD might actually be a great expansion

[zoomgpally]

It really remains to be seen on why he left. I don't buy this whole 'great new opportunity' fluff.

Its either because he got tired of all the bitching being swung his way on his decisions made in the game, or he became fed up with the direction the game is going in.

If wow keeps declining the way it had been, which it is, slowly, then perhaps he left because of this.

After all the bitching, ANY job would be a "great new opportunity"...

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I was once accused of 'working for Blizzard' by someone on this forum, does that give my posts authority?

It means you need to stop slacking and start posting leaks
I want to know all boss mechanics for the next 3 expansions RIGHT NOW!

;P

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Yep lets make raids that most of the player base wont be able to run on their PC's (including probably you) and that the game itself probably couldn't handle.

Have you heard how much the game lags for people in 25 player guilds on some fights ? I'm talking about actual input game lag rather than something to do with people's computers.

It was ok in some of those old raids with incredibly low detail instances and stuff.. but different with what blizz are producing nowadays. Higher resolution character models will make this more of a problem in future too.

Enough for blizzard to have to increase time between events, the shaman raidcooldown totem is one

[blehmeh]

After all the bitching, ANY job would be a "great new opportunity"...

Except he voluntarily spoke with the public, continuously.... for years.

[Mormolyce]

"Better" imply's more stable, higher paying, more freedom/control. Those things.

He is literally the creme of the crop, in terms of development positions. There is no way to get a "better" job then that.

Sure its possible that he just wanted a change of pace, just as its possible to win the lottery, or get struck by lightning.

I just find it hilariously ironic that the same people saying "oh conspiracy theory lol!" to me and people who share the same opinion as me, are the same people claiming that he found a "better offer". There's more evidence to support my theory then yours.

Are you a senior game developer in California? You don't know what they pay. Just because he's in a prominent position in a highly lucrative game doesn't mean another studio wouldn't be able to give him a better offer, either pay-wise or career progression-wise. If he's really that well regarded a studio might try to poach him for example.

It's not just a change of pace, if you work on the same thing too long there's a risk of stagnating, I see it in my industry as well. It's not good for your career.

[blehmeh]

Are you a senior game developer in California? You don't know what they pay. Just because he's in a prominent position in a highly lucrative game doesn't mean another studio wouldn't be able to give him a better offer, either pay-wise or career progression-wise.

Hahaha, great joke man. Really good stuff...

Oh wait, you're serious.

[Mormolyce]

people that blame everything on one person are kinda naive, sure the game got worse, but it's not the fault of ONE man, it's the fault of an entire team, luckily the old devs are back now, so WoD might actually be a great expansion

Yeah, just throw in attunement chains, resist gear and remove achievements and the subs will hit 100 million amirite?

^ Assuming that the old devs are stuck in the past simply because they worked on the game back then. And that had they continued to work on the game, they wouldn't have chosen to evolve the game in obvious ways just like GC et al did.

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Hahaha, great joke man. Really good stuff...

Oh wait, you're serious.

Oh, you aren't.

[Deleted]

Yeah, just throw in attunement chains, resist gear and remove achievements and the subs will hit 100 million amirite?

^ Assuming that the old devs are stuck in the past simply because they worked on the game back then. And that had they continued to work on the game, they wouldn't have chosen to evolve the game in obvious ways just like GC et al did.

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Oh, you aren't.

it's not about features, it's about stuff like streamlining everything that goes against the nature of a role playing game, attunemet chains are awesome, resistance gear is awesome, achievements are awesome and yeah I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have evolved the game into what it is today, ghostcrawler and his team are balance fanatics, imo immersion and class identity must never suffer due to balance, which both clearly did; Id rather get oneshot a thousand times by an op class than having every class feel the same; Id rather have some classes perform better in raids than others if it means that they are unique, distinctive classes, the game didnt lose millions of people because it got a few years older, the game was old back in Wrath too, no no the game lost players because the players didnt like the game anymore as much as they used to; look at eve it's GAINING subs and how old is it, no idea, but old; cs 1.6 is still pretty active; blaming the sub losses on the game's age is the easy way out and sure as hell not the absolute truth

[Emzky]

is he a scapegoat?

[blehmeh]

Mormolyce, If you want me to go into specifics about working in the industry I could, as I actually have family members that work in very high positions at NBC, Disney, and a family friend that actually did work at Blizzard, but had to leave due to a controversy that not only can't I discuss, but even if I did you wouldn't believe me. And thats not even half of the connections I have to the LA entertainment industry...

They all would never leave their jobs unless forced, (which by the way is what happened with the ex-blizzard employee) because its just simply too good of a position.

But again, you asked the question, but I seriously doubt that you would believe me if I told you the specifics.

I have more experience and understanding about the entertainment industry then you would imagine, that's why I say the things I do. But again, its not like you would listen to me anyways. If you only knew how sought after these positions are for these companies, you wouldn't doubt anything I said.

There simply isn't a job that is "better" then lead systems designer at blizzard for wow. That is literally THE top of the TOP. You have to understand that. So again, if you think otherwise, you're just wrong, or an idiot.

[Aviditas]

Ive enjoyed reading all the post suggesting that GC was fired. Its been rather amusing to be honest.

The biggest thing I keep seeing is that people say that no one would leave a huge and successful company like this. So I propose a question for you who have the answers to all.

If GC was with said successful company for so long and most likely made a ton of money from his career path, why wouldnt he go do something more enjoyable? Lets face it, the community treated him like garbage. If I was treated that way, and money wasn't an issue, I would definately move to another project. Would it be a guaranteed success to rake in as much as WoW has? Maybe, maybe not. But again money isn't an issue. I suggest he left to get away from all the petty community bs that has soaked its way into WoW with no end in sight.

[Dolus]

Wasn't Rob Pardo brought back to help steer WoD? So we're back with the original TBC crew? Rob Pardo, Jeffrey Kaplan, and Tom Chilton?

[Deleted]

Damn straight. Mages should always top meters.

if it means that every class feels different, distinctive and has unique niche roles, why not? also even in today's broken game some classes dominate the meters anyway

[Deleted]

don`t really buy that great opportunity for something new and exciting bshit

[blehmeh]

Lets face it, the community treated him like garbage. If I was treated that way, and money wasn't an issue, I would definately move to another project. Would it be a guaranteed success to rake in as much as WoW has? Maybe, maybe not. But again money isn't an issue. I suggest he left to get away from all the petty community bs that has soaked its way into WoW with no end in sight.

Again, he volunteered to communicate with the public, for years. If he didn't like it, he wouldn't have done it, for years, on a weekly basis. That argument falls flat so fast its amazing people even bring it up.

Btw, money is, and will always be, an issue.

[aerosyne]

Again, he volunteered to communicate with the public, for years. If he didn't like it, he wouldn't have done it, for years, on a weekly basis. That argument falls flat so fast its amazing people even bring it up.

No, it doesn't. He initially volunteered to communicate with us. Once you do that after a certain amount of time, deciding to just stop doing it would be incredibly detrimental to the game because people would be blazing mad that the game company that once 'took the time' out of their day to let them know what was going on isn't doing that anymore and is 'the same' as 'everyone else'. If you really had all this experience, that point would be very obvious.

But seriously, when was the last time a huge financial hit was taken and the person in charge was publicly fired with a "he wasn't competent" for an explanation?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last stated monetary quotes regarding Blizzard and World of Warcraft indicated that they were making more money with less subscriptions thanks to fleshing out other parts and services of the game. That means what you've said makes no sense.

The other thing that needs to be noted that since ghostcrawlers arrival, that the sub numbers have dropped 40% or so. That's an INCREDIBLE amount of money lost, that is indeed a crisis.

If you knew what you were talking about, you'd know Greg was brought on at the beginning of Wrath, which is when subs hit their peak and plateaued. If you're going to posit something, at least learn the basic history behind it first.

D3 was absolutely terrible at launch and has been making more and more steps to becoming at least better with every patch since his "leaving".

The only thing I'm going to say about this one is that D3 was objectively better, as in mechanically, graphically and game-play wise, better than D2, which is all it needed to do.

You really think theres a better offer then lead developer (top position) at blizzard (company that breaks sales records every release/expansion) for WoW (most popular MMO/highest grossing game ever)? That's just not possible, sorry.

Yes, I do, because 'better position' is subjective, which you're not getting. I wouldn't take his position in a million years for ten times the salary he made because I don't have a ton of patience for the people he had to deal with on a daily basis. Frankly, if I were him, I'd take almost any design/game & software engineering position that had a solid direction and wasn't going to be hounded by rabid morons all day long every day of the year.

You say conspiracy therory, but look at Jeff Gerstmann.

I don't understand why you're toting one single guy out of millions. I'm not asking for a statistical analysis on how often this happens, nor am I so naive to believe it doesn't happen a lot, but one example isn't enough. This isn't a shitty grade school argument essay.

There's more evidence to support my theory then yours.

So apparently when someone tries to pull something out of their hat but comes up empty-handed, that's now 'evidence'. Good to know.

Hahaha, great joke man. Really good stuff...


Oh wait, you're serious.

I just used Indeed to search for Game Programmer, Game Developer, Professor, Engineer and Software Engineer and there is definitely room for improvement speaking strictly of money, which I'll use as my basis since you haven't defined any intangibles and Indeed doesn't disclose those. I know those are all averages, and GC was probably making on the higher side, but he's got plenty of options available. Again, if you're going to argue subjective points, define those solidly.

Mormolyce, If you want me to go into specifics about working in the industry I could, as I actually have family members that work in very high positions at NBC, Disney, and a family friend that actually did work at Blizzard, but had to leave due to a controversy that not only can't I discuss, but even if I did you wouldn't believe me. And thats not even half of the connections I have to the LA entertainment industry

All I heard was 'I know a lot of people and my parents work for XYZ and make lots of money' spoken in the tone of a well-off teenager. That may not have been your intent, but when someone spews a load of opinions and 'information' and then doesn't back it up, that's the first age group I think of.

But again, you asked the question, but I seriously doubt that you would believe me if I told you the specifics.

Considering you haven't actually made any effort to source your points (rather, point) and have built an argument around only conjecture and opinion, is it any wonder?

I have more experience and understanding about the entertainment industry then you would imagine, that's why I say the things I do. But again, its not like you would listen to me anyways. If you only knew how sought after these positions are for these companies, you wouldn't doubt anything I said.

Again, all I hear is some whiny fifteen year old saying 'MAN you don't even KNOW' like they've somehow solved string theory and found a way to get around the speed of light. You either need to put up, as in divulge this information, or shut up.

There simply isn't a job that is "better" then lead systems designer at blizzard for wow. That is literally THE top of the TOP. You have to understand that. So again, if you think otherwise, you're just wrong, or an idiot.

And I've just proven there are better paying jobs that do just as 'important' things and that you're essentially full of shit. That's not even discussing intangibles, which aren't listed at the sources I provided but it doesn't matter because even on pay alone there are better options out there.

So no, I'm not 'an idiot' for not agreeing with you, I'm an idiot for wasting my time to explain why you're an idiot. Too bad that isn't the point here.

[LilSaihah]

is he a scapegoat?

For the most part. Literally everything gets pinned on either him or Metzen.

I hope he left by his choice, and wasn't fired! He seemed like an alright bloke, and it's never nice hearing about someone being ejected from their job.

[Last Starfighter]

I have no negative opinion of Ghostcrawler and I believe this stinks of someone getting the axe and it being handled in a PR-friendly way for the company/person. By saying he's moving on and there's no hard feelings, it basically protects both parties. Blizzard has had it's ups and downs, but they've always been very skilled at spin-shining a turd and making bad things sound not-so-bad after all. I would never expect them to actually say he was fired if he was actually fired. As the public face of the game and the person responsible for over-seeing the inner working, I expect that he was being hit again and again for the sub losses. The game could only go so low before Blizzard decided to go another direction to attempt to salvage what value they have left before the IP dies.

I just hope they don't go full bore into making the game no more interesting than a Facebook app. Of course the game has become more casual-friendly under GC, but the need to keep meaningfulness in systems design was always appreciated. Hopefully the next guy doesn't lead a wave to abandon integrity in the name of a last minute cash grab before the game completely tanks.

I have a feeling that GC split because he didn't agree with something. People can say what they want about him, but the integrity of the game is/was important to him. I think WoW is getting ready to go down some dark places. The in game store UI has alot of icons. I have a feeling they're going to start selling alot of shit, and he's not happy with it. Or maybe he fought too hard and they canned him. Hard to tell. But the truth will come out eventually. Me personally though, I never thought he was the source of anything bad. I loved the game during his time at Blizz. And I know how human beings can be from far away and behind a keyboard.

[Airwaves]

This thread is disgraceful. This is evidence of what is wrong with the world of warcraft community. And the community is the problem with world of warcraft. I feel sorry for who ever gets his job because they have to put up with the fucking idiots that most you people are.

[Gilian]

Mormolyce, If you want me to go into specifics about working in the industry I could, as I actually have family members that work in very high positions at NBC, Disney, and a family friend that actually did work at Blizzard, but had to leave due to a controversy that not only can't I discuss, but even if I did you wouldn't believe me. And thats not even half of the connections I have to the LA entertainment industry...

They all would never leave their jobs unless forced, (which by the way is what happened with the ex-blizzard employee) because its just simply too good of a position.

But again, you asked the question, but I seriously doubt that you would believe me if I told you the specifics.

I have more experience and understanding about the entertainment industry then you would imagine, that's why I say the things I do. But again, its not like you would listen to me anyways. If you only knew how sought after these positions are for these companies, you wouldn't doubt anything I said.

There simply isn't a job that is "better" then lead systems designer at blizzard for wow. That is literally THE top of the TOP. You have to understand that. So again, if you think otherwise, you're just wrong, or an idiot.

Money and a career is not everything in life. He could be forced by something else than Blizzard which he doesn't want to share with us trolls.

It could be anything. He could even just be telling the truth. Maybe it's a better opportunity for him personally.

[Xykotic]

Finally we will get good class balance.

Odds are they will just be inbalanced in some other random way.