Why Blizzard is alienating their playerbase?

[Magemaer]

*updated for 6.2

I promised to delve into the question of why WoW had such a strange turn of design. From a game from gamers to gamers, a thing of passion, to a game trying every way to cater to alien audiences. From a world of wonder and a great storyline unfolding and moving foward to a steady and very recyclable set intended to get milked forever.
Let’s take a look.

Why Cataclysm:
A voice from above saith:
“We have a stable playebase, but we need new players coming in. Focus most of your efforts into making the game more accessible and attractive to new players, while hardcore and full of convenience for the veterans.”

Result: Revamped 1-60; lack of endgame content; endgame model of sitting in Sw/Org and raiding hardcore; major shitfeast

But why Cataclysm again:
A voice from above saith:
“We need to amplify our games, so we have this Diablo 3 being developed for years now by this new team of scrubs. Guess what? IT’S STILL NOT READY AND IT LOOKS AWFUL. Diverge a lot of resources to help them get the freaking game ready so we can finally launch it. (and ofc see how the rmah model goes)”

Result: A diminished team of wow developers had to cut A LOT of what they planned for the expansion, including two announced raids: Abyssal Maw (for tier2 of cata, along fl) and Eye of Eternity (for tier3, which never happened).
This little team of heroes had to appease an already very bored playerbase with revamped troll dungeons (very fitting theme btw) and later a very well done Firelands + Molten Front.
The team got diminished even more and they had to do the last tier of raiding of the expansion with very few resources, including few artists. Result: Dragon Soul. Wtf.

Why Mists of Pandaria:
A voice from above saith:
“Expanding to new players didn’t work at all. Kids don’t give a shit anymore, they just play LoL. Well, we’re developing our moba, but meanwhile let’s change our focus. The big big cow is actually on asia. What a market potential! Let’s be more Asiatic. Didn’t you guys want to add Pandaren to the game btw?”]

Result: A very alien expansion wholly based on Pandarens, martial arts, and Chinese stuff. (I still defend it was a very decent expansion design-wise, but theme-wise it was controversial)

Why Warlords of Draenor:
A voice from above saith:
“We have a freaking movie coming on, maybe a sequence of movies. It’ll bring us money, but above all attention to our world and to our games. If it works, we’ll become even more culturally relevant. Titan is not gonna happen, and MMOs are out of fashion. But this sweet cash cow of ours, we want it to last as long as possible. So most players didn’t actually play wc1 and anyway and they don’t know the lore, the setting and the characters. Let’s make them familiar, put a big focus on them. Didn’t you guys put time-travel in the game already? That’s perfect! We’ll be able to recycle cool things forever.”

Result: Another out of nothing storyline bring us to past Draenor to face a team of orcish rock stars Warlords.

Why Warlords of Draenor again:
A voice from above saith:
“By the way, keep doing your stuff. But you know the new thing is social media. We know, we know: WoW is already supposedly a social game, even though it attracts the misantropiest freaks. But make it social inside social. Make it facebook-like. Make something like these cellphone games that make a lot of success: managing stuff daily. This is the new thing, this should be our focus. Didn’t they asked for player housing anyway?”

Result: sit in your little cozy base managing menus; take freaking in-game selfies; share them with your friends on twitter; go out in the world. Am I really playing World of Warcraft?

6.2 update:Why Warlords of Draenor again again:
A voice from above saith:
"We used to release finished and well polished products and them give amazing services and constant updates for free! Well, we were lucky our games were great back them and we survived. It was a terrible model. Just look at the Moba's model! Or card games! Want to print money? Just release an OP hero, some cheap-to-make skin, or new cards. THAT's good business. Now WoW has this both this subscription and expansion incomes - which are necessary for everyone. We'll be expanding on cosmetic selling, but for now let's do the obvious: sell expansions more often. Less patches, which are essentially unpaid additions to keep some subbed. Last expansions showed a pattern of people joining for expansions and leaving soon after. Let's make the most out of it."

Result: WoW will get faster expansions and less patch content. Brace yourselves if you thought Cata had little content throuout its cycle. They're thinking this pattern of behavior is natural and not due to the last 3 expansions having some major problems that made people go away after actually giving it a try. They can't realize that it's their bad decisions and low quality end product that is creating this behavior.


Of course a company needs to consider market and financial questions when making decisions. That’s why they shut down Blizzard North’s mmo-like Diablo 3. But it seems the company is becoming more and more centered on decisions coming from above. And these decisions have been very alienating in the recent years, and they keep failing over and over to reach their intended objectives.

They’re also being reckless and over experimenting with a playerbase they see as guaranteed. They want to try everything out, no matter the cost and game impact. But some things have a huge impact, and once established they’re very hard to abort. Not only that, there are huge design swings from expansion to expansion (sometimes doing the opposite of the former!), quite unlike the little but meaningful changes taken in the initial years.

It’s not like they all agree above. There are obvious discordances. Some want to calm down on these interferences and focus on making great games. But the market-driven fellows are clearly prevailing.

“First and foremost, I learned that you must put game quality and player experience first in everything that you do. Gamers are not driven to buy games because they have a clever business model, they buy games that are fun and immersive that deliver on what was promised. (…) I also learned that being a trend chaser or first mover is not a key to victor” – Paul Sams

TL;DR: a combination of greed and stupidity in the upper boards

6.2 update: They'll try to tell you that people eventually grow tired of a game and that's why WoW died. Don't believe them. While getting tired is a factor, it was mostly their neglect.

[Gorechubz]

I promised to delve into the question of why WoW had such a strange turn of design. From a game from gamers to gamers, a thing of passion, to a game trying every way to cater to alien audiences. From a world of wonder and a great storyline unfolding and moving foward to a steady and very recyclable set intended to get milked forever.
Let’s take a look.

Why Cataclysm:
A voice from above saith:
“We have a stable playebase, but we need new players coming in. Focus most of your efforts into making the game more accessible and attractive to new players, while hardcore and full of convenience for the veterans.”

Result: Revamped 1-60; lack of endgame content; endgame model of sitting in Sw/Org and raiding hardcore; major shitfeast

There was plenty of endgame content. When Cata launched, they had 3 raids, not 1, but 3, and an additional 4th PvP raid. They had daily quests and difficult dungeons that had worthwhile rewards even if it was just currency for better gear.

But why Cataclysm again:
A voice from above saith:
“We need to amplify our games, so we have this Diablo 3 being developed for years now by this new team of scrubs. Guess what? IT’S STILL NOT READY AND IT LOOKS AWFUL. Diverge a lot of resources to help them get the freaking game ready so we can finally launch it. (and ofc see how the rmah model goes)”

Uh huh.

Result: A diminished team of wow developers had to cut A LOT of what they planned for the expansion, including two announced raids: Abyssal Maw (for tier2 of cata, along fl) and Eye of Eternity (for tier3, which never happened).
This little team of heroes had to appease an already very bored playerbase with revamped troll dungeons (very fitting theme btw) and later a very well done Firelands + Molten Front.
The team got diminished even more and they had to do the last tier of raiding of the expansion with very few resources, including few artists. Result: Dragon Soul. Wtf.

They've always cut things. Cata was nothing new.

Dragon Soul, again, was necessary where it was. It made sense, where it was. It had nothing to do with having "few artists", which is likely a bunch of nonsense you're just assuming.

Why Mists of Pandaria:
A voice from above saith:
“Expanding to new players didn’t work at all. Kids don’t give a shit anymore, they just play LoL. Well, we’re developing our moba, but meanwhile let’s change our focus. The big big cow is actually on asia. What a market potential! Let’s be more Asiatic. Didn’t you guys want to add Pandaren to the game btw?”]

Result: A very alien expansion wholly based on Pandarens, martial arts, and Chinese stuff. (I still defend it was a very decent expansion design-wise, but theme-wise it was controversial)

WoW has really never been marketed towards children. It's always been more of an adult-themed game. I know sometimes they can go overboard with the cheesiness, but it has nothing to do with children.

Why Warlords of Draenor:
A voice from above saith:
“We have a freaking movie coming on, maybe a sequence of movies. It’ll bring us money, but above all attention to our world and to our games. If it works, we’ll become even more culturally relevant. Titan is not gonna happen, and MMOs are out of fashion. But this sweet cash cow of ours, we want it to last as long as possible. So most players didn’t actually play wc1 and anyway and they don’t know the lore, the setting and the characters. Let’s make them familiar, put a big focus on them. Didn’t you guys put time-travel in the game already? That’s perfect! We’ll be able to recycle cool things forever.”

Result: Another out of nothing storyline bring us to past Draenor to face a team of orcish rock stars Warlords.

Why Warlords of Draenor again:
A voice from above saith:
“By the way, keep doing your stuff. But you know the new thing is social media. We know, we know: WoW is already supposedly a social game, even though it attracts the misantropiest freaks. But make it social inside social. Make it facebook-like. Make something like these cellphone games that make a lot of success: managing stuff daily. This is the new thing, this should be our focus. Didn’t they asked for player housing anyway?”

Result: sit in your little cozy base managing menus; take freaking in-game selfies; share them with your friends on twitter; go out in the world. Am I really playing World of Warcraft?



Of course a company needs to consider market and financial questions when making decisions. That’s why they shut down Blizzard North’s mmo-like Diablo 3. But it seems the company is becoming more and more centered on decisions coming from above. And these decisions have been very alienating in the recent years, and they keep failing over and over to reach their intended objectives.

They’re also being reckless and over experimenting with a playerbase they see as guaranteed. They want to try everything out, no matter the cost and game impact. But some things have a huge impact, and once established they’re very hard to abort. Not only that, there are huge design swings from expansion to expansion (sometimes doing the opposite of the former!), quite unlike the little but meaningful changes taken in the initial years.

It’s not like they all agree above. There are obvious discordances. Some want to calm down on these interferences and focus on making great games. But the market-driven fellows are clearly prevailing.



TL;DR: a combination of greed and stupidity in the upper boards

I really have no idea what to say to something so ridiculous.

[Deleted]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Magemaer]

WoW has really never been marketed towards children. It's always been more of an adult-themed game. I know sometimes they can go overboard with the cheesiness, but it has nothing to do with children.

I'll only answear this one. By kids here i obviously mean mostly teenagers, 10-16.
WoW used to attract a lot of people in this age range but this dimished over the years.

[Gorechubz]

I'll only answear this one. By kids here i obviously mean mostly teenagers, 10-16.
WoW used to attract a lot of people in this age range but this dimished over the years.

There are a lot of good reasons for that - a great deal of hype entering WoW was the teens and early 20's that had been playing Warcraft and Starcraft for years. They've aged. Other games in the past decade have come out. WoW has matured and grown and streamlined over time. Nothing stays the same.

[fixx]

TL;DR: a combination of greed and stupidity in the upper boards

Or too much glue sniffing while building your very own tinfoil hat.

[Deleted]

I really have no idea what to say to something so ridiculous.

Seems pretty coherent to me? What do you find wrong with what he's saying?

#There are a lot of good reasons for that - a great deal of hype entering WoW was the teens and early 20's that had been playing Warcraft and Starcraft for years. They've aged. Other games in the past decade have come out. WoW has matured and grown and streamlined over time. Nothing stays the same.

You're vastly overestimating the popularity of WC1-3 & SC.

OH GOD stop pulling Paul Sams' words of out of context.

How low must a person go to start using such lame attacks.

And by 'out of context', you essentially mean; "Hey! Stop using his own opinions to draw contrast to the current product he was working on!"

Or too much glue sniffing while building your very own tinfoil hat.

Because this entire post was pure conspiracy theory, that made absolutely no logical sense & is a false recollection of history. Oh wait, you didn't bother to retort anything the OP said, but instead proceed to baselessly attack him.

[ElDoorO]

I started in Wrath.

Let me tell you what I liked about it:

- Max level? Go buy flying for your Northrend alts so you can fly! FLY YOU FOOLS!
- The Lich King was *everywhere*. Constantly "setting you back".
- I REALLY liked Lootship. I like one boss that's super easy, even on heroic mode, that people get gear from to help. This felt like fresh air for some reason. It allowed us to relax and laugh and have fun for one boss, regardless of difficulty. Saurfang sucked until we nailed it in to their thick skulls how to handle mechanics. ("But my maul is only hitting one person"; TAKE OUT THE DAMN GLYPH!!!!!!)
- We always got stuck on the professor (I could nearly solo heal as a holy OP pally but people did NOT understand oozes very well) and never passed him on normal mode (I downed LK in a PUG before my guild did, and I'm ok with that) -- but we could always get our "frost emblem" from the chick on the right before the dragon fight. We could *slowly* progress.
- You could fly BEFORE max level in Storm Peaks and Icecrown (wasn't it?) which felt so cool. It felt like you were "almost there" kind of feeling. As if it were a spell you acquired.
- It was an "easy mode" expansion. It allowed me to bring people who suck at games and CARRY THEM in normal modes to some extent (see above). Now? Nope, those people unsubbed in Cata, came back in DS, left in WoD. The dev's have made it clear: They are no longer welcome here.


Let me tell you changes since then I liked:

- LFD (introduced in Wrath, HoR was a little over-tuned, but that's ok)
- LFR (only Dragon Soul and MoP's LFR's as I do NOT like tour mode WoD's LFR)
- Threat is no longer an issue for tanks unless DPS *massively* outgears them.
- Monks, I love my monk. I HATE what they are doing to it this xpac in almost every way. MW is the only viable RBG, WW sucks, and BrM was great. All they had to do was tune Guard better for entry level and end-game better but no, they went full retard.
- MoP's dungeons were on par with what I'd expect and you could earn stuff just by doing them. I don't recall what right now, I'm just now waking up.
- My Warlock had potential in 2's. Now, only 5's and RBG's -- assuming we don't already have a warlock and I'm designated to my MW monk.

Ya know what? After listing all of this you know what I really really want? I'll tell you what I really really what: I really really really wanna easy xpac.
While flying is at the top of the list -- I want my friends back.

I say that, I want ICC level difficulty. I want a raid so that even if I don't win a roll I get *something*.
I want dungeons that give me something even if I out-gear them other than stupid ass crap that doesn't do jack. I have two more characters to level (93/96) and the rest are at 100. I have 9x 100's now. Then that's it. I really should have chosen my rogue sooner given how OP they are though.
But what I want is to bring my old friends back and carry then.
I REALLY liked the LFR->Flex->Normal->Heroic jumps in SoO. Flex was GREAT for introducing people to raiding and training them. Now it's "normal" but the gap between normal and LFR is WAY too large.
I want LFR to have legit 4p because breaking your set items as you jump from LFR -> Anything else is bullshit.
I want my level 100 to be able to run with my friends fresh 90 in a dungeon.

I said it in Cata and I'll say it again: Too fucking hard and my friends leave. I WANT MY FUCKING FRIENDS TO BE ABLE TO PLAY SO I CAN PLAY WITH THEM.
My friends are retards, yes, but they are cool and fun to be around. Suck it.
Now, the guild I'm in has turned into elitist jerks who are Mythic-wannabe's. We were a heroic raiding guild in MoP now in WoD nope. NOPE. NOOOOOPE. But they *feel* like they should be able to since it's "just the same as heroic" -- it's not. I don't like how half the guild left, literally. More than half our members quit the game.

Heroic and Mythic you can keep. Make LFR do more damage, reward apexis, make apexis gear suck less, reward REAL tier items. Nerf normal slightly.
Make the iLvl between LFR -> Normal -> Heroic -> Mythic smaller. Do they even know how hard it is and how long it takes to gear someone from LFR fully geared (assuming even that, we even take 645 iLvl) to Mythic ready on a bad RNG week?

My final wish, at this exact moment, is that extreme diarrhea hit every developer at Blizzard for the next two weeks. Every.Single.One.Of.Them. You destroyed what I loved so much and in 6.2 you destroy the only thing holding me here: PvP.

I find myself playing LoL more and more lately... It's not as fun as what I miss.

[fixx]

Because this entire post was pure conspiracy theory, that made absolutely no logical sense & is a false recollection of history. Oh wait, you didn't bother to retort anything the OP said, but instead proceed to baselessly attack him.

Yeah... Whole post was pure conspiracy theory so what else there is to say except "grow up and ditch the tinfoilhat"?

[Lamora]

A voice from above saith:

Is this voice telling you things as well? Do you have any actual insight or is it all your speculation?

[Deleted]

Yeah... Whole post was pure conspiracy theory so what else there is to say except "grow up and ditch the tinfoilhat"?

Because this entire post was pure conspiracy theory, that made absolutely no logical sense & is a false recollection of history. Oh wait, you didn't bother to retort anything the OP said, but instead proceed to baselessly attack him.

He makes logical, based points as to their direction following each expansion. Please either refute them with your own points or stop flaming.

Is this voice telling you things as well? Do you have any actual insight or is it all your speculation?

Teams being cut to work on D3 isn't speculation, it's fact. WoD's demographic potential being broadened, making the game less substantial in the name of marketing to a wider audience isn't speculation, it's clear in the way they have approached everything. People being stuck in the capitals in 4.3, 5.4 isn't speculation - there was no reason to do anything else but loiter because of lacking world content.

If you play WoW and take off your BDF Battlesuit for a second, you may have been more able to notice these trends whilst playing.

[angelmaz]

I don't see a lot of craziness in the OP...

Seems pretty reasonable.

[Jessicka]

I don't see a lot of craziness in the OP...

Seems pretty reasonable.

The voice from above argument that presumably is going that Activision conspiracy path again is reasonable?

[angelmaz]

It's painfully obvious at this point that decisions are being made from a purely financial, rather than a creative or artistic or "lets make a good game", perspective. If you can't see that you're even more foolish than I imagined. The "voice from above" is Marketing, PR, Executive, and Finance. In other words, the despicable leeches enjoying the fruits of the developers' and artists' labor.

[ringpriest]

TL;DR: a combination of greed and stupidity in the upper boards

The whole thing was good, and I agree that upper management is pushing the game (and company) in bad directions.

But to more directly and succinctly answer your question, "Why Activision Blizzard is alienating their playerbase?" I think the answer is simple: they don't care about their playerbase, except for the fraction of it with deep pockets and a who are prone to addiction.

[Deleted]

Why people assume that ATVI wanting to milk a cash cow is a 'conspiracy' eludes me.

[Bridius]

You're vastly overestimating the popularity of WC1-3 & SC.

Really? I've always felt that anyone who plays WoW and hasn't played any other Warcraft games (especially War3) is a fool.

[Gorechubz]

Why people assume that ATVI wanting to milk a cash cow is a 'conspiracy' eludes me.

Because it is nonsense.

Obviously Blizzard is a company (and so is Activision). They, of course, want to make money, like any business. That doesn't mean that they want to do everything they can to "milk" things to the detriment of the business. That's where people are going wrong. As a software engineer myself, I know that they're not milking anything "as it dies". My company is, of course, concerned with the bottom line but they're also concerned with quality. My CEO doesn't enjoy a call from a client saying that they're unhappy with a particular response to an issue or with service. That hurts us. We want to make money and output great software. I know Blizzard is the same. That doesn't mean that everyone agrees with everything they do - with 7m+ subscribers it is impossible to please everyone, but the vitriol is bordering on the stupid at this point.

[Osmeric]

It's painfully obvious at this point that decisions are being made from a purely financial, rather than a creative or artistic or "lets make a good game", perspective.

If this were true Mythic raid mode would never have been added.

[Gorechubz]

You're vastly overestimating the popularity of WC1-3 & SC.

You're joking, right? Warcraft is one of the most popular video game series in history.