Open Letter to Blizzard Entertainment from Mark Kern

[Thimagryn]

He's pulling a Drumpf, plain and simple.

He's playing on the feelings of the general public and rallying them behind his banner to face 'a great evil' by blowing smoke up everyone's asses. He's charismatic and oppurtunistic, and for him it's a win-win situation to go on the offense. Mark gets to say whatever he wants, publicly, about the current Blizz developers without any backlash. In the eyes of the fans, he can say no wrong because he's championing the legacy servers. If Blizzard says yes, he can secure a position back as developer on Legacy servers. If Blizzard says no, everyone will continue to think it's because Blizzard is being stupid.

There's too many riding the bandwagon to care what he says or does. He's using 'look at all the petition signatures!' to boost his own agenda. This isn't really getting us any closer to Legacy servers.

[ls-]

Dont know exactly if hes making any money of these articles or his general public reputation, but that seems very weird to me since he threatens all of that with his statements, risking your whole reputation of everything you have ever done (atleast WoW was the greatest feat) for the few days of internet publicity to look like an absolute fool if it turns out to be false seems dumb to me tbh.

Prior Nost outcry, he had nearly no good reputation, he was self-proclaimed martyr, but others knew him as "The Bus Guy", lel. His current situation is MUCH better, than it's before.

[Eliseus]

hahahhaha....

Keep laughing, or are you going to tell us more things like MMO-C isn't a news reporting site etc.... then be proven wrong.

[MoanaLisa]

Especially since Kern's public statements are so....high aimed and prideful it should influence how Mike will react to that, if he just straight out tells him that he is no longer welcome there it would definetly spread doubt about Kern's reputation, statements and knowledge.

Hard to know whether he's welcome or not. He went to the trouble and expense to have the petition printed (not cheap) and was very definitely planning to go and visit Blizzard on Tuesday. If he couldn't get in he said he was going to leave the boxes at the gate. Then the video, then he e-mailed the petition to Morhaime as if Morhaime is completely unaware of it, and then said he was waiting for Mike to call him. It's just very strange.

Whatever he's up to if people on both sides would set aside their prejudices about the topic and just look at what he's done and said on his Twitter feed the last week it would be reasonable to assume that he's....inconsistent is a nice word for it. Being honest here, his Twitter feed is personally off-putting, full of curious obsessions, conspiracy theories and the like so that is where I'm coming from. Should anyone not know by now, I'm ambivalent on the whole thing about vanilla servers and believe(d) that Blizzard should have come out with something firm on the topic so that one way or another the issue could be put to bed. They apparently have a very difficult time doing that. It hurt them with flying and is damaging them again with their willingness to let the issue continue to fester.

[Deleted]

Who even gives a shit about this Kern guy? I though this was about legacy WoW servers, and not the I like him/I don't like him "discussion".
It's like people here just loves to bitch at each other the bigger this thread becomes, ignoring what it was about in the first place.

[KrazyK923]

Whatever he's up to if people on both sides would set aside their prejudices about the topic and just look at what he's done and said on his Twitter feed the last week it would be reasonable to assume that he's....inconsistent is a nice word for it.

Drama mongering?
Attention whoring?
Victim complexing?

He was either entirely delusional or, more likely imo, deliberately misleading people into thinking he has any amount of sway at Blizzard, let alone getting Morhaime to personally agree to a meeting with him to hear his spiel about legacy servers.

The second he jumped into the conversation, he positioned himself as the righteous champion of the people, and has spent almost the entire time indulging in the praise people were spraying all over him. Meanwhile talking shit on Blizzard, insulting the game, insulting the developers, personally attacking some of the highest developer positions in the company, brigading people to attack those who disagreed with him, ect. Oh and most hilarious of all, basically taking credit for World of Warcraft becoming a game. He's repeatedly talked about how it was him that convinced Blizzard not to scrap it but to ship it. He has taken literally all the credit for the game's creation.

The dude is an attention whore and the fact that this movement leashed their hopes to such a douchebag is sad, for them at least. For me it's funny and pretty emblematic for how the biggest names in that movement (Like Sodapoppin, Kungen, Heelvscrybabyface, bellular, ect) have been acting all along since this began.

[ls-]

Who even gives a shit about this Kern guy? I though this was about legacy WoW servers, and not the I like him/I don't like him "discussion".
It's like people here just loves to bitch at each other the bigger this thread becomes, ignoring what it was about in the first place.

This thread is about Kern a.k.a. Legacy posterboy, and what he does to make wow great again, lel. If you want to discuss Legacy server there's a 1k page megathread

[TheWindWalker]

Who even gives a shit about this Kern guy? I though this was about legacy WoW servers, and not the I like him/I don't like him "discussion".

First of all, you're in a thread named for him about something he posted.
Secondly, more threads have been started in the past few days about legacy servers than you can count on all your fingers and toes. And I may be understating that by several factors.

[Eliseus]

Hard to know whether he's welcome or not. He went to the trouble and expense to have the petition printed (not cheap) and was very definitely planning to go and visit Blizzard on Tuesday. If he couldn't get in he said he was going to leave the boxes at the gate. Then the video, then he e-mailed the petition to Morhaime as if Morhaime is completely unaware of it, and then said he was waiting for Mike to call him. It's just very strange.

Whatever he's up to if people on both sides would set aside their prejudices about the topic and just look at what he's done and said on his Twitter feed the last week it would be reasonable to assume that he's....inconsistent is a nice word for it. Being honest here, his Twitter feed is personally off-putting, full of curious obsessions, conspiracy theories and the like so that is where I'm coming from. Should anyone not know by now, I'm ambivalent on the whole thing about vanilla servers and believe(d) that Blizzard should have come out with something firm on the topic so that one way or another the issue could be put to bed. They apparently have a very difficult time doing that. It hurt them with flying and is damaging them again with their willingness to let the issue continue to fester.

Didn't know this was grounds for not being credible. I assure you if I could look at your internet history the same could be said based off your criteria. Therefore it is grossly over-exaggerated his credibility from people with no credibility towards the subject at all.

I do know his tweets have been full of how wrong the info you guys cling onto is, but I'm sure that was ignored.

[Gadzooks]

Hard to know whether he's welcome or not. He went to the trouble and expense to have the petition printed (not cheap) and was very definitely planning to go and visit Blizzard on Tuesday. If he couldn't get in he said he was going to leave the boxes at the gate. Then the video, then he e-mailed the petition to Morhaime as if Morhaime is completely unaware of it, and then said he was waiting for Mike to call him. It's just very strange.

Whatever he's up to if people on both sides would set aside their prejudices about the topic and just look at what he's done and said on his Twitter feed the last week it would be reasonable to assume that he's....inconsistent is a nice word for it. Being honest here, his Twitter feed is personally off-putting, full of curious obsessions, conspiracy theories and the like so that is where I'm coming from. Should anyone not know by now, I'm ambivalent on the whole thing about vanilla servers and believe(d) that Blizzard should have come out with something firm on the topic so that one way or another the issue could be put to bed. They apparently have a very difficult time doing that. It hurt them with flying and is damaging them again with their willingness to let the issue continue to fester.

This man's impact on the situation are grossly inflated and exaggerated. It's grasping at straws and wishful thinking, at best. Blizzard made their statement, through Brack - Morhaime responding will be very surprising at this point.

But, it's been like this since the story broke. "There's no response from Blizzard". Blizzard responds. "Kern will save the day!" Kern fails. "There's no response from Morhaime". If Morhaime responds, then it will be "There's no response from Kotick", and on and on and on. The goalposts will be reset every time until they get what they want - and it's pretty clear that's not going to happen, so it we're going to have to wade through this ocean of tears for a while.

I agree that Brack should have said "No" more clearly, but what's done is done. Actually, a more clear "No" would be ignored, just like what he actually said is being ignored - the levels of self delusion and fantasy over this matter are alarming. "He said "no" - but he didn't use the right font, so he didn't really mean it" is about the level of discourse on this matter these days.

[KrazyK923]

Didn't know this was grounds for not being credible. I assure you if I could look at your internet history the same could be said based off your criteria. Therefore it is grossly over-exaggerated his credibility from people with no credibility towards the subject at all.

I do know his tweets have been full of how wrong the info you guys cling onto is, but I'm sure that was ignored.

Talk about a total disingenuous comparison here. Hot damn.

MoanaLisa isn't pretending she's some champion of the people. She's not taking credit for the creation of an entire game. She's not lying out of her teeth pretending she can just score a meeting with the CEO of a billion dollar company that she's not been involved with in over ten years.

[Eliseus]

This man's impact on the situation are grossly inflated and exaggerated. It's grasping at straws and wishful thinking, at best. Blizzard made their statement, through Brack - Morhaime responding will be very surprising at this point.

But, it's been like this since the story broke. "There's no response from Blizzard". Blizzard responds. "Kern will save the day!" Kern fails. "There's no response from Morhaime". If Morhaime responds, then it will be "There's no response from Kotick", and on and on and on. The goalposts will be reset every time until they get what they want - and it's pretty clear that's not going to happen, so it we're going to have to wade through this ocean of tears for a while.

I agree that Brack should have said "No" more clearly, but what's done is done. Actually, a more clear "No" would be ignored, just like what he actually said is being ignored - the levels of self delusion and fantasy over this matter are alarming. "He said "no" - but he didn't use the right font, so he didn't really mean it" is about the level of discourse on this matter these days.

How are they inflated and exaggerated? He gave you concrete numbers of the expectations of Blizzard at the original launch. He is someone familiars with the industry and pointed out how ridiculous people like you are with the costs to do this. Instead of engaging in a rational argument and trying to provide proof to prove those statements wrong you guys resulted in ad hominems. Makes sense.

[KrazyK923]

How are they inflated and exaggerated? He gave you concrete numbers of the expectations of Blizzard at the original launch. He is someone familiars with the industry and pointed out how ridiculous people like you are with the costs to do this. Instead of engaging in a rational argument and trying to provide proof to prove those statements wrong you guys resulted in ad hominems. Makes sense.

He's provided jack shit in terms of concrete numbers.

At best he's been horribly disingenuous with his implication that if they brought back legacy servers, the 14 million followers of literally ALL of the streamers that he's mentioned would not only watch the game being played again, but also play themselves AS WELL AS play Legion.

Besides that he's done nothing but say "Oh I can't use the exact numbers, but trust me I know how much it would cost."

Sorry, trust is reserved for people who are arguing in good faith. Not attention whores who constantly shitting on the company that's involved in the conversation.

[Eliseus]

Talk about a total disingenuous comparison here. Hot damn.

MoanaLisa isn't pretending she's some champion of the people. She's not taking credit for the creation of an entire game. She's not lying out of her teeth pretending she can just score a person meeting with the CEO of a billion dollar company that she's not been involved with in over ten years.

The bolded doesn't make your argument any stronger spewing dumb shit like that. How is he lying? You can't provide anything. Who created the entire game? You are arguing against facts that you want to believe to not be true, but without anything to support what you said. Shall I believe random internet troll #124005 who says random shit about credibility of someone who worked on WoW, or shall I believe the guy who actually worked on WoW..... Hmmmmm, seems logical to believe random internet troll #124005 who doesn't provide anything substantial to the argument.

[Reapocalypse]

Hard to know whether he's welcome or not. He went to the trouble and expense to have the petition printed (not cheap) and was very definitely planning to go and visit Blizzard on Tuesday. If he couldn't get in he said he was going to leave the boxes at the gate. Then the video, then he e-mailed the petition to Morhaime as if Morhaime is completely unaware of it, and then said he was waiting for Mike to call him. It's just very strange.

Whatever he's up to if people on both sides would set aside their prejudices about the topic and just look at what he's done and said on his Twitter feed the last week it would be reasonable to assume that he's....inconsistent is a nice word for it. Being honest here, his Twitter feed is personally off-putting, full of curious obsessions, conspiracy theories and the like so that is where I'm coming from. Should anyone not know by now, I'm ambivalent on the whole thing about vanilla servers and believe(d) that Blizzard should have come out with something firm on the topic so that one way or another the issue could be put to bed. They apparently have a very difficult time doing that. It hurt them with flying and is damaging them again with their willingness to let the issue continue to fester.

Well, he stated that he is giving him "1-2 days" to call him, after that he still plans to go directly to Blizz HQ, so we are still waiting for that to happen, until then i try to keep my hopes up.

Next best thing to getting a Yes as an answer from Mike would just be a clear No when im honest, it would finally settle this debate about official legacy realms (until retail dies) once and for all if it would be directly from Mike, atleast id hope so, but i somehow doubt that they/he would give us that, would be just a bad PR move for them for a little peace for us.

[KrazyK923]

The bolded doesn't make your argument any stronger spewing dumb shit like that. How is he lying? You can't provide anything. Who created the entire game? You are arguing against facts that you want to believe to not be true, but without anything to support what you said. Shall I believe random internet troll #124005 who says random shit about credibility of someone who worked on WoW, or shall I believe the guy who actually worked on WoW..... Hmmmmm, seems logical to believe random internet troll #124005 who doesn't provide anything substantial to the argument.

Did I say he never worked on WoW? No. However he's flatout ignoring all of the other immensely important people who shaped that game. He even has the audacity to say that he was the one who "saved" WoW from being scrapped and is why the game launched.

With no fucking proof of this whatsoever.

You are sitting and just blanket believing whatever he says despite him providing zero evidence that he's correct. Who gives a shit if he worked on Vanilla WoW, that doesn't default mean he's always telling the truth.

Stop being so goddamn disingenuous. I made no mention about how much impact he actually had on WoW. I've only ever talked about how utterly scumbaggish it is to pretend you were the sole person responsible for the success of the game. When many of the people who made it are still with Blizzard and fondly talk about their time making the game.

Gamespot just did a 3 part series on the development of Overwatch with several of the core creative people behind Vanilla WoW. Chris Metzen, Jeffrey Kaplan, and several of the core world designers. Not a single one of them mentioned Kern. Not a single one of them mentioned this supposed idea that WoW was on the cusp of being scrapped and was saved by somebody. They all repeatedly talk about WoW's early development, though, and how integral the rest of the people were (in the video) in making it a success.

[Eliseus]

He's provided jack shit in terms of concrete numbers.

At best he's been horribly disingenuous with his implication that if they brought back legacy servers, the 14 million followers of literally ALL of the streamers that he's mentioned would not only watch the game being played again, but also play themselves AS WELL AS play Legion.

Besides that he's done nothing but say "Oh I can't use the exact numbers, but trust me I know how much it would cost."

Sorry, trust is reserved for people who are arguing in good faith. Not attention whores who constantly shitting on the company that's involved in the conversation.

LOL, "Heres the numbers" "I DON'T WANT TO BELIEVE THAT! NOT TRUE"

- - - Updated - - -

Then your legacy servers should be up in no time!!

It's looking that way so far. Hopefully within a year time frame

[Eliseus]

Did I say he never worked on WoW? No. However he's flatout ignoring all of the other immensely important people who shaped that game. He even has the audacity to say that he was the one who "saved" WoW from being scrapped and is why the game launched.

With no fucking proof of this whatsoever.

You are sitting and just blanket believing whatever he says despite him providing zero evidence that he's correct. Who gives a shit if he worked on Vanilla WoW, that doesn't default mean he's always telling the truth.

Stop being so goddamn disingenuous.

Must of just learned the word "disingenuous". Spewing out no proof in a argument that clearly has proof doesn't magically make it disappear. Good luck in your endeavors of forcing your lifestyle on others.

- - - Updated - - -

Why are you here then if you have nothing to worry about?

I love to point out how ignorant you are. Also hoping the random reader doesn't believe your bs.

[KrazyK923]

LOL, "Heres the numbers" "I DON'T WANT TO BELIEVE THAT! NOT TRUE"

Numbers to what? Could you at least be specific, if you can't be bothered to be genuine.

Must of just learned the word "disingenuous". Spewing out no proof in a argument that clearly has proof doesn't magically make it disappear. Good luck in your endeavors of forcing your lifestyle on others.

If the shoe fits.

I love how you just can't stop being butthurt over the fact that I don't just believe whatver bullshit Kern spews without proof.

Also forcing my lifestyle? What the fuck are you even on about anymore lol.

[Eliseus]

Numbers to what? Could you at least be specific, if you can't be bothered to be genuine.



If the shoe fits.

I love how you just can't stop being butthurt over the fact that I don't just believe whatver bullshit Kern spews without proof.

Also forcing my lifestyle? What the fuck are you even on about anymore lol.

I was already specific. You ignored it.

Claiming I'm butthurt isn't a valid argument.

You want me to play a game how you see fit instead of letting people play a game that doesn't effect you. Unless you are worried that the Legacy servers would be so successful that current WoW would die, then you don't matter anyways. You claim we are a "vocal minority" though, so again, you want to force a lifestyle onto the rest of us.