Open Letter to Blizzard Entertainment from Mark Kern

[FelPlague]

https://www.techinasia.com/firefall-...ked-the9-story

[Surfd]

Make PvP fun, PvP "content" is never ending in theory, as every battle is unique, it just has to be fun so people don't get bored. Community events is a common thing in pservers, it gives people something to do for unique rewards.

So you want Vanilla realms, that aren't vanilla realms. Cause you know, "pvp" content was almost non existant on Vanilla outside of Battlegrounds, and general PvP was about as fun as getting kicked in the nuts with steel-toed boots unless you were one of the handful of classes that were just utterly broken with the right gear and became literal pvp gods. Oh, and PvP viablility swung WILDLY for many classes between patches, so which patch flavour are we talking about? And Community Events? Rotfl, more "vanilla but tweaked to be better so it's not actually vanilla" drivel.

[KyrtF]

I see where he is coming from....but I don't think I agree.

Legacy servers are an interesting idea....but the risk that they'll be around for three months until people get bored or that people will ask for fixes and further progression is there. Not to mention....which patch do you go for?

As it is....I think WoW has problems. Serious problems. But a lot of them can't be fixed without rewinding the game back to LK.

Yes...Blizzard messed up quite a bit in Cataclysm and that legacy is still being felt today.

The poor Alliance storyline and the way it was treated.
The disaster that was Garrosh
The neutral Pandaren
Cataclysm
The mishandling of LFR....not its introduction, but the way it was implemented
The removal of challenge
Level bloat
Stat bloat
The removal of fun and flavour
WoD
Large aspects of Legion

Blizzard did a lot of good and right in Cata and MoP....but it also did a lot of wrong and bad.

I'm not certain Legacy servers is what players really want....but I do think a lot of players miss what Vanilla had to offer.

The stories were better written and offered a better experience even if they were more awkward
The environment was much more dangerous and the game provided a real sense of challenge and reward

Today....there's nothing really iconic...the story is nonsensical and corny. The faction rivalry is meaningless as Blizzard pushes cooperation in PvE and senseless conflict in PvP. The game is too easy to provide any sense of challenge or reward. There is nothing really new. The classes have had their flavour and fun washed away.

I don't know that Legacy servers would be the correct solution.

[Deleted]

My point--which you apparently skipped over completely--was that licensing an IP to someone who is actively infringing sets up a precedent that they may not want to do and legally might be difficult.

Companies are free to license their IP any way they want, there are no precedents of any kind involved here. And licensing IP to someone who is infringing on it is exactly what many rights holders do for a living. You might not want to call Blizzard "liars", but neither the technical nor legal arguments they made in their response hold any water.

[rda]

My point--which you apparently skipped over completely--was that licensing an IP to someone who is actively infringing sets up a precedent that they may not want to do and legally might be difficult.

It doesn't work that way, precedents apply to things that are on a different level (ie, if Blizzard sued Nost and Nost would somehow have won, that might then have been useful to other pirate servers in that they could try the same defense as Nost did, <caveats regarding jurisdiction and several other things>).

[Uurdz]

It doesn't work that way, precedents apply to things that are on a different level (ie, if Blizzard sued Nost and Nost would somehow have won, that might then have been useful to other pirate servers in that they could try the same defense as Nost did, <caveats regarding jurisdiction and several other things>).

Quite right. The FBI/CIA have often recruited criminals, as have corporations like Apple/Norton Antivirus to work for them.

The filing of a cease and desist is sufficient to provide clear evidence of IP protection.

[Zandalarian Paladin]

Just thought this was relevant: https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/726426469614780416

EDIT: Follow-up https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/726427443511218176

And nice precision about story that happened with Firefall and Red5: https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/726427314909638656

Every story has two sides. I'm not going to claim Kern is perfect or he didn't do any mistakes. But I'm definitely going to claim that he left a great legacy in the gaming community and that his position has weight at Blizzard. Also why he was officially invited by Michael Morhaime.

[rda]

^^ This tweet, too:

https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/726421020874166272

Some fellow up the thread came with that ridiculous thought that Mark sits unemployed because nobody would take him (because he's supposedly cancer or whatever cool kids say these days), hopefully this tweet will shut him up.

It also shows that Mark is a very normal, sane guy. I also wouldn't accept a job at Blizzard, and certainly wouldn't switch to it from my own company.

[Deja Thoris]

^^ This tweet, too:

https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/726421020874166272

Some fellow up the thread came with that ridiculous thought that Mark sits unemployed because nobody would take him (because he's supposedly cancer or whatever cool kids say these days), hopefully this tweet will shut him up.

It also shows that Mark is a very normal, sane guy. I also wouldn't accept a job at Blizzard, and certainly wouldn't switch to it from my own company.

Yea because no one ever lies about that stuff right? "I'm not running for President!" or "I'm not in talks with x club". But hey he said it, so it must be true...

[RoKPaNda]

I'm excited for the announcement of official legacy servers at Blizzcon this year. Good times lads.

[Zandalarian Paladin]

^^ This tweet, too:

https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/726421020874166272

Some fellow up the thread came with that ridiculous thought that Mark sits unemployed because nobody would take him (because he's supposedly cancer or whatever cool kids say these days), hopefully this tweet will shut him up.

It also shows that Mark is a very normal, sane guy. I also wouldn't accept a job at Blizzard, and certainly wouldn't switch to it from my own company.

Yep, and also this one he just posted: https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/726434765595770880

He also posted a graph with actual players on steam for Firefall: https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/726428094941138945 - For the record, he was laid off in December 2013.

[rda]

Yea because no one ever lies about that stuff right? "I'm not running for President!" or "I'm not in talks with x club". But hey he said it, so it must be true...

No, obviously Mark doesn't have a company because you read some guy who read some article with an anonymous source that said that Mark is terrible in every aspect. Obviously.

Grow up.

[Mad_Murdock]

This discussion is not even about whether it's good or bad for WoW whether we have legacy server. It's about people that prematurely made up their mind it should/shouldn't be done and now twist every progress in either direction to back up their stance.

The goal for EVERY player should be that as many people as possible can enjoy WoW because otherwise it really is deemed to fail.

I am a bit surprised that there seems to be an anti legacy group that doesn't want Legacy servers to happen period. I can understand a bit of concern that it "might" take away from current wow and split resources. But the energy arguing against it is being misspent. If nothing else, I'll be glad to have all the "Vanilla was better" people silenced and this topic dead.

If legacy servers do take resources away and the main game suffers it will be bad news for everyone.Less subs = less content = closer to F2P closer= Less content and more cash shop items = less subs = less content = equals extinction at some point.

[Relapses]

^^ This tweet, too:

https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/726421020874166272

Some fellow up the thread came with that ridiculous thought that Mark sits unemployed because nobody would take him (because he's supposedly cancer or whatever cool kids say these days), hopefully this tweet will shut him up.

It also shows that Mark is a very normal, sane guy. I also wouldn't accept a job at Blizzard, and certainly wouldn't switch to it from my own company.

LMFAO dude, you're not even for Legacy realms and you're acting like Kern's fucking PR team. I don't know how you can see all of the very real, very clear evidence of his stupidity and still feel you're taking the moral high ground by defending him. He spent $3 million on a fucking bus that did absolutely nothing. He also made a really shitty music video to promote Firefall which is one of the most embarrassing things ever to be associated with video games. And then he started his own company and had the ENTIRE FUCKING TEAM QUIT on him after they realized what a stark, raving lunatic the dude was. You guys like to say that my "anonymous sources" are somehow less incredulous than tweets from the guy himself... let's go ahead and think for a second who'd have a vested interest in keeping their public image positive? Given how his last few gaming endeavors have panned out, I highly doubt this tabletop RPG he's working on will be very successful but I wish him the best.

None of those tweets prove anything I posted earlier was incorrect, either. He can say it wasn't his fault Red 5 failed all he wants but the FACTS behind what he did do -- and mostly what he didn't do -- while CEO are still plainly evident. I'll concede that there was more wrong with the game than what he was tasked to complete, I just think it's a very broad, incorrect perspective to say he didn't have anything to do with the downfall of Firefall. He made some incredibly stupid decisions while CEO, got booted from the company then tried to form his own company then had the entire team quit on him. There's a very clear pattern of discontent between him and anybody who has worked for or with the guy.

To top it all off, though, all you have to do is read his tweets and Reddit posts by the guy to see that he is very, very poor at not only communicating ideas but also that he is quick to act on temporary emotions only to regret the impact later. (The whole debacle with TC is a great case-in-point here.) The whole thing paints a very negative image of the guy, in my mind. More than anything, what bothers me the most about Kern is that there are so many people willing to completely overlook all of the stupid shit the guy has done simply because he's championing a cause they care deeply about. I can understand the notion but I personally believe the facts about his character speak louder in volumes than any of the good he might claim he can do for the cause.

[Deleted]

LMFAO dude, you're not even for Legacy realms and you're acting like Kern's fucking PR team. I don't know how you can see all of the very real, very clear evidence of his stupidity and still feel you're taking the moral high ground by defending him.

You seem to have major anger issues towards someone you don't even know. Seek medical help.

[rda]

LMFAO dude, you're not even for Legacy realms and you're acting like Kern's fucking PR team. I don't know how you can see all of the very real, very clear evidence of his stupidity and still ...

We've been over that, I asked what you have, you brought two paragraphs of nonsense claims and I replied to every single one showing you why it's nonsense. This new post of yours is a repeat of that old one, if you want an answer (obviously, you don't, you just want to shout), go and re-read my reply to the old post, it hits all the notes.

- - - Updated - - -

For the record - "You guys like to say that my "anonymous sources" are somehow less incredulous than tweets from the guy himself..." - yes, dear, anonymous sources are less credible than tweets from the guy himself. Whatever "the guy himself" says might not be true, but it is more credible than whatever an anonymous nobody would say. Welcome to real life.

[Eapoe]

I am a bit surprised that there seems to be an anti legacy group that doesn't want Legacy servers to happen period. I can understand a bit of concern that it "might" take away from current wow and split resources. But the energy arguing against it is being misspent. If nothing else, I'll be glad to have all the "Vanilla was better" people silenced and this topic dead.

If legacy servers do take resources away and the main game suffers it will be bad news for everyone.Less subs = less content = closer to F2P closer= Less content and more cash shop items = less subs = less content = equals extinction at some point.

I haven't really seen too many anti Legacy people honestly, just people stating reasons it possibly won't work and negative impacts it could have. Not that many people have outright said "don't do them" or "it's a terrible idea," as much as stated reasons it can negatively impact retail or the costs/difficulties involved for Blizzard.
That being said, we all have to take a step back and realize that there are 2 sides to every story. Kern's and Red5. The problem is that you have 1 side stating all these problems he caused and what he did wrong, and you have Kern stating all these things he did right and how it failed after he left. Now, personally, I tend to side with the employees; we've all had those terrible bosses that claim how well they did and what thy did to make the company succeed, yet were an absolute terror and horrible to work with (well, anyone old enough to have multiple jobs thru the years). That's not to say Red5 might have been completely successful had he stayed on, but considering there's news articles about him wasting money with bad decisions with the bus fiasco as well as horrible marketing campaigns, as well as here-say stories from employees that worked with him, it's easy to see that he's not some martyr that was sacrificed and all but forgotten until the Legacy servers happened. On the flip side, he could have been a genius at marketing that got everyone hyped and had a revolutionary idea with the bus that just didn't pan out, and his ideas for the game could have been changed after he left, and not attempts to fix a broken product.
Personally, just thru experience with humanity, I'm more under the belief that just because you shot holes into the hull of a ship, got kicked off the boat by the captain for it, and then it sunk after you were evicted doesn't give you the right to say the ship sank after you left because they couldn't plug the holes fast enough.

[Relapses]

We've been over that, I asked what you have, you brought two paragraphs of nonsense claims and I replied to every single one showing you why it's nonsense.

I've already provided the reasoning and the evidence for all of my claims multiple times. Sticking your fingers in your ears and pretending you can't hear me is not a valid counter argument.

[Morbownz]

If legacy servers do take resources away and the main game suffers it will be bad news for everyone.Less subs = less content = closer to F2P closer= Less content and more cash shop items = less subs = less content = equals extinction at some point.

You think they'd just shoot themselves in the foot like that?

[rda]

I've already provided the reasoning and the evidence for all of my claims multiple times. Sticking your fingers in your ears and pretending you can't hear me is not a valid counter argument.

No, you are just repeating yourself. Re-read your replies to my post which shows why your claims are nonsense. You back up, back up, back up and then shut up. Now after a couple of pages you copy-paste your old post all over. OK.