Blizzard Entertainment: A Redemption Story

[ro9ue]

I don't know how else to say it. But while I formed my fandom of Blizzard with SC1, D2, WC3 and early WoW, I lost some of it with SC2, D3 and WoW Cata-WoD...

Then came...
• Hearthstone. Not my favorite game, but a really solid time killer on mobile to play.
• HotS, probably the most polished MOBA on the market... a great game imo.
• D3 RoS that elevated the game from the ashes
• SC2 Legacy of the Void and the new missions
• Legion which is looking to be one of the best expansions ever

and most importantly...

• Overwatch, a brand new IP that's a solid game and has Disney-level quality movies and story content being released on YouTube.

I can't help but feel Blizzard is entering a new "Golden Age".

[Pull My Finger]

How dare you enjoy yourself, you white knight and fanboy. Why don't you hate yourself and everything else like the rest of us here.

[Deleted]

This positivity.

IT BURNS.

[Arrashi]

Honestly i think it depends on who is looking at them.
For me HS is P2W game and that makes it instant nope. HotS was fun for 2 weeks and then realization that i would rather play dota/lol if i ever wanted to play MoBA came. Maybe its just that "but with blizzard characters !!!" aspect doesn't sell it to me, but hots really isnt anything to write home about. D3 RoS was definately redemption story, but honestly it still lack that special something D2 had. S2 - speaking from purely single players experience, both expansions felt lacking and worse than base.
With legion - we will see. WoD also looked promising and then failed in every aspect. I will reserve my judgement of legion for at least 3 months after release.

Out of them all Overwatch seems to be the biggest one and most progressive one, good for them.

[Asotcha]

It sure seems like a reneissance is in the works, and at a good time, too. I think that WoD woke theme up to the things that really mattered enough that we wont see an expac like it again, and even though I don't really play fps i'm looking forward to seeing what a big splash Overwatch makes.

[Blade Wolf]

i haven't pre-ordered legion yet but if they can iron out the severe phasing issues then it's shaping up to be the best expansion to date imo.

[Fortydragon]

Also Don't forget the Warcraft movie! Which is an actual thing that finally happening and coming out next month :O

[Deleted]

And the Dance Studio!

[ro9ue]

Also Don't forget the Warcraft movie! Which is an actual thing that finally happening and coming out next month :O

Yes! Of course, not sure how I forgot that.

[Acidbaron]

MMO's popularity are in decline they are no longer the only form of online entertainment therefor to maintain their revenue stream they are branching out in different genres, that's pretty much all to it.

You are looking at it with a bit too much pink colored glasses those games still have problems and aren't the end all, same as legion will have their problems and same goes for overwatch once the shine wears off.

[Poppincaps]

I don't know how else to say it. But while I formed my fandom of Blizzard with SC1, D2, WC3 and early WoW, I lost some of it with SC2, D3 and WoW Cata-WoD...

Then came...
• Hearthstone. Not my favorite game, but a really solid time killer on mobile to play.
• HotS, probably the most polished MOBA on the market... a great game imo.
• D3 RoS that elevated the game from the ashes
• SC2 Legacy of the Void and the new missions
• Legion which is looking to be one of the best expansions ever

and most importantly...

• Overwatch, a brand new IP that's a solid game and has Disney-level quality movies and story content being released on YouTube.

I can't help but feel Blizzard is entering a new "Golden Age".

It does seem like they are turning it all around, but as much as I love HotS it is FAAARRRR from the most polished MOBA. I'd say it's the most fun due to the lack of a long laning phase, but it is still very much a work in progress.

Oh also I would call what they are entering a "Silver Age." Blizzard's golden age was when they were literally the best in every genre they touched. SC: Brood War, Diablo 2, and WoW were the best games of their genre at the time. Now, D3 has great games like Path of Exile and Grim Dawn to compete with. I don't know much about RTS so I can't speak for SC2. Heroes may be my favorite MOBA but it is still very rough around the edges and it will never eclipse LoL. Overwatch is cool but it is longevity that will determine its success too soon to say. Heartstone is quite successful though.

[Wondercrab]

I think Blizzard's only real weak efforts have been vanilla D3 and various elements of WoW (with WoD being the obvious focal point). Hearthstone is pretty much a genre-definer on the level of Diablo and WoW at this point, so they've definitely got that one under their belt in recent years, and Overwatch looks set to be an immensely strong IP too.

[lawow74]

Blizzard no longer speaks to my interests.

I grew tired of WoW late in the MoP cycle and the endless gear treadmill endured alongside the toxic scum of humanity. Diablo 3's forced Online-only gameplay ruined that franchise for me, as I can't help but have a high-latency connection and that just kills an action-focused game like that. Which means MOBA's will never appeal to me, and I object to CCG's on principle.

All that leaves is SC 2, and all I care about there is the story. The gameplay itself is just a chore to endure. So unless Blizzard gets around to making a new OFFLINE RPG, I don't see myself supporting them anytime in the near future. That's not to say I don't think they make great games; they just don't make them for me.

[kaamila]

as someone whos been in alpha, im not too hyped on legion. overwatch is fun to play with friends.

[Jotaux]

I think Blizzards biggest problem is they caved to people demanding faster content. There used to be a time when they released things when they were ready and not before.

[ro9ue]

There used to be a time when they released things when they were ready and not before.

I agree I liked the "it's done when it's done" attitude they had. But let's be completely honest here. We waited 10 years for D3 and it was a disaster at release, we've been seeing over a year long content droughts in World of Warcraft between expansions and they are arguably getting worse.

Maybe that philosophy made sense when they were a smaller team and needed to spend more time to get high quality - but I'm not sure slower releases is in any way related to higher quality stuff anymore.

[Post]

I dunno, I thought WoD had easily on par raiding with the other expansions. Outside that I don't even see what's missing, but I wouldn't have played WoW without raiding anyways.

[Deleted]

• Legion which is looking to be one of the best expansions ever

Name an expansion that didn't look like the best one ever.

Then we end up getting some trash like WoD and people still keep telling themselves "But this time it has to be different!" and preorder the games just to feel the disappointment after a month of server stability issues and time gated content.

[ro9ue]

Name an expansion that didn't look like the best one ever.

Then we end up getting some trash like WoD and people still keep telling themselves "But this time it has to be different!" and preorder the games just to feel the disappointment after a month of server stability issues and time gated content.

I can only speak for myself, but for MoP and WoD I was underwhelmed as soon as they were announced.

[Poppincaps]

Name an expansion that didn't look like the best one ever.

Then we end up getting some trash like WoD and people still keep telling themselves "But this time it has to be different!" and preorder the games just to feel the disappointment after a month of server stability issues and time gated content.

I thought MoP looked meh and I thought WoD looked meh. I was right on WoD and wrong on MoP. I will admit that it seems I was in the minority in predicting that the garrison wasn't going to go over well.