So Long, and Thanks for All the Spectral Fish

[Animaneth]

Why would he not be allowed to do that? He is no longer working for Blizzard.
He is not taking any of the software with him so it is perfectly fine aslong as he does not reveal any Blizzard company secrets to his new company.

Heck maybe he is not even working on videogame's anymore it could very well be that he is doing something else.

usually, high positions (or even devs) in companies are offer packages if they leave, under the condition that they do not join a competitor (most of the time direct competitors are even forbidden) and in case they remain in the industry (likely, given his experience) they are also forbidden to release any kind of howto or inner workings. Take this, with a grain of salt, since I don't work for Blizzard, but I do work as a game developer.

[ramennoodleking]

He might actually be going into marine biology. I think that would be so awesome for him.

[Tython]

Good riddance!

[scream123]

all the best ghost and ty

[Deleted]

Will seriously miss this guy, liked his straightforward attitude on twitter especially!

[Cakka]

Good luck in the future, and thanks for all the great work Greg!

[sergel02]

I wonder how shocked people will be when they find out that dodgy class balance was not caused by one man. Chances are the poor guy after GC just get blamed for it as well.

The people who post things like that probably aren't too smart (thinking that one person causes every balance issue they have in the game). Like you said, they'll probably just blame someone else for it and think it's all their fault.

I'll miss him though. He was like part of the game for me.

[Deleted]

Good riddance for WoW now free from that snarky jerk.
But bad news for whatever game he goes to.
Would be awesome if he was hired to work on TESO, would be 2 birds 1 stone.

[0502wz]

Now I have some faith in WOD.
After so many years Blizzard finally made the right call.

[Jayjayhey]

as someone who has been playing since vanilla, you will not be missed at all

[Yoel]

I wish him the best but wow balancing (PVP) went down hill when he took over

[Deleted]

even ghostcrawler knows wow is a sinking ship

Yeah, good job at decrypting that message.

[Yoel]

as someone who has been playing since vanilla, you will not be missed at all

you are correct everything went down hill when he took over

[Tarx]

Ghostclawer fired holy yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[Eliandal]

usually, high positions (or even devs) in companies are offer packages if they leave, under the condition that they do not join a competitor (most of the time direct competitors are even forbidden) and in case they remain in the industry (likely, given his experience) they are also forbidden to release any kind of howto or inner workings. Take this, with a grain of salt, since I don't work for Blizzard, but I do work as a game developer.

While no ex Blizzard developer has ever come out and stated that there is no non-compete agreement - from the amount of ex Blizzard devs littering the gaming company landscape, one would have to assume there is not. Pretty much every company out there has at least one former employee.

Edited to add that it's hilarious reading all the "Oh good - now there's hope for WOD" posts. Are people REALLY that clueless? According to Blizzards own timelines - it's been worked on for at least 2 years - meaning - yep - his hands were on it. Looks like you'll have a 2 year wait before coming back

[justandulas]

Love him or hate him, he was one of the key people that shaped this game into what it was, is, and will be.

ps - a holy priest?! Who'd have guessed that..... my money was always on frost mage....

[Animaneth]

While no ex Blizzard developer has ever come out and stated that there is no non-compete agreement - from the amount of ex Blizzard devs littering the gaming company landscape, one would have to assume there is not. Pretty much every company out there has at least one former employee.

Edited to add that it's hilarious reading all the "Oh good - now there's hope for WOD" posts. Are people REALLY that clueless? According to Blizzards own timelines - it's been worked on for at least 2 years - meaning - yep - his hands were on it. Looks like you'll have a 2 year wait before coming back

Yes and NO, one thing are devs in particular wich switch companies more often than heads of department (like GC). At the dev level you are probably right. But higher ups? that's another story I think. As I said, since I'm not a Blizzard current or former employee I can't say how this rolls out, just talking from my own experience as game developer in other companies.

[arthar77]

HAPPY BLOODY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL LORE-PVP-PVE-HATER-WISEAZZ-ANY-nerd ... have a blast of a thanksgiving today and enjoy some turkey ... or any animal you guys have this day ... and other HOLIDAY ... have a nice day

[Deramyr]

He'll always have my respect. I hope he does well.

[Octa]

I'll post it here like I did in the other thread.

You do not hire a physician to fix your car or a landscaper to frame your house.

In turn, you do not hire a marine biologist to lead design your video game.

No matter how passionate he was about games, he just didn't have the skill set needed.


Glad he's out.

Guess you also for the decade he was a LEAD GAME DESIGJNER before he was hired on at Blizzard? 10 years as a lead game designer before he ever touched World of Warcraft.