Can Blizzard surrvive without Chris Metzen?

[phenox]

I think it's undeniable that the story, and atmosphere that Metzen brings to the table is pretty good, but what about after him? Can the franchises Blizzard has created survive with out his contributions?

[Deleted]

Metzen set the foundation, Blizzard can do fine without him

Also, if anything, Red Shirt Guy is living proof metzen is not that into lore etc

[Littleraven]

i think so. as it is a lot of people already want to burn him at the stake. honestly i love the guy. but to think that blizzard couldnt survive without him is a bit much. also its not like he is the sole voice for story in blizzard. sure hes the father of them all (for the most part) but he has other people to bounce ideas off of and im fairly certain they could get more fresh talent in that would be true to the stories while also giving them fresh spins.

think of it this way. comic books are still alive and kicking and they are pretty much exclusively made by new blood. some of the originals are still alive but they arent at the forefront like they used to be. i see blizzard like that without metzen

[Deleted]

I'd argue that it would be an improvement. I quite like Metzen but his writing style is very much Orcs, Orcs and more Orcs with less focus on what would actually make for good story telling and more on what would be "awesome" in an instantly gratifying manner.

[Littleraven]

Metzen set the foundation, Blizzard can do fine without him

Also, if anything, Red Shirt Guy is living proof metzen is not that into lore etc

i wouldnt say hes not into the lore as much as he cant be expected to remember every little detail at a moments notice.

[SlippyCheeze]

I think it's undeniable that the story, and atmosphere that Metzen brings to the table is pretty good, but what about after him? Can the franchises Blizzard has created survive with out his contributions?

Your question is hypothetical, so the real answer is "mu". They certainly can succeed, stay the same, fail, or do something unpredictable if he moves on. Like any real team, they if it comes to it that he wants to he -- like Greg Street -- will work with the team to make sure there is a smooth transition. That might be to one other person, or to a group, or to something completely different.

[wildemu]

Metzen reminds me of that SNL skit where Jimmy Fallon was the dj and he was doing a one man show with multiple voice-overs. I've had enough of him, it's time for a change as he just keeps rehashing orcs.

[Deleted]

Metzen set the foundation, Blizzard can do fine without him

Also, if anything, Red Shirt Guy is living proof metzen is not that into lore etc

He can't possibly always remember everything about Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo, and he's involved with the lore of all three of them. And I'm sure on top of that he has a lot more to do in his job than just memorizing lore. He loves Warcraft and its lore as much as anyone can possibly do. At least I get that feeling everytime he talks about WoW.

[phenox]

He can't possibly always remember everything about Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo, and he's involved with the lore of all three of them. And I'm sure on top of that he has a lot of other things to do in his job than just memorizing lore. He loves Warcraft and its lore as much as anyone can possibly do. At least I get that feeling everytime he talks about WoW.

I agree! +1

[Xargoth6634]

I think it's undeniable that the story, and atmosphere that Metzen brings to the table is pretty good

Actually, I think a lot of people would deny it. Did you actually play through Cataclysm?

[Kisho]

Of course it can. Metzen has fantastic stage presence and a true passion for his job, but I'm not going to try and bullshit you. He's not an amazing story writer. WoW's story is enough to do the job; it's nothing special.

I like it, don't get me wrong, but it's not the sort of thing where Metzen is entirely necessary for it to continue. That said, Metzen's got something solid here; he's not leaving Blizzard anytime soon.

[Kromkar]

With out metzen the game would be %100 more better lore wise,we would get to see other races lores and get a better feeling with out his "green Jesus" running around every corner of the game,and less orcs maybe more Dwarves/Taurens/Gnomes/Goblins and less humans orcs trolls...
He prob gets paid more for the orc character he does voice acting for... -.-

[Axelond]

Half the blizzard characters would be without voice actors!

[Ealyssa]

i wouldnt say hes not into the lore as much as he cant be expected to remember every little detail at a moments notice.

The leader of one of the three dwarf clan is hardly "a little detail"

Outside of screaming "for the horde" each blizzcon he is overrated imo. Not bad at all, but warcraft took just a LOT to warhammer. And I blame him a bit for not having more breathtaking moment (when will wee see a major character brutal death ? Cairn is the only one iIcan remember and being killed by an obvious poison trick was meh)

[foxHeart]

And I'm sure on top of that he has a lot of other things to do in his job than just memorizing lore.

Well, I'm pretty fucking sure as the Senior Vice President of Story and Franchise Development, that would basically be your job. lol

[Deleted]

The leader of one of the three dwarf clan is hardly "a little detail"

Outside of screaming "for the horde" each blizzcon he is overrated imo. Not bad at all, but warcraft took just a LOT to warhammer. And I blame him a bit for not having more breathtaking moment (when will wee see a major character brutal death ? Cairn is the only one iIcan remember and being killed by an obvious poison trick was meh)

Not really a death but watching runetotem get BBQ'd kind of sucked

[Hype]

Yes, Metzen ran out of Warhammer lore to steal. Now his story telling sucks.

[Erolian]

Well there's not really anything exceptional or genre defining about warcraft lore. Pretty average/standard writing at best. Especially in game they could probably hire anyone and have them poop out cookie cutter fantasy with orcs/humans with a few crappy pop culture references and you'd have basically the same story telling. I doubt we'd even realize they changed anyone unless someone told us.

[Benitora]

I'd argue that it would be an improvement. I quite like Metzen but his writing style is very much Orkz Orkz Orkz

"Orkz is made fer' two fings! Fightin', and winnin'!"

If only the orcs where like the orkz, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

[Lothaeryn]

As much as I like Metzen's storytelling, most of his plots are slowly starting to sound George Lucas'y and the storytelling is getting a tad awkward in some places. Hopefully this doesn't continue in a downward trend.