What happened to blizzard?

[War30]

Hello fellow WOW players,

On July 2002 I played a little game that introduced me to the WOW universe called," Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos". To those who have not heard of this game it was a prelude to World of Warcraft. One thing I was amazed with in this game was the high end cinematics it had which was so way ahead of its time and considered the best to this day(www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfkiJXnSRM8). Now I need you to imagine the love they put into this game and how much it cost them to make it.

Now fast forward to 2014. What have we seen happen in the 10 years with WOW since vanilla WOW? No cinematics, lack of dungeon content with each expansion, selling pets and mounts and finding new ways to take money from players without giving them its worth. We as players are paying 15 bucks a month for this game and now close to 80 bucks for a streaming expansion that we have to wait close to 9 months for its release. So what did we get for this 80 bucks? A pet, a lv 90 and a flying mount that you will not be able to use at all in the next expansion. On top of that this includes all the mounts you paid for in there store as well. So they technically are telling you the consumer, "Thanks for you money here's some useless mounts". People should be pissed off. As for the 15 bucks a month we pay they should be putting out new content for us every month(ex a new 5 man, raid or pvp zone etc.) and if they are saving that content for expansions then we the loyal customers who have been playing this game since vanilla should be getting these expansions for free. We have paid close to 200 a year playing this game and it doesn't come close to what we have paid for. They are milking the franchise and that's there excuse for no flying mounts. They want you to use your 100 speed mount and keep taking your money. So that they can take longer creating expansions they should be pumping out every 6 months(Yes it can be done).

The same has happened with Starcraft and diablo. Starcraft a game that we can play 3 campaigns has now become a separate gaming experience that we have to pay more for. As for Diablo 3 well some of you paid 40 bucks for a single character and campaign with a drawn cutscene at the end and not a high end cinematic. Do I believe its worth 40 bucks? NO. I need a full game experience for 40 bucks.

This company has made billions of dollars manipulating there consumers that less content is more money. I enjoy playing these game but these lazy, unproductive methods this company has been using is killing my ability to enjoy these games.

Mod-note: Thread has been locked. The original post contains a lot of blank spaces as well as misleading or no research given. As well, don't make threads just for ranting away without opening up better for a discussion.

[Illiterate]

They got lazy and greedy.

[Ehrenpanzer]

Bought by Activision..could be worse...coulda been bought by EA..then we'd have to pay for every raid tier and pvp season

[chrisisvacant]

What are you talking about? Almost none of what you said is contextually appropriate or accurate.

[Peyj]

No cinematics,

[snip]

They are milking the franchise and that's there excuse for no flying mounts. They want you to use your 100 speed mount and keep taking your money. So that they can take longer creating expansions they should be pumping out every 6 months(Yes it can be done).

No cinematics? What? I've watched plenty of cinematics in the last 10 years?

All those mounts and pets you're complaining about - totally optional. They don't improve your gameplay unless you like them! They don't provide you and kind of in-game advantange, no DPS boost, no buffs, no nothing.

How are they going to make extra money from having no flying in WoD? I'm completely lost on this point.

Can you please post your credentials and previous experience - development, graphic designer, programmer, whatever? Need to know what kind of expert we are discussing this with, seeing as you know how long content takes to create from start to finish (6 months per expansion, apparently).

[Crainial]

ITT: I am extreamly butthurt that i am now bored with these games.

Holy shit some points you made there.... NONE of them makes any sense..

Prices increase per expansion, Like everything else in this world.

a freaking expansion every 6 months?! Do you have ANY idea how much time, money, effort are put into these expansions?

New content (dungeon or pvp zone) every month? Sure it would be nice. But to create these things actually takes time. you clearly have NO idea how much time it takes

the list goes on and on about your obvious lack of knowlegde of the gaming industry. All i see here is a Spoiled brat who feel entitled to the world. but i hate to break it to you, things takes time. A lot of the money they earn goes to employee payment and other projects, whether it Game designers for WoW, Forum moderators, The Titan Project, The movie they are about to make, and the list goes on!

Sure blizzard is not a perfect company, no one is. They are made of humans like you and me. Sure they are trying to earn some money as well... But in the end Blizzard is BY FAR one of the most reliable companies when it comes to games, in my opinion. They did have a bad spot when it came to the Diablo 3 release, and it took some time to fix it. But they DID fix it. The REMOVED the auction house. A feature they earned money from. They removed it because they realized no one really wanted it.

All this bullshit of entitlement makes me sad

[TEHPALLYTANK]

Silly people, don't ever take the bait.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Bought by Activision..could be worse...coulda been bought by EA..then we'd have to pay for every raid tier and pvp season

Activision has nothing to do with the development of Warcraft. Stop spewing this.

[thebigman1212]

Not trying to sound like a wow fanboy but

-Wow is doing great for a 10 year old game
- Mop is more polished and has more content then any other version of wow
- Leveling to 90 in the game has more gameplay alone than most other games out on the market (Think of any console game that costs $60 and see if you get the same value wow gives)


I do agree that Diablo 3 was a piece of shit compared to d2, but in terms of the amount of time you can spend playing the game before you get bored of it...it is one of the best games ever created for a one time payment of $60

Nothing is wrong with Starcraft...they gave you exactly what you would expect for $60, which again is above and beyond other games out their.

As most people would say, just unsub if you are bored of the game or pissed at blizzard

[Crainial]

Also, Didn't OP post a few years back that he was done with this game? then why are he still around :P

[Plutarch78]

They got lazy and greedy.

If you ever had experience working for a video game developer you would you that first part of your statement is 100% bullshit. You work for an A-list developer you can kiss 40 hour work weeks good-buy.

As for being greedy, you do realize you are not forced to pay Blizzard anything beyond the $15-a-month sub and the cost of an expansion. You can play a toon from lvl 1 to 90 for free. The vast majority of pets in WoW are not store bought. Same thing with mounts.

[Bepples]

Bought by Activision..could be worse...coulda been bought by EA..then we'd have to pay for every raid tier and pvp season

No, no they weren't. Stop getting caught up on myths; Blizzard was owned by Vivendi. It had been for most of it's time in existence (only recently did they break from Vivendi). They were MERGED with Activision; this merged company was to be owned by Vivendi (really Activision and Blizzard are sister companies; neither company has oversight into the other company's game development). For some context: this merge happened in December 2007. Stuff like pets/mounts on the store didn't happen until 2010 and you would have to be naive to think that Activision made Blizzard do that; it was Blizzard's decision.

[Bosen]

WoW has always been a quality game, and since it's the most successful MMO ever, Blizzard's facing a unique challenge going forward. It's impossible to satisfy the addicts out there. There's nothing they can do but try stuff out and see what works.

[Peyj]

Silly people, don't ever take the bait.

Is the bait every second thread on the forums? I don't even know anymore. I hope they - and this - are all bait, I really do.

[Deleted]

Another thread in which someone is waxing lyrical about how they'd run the company like they're a successful business person themselves and how the old days were better and yady yada etc etc.

This is sad. If you don't like the direction the game is going just quit and move on. I'm not going to question your interpretation of what makes a good business model or what makes a good social model because all of that is moot. I'm going to question why you care. This applies to anyone else who's considering making either these threads or these posts.

The best way for you to make your point is cancel your sub and move on. The vast majority of people playing right now are content with what they're got and the people complaining are the vocal minority. I've used this analogy before and I'll use it again.

Imagine lining up 100 people in a row and periodically making statements and changes. Somewhere along that line someone is going to let out an annoying shrill shriek while the majority stay silent and happy with what they've got.

If this is just troll bait then it doesn't even work as troll bait. You're just regurgitating what the vocal minority already harps on about.

[leaks]

She doesn't love you anymore. She found someone better.

[veehro]

They milk you mate. They milk you of every single last cent they can possibly milk you for, and then they try to milk you some more. If they could charge you for every time you open your game they would.

The sad thing is, that youd think most of the monney goes into wow. But you're dead wrong. The monney goes into the development of future games that they are going to charge you AGAIN for them.

Look at the current state wow is in now. You have one raid tier to farm for a year and yet you still pay a monthly fee so that the devs can make a new expansion that they will charge you 50$ for. Where is the logic in that?

The new expansion is even offering less then any expansion before. No new classes no new races just some remodeling that was promised to us before this expansion and the people are ok with it. Because you have to buy it if you wanna keep playing with your friends.

The only purpose wow has right now is to get your 15$ per month then atempt to milk you of every possible microtransaction the game offer. LvL boost, faction/race/class/name change pets, mounts, items etc. If they can think of any way to take monney from you THEY WILL.


Look at the atempt they had in other games to earn monney AFTER you've payed for the original game.

Diablo 3 RMAH giving them 15% of earnings.
Starcraft 2 marketplace that did not hit live after comunity backlash. But even so sc2 has no lan so blizzard is charging from turnaments and stuff.


They have gone from a company that placed its product first, to a company that places greed first.
Look at the casualisation of not only gameplay, but even story.

You went from a game that had arthas playing with a rose petal before slaying his father. To a game like diablo 3 where azmodan keeps going "YOU WILL NEVER DESTROY MY CATAPULTS! YOU DESTROYED MY CATAPULTS BUT YOU WILL NEVER DEFEAT MY ARMY. YOUVE DEFEATED MY ARMY BUT YOU WILL NEVER DEFEAT MY CONSORT. YOUVE DEFEATED MY CONSORT BUT YOU WILL NEVER DEFEAT ME! "
The story is simple so that anybody that plays the game can understand it. Its to appeal to the wider audiance and so that they can get more cash rather then to provide the maximum of entertainment.

And how do they get away with it? Easy a rabid fanbase that would defend whatever decisions they make to the death and flame anybody that speaks out against them, as if they are paid by blizzard themselves. And when the consumer is happy with less then that is what they get,

[Mormolyce]

Yawn.

On July 2002 I played a little game that introduced me to the WOW universe called," Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos". To those who have not heard of this game it was a prelude to World of Warcraft.

These sentences make me sad.

[Peyj]

They milk you mate. They milk you of every single last cent they can possibly milk you for, and then they try to milk you some more. If they could charge you for every time you open your game they would.

The sad thing is, that youd think most of the monney goes into wow. But you're dead wrong. The monney goes into the development of future games that they are going to charge you AGAIN for them.

Look at the current state wow is in now. You have one raid tier to farm for a year and yet you still pay a monthly fee so that the devs can make a new expansion that they will charge you 50$ for. Where is the logic in that?

The new expansion is even offering less then any expansion before. No new classes no new races just some remodeling that was promised to us before this expansion and the people are ok with it. Because you have to buy it if you wanna keep playing with your friends.

The only purpose wow has right now is to get your 15$ per month then atempt to milk you of every possible microtransaction the game offer. LvL boost, faction/race/class/name change pets, mounts, items etc. If they can think of any way to take monney from you THEY WILL.

If it's as bad as you say, there are a few very simple solutions:

1. Unsubscribe until the expansion is out. Obviously there's nothing for you to do anyway, right? So you can save your $15/month until there's new content.

2. If you're unhappy with what is offered with the expansion, don't purchase it. Now you're saving $15/month AND $50 for the expansion.

3. If you don't want, can't afford, disagree with - whatever - the microtransactions, then don't purchase any.

4. If you have actual constructive criticism or feedback about Blizzard/their game(s), take it to the official forums. Post it in a constructive, helpful, well-researched manner.

[Kilperch]

EA and Activision have been fighting over the title of "Most Hated Video Game Company" for years, but that's besides the point.

Blizzard has been full of assholes long before Activision came along. They weren't this innocent little studio that eventually became corrupted by a giant evil monster. No, many of them were always greedy. They made some amazing games back in the day, but most of those people are gone now.

Now, while turn-over is normal for companies like this... Blizzard is almost unique in the fact that its suffering from a fatal case of World of Warcraft. WoW changed everything for them, and they will never recover from it. WoW is too successful for its own good. Its SO successful, that Blizzard doesn't actually need to try. They can half-ass everything they do for the next 10 years, and still be successful.

Blizzard can put out the worst MMO expansion ever, and it will still make millions. Diablo 3 was poorly received by many, many gamers... and yet it broke the record for most units sold on launch day. Lots of people wish they could go back and tell themselves not to buy it, but the damage was done.

That's what you get when you're that successful. There really isn't much competition out there for WoW. Its a monster of a game, and has made a disgusting amount of money through subscriptions and micro-transactions.

StarCraft has millions of fans. Diablo has millions of fans. Warcraft has millions of fans. These are huge names that people recognize and usually associate with nostalgia and happiness. Blizzard can coast on these for decades. And they will.

The bottom line is this: Blizzard has little to gain from trying very hard. They're like Apple. Anything they release will sell by the truck-load. Even if its awful.

What happened to Blizzard? They won.

This is what happens after "Happily Ever After". Success corrupts and you enter a state of accepted mediocrity.

And how do they get away with it? Easy a rabid fanbase that would defend whatever decisions they make to the death and flame anybody that speaks out against them, as if they are paid by blizzard themselves. And when the consumer is happy with less then that is what they get,

Also, what this guy said. Blizzard dumbs down their games and implements micro-transactions anywhere they can to appeal to as many people as possible. They want to appeal to the Call of Duty people as much as they do the Candy Crush people. They figure the "Warcraft" people are addicted to their game already, so there's no need to appeal to them at all.