Blizzard apologises for communication breakdown

[Ruarthak]

The root of the problem here is the bloody players.

Players are whiny, ungrateful little shits who dont deserve communication in the first place. Id rather blizzard focus on making the game than try to give frequent updates to the playerbase which will just be taken out of context and overanalysed to the extreme.

This feels like the typical blizzard cop out answer, similar to what Ion said about the Warlock forums (Sorry, can't remember when so I can't find the link).

The root of the problem isn't "... whiny, ungrateful little shits...", you're just giving them an excuse like just because there are trolls and unhelpful players lambasting the devs with insults, then the small group of players who actually do the testing and construct amazing feedback threads so in-depth it puts blizzards devs to shame apparently don't deserve communication either.

Don't give them an excuse for poor communication, hold them accountable. Ignore the "... whiny, ungrateful little shits..." and pour over the essays of feedback.

[Mad_Murdock]

i was busy playing the game to realize that was a communication breakdown.

Well you're doing it wrong then! And you should feel bad. Get your priorities straight! Each morning check your twitter, Facebook and MMO-C for updates, also keep those open on a 2nd monitor to keep a constant stream. On your 3 monitor open up the PTR, Spend the first hour of your day looking for anything that might be different from live and then match them up to the patch notes available. Whenever you find a mismatch, quick go to the forums and write a long post about how you found an undocumented change and demand answers

[Eleccybubb]

Well you're doing it wrong then! And you should feel bad. Get your priorities straight! Each morning check your twitter, Facebook and MMO-C for updates, also keep those open on a 2nd monitor to keep a constant stream. On your 3 monitor open up the PTR, Spend the first hour of your day looking for anything that might be different from live and then match them up to the patch notes available. Whenever you find a mismatch, quick go to the forums and write a long post about how you found an undocumented change and demand answers

Dude that approach is just too casual. It's MMO-C open on your home laptop, PTR on second monitor, MMO-C open on the tablet for no reason at all, Twitter open on your phone and Facebook open on your Imac.

[Aleksej89]

Not one current hunter spec fits the description of hunter that made me start to play the class

Indeed, they really ruined hunters.

I like world quests and the zones and even the changes to pvp.

What i really hate is that they mutilated several of my favorite classes to the point that i do not even want to see them anymore.

[TyrianFC]

Well you're doing it wrong then! And you should feel bad. Get your priorities straight! Each morning check your twitter, Facebook and MMO-C for updates, also keep those open on a 2nd monitor to keep a constant stream. On your 3 monitor open up the PTR, Spend the first hour of your day looking for anything that might be different from live and then match them up to the patch notes available. Whenever you find a mismatch, quick go to the forums and write a long post about how you found an undocumented change and demand answers

I laughed, but this accurately reflects the levels of stupidity players exhibit.

[Segus1992]

Too little too late.

If this is true, does that mean you've already quit?

- - - Updated - - -

You do realize that FF14 is already on consoles and has way more abilities than WoW at this point, right? Porting the game would involve reworking many different things that aren't related to number of skills. But keep telling yourself that's the reason.

Doesn't FFXIV have a 2.5s GCD that's much harder to reduce? Obviously that makes it easier to play on a controller and isn't something that'll ever happen in WoW. But hey, keep telling yourself that number of abilities has no correlation with playability on a controller.

[effs]

Guarantee people would still find shit to complain about.

Takes much less effort to complain ^^. But still, constructive feedback has been given plenty.

[Eleccybubb]

If this is true, does that mean you've already quit?

- - - Updated - - -



Doesn't FFXIV have a 2.5s GCD that's much harder to reduce? Obviously that makes it easier to play on a controller and isn't something that'll ever happen in WoW. But hey, keep telling yourself that number of abilities has no correlation with playability on a controller.

This. Number of abilities will always be a thing. FF14 recently added the W cross hotbar to deal with it which if you double tap l2 or r2 shifts to this hotbar. Basically it's good for putting buffs on.

[ComputerNerd]

but it's so easy for blizz to fix. all people really want is to occasionally hear "we have read your feedback and forwarded it to the devs", actual explanations aren't needed most of the time, people just want to know they aren't wasting their time on the PTR/betas.

If these people always telling us it is so easy were so clever, why are they not doing that themselves.
Perhaps those insisting solutions are always easy aren't right, that it isn't so easy.
Backseat driving more like it.

[Lime]

Yup. I'm getting pretty tired of the constant whining. Players do not know what is best for a game, in most cases.

And Blizzard does? Abandoning Demo mid-WoD was good for the game? Please tell that to the players who loved Demo. Now we're seeing a similar thing with Outlaw on the PTR. A spec that's in need of buffs, then when it's finally mentioned, it gets a nerf.

Communication is key. Explain why that nerf went live. Explain what you possibly have in store for the class(es) that warrants such a nerf. Nerfing a class, then remaining silent about it encourages players to put blind faith in Blizzard, rather than properly give their feedback. Too many of us have been burned doing that in the past.

Anyone who says that there shouldn't be communication between devs and players is quite literally a blind fanboy, for reasons I just mentioned. They don't need to state every little thing, but they should be trying to give players an idea of what they're aiming for.

[Deleted]

If these people always telling us it is so easy were so clever, why are they not doing that themselves.
Perhaps those insisting solutions are always easy aren't right, that it isn't so easy.
Backseat driving more like it.

dunno. maybe blizz isn't hiring community managers, maybe it's blizz policy to not post such things, maybe their resumes get rejected, maybe they don't want to move to california, maybe they can't afford to swap jobs financially, maybe they can't move to california because of family. who knows, but they could probably have an intern or forum bot do it tbh.

[SoulSoBreezy]

http://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/t...36?page=10#184

You know the communication is bad when Ghostcrawler is discussing WoW more at the moment than the current WoW dev team combined. Do you think that we should expect improved developer communication in the future? If so, in what ways? Or is this just more PR spin?

But the nature of the PTR is the release of incomplete design leading up to launch. I get that the previous Q&A (where this was discussed) isn't the same as developer notes for a PTR build, but saying outright that the current iterations aren't yet complete is akin to discouraging players to participate in testing. I imagine players wouldn't want to waste their time on the PTR knowing that their feedback holds little merit until numbers are deployed in like a draft stage.

It'd be nice that with an announcement of a new build, a very high level overview of changes are stated, something super vague like "we adjusted secondary stat numbers, more info to come." I find it pretty sad that this feels necessary to placating this angry, volatile representation of the players who don't quite understand the layers of design and deployment.

[Espe]

Says the person with a footer that indicates they've not played since Cata.

But of course we should just meekly hand over money and not every say anything if we're dissatisfied, right? RIGHT?

Something I've been noticing a lot more since Trump gained some support is "beta cucks" pretending to be "total alphas" while bending over and taking it up the ass from everyone around them. Not saying that about anyone on this forum, of course, just a general observation about Internetworld lately. "Don't complain, don't make any sudden movements *gulp* just hand them over your money bro everything will be fine bro *shakes while rocking back and forth*"

"Total alpha" indeed

[Dragoncurry]

You guys do understand that if I never came to the forums, and woke up to 7.2 with my fire mage completely changed and with completely new abilities, I would be a little confused if there wasn't proper communication?

You know what happens when a patch fucks up a hero in Dota? Players stop playing that hero. For example, Shadow Fiend, Lina, etc.

You know what happens when a patch fucks up your character in WoW? You're forced to keep playing a bunch of shit because I can't or do not want to reroll my fucking class.

So yes, Blizzard does need to communicate with players. Players do need to provide feedback. This feedback does need to be taken seriously. If changes are being made, and drastic ones at that, the impact needs to be properly communicated.

FOR EXAMPLE, Hamstring on GCD.
FOR EXAMPLE, No more flying baseline.
FOR EXAMPLE, Fire mage ability changes (why was "blazing barrier not in launch")
FOR EXAMPLE, Arms Artifact (clever huehues from Lore, while players are searching the ocean for clues, and the real reason is that it probably wasn't in game yet)
FOR EXAMPLE, Methodology/Explanation of the Future PTR, Expectations and Checkpoints as to when they want us to test certain things.

Look man, game developers will have a better game when they design with methodologies, use us to test, publish results to defend methodology, and proceed. It doesn't matter if you want to put GCD on Hamstring, if you have a process in place. You will have a lot less bitching.

BUT GUESS WHAT, Blizzard has no process, does whatever the fuck they want, and then scrap their way to the final answer as opposed to getting there cleanly. Why do warriors need to be unplayable for 2 weeks for them to adjust hamstring, and improve damage and stats before it's playable? The answer is that they don't need to be. They just are because Blizzard has no process in place to implement solid ideas.

[Deleted]

Things are going fine. People are way overdoing it atm. There needs to run some cool water down Canal Grande.

Not really, legion has been a litany of disastrous descisions.

[Flurryfang]

Not really, legion has been a litany of disastrous descisions.

Again, bit overdoing it Not really disastrous, just some wierd descisions. The game is still very good despite of that People are talking way too much from PTR data.

[Jewsco]

I thought communication break down was one of the better zeppelin songs why does it need to be apologized for ;p
Yes we do whine a lot but that shows we like/love the game. What they should worry about is if the complaining stops. Then that means people don't care anymore.

[Heladys]

Communication isn't the problem, the current state of class design and Blizzard's inability to correct it is the problem. If there was a sign that they were learning from their mistakes then no one would care if they stay silent. Of course people are going to want answers when crap like Waylay makes it onto the PTR.

They clearly learn from their issues and they clearly try to improve. Only the most deluded sociopaths wouldn't see that. The fact is the majority of players have a vastly overinflated opinion of their own rationality and their own ability to communicate.

[Deleted]

Again, bit overdoing it Not really disastrous, just some wierd descisions. The game is still very good despite of that People are talking way too much from PTR data.

I dont think im exaggerating at all.

For a company that has taken more money from players than nasa spent sending men to the moon, i expect a lot better.

Its also fine for you to disagree

[Flurryfang]

I dont think im exaggerating at all.

For a company that has taken more money from players than nasa spent sending men to the moon, i expect a lot better.

Its also fine for you to disagree

Well you are actually completly right when it comes to that Blizzard have billions of dollars of income from WoW, so you should think that they should be able to make a game, which is far ahead of anybody else That it is not So yeah, i could expect alot more.

But it is really all about personal experience. I, for example, are not doing alot of mythic+ and mythic raiding, so Blizzards decisions might be completly devastating in that area and i would not know All i can say, is that my experience, the way that i play the game, is pretty good right now And yet i hope that things get better for everybody else