Community Blog - Asks the Dev #8 - Firelands

[k1037]

So they scrapped Abyssal Maw to give Firelands more bosses, bringing the total Tier 12 bosses up to... um... 7.

Do they seriously expect anyone to believe that? Especially since just a few months ago they were saying that Firelands was already nearly finished before Cata was released. So was it nearly done or did it need so much extra dev time that they had to scrap Abyssal Maw over it? What was the original plan for T12, 4 freaking bosses for the entire tier?

Summer + premium subscriptions + GW2 + SW + D3 = expect far more than 600k losses per quarter for the rest of the year, Blizz.

[Deleted]

So they scrapped Abyssal Maw to give Firelands more bosses, bringing the total Tier 12 bosses up to... um... 7.

Do they seriously expect anyone to believe that? Especially since just a few months ago they were saying that Firelands was already nearly finished before Cata was released. So was it nearly done or did it need so much extra dev time that they had to scrap Abyssal Maw over it? What was the original plan for T12, 4 freaking bosses for the entire tier?

Summer + premium subscriptions + GW2 + SW + D3 = expect far more than 600k losses per quarter for the rest of the year, Blizz.

Maybe Firelands was ready but what about the HUGE new quest hub?
Stop seeing what you want to see.

[tacoloco]

A few points: 25 programmers is more than a million a year. It's a million a year if their total compensation package, including company paid taxes, comes to $40k a year per person. I'm sure its several times that much. SOON experienced programmers may very well command a total compensation package of around $40k, but it is still higher than that at the moment.

Experience developers, especially in a niche field like gaming, will command a higher base salary than $40k. Probably a much higher base salary. I'd guess -at least- $80k or more. Add in a good benefits package, which I'm sure a big company like Blizzard offers and the loaded cost for an experienced developer could be $150k or more.

---------- Post added 2011-05-27 at 11:09 AM ----------

If they really intend to hold off on finishing that storyline till the next expac then they shouldnt have bothered putting it into the game for the first tier of heroics. Starting a storyline and then leaving like they did for what will be 1 1/2 - 2yrs is a really stupid and shitty idea and bad decision on their part. As for those saying it will be used as a lead-in to a Queen Azshara raid blizz has already stated they won't be putti...

Sorry, no. I'd rather have a heroic to run that doesn't complete a story than no heroic. I'm also guessing most people, or at least many people (like me for example) don't care about the story anyway.