Patch 9.1 Hotfixes - July 21, 2021, Activision Blizzard Sued By California

Update: Added Blizzard's statement on the lawsuit

Patch 9.1 Hotfixes - July 21, 2021
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Classes
  • Druid
    • Born Anew's (Conduit) primary stat bonus reduces to 20 upon the beginning of a new encounter.
      • Developers’ note: The intent of this bonus is to provide a benefit when using resurrections in combat. But it is best to avoid situations where players might feel compelled to min/max something like this before starting a pull.
  • Priest
    • Shadow
      • Shadow Crash's (Talent) ground visual will now match the area effect.
      • Void Volley's (PvP Talent) ground visuals will now match the area effect and has more defined edges.
  • Warrior
    • Arms
      • Fixed an issue where Swift Patrol (Niya Soulbind) caused the auto-attack timer to reset.

Creatures ad NPCs
  • Players now have a 2 second grace period to keep their vision of targets within the area contained by the Soul Chains between the Soul Cages during the Mor'geth encounter.
  • Reduced the number of Prince Renathals in Sinfall. Press F to pay respects.

Dungeons and Raids
  • Sanctum of Domination
    • Defeating Sylvanas Windrunner on Mythic difficulty will now reward 2 Vengeance’s Reins.
    • Remnant of Ner’zhul
      • Players can no longer cause a second orb to become non-interactable while carrying an Orb of Torment.
  • Plaguefall
    • You must now defeat the first three bosses of the dungeon before the door to Margrave Stradama opens on all difficulties.
      • Developers’ note: The first two bosses of the dungeon were frequently being skipped in lower-difficulty dungeons, typically by groups who were trying to earn Renown much faster than intended. To improve players' Renown earnings, we've also added a chance for Renown to be earned by completing layers in Torghast (see hotfix below).

Items and Rewards
  • Teleporter Repair Kits should no longer have a Unique count and will now stack to 50.
  • Repaired Riftkeys will also now stack to 50.
    • Developers’ note: Early in development, Teleporter Repair Kits and Repaired Riftkeys were only available from the vendor. Based on player feedback of not knowing if they were worth purchasing, we decided to have them drop occasionally as well. Now that these items dropped and became out of player’s control, we should have removed the unique cap on the Teleporter Repair Kits then. Also, since you have access to purchasing the Teleporter Repair Kits or Repaired Rift Keys, we are disabling them from going to mail if you loot one with a full inventory so they will no longer fill up your mailbox.

  • The item levels of Conduits sold by the Rated PvP vendor have been corrected.
  • Fixed an issue where the Salvaged Fusion Amplifier was not dropping for Marksmanship and Beastmaster Hunters.

Quests
  • Fixed an issue during “Nal’ragas” that caused internal text to be visible to users of certain nameplate addons.

Torghast
  • Renown is now a possible reward from Torghast completions, with better chances at Renown coming from higher Torghast difficulties.

Activision Blizzard Sued By California
According to a Bloomberg law article, Activision Blizzard is being sued over 'frat boy' culture after a 2-year investigation by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. For more information, check out the article below, and read the full court filing.



Blizzard provided Polygon with a statement responding to the lawsuit:

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
We value diversity and strive to foster a workplace that offers inclusivity for everyone. There is no place in our company or industry, or any industry, for sexual misconduct or harassment of any kind. We take every allegation seriously and investigate all claims. In cases related to misconduct, action was taken to address the issue.

The DFEH includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past. We have been extremely cooperative with the DFEH throughout their investigation, including providing them with extensive data and ample documentation, but they refused to inform us what issues they perceived. They were required by law to adequately investigate and to have good faith discussions with us to better understand and to resolve any claims or concerns before going to litigation, but they failed to do so. Instead, they rushed to file an inaccurate complaint, as we will demonstrate in court. We are sickened by the reprehensible conduct of the DFEH to drag into the complaint the tragic suicide of an employee whose passing has no bearing whatsoever on this case and with no regard for her grieving family. While we find this behavior to be disgraceful and unprofessional, it is unfortunately an example of how they have conducted themselves throughout the course of their investigation. It is this type of irresponsible behavior from unaccountable State bureaucrats that are driving many of the State’s best businesses out of California.

The picture the DFEH paints is not the Blizzard workplace of today. Over the past several years and continuing since the initial investigation started, we’ve made significant changes to address company culture and reflect more diversity within our leadership teams. We’ve amplified internal programs and channels for employees to report violations, including the “ASK List” with a confidential integrity hotline, and introduced an Employee Relations team dedicated to investigating employee concerns. We have strengthened our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and combined our Employee Networks at a global level, to provide additional support. Employees must also undergo regular anti-harassment training and have done so for many years.

We put tremendous effort in creating fair and rewarding compensation packages and policies that reflect our culture and business, and we strive to pay all employees fairly for equal or substantially similar work. We take a variety of proactive steps to ensure that pay is driven by non-discriminatory factors. For example, we reward and compensate employees based on their performance, and we conduct extensive anti-discrimination trainings including for those who are part of the compensation process.

We are confident in our ability to demonstrate our practices as an equal opportunity employer that fosters a supportive, diverse, and inclusive workplace for our people, and we are committed to continuing this effort in the years to come. It is a shame that the DFEH did not want to engage with us on what they thought they were seeing in their investigation.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Patch 9.1 Hotfixes - July 21, 2021, Activision Blizzard Sued By California started by Stoy View original post
Published on 2021-07-22 02:18 AM
356 Comments
Comments 355 Comments
  1. Vasilisa's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by MoanaLisa View Post
    The State of California is requesting certain things. Jail time for anyone isn't one of them. They want Blizzard to comply with workplace protections, as well as deliver unpaid wages, pay adjustments, back pay, and lost wages and benefits for female employees. I recommend that everyone read the actual legal filing. It's mostly in plain English, not legalese).
    I guess my English skills are to blame here. My intention was not to ask anybody to go to join, though I believe that "sentence for crimes" might have sounded that way. I believe that paying adjustment is the way to go for most of accusations. I won't speak of the subject of the woman who commited suicide as this is quite touchy subject for me.
  1. Soon-TM's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Fabled View Post
    Can we fire them too then? Probably in on it anyways.
    I am tempted to think that there is someone in Blizzard's PR department who is massively (and successfully!) trolling his/her bosses lol
  1. Fabled's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Soon-TM View Post
    I am tempted to think that there is someone in Blizzard's PR department who is massively (and successfully!) trolling his/her bosses lol
    I mean, if you're mishandling sexual misconduct complaints and reports for "the lulz, top keks", you're already a massive waste of space and deserve whatever hammer comes down upon you.
  1. Alekty's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Azerate View Post
    Wrong. In most sexual assault/harassment cases, the predators actually evade justice. Again, try to do some research instead of posting your hunches and beliefs.



    Based on the accounts and testimony from the victims provided you have to be completely dumb in order to need a judge to tell you that these things happened. And even dumber, to then believe that nothing wrong has happened if the court decides the predators at Blizzard are innocent
    1. The person you replied to, said exatly the same thing.. I could follow up with a snarky comment like you did, but i wont.
    2. The person you replied to, said they hope these accusations are false - like I'm sure many people would. A bit naive maybe, but humans are allowed to have hopes without being called dumb.

    Personally I hope you're having a better day, than you were on the 24th.
  1. Deadite's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by starstationprofm View Post
    It will probably be settled out of court and the liberals on Reddit will continue assuming guilt.
    Assuming guilt is a Blizzard company policy. They sacked and revoiced the work of the Kael'thas voice actor with zero proof. Even when it tuned out they guy was completely innocent. I think everyone should get their day in court but since Blizzard don't i can't fault people who want to thrown them to the wolves.
  1. Cubster20038's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Haidaes View Post
    I'm more surprised that you made that account 3 years ago and now your first post is about not believing this forum is full of harcore Blizzard fans that are in full denial.

    While I prefer to be cautious with such allegations, if a state agency observes for 2 years, then goes along with suing the company, the case seems to be more than just solid.
    Well majority of World of Warcraft players are defending Blizzard saying it fake news and that it just locker talk and is what all guys do. Just like what Trump said .The funny thing is the majority of the player base are Trump supporters even Blizzard the company are fans of Trump and supporters of him.I am just sad someone died yet no one cares and is defending Blizzard and even Blizzard denying they are at fault for the women death.

    I haven't posted because of personal reasons.
  1. starstationprofm's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Deadite View Post
    Assuming guilt is a Blizzard company policy. They sacked and revoiced the work of the Kael'thas voice actor with zero proof. Even when it tuned out they guy was completely innocent. I think everyone should get their day in court but since Blizzard don't i can't fault people who want to thrown them to the wolves.
    That's actually fair. Karma, I guess. They did the same to Swifty.
  1. Kikazz's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Demsi View Post
    There's a few reasons, fear of being fired for example, not to mention this kind of behaviour is quite normalised. There's an expectation for these women to just "deal with it" so to say
    i get that, and i know men who have had this happen to them as well,

    you never hear about the men,

    but my point is speak up, coming forward after years of just accepting it, your as much to blame as the abuser.
    yes it was wrong, what they did,
    but letting them get away with something you clearly knew was wrong, for personal or financial gain,
    isnt a reason, its an excuse,

    thats why scum get away with doing shit like this,

    also they cant really fire them for coming forward about someone sexually assaulting them in the workplace?

    i mean Unfair dismissal, and shit can get them fucking sued bad.
  1. Osmeric's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kikazz View Post
    but my point is speak up, coming forward after years of just accepting it, your as much to blame as the abuser.
    Legally, you are just wrong.
  1. rrayy's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Deadite View Post
    Assuming guilt is a Blizzard company policy. They sacked and revoiced the work of the Kael'thas voice actor with zero proof. Even when it tuned out they guy was completely innocent. I think everyone should get their day in court but since Blizzard don't i can't fault people who want to thrown them to the wolves.
    Prove it. Show me a link where Blizzard announced they were replacing him because of the accusations?

    People need to stop stating this as fact when nobody actually knows why Blizzard decided to re-do the voice overs.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by starstationprofm View Post
    Suicide is always the decision of the person doing it. There's no such thing as " He made me kill myself ".

    And so far we have seen no evidence of it. This is a civil suit, anyway. If they were so confident in Blizzard wrongdoings why aren't they trying to put people behind bars?
    The state can't file charges without a criminal complaint. Plus, the standard of proof is far higher.
  1. Deadite's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by rrayy View Post
    Prove it. Show me a link where Blizzard announced they were replacing him because of the accusations?

    People need to stop stating this as fact when nobody actually knows why Blizzard decided to re-do the voice overs.
    Yeah my bad. Blizzard always replace years old voice overs randomly with no reason. Prolly just a total coincidence that the guy was facing allegations of sexual misconduct. Yip a total coincidence.....
  1. starstationprofm's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by rrayy View Post
    Prove it. Show me a link where Blizzard announced they were replacing him because of the accusations?

    People need to stop stating this as fact when nobody actually knows why Blizzard decided to re-do the voice overs.

    - - - Updated - - -

    The state can't file charges without a criminal complaint. Plus, the standard of proof is far higher.
    Which is exactly why I am reluctant to believe the alleged victims. When you don't file a criminal complaint and only go after them for money it's pretty suspicious.
  1. Soon-TM's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by starstationprofm View Post
    Which is exactly why I am reluctant to believe the alleged victims. When you don't file a criminal complaint and only go after them for money it's pretty suspicious.
    So the state engaging in a civil lawsuit is 'suspicious' in and out of itself. Gotcha.
  1. rrayy's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Deadite View Post
    Yeah my bad. Blizzard always replace years old voice overs randomly with no reason. Prolly just a total coincidence that the guy was facing allegations of sexual misconduct. Yip a total coincidence.....
    So you ahve no proof then. Got it. There are a 1,000 reasons Blizzard why would replace voice over work. There is zero proof of any of those reasons,.
  1. starstationprofm's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Soon-TM View Post
    So the state engaging in a civil lawsuit is 'suspicious' in and out of itself. Gotcha.
    The state does shady stuff all the time. I do not blindly trust alleged victims that never went to the police. It is risk free to accuse someone on Social Media, because Defamation lawsuits rarely work and the Public Opinion loves to take the side of women and bash corporations/men.
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