So Long, and Thanks for All the Spectral Fish

Originally Posted by SodiumChloride

I would argue those are exceptions that "slipped through the cracks" rather than being intentional.

In vanilla/BC it was worse. Want to raid? It's bring a Shaman for lust/hero or bust.

You still need a shaman for lust/hero. There are some fights its pretty mandatory. On progression. not having a lust can really hurt.

Originally Posted by Nelrum

When he decided that every spec of hybrid classes should be "competitive" even to classes that has no choice of role he basically made pure DPS classes unimportant raid spot fillers because you want to have as much hybrids as possible to have more ways to get preferable types of DPS, tanking or healing for certain encounters.

Or should I mention his brilliant philosophy of raid designs when in normals and most of HCs tanks can slack alongside with healers but DPS are the ones under constant pressure because of "tightly tuned" DPS requirements.

To be fair, neither of these were bad concepts, but they were trying to alleviate issues which cannot be fixed in the context of the game's mechanics.
Hybrids do less DPS than pure classes => why ever take a Retridin in a raid if you could instead take a proper DPS? (*)
Hybrids do same DPS => why take pure classes, they can't switch for some fights?
Tight DPS timers => have to relax healing/tanking to not unstabilize the fights.
Not as tight DPS requirements => DPS is boring as hell (I speak from personal experience, I stopped because of this).

*:
This can be alleviated. I would call the fix to this "Blessing of Kings".
If you recall vanilla WoW, originally BoK was the final talent in the Retri tree. Retribution was largely useless as a raid spec (but so were the other two specs except for gimmick roles of their own), so they did what all Paladins did, spend 3 out of every 5 minutes casting 40 blessings. Only they had a very powerful and highly unique blessing. So you wanted one Retridin.
The lack of stackability was the issue here. But in general, this is the key way in which to balance a DPS-spec of a hybrid class, by giving it one thing which everyone will want (ideally it stacks in a way which tapers off).

Originally Posted by Zantos

You still need a shaman for lust/hero. There are some fights its pretty mandatory. On progression. not having a lust can really hurt.

Mages have it. BM hunters have it. And LW can make it (even if it's 5% less).

Anyways, OT: I'm neither sad nor thrilled. I'm sure it wasn't just GC making all the decisions, but he was just the face of the team taking responsibility. Like in many business situations, there is a Project Leader, or Team Leader or whatever, and when the team screws up, usually it's them taking the hit.

We'll see who the new guy/gal will be. I'm sure no matter what or who steps in, there will be haters .

Ghostcrawler is out?
Praise the Lord! There is still hope for wow.

Now excuse me while i prepare a proper party to celebrate this historic event.

Originally Posted by Zantos

You still need a shaman for lust/hero. There are some fights its pretty mandatory. On progression. not having a lust can really hurt.

Or a Mage or Hunter ... >.>

Originally Posted by SodiumChloride

I would argue those are exceptions that "slipped through the cracks" rather than being intentional.

In vanilla/BC it was worse. Want to raid? It's bring a Shaman for lust/hero or bust.

Yeah lust/hero was quite op in vanilla wasn't it?

Originally Posted by HammondQ

From my point of view he didn't have a very positive reputation among the player base.

I think his departure will ultimately help the game more than it will hurt it.

I doubt it. He is a very, very good designer. He was great for Age of Empires when he worked at Microsoft. What he really did with WoW isn't as clear as what Deathshrimp did with AoE but I think he did better than most could have.

His biggest problem is he wasn't just the lead systems designer, he was also the voice of the company. WoW has a long standing tradition of burning out everyone who fills that spot. Tseric, Eyonix, Coriel, Bornakk, Drysc, Caydiem, Katricia are just some of the ones I remember. Unless someone is a complete sociopath, it's hard to look forward to going to work everyday to hear people tell you they wish you'd die because they don't feel they're enjoying the video game they're playing as much as they could. Either they grab the first good opportunity to get out like GC seems to have done or they have a meltdown like Tseric did.

Someone will take his place soon enough. But it's unlikely another dev is going to be willing to fill that spot which means our direct access to the thoughts of the dev team are likely to be far lessened and I don't believe that's a good thing at all.

Originally Posted by Spastic_Dreamer

He is the LEAD of said team. Do you know what a lead developer does? I do.

Too bad you don't know who the lead developer on WoW actually is.
Greg Strett (Ghostcrawler) was only the lead systems designer. The lead developer for WoW is Tom Chilton.

Bye bye mage .... Time to nerf after 8 years!!!!! Bhauahhaahhha

Doesnt seem super clean to me, something must have gone wrong.
He is leaving the company not just the game to get into titan, hearthstone or whatever.
The given opportunity must be the real deal. Leaving one of the biggest an most known Developers isnt a decision you make while picking up a cheeseburger.

I didnt like alot of changes that were made to wow since mid Wotlk but i think its not one guys fault.
Stop making the game more and more accessible, your playerbase is not consisting of morons.
There is no journey in WoW left if you take all the work out. Players dont stick around if they play WoW as a 'singleplayergame'!

We will see who takes his spot, with titan shattered to pieces, Tigole is a option.

Make WoW a MMORPG in its nature again and it be a better place!(my opinion :-))

I can't blame GC for leaving after only 6 years. I wouldn't want to work at Blizz either, TBH. Most thankless job ever?

Originally Posted by Nelrum

Yeah. Like that time when pure DPS classes happened to be restricted to only one role having a huge disadvantage to all those hybrid classes... or wait a minute, it's actually how it is right now.
When he decided that every spec of hybrid classes should be "competitive" even to classes that has no choice of role he basically made pure DPS classes unimportant raid spot fillers because you want to have as much hybrids as possible to have more ways to get preferable types of DPS, tanking or healing for certain encounters.

Or should I mention his brilliant philosophy of raid designs when in normals and most of HCs tanks can slack alongside with healers but DPS are the ones under constant pressure because of "tightly tuned" DPS requirements.

So no. Not going to miss him.

There haven't been any tightly tuned dps bosses since Cataclysm. Some are tight, but that's simply because of itemlevel..
Not bosses like Ultraxion and Spine, which pretty much stayed tightly tuned until you completely overgeared it.

About pure's being unimportant. If you look at the amount of rogues, locks, mages and hunters in the raid, they are pretty much the majority.

If anything the hybrids probably suffered the most from it, as they are only picked when their utility is needed.

Whoever fills the blank better be ready for some major harassment or be less outspoken to prevent flak from coming that persons way. Ultimately i am sad that he decided to leave you may not like GC for the changes but you have get it through your head that he was not the only one making the damn dicisions.

Originally Posted by Tryana

Yeah lust/hero was quite op in vanilla wasn't it?

he said vanilla/bc

Good. Now we just need the people who left WoW for Titan to come back.

Originally Posted by Pendragon

Good. Now we just need the people who left WoW for Titan to come back.

I thought they already did?

Fuck yea best news ever for Wow, just because of this i'll give WOD a shot .

*P.P.S. I play a Holy Priest.*

No surprise. Finally. Good riddance. Maybe shadows now get a serious chance....

Originally Posted by Celista

I thought they already did?

Oh yeah! Titan was shelved and they're back on WoW. Things are looking up.
I don't blame GC for sub loss or any of that nonsense, but I definitely think the game needs fresh people behind the scenes so I'm excited for this.

All this time.. GC was a dolphin..

Best news of the day, week and year!