Dev Interview, Raid Testing Changes, Blue Tweets, Heroes Builds, Transmog Contest

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Blizzard Q1 2015 Earnings Call - Developer Interview
Ion Hazzikostas talked to GamesBeat about the recently announced loss of 2.9 million subscribers, Patch 6.2, and Warlords of Draenor.

Subscriber Numbers
  • The team was excited to see the number of subscribers increase with Warlords release, confirming they had selected the right idea and setting for the expansion.
  • Their goal is to make a fun and engaging experience and not chase subscriber numbers, as they are confident that the numbers will follow in the wake of that.
  • WoW released at the right time and has been a very adaptable game, which has helped to sustain it over the years. Other MMOs provide inspiration on how to make the game better.
  • The loss in subscribers is partially due to the cyclical nature of the game.
  • Players don't play WoW year-round anymore, they just come back for new content and then go off to play other games. To some extent that is okay. The team doesn't want to prevent people from playing that way.
  • There was a large spike in subscribers for Warlords so they knew there was going to be a "bit of a dip" after that.
  • The WoW Token hasn't had a drastic impact on the number of subscribers.

Dungeons
  • The new dungeons in Warlords were great, but there was no incentive to keep running them after the start of the expansion.
  • Previous expansions had something like Valor Points to keep players coming back for more dungeons.
  • It felt silly to run the same content over and over even as your character got stronger, which is why the dungeon rewards were removed, but they went too far in Warlords.
  • Group dungeons are one of the greatest strengths in the MMO genre and it is a shame that there hasn't been more of a reason to do them recently.

New Content and Patch 6.2
  • Patch 6.2 is one of the largest content patches ever released.
  • Patch 6.2 adds Timewalking and Mythic dungeons, making group dungeon content relevant again.
  • Patch 6.2 iterates on existing systems, polishes things, and adds some new content.
  • Massive class overhauls aren't as likely to appear in content patches anymore, as returning players come back to find that their class has changed once again.
  • The amount of content added in a patch is a balance between satisfying the hardcore players that go though content very quickly and the players that go at a slower pace.
  • The team also has to make progress on future projects that are important while still working on upcoming content patches.
  • Certain types of changes are reserved for expansions rather than patches to keep complexity in check.

Accessibility
  • Accessibility is a core value of the game and has helped WoW grow and sustain itself.
  • Classes are more complex now than they used to be back in the day. Destro Warlocks in Burning Crusade raids would literally keep up one debuff and press Shadowbolt really hard and fast to beat everyone else. The game hasn't been "dumbed down" from that.
  • Changes have been made to trim excess and keep things focused, but there is still a very high skill cap.
  • Both more casual raiders (Normal difficulty) and hardcore raiders (Mythic difficulty) can now see the entire story. This wasn't possible in older expansions like the Burning Crusade.
  • Accessibility means allowing players that have been playing for a long time to continue to enjoy the game, even if it is at a different level of commitment as their life changes. Many players started out as students and are now professionals with families.

Raids
  • More people are doing organized raiding than ever before thanks to some of the conveniences that have been added recently.
  • It would be nice if Mythic could scale with the raid size, but the team isn't sure that level of tuning is possible.
  • Making specific mechanics and encounters for Mythic difficulty is possible now because of the fixed raid size, but if the raid had to scale down to 10 players that would no longer be possible.

Social
  • The social aspect of the game is very important to the overall experience.
  • The convenience features added over the years have made the game slightly less social.
  • Sitting in town for an hour trying to find a tank in trade chat to go and do a dungeon was inconvenient, but it allowed you to make stronger social bonds.
  • The Group Finder is an attempt to try and create environments where you can still meet new people without spending an extremely long time forming groups.

Misc
  • The group finder is getting lots of use for PvE and PvP content.
  • Garrisons give players reason to log in for a short time when they wouldn't have had any reason to log beofre. It doesn't really take away from raiding, PvP, or other longer playtime activities.


Raid Testing Schedule - May 15 - 18
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We are hoping to have PTR login/access issues resolved by tomorrow, and are adjusting our planned testing accordingly.

From tomorrow through Monday, we will continue our Hellfire Citadel raid testing, including both Heroic and Mythic raid testing. As is always the case with PTR raid testing, it is quite possible that there will be technical or gameplay issues that disrupt our plans. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

Remember that Heroic difficulty scales for any group size between 10 and 30 players, so feel free to assemble and bring a group of any size within that range. Mythic difficulty requires a fixed 20 players. Our general plan is to test every encounter on Heroic difficulty first, and then test sections of the raid on Normal and Raid Finder, alongside targeted Mythic tests.

Each encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below on all PTR servers.

Thursday, May 14

CANCELED

Friday, May 15
  • Socrethar the Eternal - Heroic Hellfire Citadel - 11:30 PDT (14:30 EDT, 20:30 CEST)
  • Archimonde - Heroic Hellfire Citadel - 13:30 PDT (16:30 EDT, 22:30 CEST)

After Heroic raid testing concludes on Friday, we will open the Bastion of Shadows Raid Finder wing, including Iskar, Socrethar, and Tyrant Velhari, over the weekend.

Monday, May 18
  • Shadow-Lord Iskar - Mythic Hellfire Citadel - 13:30 PDT (16:30 EDT, 22:30 CEST)
  • Hellfire High Council - Mythic Hellfire Citadel - 15:00 PDT (18:00 EDT, 24:00 CEST)

As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a PTR environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the boss being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.

PTR Account Issue
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We are aware of an issue affecting multiple users' PTR accounts and are actively looking into a fix. We will do our best to keep you informed of any status updates, and will let you know if the raid testing schedule needs to be adjusted or pushed back. Thank you for you patience while we investigate into this matter.

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Character / Items
On PTR says new glad mounts are account wide, I'm guessing this is a tooltip error?
Correct. They are not account wide. (holinka)

Garrisons
PTR: Is the mission awarding +50 follow ilvl reward ("Blizzard Convention") a 1 time only mission or can it be repeated?
Repeatable. (Muffinus)

What is the best garrison building? (Muffinus)

HeroesNexus - Hero Builds
Our friends over at HeroesNexus have added Hero Builds to the site! Create, find, and rank builds for your favorite heroes to help improve your gameplay or other the gameplay of other players.



OpenRaid - Transmog Competition With Michele Morrow
Our friends over at OpenRaid are having a transmog competition with Michele Morrow as a guest judge!

This article was originally published in forum thread: Dev Interview, Raid Testing Changes, Blue Tweets, Heroes Builds, Transmog Contest started by chaud View original post
Published on 2015-05-15 07:49 AM
265 Comments
Comments 265 Comments
  1. DrMcNinja's Avatar
    Massive class overhauls aren't as likely to appear in content patches anymore, as returning players come back to find that their class has changed once again.
    And this is what shouldn't be done to keep the game fair for everyone.
  1. Synapto's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Keosen View Post
    The interview is showing the difference from the the average MMO poster and a professional.
    Yes, that professionally scripted piece of PR propaganda (aka "the interview") was hoping to convince some people of that.

    And, for once, Blizzard didn't even charge you for the content that they just released inside your brain.
  1. Alopex Major's Avatar
    Yeah I've been continually subbed for 9 years until WoD. Tell me again how it's cyclical.
  1. Kolvarg's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Miuku View Post
    It's hilarious watching people try to promote mythic raiding as some sort of 'high skill cap' activity when it's essentially repeating the same routine and merely learning the steps..
    Then again you can say that about pretty much anything that might be considered "skill requiring", especially in the case of video games.

    WoW is casual, but casual in playtime. If it was "easy", all groups that tried Mythic would have beaten it, and yet you see many groups stuck in progress for weeks and weeks.

    You underestimate how bad people can be at games, or overestimate yourself. No matter how good you might actually be, no one likes an arrogant jerk

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Vajarra View Post
    Yeah I've been continually subbed for 9 years until WoD. Tell me again how it's cyclical.
    Because you clearly represent 100% of the playerbase.
  1. Masternewt's Avatar
    Another self serving interview from the Blizzard propaganda machine.

    More people are raiding that before? Of course, if you're not doing LFR or any other raid, you're most likely in your garrison, waiting to click on a stack of crates.

    Game is slightly less social because of some convenience changes? Bullshit, the game is completely asocial, to the point where other players are more of a hindrance than help.
  1. Darkguyver2020's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Yarathir View Post
    Can you please stop being such a laughing stock. It makes it hard to keep a straight face.
    The only one laughing here is me at how whiny people are on this site.

    Quote Originally Posted by Miuku View Post
    It's hilarious watching people try to promote mythic raiding as some sort of 'high skill cap' activity when it's essentially repeating the same routine and merely learning the steps. I guess if you have no real talents in life, you have to try to patch it up in a game.
    Well then, please grace us mortals with your mythic achievements, since you're such a fucking expert. Otherwise it just renders your arguments totally invalid.

    Quote Originally Posted by Eliazer681 View Post
    Guys answers the questions with well thought out logic and gives legit reasons why they expect some level of sub decrease. Promises a large content patch and quite calmly and rationally discusses some other concerns of the idiots who do nothing but criticize the game

    Idiots immediately shit on everything they said

    And you wonder why the do not give a single fuck about you or what you think.
    This guy has the right idea. People will complain about everything.
    Hell. I remember back in the early patches of Mists, people were like "WAAAAAAA! There's too much to do! The game is too alt unfriendly!"
    It's no fucking reason the devs don't care anymore. It's your own fault, dumbasses!
  1. Holycrap1's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Miuku View Post
    He probably could. If you think WoW requires some special ability or talent, you might want to step outside and re-evaluate things a bit. WoW has been, and always will be, a casual game at heart.

    All raiding, even on the "highest level", merely requires time and some modicum of patience when you wipe so you people learn where to stand and when to use their abilities which are now laughably few. There is no magical "this requires extraordinary ability, skill or understanding".

    It's hilarious watching people try to promote mythic raiding as some sort of 'high skill cap' activity when it's essentially repeating the same routine and merely learning the steps. I guess if you have no real talents in life, you have to try to patch it up in a game.
    So easy you already beat mythic BH. oh wait
  1. Yarathir's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Darkguyver2020 View Post
    The only one laughing here is me at how whiny people are on this site.


    Well then, please grace us mortals with your mythic achievements, since you're such a fucking expert. Otherwise it just renders your arguments totally invalid.


    This guy has the right idea. People will complain about everything.
    Hell. I remember back in the early patches of Mists, people were like "WAAAAAAA! There's too much to do! The game is too alt unfriendly!"
    It's no fucking reason the devs don't care anymore. It's your own fault, dumbasses!

    Yet your crying baby video applies more so to you than anyone else here.

    Infracted
  1. Kolvarg's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Masternewt View Post
    the game is completely asocial, to the point where other players are more of a hindrance than help.
    It's not the game that's asocial, it's the community. The game "helps" that attitude linger, it's true, at least more than it did before all the instant speechless queues. The game only "allows" players to do it, players are still the ones at fault, not the game.

    Peopel ARE asocial - they just use the game mechanics that do not force them to be "social" as an excuse to do it.

    Quote Originally Posted by ComputerNerd View Post
    People make the game anti-social.
    Social is not simply pushing players into proximity with each other.
    Daily heroics in Dalaran proved that.
    Rarely would anyone say 2 words during a dungeon run.
    They still don't in random dungeons.

    Being social is WANTING to interact or talk to others.
    Not being forced to interact or talk with others, not because it is a necessity to complete a task.
    There are more tools, more options to form groups with random players.
    Better tools to continue communication with them across what would otherwise be difficult barriers like realms/factions/different games.
    Just people aren't willing to use them, instead blaming blizzard for their own lack of effort.

    I can go down the street yelling rude names at people.
    By most arguments because I am communicating with people that is called social.
    But here in the real world that is described as anti-social for a reason, because communication for the sake of communication does not equal being social.

    Players make the game anti-social, not blizzard.
  1. Frozen Death Knight's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Yarathir View Post
    Yet your crying baby video applies more so to you than anyone else here.
    To be honest, a lot of people in this thread are pretty darn whiny.
  1. Stormykitten's Avatar
    It's true that subs are cyclical, but we'll see if it will jump back up as high next time.

    However, taking that into account is a mistake to me, at least insofar in waiting with needed class changes just because somebody doesn't want to put in a little effort to get into their class again.
  1. Yarathir's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen Death Knight View Post
    To be honest, a lot of people in this thread are pretty darn whiny.
    In your opinion. So far, what I've seen are a lot of people rightfully laughing at the "this is our biggest patch so far!" claim, and see the interview for the fluff talk it is. To you, that might be whining, but to me, the people who can't handle daddy Blizzard being criticized are the ones who are whining.
  1. Darkguyver2020's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Yarathir View Post
    Yet your crying baby video applies more so to you than anyone else here.
    Right. Because I'm the one ripping on Blizzard's interview and acting like a self entitled jackass.
    Kindly pull your fat head out of your ass, please.

    Quote Originally Posted by Yarathir View Post
    In your opinion. So far, what I've seen are a lot of people rightfully laughing at the "this is our biggest patch so far!" claim, and see the interview for the fluff talk it is. To you, that might be whining, but to me, the people who can't handle daddy Blizzard being criticized are the ones who are whining.
    Haha! Great double standards you got there.
    Again. pull your head out of your ass.

    Infracted
  1. Yarathir's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Darkguyver2020 View Post
    Right. Because I'm the one ripping on Blizzard's interview and acting like a self entitled jackass.
    Kindly pull your fat head out of your ass, please.
    What, Blizzard's words don't deserve any scrutiny by their paying playerbase now? Especially after their downright questionable choices in WoD? Take a hike please, clown. :^)


    Just because you are so overly sensitive that you can't take people criticizing your daddy Blizzard doesn't mean everyone is. But hey, keep deluding yourself.


    Quote Originally Posted by Darkguyver2020 View Post
    Haha! Great double standards you got there.
    Again. pull your head out of your ass.
    Try to learn the definition of a double-standard and then return. Or at least stop using words you don't know. It makes you look silly. Well, more so than you already do with your previous posts, if that's possible.
  1. Rawrajishxc's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by aeuhe4yxzhds View Post
    Wonder what they feel like now, hehe
    The funny thing is, they probably still think WoD was a success.
  1. Darkguyver2020's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Yarathir View Post
    What, Blizzard's words don't deserve any scrutiny by their paying playerbase now? Especially after their downright questionable choices in WoD? Take a hike please, clown. :^)

    Just because you are so overly sensitive that you can't take people criticizing your daddy Blizzard doesn't mean everyone is. But hey, keep deluding yourself.

    Try to learn the definition of a double-standard and then return. Or at least stop using words you don't know. It makes you look silly. Well, more so than you already do with your previous posts, if that's possible.
    Right right. When you bitch and moan towards the developer, you call it "criticizing". Sugar coat it all you want, it's still whining.
    And despite this, you're still paying $15 a month for something you dislike. And even if you have unsubbed, you're on this forum douching up the place about a game that has no significance to you anymore.
    Who's the clown now, Krusty? 8^)
  1. Zephre's Avatar
    Typical Blizzard hiding from truth's and trying to disguise failures as " we expected a slight dip " if you lose subscribers, you lose them because there's little to keep them playing this expansion has been one of the most boring to date, it started out great but thus far has remained crap, my friends stopped playing not because they went off to play other games but because Blizzard have took the piss out of all of us thus far and 6.1 took the cake.

    I'm on the fence regarding 6.2 but everything prior to that was disappointing, this company is so out of touch with it's players.
  1. mmoc91f9a71119's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Darkguyver2020 View Post
    Right right. When you bitch and moan towards the developer, you call it "criticizing". Sugar coat it all you want, it's still whining. It's still a double standard.
    And despite this, you're still paying $15 a month for something you dislike. And even if you have unsubbed, you're on this forum douching up the place about a game that has no significance to you anymore.
    Who's the clown now, Krusty? 8^)
    Can you take your butthurt elsewhere kid ?
  1. Yarathir's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Darkguyver2020 View Post
    Right right. When you bitch and moan towards the developer, you call it "criticizing". Sugar coat it all you want, it's still whining. It's still a double standard.
    And you call it whining because it suits you. Don't try to act like you're above it. If you have such Stockholm Syndrome that you can't handle someone not sucking up to Blizzard, then that's your problem, not anyone else's.
    Quote Originally Posted by Darkguyver2020 View Post
    And despite this, you're still paying $15 a month for something you dislike.
    Yes, as a paying customer, I am rather disappointed with their performance, and this is why I'm informing them or discussing it with others. You're the one here acting like a watchdog muddying up all discussion and going "LOL LOOK AT EVERYONE WHINING.. SLUUUURP. BLIZZARD DOES NOTHING WRONG."

    And again, stop using words you don't know the definition to.

    Quote Originally Posted by Darkguyver2020 View Post
    And even if you have unsubbed,
    Uh-hu..
    Quote Originally Posted by Darkguyver2020 View Post
    you're on this forum douching up the place.
    No, I'm pretty sure the person douching up the place is the one who barges into threads with valid criticism linking crying baby videos that apply more so to his fragile self and goes "ANY POST THAT DOESN'T AGREE WITH BLIZZARD IS WHINE.". So yeah, you're pretty much the dude douching it up, so long as this is not "the Blizzard fanboy forums", you always be the one douching it up if you make posts like that.

    If you don't want to be the one douching it up, actually make some valid points, instead of just trying to be witty and linking some stupid video that more so befits your own behaviour than anyone else's.
    Quote Originally Posted by Darkguyver2020 View Post
    Who's the clown now, Krusty? 8^)
    Pretty sure it's still you. :^)
  1. twiddler's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zephre View Post
    Typical Blizzard hiding from truth's and trying to disguise failures as " we expected a slight dip " if you lose subscribers, you lose them because there's little to keep them playing this expansion has been one of the most boring to date, it started out great but thus far has remained crap, my friends stopped playing not because they went off to play other games but because Blizzard have took the piss out of all of us thus far and 6.1 took the cake.
    Actually, evidence supports their claims. This includes:

    There shift to more frequent expansions.
    The idea of releasing more content patches faster (albeit yet to be seen).
    Statistical and stochastic analysis of subscription trends.
    Since you included anecdotal evidence, my group of 4 friends left because we always leave as Blizzard actually described.
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