Ghostcrawler leaving WoW

[LegendsnDreamz]

I would like to see a team function without a Lead System Designer and Game Director. It would be an interesting experiment.

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Coming from the guy who thinks the lead system architect is a scapegoat. I do not fall for such ignorance sorry.

So now you think that position will remain vacant. Well enjoy that hole of yours.

BTW, I just put a label to what you called him, I'm not the one making him into a scapegoat. You might want to look that one up too. Better yet pick up a dictionary all together.

[Peso]

So now you think that position will remain vacant. Well enjoy that hole of yours.

BTW, I just put a label to what you called him, I'm not the one making him into a scapegoat. You might want to look that one up too. Better yet pick up a dictionary all together.

I'm putting emphasis on the fact that he has a say to what happens with the game.

[Bullettime]

^ This so much.

WoW A-Team's most notable creations: Naxxramas, Black Temple, Sunwell Plateau, Ulduar
WoW B-Team's most notable creations: Trial of the Crusader, Dragon Soul

Tigole basically made Vanilla, TBC and the good half of WotLK.
Ghostcrawler made ... the bad half of WotLK, Cataclysm (ouch!) and the very questionable Mists of Pandaria.

I'm sorry but Tigole's work is just much higher quality.

Ghostcrawler didn't make any of those though. Ghostcrawler was just another name in the list that had his own responsibilities. Ghostcrawler was simply the first of the developers to try to have active communication, and maintain it, with the community and led to him getting a lot of blame for shit he wasn't even in charge of. Because he was the blue at the forefront of community discussion, people assumed he had more power than he really did.

Dungeons and raids for example were the responsibility of J. Allen Brack's guys since 2005 and Ion Hazzikostas who was added to the team in Wrath, now becoming the team lead with Brack moving on to other things.

If people insist on blaming someone for the overall direction, then they need to put the blame on Tom Chilton who's the lead game designer for WoW or Rob Pardo who is the VP of Blizzard Game Design.

Ghostcrawler's job was more to do with convenience factors such as dungeon finder and overall class balance. Even PvP had has its own design team since Wrath that primarily answered to Kalgan (Chilton) and now Hollinka. Things like garrisons, pet battles, etc fall under Mumper (Cory Stockton.) It doesn't stop people from blaming Ghostcrawler though for everything they don't like.

[Peso]

So if you want a single scapegoat, perhaps you should do a little digging to see where the head of the snake lies.

1234everybodyscarpethatgoat.

[LegendsnDreamz]

I'm putting emphasis on the fact that he has a say to what happens with the game.

No, you and your ilk were pointing out how GC SOLELY made WoW a bad game (subjective point). I pointed out how terribly flawed this thinking was and noted to its comical effect. You are right about how his position gave him SOME say. As did many people on that team does, and his successor will. The guy that green lights everything, well that is Tom Chilton. He would be a far better choice to a scapegoat then GC.

I wouldn't advise using scapegoats however, they are nothing but a thin smokescreen any intelligent person worth their salt would see past.

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1234everybodyscarpethatgoat.

Context....have you taken an English class?

[lockedout]

Already stated GC left because no flying in WoD.

[Peso]

No, you and your ilk were pointing out how GC SOLELY made WoW a bad game (subjective point). I pointed out how terribly flawed this thinking was and noted to its comical effect. You are right about how his position gave him SOME say. As did many people on that team does, and his successor will. The guy that green lights everything, well that is Tom Chilton. He would be a far better choice to a scapegoat then GC.

I wouldn't advice using scapegoats however, they are nothing but a thin smokescreen any intelligent person worth their salt would see past.

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Context....have you taken an English class?

If you watch any of Tigole's interviews something clicks and people just understand where he's coming from and talking about when it comes to WoW (given that the person likes progression and a sense of point in the game). He made sense from a players perspective.

For some reason nobody sees that since J. left everything is right where it should be for Diablo. Tigole left and instantly we had a sudden shift. More importantly a LSD is more important then a GD since he pulls the strings in terms of gameplay and then the GD just approves. J. didn't approve of anything like ladders, better loot (given AH circumstances) etc..

The guy's a genius and I'm glad he's VP and getting paid well. Good guy. True to the players game play by a player himself.

[unholyness]

Putting someone worse than Ghostcrawler in charge of things, does not make Ghostcrawler better. He will be just a lesser evil, but still evil.

He was bad for the game and he is (finally) gone, the community should hope for someone better, an actual designer, who spend his time designing not tweeting and talking crap on forums.

I wonder if people will ever take responsibility and realize that they are really bad and want someone to blame for their low IQ. You realize that all of the dev's are hardcore raider's and are unhappy with the retard level Blizzard is taking so mentally slow people can feel not as dumb.

Ok guys, lets call Flex mode Normal mode so people can clear "Normals," then let's take Normal mode and call it "Heroics" so people will not feel as bad because they cant even clear Normals. Then for the people with synapse firing in their brain, we can take actual heroic mode and call it Mythic. Hmmm that does make the game really faceroll but we have some real idiots that play so lets take out hit, expertise, dodge and parry, that should at least let them clear flex, i mean normal modes.

So the better way that you are referring to is the biggest dumbing down of any game ever made. People have to be absolutely ignorant to not see that.

Infracted for this and previous posts in this thread. A bit more respect and civility in the future please. [ML]

[Gaexion Ramza Beoulve]

Although I respect GC for his tenacity and commitment I can honestly say this is a good riddance.

Hopefully you get someone like Bashikins or Bashikins himself to take over. Y,know someone who will bend bad players over a pinball table and insert their authority where it rightfully belongs.

Goodbye 'balance', goodbye whining, goodbye kowtowing to the worst aspect of the community, which is pvp.

[TheSego]

I will miss you GC!!!

[unholyness]

Although I respect GC for his tenacity and commitment I can honestly say this is a good riddance.

Hopefully you get someone like Bashikins or Bashikins himself to take over. Y,know someone who will bend bad players over a pinball table and insert their authority where it rightfully belongs.

Goodbye 'balance', goodbye whining, goodbye kowtowing to the worst aspect of the community, which is pvp.

I talked to GC at the Hilton bar at Blizzcon, me and MUfusa ( if you know who he is) asked Greg why the hell would they dumb the game down even more taking out hit and the other stats. He smiled and said, bads and wrath babies. The other dev's who were there, who we bought 2 rounds for btw lol, said they can't make content challenging like it used to be because the player base is far too bad and they would just have to nerf it anyway.

It was my first blizzcon but worth it to hear the honest opinions they can give face to face. As far as bending bad's over, they are going the opposite way which a lot of people weren't happy with, making the game even more faceroll.

[LegendsnDreamz]

If you watch any of Tigole's interviews something clicks and people just understand where he's coming from and talking about when it comes to WoW (given that the person likes progression and a sense of point in the game). He made sense from a players perspective.

For some reason nobody sees that since J. left everything is right where it should be for Diablo. Tigole left and instantly we had a sudden shift.

Jefferey Kaplan (Tigole) was Game Director. Again Tom Chilton Game Director (Tigole's successor) You really have a difficult time understanding who has what powers. Far as Tigole goes, well he was in charge during a different time, if he came back now and did what he did then, I assure you it would not make this game for the better. There are to many variables in play now, and even if you had the exact team of whatever golden age of WoW you want to prop up. There is nothing that they could do to raise subs to the glory days of 12 million.

[Peso]

Jefferey Kaplan (Tigole) was Game Director. Again Tom Chilton Game Director (Tigole's successor) Your really have a difficult time understanding who has what powers. Far as Tigole goes, well he was in charge during a different time, he came back now and did what he did then, I assure you it would not make this game for the better. There are to many variables in play now, and even if you had the exact team of whatever golden age of WoW you want to prop up. There is nothing that they could do to raise subs to the glory days of 12 million.

All I'm saying is the game could be in a better place right now.

No subscription mambo jumbo.

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Tigole was originally an Associate Game Designer and now he's a VP. So it's hard to tell what position he was at the time. But that doesn't matter since his influence on WoW got him VP of Blizzard so win-win for him.

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I like Ghostcrawler but I think he would be better suited on RTS games. I loved AoE II. Favorite RTS of all time.

[RumlyD]

I'm not going to make any sweeping claims about what he was/wasn't directly responsible for, or suggest that he was politely told to resign by higher ups (something I rather doubt, honestly). All I know is that he was Lead Systems Designer, and during his tenure in this position, a lot of fundamental changes were made to the game systems that I personally take issue with. Sure, they happened incrementally over a number of months/years in some cases, but ultimately they represent a complete about-turn in the direction and philosophy of the game's systems. These are changes that would seem utterly ridiculous if you suggested them pre-Wrath. I think the biggest offenders here are the removal of real talent trees, instant catch-up systems and finally raid finder (aka the crowning glory of world of queuecraft). Again, I don't claim he was entirely responsible for all of these things, but they are clearly massive system changes that happened during his tenure as Systems Lead.

I don't expect all of these things to be magically undone now that he's gone. Many of them are somewhat irreversible, at least in the short-term. Once you've given so much ground to forum whiners, there comes a point where you can't easily reclaim what has been lost. On the one hand I'll miss his active community presence and the insights it provided, on the other I'll hope that his replacement ignores forums and gets on with making the game the best it can be. I'd like to imagine the game moving gradually away from the massively streamlined parody of it's former self that it currently is. We'll have to see.

[Sturmbringe]

I'm not going to make any sweeping claims about what he was/wasn't directly responsible for, or suggest that he was politely told to resign by higher ups (something I rather doubt, honestly). All I know is that he was Lead Systems Designer, and during his tenure in this position, a lot of fundamental changes were made to the game systems that I personally take issue with. Sure, they happened incrementally over a number of months/years in some cases, but ultimately they represent a complete about-turn in the direction and philosophy of the game's systems. These are changes that would seem utterly ridiculous if you suggested them pre-Wrath. I think the biggest offenders here are the removal of real talent trees, instant catch-up systems and finally raid finder (aka the crowning glory of world of queuecraft). Again, I don't claim he was entirely responsible for all of these things, but they are clearly massive system changes that happened during his tenure as Systems Lead.

I don't expect all of these things to be magically undone now that he's gone. Many of them are somewhat irreversible, at least in the short-term. Once you've given so much ground to forum whiners, there comes a point where you can't easily reclaim what has been lost. On the one hand I'll miss his active community presence and the insights it provided, on the other I'll hope that his replacement ignores forums and gets on with making the game the best it can be. I'd like to imagine the game moving gradually away from the massively streamlined parody of it's former self that it currently is. We'll have to see.

By far the worst he's done was forcing everyone to raid in 10 man guilds by unifying 10 and 25 man raid lockouts.

This brought about a total collapse of the raiding communities of many servers, and as a result thousands of players were forced to quit the game b/c they could no longer find a raid spot.

Therefore, he is directly responsible for many of the lost subs, never mind the travesty of Kungufupandapokemon. It was inevitable for him to lose his job. I was just wondering why it took so long.

[liam78]

By far the worst he's done was forcing everyone to raid in 10 man guilds by unifying 10 and 25 man raid lockouts.

This brought about a total collapse of the raiding communities of many servers, and as a result thousands of players were forced to quit the game b/c they could no longer find a raid spot.

Therefore, he is directly responsible for many of the lost subs, never mind the travesty of Kungufupandapokemon. It was inevitable for him to lose his job. I was just wondering why it took so long.

GC is guilty of too many crimes against the game to deserve forgiveness. He contributed huge blows to the game systems, from gear and professions to raiding and classes. During his tenure as lead systems designer WoW lost 5M subs, that's not an easy number to ignore.

Nevertheless, I wish him well so long as he is not working on WoW.

[Osmeric]

During his tenure as lead systems designer WoW lost 5M subs, that's not an easy number to ignore.

So, why is he in particular responsible for that loss, rather than, say, Chilton or Brack or no one?

[Metallikiddd]

So, why is he in particular responsible for that loss, rather than, say, Chilton or Brack or no one?

Chilton IS to blame for every problem in WoW. That "Fackler" idiot needs to be ejected out ASAP!

[liam78]

By far the worst he's done was forcing everyone to raid in 10 man guilds by unifying 10 and 25 man raid lockouts.

This brought about a total collapse of the raiding communities of many servers, and as a result thousands of players were forced to quit the game b/c they could no longer find a raid spot.

Therefore, he is directly responsible for many of the lost subs, never mind the travesty of Kungufupandapokemon. It was inevitable for him to lose his job. I was just wondering why it took so long.

Devs saying LFR is last resort and GC leaving WoW indicates we are up for some positive changes in raiding. Less face roll and lootmatic and a return to old school progression.

I will be celebrating GC's leave and I don't care if he is fired or not as long as he is gone for good.

[scarson]

WoW has grown stale and needs some fresh ideas. So nothing against GC, but I think this is a good thing.

This too.

We need someone who realizes it is not fun to have 20 quests and repeat them 500x over two years. GC was a little slow, let's say, to "get" player feedback. I hope they choose someone smarter for his post.