Chris Metzen Interview, New Battle.Net Avatars, Fan Art - Anduin: The Little Lion

[Deleted]

What if you wanted to be an artist, filmmaker, or make games, but you grew up with an internet that literally stoned people that displeased them. What kind of

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[Izzyfurious]

And this interview just keeps reinforcing what i've said for years.

Social media will make people turn into sheeps! and the list goes on and on.

STOP USING SOCIAL MEDIA! then this will dial down massively forever. But as longests all this FB, Twatter, Instagram BS exsists. These things will never stop happening.

Just get rid of these god forsaken social apps forever!

[tyrlaan]

Gotta love how many people came here to justify being jackasses to Blizzard staff.

[sillag]

Why should that be his problem?

lmao come on dude. why is anything in this interview his problem. he's literally talking about community toxicity and that's what the genocide justification crew is.

but this was something they went out of their way to create. does he agree with that choice? i would like to know.

[Lac]

It is great to hear Metzen doing so well. His presence in the WoW world is missed but in the end, it is just a game and his health is so much more important. Such a lovely guy.

[Muezick]

I miss Chris Metzen. A lot.

[HordeLord]

Gotta love how many people came here to justify being jackasses to Blizzard staff.

Hey its not our fault. Blizzard started acting like dipshits first. Mainly ion and his shit eating grin smug attitude

[Strakha]

so is thrall coming back or not?

[Theoris]

I appreciate what Metzen said in the interview about the War of Thorns backlash. Best part of it all is the gaggle of idiots who harassed the devs (or condoned the harassment) are trying to justify themselves - it's pretty pathetic how they think they're in the right, really.

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Hey its not our fault.

Yes, it is.

[Cel]

I love metzen, always have, and I've enjoyed goldens work, she brought me into not just a deeper understanding of warcraft lore, but painted for me my favorite aspects of warcraft lore, the orcs and their redemption arch.

But despite the fact I love metzen and goldens writing back then, it doesn't excuse these current events as mistakes. People screw up and make mistakes, writing can get bad, writers can make bad decisions and stir the story in a bad direction, and people who are deep fans of something can become disheartened with the writers because of this.

Yet in such a job as being a writer, if you don't have thick skin to handle criticism, you shouldn't be in it. In something like an ongoing drama like this, when you come on board as a writer, its up to you to keep fans happy in what they want, and if you fail to do so, if the structure of the ongoing series fails because of your mistakes, then YOU become the target, not the overarching story.

I've seen this in comic books all the time. Spiderman is a beloved character and having his ongoing series for decades, but over the years they have had some awful writers coming along and fucking up the spiderman lore (examples the backing ironman in civil war, One More Day, Hitting mary jane), all from writers who didn't get what people loved about spiderman, trying to put their own spin on him, but ultimately just putting a stain on his reputation as a character in the comics.

And thats what we are seeing here in warcrafts current writing, its putting a stain on the lore in different ways. I've never liked sylvanas, but I at least respected her somewhat as a dark leader who did fight beside the horde, yet now thats all gone because of how much of a cartoon supervillain she's become. After everything with Garrosh, you'd think the other horde leaders would have instantly turned on sylvanas for her request to purge the night elves from kalimdor, but they said nothing. They didn't even show anyone reacting negativly to the trees burning until the cinematic was released after the events. All this painted characters in a way people hated.

And they keep babying the fanbase, looking down on them telling them 'oh, wait a little longer, your see, your see!', we're not fucking children blizzard, we're seen some awful mistakes in your lore over the years so we have a justified reason to be concerned and not take your word for it when it gets this bad.

As it stands right now, if this level of disregard for the fanbases feelings on this is so cast aside, then its no wonder their even more pissed off at the writers and developers, and now having the companys ex figurehead telling the community they shouldn't be so mean to writers.

Sorry Chris, I love yah, but if you want the fanbase to settle down, maybe look at the problem itself that caused it.

Just want to say, very well said.

There is no excuse for childish - bordering on downright inhumane behavior. But this applies to both side of the argument. Many actual positive critiques have been completely negated because people are being so dense as to categorize every potentially outspoken comment as toxic or blind fanaticism, forgetting that we as people (if rational and mature about it) can talk about these subject critically, but without being jack holes about it.

It is in my opinion, the story is in a very sorry state as far as quality writing goes. I don't have the knowledge, nor the desire to start pointing fingers, but at the same time, there is clearly gaps in quality when it comes to the story. Of course people are going to get invested in a game thats been out for like 14-15 years... People need to watch their reactions to not lose their credibility in intelligence. But there clearly is a reason for why people are lashing out, respectfully or not, in droves over the current state of the story. Its disheartening to see many of the community (and potentially the company itself, although, technically Metzen isn't speaking for them) are hiding behind a wall of "People are being inappropriate, their opinion doesn't matter" as if to forget how the game got to its current successful state through the communities love for it.

[tyrlaan]

Hey its not our fault. Blizzard started acting like dipshits first. Mainly ion and his shit eating grin smug attitude

It's like you just felt you needed to prove my point.

[HordeLord]

It's like you just felt you needed to prove my point.

It's like you felt the need to be retarded.

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I appreciate what Metzen said in the interview about the War of Thorns backlash. Best part of it all is the gaggle of idiots who harassed the devs (or condoned the harassment) are trying to justify themselves - it's pretty pathetic how they think they're in the right, really.

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Yes, it is.

No, it isn't. But continue to suck off Ion Hazzichode

[Walkerbo]

The interview was great but I do not think being told that "artists have such passion and bleed for their art so do not be mean to them" and as such they, and their art, should be some protected species and they and their art should be free of critical analysis by others is galling.

It's hard to watch people get attacked because their movie, comic, or game displeases some number of people out there.

When an artist presents their art to the world they must understand that all art is subjective and there is no guarantee that their art will be universally loved.
Some people are extremely disappointed with the direction of WoW and that in its self shows how passionate they are and their negative responses do not equate to the artists being attacked.

Metzen isn't going to attack a director publicly on the internet if he didn't like a movie, he'll just not buy a ticket to his next movie.

Is this a good thing? So just quietly give up on WoW without a word, just walk away.
Surely providing feedback is of benefit can only strengthen the game, or is the only valid feedback total adoration?

What if you wanted to be an artist, filmmaker, or make games, but you grew up with an internet that literally stoned people that displeased them. What kind of incentive is that for a young person with imagination right now?

Artists of every ilk are driven to create, if their fear of negative reactions stops them from creating and sharing their art then they have already given up.
Once again art is subjective, it is unlikely that it will be universally loved.
Also "... an internet that literally stoned people that displeased them." hyperbole.

There is sometimes an appalling lack of empathy for the artists that are standing up there and trying to keep the discussion going. There is a lack of empathy for that person and their heart, imagination, soul, and their spin on things. Take a step back and take a breath, everything in life isn't going to please you.

Change the target of this statement from "artist" to "customer" and appreciate that all games live and die by players actually playing the game.
Gamers are gamers regardless of what game they are playing; but without gamers WoW cannot survive.

If you didn't like something, such as the Last Jedi, take the opportunity to introduce someone to an expression of Star Wars that you love. Take the opportunity to engage positively. Pay forward elements of the franchise you loved.

However if I change my view of the game from something that I loved to something that I can longer support why would I be trying to get friends to engage with the game.
"Hey mate WoW was a fantastic game and you should play, but only up to the end of MoP, from there it dropped in the crapper" is not exactly a compelling argument to make.

During Diablo 3 when there was a lot of controversy over decisions, the community really raked Jay Wilson over the coals. He just happened to be the public face at the time.

Metzen was very lucky, as he was a public face for many years, occasionally did or said something stupid, and the fanbase would call him out. This included things like Red Shirt Guy. He made a mistake on stage under pressure and confused two characters.

Being the public face of a game means having to accept the good and bad parts of that role, it is great when things are going well but when things go wrong who are we expected to contact?
Red shirt guy was not a personal attack on you or Alex, it was proof that passionate players can question and in some cases correct the experts.

Christie Golden being attacked was embarrassing to Metzen on behalf of the community.

The attacks on her were not only misplaced, but unfair and unjust.

You do not get to be embarrassed on behalf of the community, you speak for your self just as I speak for my self.
In your opinion the negative feedback was unfair and unjust, yet for others it may not be; once again the danger of being the public face for the BfA story means taking both of the praise and blame.

Every expansion people complain and lose their minds, complaining that everything sucks and the game is ruined. Then a couple months later, we are into the expansion and the tone has shifted to "This is the most Warcraft it's been ever". Let the story play out.

Up until WoD I had blindly accepted that blizzard would always produce a quality expansion even when, in my opinion, the story or premise what not initially compelling to me.
After WoD I was continually told that blizzard never promised to keep flying, even though the collectors edition came with a flying mount with the tag line

"Descend from the skies on the back of a black-winged Dread Raven mount"

; this was not the only thing about WoD that I hated but it was the most deceitful example of how much WoW had changed.
As such I cannot just "let the story play out" as I cannot trust that every thing will be alright; whether I like/dislike the game is not for you to determine.

Remember that empathy is important, especially in today's climate. Things are tense and there is a lot of hate out there, so to find that same kind of binary aggressiveness in our hallowed nerdy halls is disconcerting. We are supposed to dream the big dreams of a fantasy of a better tomorrow and being better people.

People seem to forget that nightmares are dreams too.

[Cel]

It's like you just felt you needed to prove my point.

There's a limited amount of people proving your point. I have only seen a select few act out on this specific thread. Having concerns for anything that you have time and current and future interest in, isn't unnatural.

Its sad to the see how many can't maturely express that. There is no argument there.

But as others have said, there is nothing wrong with legitimate criticism, and the side of criticism seems to receive just about as much 'toxcitiy' or flak as those getting criticized.

This actual distracts from any real conversation and legitimate views being shared.

Obviously no one should regress to being a blithering idiot and display blatant inappropriate behavior, but using that as a topic to hide behind, or knock any legitimate complaint down is just cowardly.

[BUdoubleG]

so is thrall coming back or not?

nailed it.........

[Argorwal]

Even though it's obvious to anyone who had ever designed anything, I don't think people realize how far things are planned in advance.

He just said they were working on the BfA cinematic 2.5 years ago, so still in WoD by 6 months(ish).

This means the cinematic for the expansion after BfA is already months into development.

Then people are surprised when they provide feedback and Blizzard doesn't completely redesign something for them.

[grexly75]

Hey its not our fault. Blizzard started acting like dipshits first. Mainly ion and his shit eating grin smug attitude

Actually it is, and you played right into it.. Most people would go "oh they are doing this or that" then go okay and move on ignoring whatever it is that drew them there in the first place.. And that the mere fact that a couple of posts down you felt the need to insult and attack people, proves Metzen's point that you are pretty much a part of the toxic community..

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Even though it's obvious to anyone who had ever designed anything, I don't think people realize how far things are planned in advance.

He just said they were working on the BfA cinematic 2.5 years ago, so still in WoD by 6 months(ish).

This means the cinematic for the expansion after BfA is already months into development.

Then people are surprised when they provide feedback and Blizzard doesn't completely redesign something for them.

Most people don't realize that and this is the problem, they think it is thought up there and then..

[Logwyn]

Wow that video

I agree. It was very very well done.

[tyrlaan]

There's a limited amount of people proving your point. I have only seen a select few act out on this specific thread. Having concerns for anything that you have time and current and future interest in, isn't unnatural.

Its sad to the see how many can't maturely express that. There is no argument there.

But as others have said, there is nothing wrong with legitimate criticism, and the side of criticism seems to receive just about as much 'toxcitiy' or flak as those getting criticized.

This actual distracts from any real conversation and legitimate views being shared.

Obviously no one should regress to being a blithering idiot and display blatant inappropriate behavior, but using that as a topic to hide behind, or knock any legitimate complaint down is just cowardly.

Aye, I'm not saying anything to the contrary. It would just be nice for people to figure out how to keep personal attacks out of their criticisms.

[Project 501D13R]

thus begins at this point 65 of the longest hours of my life >.>