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

[Benedictu]

And that's how you end up being called a toxic pos by a creator and/or his/her fans. In worst case scenario there'll be an article on kotaku and few other sites about some sexist/racist/whatever-ist pos verbally abusing an employee, a pure and innocent soul.

Unfortunately, many people aren't welcoming even valid criticism these days, no criticism is valid to them, even if it's well-deserved, only praise is acceptable.

Metzen is full of crap. If the fan base is unhappy with your crappy storytelling, don't blame the fanbase and cry bullying and "nerd herd culture." It doesn't matter if your customers as a whole are valid or not in their criticisms. They are your customers and you are beholden to their criticisms.

That said, it *was* terrible storytelling. Forget the Tree. Jaina (aka Elsa from from Frozen) raised a ship out of nowhere and just made all of the blight go poof, but she couldn't clear one room of blight at the end. So sloppy.

[Ratyrel]

Metzen is full of crap. If the fan base is unhappy with your crappy storytelling, don't blame the fanbase and cry bullying and "nerd herd culture." It doesn't matter if your customers as a whole are valid or not in their criticisms. They are your customers and you are beholden to their criticisms.

That said, it *was* terrible storytelling. Forget the Tree. Jaina (aka Elsa from from Frozen) raised a ship out of nowhere and just made all of the blight go poof, but she couldn't clear one room of blight at the end. So sloppy.

Customers have the right to not consume, not to forgo any shred of human decency in their criticism. The fanbase consists of individuals, each of whom is capable of making a choice in how they express themselves. If they do so like uncivilised trolls, there is no need to engage with that imo.

Jaina had a whole cinematic explaining where she got that ship. Jaina's penchant for ice magic predates Frozen's release by five years, and the ice queen character trope was popularised by a 19th century fairytale by Andersen. Teleport was a more efficient way of dealing with the situation at the end, because the building was collapsing around them. Feel about the storytelling however you want, but the points you make are feeble. I heavily dislike the skewed, warmongering logic Sylvanas puts forward in the Horde quests and the whole conflict seems based on little more than Sylvanas' hatred of everything, but the Jaina parts are absolutely fine.

[Demise_]

It's sad to see how toxic the community has become. Metzen can't even tell people to stop harassing developers and stop arrogantly assuming they know everything about an expansion that hasn't launched yet. You can judge a movie that you've watched, but to judge a book based on its first page is pretty ridiculous.

Pretty sure I knew The Room was a shit movie after the first 2 minutes.

To be honest, Wow is just too big, with too many creative voices and too much lore. This leads to large differences in creative vision and creates too many plot holes and inconsistencies.

Probably shouldn't be blaming an individual on their own, but the company as a whole. And it shows, blizzard writing has gone down the drain.

[vashe9]

Metzen is right, entitled grown up brats everywhere. Welcome in 2018
There are the same toxic comments about "super heroes movies" but they still watch them...
If you dont like something, dont buy it. If not enough people buy it then maybe you were right
I'm OK with the story? Have I "bad tastes" ?

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For example I know a girl who loved to do WQs because she found new people there. After they destroyed the LFG system (forced typing and no auto invite) she just didn't bother with the game anymore. Luckly she didn't bought the new exp. yet because Blizzard always makes the bad changes on the last weeks so people cannot back up.

Yeah I bet she LOVED talking to russian bots or she had the time to get many friends within the 20 sec timeframe of an average WQ with this addon...

... Seriously ?

[Tupolew519]

Chris. We miss you so much.

[Deleted]

Metzen is right, and whoever feels attacked by him saying that overly aggressive and hateful comments in a discussion about a video game should be called out is likely part of the problem.

[Tiwack]

Use social media as the tool it is instead of a replacement for something. You won't find what you look for and you easily end up creating your own monsters if you don't move on. There's better ways to excel than to try to please everybody and the world is always going to have young and stupid people in it.

[Theoris]

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

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

How are you not banned yet?

[Trassk]

I sent a tweet to Metzen, saying "just because there are trolls in the warcraft community doesn't mean all criticism of the story/game are bad criticisms".

This is really annoying because people are genuinely pissed off by these events, and have structured good arguments against the writing and direction of the story, but it gets dismissed because just a few trolls make death threats to the writers, so all criticism must thus now be ignored or dismissed.

[Deleted]

And people need to stop assuming we need to know the rest to know we won't like it.

While I agree that things have gone too far in terms of insults and not far enough in attacking the root causes of this shit story, the fact remains that at this point in time, there is quite literally nothing that could redeem Sylvanas. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of viable avenues where we could have had a fair and just war over actual problems between the Alliance and Horde - And all of them were pushed aside for this?

We don't need to see the end to say the beginning has ruined any possible end there could be.

That said, I'm glad Metzen is doing well, even if I don't agree with his whole point. I hope he continues to improve.

No, people don't need to stop assuming that. Unless you're from the future, you don't know you'll like something that hasn't happened yet.

[Ottius]

He's right, you know. Not that it will change anything.

But he isn’t right. He says it’s wrong to hate on artists, but then goes on to say some things st Blizzard were driving him crazy. What, is he allowed to be driven crazy, but the regular players are not? Double standards much.
PS - I love Chris, btw.

[rowaasr13]

TLDR: no matter what fans say, we're always right and won't ever listen to you, so stop complaining already!

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I'm a huge fan of getting the two factions to actually despise each other more again.

Why are you happy then? So far they mostly made many Horde players despise their OWN faction. There's nothing in this pathetic excuse for a story why Horde should despise Alliance.

[War30]

I have never listened to so much bullshit coming out of two women's mouth in my entire life. I say women because this country has literally turned men in a bunch of apologetic pansies. I’m glad to say that everyone who made Warcraft back in the 90’s made me a fan of this game. Warcraft was not something just thought up overnight and would not have existed if it wasn’t for Warhammer…Period. Also Starcraft another one of Blizzards franchise would not have existed without the Alien and Predator franchise.

Now let me ask Chris Metzen and all these arrogant people at the top something. Let’s say you go to your favorite restaurant and order the same meal on the menu. Not only that, everyone comes to that restaurant to order the same meal. You even tell you’re your friends about how good this place is and they tell their friends. Then one day you and your friends ban together and order the same meal and all of you notice something different. They either added more salt, it wasn’t cooked the way it was supposed to be or the portion was less. You complain to the manager about it and he tells you… nobody else is complaining, you’re overacting, you are a sexist because the person who cooked it was female instead of the male who always served up the food, and you are not entitled to complain because this business is successful so go to another restaurant because the food is no longer to your liking.

This shit right here is what Disneys has done to Star Wars and what Blizzard Activision is doing with World of Warcraft. You defend The Last Jedi because you know you will get a lot of slack for how shitty that Warcraft movie was. You also bash Transformers because that piece of shit series made Billions more overseas than your Warcraft movie. If you would have done a Starcraft movie probably you would have made a billion overseas. The problem with the Warcraft movie was that the thought process in making that film had no love in it. Look at the Old Soldier video. Those 6 minutes had more story and emotion than your full length feature film and every expansion to date. This Warcraft movie should have been just like this CG sequence. I would guarantee it would have blown up on the box office. The same goes for World of Warcraft and its story. The entire thing is fragmented into different types of mediums since the end of Wrath of the Lich King that when people complain about the story not making sense you put the blame on them for not reading a book. Who the hell are you people putting the blame on your customers? No, we need to be told why this is happening in game. You can’t just create an event like the burning of Teldrassil without explaining the motivation behind it. I understand if it’s 10 to 15 people who are complaining but it’s countless of players and nothing has been addressed. All this started right about the end of Wrath of the Lich King and Activision stepping in. This is where this game has been taking a nose dive from 12 million to under 5 million maybe even less now. Chris Metzen keeps hyping people up saying to be patient something cool is going to happen. But Chris it’s the opposite and not what you believe you claim you hear. People have had it with lies and deceit and they all (including me) want is play a game where there’s a great story and a motivation into playing. A story shown in the cinematic we are playing and not something completely different. The type game that once a long time ago we were rewarded completing a challenge with a group. Not for that reward to mean nothing because someone else can get something better in a world quest.

As for ownership yes we own Star Wars, Warcraft, Dragonball and everything that follows a huge fan base. Japan is starting to understand this now. They are giving their fans what they want. Look at that Smash Bros video where everyone is screaming and jumping for joy. Look at Monster Hunter; look at those videos on how players act towards the man who saved the Final Fantasy MMO. Why can’t Warcraft have that effect on people like it once did? I’m still waiting for it.
On behalf of the millions out there we are the ones who decide if these projects are going to be successful or not. We are the engine that puts a roof over your head, feed your families and keep you employed because we are investing our money into it. Having a vision and calling yourself an artist is pointless and just comes out as being arrogant. The truth is that you and everyone at Blizzard didn’t make this and all you’re other franchises successful. We did. We decide not you or anyone else who believes this fairy tale. So no one including Blizzard and Disney can’t decide to change things on the fly and hire a bunch of idiots like Rian Johnson who has no love for Stars Wars and be in charge of a multibillion dollar franchise because his agenda was to divide people and create a toxic environment that’s gains them publicity. He didn’t want to do a movie that was good he wanted to the movie where some mostly everyone hated and the idiots who don’t care about this franchise liked it. This was his goal and there a ton of videos of him personally say this.

As for the threats to people, well I say that shit is going too far. I don’t agree with it and I believe in voicing your opinion on things you don’t like, but not in this manner.

[Gadzooks]

"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."

Sorry, Chris, but that's not a solution, and it's ain't our job. Hold the creators accountable! The fans did pay the Star Wars franchise forward for fucking decades, with the universe creation that George was part of and approved, that Kennedy tossed out when she took over. The fans did exactly what you're saying, and they got spit in the face from Kennedy and Johnson and Abrams for their efforts.

Bad work is bad work. "Paying it forward" means being a fan, and caring, which is why the fans are fucking upset!

Tired of this feel-good panacea crap to cover up for shoddy work. Johnson made a crap movie. Get over it. The criticism is valid. It's not wrong to have negative opinions! What made Star Wars - and Warcraft - a massive fucking franchise is fans giving a shit, and you're telling them to stop giving a shit? That doesn't work, Chris. You're way off base here, and way out of line.

Yes, some fans are taking it too far - or, are they even fans, or just the usual 4chan shithead types taking advantage of the issue to be their usual asshole selves? Stop throwing the baby out with the bathwater here - fans are upset, but that doesn't make them "toxic". This is more of the smelly bullshit a certain mod on the WOW forums was spreading, accusing players with an agenda when they were unhappy with WOD - complaints that Ion and crew apologized for and admitted to later.

And, toxic is a two way street - Johnson has done himself no favors by acting childish and unprofessional on social media, to people he should be treating with respect as paying customers.

I respect you as an artist, Chris, your track record is excellent and your place in creating this franchise is important and foundational, but this kind of excuse making for shitty work, and offloading the fix onto our shoulders is bullshit.

[Hell-Nicø]

That defense of the horrible job Brian Jonson did with The Last Jedi made me sad.

[Eleccybubb]

That defense of the horrible job Brian Jonson did with The Last Jedi made me sad.

He's not defending The Last Jedi or whoever worked on it though.

He's saying don't just blindly attack people and form some valid criticism rather than throwing stones in one point he makes. And if you did dislike the Last Jedi then introduce friends into a different point of the Star Wars universe. Particularly a part you loved which for example for me would be the original trilogy.

Shit like death threats over disliking a film or game are just petulant at best. Metzen is right on this part. Some people take it way too fucking far sometimes.

Constructive criticism is fine and dandy. Threatening physical violence on the WoW devs as people have been doing over the recent story changes is just pathetic and in my opinion you aren't a WoW fan if you go that far over a game change you dislike.

[Hell-Nicø]

Except... he totally did?

He said the movie was really good and the dude was a huge fan that worked religiously to make a good starwars movie, when in fact the movie was really bad, full of plot hole and stuff that just contradict the SW lore, full of lefty politic propaganda, and clearly made to pissoff Starwars fans and everyone who cared about the story and where the story will go.
He left the franchise in ruin by not only producing a terrible movie, but by also ruining the previous movie by shitting on each and every set up JJ put in them for some potential could stuff and by leaving NO buildup at ALL for the next movie.

And once everyone called him out on that, he ATTACKED the fans, calling them unsecured man babies, sexist and racist at the drop of a hat.

Sure, Metzen is right on his point about fandom and hate, but that particular example has NOTHING to do with undeserved hate.

[allawyn]

Agree that the the attacks on Golden are off-base. Agree that BfA, as pure writing, maybe decent written. On the other hand....

The fact is that the plot directly has made the game not fun to play for a large number of people (I would say "unusually large") and they have a right to complain about that. And even if they don't have the most literate voices, their opinions still matter.

I don't believe Blizzard hates the horde. On the other hand, I have no idea what they were thinking when they thought this direction get anything other than the reaction it did. The signs were all there.

[Celista]

Metzen sounds whiny to me.

I sent a tweet to Metzen, saying "just because there are trolls in the warcraft community doesn't mean all criticism of the story/game are bad criticisms".

This is really annoying because people are genuinely pissed off by these events, and have structured good arguments against the writing and direction of the story, but it gets dismissed because just a few trolls make death threats to the writers, so all criticism must thus now be ignored or dismissed.

Honestly Blizzard has seemed dismissive towards their fanbase for some time in a lot of ways. Maybe they are worn out by players' antagonistic behavior, shrug. But a whole lot of players are supportive of Blizzard and that includes those who are critical of some decisions.

[Trassk]

Metzen sounds whiny to me.
Honestly Blizzard has seemed dismissive towards their fanbase for some time in a lot of ways. Maybe they are worn out by players' antagonistic behavior, shrug. But a whole lot of players are supportive of Blizzard and that includes those who are critical of some decisions.

Exactly! Some of the criticisms come from a place of peoples continued fondness for the game and it's characters, settings, backdrops and history. People can have constructive criticism that should benefit the creative approach.

But if it gets ignored because of some negative trolls shit talking or worse then it's really all the more disconnected