Brian Holinka Returns to the World of Warcraft Team

[Deleted]

Sadly the cancer only stayed in remission for a couple years.


Ion's the guy who approved Azerite armor traits. I don't think he has any issue dropping a great steaming Holinka on our PVP.

What kind of comment is that? Are you mentally ill?

[Bullettime]

I suspect some of the trouble of the current classes being dogshit and less refined may lie on his shoulders but it could also be he is being put on the block for an overall company choice.

Oh I'm not blaming anyone in particular. Just answering a question

[Deleted]

*Tries to summon Xelnath* Join me my brothers in this task, hour of reckoning is near and we need our savior.

i'm helping , canceled my sub yesterday (11 day's left) but the moment i hear that he is back il sub again. The state the warlocks are right now is

We do alright in pve , but the game play is ....... (insert insult word) and please don't to try to do pvp this expansion as warlock. Just forget there is a pvp tab in this mmo.

[Doomchicken]

Whatever the guy does at this point it'll be a positive change. BfA right now is rated as the worst expansion the game has ever had. That's saying a lot.

By a bunch of fools that pretend WoD doesn't exist, sure.

[sam86]

Whatever the guy does at this point it'll be a positive change. BfA right now is rated as the worst expansion the game has ever had. That's saying a lot.

while it isn't as bad as MoP at launch, ppl like to forget/ignore how unplayable was MoP at start, MoP is - so far - only example i can name of horrible expansion start, that got better with time
I don't blame ppl for hating bfa - it deserves it - and right now it is even worse than MoP start, but still why assume it will go WoD way instead of MoP ? WoD start was good (if ppl forgot that), the problem was how blizz ignored it later, with the biggest joke the selfie patch with a raid that was tested in beta

[exochaft]

while it isn't as bad as MoP at launch, ppl like to forget/ignore how unplayable was MoP at start, MoP is - so far - only example i can name of horrible expansion start, that got better with time
I don't blame ppl for hating bfa - it deserves it - and right now it is even worse than MoP start, but still why assume it will go WoD way instead of MoP ? WoD start was good (if ppl forgot that), the problem was how blizz ignored it later, with the biggest joke the selfie patch with a raid that was tested in beta

I remember at the start of WoD not being able to quest in Frostfire because the item you needed to click to construct your garrison (and which was tied to opening all the quests in the zone) was broken for hours... and having to grind mobs to 92 in order to move onto the next zone for quests. That's my definition of a bad start, as well as the BRF raid being released so soon after Highmaul where hardly anyone cleared Highmaul on mythic before the next raid came out. As I recall, MoP start was fine for me, even beyond the initial days. Perhaps we have differing definitions of a bad start?

I'm keeping my judgements concerning this news to myself, as we won't truly know the effects for a while.

[Galateacyc]

Can someone enlighten me why this guy is so bad? Honestly the only thing have notice since MOP is ability prune and baked in talents. Seems like classes are pretty much the same and people are just bitching because you focus on recount more than the game itself.

From the complaints on forums, those centered on the pruning from MoP to WoD. They eliminated a lot skilled counterplay, and people complained that PVP became a lot more of DPS race with he-who-has-more-cooldowns-wins. In addition, there were the usual under/over performing classes that were not fixed for months on end, as well as the only new PVP content being Ashran which, at the start, was not received very well for a bunch of reasons.

Some of the criticisms of him were undoubtedly justified, others may not have been (the pruning for example, I would guess came from Ion's orders).

[Naked Snake]

I don't feel bad for the guy at all. The hate he gets is at least somewhat earned.
Valid observation nevertheless, but he was quite the asshole and is/was responsible for many dumbass decisions prior to WOD in the first place. Personally, my opinion of the guy is that he is a huge douchebag and was promoted according to the Peter Principle, and held that position for entirely too long. I'm not that stoked to see him back on the WoW team in ANY capacity.

That said, I'm willing to reserve judgement (for now) and see what comes forth. Maybe that tardmuffin actually learned something in his time away. Otherwise, yes, he will be blamed for EVERYTHING wrong with BFA, and I have have to wonder if he wasn't brought back on the team specifically to be the scapegoat this time around.

Were I in Holinka's shoes, I wouldn't have accepted the move back to the WoW team for that exact reason, but who knows, maybe he's close enough to retirement that it really doesn't matter to him.

As somebody else mentioned, it would be cool to see actual PvP warfronts. That's kinda what I thought those were supposed to be. A sort of a "Ashran Done Right (TM)" if you will. If Holinka makes that happen at all, I'll think the better of him to some small degree.

I guess we'll see. I'm generally happy with BFA thus far (and I am a effin' shadowpriest, mind you), but I said the same thing early on in WOD, and that was a goddamned abortion. Hopefully they get it right this time.

You say he was an asshole and was responsible for many dumb decisions, but you don't actually mention any reasons for why he is an asshole, and what dumb decisions he was responsible for.

[PrairieChicken]

As much as I criticized him during MoP-WoD, everything he did was better than what happened during Legion-BfA.

Just revert everything related to class design / pvp / pvp gearing to WoD and I will be happy (No forced Trashcan though)

[Iamtheadamlanch]

PvP needs a fixin'?

In a Sea themed expansion?!

IT'S SPLASHRAN TIME!

[Deleted]

Who is next ...............Ghostcrawler ??

[Gadzooks]

Who is next ...............Ghostcrawler ??

Celestalon would be more likely.

[sam86]

I remember at the start of WoD not being able to quest in Frostfire because the item you needed to click to construct your garrison (and which was tied to opening all the quests in the zone) was broken for hours... and having to grind mobs to 92 in order to move onto the next zone for quests. That's my definition of a bad start, as well as the BRF raid being released so soon after Highmaul where hardly anyone cleared Highmaul on mythic before the next raid came out. As I recall, MoP start was fine for me, even beyond the initial days. Perhaps we have differing definitions of a bad start?

I'm keeping my judgements concerning this news to myself, as we won't truly know the effects for a while.

the bugged launch happened in every exp except Legion, so WoD had bugged launch is the normal, legion was first (and so far, only) to break that cycle
MoP i'm sure no one was able to do anything for first 2 weeks except farm reputation non stop with stupid dailies to be able to do anything, that what was wrong with MoP, it is so bad that is literally only expansion my rl friend recommended to me to NOT play at start at least and wait for things to get better, something he didn't say about any exp including BFA

[cface]

Ashran must be one of those things that might look good on paper, when you think about it from above the battlefield. Too bad it's absolutely trash to play. And this is what I fear from this designer. Have he learned to actually be in our shoes before he goes through with his designs?

Right now I fear my friendlist is going dry either way, but I am hoping for a proper 8.1 that brings everyone out of the beta state.

[Tucci]

What kind of comment is that? Are you mentally ill?

At first I thought so too but I think he means that Holinka is "cancer" and only stayed gone for a while.

Still, stupid as fuck. Gamers are so goddamn generic nowadays, all they do is say shit is cringe, cancer, trash and aids.

[Xalea]

Calling it now. Predefined raid stat templates, so all players are on equal footing.

This, exactly. It’s what he did to PVP. Enjoy.

Let’s just use scaling to get rid of levels altogether. Who needs them? It’s not like this is supposed to be an RPG or anything resembling it.

I didn’t think the leadership of WoW could get any worse, and now this. I’m just... speechless.

- - - Updated - - -

It's funny here on MMO-C everyone is criticizing him. You go to his Twitter post and WoWhead post and people are glad he's coming back. Several are even asking for Ashran back (except call it Splashran for after 8.1)

You’re surprised by sycophants on those sites? Wowhead regularly bans people who criticize WoW and the people who work there. How else are they going to get leaked info and perks from Blizz? It’s just a giant Acti-Blizz marketing site.

[Deleted]

So who was fired to bring him back?

Probably we will see soon.

[Nuba]

No it's fucking not and this is coming from someone who primarily plays ret and BM.

you being a person who obviously doesnt want to improve is the reason why you dont enjoy pvp, not the game. go play something that doesnt hurt your safe space and you'll be alright. wow pvp never had a space for people like you

[Kanghaer]

OK! The man that booze and boasted about it on Twitter that killed the PvP direction you are returning to the game. Maybe it’s better to close the game right away than to kill her with the persistence of a maniac so shamefully?
sorry for my English

[Deleted]

Just for funzies try reading his tweet aloud with a "Donald Trump" voice and intonation.