Why do people care so much about hype?

[Watchers]

I don't understand all the hype about new releases and new classes/specs/races/whatever. Why do people care so much about things they can't control? Why don't they just wait to digest what Blizzard has to serve? It's not like our voices are heard?

because no hype

[arkanon]

Not sure I agree. If anything Shadowlands is an expansion thus far dedicated to addressing feedback around class identity, alts, etc.

This is the main request myself and others had - Address some of the community concerns with fundamental game mechanics before adding new things.

I realise these things are subjective, and i am not interested in debate about the validity of the concerns, but i think its fair to say the most common complaints about current game design revolve around class design, and loot distribution / acquisition.

Blizzard have made the right noises on these topics, in particular class design, however my main concern is that its just lip service designed to give hope, secure pre orders, and we will follow the same pattern that has been adhered to recently:

- Blizzard announce their plan
- community concerns raised
- Blizzard "We acknowledge your concerns, but you dont have the full picture yet, just wait for release!"
- community hope
- release
- community backlash due to lack of action when concerns were raised
- lip service about coming changes from Blizzard
- very minor band aid changes to hold people over
- new expac announcement promising a return to form and impactful changes.

[TwoMana]

Blizzard have made the right noises on these topics, in particular class design, however my main concern is that its just lip service designed to give hope, secure pre orders, and we will follow the same pattern that has been adhered to recently

The two biggest problems I have with WoW devs are:
1) The two year feedback loop. This is just ridiculously slow in the age of near-instant feedback tools. The age of waterfall design died because agile feedback serves customer needs so much better.
2) The lack of transparency in their feedback loop. Yes, we get the odd "we've listened you and learned" spiel from Ion, but really, there's actually no way of knowing what pieces of player feedback are being considered, which are being worked on and which have been rejected. There's also no way to know if the feedback they're collecting is meant for next .5 patch or the next major .0 release two years ahead.


We're being asked to submit feedback, sit tight and two years later we'll see the results (or don't). That's not a feedback loop. That's yelling to an empty room

[How dare you]

I don't understand all the hype about new releases and new classes/specs/races/whatever. Why do people care so much about things they can't control? Why don't they just wait to digest what Blizzard has to serve? It's not like our voices are heard?

"Why are people hyped by hype?"

is what that question reads to me like.

Because that's the effect of hype.

[arkanon]

The two biggest problems I have with WoW devs are:
1) The two year feedback loop. This is just ridiculously slow in the age of near-instant feedback tools. The age of waterfall design died because agile feedback serves customer needs so much better.
2) The lack of transparency in their feedback loop. Yes, we get the odd "we've listened you and learned" spiel from Ion, but really, there's actually no way of knowing what pieces of player feedback are being considered, which are being worked on and which have been rejected. There's also no way to know if the feedback they're collecting is meant for next .5 patch or the next major .0 release two years ahead.


We're being asked to submit feedback, sit tight and two years later we'll see the results (or don't). That's not a feedback loop. That's yelling to an empty room

You articulated my concerns very well, thank you.