Why are Blizzard allowing themselves to sink deeper and deeper?

[MrLachyG]

wait, are you saying they've fallen victim to the evil family in 'Get Out'?

[Vrinara]

I fee like this is a bait post. Why does this need to be a post exactly? Just seems like a post made to bait people into arguments and honestly doesn't need to be a post.

[Zyky]

I'm usually not the one to be negative about Blizzard, but I have to admit, they legitimely deserve everything bit of hate.

First they fucked up the SL launch. Then they gave us a prepatch of the prepatch - there's litterally nothing else to do other than level alts. After that we couldn't play for a few days due to login issues and moronic ques of 1000 people which just disconnect you in the end and restart the queue process. And last night we couldn't even quest normally (apparently Draenor became too popular and servers can't keep up).

WTF are you doing Blizz? What do you lack? Experience? Money? Why can't you do 1 thing right? Why can't you just hire some extra staff and servers temporarily and stop that fuck-fest for once?!

And should I even mention classes? Shoving them from the sky into the deep undergrounds. Ruining brilliant abilities and their mechanics. Giving classes downtime instead of making their gameplay fluid. What kind of people do they have on the designer team really? A bunch of 12yo?

Wait, maybe the story? Ummmm...not! Nothing new ladies and gentlemen! That's right, still the same'ol'Sylvie. Still a bunch of stuff happen that only start to make sense 6 years later.

Shall we go further back? How about Diablo for mobile huh? Or OW2 which is literally a DLC to the first game? Or the completely pointless remasters which almost nobody bothers with?

I was thinking to only throw a few words into my post, but look at the size of these few words. Jesus Blizzard just stop fucking up already. We waited you to milk enough money already, is it not about time to sit down on your behinds and give us something meaningful in return now ?!

Based on the information that came out over the weekend, they just don't care about the players or their feedback despite begging players to be active on alpha/beta and ptr. They're apparently actively badmouthing the players who provide any form of feedback that don't align with whatever they want to do, so why continue to throw money at a dead horse imho.

[Eurhetemec]

And the thing is they are messing up at a faster and faster rate.

Just look at the last 12 months it's one f**k up after an other. Now look at the situation they put themselves in: HotS OW Diablo SC2 WC3: dead (HS too?), wow in complete limbo with BFA 2.0 incoming (and a 2021 release date but lets not talk about this one). Have they even enough developers to call themselves a videogame studio? (remember the 800 they laid out during bfa on top of the ones they a releasing from france?) Look at Warcraft Reforged: a mobile game project scrapped into one of the worst remake of all time (the game used to have a proper ladder but not anymore...9 months after release, and it is only scratching the surface), everything outsourced to asia (even the title screen is using chrome..).

will they have a leg to stand up after the next inevitable failure?

This doesn't seem like a very rational or unbiased summary of Blizzard's situation. Also it's "laid off" and "leg to stand on".

Is OW dead? I'm skeptical about that. HotS was never particularly successful, and all MOBAs are down massively from the peak in which it launched (even LoL and DotA2 are down hugely). SC2 seems to be a planned ending.

Claiming SL is "BfA 2.0" and will come out in 2021 is pretty wild. No doubt you'll magically forget you ever claimed that when neither comes true.

Diablo IV is on the way and I presume SC3 or WC4 or whatever are somewhere in the pipeline. I have no idea if OW2 will be successful or a trashfire.

Last I heard they had several hundred developers, possibly over a thousand (something like 2000 employees). I'm guessing you're French from the odd grammar errors and raging about Blizzard Versailles, but those people were not developers.

Also how could you miss the obvious "WoW is in limbo" joke re: Shadowlands being literally set in the WoW equivalent of limbo. That's just not trying!

[Die]

It's interesting, every franchise / company eventually turns to shit. I don't know of any exception to that rule. Suppose it's in the natural order of things.

The passion people get driven out and replaced by the money people. Although, sooner or later the passion people usually lose the pulse of the consumer and go off on some tangent that isn't profitable.

[Xilurm]

Literally the dumbest of all generic answers...

How about no huh? How about Blizzard stop fucking up instead?

If someone sells you turds and you pay 15 a month for them and you refuse to stop doing it, why in the hell would the seller ever remotely try to sell you something better? Think about it for a second.

[Greengrim]

I fee like this is a bait post. Why does this need to be a post exactly? Just seems like a post made to bait people into arguments and honestly doesn't need to be a post.

How dare people share their opinions on public frums. Such masterbaiters!

[pepine]

A company trying to make profit? An ex-employee making disgruntled statements over his former company (while opening his own competing gaming company)?

The scandal! Never before have I seen such a hive of scum and villainy. Call the mob, don't forget the torches and pickforks!

Really people, get out into the world some more. You are writing these things as if they are somehow a unique thing that only happens to Blizzard because they are the devil on earth. All of these things are completely standard in all areas of industry...
Somehow people think that because it is a gaming company it does not have to maximize profits and never has to let employees go, but that is nonesense.

Considering it's current ones who have anonymously come out and said this to the media not just former I think I'll find this more believable than some random person on the internet.

But keep defending that company that treats it's long time employees like dirt. Strange to see but you do you I guess.....

[CalamityHeart]

What they lack? Some positive feedback for ONCE. There is more then enough entitled unqualified rambling about how bad the game is, that Ion should be fired and how every change is the biggest insult in someones life.

Jeez, I wonder why they don't get positive feedback. Could it be perhaps, BECAUSE THEY KEEP FUCKING UP?!?!

Felt the urge to touch on this in particular.

I don't think positive is really the correct word, which might lead to a bit of confusion.

Constructive feedback. That's what Blizzard needs. Constructive discourse. That's what needs to take place between players on forums like this, or between players and Blizzard through the official forums. This thread, and the people like you who make them, don't inspire constructive discourse. It inspires raw toxicity. Its only purpose is to inspire raw toxicity, from both sides of the fence. Regardless of whether or not you intended to be toxic, or if you're just having an emotional fit because of (understandable) frustration and just took a blind shit on your keyboard before clicking Create Thread, "topics" like this only sit within the range between "part of the problem" and "nowhere near a solution".

I'm not defending Blizzard and their decisions, by the way. Negative feedback can be constructive. Emotional discourse can be constructive. You opened up this thread with "I'm not usually negative, but..." to bolster your pedestal and try to mask your subsequent headfirst dive into rancid and puerile negativity, before patting yourself on the back for a job well done afterwards. That's... not constructive, to say the very least. It's clever, in a disgusting way. Probably unintentional. But it's not constructive.

I didn't like BFA very much, and I'm pretty iffy on a few things about Shadowlands the closer we get to it. But regardless of whether or not (or how badly) Blizzard is fucking up, they need more constructive feedback, and they need to listen to it (which they have, in many important cases over Shadowland's development, and hopefully still will). And equally importantly, forums, both official and not, need more constructive discourse, and less of this.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

and somehow I am the troll. Great "this is fine" post I laughed thank you.

Instead of calling him a troll why don't you try to defend your argument and refute his points? Do you think a reply like yours just now helps the conversation?

[Raisei]

Delaying anything after you announced a specific date is a fuck up. If they announced a date, they took upon the responsibility to launch quality content. If they delayed becase the quality is not yet there - IT IS INDEED A FUCK UP!

Blizzard cannot win with some people. If it had launched with the bugs people would have gone ballistic, if it gets delayed to fix bugs people go ballistic. I am sure even if it had launched perfect without any bugs, with perfect balance, people would have found something to complain about, because people like you WANT to complain.

We don't need to bet anything. There's precautions that can be taken against bad launches despite the actual cause, and we've seen that. Not sure which expansion it was (think Legion) that launched without a single problem. It is possible. But for some reason Blizzard choose not to reproduce that success.

I am sure, you as game director for a multi-billion dollar company, know everything about these systems and how they work, what their limitations are and how COVID is affecting the implementation of that.

Very sorry that us mere mortals are not seeing how Blizzard is obviously intentionally sabotaging itself because they don't want people to play their product.

Not to mention that we are talking just about the per-patch the expansion launch has been very smooth for both Legion and BFA.

Jeez, I wonder why they don't get positive feedback. Could it be perhaps, BECAUSE THEY KEEP FUCKING UP?!?!

Exile's reach is fun for day1 players. Customizations are too few - not sure if you're aware, we didn't even get all of them.

No. They keep producing their game. They are just not producing the game the way you demand them to and you cannot fathom how any opinion besides your own should be valid in this regard, so you throw a tantrum with lots of caps and exclamation marks.

So first you tell me classes feel fine to you, and 2 lines below you're already explaining how it's fine to have haps and not be smooth? You feeling ok?

Sorry, I will try to reduce the complexity of my posts. Obviously I meant that classes feel fine DESPITE loosing the unnatural bonus of Corruption and DESPITE not being at max level with several passives missing. Meaning they will be more then fine when we are leveled and have our covenant abilities.

And regarding classes, I was refering to what we see in beta builds. I understand that in prepatch is normal for things to be off balance. But it's also normal for the prepatch to have content. And we did get a bunch of stuff, but sadly no content (exile's reach excluded).

Apart from some details the judgement of people who actually know their stuff (not here in the forums) have been quite positive. And the pre-patch will have content. We know it will, because it was on the PTR already.

I do work in such company, and I do agree with you. That's is exactly why I ask: WHEN, will the fuck ups stop and WHEN will we start to receive the quality a company such as Blizzard should naturally provide?

If you ask such a question then I can't believe you ever worked for such a company. You don't just "stop" making mistakes and wrong decisions. The best you can do is minimize their impact and learn from them. If you give an honest less rage-fuelled look at what Blizzard has done with the latest few expansions then you will realize that is exactly what they did. Obviously you will not, but that is how it goes.

[Greengrim]

@Greengrim

So what is your stance on this question: https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...1#post52736158

Are you just ignoring the poster or did you miss his request for an honest answer

I'm sorry, there's a lot of replies coming in, I have troubles dancing between my tasks and keeping track properly. I haven't seen this reply.

Do you share the same opinion with TBC? Please answer honestly if you can.

Not exactly sure what you refer to, but if you're talking about Isle of Quel'Danas, that was a brilliant way to handle the situation. New zone which was incredibly fun due to the gankfest. Buildings to unlock through mutual realm efforts. New dungeon with decent catchup gear. New PvP season AND a whole raid.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

Not exactly sure what you refer to, but if you're talking about Isle of Quel'Danas, that was a brilliant way to handle the situation. New zone which was incredibly fun due to the gankfest. Buildings to unlock through mutual realm efforts. New dungeon with decent catchup gear. New PvP season AND a whole raid.

I'm talking about the fact TBC was delayed from it's original release date and pushed back to the following year.
https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/10...rusade-delayed

[MatthiasLehner]

Literally their co-founder and CEO left and built a new company, and their statement said:

“We’re almost trying to create a haven for creators who want an environment that is development friendly, values product, and player experience over short-term financial pressures,”

Acti-Blizzard is not a development/player-oriented studio anymore, it's a mega corporate that exists solely for money. And this is without pointing at them as some evil manufacturer. They are doing what they're doing as a corporate. Cut corners as much as possible, make products for profit and profit only, and try to give us, the players, candies that give us a dose to subscribe again because "see? they didn't change, they listen to us."

Most of the founding members literally couldn't stand how their company has changed and left, this is already nuffsaid, sadly.

[ClassicPeon]

I'm sorry, there's a lot of replies coming in, I have troubles dancing between my tasks and keeping track properly. I haven't seen this reply.



Not exactly sure what you refer to, but if you're talking about Isle of Quel'Danas, that was a brilliant way to handle the situation. New zone which was incredibly fun due to the gankfest. Buildings to unlock through mutual realm efforts. New dungeon with decent catchup gear. New PvP season AND a whole raid.

Taking a guess here but i'm thinking he is refering to TBC being delayed.

There is nothing i respect more then a company willing to postpone an already set release date because they want to make the quality of their product better.

At the same time i'm struggeling to understand how that can ever be a fuck-up or a negative thing.

You are kidding yourself if you think they couldnt just release it as is and fix it down the line. They made the choice not to release their product because they wanted to make sure it was a better product for you.

[Raisei]

Considering it's current ones who have anonymously come out and said this to the media not just former I think I'll find this more believable than some random person on the internet.

But keep defending that company that treats it's long time employees like dirt. Strange to see but you do you I guess.....

Every second company treats it's employees like dirt. I am not saying that is okay, but it's what is happening all around the globe. Even if that is going on at Blizzard (and anonymous sources are always suspect at best, anyone could have fabricated that stuff) it's not special.

The corporate world is shit, people are exploited and treated like nothing more then numbers, managers are getting fat by working very little while employees are paid a joke and do all the work. This is just the way it works in our society and screaming about it happening at one company just because this one comes to your attention will not change it.

[thunderdragon2]

OP knows it is a turd, but likes the turd and the seller. But he also thinks the seller ruined the turd. He still likes the core of the turd apparently.

Maybe this image sums it up and why it is so hard to understand. The bagel turd..or turd bagel?

that like like the by product of some 1 taking a 10 minuet brake on the crapper

backl on topic blizz is complicated its done many stupid things that has destroyed its reputation but none are as bad as ignoring beta testers feedback

[pepine]

Literally their co-founder and CEO left and built a new company, and their statement said:

“We’re almost trying to create a haven for creators who want an environment that is development friendly, values product, and player experience over short-term financial pressures,”

Acti-Blizzard is not a development/player-oriented studio anymore, it's a mega corporate that exists solely for money. And this is without pointing at them as some evil manufacturer. They are doing what they're doing as a corporate. Cut corners as much as possible, make products for profit and profit only, and try to give us, the players, candies that give us a dose to subscribe again because "see? they didn't change, they listen to us."

Most of the founding members literally couldn't stand how their company has changed and left, this is already nuffsaid, sadly.

Yep. And as I mentioned earlier. Even current employees anonymously came out and said a boatload about how deep Activision are pulling the strings over there. And a load of former employees.

You can just tell the passion isn't there anymore at Blizzard and it's all about squeezing every penny out. Just look at BFA and how negatively received it was, look at WC3 Reforged and how it's got one of the worst review scores of all time or how they announced a shit phone game to a crowd of fans and even they hated it.

Yet apparently somehow that's still not believable to some people......

[ClassicPeon]

Literally their co-founder and CEO left and built a new company, and their statement said:

“We’re almost trying to create a haven for creators who want an environment that is development friendly, values product, and player experience over short-term financial pressures,”

Acti-Blizzard is not a development/player-oriented studio anymore, it's a mega corporate that exists solely for money. And this is without pointing at them as some evil manufacturer. They are doing what they're doing as a corporate. Cut corners as much as possible, make products for profit and profit only, and try to give us, the players, candies that give us a dose to subscribe again because "see? they didn't change, they listen to us."

Most of the founding members literally couldn't stand how their company has changed and left, this is already nuffsaid, sadly.

You are talking about the co-founder who made the deal to sell the company. The co-founder who lead the company through all the stuff we have now. The one who bailed and laid the blame on someone else.

Yeah... Lets see what they are gonna produce without some of the creative people who actually originally created warcraft. I'm guessing absolutely nothing.

[Raisei]

Felt the urge to touch on this in particular.

I don't think positive is really the correct word, which might lead to a bit of confusion.

Constructive feedback. That's what Blizzard needs. Constructive discourse. That's what needs to take place between players on forums like this, or between players and Blizzard through the official forums. This thread, and the people like you who make them, don't inspire constructive discourse. It inspires raw toxicity. Its only purpose is to inspire raw toxicity, from both sides of the fence. Regardless of whether or not you intended to be toxic, or if you're just having an emotional fit because of (understandable) frustration and just took a blind shit on your keyboard before clicking Create Thread, "topics" like this only sit within the range between "part of the problem" and "nowhere near a solution".

I can agree to that. Though additionally to constructive I still think a bit of positive feedback would be nice too. I mean the Devs are literally getting attacked here and in other forums for every decision they make, it does not even matter what about. There are always people who dislike it and they are usually the loudest. Can people even imagine how the Devs must feel if they are constantly bombarded with so much negativity? How would people like the OP enjoy getting told every day what a shitty job he is doing?

I assume they are getting trained to just ignore it or practice Zen. Otherwise I have no idea how they are not all heavily depressed.