Should the WoW team hand the reins over to younger talent?

[Big Thanks]

Are you guys new?
Blizzard is the most corporate and greedy company i know...we have witnessed time and time again Blizzard stepping over people for money.

• The money they said they would add for the esport prize and then refused to add any
• Offering human sacrifices to their China overlords
• Throwing people under the bus in a matter of seconds over false accusations
• Hearthstone being a scam to waste all your money
• Blacklisting Hearthstone streamers for God knows why...then undo the blacklisting in a public statement to save face...but still refuse to work with them
• Lets invite several Hearthstone content creators for this event....then realize they are all guys....and decide to remove the blacklisting of a girl streamer cause now they need her

And you think this kind of company would give power to "new blood" to change their games?

[Clbull]

I was thinking of this today. I think odds are high and growing Ion's canned before 9.2 is announced at this point, but who really should replace him at this point? Muffinus I'd imagine is the "next in line" guy, but after The Report and given the direction the game's been heading, is he the guy to take over the team and turn the game around?

Feels to me like what Blizz should do is bring in someone from outside the WoW team, someone with knowledge of where the MMO industry is sitting in 2021 instead of someone that's basically learned from Ion "Destiny/Diablo Gameplay".

In before they offer Naoki Yoshida nine figures to leave Square Enix and join Blizzard.

Actually, that would never happen. Activision would just continue to bury their heads in the sand.

[shise]

They should gather the good old team (2001 - 2009) and make WoW what it used to be.

But I guess that is just a dream.

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Are you guys new?
Blizzard is the most corporate and greedy company i know...we have witnessed time and time again Blizzard stepping over people for money.

• The money they said they would add for the esport prize and then refused to add any
• Offering human sacrifices to their China overlords
• Throwing people under the bus in a matter of seconds over false accusations
• Hearthstone being a scam to waste all your money
• Blacklisting Hearthstone streamers for God knows why...then undo the blacklisting in a public statement to save face...but still refuse to work with them
• Lets invite several Hearthstone content creators for this event....then realize they are all guys....and decide to remove the blacklisting of a girl streamer cause now they need her

And you think this kind of company would give power to "new blood" to change their games?

You are confusing Blizzard with Activision, or with Activision Blizzard.
Blizzard was always focused on creating epic content.. then money would come naturally.
The other forms were focusing on making money, then a bit of content..

[Osmeric]

EDIT: One of Blizzard's problems (in my opinion) is their fealty to consensus, i.e. committee management. There are names we know but how Blizzard really works is getting supervisors, managers and the rest to all sign off on stuff. I'm not a fan of this style of management. If you remember the entire business during Warlords about flying, it went on for months because they couldn't get a consensus from the team leads on what to do.

Also, because it diffuses responsibility, there's no personal downside to anyone voting for a bad idea they are committed to. You get the game going down destructive blind alleys and no one is held responsible.

[Ivarr]

You are confusing Blizzard with Activision, or with Activision Blizzard.
Blizzard was always focused on creating epic content.. then money would come naturally.
The other forms were focusing on making money, then a bit of content..

This distinction hasn't existed for over a decade.

[Raven]

its always been about money, it was created 1991 and sold for the first time 1994.

[Lahis]

They should gather the good old team (2001 - 2009) and make WoW what it used to be.

But I guess that is just a dream.

In few months that team will be sitting in court facing prosecution for multiple sexual assault charges.

[hydrium]

They should gather the good old team (2001 - 2009) and make WoW what it used to be.

But I guess that is just a dream.

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You are confusing Blizzard with Activision, or with Activision Blizzard.
Blizzard was always focused on creating epic content.. then money would come naturally.
The other forms were focusing on making money, then a bit of content..

Maybe in 2004. Not today, the two companies are one and the same, utterly indistinguishable.

[iosdeveloper]

feels like young talent is responsible for shadowlands)
generation of grammarly, autocompletion and autocorrection

[ArenaDk]

In the wake of this controversy, now seems a good a time as any to shuffle leadership roles in Blizzard. Hand over WoW to the young people who applied to Blizzard because they grew up loving Warcraft - people who appreciate the old lore but have new ideas.

Sega did something similar in recent years and we got Sonic Mania out of it. 9.2 is already going to be super delayed anyways.

sounds good , but skip the old lore part. The old lore wasnt very good and at the moment its on a path of being fixed. Just drop any sylvanas story lines

[bloodykiller86]

Kotick needs to go. Townsend needs to go. Brack needs to go. Hazzikostas needs to go. Pretty much any executive-level staff member who allowed the company to become the horrible workplace it apparently is needs to be purged from Activision Blizzard.

That needs to happen first before Blizzard can even think of restoring their status as a prestigious games developer.

why are you naming Ion? he was never named

[Goat7]

No: Handing the Warcraft / WoW to a younger team wont change anything at activision, they suck in every way possible. Yes: Sell the Warcraft franchise to a better company that has the employees in place that care about behavior in the work place and care about gameplay.

[Jibjub]

Why "younger" talent? How about just ... talent?

[Lynnaroo]

Why "younger" talent? How about just ... talent?

This

young or old, we need TALENT. People qualified and experienced in their roles...

[Clbull]

why are you naming Ion? he was never named

See previous reply on topic. In short, he's failed to address ongoing internal issues in a supervisory position, he's helped foster an antagonistic attitude towards player feedback that would be downright killing the game anyway, and he's done a damn bad job as Game Director himself.

Even as a raid designer he hasn't been all that great. He may have produced like... one groundbreaking raid (Ulduar) but underneath that jewel is a tonne of duds.

[Lodreh]

Kotick needs to go. Townsend needs to go. Brack needs to go. Hazzikostas needs to go. Pretty much any executive-level staff member who allowed the company to become the horrible workplace it apparently is needs to be purged from Activision Blizzard.

That needs to happen first before Blizzard can even think of restoring their status as a prestigious games developer.

The problem is: If management is really is far enough removed from the grunts they can't see the working conditions... then the last thing you want is someone who fostered those conditions moving up... which means going all the way down to the new hires... who are going to be woefully unqualified to ship or polish a game as large as WoW.

TL;DR ~ It sounds good to just say wipeout management... but then you are left with the ones doing the harassing... or the ones just hired that have no experience.

[Ryzeth]

No.

Age isn't a factor. They should hand it over to competent people that'll do what needs to be done. If that happens to be people who are young, then so be it.

[Sorrowseer]

In the wake of this controversy, now seems a good a time as any to shuffle leadership roles in Blizzard. Hand over WoW to the young people who applied to Blizzard because they grew up loving Warcraft - people who appreciate the old lore but have new ideas.

Sega did something similar in recent years and we got Sonic Mania out of it. 9.2 is already going to be super delayed anyways.

I'm reallllllly curious how you actually think that would play out in the impossible event it happened, since you are replacing the leadership who makes the hiring choices? Who exactly will be hired and why them?

Have you given this any real practical thought or is it as I suspect just a whimsical passing daydream.

[Tamurello]

yes, but please not to the moron who designed Korthia

[StillMcfuu]

No, most of the games issues are being exasperated by new teams as it is.