Backlash opening new doors?

[grandgato]

Stop using the in-game systems to separate the playerbase.

1.) Let us queue up for any piece of group content. Regardless of difficulty and chance of failure.
2.) Allow groups, guilds, and communities to be cross-faction. And cross-server for that matter.
3.) Use currencies better to supplement the loot lottery. There should always be some sort of progression ticking away when you do content in an MMO.

That's what i would suggest to start with.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

It's easy to say these things from the position of an armchair CEO, but it's born from a fantasy of this particular scandal being the thing the fulfills everyone's wishes in regards to WoW. To some people that means the devs will suddenly deliver every player demand, and to others that means WoW will be officially killed because it somehow caused the lawsuit or whatever.

The truth is that Warcraft, as an IP, is a very profitable property. Putting money into it will result in getting money out of it. Yes CoD is also a very profitable IP but it is pretty ludicrous to suggest that gutting WoW in favor of CoD is somehow going to cause CoD alone to make more money than having both IPs in a strong position.

Anyway, I say this because I've recently noticed that the WoW team is currently hiring more people than any other announced game title at Blizzard. I don't know if it has always been that way, but it can be argued that this suggests an intention to expand the WoW team, not shrink it.

WoW is profitable, but the question is how deep does this rabbit hole go.

Afrasiabi is already the nexus of all this, and we're seeing everything from Kosak to Ghostcrawler now caught in his storm. What happens if (IMO, when) we find out Ion was involved either in not disciplining this or in perpetuating it? What happens when the team is so embroiled in this it basically has to be torn down and rebuilt?

There's eventually a point where a near-20 year old MMO doesn't make enough money to justify turning over the entire team and recommitting to it for another 4, 6, 10 years to let that team do their work. Because if things get bad, I think to fix WoW we're talking something on the scale of A Realm Reborn, or Everquest 2. We're talking basically investing in a brand new game.

Would Activision pull that trigger when they probably make more in a month off CoD and Overwatch?

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I know it will never happen but I’d hope they throw the baby out with the bath water and make shadowlands non canon and most of bfa going back to the start of it and doing it better and then keeping us on Azeroth for the following expan.

[Nyel]

WoW is profitable, but the question is how deep does this rabbit hole go.

Afrasiabi is already the nexus of all this, and we're seeing everything from Kosak to Ghostcrawler now caught in his storm. What happens if (IMO, when) we find out Ion was involved either in not disciplining this or in perpetuating it? What happens when the team is so embroiled in this it basically has to be torn down and rebuilt?

There's eventually a point where a near-20 year old MMO doesn't make enough money to justify turning over the entire team and recommitting to it for another 4, 6, 10 years to let that team do their work. Because if things get bad, I think to fix WoW we're talking something on the scale of A Realm Reborn, or Everquest 2. We're talking basically investing in a brand new game.

Would Activision pull that trigger when they probably make more in a month off CoD and Overwatch?

Honestly, I don’t expect Ion to be involved in this. He’s a horrible director for WoW, but I never had the impression he’s that kind of person. He might be unlikeable, but not because he’s a douche.

Nevertheless, I really think Ion has to leave the WoW team as his vision clearly failed the game and didn’t do any good. He’s not the sole reason for this, but his leadership isn’t what WoW needs at this point. It needs reinvigorating.

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I know it will never happen but I’d hope they throw the baby out with the bath water and make shadowlands non canon and most of bfa going back to the start of it and doing it better and then keeping us on Azeroth for the following expan.

Yeah, I wish they do this. Shadowlands lore is so horrible, I really wish they would treat it like Medan. It exists, but isn’t canon and just fluff. Honestly, almost nothing they did lore-wise in Shadowlands is either good or fits the Warcraft universe. Retcon all of it or just make it non canon and we’ll be fine.

[garneroutlaw]

I think a good chunk of this forum thinks this crappy lawsuit is finally the death sentence of this game they were waiting for thus will create the utopia MMO in their head

then be sad and disappointed when it brings nothing.

I haven't been around retail WoW in a few years, so my perspective might be skewed. Was Shadowlands really THAT bad? Could Amazon Games be complicit in at a minimum influencing content creators? Amazon has always had the doctrine to crush the competition at all costs. I wouldn't expect anything other from them right now. I don't think it's a death sentence we all were waiting for, it's the death sentence Amazon is likely facilitating. I don't think any of us want Blizzard to be sentenced to death, but that's what it looks like we're facing.

[Thetruth1400]

I don't think they're going to try anything crazy, in fact I see them reigning in some of the risks they've taken over the years, especially since many of them flopped and flopped hard.

The only much asked for thing I could remotely see them try is player / guild housing in it's own sharded area.

Beyond that though, I see them moving back to an older style of the game where there aren't borrow powered systems grinds layered on top of each other and progress as a whole is a bit more slowed, but not time gated.

[Nyel]

I haven't been around retail WoW in a few years, so my perspective might be skewed. Was Shadowlands really THAT bad? Could Amazon Games be complicit in at a minimum influencing content creators? Amazon has always had the doctrine to crush the competition at all costs. I wouldn't expect anything other from them right now. I don't think it's a death sentence we all were waiting for, it's the death sentence Amazon is likely facilitating. I don't think any of us want Blizzard to be sentenced to death, but that's what it looks like we're facing.

Amazon paid the streamers a shitton of money so that they play and cover New World. The problem is, New World is a trash game and no competition for any MMORPG, let alone World of Warcraft.

[Fantazma]

I am a simple man.
I would probably forget all my indignation over the past few days if:
- Blizzard implant dye system in the game and finally WoW would stop being the only giant MMO that doesn't have this tool yet.
- If there is a divine ban on the "dye system" and it is really impossible to implement... a few dozen fully re-colored class-sets might satisfy me. (And of course the tier-19 of the rogue would have to have a 100% full-black version for me to really be satisfied).
- In the name of all that is sacred allow Hunters to use shoulders and heads Leather xmogs. It would be simple to make and save the Hunters xmogs which are all horrible.
- And finally... if the new class of the next expansion is Dark Rangers... I would probably become one of those blind fanboys that exist in every forum and that defend the company even in the indefensible moments... (just out of gratitude) .

[Demonfetus]

Double XP and some Diablo 2 Remake/Diablo 4 Beta's. With development being halted this is gonna be a weird content drought.

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New World is actually fun and beautiful with some systems that WoW would only dream of. Everyone that I have seen play it on my friends list has liked it. Of course it will have flaws but so far it feels good. If you enjoy PvP that is. PVE side seems lacking.

[Zenfoldor]

I don't know the move here to revitalize WoW. I've got nothing.

It's like, a rock and a hard place.

WoW 2 in a few years could work. However, do they still have the necessary talent AND management to make a good game like they once did?

PC userbase is very involved in their tech, other platforms not so much(generally more casual, with plenty of exceptions). Perhaps reviewing other platforms for WoW's future would help.

[Luxeley]

Class race restrictions are the most likely move to occur. They're a quick fix and more or less a flick of the switch kind of change (in most cases). Adding customization or new races or classes is a lot of work, not previously planned for, is something I seriously doubt they'll attempt between patches. There really needs to be sweeping changes with WOW and Blizzard Dev staff. The introduction of Overwatch, Hearthstone and HOTS several years ago really thinned out the WOW Dev talent, not to mention recent defections to the WOW Classic Dev teams. Blizzard brought in outside for the Diablo team, the same "desperately" needs to be done for WOW.

[Zenfoldor]

Class race restrictions are the most likely move to occur. They're a quick fix and more or less a flick of the switch kind of change (in most cases). Adding customization or new races or classes is a lot of work, not previously planned for, is something I seriously doubt they'll attempt between patches. There really needs to be sweeping changes with WOW and Blizzard Dev staff. The introduction of Overwatch, Hearthstone and HOTS several years ago really thinned out the WOW Dev talent, not to mention recent defections to the WOW Classic Dev teams. Blizzard brought in outside for the Diablo team, the same "desperately" needs to be done for WOW.

By "outside," do you mean Vicarious Visions? If so, YES that was a great move for Blizz(maybe not so much VV, imho) and that really incorporated some excellent talent over there, that just proved themselves with Pro Skater 1+2. Bringing in more outside talent is not a bad idea.

It might be difficult to find though, just after acquisitions season.

[Luck4]

I only see two possible outcomes solutions from the decline spiraling we're seeing:

1. They'll change the gameplay fundamentally, going back to older more successful expansions concepts such as Wrath of the Lich King and Mists of Pandaria and try to improve from there without all the garbage systems we have today. Also from a lore perspective going back to a more grounded expansion with something like a World Revamp or a new big continent, think Kalimdor/Eastern Kingdoms size with some unavailable zones at launch, on the "Other side of Azeroth" with stories more akin to Warcraft III and less as WoW these days.

2. They'll change nothing gameplay-wise and will bring another expansion with few zones, another type of borrowed power, new grinds, and new currencies. On top of that, they'll double down the ingame store adding more stuff, possibly even P2W stuff, to milk the remaining subs so they can make enough profits for all subscribers the game lost. And from a lore perspective, they'll keep making filler expansions where many main characters are used as a plot device for the benefit of a single one while retconning and exploring more cosmic nonsense places.

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Personally, I don't care anymore about Shadowlands, regardless of what 9.2 or 9.3 will bring I'm not interested anymore, and I'm not subbed after nearly 11 years playing non-stop. I only care about 10.0 now, and if it becomes more like option 2 (Shadowlands, Battle for Azeroth) than option 1 (Wrath of Lich King, Mists of Pandaria) then I'm done!

[gobio]

If you want WOW to have a chance to survive, to grow, to be left alone by 'the company'.

First you need to support, or at least not riot, over any of their made in China phone games.

Look at final fantasy, do any of them FF14 players mock, meme, complaint about the ridicules amount of cash grab phone games? Check out that shitty final fantasy type-0 clone mmorpg lite crap! noboby mocks them!

Let the greedy avitivision people milk their money from made in China phone game, and they will leave you alone. If not, they in terms of making money, will have a good incentive to let this PC based product dies so they can naturally introduce their money making phone games!

[LostSinclair]

Class race restrictions are the most likely move to occur. They're a quick fix and more or less a flick of the switch kind of change (in most cases). Adding customization or new races or classes is a lot of work, not previously planned for, is something I seriously doubt they'll attempt between patches. There really needs to be sweeping changes with WOW and Blizzard Dev staff. The introduction of Overwatch, Hearthstone and HOTS several years ago really thinned out the WOW Dev talent, not to mention recent defections to the WOW Classic Dev teams. Blizzard brought in outside for the Diablo team, the same "desperately" needs to be done for WOW.

I thought that as well, I'm also partial to the idea of lifting faction race restrictions. I know a lot of min/maxers and achievement farmers on the horde that would kill to be able to swap human the first few months of a patch for the rep bonuses. It might even breathe a little life into the Ally Raiding scene. Plus I'm sure blizz would jump on the chance to offer a discount for faction or race change services if they went that way.

[Dazu]

I think Blizzard will handle this like every other major corporation does. Settle it out of court. Sweep it under the rug and let the dust settle and people forget about it when the next scandal hits.
They'll scapegoat a few significant scalps, make a broad commitment to it never happening again, donate some money to charities/support groups, and commit to rolling out programs and initiatives to help bring in more female employees etc and everyone will move on.

That isn't to say these actions aren't wrong (horribly so). Just this is so common and widespread in male dominated industries and professions I cannot even will up any surprise.

Any actions within their games that would change for the playerbase is a pipedream. If the changes are percieved as good and the developers behind it are mostly male - it reinforces their treatment of males over females. If the changes are bad and done by female - leads to reinforcement that males were rewarded for their vision as it shows they ideas were better. Its far too risky a PR stunt to pull where you are relying on female changes being also good in such a diverse and at times toxic environment. Likely the only change in games will be some female designed items such as maybe a mount/pet/armor transmog and probably some new NPC's/dialogue to promote womens rights and empower women (say Jaina or someone else becoming Queen of Stormwind into the future without an actual King). All of that stuff can be fairly easily incorporated into the game (replace Turyalon with Jaina as regent of the alliance) and done in a story/game addition so hide the fact its purely PR stunts. Turyalon goes off to lead a battle and thus leaves a female in his stead etc.

[Traveler Voltin]

I think Blizzard will handle this like every other major corporation does. Settle it out of court. Sweep it under the rug and let the dust settle and people forget about it when the next scandal hits.
They'll scapegoat a few significant scalps, make a broad commitment to it never happening again, donate some money to charities/support groups, and commit to rolling out programs and initiatives to help bring in more female employees etc and everyone will move on.

That isn't to say these actions aren't wrong (horribly so). Just this is so common and widespread in male dominated industries and professions I cannot even will up any surprise.

Any actions within their games that would change for the playerbase is a pipedream. If the changes are percieved as good and the developers behind it are mostly male - it reinforces their treatment of males over females. If the changes are bad and done by female - leads to reinforcement that males were rewarded for their vision as it shows they ideas were better. Its far too risky a PR stunt to pull where you are relying on female changes being also good in such a diverse and at times toxic environment. Likely the only change in games will be some female designed items such as maybe a mount/pet/armor transmog and probably some new NPC's/dialogue to promote womens rights and empower women (say Jaina or someone else becoming Queen of Stormwind into the future without an actual King). All of that stuff can be fairly easily incorporated into the game (replace Turyalon with Jaina as regent of the alliance) and done in a story/game addition so hide the fact its purely PR stunts. Turyalon goes off to lead a battle and thus leaves a female in his stead etc.

Blizzard ignored the first 2-3 settlement offers. what makes you think they will settle now?

[Smallfruitbat]

There are two outcomes I would like to see from this.

1. Blizzard changes their relationships with their employees in addition to resolving the issues surrounding the law suit, I would like to see them treating their employees like human beings. Ease off on the pressure to produce something in an inadequate time frame for a start. Listen to the guys at the coal face who say to produce X it we need Y amount of time and then give them some grace on top of it. Don't expect them to work overtime and weekends for nothing.

Put an end to the cost-cutting culture that sees their CEOs earn big money. I would like to see Blizzard as the place where everyone wants to work and not just because it looks good on their CV.

If they need 500 GMs to keep on top of customer service, hire 500 and pay them better than the industry standard. -Naïve and idealistic, I know but happy employees have a better shot at producing better material.

2. Blizzard changes their relationship with their customers stop treating them like cash-cows and listen to what they are saying.

No more of this 'you think you do but you don't.' They don't have to give in to every whim, nor I think they should.

When players say 'this isn't fun' take it on the chin and accept that another system on top of thirty others isn't what people asked for or want (looking at you domination sockets). When players go on the PTR and report that X item is broken (hello Balance of All Things and a bunch of other stuff) accept that they want a game that works and is enjoyable and they know if it makes it into live you will notice somewhere down the line and go in with a heavy handed nerf.

Stop forcing players to do things Blizzards way, create a sandbox for players and let them play in it.

[Lahis]

There are two outcomes I would like to see from this.

1. Blizzard changes their relationships with their employees in addition to resolving the issues surrounding the law suit, I would like to see them treating their employees like human beings. Ease off on the pressure to produce something in an inadequate time frame for a start. Listen to the guys at the coal face who say to produce X it we need Y amount of time and then give them some grace on top of it. Don't expect them to work overtime and weekends for nothing.

Put an end to the cost-cutting culture that sees their CEOs earn big money. I would like to see Blizzard as the place where everyone wants to work and not just because it looks good on their CV.

If they need 500 GMs to keep on top of customer service, hire 500 and pay them better than the industry standard. -Naïve and idealistic, I know but happy employees have a better shot at producing better material.

2. Blizzard changes their relationship with their customers stop treating them like cash-cows and listen to what they are saying.

No more of this 'you think you do but you don't.' They don't have to give in to every whim, nor I think they should.

When players say 'this isn't fun' take it on the chin and accept that another system on top of thirty others isn't what people asked for or want (looking at you domination sockets). When players go on the PTR and report that X item is broken (hello Balance of All Things and a bunch of other stuff) accept that they want a game that works and is enjoyable and they know if it makes it into live you will notice somewhere down the line and go in with a heavy handed nerf.

Stop forcing players to do things Blizzards way, create a sandbox for players and let them play in it.

We know neither of those will happen.

Sure, the employees might be slightly better off after this (unless they all get terminated) for the protest, but ActiBlizz treating their customers as anything but walking wallets they need to suck dry as fast as possible? Never gonna happen.

[docterfreeze]

The only "improvements" I'd expect due to the money they're losing from this is an expanded cash shop. That's the money maker in modern WoW, not subscriptions. The game is a backdrop to the shop.