Blizzard to Old Fanbase: Go Away

[bloodykiller86]

Between the recent changes to old content in WoW Retail and the inclusion of Classic (plus ways to keep Classic refreshed) it seems like Blizzard is telling its aging playerbase to fuck off from Retail in an appeal for new fans from a modern age with different social sensibilities and values.

Considering how much of the “aging fanbase” exists on this site, how do you feel about this?

i dont get that at all. i get the fact times are changing but doesnt mean i dont want to play WoW lol relax with the media crazed talk

[Doombringer]

As the oldest of old timers... I get the impression that Blizzard is trying too hard to refresh the game every expansion, sometimes with every major patch.

We really don't need a bevy of new systems that dead-end when the next patch or ex-pack drops. We need more additions with longevity -- allied races, classes, professions that aren't gutted and rebuilt every expansion, and systems with staying power like transmog or pet battling.

There are a lot of systems or game types that get scrapped when they seemed well-received, or at least were good for the game. Challenge modes to overcome like the Mage Tower was great... but instead of keeping that as niche gameplay, they mandated it with Torghast. Torghast would have been awesome as an optional thing for people who want that procedurally-generated dungeon crawl with unique and prestigious rewards, but instead they make everyone slog through it to complete other basic aspects of the game. Another one that hangs around and has long overstayed its welcome is the Mission Table. Does ANYONE really enjoy this thing? They keep tweaking it in small ways, lately making it like a weird auto-battler... but is there any actual fun here?

A lot of these additions don't seem like hand-crafted gameplay improvements... they are more like a new set of shiny keys to jangle in front of players, attempting to say "stay subscribed, this is new and fun!" or "come back, the game is different now!" A lot of them try to rewrite the game's winning formula.

And yes, I think Blizz has to wrap their mind around the fact that the churn they create in trying to win new players will just end up costing them the folks who have hung around this long -- the diehards ones who don't sub for a month and then unsub for half a year, wash rinse repeat.

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Show me who is or was offended by any of these things being in the game

Give me one fucking example of a legitimate gripe.

If anyone was actually offended by these things... I certainly haven't seen them speak up. And I spend a good chunk of time browsing Twitter. I've seen all kinds of whining, but crying about cleavage-lady or Master Baiter? Nope. This is purely a bunch of devs sitting around a table to have a feel-good session of "What can we do that makes it look like we care?"

The only changes I could get behind are removing employee references. Just don't put that stuff in there to begin with. Leave their names in the credits. You never know when an employee can do something ghastly and suddenly you have to do what they're doing now... scrubbing them.

[Edlarel]

Nope, Still enjoy the game as much now as I always have. Either you've outgrown the game, or it's outgrown you. Neither of which is a problem, but sit, recognize it, and choose accordingly.

[Ashleyxoxo]

Blizzard guy for prob 20 years now and i dont feel like the game is changed and im being wanted out. Its more that i changed and i dont think blizzard can fix that.

No, the game has definitely changed. It's hard to argue otherwise, given that it's been that long.

[M1r4g3]

Nope, Still enjoy the game as much now as I always have. Either you've outgrown the game, or it's outgrown you. Neither of which is a problem, but sit, recognize it, and choose accordingly.

Or the game got worse along with your standards? Happens quite often actually.

[uuuhname]

Yeah and it's not that bad.

????? honestly I have no idea what you're talking about...

[MrLachyG]

Ofc there should be consequences but when /sit is used to tea-bag me in a BG I don't go around asking for /sit to be removed from game.

Let’s say you were working at Blizzard and someone said that you were hot and they wanted to sit on your face. This behaviour continued, HR did fuck all. Then this person, a dev, comes to you and openly says they added the /sit emote because they think of sitting on your face every time it’s used. Then yeah it’s original intent was to harass, so should be removed

[CalamityHeart]

Some of the changes that they've brought to some little things recently like certain names and stuff, I get. The Twin Consorts being changed to the Twin Empyreans, for example. Contextually, I feel like that's a much better name for them. I like it. It resonates with me more because that was one of my favorite bosses out of MoP, and naming a pair of enchanted stone battle statues -- weapons, effectively -- as 'consorts' struck me as a bit... odd. And now that oddity is gone; it's pretty much perfect. Good change. And the Big Love Rocket being changed to 'Heartbreaker' (and given another icon, I think). I get it. I won't miss the old name, and the new name is harmless. Putting male prostitutes in Karazhan alongside the female ones? Incubus summons? Cool. Removing that random 'bitch' from Garrosh's dialogue a while ago? Coulda been done better. But I get it.

Other name changes and little things have more or less missed me, or I just thought they were silly and didn't resonate with me more than others that I 'got'. But as hit or miss as these little changes have been, none of them have really done anything to make me feel unwelcome, or like the game wanted to get rid of me. They haven't made me feel much of anything. Maybe I'm not an 'old' enough 'fan', but if this is really what gets 'older fans' feeling like they should leave, then... all I can really do is shrug and say either good luck or good riddance. I, for one, will save my outrage for in-game changes that are legitimately outrageous. Wake me up when we've actually hit the end of the slippery slope and arrived at the gates of the ultra-puritan care-bear dystopia that WoW is apparently spiraling toward.

[Echo of Soul]

Or the game got worse along with your standards? Happens quite often actually.

Nooo that can't possibly be true. Products never change, only customers. Imagine if they decided to change coke LOL

[Drusin]

????? honestly I have no idea what you're talking about...

Suffering is perfectly fine to say, if you think of it as

when I hear "suffer" I assume it's either physical, emotional or mental distress.

That's on you, you're free to define it however you want, I stick to the dictionary

[Itori]

They're not telling the old fanbase to gtfo, they're just removing "controversial" things before they get any deeper in their hole of bullshit.

[arkanon]

Nooo that can't possibly be true. Products never change, only customers. Imagine if they decided to change coke LOL

Like, maybe, New Coke? That went well, didnt it?

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They're not telling the old fanbase to gtfo, they're just removing "controversial" things before they get any deeper in their hole of bullshit.

But to be fair, their hole has nothing to do with the game - AT ALL. It has everything to do with THEIR attitudes, their behaviors.

[MoanaLisa]

But to be fair, their hole has nothing to do with the game - AT ALL. It has everything to do with THEIR attitudes, their behaviors.

Corporate culture shows up in the product. You can see this with most any game. There is a connection and one should not forget the part of the suit that discusses the frat-house aspect of their culture. If, and it remains a sizable if, they want to change their corporate culture then the game will inevitably change with it. Over the longer run many have expressed concerns about that. I'm fine with the juvenile stuff going away and the game taking on a more focused tone. I said that above and will say it again because that's a possible result and should be encouraged.

[scubi666stacy]

Corporate culture shows up in the product. You can see this with most any game. There is a connection and one should not forget the part of the suit that discusses the frat-house aspect of their culture. If, and it remains a sizable if, they want to change their corporate culture then the game will inevitably change with it. Over the longer run many have expressed concerns about that. I'm fine with the juvenile stuff going away and the game taking on a more focused tone. I said that above and will say it again because that's a possible result and should be encouraged.

I can only support that.
And I belong to the Old Fanbase. I played WC I to III (also the 3 Diablo games and the first StarCraft), and I started playing WoW at the very end of 2005 in the Christmas holidays. I did several fan arts and some fanfiction stories (not in English, so will not present anything here).

We don't need immature manchildren power and sex fantasies anymore.


Edit: This comes from someone who reads superhero comics and watches both Marvel and DC movies, beside the other stuff. But WoW was breeding toxicity for years, and this has to stop. It's also directly connected to things which are really running against the old fanbase - at least regarding the Horde, which was turned into some evil war machine because faction conflict bullshit. A cold war status quo was totally sufficient. If they use Shadowlands as the turning point to get back to the situation we had in Classic and TBC, then I will remember this expansion fondly no matter which flaws it has.

[arkanon]

Corporate culture shows up in the product. You can see this with most any game. There is a connection and one should not forget the part of the suit that discusses the frat-house aspect of their culture. If, and it remains a sizable if, they want to change their corporate culture then the game will inevitably change with it. Over the longer run many have expressed concerns about that. I'm fine with the juvenile stuff going away and the game taking on a more focused tone. I said that above and will say it again because that's a possible result and should be encouraged.

This kind of assumes the change will be a positive one, or at very least that the masses will view it positively. This doesnt seem the case at all.

[Khann]

Never felt that way. The game is nearly 20 years old. Of course it changes. I still like both. TBC a bit more right now but still i don't see why retail would repel older players.

Sure it is more difficult. I can see it in my TBC guild where some of the older folk have problems with lurker in SSC.
But still... why would blizz want that?

I play since 2007, I don't feel like Blizzard is giving efforts to send me away.
I have become more resentful towards the game due to community.

[DarkAmbient]

I was disappointed to discover from the WoW subreddit that the impetus for these changes hasn't come from the suits but from the devs themselves. Multiple tweets from Blizzard devs explaining how they want these changes and that criticism of the changes means players aren't supporting the devs.

For me this is worse then a dumb agenda being pushed for PR reasons. It means the people actually making the game have the wrong priorities and I'm now even more worried about the game's future.

[leggomydairy]

Do note that without Wowhead singling out every censorship change for clickbait, we wouldn't know these changes happened in the first place. Blizzard isn't advertising these changes: they're going scorched earth and don't care about the reaction.

Yeah that site has definitely been trying to stoke the flames. It’s obnoxious. This community is already gross. Half of these people wouldn’t even notice or care about these changes if WH wasn’t posting every little change as its own article and then giving their “in-depth analysis”

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Show me who is or was offended by any of these things being in the game

Give me one fucking example of a legitimate gripe.

Idk but seems like you’re pretty offended about the changes lol it’s hilarious how much crying you people are doing over this crap

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I was disappointed to discover from the WoW subreddit that the impetus for these changes hasn't come from the suits but from the devs themselves. Multiple tweets from Blizzard devs explaining how they want these changes and that criticism of the changes means players aren't supporting the devs.

For me this is worse then a dumb agenda being pushed for PR reasons. It means the people actually making the game have the wrong priorities and I'm now even more worried about the game's future.

They’re right, they can’t win. Community response is that C Suite level big wigs are pushing down these changes to make it look like stuff is changing. Devs say no, we have wanted these changes internally ourselves. Player base froths at the mouth.

You really think these changes take so much work that it deters from new content? Do you actually think that the same people making these changes are the same people designing raids and new zones and quests? Fucking lol

[Tsarez]

I am sorry to hear that your enjoyment of the game has disappeared now that you can no longer use emotes to moan or fart at random strangers. Truly, the end of WoW as we know it.

You just don't seem to get it.

Let's get this straight:

* Blizzard employees can't get their hands off of women and have to be massive fucking creeps
* Sexual assault allegations commence
* Blizzard punishes playerbase by removing absofuckinglutely unrelated shit from the game
* Calls blatant virtue signaling that doesn't change anything "adjusting the game to our values"

Nope nothing wrong here. Move on. Everything is fine.

The game itself is garbage but it might not be the actual issue. It's the company that needs to go away. Horrid game developers, massively low skilled but so frustratingly arrogant. In my 35 years I've never seen anything like it.

[MoanaLisa]

This kind of assumes the change will be a positive one, or at very least that the masses will view it positively. This doesnt seem the case at all.

No, it doesn't assume that at all. There is a sentence that expresses that people are concerned about what direction it might go. It then has a couple of sentences about what I would like to see—a more focused game with less stupid humor that over time becomes outdated and downright cringy, lame attempts to be cute—and that it should be encouraged. No one needs to agree with me.

Stop seeing what you want to see and understand the words. What direction would you like to see it go?