Blizzard was once the king of innovation, what happened?

[zysis]

Do you think Dragonflight will bring a return of Blizzard’s old greatness?

I've said this a hundred times and I'll say it again; back when WoW started printing money, suddenly Blizzard could afford accountants and marketing gurus. These parasites are NOT game designers but certainly have a huge impact on the game. Blizz started to rely on metrics and demographic models for content release rather than just making the game great. The core of the gamers were from a creative, but there were always sidesteps in allowing the game to fully grow within each expansion. Expansions are limited to cycles and believe it or not, originally the game wasn't intended to have expansions at all. Marketing wanted boxes on shelves in stores with posters. So poster boy Illidan for BC and poster boy Arfas for WoTLK.

Blizzard hasn't had an original thought since they stopped playing with Zysis. Hehe No, (also yes) all the core have long gone. They took the money and ran. The company was never about making good games, it was always about making money. Make no mistake; any company is about making that money and if they tell you any different, they are simply lying.

[Cosmic Janitor]

My biggest disappointment coming to WoW was the evade mechanic. Rather than reward clever ranged players for finding ways to trap and murder mobs, maybe even ones way out of their range to fight directly, it penalizes them. And opens everyone else to evade bugs when the code goes wonky.

Yea, evade always felt way too "gamey" for an RPG.

[cparle87]

So are you considering newer assets and textures are magically created from 2014? The old world was updated to align with their current art direction, which is not an appealing style to me. They could have simply increased the polygon count and refined the textures and it would have looked way better in my eyes.

There is another side to this. Because the original models were so bad the players could project themselves onto them, imagine them like they wanted them to be. We saw this all the time in things like early Pokemon and things like Tamagachi. Those 24 pixels would be anything you dreamed they were. As the models improved your ability to do this is lessened.

Similar things happen with lore characters. When very little is known about them you fill in their characters with your minds. When character development happens it contrasts your headcanon and it can be upsetting.

[Ielenia]

So are you considering newer assets and textures are magically created from 2014?

What? How is that your takeaway from what I wrote? Are you even trying to read what I'm writing? I'm saying there was never a "shift" in art style. I'm saying the Warcraft franchise has always been "cartoony", way back even in the first Warcraft game.

[Infinity Cubed]

I'm saying there was never a "shift" in art style.

And you would be objectively wrong. As demonstrated multiple times in the thread.

[Ielenia]

And you would be objectively wrong. As demonstrated multiple times in the thread.

I think you misspelled "objectively right", there.

WoW was always cartoonish. Or did you not notice the cartoony proportions of the humanoid races? Orcs with shoulders bigger than their heads? Humans with fists the size of their own head? Blood elves with feet as long as their shins?

Go back and take a look at the games Warcraft I, Warcraft II and Warcraft III, and see how the graphics are all cartoony. Just because it has references to some spooky stuff doesn't mean the art style is not cartoony. It always was cartoony.

What you're doing is saying the original first Monkey Island game had "realistic graphics" but after they re-released the game with updated graphics, you're now saying they "cartoon-ified" the game.

[Malix Farwin]

Don't think they were ever the king of innovation, all they did was take others ideas and try and make them better. The game actually got worse when they stopped doing that and tried to innovate, its funny really.

[Infinity Cubed]

I think you misspelled "objectively right", there.

Nope.

But I do see what the problem is. You're intentionally misinterpreting people's use of the word "cartoony" to mean what you want it to mean, not how they've repeatedly and exhaustively went on to explain it.

Let me guess, you're one of those people who gets upset when people use "anime" to describe a type artistic style, even when they, too, go on to explain exactly what they mean when they say that, right? Yeah, no need to answer that. It's obvious you are. "bUt aCHtuAlLy!!!"

[Aedruid]

I think you misspelled "objectively right", there.

WoW was always cartoonish. Or did you not notice the cartoony proportions of the humanoid races? Orcs with shoulders bigger than their heads? Humans with fists the size of their own head? Blood elves with feet as long as their shins?

Go back and take a look at the games Warcraft I, Warcraft II and Warcraft III, and see how the graphics are all cartoony. Just because it has references to some spooky stuff doesn't mean the art style is not cartoony. It always was cartoony.

What you're doing is saying the original first Monkey Island game had "realistic graphics" but after they re-released the game with updated graphics, you're now saying they "cartoon-ified" the game.

Bro, we're talking about World of Warcraft, not super duper old games that had to look cartoony because the polygon count was so low back in the day you didnt have a choice in how realistic you wanted things to look.

[Seiken3]

I'm afraid to say as I might get banned from this forum. But as I've been "with" Blizzard since Warcraft 2 and Diablo 1, I've seen firsthand what happened in their games and in their company that made things this... Well, let's call it "less than innovative".

[Ielenia]

Nope.

But I do see what the problem is. You're intentionally misinterpreting people's use of the word "cartoony" to mean what you want it to mean, not how they've repeatedly and exhaustively went on to explain it.

Cartoony:
• adjective. like a cartoon, esp in being one-dimensional, brightly coloured, or exaggerated.

I use the dictionary definition, thankyouverymuch.

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Bro, we're talking about World of Warcraft, not super duper old games that had to look cartoony because the polygon count was so low back in the day you didnt have a choice in how realistic you wanted things to look.

... We had "realistic" games before WoW even launched. Lineage, for example.

[hzjf]

Enabling online play was not "innovative" from Blizzard. Command & Conquer was the first RTS with online play back in 1995. And Bnet was a cheap ripoff from steam

Battlenet was simply the Continuation from their Ingame Version in Warcraft/Diablo Games what the fuck does this have to do with Steam ?

[Aedruid]

Cartoony:
• adjective. like a cartoon, esp in being one-dimensional, brightly coloured, or exaggerated.

I use the dictionary definition, thankyouverymuch.

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... We had "realistic" games before WoW even launched. Lineage, for example.

Ok, but was Blizzard mature enough to utilize those graphics at the time? Probably not. You have a very wonky argument. You are saying that Blizzard intentionally had cartoony graphics, changed to more realistic graphics in World of Warcraft, and their art direction never changed when they moved back towards a "cartoony" look. The middle link in the chain (WoW in 2004) had more realistic graphics. That is a change. They must have realized that when updating their models around Warlords of Draenor that it was either:

a) too much effort and money
b) their current engine is not capable to utilize 20th century graphics

Personally, I think it was (a), and to that point, I think with the amount of money Blzzard was able to make off its customers, we should have some amazing graphics.

Money is not reinvested into company talent and the game.... That is why Blizzard is no longer the king of innovation. They are being bled out by all the other BS departments that do not contribute anything to the game. period.

[Ielenia]

Ok, but was Blizzard mature enough to utilize those graphics at the time? Probably not. You have a very wonky argument.

You speak of "not enough maturity" and yet I'm the one with the "wonky argument"? Have you tried reading your own posts?

You are saying that Blizzard intentionally had cartoony graphics, changed to more realistic graphics in World of Warcraft,

No. Wrong. I said that Warcraft always had cartoony graphics, in every state of its existence. WoW had never "realistic" graphics. There was never a shift in art style. Ever.

[RenDefiance]

They were kings of Iteration, not Innovation.
Taking someones idea and improve upon it.

[tromage2]

There is no talant left in blizzard they moved on long time ago.

You now got woke crappy wierdo's left that have no talent or love for the art of gaming.
They just want their political crap in the gaming community.

[bufferunderrun]

Innovation is at standstill because two factors that have nothing to do with blizzard: the first is tech after many years of continuous improving we have reach the apex of current computer tech unless there is a jump that enable vrmmo nothing can be done. The second is how much the mmo genre has declined over the years i was there when both blizzard and other big SH released upgrades and new mmos like rain now nothing more can be done after the golden vein has been completely mined out.

[Aedruid]

You speak of "not enough maturity" and yet I'm the one with the "wonky argument"? Have you tried reading your own posts?


No. Wrong. I said that Warcraft always had cartoony graphics, in every state of its existence. WoW had never "realistic" graphics. There was never a shift in art style. Ever.

You know you lose an argument when you throw personal insults. Sorry my spelling and grammar is off sometimes.

My work here is done

[Ielenia]

You know you lose an argument when you throw personal insults. Sorry my spelling and grammar is off sometimes.

My work here is done

Except I didn't throw any personal insults. I just wondered if you bother to read what you write out loud before posting. Simple as that.

[AlmightyGerkin]

To answer OP's question on what happend. In my opinion would say times change. Back then in Vanilla to Cataclysm things were new and exciting but after that its just went on the same treadmill and players lost a lot of what made WoW, WoW.