An Apology to the Community

[Netherspark]

We don't want you to go! Surely you can work it out and come back?

[gez]

you are such a nice guy xel i hope you find a better job, but im sry if i cant belive you that guy is just a big liar and has being laying to us since woltk, and he just broke my warlock so hard that i coudlnt get the pieces togother and i just quit wow, and im pretty sure that he will break it again, if you aint gonna be there for locks no one will be has being 7 years of that and im pretty sure that CB dmgs nerf will break destro for another expa. i guess my warlock is leaving with you, i wont take another year of being broke

[xskarma]

I don't have much left to say, except that Greg Street is by far one of the nicest and most pro-player designers at Blizzard. He's not a liar or a fraud, just a hard working guy who's trying to balance developing a game with the visions of many other people at Blizzard.

Classy thing to do, stand up for a guy you no longer have anything to do with. I always got the vibe from GC that he cares about players and what goes on with them. His twitter messages are full of that. Hell, GC on twitter is the second best thing after having you on these forums for the past few months. I think I'm going to send Blizz a customer service message infroming them of just that: that the way you and GC have publicly answered issues and design choices is VERY important to me as a customer.

[Count Zero]

Thanks for your communication with the community.

Best wishes for your future.

[Crack the Sky]

Blizz is a bunch of idiots for letting you go.

[PickleballAce]

It's hard to reply without jumping to several conclusions but it's pretty sad if this is how they'd treat someone who seems to be so outwardly passionate about the game. Kind of makes you wonder what message this sends to other employees there? You didn't say anything that would justify them treating a talented programmer like shit, so you've got nothing to apologize for in my mind.

Thanks for working with us so closely, Alex. It really was enlightening, and despite the fact that I love this game, your back-and-forth with us has been the only time I've ever actually felt appreciated as a customer and that our opinions mattered.

There are a LOT of people at Blizzard who could learn a thing or two from you. I have a feeling they'll be coming out on the worse end of this deal.

I don't want to sound fanboyish, but I hope this doesn't mean the end of you posting in these forums.

[wholol]

or send a flood of warlocks to the official forums demanding the reinstatement of Alex as Xelnath the warlock dev

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Blizz is a bunch of idiots for letting you go.

We don't know what went on but it seems like he went on his own.

[Bartimaeus]

Regardless of what happened with your last few days at Blizzard you should be proud of what you did there. You gave Warlocks actual spec identity, something that no previous dev had done before.

Thanks, and best of luck in the future.

[Torais]

I am sad to say the least. A class developer with the courage to try and make himself accessible and accountable to the paying customer is a VERY rare thing among your peers.

I don't have much left to say, except that Greg Street is by far one of the nicest and most pro-player designers at Blizzard. He's not a liar or a fraud, just a hard working guy who's trying to balance developing a game with the visions of many other people at Blizzard.

I respect the fact you likely have to say that for whatever reason but you might find that a hard sell based on his continual list of perplexing and down right crazy choices combined with his ever-present aura of self-satisfaction. You own discontinued employment there is just going to add to that list.

Regardless, I wish you well for the future. It makes me almost sad to think how much better WoW could have been if it had more developers like you.

[Kraenen]

Damn, he must also be a psychic considering he called numerous buffs/nerfs before they happened, and told all of us what Cataclysm did before Blizz released it.

Isn't it illegal to release company information before there is some kind of authorized public announcement?

[sanaubia]

I don't have much left to say, except that Greg Street is by far one of the nicest and most pro-player designers at Blizzard. He's not a liar or a fraud, just a hard working guy who's trying to balance developing a game with the visions of many other people at Blizzard.

after reading this you must be a troll...

[Crack the Sky]

Isn't it illegal to release company information before there is some kind of authorized public announcement?

I doubt it in this case, in others it could be. I don't think he would be doing it knowing that it could cost him his job.

[Xorn]

Xel, I have nothing but the utmost respect for you. I wish you all the best in the future. This will become a much darker place without your presence, and I worry about the future of the class.

All the best.

[calanos]

Thanks for the fantastic revamp and all the communication...I firmly believe that if every class team interacted with the people who play and love their class with the respect and honesty you do a lot of classes would be much happier and in a much better place.

Best of luck to you future endeavors.

[Sylar Hao]

Xelnath, you've probably been the best class designer a class in this game could get, seriously, not only cared about the class leading it to another approach and making it feel better and funnier than ever, but also you've listened to us, the players, the clients, you've discussed with us and you've got our feedback to fix issues and improve things. And all at your own risk. In my opinion, that's what great designer (of any thing or product) should do: get involved with the target public. I really wish every designer was like you.

So what if you exploted puntually and needed to vent out frustration? Everybody does it eventually, that's not bad, it's worst to keep it inside. So, in my opinion, you deserve to be back with Blizzard, and if they don't think so, they're losing a great worker.

My best wishes for you, the warlock community will miss you. Visit us from time to time!


Edit: We should all definitely do something for him. A thread in the Official forums or something.

[Xelnath]

Isn't it illegal to release company information before there is some kind of authorized public announcement?

Yes, absolutely and this crossed the line of responsible development. I was frankly jealous of the relationship Riot has with their player base and tried to force that kind of interaction to work in a much older, more separated company. It wasn't my place, as much as we both enjoyed it. Eventually, I slipped up, said something that can easily be construed negatively and there was no one to save me because I crossed the lines Blizzard had established.

And actually, Greg really wants to make changes to help the game be the best it can. However, he has to delicately balance his desires with those of the rest of the team. This means eating crow publicly when what he wanted to do was voted down through the design process at Blizzard.

[Crack the Sky]

Yes, absolutely and this crossed the line of responsible development. I was frankly jealous of the relationship Riot has with their player base and tried to force that kind of interaction to work in a much older, more separated company. It wasn't my place, as much as we both enjoyed it. Eventually, I slipped up, said something that can easily be construed negatively and there was no one to save me because I crossed the lines Blizzard had established.

And actually, Greg really wants to make changes to help the game be the best it can. However, he has to delicately balance his desires with those of the rest of the team. This means eating crow publicly when what he wanted to do was voted down through the design process at Blizzard.

Your political clout comment? They got pissed about that?

[zomgDPS]

Yes, absolutely and this crossed the line of responsible development. I was frankly jealous of the relationship Riot has with their player base and tried to force that kind of interaction to work in a much older, more separated company. It wasn't my place, as much as we both enjoyed it. Eventually, I slipped up, said something that can easily be construed negatively and there was no one to save me because I crossed the lines Blizzard had established.

And actually, Greg really wants to make changes to help the game be the best it can. However, he has to delicately balance his desires with those of the rest of the team. This means eating crow publicly when what he wanted to do was voted down through the design process at Blizzard.

I must have missed it.. what was this "outburst" you keep eluding to?

What was said?

[Krolikn]

This is what happens when you speak out of turn.