Dev Interview, Raid Testing Changes, Blue Tweets, Heroes Builds, Transmog Contest

[sobes]

Playing 5 days ago doesn't mean that a person didn't unsub. They could have canceled their sub but continue to play until their game time runs out so as to not get boned even more. Or perhaps they canceled 5 days ago.

How am I wrong? His threat (or claim) of unsubbing is meaningless if he's still playing the game lol

[Mazaxist]

this interview is useless, didn't acknowledge any issues. I quit for 4 months and the resubbed with token, but I think I need to quit for good . I think the game is Gona get only worse

[Deleted]

The social aspect of the game is very important to the overall experience.
Makes garrisons so people sit in there all day talking to no one.

[Deleted]

Wish they could been humble, instead this report just displays arrogance to the extreme not acknowledging any of the major issues such as.
No world content.
Majority of playerbase not being able to raid non LFR tiers.
Pvp boring as "#¤%, im a pvper yet i have not touched either arenas or bgs in months, rather play ANY! pvp game except WoW in its current state.
Game being boring overall, i loved MoP, then they removed 5 abilities that i was actively using, idiotic.

[blehmeh]

Called it so hard. Taking credit for the huge increase in subs, but the drop is in NO WAY is their fault at all. Delusional.

Also LOL: "Classes are more complex now than they used to be back in the day." What a way to twist peoples complaints around. Just because the unsolidified specs in TBC are "more complex" in WoD, they are way less complex then they were in Cata and MoP.

"Massive class overhauls aren't as likely to appear in content patches anymore". Now we get to hear "the next expansion will fix PvP!", like that's not what we heard for WoD.

I've been able to take long breaks before, but it looks like the idea of putting wow behind me for good might actually be a viable decision finally.

[Deleted]

To get these stuck up prima donna's back to earth we need to cut them down with another 3 to 4 million subs .
As they would call it another "bit of a dip"

[ls-]

I wish my enhance shaman had as much agility as this dude, dodge rating over9k here..

[Binko]

What an amazing combination of corporate spin, self-serving denial of reality and sheer bullshit.

Saying that they are fine with players sticking with WoW for short periods and then going off to play other games? WTF? How about trying to return to the days of a WoW that was so entertaining that players wanted to stay subscribed for years straight.

This just confirms my belief that they have written WoW off for the long term and are just going to suck what money they can out of it while it is on life support.

[Draculla]

[Binko]

I agree about how wrong everything they said was, but I think even Blizzard knows that. What they say in public and what they think are two different things. Telling people "Yeah we're greedy fucks who lost all the passion for games that made our company great 10 years ago, and it's kinda backfired with us losing 25% users in a few months" will not make the stockholders happy, and it will not make the game more appealing to people.

Blizzard will squeeze every penny out of this project. As the user base diminishes expect more store mounts and shorter expansions to compensate.

They also can't say: "We don't believe that MMOs have much of a long term future so we are totally focused on developing new games in hot new genres. WoW is a great cash cow and we'll keep in going with minimal effort for as long as we can so that we can suck money from it to fund our other development".

[Triggered Fridgekin]

That's a lot of bullshit on their part.

[Teebone]

"Patch 6.2 is one of the largest content patches ever released."

BULLSHIT.

[roninwookie]

"Patch 6.2 is one of the largest content patches ever released."

BULLSHIT.

Valid point.
But, to retort: Nu-uh

[Seifa]

Ok, i don't play WoW since the end of Cata.... but Blizzard shouldn't minimize the loss of sub like they did; i understand it's normal for players to not keep subscribing after launch, but this drop should ring a bell and that bell sings: "you aren't doing enough".

[Awe]

Exactly this !!!!!! Many other mmos on the scene doing so many other things right and they have tiny dev teams compared to blizz. Thats why i stopped playing wow a while back .... Just feels like they are taking money and totally NOT delivering on the content these days. I actually feel like im being conned.

You are conned. That is the whole issue. Billzard has changed a lot during last few years. 10+ years ago it was a driving force in the industry. Yes they did copy a lot from other games but they built on that and expanded things into an overdrive mode. When new Blizzard game was about to happen, you knew it will be THE thing. But the giant success of WoW started to devour it's creators. Blizzard turned into a fat and lazy slob who sits on his sofa all day long while chugging kegs of Mountain Dew bought for welfare money. They canceled Titan because it was a "risk". Why take a risk if you can just keep milking 10 million addicted gamers? Why take effort to try and develop THE next best thing if you can throw out some silly card game developed in the basement during after hours and earn millions? Add some store mounts for good measure and the bank account will keep rolling. WoW was such a great game that it killed the passion and creativity inside Blizzard. I came to this realization after Titan was canceled. Instead we will get a MOBA which is a blatant attempt to steal some of the profits LoL is making. And the best thing they came up with to not waste all those Titan assets already produced, is a clear as day TF2 clone. Because, again, why bother, right? And then they come out and say that "goal is to make a fun and engaging experience and not chase subscriber numbers"? Ya dun goof'd.

[IIamaKing]

How am I wrong? His threat (or claim) of unsubbing is meaningless if he's still playing the game lol

If he canceled his sub, and still has game time, his statement is true, and you are making no sense.

- - - Updated - - -

Wish they could been humble, instead this report just displays arrogance to the extreme not acknowledging any of the major issues such as.
No world content.
Majority of playerbase not being able to raid non LFR tiers.
Pvp boring as "#¤%, im a pvper yet i have not touched either arenas or bgs in months, rather play ANY! pvp game except WoW in its current state.
Game being boring overall, i loved MoP, then they removed 5 abilities that i was actively using, idiotic.

This is not something blizzard can fix, nor should they. THey have given the tools to the players to form groups easily, if you are too lazy, dont have enough time or skill to do, there is nothing blizz can or should do to make it more accessible.

They, instead, need to stop like raiding is the ONLY endgame, give the people who cant raid meaningful non raid content.

- - - Updated - - -

To get these stuck up prima donna's back to earth we need to cut them down with another 3 to 4 million subs .
As they would call it another "bit of a dip"

Just chalk it up to the cyclical nature of the genre.

[Issalice]

Well I find this incredibly disheartening. I understand that from a PR stand point they want to spin the situation in a positive light. However this sub loss is pretty shocking. That is a huge dip very early in the expansion, this is the kind of loss you expect at the end, like when SoO dragged on for a year.

To me this shows a lack of acknowledgment, they need to own up to what their mistakes are and reassure the players that they are moving forward with this knowledge and learning from it. I’m not expecting nor asking for them to grovel on their hands and needs. I simply want them to admit ‘Yep, these things were down poorly, but we have a plan and will move forward with this, or that’. Fluffing it up as ‘Yeah but this was expected’ is BS. Take the blinders off, suck it up and admit the mistakes. I understand they can’t please everyone, but come on. There are obvious problems with this expansion when there is such a huge loss so early on. My entire guild has been unsubbed since December…..December!! They had been subbed nearly the entirety of MoP, with the majority only leaving about 2 months before WoD’s launch.

My faith in Blizzard has been rocked with the release of WoD. I’ve always fallen into the ‘white knight’ category, until this expansion. There are obvious missteps, and they aren’t owning up to a majority of it. I find this interview to be almost a slap in the face of the community. People are expressing genuine concerns, the numbers are in, and they are saying it’s okay, it’s expected. This is BS, lost a lot of respect for these guys.

[Tx20]

To get these stuck up prima donna's back to earth we need to cut them down with another 3 to 4 million subs .
As they would call it another "bit of a dip"

They're working on it. For starters they've banned over 100k accounts for botting some days ago according to this.
So that's another sub loss in the next quarter, albeit most likely a welcome one for the players who are still playing.

[Gadzooks]

I posted this on the other thread in the general forum:

This interview was not done for the WoW player community.

This article is from VentureBeat. Not a gaming site. An investor/tech blog. Who reads VentureBeat? Gamers? No. People who read VentureBeat either work in tech, or INVEST in it.

This article is to appease any investors who may be uneasy with the sub loss. Period. Context matters here. This was not published in a space for gamers - the only reason the article is getting traction here is the journalist who wrote it posted a link to it.

Activision Blizzard stock is at an all time high - and they want to keep it there. An executive at Blizzard dumped a million+ in stock last week, which is a big enough dump to warrant attention in the press...could be someone retiring and cashing out, could mean anything, but the timing is significant, like maybe an executive at Blizzard senses a top for the stock price, and is cashing in now. A lot of the analysts are bullish on Activision-Blizzard, or neutral. Another bad report with further sub losses in the future could tank the stock price, they need to send out an 'Everything is super!" song and dance for them, and they did it, ably.

That's why the interview with it's complete softball questions and no real insight or analysis makes any sense to us - it wasn't intended for us. It's intended for tech/gaming investors who don't actually play Warcraft but who threw down some cash for the stock. Ion is downplaying the sub losses for them, not us - we don't matter, when it comes to the stock price.

Note that Blizzard has not addressed the sub loss to their own community on their forums or even on Twitter in any way, shape or form. That's mind blowing. They have an almost complete communication blackout with the players at the moment, the only info is dribs and drabs and one or two blue posts a week.

I also looked at Ion's comments, and got that besides the "cyclical" spin, he's saying their audience has grown up. This is true, but does that warrant a complete redesign of the game? Of course not - and the loss of a 4 million sub windfall is the result. You SOLD the game right, but failed in delivery. Why? You're trying to cater to what you think new players will like, that kids only want farmville like experiences, and don't want to experience the leveling and questing aspect of the game, which I think is disastrously wrong. Kids are smart. They know that if they try an MMO, they know what they're getting into. They hear from their older siblings and peers about the Vanilla-Wrath experience, and want it for themselves, and when they sign up for WoW now...they don't get it.

And, there's a reason why they didn't bring up PvP, they don't want to parade Holinka's failure in front of current and potential investors. Ion can't do a "Everything is super - except PvP" dance.

Lets face it - Blizzard has a PR issue. Anywhere the game is discussed these days, it's not pretty, despite the efforts of white knights to drown out the complaining. Their sub numbers are in the tank. People are probably still leaving at a steady rate. The token, by their own admission hasn't effected sub numbers dramatically. If an investor or potential investor goes to their own forums, they'll mostly see unhappy players and a game that's so riddled with bots they had to ban over 100k of them. That's not a "buy" experience. Thus we get this article.

You guys need to stop thinking everything is aimed at you. This article wasn't - you have to look at the context of where it was published, and who for. It's common sense that Ion is going to put on the Big Spin when talking to investors and potential investors. It's maddening, but it's a bigger game that only cares about you, the player, as a number to sell more stock.

[Aerofluff]

Well I find this incredibly disheartening. I understand that from a PR stand point they want to spin the situation in a positive light. However this sub loss is pretty shocking. That is a huge dip very early in the expansion, this is the kind of loss you expect at the end, like when SoO dragged on for a year.

To me this shows a lack of acknowledgment, they need to own up to what their mistakes are and reassure the players that they are moving forward with this knowledge and learning from it. I’m not expecting nor asking for them to grovel on their hands and needs. I simply want them to admit ‘Yep, these things were down poorly, but we have a plan and will move forward with this, or that’. Fluffing it up as ‘Yeah but this was expected’ is BS. Take the blinders off, suck it up and admit the mistakes. I understand they can’t please everyone, but come on. There are obvious problems with this expansion when there is such a huge loss so early on. My entire guild has been unsubbed since December…..December!! They had been subbed nearly the entirety of MoP, with the majority only leaving about 2 months before WoD’s launch.

My faith in Blizzard has been rocked with the release of WoD.

I came here to post pretty much the exact same when when I saw Hazzikostas trying to play it off with: "The loss in subscribers is partially due to the cyclical nature of the game."

While there's obviously some truth to that, as everyone eventually experiences burnout and takes a break at some point, you hit the nail on the head that it shouldn't be happening this early in WoD. My burnout phase in MoP was a little in the middle due to World of Dailycraft until they made the appropriate changes, and then at the very end due to the longevity of SoO.

But very early on in WoD, I found myself running out of fun things to do (and I'm a completionist achieve/pet/mount collector, so I'm usually not out of things to do). I ended up going to back to old content (like running ICC for Invincible, etc) or pet battles/archeology, the non-essential time-fillers that I usually save for later on in an expac. I found myself thinking, I shouldn't be running an old WotLK raid for content, when WoD is this new. I should've had more things keeping me busy like any previous expac, which we paid the same price for but got more bang for our buck.

I realize they have to put a positive spin on it, but it's also irritating to think they're intentionally sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring the resounding outcry about the large lack of enjoyable, lasting content.

As far as the whole "published only to sell stock" aspect... I get that. But we found out about it, we're the subscribers who pay money, and are getting used as a number by which they're selling stock to investors. They should be held accountable for what they're caught saying, even if it isn't directed at us, we still have a right to be miffed... even if it's a lie blowing smoke up the investors' collective behinds (which it might not be.)
That's like if I told someone else I thought you were an idiot, you overheard, but hey I didn't say it to you so you can't be mad, right?

>> More people are doing organized raiding than ever before thanks to some of the conveniences that have been added recently.
>> It would be nice if Mythic could scale with the raid size, but the team isn't sure that level of tuning is possible.

I used to call myself a PvPer, but I haven't really done any this expac and gave up on Ashran. I only raid so much now because there's no alternative. I either raid, or I quit because I'm not going to pay monthly for nothing.
I'd also love to do Mythic, but my guild can't quite muster the 20-man requirement. I frequently hear laments saying how they miss pre-WoD 10H raiding (which was essentially Mythic before the difficulty changes.)

Not only has Blizzard failed to add much in the way of new content, but they've also gated, limited and/or ruined (PvP) other formerly enjoyed aspects of the game. This all contributes to the whole feeling that there isn't much to do.