What does Holinka actually like, you know... Do?

[Thelxi]

He doesn't just make new maps or content, he and his team do everything PvP related like balancing etc. And tbh I don't care for new BGs, the ones added in Cata and MoP suck ass, I'd rather not have more of those.

[heinz0r]

Arathi all day long baby!

[Kagthul]

I seriously think he spends all day every day trying to convince the PvE balance team to let him do his job and balance PvP.

Note the "trying" part

He shouldn't have to do any convincing at all.

Theyve had the technology now for 4+ years to have spells/effects/skills do different amounts of damage/duration/effects to players vs mobs.

PvP balancing should have been accomplished 4 years ago as soon as that tech became viable. Every spell/skill should be tuned differently for PvP and PvE.
In PvP Chaos Bolt does X% of spell power. In PvE Chaos Bolt does Y% of spell power.

Problem fixed

[Hotmail]

He trolls Twitter and ArenaJunkies.

[Deleted]

Balancing pvp has never been an easy task - as most focus on pve as main activity, and untill Legion, all changes to pve affected pvp. These days are soon over
Ashran sure cost a lot of time to develop, and as Holinka also got other tasks , I'm sure it is the reason why we don't get more bgs. In WOD we also got gladiator sanctum which I think was really cool
The new honor system coming in Legion (and templates) has also taken a long time to develop, and I think it is the reason we don't get more bgs right now.
But think about it, do you really want a new "capture the flag" style BG? What about a new IoC\AV ? Or a new "controls more than 50% of the bases" BG ?
If we should get a new BG at some point, it would take a lot of design time, to avoid copying old ones and instead making it unique.

[apepi]

He spends his time not making any new battlegrounds, I spend my time not paying for WoW anymore.

[Deleted]

Most of the people who post here are plain ignorant of how much development and time it takes, to create and maintain a game such as WoW.

Though, i have heard shitposting is an extremely good qualification for being judge of anything.

Just take Rogues in the start of WoD for examples, they were fine, and people flooded MMO-C with bitching about how it was all broken and "underperforming", whilst when they got gear, they did just fine.

So, yeah, business as usual.

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He shouldn't have to do any convincing at all.

Theyve had the technology now for 4+ years to have spells/effects/skills do different amounts of damage/duration/effects to players vs mobs.

PvP balancing should have been accomplished 4 years ago as soon as that tech became viable. Every spell/skill should be tuned differently for PvP and PvE.
In PvP Chaos Bolt does X% of spell power. In PvE Chaos Bolt does Y% of spell power.

Problem fixed

They already have that. Kind of.

Unless you were seriously thinking that people were pulling PvE levels of DPS on players.

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Good point about those Arenas. Still though, the question was really on the last three years. Is the kind of output we're receiving really something he should be able to stand back and be proud of?

He had a major role in Ashran, and he probably went off to create the PvP systems for Legion, as well.

You can genuinly sit for 7-8 hours/day, coding, and still not get "Excessively" far in terms of creating stuff.

Programmers and Designers know this. Armchair posting MMO-C'ers, don't.

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Hoelunky is busy posting snide, condescending remarks on Twitter - if he even replies at all - and watching the so-called "high rated" teams' VoDs and Twitch streams, (while conveniently ignoring the fact that they cheat like drunken sailors).

That's about it.

That's about it, as far as your limited knowledge goes, yes.

Lest you mistook Holinka for being a MMO-C poster, who gets shit done by posting posts like yourself?

I mean, that's not how DOING STUFF works. But perhaps that works for you?

[Stormspellz]

pr talking head thats it

[Kagthul]

They already have that. Kind of.

Unless you were seriously thinking that people were pulling PvE levels of DPS on players.

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... only a very few skills are tuned separately for PvP and PvE currently (Chaos bolt was a bad example because it is one of the few that currently IS tuned differently - they had to adjust the SP ratio because people were one-shotting people because yes, they were doing PvE-levels of damage with the spell).

Most spells, however, have the exact same SP/AP ratio in PvE and PvP.

Corruption's damage is not lower vs players, for instance. It does X% of your Spellpower. Period, PvE or PvP.

The major difference is the way gear is itemized currently. PvP gear tends to NOT let you stack favorable stats (you cant get Haste/Mastery on every piece of gear, for instance). Its currently causing issues in the Beta, actually, as because the actual spellpower (or attack power) ratios are identical in PvP and PvE, Aff DoTs are hitting like absolute trucks in PvP.

[Jalopy]

Honestly I don't know since he's the only head developer I'm aware of who actively refuses to talk about his work or job with the masses.

[Deleted]

... only a very few skills are tuned separately for PvP and PvE currently (Chaos bolt was a bad example because it is one of the few that currently IS tuned differently - they had to adjust the SP ratio because people were one-shotting people because yes, they were doing PvE-levels of damage with the spell).

Most spells, however, have the exact same SP/AP ratio in PvE and PvP.

Corruption's damage is not lower vs players, for instance. It does X% of your Spellpower. Period, PvE or PvP.

The major difference is the way gear is itemized currently. PvP gear tends to NOT let you stack favorable stats (you cant get Haste/Mastery on every piece of gear, for instance). Its currently causing issues in the Beta, actually, as because the actual spellpower (or attack power) ratios are identical in PvP and PvE, Aff DoTs are hitting like absolute trucks in PvP.

They used to (Not sure if they still do), also have the base reduction, which was 40% Iirc, back when PvP power and what not was a thing.

Iirc, though, i think they are reluctant to balance spells that way, all the way, cause of potentional confusion. Or just plain effort.

My point is, regardless, that they HAVE gone through iterations of different takes and different tries on things, but just have not succeeded very well in that respect, as they tried different things and just could not settle for a good one.

Though, in the long run, i have thought they should do this as well, as it would allow for tuning in a way more fine-detailed way.

[Mormolyce]

He pipes occasionally so that other people can say to him "shut up PVP guy".

[Klingers]

He had a major role in Ashran, and he probably went off to create the PvP systems for Legion, as well.

You can genuinly sit for 7-8 hours/day, coding, and still not get "Excessively" far in terms of creating stuff.

Programmers and Designers know this. Armchair posting MMO-C'ers, don't.

I've actually got a better idea than you think, but that's a story for another day :P
All I know is if I was delivering output to my boss/client at the same rate as Holinka or the team he's responsible for I probably wouldn't still have a job.

If I was passionate about my work and in a position to go to my superiors and say "hey guys, we're not exactly short on fund here..." so I could better resource my deliverables I would.

[Deleted]

I've actually got a better idea than you think, but that's a story for another day :P
All I know is if I was delivering output to my boss/client at the same rate as Holinka or the team he's responsible for I probably wouldn't still have a job.

If I was passionate about my work and in a position to go to my superiors and say "hey guys, we're not exactly short on fund here..." so I could better resource my deliverables I would.

You provide 0 evidence for knowing anything. Your argument is literally "I could do better".

[Klingers]

You provide 0 evidence for knowing anything. Your argument is literally "I could do better".

Let's just say I have a fair bit of experience with the software development industry and working in dev teams and leave it at that. Beyond that I'm not feeling any need to justify my personal experience.

I'm also not saying I could do better. I was casting myself in the hypothetical high-profile developer working on software with millions in revenue.

The crux of the thing is that Blizzard isn't three dudes coding a unity game in their garage... They're a multi billion dollar company with millions of subscribers and Holinka is, I'm assuming, a fairly senior and well-compensated part of that engine. I've just been genuinely curious as to what the guy actually does because his output doesn't seem to justifyingly match the timeframe.

Cheers to some of the other posters in thread. Some good points.

[Bushtuckrman]

Serious question here because I've always wondered this.

The guy's in charge of the PvP team. The last time we got a new instanced anything out of him was 21 May 2013 when 5.3 came out with the last released battleground. That basically means his total output for the last three years is Ashran and a new talent PvP system we won't see for another few months.

What has this guy actually done to justify his salary? Has there been some more iteration or community work I'm not aware of? Genuinely interested to know.

He helps people end their addiction of WoW. At least he did for me and for that I thank him.

[Pua]

He's the person responsible for the state of PvP, good or ill.

Ultimately, that's it.

It's understood that it takes time to code, it takes a committee to make decisions, and it takes top-level direction to steer the ship. Nobody is suggesting that he's the sole person working on PvP, and that everything is therefore attributable to him. But he is the PvP Lead, which makes him ultimately responsible for the state of PvP at any given time.

Ultimately, in most systems, the management will have a vision that they want to see enacted. Their supervisors will then try to forge that vision into something that's actually achievable, and the workers will then perform the tasks to make it happen.

The "vision" is presumably created by Chilton and Hazzikostas as the game directors. It's up to Holinka to then turn that vision into a workable plan, and something that can be achieved in a reasonable time frame. He then sits down with his team, discusses it so that they can all agree on the best way forward, and he doles out the jobs. Anything that doesn't technically or mechanically work will be referred to him, while fundamental flaws with the vision of the game will then be referred back to Chilton and Hazzikostas.

I'd imagine that he also completes a lot of the jobs himself, and that's on top of his community responsibilities (which he doesn't seem to take especially seriously in the wider sense, instead with a focus on competitive players).

There will be a few differences, especially considering that producers are also a part of the mix, but I'd imagine that this is generally his day to day business. It's not a question of him working hard, because I'm sure he does. It's a question of whether he and his team are actually any good at what they do.

The general consensus is that they aren't, and he has to take responsibility for that.

Yo, Ashran.

[Caolela]

That's about it, as far as your limited knowledge goes, yes.

Lest you mistook Holinka for being a MMO-C poster, who gets shit done by posting posts like yourself?

I mean, that's not how DOING STUFF works. But perhaps that works for you?

My "limited knowledge", hmm? I know what I see in the game versus the bullshit put out by Blizz PR hacks like [Hair of] Lore and Halunky. The reality seldom matches up with the PR. Just go take a gander at the official Legion PvP Feedback forums to see how truly awful it's going to be in a couple of months - YET AGAIN.

And you thought WoD PvP was shit? Haha. Legion will make WoD seem like 'good times'.

To say nothing of the rampant cheating/hacking that Blizz looks the other way on, instead of seriously cracking down because they don't want to lose those accts. and the large sums of money they spend on the game, OR the free advertising Blizz enjoys from those same scumlord Twitch streamers and YT'ers.

Ever heard of hacks/scripts like Firehack, Wrobot, ReBot, SoapBox rotation bot, etc? Ever seen them in action in real PvP? I certainly have many times. That's why CR/MMR means less than nothing and the entire Arena & RBG ladders are a joke.

While you're at it, please enlighten us all on your vast expertise and knowledge that you've implied. I'll wait.

[Bluesftw]

he's the scape goat that gets pushed in front of angry nerds

[Kazgrel]

Pretty sure he just posts random stuff on Twitter like any of the cool kids these days.