Do you believe Blizzard cares about their community?

[tangers58]

This is a question I have asked myself. There are extreme people who will shake their fist at Blizzard because they had a 2 hour down time on maintenance day. On the other side of that, there are extreme people who will praise Blizzard for putting a Battle Pet at 20% off.

This poll is NOT for you / those kinds of people.

The question I have, do you believe Blizzard, as a company, cares about us? Or do you believe they're going to do whatever they want regardless of any input we have?

Id also like a reason behind the vote, if possible.

Thank you for your time.

Good god no. It certainly used to but over time the company has been taken over more and more by Activision beancounters.

[Biomega]

Your entire argument is founded on the myth that there will ever be a universal definition of fun shared by all players. That simply isn't the case.

And your last bit about voting with your wallet is common sense. It's really on discussion forums like MMO-C or reddit that you see the vocal minority of players who seemingly hate the game yet gladly shell out $15/mo to play it every month.

For that argument, it's actually fairly immaterial if people agree on what's fun. There will always be imperfect overlap between conceptions of fun, but that doesn't mean there's no overlap, or no overlap substantial enough to cover a large part of the playerbase - what matters is that Blizzard realizes they could make the game more fun (whatever that understanding of fun might be) for a substantial number of players, and chooses not to because that way they will generate more profit. That can manifest itself in various ways, and can very well be entirely non-nefarious - just perhaps a bit predatory. An example would be adding features as paid content like MTX instead of adding it for free; there's nothing necessarily nefarious about that strategy (and it may be an overall benefit if those revenues are funneled back into the free part of the game) but at its base level it's Blizzard deciding to withhold something they could add to the game in the name of profit. That's just a very simple, clear-cut example, of course; most will actually be a lot more complicated cases.

As for voting with your wallet being common sense... That's true, but still widely disregarded. Brand loyalty is often in contradiction to common sense because it's a bias, and people have a hard time liberating themselves of biases. You really can't repeat enough how important it is to exercise sound judgment and the self-critique necessary to arrive at such judgment.

[kaminaris]

For that argument, it's actually fairly immaterial if people agree on what's fun. There will always be imperfect overlap between conceptions of fun, but that doesn't mean there's no overlap, or no overlap substantial enough to cover a large part of the playerbase - what matters is that Blizzard realizes they could make the game more fun (whatever that understanding of fun might be) for a substantial number of players, and chooses not to because that way they will generate more profit. That can manifest itself in various ways, and can very well be entirely non-nefarious - just perhaps a bit predatory. An example would be adding features as paid content like MTX instead of adding it for free; there's nothing necessarily nefarious about that strategy (and it may be an overall benefit if those revenues are funneled back into the free part of the game) but at its base level it's Blizzard deciding to withhold something they could add to the game in the name of profit. That's just a very simple, clear-cut example, of course; most will actually be a lot more complicated cases.

As for voting with your wallet being common sense... That's true, but still widely disregarded. Brand loyalty is often in contradiction to common sense because it's a bias, and people have a hard time liberating themselves of biases. You really can't repeat enough how important it is to exercise sound judgment and the self-critique necessary to arrive at such judgment.

Nah dude, people have simply goldfish memory. Let me tell you example of what has improved over time and blizzard chose to pursue.
Scenarios.
First iteration was garbage boring repeatable scenarios in mop that everyone was "forced" to do since it gave the best valor per time spent.
In WoD we got none because people disliked first iteration
Legion gave it a try with withered army scenario and chromie... and suddenly it grow more popular than first iteration
BfA we got horrific vision which seems like 3rd (or 4th) iteration that seems to be the best one.
And 4th/5th iteration in SL - torghast.

Now tell me, what feature that was considered successful was abandoned?

Or what content blizzard added exclusively for money? No, mounts/pets are not a content.

And regarding azerite armor it is vastly superior to tier sets. Except for visual part.

[erifwodahs]

Sometimes you just have to go blind into trying something - like azerite armor.
People were complaining about lots of stuff. People complained about not having interesting gear or having to be locked into wearing tiers and if you did not raid you were screwed. Now people want tier sets back. There will always be someone who complains. Currently I am not raiding anymore, so having no tier sets is way better for me as I push keys now mostly. It would be a huge shame, if me, as a key pusher, would be worse of in mythic+ than someone who raids and only does one weekly m+. Could they have added dungeon specific sets for key runners? maybe. Would someone complain about that? Deffo - "I only want to raid but now I have to farm M+ so I can do my weekly run faster" and so on. There will always be someone who shouts how great legion was *me* and there will always be a guy next to me who would yell how bad it was and how wow got downgraded by it. Who should be listened to? Keep in mind, more often than not a middle ground is not good enough for either of the sides. Sometim players only want to have their way or else it's crap regardless of how well implemented it is.

And blizz listens to feed back. - withered army was well received, then we got chromie which was awesome, now we have visions which is awesome. They added titan residium, they added essenses purchasing (8.2 content) on 8.3 so a patch later. They fixed the issue we needed to regrind AP to regain same traits we already had on the gear. They added HC warfronts, which is way more fun than a normal (you have to put some effort in if your group is not raid geared). 8.2 had two zones, one for usual questing and another as a sand box. I mean come on... that should not be a question at all.
What they are fixing and what their motivation is might be questionable, but "not listening to feedback" is certainly not something blizz does.
p.s. One thing they did not fix is TolDagor.... Go to hell! After BRH boomkins/hunters pulling half a dungeon and TD pulling mobs through floor/walls... I hope new dungeons in shadowlands will have THICC ass walls...!

[melzas]

Of course they care, they only make money if players are satisfied.

Another thing is, vast majority of players don't know what constitutes a good gaming experience, and oftentimes demand changes to the game that would only harm it long term.

[kranur]

Devs and CM's? Sure, they absolutely care.
People who run the company now? Nope, these only care about the money.

[Pper]

If they cared they would already start merging realms again

But they don't because money > what people ask for
They rather let communities on realms die to get those sweet sweet 20 bucks instead of increasing the player pool

[Tumile]

When you look at it through the lens that Blizzard doesn't care and only does shit because fuck you, yeah. It's easy to feel that way. But here's the harsh reality of game development: Sometimes developers believe strongly enough in a vision that they move forward with things even when feedback is (overwhelmingly in this case) negative. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.

It's not particularly healthy to believe that the only reason Blizzard does or doesn't do something is purely out of spite. That's a bitter, cynical outlook and sets a terrible precedent for communicating with the developers.

I have never said they do anything out of spite. I've said I believe they treat the player like cattle, cash cows to be milked, and i do not necessarily resent them for that, business is business. the question asked was if they care and listen to the players, to which i replied negatively towards someone who thought they did. and I personaly find that to be insanely delusional, but also the best argument to as of why they SHOULD treat us like cattle, with people like that existing why would you not just milk the cash cows?

[ThatsOurEric]

The obvious answer is "NO" and it's been shown quite consistently over the years.

[Relapses]

I have never said they do anything out of spite. I've said I believe they treat the player like cattle, cash cows to be milked, and i do not necessarily resent them for that, business is business. the question asked was if they care and listen to the players, to which i replied negatively towards someone who thought they did. and I personaly find that to be insanely delusional, but also the best argument to as of why they SHOULD treat us like cattle, with people like that existing why would you not just milk the cash cows?

Referring to players as "cattle" is hardly an inoffensive term. Additionally, you're operating under the false idea that there is a right or a wrong way for Blizzard to develop the game. Any decision Blizzard makes will have promoters and detractors. Who's to say any one person's opinion holds more value than another's? There will never be a general consensus among players as to the best way forward so it will always, to some, seem as if Blizzard is "ignoring feedback" to "do what they want." It isn't nearly this simple and I think to try to break it down as much is incredibly cynical and hardly a good way to promote positive constructive feedback behavior from the community.

[Shnark]

Any decision Blizzard makes will have promoters and detractors.

There is something like majorities and minorities. If you cater everything to minorities only, you will lose the interest of the majority.

[Amarys]

Devs and CM's? Sure, they absolutely care.
People who run the company now? Nope, these only care about the money.

Nah they quit, if you haven't noticed, at least all the original people who made Blizzard awesome.

Activision is like all the other big gaming corporations and cares only as much as the laws force them to care. Otherwise its all about how to maximize profits.

[FlubberPuddy]

I like the nuance of some people's answers but I do not think there's an easy way to gauge what you're actually trying to gauge OP.

Simply because those who are satisfied currently will most likely say "yes they care" and those who aren't satisfied currently will most likely say "no they don't care".

This also doesn't take into account how often things at Blizzard change and how people's opinions about them change along with it. Someone who feels Blizzard cares today can feel like they don't care a month or two or w/e from now.

Still some interesting responses from starting the thread. -thumbs up-

[Relapses]

There is something like majorities and minorities. If you cater everything to minorities only, you will lose the interest of the majority.

Who are the majorities and the minorities though? How do we know that Blizzard's internal feedback from people who play the game is vastly different than the feedback you see posted on the forums? We don't. And we never will. So there's no point in trying to appease the majority or the minority since either way some group of people will feel like their concerns aren't being addressed.

[Shnark]

Who are the majorities and the minorities though?

The guys who play world quests and dungeons are majorities i would say. The guys who play mythic raids and premade battlegrounds not so much.

[Demithio]

Another rinse / repeat. If some people want to buy into corporate game development, who's to stop them. The 'white knights' of this crowd are probably like any other lame duck X game fans defending lame duck X game on its forum. WoW has really just drizzled down to just another X game these days. Blizzard is like any other all consuming behemoth corporate entity, it simply wants to devour the largest profits it can with whatever shortcuts it can take. If certain players are A-OK with this mindset, and refuse to demand something better (yes, I know its puzzling), its their money to waste. The fact is, the game(s) we (old timers?) knew and loved is a distant memory. This horse no longer even has bones left to beat on, they've turned to dust.

[Relapses]

Another rinse / repeat. If some people want to buy into corporate game development, who's to stop them. The 'white knights' of this crowd are probably like any other lame duck X game fans defending lame duck X game on its forum. WoW has really just drizzled down to just another X game these days. Blizzard is like any other all consuming behemoth corporate entity, it simply wants to devour the largest profits it can with whatever shortcuts it can take. If certain players are A-OK with this mindset, and refuse to demand something better (yes, I know its puzzling), its their money to waste. The fact is, the game(s) we (old timers?) knew and loved is a distant memory. This horse no longer even has bones left to beat on, they've turned to dust.

What if I told you that some people play the game and feel like it's worth $15/mo so they pay for it. I know, fucking weird isn't it? But wait, by pointing that out I guess that makes me one of those "white knights" you were talking about, doesn't it?

Gosh, if it weren't for TRUE GAMERS like you who supported Blizzard when it was just le smol indie company, where would we be today?

[Ehrenpanzer]

After 7 years or more on MMO-C reading patch note after patch note...fix after fix...change after change...blue post after blue post
One should already know Blizzard listens to feedback every expansion.

Contrary to what some people must say...for some strange reason.

You think they do, but they dont

[Tumile]

Referring to players as "cattle" is hardly an inoffensive term. Additionally, you're operating under the false idea that there is a right or a wrong way for Blizzard to develop the game. Any decision Blizzard makes will have promoters and detractors. Who's to say any one person's opinion holds more value than another's? There will never be a general consensus among players as to the best way forward so it will always, to some, seem as if Blizzard is "ignoring feedback" to "do what they want." It isn't nearly this simple and I think to try to break it down as much is incredibly cynical and hardly a good way to promote positive constructive feedback behavior from the community.

ofc it has a negative connotation, do you not think being ignored when trying to help deserves a negative connotation? they dont treat their players with respect what so ever, they do not listen, and they do not care. do I blame them for it? no, do I think they do it out of spite? nah, It's just what makes the most sense from a business point of view. CSGO does something very similar, or did, they balanced the game solely off metrics they had collected, not pro player opinions or anything else. they no longer do that, but I can see the benefit of avoiding any form of Bias in your balance of game design.

Stating the facts is not being Cynical either, they covered up their tracks, and deleted a ton of forum posts related to the topic. it makes perfect sense why they would, 99% of the player base in almost any game are casuals, ontop of that the vast majority of casuals will check forums, but rarely, having the forums most active post be an 8 month long string of feedback on the azerite system and people laughing at blizzard ignoring them and then getting burned does not give the game a good image for a random casual who just stumples upon it. Dehumanizing your customers isn't exactly anything new in Business, most people are just upset about Blizzard doing it, because they didn't do it in the past. there is a stark contrast between pre Wotlk and Post Wotlk Blizzard. and it only got "worse" with time.

Also ofc everyoens opinion isn't equal, that is such a silly statement. an Experts opinion on a subject is always worth more than someone who doesn't know what they are talking about, this is true for video games as well. most top end players dont want the entire game cattered towards them, they have an understanding of the game far beyond the grasp of most players, which makes sense when they put in 10k+ hours into the game compared to most players who will not even get close to those numbers.

Heres an example, I got rank 14 gen 1 on Classic wow. when i finished my grind i had 123 days played on my main, and 38 days played on my alt, and 18 days played on my 2nd alt. I had Extensive experience with every part of the game, I had done the entire rank 14 grind, I had farmed AV, as well as played WSG before it was meta and after it was meta with a record 822 wins to 0 losses, I had a record of 97 wins to 103 losses solo queueing when Queue juggling. I had levelled 3 chars, 1 through dungeons, 1 through questing, and 1 mostly through boosting. I had farmed gold for hundreds upon hundreds of hours in prep for my ranking, and gotten a top 3 world speed clear of MC, as well as world 5th Ragnaros kill and world 4th Onyxia kill. Now none of these things are a particular feat of skill. you do not have to be good at the game to do any of this, although it does help. the point being is I have done an insane amount of Research on EVERY part of the game, and then followed it up with an Insane(downright unhealthy) amount of experience.

While being fully aware of how much I need other players, including casuals, Noobs, and other hardcore players for the game to function and be fun for me to play as well, My opinion on the game obviously carries more weight to it, than someone who just dinged 60, and quit.

So opinions are definitely not equal, there are credentials in video games that increase the value of an Opinion massively, just like having a degree on the subject massively increases the value of your opinion on topics IRL.

it is no different than a Chemical engineer specializing in Virology talking about COVID-19 is obviously more valuable than whatever comes out of Trumps mouth. there is no way to know the exact infection numbers, but I trust the Virologists estimate a whole lot more than some random Diplomats. I also trust his guidelines more than some random Diplomats.

also Not sure why Constructive feedback needs to be positive for you? Most contructive feedback is inherently negative. Saying something is great about a game is nice and all, but calling out issues and flaws is significantly more constructive, and inherently negative.