Blizzard hiring an Associate Game Director

[Raven]

So that is not happening since we all know Bluzzard pays well below industry standart.

Yeah but thats just normal for any company, not a Blizzard only problem, and this is a higher up job so im sure it will pay good.

[Voidwielder]

Yep.

God (Hi Bob), please demote him to Lead PvE Encounter Designer.

[Relapses]

God (Hi Bob), please demote him to Lead PvE Encounter Designer.

Demotions like that don't typically happen. But I will say that he seemed quite a bit more cheery in this interview than he has in more recent ones.

[Lahis]

God (Hi Bob), please demote him to Lead PvE Encounter Designer.

People in mid to upper level positions don't get demoted. The only two ways they can fall is upwards or out of the door.

[Lochton]

Because the man needs replacement.

If you believe so. Apply, let's see how you do it, for I am 100% certain that all the complaints about him aren't all on his shoulders.

[Voidwielder]

Demotions like that don't typically happen. But I will say that he seemed quite a bit more cheery in this interview than he has in more recent ones.

That was MoP launch phase and it was a good time for the game, despite the insecure manbabies complaining about the theme (which was good and too smart for some).

Also they knew ToT was coming soon.

[SunspotAnims]

So they're hiring three more developers for the Combat Team as well. Either Blizzard was incredibly understaffed or a ton of people just left or are planning to leave right around the lawsuit.

...or they just want to expand the team. In fact, that is confirmed to be the case unless you want to believe Holinka is lying.

It's worth nothing that at least as of a month or two ago and well before the lawsuit was filed that the WoW team is currently hiring more people than any other announced game at Blizzard. You can go check the careers page and filter by team if you want to see for yourself. I know of a handful of departures this year so there's for sure some spots that need to be re-filled but due to the additional recent openings I'm inclined to think that's not the case for all of the roles available, and there is indeed a push to expand the team.

[Nize]

People in mid to upper level positions don't get demoted. The only two ways they can fall is upwards or out of the door.

True-ish, though being put in a smaller project is possible too. iirc, this happened to Tom Chilton after WoD.

Honestly, despite dropping the ball majorly with WoD, I think I prefer Chilton's (Cata/MoP/WoD) WoW over Ion's (Legion/BfA/SL).

[Pheraz]

I wonder if they should really have the position "systems designer" at all. Just make cool talent trees. Those "things" you need to drag and drop into devices/weapons/armors feels stupid and also destroys the cool thing jewelcrafting was (you know... Creation of gems, giving a new type of items... ). It feels like they are mixing up everything just for the sake of leaving players confused at the start of an X-Pac only to let them slowly adapt to the new stuff. Shards of domination are also just gems

[Paperfox]

The reason why MMO-C posters won't get the job is quite simple. We're looking at creating a fun game with lots of replay-ability and other good stuff. They need to make money.

[Nize]

The reason why MMO-C posters won't get the job is quite simple. We're looking at creating a fun game with lots of replay-ability and other good stuff. They need to make money.

Yeah this is the unfortunate part, as much as I hate to say it. WoW has somewhat become this sort of machine that's evolved over time whose stability has become dependant on design aspects that go against player wishes. It's almost so far gone that it can't really go back.

[Dracullus]

The reason why MMO-C posters won't get the job is quite simple. We're looking at creating a fun game with lots of replay-ability and other good stuff. They need to make money.

Read some threads where people here tell their ideas to improve game (oh, sorry, I mean "save" game), you may change your mind. For most "give me all stuff I want right now" = good game.

[Relapses]

Read some threads where people here tell their ideas to improve game (oh, sorry, I mean "save" game), you may change your mind. For most "give me all stuff I want right now" = good game.

Just remember:

Anything I don't like: That's a time gate. Not BiS in a week? Fuckin' time gating man. Not able to clear the entire raid on Mythic 16 hours after it's released? Bobby Kotick here, now that's what I call a time gate. Did Blizzard fail to remove all of the systems from the game? Yep, you guessed it: time gating.

Wait, a guild did clear the raid 16 hours after it was released? GG Blizzard, way to cater to the casuals. Unsubscribed. Blizzard released an expansion without any new systems? Fuck you Blizzard, why can't you come up with anything creative for your new expansions? Unsubscribed. Blizzard returned Tier sets to the game? LOL now I'm forced to raid to get the best gear. I hate raiding, why can't I get gear from AFKing in a major city like I could in my favorite expansion, Wrath of the Lich King? Unsubscribed.

[cface]

Read some threads where people here tell their ideas to improve game (oh, sorry, I mean "save" game), you may change your mind. For most "give me all stuff I want right now" = good game.

If blizzard meets in the middle, then a place between dragging out the game making it feel like a slog, and give me everything I want now might turn the game into a good spot. Going from 3 to 2 epics per mythic dungeon still feels horrible.

[Nyel]

...or they just want to expand the team. In fact, that is confirmed to be the case unless you want to believe Holinka is lying.

It's worth nothing that at least as of a month or two ago and well before the lawsuit was filed that the WoW team is currently hiring more people than any other announced game at Blizzard. You can go check the careers page and filter by team if you want to see for yourself. I know of a handful of departures this year so there's for sure some spots that need to be re-filled but due to the additional recent openings I'm inclined to think that's not the case for all of the roles available, and there is indeed a push to expand the team.

Which basically proves my point that they've been incredibly understaffed in the last years. No wonder we see these poor results for combat and class gameplay in that case.

[Dracullus]

If blizzard meets in the middle, then a place between dragging out the game making it feel like a slog, and give me everything I want now might turn the game into a good spot. Going from 3 to 2 epics per mythic dungeon still feels horrible.

You picked one small part of big machine and think 3 or 2 epics from dungeon is big deal, because from your perspective it probably is.

It's truth that they should seek middle ground, problem is to find where this middle is. You go sligtly too far in one direction and you have "too much grind, I quit" or "nothing to do, I quit". Not to mention some people didn't take any break since Legion launch (especially streamers) and their judgement is clouded by simple burnout.

[JustaWarlock]

Which basically proves my point that they've been incredibly understaffed in the last years. No wonder we see these poor results for combat and class gameplay in that case.

Incredibly understaffed? They had enough staff to send inordinate amounts of time designing these new layered systems on systems, RNG currencies and loot procs, conduit energy etc.

If they truly didn't have enough people they wouldn't have had time to do all this as well as add new systems every patch.

[Dracullus]

Incredibly understaffed? They had enough staff to send inordinate amounts of time designing these new layered systems on systems, RNG currencies and loot procs, conduit energy etc.

If they truly didn't have enough people they wouldn't have had time to do all this as well as add new systems every patch.

Oh yeah, it was painful to watch them struggling with soulbinds for 3 months during Beta. I'm not against expansion system, but I'm against systems with choices. Not only it takes energy and time to balance, force you to create much more than necessary, but also in the end players bick BiS and 5 second search in wowhead.

Which basically proves my point that they've been incredibly understaffed in the last years. No wonder we see these poor results for combat and class gameplay in that case.

Something wrong with combat and class gameplay? That whine is so BfA/2018, man.

[SunspotAnims]

Which basically proves my point that they've been incredibly understaffed in the last years. No wonder we see these poor results for combat and class gameplay in that case.

In the tweet I linked, Holinka is specifically saying that these roles are opening in an effort to grow the team, not to replace vacancies. We can debate if this is also true for the other 40+ open positions, but it does present the question if the current push to expand the team is or isn't indicative of larger ambitions for the future.

For me this indicates two things for certain:
Forum users want new blood on the team? Evidently, so do the developers.
Forum users think WoW is in "maintenance mode"? You don't hire this many new people for maintenance mode.

[Magical Mudcrab]

They added Vulpera, isn't that enough?

edit: Well I guess they could add about 600 more items to the Blizzard Store. :^)

No, we riot until they allow us to transmog every race, irrespective of character gender, into cat girls.