Originally Posted by
Hanto
I agree and disagree. I agree that the community, at least those amounts of them that are on the forums, are fickle and often times just don't know what they really want. I disagree, however, that Blizzard should run things how they want, as they're pretty much still doing that.
Their goal is to provide content, whatever it may be (features, raids, expansions, etc), to ultimately turn a profit. Blizzard isn't an organization of mind readers, they have to collect data suggesting what the playerbase wants/needs and put it into action. Giving the people what they want is, historically, a sound way to appease the people that pay you for the service. Look at Rift: Players are easily immersed in the game and kept happy over the simplest of things, but a major draw is ongoing and frequent content patches. You see praise for that everywhere, so it's clearly something the customers desire, thus a key way to keep money coming in.
All in all, I'm sure there's a large majority of WoW players that are happy (or at least content) the way things are. MOST of the players don't even access their forums, so they can only go by playing trends and such, as well as feedback from the forums, to guesstimate whether some decision is a step in the right direction. When people whine/bitch/moan about stuff, it's not entirely Blizzard's fault. Their data suggests people want this or that, but the vocal minority of the players are so quick to change their minds (or become sheep) that it's basically a given that Blizzard will receive heat over the decision one way or another.
Blizzard and the community can both do something to help their own a little more. I for one am hoping MoP will fix a lot of these issues with people seeking challenges and wanting to stand out (be special snowflakes), while still appealing to those who would rather not ram their heads against the desk over a boss fight.