Ghostcrawler is Now Lead Game Designer at Riot Games

[Nefastus]

GC got all the hate in the last years specially from the new players that dont know that Tom chilton, aka Kalgan, is the main issue wow has. GC is nothing compared to the cancer Chilton is. The guy alone was responsible for ruining Ultima online and he is trying hard to screw warcraft too.

[Etherius]

Oh good, the torches and pitchforks still on high... I was worried for a minute people might actually be decent beings for once. Thanks for confirming my concern.

Seriously though? Good luck Ghostcrawler. I hope Riot does well and treats you well, and that GREAT things will happen on BOTH sides.

[Azrile]

Leaving Blizzard for Riot?
o.k. ... sounds like a downgrade to me, but maybe riot gives him more creative freedom.

Anyway, lets wish him the best.

Yeah, that is the only funny part. Riot is a big downgrade from Blizzard, it must be a new game the he can design from scratch or a big raise.

[MrExcelion]

Probably big raise, yeah. Maybe double salary or something that really wow-ed him. Companies are close enough he might have not had to sell his house either and gets to keep in touch with all his former coworkers. Irvine is within driving distance of Santa Monica. Perfect scenario.

[Weep]

Who cares what he thinks...he has zero stake in the game anymore. Why waste time and front page space on the musings of an ex-dev?

[chezwickcheese]

Completely disagree with the comment about before LFD not many players ran dungeons. I ran dungeons all the time during BC and felt satisfied after completing a dungeon after forming a group from your own server. Most of the time those players would end up on my friends list and we ran more dungeons/formed guilds. That's how it should have stayed. I'd trade in convenience for more community. Flex has helped with this though.

Interesting Greg is now at Riot. Moba's are an entirely different beast from mmo's and rts' though. I'm sure he'll do a great job but I have my concerns.

[Moradim]

funny how "big new opportunity" means leaving to work on a moba with a community that makes WoW look like the epitome of class.

[openair]

If GC is only working on LoL LOL! Guess that's makes it pretty clear why he left wow. He's had enough stress/money and decided he could take a pay cut because he wants a more relaxed job where he CO-lead designs instead of actual lead design.

[tankbug]

Funny to see how people argue about which individual destroyed WoW, when :

a) They work as a team
b) WoW is a better game than ever. If you don't enjoy it anymore, it's your own fault. Not that you can change anything, it's just how it is. I enjoy it 25% of what I used to when my interest had peaked, still I admit that gameplay mechanics have improved. I was never that into Pandaland-lore, but the civil war was interesting, so I can't really see how the game has declined in any way but just being old and maybe soon outplayed. I'll admit being wrong when vanilla pirate servers has millions of happy players and a thriving community.

I can see why GC went to Riot (career move), and I'm sure he will do a good job there. Played the tutorial only, and wasn't swept off my feet, but perhaps I will give it another chance in the future.

[Mormolyce]

LOL huh? I guess he's gotten a taste for toxic communities :P

- - - Updated - - -

If GC is only working on LoL LOL! Guess that's makes it pretty clear why he left wow. He's had enough stress/money and decided he could take a pay cut because he wants a more relaxed job where he CO-lead designs instead of actual lead design.

What makes you think it's a pay cut? You know companies don't pay designers by the sub.

Haha "relaxed job". Have you ever seen the LOL community?

[Deleted]

If GC is only working on LoL LOL! Guess that's makes it pretty clear why he left wow. He's had enough stress/money and decided he could take a pay cut because he wants a more relaxed job where he CO-lead designs instead of actual lead design.

OR like anyone whos played WoW for a long time he's had enough and wants to play something different

i'll be interested to see what he does at Riot

[Leslie]

Tencent owns Riot and Blizzard stock. Just looks like a transfer to me.

[StateBMartin]

Wow...

Who in the hell would leave Blizzard Entertainment as Lead Designer for a shit game like LoL?
Crazy.

[Karnige]

Wow...

Who in the hell would leave Blizzard Entertainment as Lead Designer for a shit game like LoL?
Crazy.

tell me about it. my guess is he'll be behind the scenes and gets to relax though

[Zoneseek]

LoL is a much bigger deal than anything blizzard currently has on the table. Sorry to burst you fan boys bubbles. The worst diablo in the franchise, panda wow with constantly declining subs, a card game, and starcraft. Starcraft is the only thing still standing strong but its nowhere near as big as LoL. Don't cry too hard.

[BetrayedOf52]

LoL is a much bigger deal than anything blizzard currently has on the table. Sorry to burst you fan boys bubbles. The worst diablo in the franchise, panda wow with constantly declining subs, a card game, and starcraft. Starcraft is the only thing still standing strong but its nowhere near as big as LoL. Don't cry too hard.

It's free, very low settings, and heavily casual so everyone can play. I don't think anything will ever beat good ol LoL. It's such a fun genre and they managed to make a game that casuals can play on any computer, damn good company.

Plus there is a super set in stone meta, maybe GC wants to change it up if they allow that.

[Kurbkicker]

Everyone always seems to assume he left WoW for LoL. Maybe Blizzard just gave him the option to Quit or have his ass fired and he took the first job that crossed his desk ?

One thing I do like sense Ghost has left is the sound of the language coming out of Blizzard Devs, From the posts they have been making to the Q and A's. they sound more promising and seem like return to the way the system used to work.

Who knows could just be me. But I will say this, goodbye GCrawler I'm sure not sad to see you gone.

[Tybudd33]

I'm nervous now, come on Greg jumps ship to go to the competition, he's seeing something going on, you don't leave the mega WoW MMO, to go to the up and comers unless you see a fallout.

[Lil]

I don't know why people are surprised by this. LoL is the biggest online game there is right now, so it was the most logical step for him to go there.

WoW has less than 10 mio players, LoL has 32 mio people playing per month. LoL has an online league with hundred thousands of ppl watching the weekly games on twitch - in Korea they're also broadcasted on TV. Riot pays their LCS teams a monthly salary and during the last world championchip they filled the Staples Center in LA and had a $2 mio price pool.
Meanwhile, WoW doesn't even have a freely available arena spectator client after all those years, and tournaments are tiny in comparison.

I'm not saying one game is "better" than the other - people should play whatever they like. (My biggest pet peeve with LoL is the community: you can barely play a game without people wanting to report each other, and saying things like "get cancer and die" etc.) But you should realize that even if it's f2p, LoL is huge compared to WoW - and the f2p model might very well be the future of online gaming in general. If WoW's subscription model isn't profitable any more some day, they probably also just go f2p like many other MMORPGs. And f2p doesn't mean that Riot doesn't earn money - you'd be surprised how many people sink good $$ in vanity items like different looking skins for their characters.
In fact I'm a bit perplexed about this - just imagine how much work Blizzard has to do for all the art assets alone of dungeons, raids, the outside world etc. if they introduce a new expansion. Meanwhile, Riot releases like one new champion and one or two skins every 1-2 months, and people still buy that shit like crazy. "Oh boy, that Spiritguard Udyr skin surely was a lot of work - let's charge people $25 for it." And a lot of people will buy this, although I find it hilariously overpriced.

I'm a bit sad about all that shit Ghostcrawler gets though. He was just the face of the developers to the community - he didn't decide alone about balancing PvE & PvP.
Please also note that WoW is tough to balance because people invested so much time in their characters and feel like every nerf is a personal insult. In LoL, you don't really care - if one champion gets nerfed, you just play another one. And there isn't even a PvE part, so you don't really have to try to keep PvE'ers and PvP'ers alike happy.

[Khazzeron]

If GC is only working on LoL LOL! Guess that's makes it pretty clear why he left wow. He's had enough stress/money and decided he could take a pay cut because he wants a more relaxed job where he CO-lead designs instead of actual lead design.

....If you think Riot is some broke ass gaming company...your sorely mistaken.