That's what matters.

 

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Conveniently you're over there also.


As for the OP:

All they did is replace Douchebag #1 (GC) with Douchebag #2 (Bashiok).

 

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Dums is absolutely correct. Some people around here need to realize that just because someone doesn't make a career out of something doesn't mean they don't understand it or couldn't do it.

 

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yup.. odor was the right word...the way i see it, if someone never played daoc.. they have no room to talk...

 

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but peopole who aren't actually developers (of big projects with hundreds of people) don't really understand all of the things that are going on.

as i sit here, watching a 1.5 hour build plod along, hoping it will succeed so i can start the 45 minute check-in test process, while i'm integrating code changes dozens of people have made to the "live" code branch into the "next release" code branch, i have a good understanding of how much effort goes into a seemingly simple change like "make the font for this title smaller". much less a change request like "make hunters better".

people that haven't chosen to work for a big software company probably don't have that knowledge/understanding. not that they COULDN'T understand it, they probably could, but they probably DON'T have that understanding today, and it surely effects their responses in message board posts.

You are talking about coding, not design. Other than the mindboggling fact that Blizzard doesn't know which buffs from pre-Cataclysm are still invisibly active (by their own admission), most people don't question Blizzard's coding, just their design.

 

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I'll agree with your logic to a point but the current situation isn't new. The thing is, people weren't expecting groundbreaking changes. Everyone thought they were going to get some new content, new classes/races, some 80-85 talents/abilities, some slight modifications to scaling along with some new (and maybe even a bit crazy) gear-flation in 4.0. Instead, we get completely new talent trees, gutted/revamped base mechanics and other dramatic changes that the README docs didn't even get right. If you can't even document the changes you just made correctly, what in the wide, wide world of sports made you think you were going to get the code right?

As for the characterization of the customer feedback we've been seeing on the forums, you'll note it usually comes in two flavors (aside from the obvious flyers): empirical, logged evidence of a broken/incorrectly-tweaked mechanic, or subjective "this class/dungeon just doesn't play in a fun manner at all any more." There have been quite a number of the first kind and a plethora of the latter, indicating that not only are they managing to break things in the purest sense, they're managing to make things unfun for a fair portion of the fan base.

I don't think you can point to anyone saying they have _all_ the answers, but some things tend to be rather obvious. At that point, you're only arguing over the timeframe in which you expect to see a fix in lieu of notable defections of the population, and then your argument does fully apply.

 

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I was going to post a long post about the number of times I have cited Blizzard's lack of observable professionalism over the last 6 years, (from someone who was a professional in the software industry for decades, working on far more complex systems.)


Decided it was not worth waving that banner again.


It's sad to see Blizzard continuing to not comprehend its customers' experiences.


2 subscriptions left, will run out at the end of next month. All others cancelled. Usually cancelled with an eye to returning.


That possibility is evaporating; the situation is no longer just sad, it's getting old.


I always thought it would be a new game with better "gameplay" that would draw me and my guild away, even knowing how badly Blizzard has behaved over the years, even taking into account our perception that it would Blizzard itself that would take out their own game. Perhaps that one still holds. Just not the way we thought.

 

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Good post. I don't really like GC, but I'll be honest I have mixed feelings about worrying whether a lead designer is good at PR or not. I think GC's problems are that he appears to be part of Team B, so not as good as Team A but at least as arrogant.


I also don't think it's easy wading on official forums and trying to have intelligent dialogue.


They have made a lot of improvements to the game, quality of life, etc., but overall while I thought Wotlk rocked (even with too many vehicles), the phasing overdoing is much worse and I find I hate being in phased zones.


Also from above, my feeling was people *complained* about WotLK but not as many un-subbed, that was my perception then, and is now. Where now perhaps more are leaving. And I agree people leaving is what will make Blizzard really listen. But people quit for different reasons too.

 

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It doesn't mean they can.


And it's more likely that they can't.


And I don't mean people that make suggestions, I mean people delusional enough to think it's easy to be a lead designer of a big game. That's naivete, ignorance, or maybe just plain hubris. To use smaller words, most of them are wrong and silly.

 

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