This Friday, October 17 from 1-2 p.m. PDT, lead game designers Cory Stockton and Ion Hazzikostas will be sitting down in our Skype room live with Olivia Grace and Perculia over at Wowhead. They'll be fielding questions on a wide range of topics pertaining to Patch 6.0.2 and Warlords of Draenor on the Wowhead Weekly live stream via twitch.tv/wowhead.
Be sure to tune in and join us in the Twitch chat room to get the latest info directly from these two development leads.
I don't have any questions....but I do have the answers, the ones they most likely won't give you.
*Yes we have taken note of the mass exodus of un subbing players, some who have been with us since vanilla. But we really don't care about them, because, well we have COOKIES and MILK to offer you and our new fan base which consists of 5-8 year olds who think the new gnomes are cute and the trolls walking with goblin like motion arms are funny, PLUS we are offering some really BADLY done tee shirts, with Tauren and Gnome faces on them. For 19.95 you too can own the matching boxers, the one with all the new female faces plastered all over them. *Warning lable* Might cause sterility and a phobia of all MMORPGs! And just for the ladies, we offer D cup sized fan bras with human and orc and troll faces delicately woven into the lacing, made by our BEST overseas, works for a $1.00 a day artists, and while we are on the subject, no that clothing is not fruit of the loom, we only provide THE BEST to our fan base, its Heir of the Loom. Wear it and you are guaaarreeentteeed to live an extra 15 seconds longer than your dead teammates in any and all instances!
*Stat Squish*, Oh heh, yeah, we just want everyone to be better! Oh no, there was no nerd rage BEFORE the stat squish in ever raid instance and now, well, by doing what we did we are bringing everyone together with EVEN MORE love peace and harmony as well as giving endless mana to healers and NO abilities to use them on. Hmm, what's that? Oh....Tanks 2 shotted even under the care of a skilled healer and supported by great 2 abilty dps, WELL *serious face, scratches chin* THE TANK MUST be doing something wrong. Learn to play big boy bear. You are probably facerolling over the 3 abilities you have, NOT in the correct order of course. Deeps with no deeps? *insert laugher and back slapping* They were nobodies anyhow. Players who rolled deeps didn't know the game to begin with, point and click. That's all they did, they are nothing to us! Hmm, a hunter, a warlock? What's that? We never had hunters or warlock in this game, did we? *they wave their hands dismissively* and reach for some $300 a bottle, sparkling water.
*oQueque* "We made our own, yeah, we know it sucks, but we were too CHEAP to pay someone who had a truly WORKING model for his. I mean, you know, we knew it allowed you to put together an effective raid team by the numbers that might can carry a few undergeared, but WE, well WE think its MUCH better to randomly mix and match. Actually, we think its funny, watching people spend 100's of gold on repairs just to do UBRS! We haven't laughed so hard since...since the forums blew up telling us how badly we sucked!
*Motion sickness caused by the animations of the new toons. "*Look, you guys keep a soda bottle next to your puter to piss in so you will never miss a ready check, why not just set a puke bucket next to it. And as for you female players..well you do get up and go to the bathroom right? Just puke while your in there, we know all female players are scrubs anyhow." *Devs now winking at each other a bit too flirtatiously.*
*Guild Squish* What..GLs are kicking people because they can no longer afford everyone's repairs. Well that's just not nice! Maybe...MAYBE we can let the gold sellers that we openly allow to spam Trade all day and night fund the GLs. Yes, yes, the GLs should have to go BUY gold to fund their guilds from people that violate our terms of service. EVERYONE can have a level 25 guild now! Yes EVERYONE. In fact, every toon should have their own guild as it promotes a sense of community!
*The crowd is now growling, and frothing and throwing things at their monitors with one hand, and un subbing with the other. The devs are of course feeling the love with nervous glances and groping each other most likely for reassurance as they are wondering where their next place of employment with be. Someone cries out for their heads on a stick while two million others players are googling the phone number for the Lizard Squad. But they have to wrap this up somehow so again they put on their sparkles and fake smiles....
"And now....you devoted loyal suckers, we have something JUST FOR YOU TO MAKE IT ALL RIGHT AGAIN!" They quickly throw up a trailer that incudes but is not limited to, Night Elfs running while shaking their sexy boy butts, trolls swinging their goblin motion arms and picking at the bumps on their skin while also trotting in a motion sickening fashion, and or picking their noses, Humans heads deflating like balloons while punting psychotic looking gnomes. Of course there is is all narrated by a depressed Tauren with a reindeer nose, while some space goat fluffs her new hair, trying to distract from her thunder thighs.
The Devs are now cleaning out their bank accounts of YOUR money and are halfway to Siberia on a private flight, wrapped in each other arms like two scared puppies that pisssed the rug...never to be heard from again.
Edit: Andi didn't need to see none of that s**t, he's only level eight! Phasers should be set to stun.
Edit 2: I still got those Mindspikes from the roof. Kielo 2, Smeagols 0. Can we pick on Matt and Trey? They play in the world's second most popular Ween cover band. /violin. I've got more stuff to poke at those guys, the list keeps growing, where they've dissolved down to joking about Lorde. Great men, masculine men. I didn't play the stick of truth, but anyone could make a Final Fantasy knock off with Yum brand advertising. I bet they share baths just to see who can make the largest fart bubbles. I wonder why they haven't picked on hard rockers from Michigan (whom may just be diabolically worthless), but they'll joke about young women.
A Diablo 3 turn-based game with the wizard (in red, obviously) with Kormac, Eireena and Lyndon would be...awesome? No?
...And the world I thought I knew comes caving in around me. *shiver*
You're of course entitled to your opinion on what Blizzard developers will and will not answer, but having had the privilege of interviewing a fair few in my time, the questions are not pre-prepared, not pre-approved, not pre-set or picked by anyone but the interviewer.
I can't talk for other shows, but for the ones I've run that is the case.
These guys are smart, they know their game inside out, and that's why they sound prepared to answer questions: they are.
We will be doing our best to watch chat for interesting questions that we haven't covered already.
I highly doubt they are not pre-set.
WoWhead is a well known supporter of Blizzard, especially with all the keys you guys get. This would be a good opportunity to ask genuinely tough questions about the 'squish' and get some hard answers. But, you won't. You'll sit and muck about and waste your time asking pointless self-serving questions which makes you look good in blizzards eyes.
Great for you, bad for the playerbase.
Hard questions:
Why WoD? Seriously. Why are we going back in time. Why not push forward into something greater. Why the stat squish? Why wasn't it more extensively tested? Why renege on so many 'promises,' (implicit promises, not explicit) with regards to the stat squish? Why wasn't more feedback taken into account for models and other things? Why were so many pieces cut or toned down?
I'm sure players from the entire spectrum in WoW have their own hard questions they would like to add. This list is not extensive.
Easy questions (the ones you will ask):
How do you feel about the expansion? Are you excited for players to get hands on? Do you listen to feedback in general?
You are doing nothing but wasting our time hosting this, and I'm so damn annoyed you're playing it up as a great opportunity.
What do you want to bet the questions will be cherry picked so they get to pretend everything is sunshine and roses?
Edit: the poster above me put this far more eloquently
I'm pretty disappointed in myself for believing that neither of you will actually tune into watch this interview, but will probably be back to utter this same damning revelation the next time we announce an interview. Your statements are basically anti-talking-points talking points.
this is stupid why are they doing skpe? i dont have skpe i dont have twitter Why does the whole god damn world need to always go the most inconvient way possible? these things like facebook twitter and skpe is for the kids us older people dont use that, so why not have it the regular way like a call in and talk to them like all talk shows or tv shows do???
What is so hard about clicking on a link to a Twitch channel to see a video that plays automatically? No account or login credentials required. If you're sitting at a computer that's literally easier than calling into something or finding a channel on your television.
Clicking on a link to Twitch or YouTube is about as low of a barrier as you can get. It's certainly easier than logging into this forum to post such a complaint.
They will answer questions that they like, ignore any complaints and pat each other on the back like always. They seem to reside in a bubble where happy thoughts abound and don't realize the lobotomized monstrosity they have created is unfortunately where the players of this game must reside
Hi, Maenedd. We aren't choosing the questions. *pops bubble gum*
I'm pretty disappointed in myself for believing that neither of you will actually tune into watch this interview, but will probably be back to utter this same damning revelation the next time we announce an interview. Your statements are basically anti-talking-points talking points.
I've watched plenty of interviews, and while I understand it's in your job description to defend blizzard - the seemingly unprofessional attitude isn't becoming. I can understand that, too, though, because clearly you've delved too deeply into the negativity of the player base and become touched by it. That, however, was something you didn't have to do yet chose to.
My point remains. You (general you, as-in blizzard as a whole) rarely answer hard questions, and I get why I really do. They're called hard questions for a reason, they're not meant to be easy to pick up and deal with. They need depth, time and commitment to what you're saying. I know all about negative PR and the fact you will often have someone watching keenly everything you say and do, and it's not easy to stand up despite that and say what it is you should say or what people expect you to say.
It's the same things politicians do and have been doing for years.
But, let's call a spade a spade. This is nothing more than marketing, so don't play it up as a great opportunity. It's not. It's baseless pandering and self servicing between you and a major supporter of your game - WoWhead. Even if you were willing to play ball and answer serious questions, do you really think for half a second that WoW head would do anything to jeopardize your working relationship? No. Because that requires courage.
But, hey, let's just call it a non-issue, because I don't feel like having a blue jump down my throat some more for what I feel strongly about based on evidence drawn in from the past. I don't blame you for feeling how you feel, please don't blame me.
Ps. My previous post should of inspired a desire to be more liberal with discussion, instead of constraining. We - many of us players - want that. We need that nourishment. It's not an 'anti talking point' as you put it. To put it in a more joking context: If someone says 'you suck,' you don't go into a corner and start crying. You say to them, 'no, I don't suck and this is why.' Be proud of your game as many of us are. But be a realist, too.
Well... fair enough. That's a valid perspective and I can understand why someone could have it. I do take serious issue with your assessment of how this interview is positioned though. If I wanted to book a "marketing interview," I wouldn't choose a purely WoW-focused fansite. That doesn't give me the marketing reach I'd want, not to mention the fact that Wowhead Weekly's moderators are intimately familiar with this game's ins and outs -- they absolutely have the fuel, know-how, and motivation to ask questions veteran players want to hear answered.
While I do work closely with PR and Marketing at Blizzard, there's a very clear distinction between what those folks do and what we do in Community Development. If I wanted good PR and Marketing I'd setup an interview with some broad-reaching gaming publication/site/channel that's going to prepare fairly general questions about the core features of the expansion. But, no, my goal is to sit the developers down with veteran WoW players who have a lot of experience covering WoW news, and understanding of what concerns and frustrations a lot of other players share. The purpose of this is to get as much information and clarification out there as possible, because in an information vacuum all kinds of misconceptions and conspiracy theories arise, particularly after such a large patch containing such broad changes to game mechanics (like 6.0.2!).
The folks at Wowhead should be keenly aware that it'd be a much bigger problem for them to be delegitimized in the eyes of the community for not serving the community's best interests, than to be viewed negatively by us for not sticking to only what we want to talk about.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I provided no talking points or off-limits questions to Olivia and Perculia while setting up this interview. I did, however, specifically request that they ask a question on exactly 1 topic, and 1 topic only. During last Sunday's Convert to Raid interview, many people in Twitch chat were asking about Warlords itemization and comparing it to Diablo-style loot. When the interview ended Ion mentioned that he wanted to address that topic, but didn't get a chance. I let Olivia and Perculia know that in case they want to bring it up in their interview.
5) As a host/interviewer representing a media outlet, you are therefore incentivized (sp?) to not make the interviewee(s) uncomfortable - you do this by asking softball questions. If you ask hard questions, you risk making them uncomfortable and unwilling to return, causing you to lose out on opportunities to do future viewer-luring interviews.
I see this argument constantly and still don't understand the logical leap it necessitates. You're saying that there's an inherent risk that those being interviewed won't want to be asked tough, valid questions, and therefore won't accept being interviewed again by those prone to asking them. As someone who has been setting up WoW developer interviews for some years now, I've never seen evidence of this being the case, so it's frustrating to see others far less involved in the process make such claims.
That said, there are tons of questions in this thread that, if asked by someone with whom I've setup a developer interview, I'd think twice before setting up another interview with that person. And yet, they're questions people in this thread are saying need to be asked. Maybe that's where the disconnect lies. What some people think are tough questions are actually just gotcha questions, questions posed as though they're based on irrefutable facts when they're absolutely not, or virtually rhetorical questions wherein a clear agenda of insulting or berating the guest(s) is present. Examples:
Have you determined that the number of players you lose due to oversimplification is insignificant, or have you not quantified the effect of it and are just hoping that you are going in the right direction?
Why set up a system to raid they will foster elitism? Arent you a left coast company that hates elitism? The hoops that you must jump thru to get into a raid for gear are insane.
You lost millions of PVPers last expac because you refused to take them serious and allowed PVE raiders to dictate the game. Why are you repeating the same mistake?
Your last patch was so bad that it spoilt this game for me. So thanks a lot. Most of my chars are now unplayable. Like for instance the Elemental Druid. Do you guys test this stuff before you let it loose on the paying public?
Do the developers believe they are responding appropriately to the veteran player base feedback, given the rampant negative comments here (and in every other forum)? How would they respond to the claims of forums and feedback being completely ignored, as it only furthers the distance between the player base and Blizzard?
Why does the person responsible for ensuring that the stat squish was done with a reasonable rate of effectiveness still have a job? Clearly they are incompetent.
Blizzard has a strong history of implicitly over-promising and explicitly under-delivering, and of wild overcorrection. (see: dance studio, flying vehicle combat, tanaan/farralohn, the capital cities thing, MoP dailies, raid-or-die BC vs. "everyone in the pool" wrath, etc...) Is there anyone on staff who's job it is to look at the "big picture" relative to what has come before over the past decade and occasionally say "uh, y'know, we've kinda been here before....let's not make the same mistakes twice...".
These are not tough questions. They're largely bad questions. This is an interview, not an opportunity to put the developers in a dunk tank so the interviewer can lob bean bags at a target. That's not to say some of these questions aren't based on legitimate concerns. They could possibly be rephrased into more neutral, objective questions about the state of the game relative to the community's perception of it.
I feel satisfied with the sincerity of this interview, now, having read all that. Obviously my satisfaction is irrelevant, but it felt apropos to state it. I don't believe someone would go out of their way to make up so many points just to big up their ego's.
So, thank you for your fair points and candidness.
Sure, there's a way around it. Get rid of the interviewer and put the development team in DIRECT contact with the players giving the bug reports, asking the hard questions. We get enough canned garbage from our politicians, GM CEO's, too-big-to-fail financial institutions, the IRS, etc. A video game business needs to keep the GAMERS happy, not themselves; and to do that, they need to DIRECTLY interact with the people who are actually PLAYING the game, not maintaining websites and tweets about how great everything is. Focus more on keeping the ship afloat instead of rearranging the chairs on deck as it slowly slips beneath the surface.
Again, the entire point of booking fansite interviews is that the people running those fansites are players and part of the community. You wrote this in response to Bay from Final Boss, implying that he's just an interviewer, and not a hardcore veteran WoW player who hosts his own show to cover in-depth topics pertaining to the game he plays.
Pardon the cynicism, but you don't have to, do you? Wowhead is NOT going to ask anything that might jeopardize their chances for future interviews. It's a well-known fact that the CA mentality absolutely ABHORS anything that even hints at confrontation; so a lot of us are well-prepared for the high-five tone we envision the interview taking.
I've addressed this point a couple of times, but I'm still confused as to why you're trying to make this about the state in which our headquarters resides.
... Again, the entire point of booking fansite interviews is that the people running those fansites are players and part of the community. You wrote this in response to Bay from Final Boss, implying that he's just an interviewer, and not a hardcore veteran WoW player who hosts his own show to cover in-depth topics pertaining to the game he plays.
And is likewise not going to do anything to jeopardize future opportunities to interview someone. If you really think you are going to get hard questions, I'd like to sit down with you over a cup of coffee and discuss what is, apparently, our vastly different definitions of "hard."
Honestly not sure what you wanted them to say. Chris Robinson wasn't there.
Cory Stockton is Chris' boss. He should be capable of answering it.
This isn't true. Cory Stockton and Ion Hazzikostas are both lead game designers (as is stated in my original post of this thread). Chris Robinson is the art director. Their teams within the larger WoW dev team are completely different.
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