Does Blizzard know what they are doing?

03/23/2015 02:02 AMPosted by Kaybee

I don't know if anyone else feels this way but to me it kinda feels like blizzard doesn't really know what they are doing anymore ...

They implement something and a minority of people complain about how it works and they change it without taking into consideration the number of subscriptions compared to the number of people complaining its almost as if they're saying"yeah what we did there was bad so lets change it because 2% are unhappy about it" and the majority of us are sitting here like "it wasn't that bad now its horrible" or " yeah it needed changing but not like that" how is this fair to most of us when 2% get what they want and were just suppose to suck it up and accept it because we love playing WoW Blizzard keeps going back on their ideas like they don't have good ideas to start with.

Believe it or not, decisions aren't just made based on posts/player opinion alone. While these can factor into decisions made, we also take a look at player behavior in the game since not everyone takes to the forums or Twitter to express how they are approaching things. Comments here can be helpful for the sake that someone may feel strongly enough about 'x' item/issue, but it doesn't account for everything.

Design is just as much art as it is science and what people may enjoy/like one day may change the next. Being human animals as we are, we can get complacent or bored with "sameness". It's not always easily predictable what the outcome of a change may be, though we try to anticipate as much as possible.

It's not merely a "knowing or not knowing" issue. We have to take into account past experiences as well as sometimes take some (strategic) risks in shaping and molding the game toward its next evolution. With so many many people playing, it's not possible to please everyone at all times, but we do what we can to entertain people as much as we can with the game. We want people to have fun (despite claims to the contrary.) It's just discerning what that means and it will never mean the same thing to everyone.

We have tons of ideas. It's never an issue of having them. It's usually an issue of picking and choosing which ones will work best. Sometimes we miss the mark – we're human after all – but we do our best to make sure those times are the exceptions rather than the rule.

03/23/2015 07:32 AMPosted by Bomraq

03/23/2015 06:13 AMPosted by Silvadanra

"We do listen to your feedback. But at the end of the day, we are going to do what we feel is best for the game." - Ghostcrawler

If ever you wonder why they do the things they do, think of that line.

They know what they are doing.

Ghostcrawler may have known what he was doing. This new batch of dev's do not.

There is always this strange idea that there are a "new batch of devs" when that's just not true. We're very fortunate to have many veteran developers who have been with us for years as well as newer developers (new to Blizzard at least) who bring new ideas to the table. All in all though, it's a collaborative process not even just among the World of Warcraft team, but across the company with so many of us also being players.

I know people bring up Ghostcrawler on a regular basis and I and many others here are still friends with him and keep in touch. He was a great part of the team while he was here, but he wasn't solely responsible for development. Like any job, people sometimes move on. That's all there is ever really to say about it.

I know there are people that are going to have feedback about specific items they care about in regard to ongoing development, and muddling those thoughts into this thread isn't the best way to convey them. It's too easy for your thoughts to get lost in everyone else's. If there's an item you wish to share constructive feedback on (with specifics), we can always read and carry them on for you.

As was quoted, we listen and it still stands, we're going to do our best to make the best choices we can for the future of the game as a whole.

03/23/2015 08:55 AMPosted by Dreamvivid

I get annoyed by the people who are constantly negative and act like there is nothing positive about this game. Blizzard Developers do a good job making a beautiful, fun product. I wish more people would acknowledge that, or would be at least more realistic and less bitter in their responses.

I think you just did. Thank you for the kind words. They really do mean a lot to us.

Still wish we could report and downvote a blue post.

One day Blizzard will hire Customer Service people and not just gamers to communicate.

Blues should be working to improve the game, not fishing for pats on the back.

It's true, I'm not customer service. I have however, been a professional community manager for well over a decade. I haven't been "just a gamer" in many years.

Downvoting may seem convenient, but it tells me nothing other than you didn't like what I had to say. That's fine. You're are absolutely 100% welcome to disagree with what I've said, but it's better to include the "why" than just saying what you did here. It's offhanded and passive aggressive at best and nonproductive at worst.

Also, I am not a developer. I'm in community. That means, my role is communication, reports, feedback, and more. So, I don't consider talking with people here a waste of time nor is it "fishing for pats on the back". Sometimes it's good to hear what people DO enjoy versus what they don't. That can inform development as much as the negative.

Sorry, but no you don't. You want to have people keep playing. Everything you do in the game is to try and keep as many playing the game as you can, no matter how 'fun' the game is.

In my experience, people don't play if they aren't having fun, so your point here is negated by that prime motivation.

03/23/2015 09:31 AMPosted by Gunny

Offhandedly dismissing concerns about what players consider 'fun' is standard Blizzard protocol, but doesn't make for good community relations.

At no point have I "offhandedly" or otherwise dismissed concerns. My job (every week) is to convey concerns and constructive feedback that are being bubbled up by the community.

The thing is, even if people have other reasons for logging in (seeing friends etc), that means there is something tacitly fun about that interaction that draws them back. At no point did I say those people are finding all aspects of the game fun, but there must be some aspect of it (even if it's social interaction or "collecting") that they are enjoying and finding compelling.

Again, we read the posts, but posts only reflect one part of the overall interactions people are having with the game. Sometimes those agree and sometimes they don't. We take all things into account and make changes when they seem to be the most appropriate. There is no "all or nothing", that's why there are so many different aspects to the game. Different people enjoy different content types. Some dabble in everything, some only have one aspect they focus on. That doesn't negate the value of the game and it's offerings as a whole.

03/23/2015 10:01 AMPosted by Raynesee

My opinion so I do expect 20 lashes with a wet noodle lol.

Would a zucchini noodle work? It's a twirly spiral cut one.

Not to oversimplify some concerns voiced, but simply... simple isn't always so simple to do when you're digging into very very complex systems and code.

Just so everyone is aware, I'm not "running off" anywhere but I most likely won't be replying much here for the rest of the day since I have meetings and other tasks to handle, but I will be trying to read through as I can. I also appreciate so many honest thoughts here. Thank you.

03/23/2015 01:04 PMPosted by Enkki

How much weight is given to in-game behavior? I ask this solely from the perspective that if there is no other choice, or the other choices are worse than the one being acted upon, that particular behavior is valueless when deciding which way a particular decision should go.

You're correct that in-game behavior can only show one part of the whole. The next part is, "why". Again, it can be pretty evident by various factors including what people say along with what they do. In-game behavior can have a lot of weight, but that's not a simple, "they're all doing it so it must be OK." Sometimes what is occurring isn't what the outcome was intended to be, thus we make changes and adjust.

Very few things are cut and dry unless it's an outright exploit or abuse of the game mechanics.