Blizzard..you have no spine whatsoever

We have to make a lot of decisions when it comes to building and maintaining such a massive world that's near and dear to so many people. We always try to do what's best for the game, all the while listening to how the community is responding along the way. In some situations our point of view shifts as we share in discourse with players. It's all case by case, and at no point is it implied that we're going to design by democracy rather than follow our own collaborative expertise and instincts. But, to put it in motivational poster terms...

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."

06/10/2015 09:30 PMPosted by Hoshizora

06/10/2015 09:22 PMPosted by Zarhym

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."

So what you're saying is because pro-flight couldn't change their minds, you gave up on progressing the game for the better with your development mindset of experiencing the content from the ground floor? Pro-flight destroyed this game going forward. Got it. Thanks.

For years now I've found it to be a such a strange honor to be followed around the internet by expert interpreters, who take plain words in English and replace them with other, more loaded words in English.

Whenever I read a reply to me that starts with, "So what you're saying is..." -- and I've read so, so many -- my first thought is, "What I'm saying is what I'm saying, otherwise I would've said something else."

06/10/2015 09:33 PMPosted by Lïìïlypad

06/10/2015 09:22 PMPosted by Zarhym

In some situations our point of view shifts as we share in discourse with players.

Forums ≠ Community

7 Million people play this game. Not many people look at the US Forums/3rd party websites nor even know there is a flying argument going on. The people who don't look at the Forums/3rd party websites may have a entirely different view about flying, but simply don't respond.

You're absolutely right! The listening and discourse extends far beyond the forums, fansites, and social media.

06/10/2015 09:35 PMPosted by Whitehead

I think they did it to feed the lions before the dev guy does the q&a on Saturday.

Not exactly. We wanted to lock in our decision before hosting the Q&A, because a lot of people were clearly tired of wishy-washy answers on the subject.

06/10/2015 09:51 PMPosted by Kuzcsenrok

06/10/2015 09:48 PMPosted by Zarhym

For years now I've found it to be a such a strange honor to be followed around the internet by expert interpreters, who take plain words in English and replace them with other, more loaded words in English.

Whenever I read a reply to me that starts with, "So what you're saying is..." -- and I've read so, so many -- my first thought is, "What I'm saying is what I'm saying, otherwise I would've said something else."

you guys as a developer team presented a large essay explaining why flying mounts are a deterrence for gameplay to WoW in all general aspects. now that's kinda just negated by people who would rather get the easiest convenience?

No, those points largely still hold true. Ion spoke to them in his blog before mentioning that we've come to what we feel is a fitting compromise.

06/10/2015 09:53 PMPosted by Hoshizora

06/10/2015 09:48 PMPosted by Zarhym

...
For years now I've found it to be a such a strange honor to be followed around the internet by expert interpreters, who take plain words in English and replace them with other, more loaded words in English.

Whenever I read a reply to me that starts with, "So what you're saying is..." -- and I've read so, so many -- my first thought is, "What I'm saying is what I'm saying, otherwise I would've said something else."

You say "What I'm saying is what I'm saying" and that's exactly what you said. "Progress is impossible without change". The dev team dared to be different. To change. After 8 years of flying, you decided to make a design choice. To change. To progress. You went back on that change and went back on that progression.

I'm not replacing your words (that you quoted, to be fair, so not entirely yours). Following them exactly as you wrote them.

Fine. You're interpreting them in the context to which you feel they're best suited. This is really the problem with motivational posters. :p

06/10/2015 09:54 PMPosted by Stonefriend

Gave in?

Hades no. They looked at subscription numbers and flipped a switch.

Some day you'll need to point out these magic switches to us, 'cause we really work our butts off to design this game. :)

06/10/2015 09:56 PMPosted by Teradan

06/10/2015 09:54 PMPosted by Zarhym

because a lot of people were clearly tired of wishy-washy answers on the subject.

Who wouldn't be exactly? sounds like you guys were forced into making the blog when it should have just been a standard of business practice to clearly communicate solid answers

That's an awesome ideal to which we always aspire. But we're also not a hive mind over here. We grappled with the topic as well. And from the beginning we tried to make it clear to the community that we didn't have a final answer -- we were discussing it with the community, as well as internally. We wanted this to be known; but when a clear answer took us too long to supply many people spun it as us kicking the can down the road, or stringing players along.

It has definitely been a learning experience for us. Proof of our infallibility remains elusive!

06/10/2015 10:03 PMPosted by Delasandra

06/10/2015 09:22 PMPosted by Zarhym

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."

If this is your team motto I can see why you needlessly change things every expac and even patch in the past. I never liked it, but I guess I am unable to progress then.

Don't spend too much time thinking about how you can apply those words to everything we do. Before making that post I took approximately 3 seconds to google "change motivational poster" and quoted the first one that popped up.