Blizzcon will be better than it has been in like 10 years

[Gasnick-2400]

@Skelos-2150

Right now TL:F is changing and evolving depending on that player base feedback.

TL:F what the hell is that?

[Kirottu-2131]

If I had to guess, it means Torchlight: Frontiers.

[Gasnick-2400]

Yeah I thought TL stood for Torchlight, but I didn’t know there’s a new game in production.

[Skelos-2150]

@Kirottu-2131

it means Torchlight: Frontiers

Yep, it’s in alpha atm.

[spirited-2519]

@Skelos-2150

@spirited-2519

they can often do more harm than good

Who? Dedicated alpha/beta testers? Right now TL:F is changing and evolving depending on that player base feedback.

FOCUS GROUPS. I said FOCUS GROUPS in the sentence you cut off from your quote. Not BETA TESTERS.

I am not at all surprised you’re selectively seeing what you want to see here. You’ve built this whole thread on seeing what you want to see and ignoring stuff you don’t, to construct your own truth. You’re doing it again, right now, in this exchange with me.

[Orrion-1999]

That’s because a bet has nothing to do with anything. Besides, you’ve already lost betting on Blizzcon outcomes in past years… so you’re already in debt and it’s foolish to bet with someone in debt.

Not being willing to take your stupid bet has nothing to do with trolling.

[Skelos-2150]

@spirited-2519

I said FOCUS GROUPS in the sentence you cut off from your quote

Exactly because of that I asked for confirmation since you advertised these as something cool, yet capable of making harm.

Can you share a video of these gaming related focus groups you have in mind?

[Childe-1683]

@Skelos-2150

Can you share a video of these gaming related focus groups you have in mind?

This is intellectually dishonest. Companies do not release recordings of focus groups, even if they record them in the first place. And I can confirm from experience that there are major companies that do not record them at all. (Instead someone takes notes.)

[RUNtoFUN-2882]

@Skelos-2150

This means Mike is not referring to HS when he says “Blizzcon will be better than it has been in like 10 years”. Could he be referring to a potential big announcement like D4? I think this is highly possible.

starter OP-opinion:
-an estimate based on factors, not facts.
-nothing at all wrong with that.

then:

@MissCheetah-1661

It does not mean whatever the HS dev is referring to is Diablo related though.

a civil input

then:

@Oblivion-1520

You jump on the hype train pretty easily, don’t you? Did the same last year, just because someone said something at gamescon.

the start of a troll defamation of the OP

@DJAetius-1766

I miss the old Ignore function.

1

@Oblivion-1520

Yea, I can definitely see that now.

2

@anon69961756

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH! GASP
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Seriously though, Blizzcon is ALWAYS bad.

3

@DJAetius-1766

Noone gives a fart who they are or where they’re going, and certainly not what they have to say.

4 then keep silent yourself

@Meteorblade-2266

Which means they’re also speculating, just like you.

5 anything wrong with that?

@Alexismad-1310

It is always interesting how people jump to the “trolling” card when someone disagrees with them.

6 GOOD, but many opinions are based on assumptions, many even on facts that are proven wrong thousands years later…

@Meteorblade-2266

We can’t. We already have a winner for that.

7 here it gets ugly

@Avalon-11311

Yes, some of us did, and now we are being trolled again by the “Mike said” hype train.

8 no trolling at all

@spirited-2519

No. No it isn’t. Its irritating and disingenous.

9 then ignore instead of bashing an OP

@Alecta-2451

It’s like DeadRu all over.

10 and the end of civil discourse

on-topic: my opinion is a guess:
-diablo PC has no real future
-after a druid expansion it wil end up in maintenance

[Skelos-2150]

@Childe-1683

I can confirm from experience

How exactly a focus group session goes?

@RUNtoFUN-2882

diablo PC has no real future

Why you think so?

[RUNtoFUN-2882]

@RUNtoFUN-2882

-diablo PC has no real future

@Skelos-2150

Why you think so?

based on my personal included factors and instinct.

[Skelos-2150]

@RUNtoFUN-2882

based on my personal included factors and instinct.

Tell us more about these, it sounds interesting.

I’d say AI ARPG genre IS the future. AI means the world is generated by AI depending on your way of playing.

Right now ARPGs are procedural aka the world is generated randomly from a set of rules. AI generation is the next step.

[RUNtoFUN-2882]

@RUNtoFUN-2882

based on my personal included factors and instinct.

@Skelos-2150

Tell us more about these, it sounds interesting.

I’d say AI ARPG genre IS the future. AI means the world is generated by AI depending on your way of playing.

i add marketing equalisation, multi-platforms, stocks lowered, p2p and p2w allover, etc…

[Skelos-2150]

@RUNtoFUN-2882

i add

No, no. The future does not belong to them (the corporations). It belongs to us (the fans). Everything will be FREE in the future.

[Childe-1683]

@Skelos-2150

How exactly a focus group session goes?

It will vary based on what is being tested (a product, a concept, a character, etc.) as well as by the company and how carefully they manage data and statistical integrity. However, generally an audience that has been selected to be a statistical sample of the market will be brought in, will be shown - and in some cases given hands-on experience with the product - and asked specific questions that have been formulated by the company’s relevant data/insights experts; there may also be some off-script questions asked based on the initial responses to probe deeper into the rationale of the audience for their answers.

There may often be multiple focus groups for the same product/concept/character/etc. as well with the intent to make sure you get a variety of conversations - as focus group participants can influence each other’s responses inadvertently.

However, in some cases the way the audience is defined will skew results away from what is relevant to the actual likely purchaser, or the way the company interprets and implements the feedback can be misguided. This isn’t to say this always happens, but this is what it seems Spirited is getting at, and I can understand the concern that Blizzard might do this, even with the best intentions.

[Orrion-1999]

… It’s a Blizzcon speculation thread where Skelos tries to hype up a D4 announcement with almost nothing to go on.

After last year, how do you expect such a thread to have civil anything?

[Skelos-2150]

@Childe-1683

an audience that has been selected to be a statistical sample of the market will be brought in, will be shown - and in some cases given hands-on experience with the product

Thank you for the explanation, it’s very clear. Ok, this is a completely different thing than dedicated testers. Focus groups come after testers then and if the testers are on a very high level focus groups won’t be needed at all.

@Childe-1683

the way the company interprets and implements the feedback can be misguided

Nah, this can’t happen if you have competent developers and testers.

[Childe-1683]

@Skelos-2150

Focus groups come after testers then and if the testers are on a very high level focus groups won’t be needed at all.

Childe:

the way the company interprets and implements the feedback can be misguided

Nah, this can’t happen if you have competent developers and testers.

Focus groups can occur at multiple points in the process. They can also precede significant development, effectively steering development before it has even begun.

You also can’t dismiss the possibility of implementation being misguided out of hand. Even if we accept your premise that competent developers and testers cannot make mistakes (which is incorrect), or your implicit premise that all Blizzard developers and testers are competent (which I’m not here to debate, but should be pointed out is assumed in your argument), you are missing that they are not the only decision-makers.

[Skelos-2150]

@Childe-1683

they are not the only decision-makers

I meant the focus groups directly overseen by the developers, not marketing related etc (also in the general case, not Blizzard related). And of course mistakes can always happen, it’s just that when you are experienced in a field, such mistakes tend to happen really rare. For example take Chris from PoE and his patch testers - they very rarely release patches with design faults.

My point was more that focus groups can’t add much new information if you already know precisely what you want to achieve with a particular direction of the game (and this should be the case if you have skilled developers and testers).

Compared to a film director for example - you don’t need to project your film to a close audience before releasing it (in order to change certain scenes for example), if you know exactly why you developed your idea in this particular way.

[Childe-1683]

@Skelos-2150

if you know exactly why you developed your idea in this particular way.

Do you think producers and directors, to use your analogy, don’t know exactly why their film is directed and edited the way it is? Why would you think game design is any less subject to potential pitfalls of focus groups?

Also, it’s naive to think that any of the focus groups are directly overseen by the developers. Some may have them in the room, but typically that is not the type of role that leads a focus group due to division and specialization of labor.