The blizzard comment I'm having issues with

Console Discussion
1

A few days ago, I think it was on Twitter, the devs were asked several questions and all answered differently about how to increase the longevity of the game. I can’t remember her name, but one of the ladies mentioned this

Who do they think they should cater to the most to keep the game lasting the longest, the top 5% of the player base, or everyone else.
She then went on to say they will cater to the top 5% because they feel they are the ones that will stick around the longest.
I have many issues with this, and think it needs to be addressed by Blizzard.
We all play or have played the game. The top 5% are no different than the bottom 95%. They are just players that have more free time in this game. If blizzard wants to create longevity in this game, it needs to take from all and listen to all. They started doing that in WoW many years ago, and lost more than 50% of their player base. This data is easy to look up if you like to. Its going to come down to two things, either they take in everything and keep the game rolling, or fire the current management, especially the one that made such a heinous comment and get new and better people in like they did in D3. They had to fire all of them before to save the game and turn it into the great game we all STILL enjoy. I’ll try and find the comment again, and link it.

2

First of all. this is something seriously flawed with your numbers. It isnt just “5%” And “95%” There is atleast 4 different groups.

  1. Sweaty players who do almost nothing but play 15 hours a day 7 days a week.
  2. A fair bit below sweaty but still know the game.
  3. Casuals, think of all the people that dont have alot of time to play.
  4. The entitled blokes. That want everything to be super easy and given to them right away.

So these groups shouldnt all be lumped together.

Second. You’re 100% correct, those top sweaty players… are not the ones you want to listen to on alot of things, While a good bit of them actually do crunch the numbers and min max, You want the game to be fun for all. They may have all the time in the world, but everyone else doesnt and have actual lives to live.

These types of Devs do need replaced, if they seriously think “5%” is going to keep them in business. I’ve spent… idk prolly over 5 accumulated years (of actual gameplay time)
Between diablo 2, and 3. I’ve spent maybe 1-1 and a half accumulated weeks total in d4.
The first half is estimated, the second half is accurate. it’s around 11 days total game play time)

And seriously. look hard for those quotes. I want to see them.

1 Like
3

“Sometimes there’s no filter, or graciousness or politeness, it’s hard to navigate,” says Fergusson. “When you have the sense that Diablo is my game, you have a sense of ownership, you get very invested … we’re trying to manage expectations better, have more proactive comms so there are fewer surprises. We want to tell people what’s coming at least a week in advance, make sure they aren’t table-flipping.

“Sometimes in a game like Diablo, where you’re dealing with balance, you have to eat a salad once in a while, not just ice-cream. But then you have to tell players what’s coming, because if they’re expecting ice-cream they’ll be really mad if it’s vegetables. We have a long-term vision for the health of the game. It can’t just be about this moment. What’s it going to be like next year, or the year after?”

The difficulty with forever games is that studios have to try to cater to everyone, all at once; players who might have been playing Diablo for years or decades, alongside the new people brought in with every update or ad campaign. It was impossible to escape Diablo IV’s marketing blitz earlier this year – I saw a couple of wee auld men down the Byres Road puzzling over an ad that read “GLASGOW, WELCOME TO HELL” at a bus-stop (“That’s just insultin’!”). And newer players will by nature be less sensitised to the finer points of balancing, buffing and nerfing that can upset players with hundreds of hours of play under their characters’ ornate belts.

I’m not certain that pleasing both all of the time is possible, so the custodians of forever games have to make a value judgment: do you piss off the most committed 5% of your player base and hope that you gain enough new ones to replace them if they leave? Do you cater to your most engaged players and then discover that they’re not enough, by themselves, to keep your game alive? I’ve seen plenty of different approaches to this from different developers in my years covering games, and watched many angry YouTubers eviscerating patch notes in excruciating detail, displaying the kind of knowledge that you can only accrue if you genuinely love something. I’ve heard friends’ teen children insist that Fortnite isn’t anything like as good as it was at the beginning, for years … and yet still they play it.

its from an article from The Guardian

4

I think I’ve dropped about 200 hours total (including betas).
As you well know zero, I’ve not logged in for the last 5-6 weeks :stuck_out_tongue:
I doubt I’m even going to try getting myself in the mood to try finishing the season rewards either to be fair. Free game/ free tat and all that, it was fun and exciting until they made it more of a grind and sucked the fun out. Do I want more mobs? Yes. Do I want level scaling, well, yeah. Do I want mobs capped and then decreasing below me…… F no……

1 Like
5

Okay, who do you listen do when the proposed changes / demands are in polar conflict? for example, recently I’ve seen topics on XP being far too little and others who want it harder to gain XP.

How do you address the concerns of those who are not actively on social media and play casually but then get slighted by some change that was in “high demand” but they don’t jive with? I guess they must have been participants in the activity of the forums, reddit, youtube, twitch, and X/Twitter from the get-go in order to have a voice?

Look, most players aren’t going to patrol social media. They’ll just play the game if they like it. What are considered good ideas, or bad, is really on Blizzard to own and the players be damned for the most part. We either like it or we don’t, ask for changes, and hope Blizzard will enact the right change (which includes no change at all sometimes).

6

Yeah you also had stitches soo >…>
But yeah all valid points. I’m just counting down days here… 46 to go. Then I’ll be having some real fun. Dont think imma bother with season 2. Some new animes coming out too. “The far away paladin season 2” is coming this fall. HYPE!

And thats where you see alot of people jumping ship too. the game is already around what 70+ hours just to level 1 char to 100? You’re not wrong theres always going to be two sides to a change… but those that want a longer level grind… just need to go find a leveling simulator.

1 Like
7

While it is a flawed comment, and the thinking is flawed in itself, it is not entirely bad. What’s good for the top 5% is also good for the 95% rest of the players. You see, everyone needs an end-goal and that’s what the top 5% play. If that peak is good then everyone will want to play to get to it.

I agree with you and I’m thinking about certain players who Blizzard had listened to who had a bias but definitely did not speak for everyone. Thankfully Blizzard didn’t act on or against the other side. Player feedback should be handled very very carefully.

‘Top’ player feedback should be considered but with the understanding that, that player is the, let’s say, ‘best’ of a certain class or certain spec. Blizzard should definitely use that feedback about that class or spec. However if that player says, “PC players are gods and Console players stink, nerf Console”. it should be absolutely disregarded. It’s a biased comment that any player could make and has no nuance behind it. ‘Top’ players (such as yours truly) may offer valuable feedback regarding other areas of the game and in that case, if it’s good, if it resonates (as in, it is something other people may like and/or need or want) take it, but if it’s not, leave it.

Blizzard already does that. I’m a lifelong Blizzard fan and began participating in the community at the beginning of WoW. I’ve seen and known the company’s interaction with the playerbase. I’ve been through it all.

Blizzard learned a major major major major lesson with Diablo 3. The only reason why Diablo 3 is even STANDING right now is BECAUSE of player feedback. Nearly every component of what makes everything from Reaper of Souls onwards was FROM player feedback.

By today’s time, I know for a fact that Blizzard listens and that developers certainly are reading. Everything people post is valuable feedback because it helps them make a better more successful game and in that, it is beneficial for all of us. The company can invest more into the franchise from the income, the developers would have jobs, the players would love to play the game.

All that said, implementing everything people want might not necessarily be a good idea. In World of Warcraft, this is what they did and it was successful to a point. I’m talking about from Cataclysm onwards beginning with the Raid Finder. The game became so accessible that everything became a walk in the park, and that indeed was what Raids became to be. A theme park ride. It was no longer a place to where I, as a Rogue, aspired to be top dps or whatnot. It became more like, what roles are needed, how can I fit in, what do I play so I can see the content? Raid finder has everyone, so you have to select and build to account for everyone. If everyone’s playing a Rogue then your queue times are going to be enormous!

From a game balance perspective, catering to everyone will always pull it towards the easy side of the spectrum. People want OP specs. They want to copy it from the top players. People want easy rewards. Conversely, top players favor the difficult side of the spectrum. The reward is in doing something or in setting something up intricately and it comes out looking extravagant. A good game needs a healthy balance of both sides. The game needs to be accessible but the peak of the game needs to have depth so that it can be enjoyed and appreciated. Think of chess. You have the pieces and the board. It’s all so seemingly simple but also INCREDIBLY in-depth.

I’ve got to run, but I hope I gave everyone something to think about.

8

I disagree completely. We don’t need a glitter taco snowflake overhaul like they did with fortnight and sea of thieves etc etc.

Let the creators enjoy their own world. If you don’t like it, go somewhere else. They really need fans from one game to be supported elsewhere.