I didnt say or even suggest this. I merely theorized that they have a system akin to what I conjectured in order to do a dragnet method of creating a list of “noise” (complaints) that if they hit a certain threshold then they would consider that noise when making their decisions and see if their data can back it up. Its just a logical way to find certain combos and game mechanics that are being broken or taken advantage of that may not have been forseen or cannot reasonably be expected to ever win against. etc. Just a simple dragnet method to find these needles in all the hay and that threshold being the magnet in said dragnet.
It wouldnt be the only data point to notate in their decisions, just one of them. most likely not a highly prioritized one either unless the threshold surpassed an even higher threshold.
Example: All of mal’s mage threads would never come close to being a blip on their radar. Even the vocal multitude of the singular user making several threads wouldnt ever be able to hit a threshold for the dragnet.
All the threads complaining about the free packs not being granted directly after it was offered in the store if they surpassed a threshold of say, 100 threads (across multiple locations, here, reddit, etc) might be a singular blip. One data point. Not any type of priority assigned to it above the lowest.
All the Social media complaints with the keyword “Quests” right after the changes they implemented surpassing over 100k posts from unique users, would be a helluva blip. and Moved to the front of their list of wether or not to deal with it.
Thats all just conjecture/theoretical/hypothetical and is only for illustrative purpose. Not insinuating they have such a system in place. Its just a logical method I can see them implementing in order for their (Blizz) claims from the OPs opening post if those claims are to be assumed true.
I hope that this was just an example, because the story about those quests is quite more devious, I’m afraid xD
They just used the Door in the face technique of selling/negotiating on us - they knew we would complain about any raise of requirements to gain the same amount of rewards, so they first gave us an intentionally big raise and then acted to have found a common ground somewhere in-between what used to be and what they raised them to.
It’s kinda obvious from the speed with which they updated the requirements after the blowout. They have never before acted with speed close to that one, and probably never will, unless it’s another pre-planned manipulation.
That would be “feelings” not data that got you the last Mage nerfs.
And the player base at large was asking for it, if you want to blame anyone look at those.
Cant say i blame the devs if i was in a closed location with children constantly screaming at my ear " is it nerfed yet ???" I would also cave to the pressure and choose lunacy over data.
it’s worth noting that “forumers” are often much better at the game than most average players and most have a decent pulse on what is and isn’t strong.
There are players who go to forums and social networks, but there are also players who don’t go there OR who don’t write why they don’t like a game anymore.
A good example: me on World of Warcraft (and it’s not a “free” game like Hearthstone, you have to pay for each expansion + the monthly subscription).
I stopped playing (after very long years of playing) and yet I didn’t go to the dedicated forum to say it or to explain.
Other “gaming friends” also stopped without doing so, yet we obviously have reasons.
All this to say that there is also a “silent majority” who do not necessarily think like those who express themselves on the forum.
So, if Blizzard developers “balance” according to the “feeling of the players” (not all, only those on the forum !), they can make a mistake (or not, it depends why).
Concerning Hearthstone, I come here mostly to report a bug, sometimes to make a suggestion on the presentation (Battleground duo only) but you will notice that I very rarely give my opinion on the game (or never).
Many other people are like me…
If we count it on a by post basis, where a former with 2000 posts counts a thousand times more than someone with 2 posts, then maybe. I think that the “IQ” of the average post in this place is somewhere close to the “IQ” of the average player, probably slightly higher. I’m not sure though, I’d like to see actual research.
If I interpret your sentence literally, meaning that someone who posts once counts as a “former” just as much as a user with 10k posts, then absolutely not. The average forumer by that definition is FAR worse at the game than the average player.
Absolutely not, no. Even players who are significantly better than average do not have a decent pulse on what is or is strong.
Maybe your standard for “decent” differs from mine. Low standards?
There can also be a silent population who doesn’t post on the forums because they enjoy playing the game so they spend all their spare time playing the game and none of it posting on forums.
But I’m not saying you’re wrong. Your quiet quitters are indeed a silent population. There are probably two or three other major categories of people who play and aren’t represented on forums, categories you and I just haven’t identified yet.
If you’re a forum ideologue, then you see difference of opinion on the forums, and you want to believe in a large, ideologically homogeneous group of invisible people who agree with you, which would make those who disagree with you an even smaller minority. But that just isn’t the truth. The truth is that we are only 1%, and the great silent 99% holds a wide variety of different feelings and opinions, mostly heterogenous, and that it’s very difficult for us to actually know what they believe without carefully executed surveys and quality research.
It is always a critical error to simply assume that the majority agrees with you. The only thing a “silent majority” is obviously consistent regarding, is their silence.
What did the data say about doomkin the 3 or so patches they elected not to nerf it before finally nerfing it?
I’m in the camp they have no idea what they are doing… they might look at data and player sentiment but that doesnt seem to translate into anything (although they seem to react more to player sentiment than to data).
I guess an even better better question is whether the balance team and the card design team coordinate or does one release the cards and the other team has to mop up their design flaws.
Developers (maybe) listen to players who express their opinions on a forum, but we know that these players (maybe) do not represent the majority of players.
Indeed, the “silent majority” has only one known common point : it is silent.
What I SOMETIMES feel like I’m reading here, rightly or wrongly (and on other games in general), is :
I play A, you have to buff A, you don’t have to nerf A
I play B, I lose against A, you have to nerf A
I play C, I lose against A, B and D, the game sucks
I play D, I win 1 time out of 2, I should always win because I play very well but “the game doesn’t want me to win” (or other reason)…
E is better than A, B, D
No, that’s wrong, F is better than B, C, E
(Sometimes, it’s true, C is weaker than all the others !)
I didn’t list everything of course, just a few examples.
We also have :
I win because I’m very intelligent
You win because your game is abused and there’s no need to think
…
And hop !, everyone gets angry.
But there is still a large part of luck, because it is a card game and you can’t control everything (unless if cheat !)
I think the word “obviously” is absolutely critical. They might actually have some consistent opinion or common point. It’s just that, if they do, it isn’t obvious, and it’s silly to act as if it would be obvious. It would require some form of strong evidence to substantiate, like a formal academic study.
The definition of data is “facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis,” according to Google.
Generally speaking, I think it’s okay to say that facts can’t be wrong. What makes facts facts is that they’re true. But I acknowledge that it is possible to get the facts wrong. Make a typo when copying a measurement and 18 can because 108. The linguistic question is: after such a typo occurs, is the data still the data? I guess there’s room for discussion there.
My point is that the facts are still the facts. True data can’t be argued against.
Theres a bunch of assumptions being made here for a lot of these premises that are being thrown around. No need to be hostile or petty to each other. Data can be flawed in its collection, or the assumptions made to establish the data points one wishes to collect can be flawed. Data itself may not be wrong per se, but it definitely can be full of human error.
Person is a criminal, doing criminal things at home. Police walk into his home without a warrant. Arrest him, look about and find more things to charge person with. While it isnt non factual those things were found, the way they were found wasnt proper. Those factual criminal things they found in the home cannot be admitted into evidence, despite how true they may be. Person’s lawyer is successful in getting all charges dropped due to 4th amendment violations.
Whatever the feelings of the above scenario may be for anyone personally, even the facts of what was found that proved criminality can still become forbidden fruit of the ill gotten tree by not following due process. Making the data points as if they dont exist at all despite the truth being they did.
When’s the last time a Blizzard IP was entirely scrapped? I mean literally? The last one I can think of, was Starcraft Ghost like 20 some odd years ago.
This game could be in the red by a substantial amount of money annually, OR it could be breaking record profits. Unless someone wants to do actual work poring over financial reports (I know I don’t), we’ll never know the answer - but said answer, I purport, is entirely irrelevant.
The devs might be clueless, or they may not be. Either way, we’re the fools for following them, no?
You dont need to go into financial records, the revenue is reported on mobile for all games in the stores.
Last year Marvel Snap came on top in profit “it has earned $100.89 million in revenue and far outpaces the earnings of its biggest competitors: Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links , with a combined $55.2 million in earnings, Magic: The Gathering Arena with $19.6 million and Hearthstone with $18.6 million.”
The card game gachas dont make huge numbers compared to the titans that sometimes earn more than Snap did in a year on a single month.
