What a sad thread to greet me when I first login.
All the best to you AZJackson, may Elune guide your path.
Thank you for being a big part in making HOTS the unique and fun game it is. I wish you all the best in your new endeavors. 
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However, he is right. Don’t white knight again, phaseshifter.
We don’t know this, unless it’s stated in his farewell message. We all feel sorry for losing a person we associate with the game - but at the same time nothing has ever improved the past years.
Don’t blame him for stating the obvious lack of communication.
Browder also talked with the fans on twitter - but he actually answered and acknowledged shortcomings and agreed on some balance changes which came directly from some random fans.
On top of that, because people are discussing this here is a clear sign that something went wrong.
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AZJackson, I really dislike how you haven’t done anything to improve the matchmaker. While I admit it was a good sign you actually replied to the MM-issue, nothing really came out of it. The game hasn’t changed to a better, unfortunately. Hiding party-sizes was the first indicator that things went south, tbh. Hiding stats and information are always bad.
However, I do hope you’ll have better opportunities at Blizzard in the future.
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Nooooooooo dont leave us
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The problem is, this is a farewell post, so no criticism will be of any value now, at least in regards to the person being criticized.
It would probably just be better to create a separate thread about it, if you feel strongly about this issue. This is just my person feelings on the matter.
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He’s a game designer in charge of balance, not a systems engineer…
That’s like blaming my dog for the color of paint on my walls. Equally absurd.
The pure ignorance of people on this forum is absolutely astounding…
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I wish you the best AZJackson.
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Farewell and good luck.
Now, who is running the ship? Should I worry?
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I hope so. We didn’t get a winter event this year (unfortunately). I certainly hope the same doesn’t happen to the spring event.
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Sorry man, I just don’t buy this. This is an insane opinion to have, on your part, to suggest that people should only be accountable WHILE they’re in their position of power, as if stepping down or resigning is some sort of magic wand wave that makes all your problems go away.
If that was true, Trump wouldn’t be facing impeachment right now. After all, what does it matter if he’s guilty or not of high crimes? He’s not the president anymore so there’s basically nothing he can do about it now. Just drop the charges.
Now, I’m not trying to liken Az to Trump nor am I likening the severity of our democracy’s integrity to a video game, i’m merely trying to express how wildly incorrect your assertion is. In the real world, you’re held accountable for your actions, and simply stepping down won’t make them go away.
You could argue Az may or may not have done genuinely good things for this game, but how would we know? He never talked to us about it. Imagine the respect we’d have for him if he was constantly keeping us in the loop “Hey guys don’t worry, next balance patch drops soon.” Something along those lines, but he didn’t, and I have every right to let him know he didn’t do as good of a job as he should have.
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Ok.
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This is a false equivalency. You can say it for music where one wrong note will make the rest of the ensemble sound bad, but not everything is like this.
I don’t like playing Alarak, and I don’t like facing off against a good Alarak player either, but that doesn’t make HOTS horrible because of it.
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I find this seriously sad.
Developers do not need to answer or respond to your posts, but a dev needs to be aware of what is happening with their product, being one of them the current discussions around that product, which means forums and reddit.
If they don’t then things are being done very poorly, clearly the past year I’ve seen a lot of community suggestions and even solid criticism related to anomalies going into account for some of the decisions they went for.
If this is not a hint then I really am sorry but you are clearly aren’t paying enough attention.
Edit: I wanna make this clear, I agree with droth lol, I’m just adding.
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But you have to direct criticism at the right people, Sami.
I’m not going to blame an artist for design decisions, much like blaming a balance designer for matchmaking issues is just as silly.
I’m sure it’s brought up a lot, but that’s really something a systems engineer would take care of.
Let’s say for instance you’re mad that X hero is too strong, while Y hero is too weak, AZJackson is the dude to be upset with. But if you’re upset about matchmaking, that’s not the right guy to get upset with.
The guy’s just trying to say his farewells, and he was and still is clearly very passionate about his contributions to this game, but criticism has to be directed at the right people.
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Oh yeah for sure, it’s very obvious that this won’t go anywhere if an artist asked that question, much as the same asking engineers about art that doesn’t revolve around fractals (at best).
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Add Leoric back to arams on your way out.
The matchmaking in this game is of course a complete bottom, but the balance of the heroes been very not bad.
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Some alexstrasza portrait trying real hard to look ignorant and impetuous but I am just here to say good job and thank you for your work AZJ!
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We’re in a tough time these days but I’m thankful for all the work you’ve done for us before you’ve moved on. Best of luck with your future projects, and I hope you’ve chosen your successor well!
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First I would like to wish AzJackson all the best and I certainly look forward to being able to play another game he had worked on.
As to the conversation about criticism in a good bye thread…
The issue isn’t the criticism it’s the vitriol. Whether you realize it or not your statements carry a level of vitriol, toxicity, and that makes them hard to respond to. One excellent example is when it comes to the MM system. Many people criticize the MM in two to five sentence complaints that often include one utterance of a term like “garbage”.
I think there are issues with the system, but it isn’t garbage. It is the culmination of tens of thousands of hours of building and tinkering. When you decide to just sum it up like that to the devs who put most of those hours in you become a toxic influence on their work.
As has been stated by others “I hope the incoming Dev communicates more with us.” Is a non toxic criticism that if more people presented their cases in the Devs would be more driven to directly engage with the community.
In the end many people still play and love this game, despite its faults. This is a moment to express sadness that someone who helped make it happen is departing. If you have grievances, make a new thread.
Should this be the last post I write that Az ever reads, I hope you enjoyed it! Good bye and good luck. 
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I mean, it’s always sad to see someone go, and it’s annoying to lose a bit of workforce (until the substitute earns more experience), but each and every individual should seek what’s best for them, so I wish you luck ^^
will we tho? ;-;
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