Takes one to know one. SWISH
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Hey Andy.
Considering Blizzards financial success does hinge on their relationship with the players and the gaming community in general…Is there any chance you could shine some light on why there isn’t even a roadmap or something similar for OW2 development yet? Even something minimal, without dates and with clear notices that it’s subject to change at any time would do a great deal to dial back much of the frustration.
Really the question is…Why the secrecy? Blizzard hype is legendary. There is zero hype for OW2. What gives?
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There are two central issues here, as far as I can tell. The first is that the confidence and trust of the player base is in sore need of rebuilding as well.
The second issue is that while this isn’t a zero sum game, certain aspects of the improved relationship with content creators have adverse effects on the relationship with the player base.
Blizzard usually does a great job of not giving out wrong or uncertain information. Sometimes this throttles the communication pipeline, but it’s an honest position that I respect. I think the company has to also focus on not putting out information that is confusing.
The content creator call with its strict NDA was a confusing piece of information. It’s nice to see them excited, but it’s not clear what we as players should do with that information or what it meant.
This is part of a larger pattern. I think it’s fair to say that Blizzard hasn’t yet fully succeeded in convincing the player base that Overwatch 2 is an improvement over Overwatch 1, that it’s coming in a timely manner, and that it’s worth the content drought. There’s even been a lot of confusion about what exactly Overwatch 2 is - is it a sequel, an expansion, etc. The information that’s out there up till now has not been great at clearing the confusion and addressing these issues.
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I completely understand your reasoning, the thing I don’t understand is why pros are not included in this. I’d say considering they are directly hired to play the game professionally them knowing things about the game they have to compete in is even more important than content creators, pros in many ways fill the same role that content creators as a lot of them make content themselves.
It’s crazy to me that these people seemingly don’t know much more than us if even that.
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I just want information about the content creator meeting and when we could see the information they got…
And I want information on the tank changes…
Andy, I remember you said you would release an update… in the future about that information… that was 4 - 7 months ago.
I know you guys are trying your best… but we need more transparency
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There’s a certain point where what I say about what’s happening behind the scenes starts to spoil the efforts and countless hours of work of all of the people who would be involved in our major beats and announcements.
I’m not Mike Y, and don’t have the latitude to discuss certain things. I know y’all want news and information with more details. I’m not particularly keen on making promises without something of substance to show for it (yesterday’s statement notwithstanding).
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Y’all. Sorry to sound like a “simp” or anything but might wanna ease down pinning Andy against the wall?
I’m kinda disgruntled myself that alone a third game in-dev was announced before we got a release window for either d4 or ow2, but i don’t think the guy has any more powers than the content creator regarding the NDA stuff. The guy does his best to communicate with what he’s allowed to work with. Cut him some slack for the love of god.
We might end up with radio silence for months if we just push away and pressure another CM like that.
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I don’t really see this as pinning down Andy.
I just see frustrated players looking for answers 
And Andy is our best bet to getting some information.
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The way its been done with the tone and all really suggests, especially when he already made that point clears like 3 times just last night.
I’m not gonna argue the way the announcements have been handle arent poopy but that’s up to management that’s above him.
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It’s funny, Stylosa (popular OW Youtuber) recently exposed the fact that Blizzard’s PR were always horrible to work with whenever he had to deal with them. Apparently they were extremely stingy with what they would allow the devs to talk about, and even how much time he could spend talking to them. He essentially had to sneak off with Jeff, who was more than happy to share lots of stuff with him, and hide from the PR department at Blizzard.
Seems like this current content creator focus is their best attempt at correcting that, but of course they went about it in the most counter-productive way possible. The only people excited by that meeting are the content creators themselves, while the rest of us that heard about it are just mad.
Seems like the entire PR department needs to go. Blizzard’s rep is in the trash, the rep for all their games is in the trash. Seems like they are failures by any metric anyway. I have no idea what value they provide to the company at all.
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Now I’m really confused. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the two of you in the same room.
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Well I can see what your saying…
Passive-aggressiveness.
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This is something I agree with, and will take accountability for. I didn’t quite anticipate the creator response coming out of the call that folks are commonly referencing.
Moving forward we’ll be more discrete, so as not to build hype and excitement before it’s time.
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Will we know what said information was… soon?
I just want some information on that event that took place, will it ever go public?
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Problem is, Andy is really our only onnection to the actual dev team and the worse they perform the harsher people will be on Andy.
That being said the general discontnet is understanable, the only thing Andy can do right now is, well, talk to us and most of us have reached a point of “Empty/shallow” words from Blizzard.
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Honestly given some of the stuff i’ve read, that would be an understatement.
I’ve had some quarrels with some actiblizz people on the forum myself but i feel like people here are beating on a dead horse on points already made very recently.
We’re just taking the piss for the sake of it at this point.
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I get both sides entirely, but as an (admittedly) smaller content creator - this is why the embargos with the top dogs sting as much as they do.
I like to make, scripted, well thought out and less ‘sensationalized’ content but am now at a huge disadvantage because those big guys all get the jump before the rest of us.
Personally, I prefered it when everyone had equal opportunity to make content on the game, but I understand the benefits.
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100% honesty? Yeah, content creators are WAY more important, they kind of create what we play. We are secondary(but important too). Now weather we like what they push out? That is PURELY subjective and they just need more yes’s than no’s.
Is a painter as important as the painting or to go further the person who is looking/buying the painting? The creator is first always in all things. EVERYTHING ELSE is important but secondary.
Don’t expect this level of wisdom from me on these forums ever again. Live well and free.
Its that simple.
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Even if there had been an NDA around the idea of the call itself, it still would have been very telling that a bunch of people who were feeling rather hopeless, and openly saying so, suddenly are not saying the same things as before.
Even if they do not say why or do not even say that they are, the absence of what had existed before would have been a red flag that gave away the existence of the meeting itself, especially given that we now know that such meetings exist.
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Fair. In which case I’d like to suggest that it be fed back that something such as a roadmap is long overdue and would help revive the hype.
We’re more than 2 years into this now. The current situation is far below what many have come to expect from Blizzard. That expectation is itself a credit to Blizzard devs in general but it’s also crucial that Blizzard recover their high standards reputation.
If the main game is going to be abandoned the devs need hype for OW2. Streamers saying what is essentially “trust me bro” isn’t going to cut it.
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