I don’t think that’s what he meant. I think he was just talking about post-launch content for OW1, not OW2.
It is already confirmed to be in OW2. it is on her skill tree.
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yes exactly, im a mercy main and even i thought that feature was ridiculously op. imagine thinking you won a fight that you worked hard for and then mercy swoops in and starts the fight again.
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It was the defense from other ults which also made you lose a fight you had already won.
It went both ways.
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This line stood out: “I don’t think I’m going to be able to talk to the community and the media in the same way that Jeff did. The guy is so good on camera, he’s sharp, he’s quick-witted. I mostly stumble through answers and leak things about potential releases that we have when I talk to people.”
Okay - If you’re more on the Elon Musk side of presentation, consider a PR person, a community manager type who is good at speaking.
I think he’s saying he doesn’t think he can bring the same type of energy as Jeff did.
I understand that, my point is if you are not confident speaking, you will avoid doing so out of fear of not doing well or releasing too much info. This is why having a rep is the best way.
I’m excited for new leadership and new changes. Things that went ignored may finally get addressed.
I don’t think he’s not confident. He was doing great when it was BlizzCon. It’s just that we shouldn’t expect Jeff 2.0 when it comes to how he comes across to us. He’ll have his own thing.
He’ll get the hang of it.
I believe he will most likely. Jeff had a knack, but like any performer, it takes time to grow. FWIW, I am not anti-Aaron, quite the opposite. That being said, someone who is a communicator and does it frequently might not hurt the game…
Thanks for the tip, I’m sure this billion dollar corporation is happy for the advice. Not sure what they’d do without random forum posters telling them the basics of how to run a business.
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You DO realize that this is the common approach across industries? Its unusual for the actual head to provide these kinds of updates… glad I could enlighten you on the question. PR exists for a reason…
I mean the only evidence we have that Jeff did anything to “protect” us from the evil Activision is in an interview where he says as much. No proof but his words.
But what ponders me is why was he allowed to publicly in an interview insult his superiors and the company you work for? Most jobs you’d be fired for doing so. I think it was just a PR stunt because Jeff along with superiors know people swallowed every word he said without hesitation.
Interviewer:
How long has Jeff [Kaplan]'s departure been something that you as a team knew about,
Aaron Keller:
The team is the one that’s carrying the torch forward and they always have been.
You haven’t read what he said have you?
The community feels like the dev team left when Jeff left and that this is a detrimental change. Jeff didn’t design hero abilities and characters, Jeff didn’t design the maps (Aaron did for example), Jeff didn’t balance the game, program it and wasn’t the sole decision maker/creator - he was a director and the face of overwatch (which according to Aron he didn’t like - cuz it painted a wrong picture of “who makes the game and who is responsible for t being like it is” - as he explains. The team is still the same, the senior dev management is the same.
He answered: Jeff leaving won’t change much in how the game is made and handled, but what him leaving means comes down to the hole Jeff left as a person, a friend and a mentor - They’ve lost their pep-talker, their boss and an important voice (just one of many, and not the most important - they are all equally important) on the table.
Jeff is just one man, him leaving won’t fundamentally change much.
As for the activision part - I dunno, he cannot contractually talk smack about them, he can’t decide how to finance the game as Aaron is not activision CEO.
He obviously didn’t insult them. It wasn’t framed like that. The whole “Jeff protected us from evil Activision” is very much a community thing. All Jeff said was that he had to convince them and it was very challenging.
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Did you? Do you see how that answers the question I quoted? He completely sidesteps it. He doesn’t even mention it. He could have said “I really am not in a position to talk about jeffs plans” and that would have been fine. Acknowledge the question but admit to not being able to answer for whatever reason. That’s why I quoted that first. I understand he was trying to imply that one man leaving wasn’t going to make a huge impact because jeff wasn’t micromanaging or entangled in every descision but either he’s oblivious to the point of the question which was “Did jeff get fired or leave suddenly, did this mean plans are changing in a way he wouldn’t/couldn’t agree with, how do you all feel about that if that’s what happened?” or he’s trying his damndest to parry. Both sides are fencing and not reading subtext and trying to just face value it all ignores the fact we know it’s all spin on Aarons side and absolute prying for the “juicy deets” on the interviewers side.
He had a chance to assure us that the public facing stance that Jeff had projected to us about NOT overly monetizing the game was still in place. But he just shrugged basically and said “exciting things are happening” He didn’t need to badmouth anyone but it would have been nice to have some reassurance that a changing of the guard wasn’t the result of some stricter policies being put in place.
It wouldn’t have made a difference.
I don’t think Jeff projected that. His last interview he talked about battle-passes “being a good option”
But the guard hasn’t changed, that’s his whole point. You are mistaking Jeff for the “the guard”
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Not to everyone but it’s something I wanted to hear.
He also mentioned he was against making us start all over again on the cosmetic collections or progression (as it is).
I understand Jeff isn’t the OW team or the one shield holding paladin keeping it all safe against the evil corp. He’s just management. But it would have been nice to hear some sort of reassurance that his departure wasn’t a sign of things going down a direction that’s consumer hostile (well more than it is now anyway).
The interview lacks the answers anyone wanted to hear. It’s meaningless to anyone who’s interested in the actual reasons behind the change that did happen. I don’t particularly blame Aaron for not wanting to be the guy who lays it all out, but I can critique the fact they left out ANY information that the people who probably instantly clicked that link were looking for.
If he thinks he’s not good at public speaking he could leverage some of the talent they have and do it a different way eg he could appear on a show with Soe and the bronze Brits who could easily handle the wacky stuff.