Since Ghostcrawler left Blizzard around 2014 communication has been really bad though they are always saying they’re trying to improve it but lately I don’t think it has ever been this bad. I have been following the development of D2R and TBCC and people are just never getting any feedback from Blizzard, it’s radio silence for months and months with the forums flooded with feedback and hot topics. Could please address some of these threads for a change, anything just so we know you guys exist?
Here are some of them :
Collectors Edition Mount
Boost
Paladin Seals
Fresh Severs
Dual Spec
Due to the way that topics get flowcharted by the community, there’s no reasonable positive thing they could say to help both sides. In other words, the only way to win the wargame is to not play.
For Blizzard, it’s a win to not get flowcharted. I’d stay far away from people who want a response for no other reason than to flowchart it. If there’s a bi-partisan, somewhat reasonable conversation that can come out of this, they’ll probably say something.
Not defending the lack of communication because I do agree they could be better about it but my thoughts are…
Collector’s Edition stuff was all just datamined info that I personally wish wasn’t a thing so people would stop picking up pitch forks before Blizzard says anything about the matter.
Boosts they have already made a blue post about. Just because some people don’t like that they are a thing doesn’t mean they haven’t already addressed them. They showed their stance on it and they are EXTREMELY likely to stay in.
I believe they already commented on Paladin Seals as well mentioning they want to keep that as a play style.
Fresh Servers are likely not going to be addressed till they see how popular TBCC ends up being. I personally would love to see a couple implemented. Also, they may not know how they want to address this yet.
Dual Spec seems unlikely due to their main stance on preserving as much authenticity to TBC as possible with a few balance changes sprinkled in.
These are issues that are coming up a lot here in the forum. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are exploring the ideas, but they need better data to determine whether these are truly desired by the most of the players, or not.
I’ve been to every expansion beta providing feedback, I know how it used to be. My point is not getting what I want it’s how things changed to bad. And in my opinion it has everything to do with Activison, laidoffs and all the old talent leaving.
What could they possible say? They told us what they think about those topics all ready. Just because you disagree with it, doesn’t mean they have to say anything else.
Boost/Paladin seals: There has been a Blue post addressing it. Just because you do not like the answer does not mean it deserves further Blue post commenting.
Blizzard knows that datamining exists and is a thing. They also know that anything with a real money price tag is going to create a sh*tstorm. They could’ve done damage control on this a LONG time ago. That they haven’t implies that either A) they want to sweep it under the rug and hope no one notices or B) it’s not actually 100% set in stone yet (and for completeness, there’s also the option of them just being incompetent, which is entirely possible).
All of these merit speaking out about. If they want to attempt to hide it, then it should be brought to light. If they are undecided about it then feedback and player opinions are welcome. If they are incompetent it doesn’t hurt to bring it to their attention and ask what the heck is going on. There’s basically no downsides here, except for an infinitesimally small chance that the datamined collector’s edition stuff was never actually going to be a collector’s edition purchase…which Blizzard could’ve just communicated and put to rest, so I’d personally lump that under “incompetence”.
Blizzard doesn’t let players (or groups of players) design or co-design the game. If a player suggests a new feature (dual spec, fresh servers) Blizzard accepts that input, but does NOT discuss and debate that feature with players, as if we were co-designers. We aren’t. They won’t “address” features we suggest. Not even ducks!
If Blizzard announces a feature (the boost) and some players dislike it, so what? It is IMPOSSIBLE to please everyone. No matter WHAT Blizzard does, some players disagree. Didn’t you figure that out by now?
Back in the early years, Blizzard talked about things they were considering. That stopped because a few players took “maybe” as a solemn promise, and spent 12 months flooding this forum with “We all know that Blizzard LIES to players” threads. It happened. I saw it. And I saw Blizzard stop posting.
Speaking to the public? Why? They aren’t into “virtue signaling”, or trying to win some award. They aren’t politicians, or poly-sci professors.
You are making the assumption that “Blizzard has 100% decided everything and it cannot possibly change”. Is that how businesses really operate?
Your logic is based on some very UNlikely assumptions. For example, you say that “datamined” is the same as “publicly announced”, because Blizzard knows that datamining exists. Pure nonsense! You can’t invent rules and expect the world to follow them.
To write all the support code (you know, the 95% of code you never see) they often needs a “place-holder”. So they put it there. If this was a top-secret government project, it would be encrypted.
Every time new content is announced, there’s always the obligatory ''communication has never been this bad" posts that follow. We know they’re listening to player feedback and when decisions are taken, they let us know. A good example of this would be the addition of the tinnitus debuff to drums.
If nothing new has been said on the topics listed above, it’s because there is nothing new to be said.
This use to be a thing but blizzard stopped listening in WoD alpha when even the streamers in addition to the alpha testers unanimously rejected their class designs and idiotic class pruning.
You forgot C) They put it in because they want to watch people cry wolf over something so silly and trivial knowing full well that every single person on these forums complaining is doing so while still handing them money.
It blows my mind how much people rage over a 15 year old game.