Holly only recently joined the WoW team in 2020, but offered insights as both a long-time player and recent leader. Her tenure at the company has been marked with significantly more transparency and in-game content.
When asked about the one thing she might change about WoW’s history, she said, “I think we should have listened more to the player base.”
Navigating feedback while keeping the game intact is a difficult balance for developers. That balance had been disrupted with the release of Shadowlands as indicated not only by feedback but by subscriber numbers.
Throughout Dragonflight and its development, Blizzard has recommitted to listening to player feedback and WoW has turned around as a direct result.
Game development over the last 20 years has dramatically changed where it was initially driven by instinct and passion. How players give feedback has changed in the age of social media where it was previously relegated to centralized forums.
Strategy has shifted now to listening to feedback from a variety of sources but also verify those discussion with in-game analytics to really get at the core of the problem.
In the past, Blizzard took too long to respond to players, especially in Shadowlands, though pandemic working conditions were a major factor. They committed themselves to creating content during the pandemic, but “it wasn’t the right stuff.”
Blizzard is taking those lessons to heart and using it as guidance for WoW’s future.
Looking back at shadowlands I didn’t care much about the delayed patches. It only got more hate because people were stuck at home for months during lockdowns
I guess they still haven’t learned their lesson about listening yet as we still have this super lame and completely unnecessary cast time for swapping flying modes when it should be instant.
Surely they would listen to these community members who are from different play styles in wow and not ignore them! They also wouldn’t abandon this newfound community council almost immediately after it’s creation, after all blizzard is always listening to the players!
Kaivax is the best. I feel sorry for the Community managers. Their hands are tied by those above them. Community managers instructed not to engage much with the community.
A good dev knows when to listen and when not to listen. I really hope they don’t go in the completely opposite direction and listen to every idea no matter how stupid.
You are playing a fictional race in a fictional setting where people can just throw fireballs around or transform into demons. Realistic is not a strong argument.
