Hey y’all – I’m Shrike!
I recently joined Blizzard as a designer on the combat team. I’m new to working in the games industry, having most recently been in general aviation as a mechanical engineer. I started playing WoW in Legion prepatch and immediately dove into raiding. I’ve even been in the Hall of Fame once or twice, although I think those days are behind me now!
I’m a tank through-and-through, and have made a habit of class-hopping over the tiers as balance or utility needs have demanded – and sometimes just for fun! The bulk of my time’s been spent on brewmaster (and I have no shortage of sticky note diagrams to show for it), but my heart’s always been with my paladin.
My introduction to game design was through analysis as a player; I was drawn to analyzing my own gameplay, which quickly evolved into analyzing and explaining class and boss mechanics. I liked to write and think about some of the secondary effects of tank gameplay, and the less-visible ways your decisions impact your group’s success.
I’m really excited about getting to bring my perspective and ideas to WoW, and looking forward to collaborating with you all!