So then why would you make a competitive player a lead game designer then? Competition between friends is fine, but it shouldn’t drag the entire game down.
I’ve been on the forums for a long time lol, just under a few different names. Regardless, i actually remember most people calling Covenants a DOA annoyance of a system… and it turned out to be right. Ion already said they don’t plan to redo anything like it in the future in an interview and we’re not even done with the expansion. Everyone knew it wouldn’t be a smashing success. If anyone was actually thinking it would successfully “combat elitism or min-maxing”, chances are they had absolutely no idea how the game or its community worked.
But none of that has really anything to do with the the “absence” of casual content though. Covenants are just a plot device with player power attached to it for absolutely no sane reasons. Even without them we’d still get world quests and Torghast etc.
Not saying it applies to all raiders, there’s plenty of well rounded players that raid. But there’s a portion of the raiding population that acts like i described for sure, there always has been. Hell i’ve known people who played this game purely to raid lead.
For the other part… i’m not entirely sure what you mean, you think Blizzard poorly rewards casual content because in the past raiders had to grind it to minmax? I personally doubt it.
Because you’re operating under the assumption that all competitive players raid log because they don’t enjoy or care about casual content, ignoring the possibility that they think everything is fine and dandy for casual gameplay.
I’d liken it to two circles. The larger circle everyone is in, casuals and competitives. Where the competitive circle is inside the larger circle. The biggest problem is the circles are the opposite of that right now.
Maybe he is the right person for it, maybe he’s not. I think people are just excited to see someone active on Twitter and do more than Raid and consider him an immediate upgrade over Ion.
How is that any different than assuming that since Ybarra is competitive, he would be great at developing casual content?
Regardless of who’s in the chair, he/she will always be villainized. It doesn’t matter who it is. He/She will never get any of the credit, but all of the blame. That’s why I don’t take much stock in the Ion outrage every time it comes up.
Would you rather someone who doesn’t play the game at all be over it? Is there anyone with more evidence of playtime than Ybarra you would suggest?
Like if having good parses make you better game director!. LOL dude.
Literally what. The raid is great. I’d put money on more actual raiders enjoying the fights than not. Raid was incredibly well received within most communities that I’ve observed.
I mean, I think casual content just has to suck because of how low the average playskill is of most casuals, so the people who are stuck between the “I don’t want to try in M+ or raids” and “I want to faceroll my keyboard and get cosmetics” suffer because to justify most of the casual content, the lowest end player has to be able to complete it… which is why Warfronts, Torghast, the campaign, Island Expeditions, etc are so bland.
So if you make Mike Ybarra the game director, you’re giving him a demotion lol.
Nor are they someone I, personally, would want leading the WoW team. m+ is pretty much the most toxic aspect of WoW IMO, and fosters an attitude that has very little place in an MMORPG. There is a great deal more to the game than raiding and m+ and all of that needs a lot of improvement. Personally, if they removed m+ from the game, I would throw a party. /spit
Semper Fi! 
Can I put my name in the hat too?
I may be an outlier here, but I dont believe the prime consideration for who is in charge of a game should be decided by whether or not they play it.
I dont care if they play it - what I care about is that they know how to make it a good game. The best barista I get to make my coffee doesnt even drink coffee. But she is damned good at making a capuccino and thats all that matters to me. They have teams of people who can advise them, and what their job should be is to ensure that the right people are hired to not only provide productive advice but to have the experience to know what to do to make good stuff happen.
One of our Aussie businessmen once said that he always tried to hire people who knew more about stuff than he did, and werent afraid to offer honest opinion because when all he heard was agreement, nothing good came of it. If the two new Blizzard CEOs can find someone with that attitude, Id be fine if their WoW experience was minimal, but their creative drive was on max.
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i guess your experience has been a lot different than mine. i made two new friends last night pugging keys.
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I did it a few times with friends when it first came out, I haven’t done it since. IMO, it’s a blatant attempt to turn WoW into an esport, and has no place in an MMORPG. Before m+, I saw very little of the gogogo rushrushrush attitude, and now, it seems to me that attitude is far more prevalent and getting worse every day.
They keys, the affixes, the timer, the having to wait till the end of the week to get your loot, the entire concept leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I just don’t like it as it currently is. And the gogogo attitude it seems to foster in the people that like m+ really gets on my nerves. I don’t play WoW to be rushed, I play it to relax, and there is no reason to rush through a normal/heroic/regular mythic instance if you’re not against a timer.
For those of you that like it, more power to you, as for me, as it currently is, I will not touch it. Just try to keep in mind that outside of m+, there is no rush, this is a game, slow it down.
Semper Fi!
Wouldn’t that be a demotion at this point?
In all fairness, a gofast attitude has been around in dungeons for a long time, and well before M+ was introduced. In all probability M+ speed running was more a result of the gofast tendency from players than the other way round.
It has been, but is wasn’t as prevalent until m+ came around, and as I said, it is getting worse. You didn’t rush through old Scholo, or BRD, or even Shattered Halls, which had a timer, and PoS, uh uh, not unless you wanted to come out of there with broken armor or a high repair bill. Don’t even get me started on the Cata dungeons. That’s when I learned to play, long before m+ and ActiBlizz’s attempt to turn WoW into an esport. This isn’t my job, it’s a game, I play it to relax and I will not be rushed.
Semper Fi!
Thats arguable. I cant recall ever during my 12 years of play there not being a time when people were pushing through dungeons as fast as they could. People hardly ever just took their time and savoured the experience - it was all a matter of killing mobs and bosses asap to get to the end, get the goodies, and leave. Talking was infrequent, people hardly ever even said hullo. In fact, I think I’ve seen more of that over the past year. I almost always say G’day when I start one and often one or more people respond.
But since M+ that need for speed is even more evident I think. That Shadowlands dungeon where you could skip a boss (I cant recall which one, not in the game atm) you got abused and/or kicked if you dared to ask for the boss to be done, which is sad imo.
Obviously player experience is subjective but it always seemed fairly common to me.
Mythic+ is just an extension to what Challenge modes were to me. I love how far it’s come.
The game director/lead devs/president/whatever should be better than most players are, so it’s a great choice with Mike Ybarra.
I do find it amusing that some low level classic alt is trying to bash Ion’s skill though…he is a better player than 99% of any of the posters on the forums.
Hardcore audience is tiny. If you want money you bring casuals. And casuals want transmogs, mounts, housing, music instruments, events, weddings.
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