Metzen isn't being cynical enough for me

Community General Discussion
62

I agree but it seems like wow really fell apart after cataclysm
Legion atleast brought SOME people back

63

He’s just trying to say support the working people and make sure you blame the ones calling the shots, not the ones working hard and doing their best with what they’re given. When upper management takes a steaming dump, it lands directly on the workers and they get the blame for the stench.

Anyone who has worked or works for a gigantic company knows the creative suffocation and complete lack of control the ones getting their hands dirty actually have, and how frustrating it is to watch something you work so hard at every day go in a direction you don’t agree with but can do nothing about.

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64

With all due respect to Metzen and the work he has put into the franchise, I’m not really sure his optimism is warranted. People are unhappy because the game isn’t enjoyable for them - they’re unhappy because of the decisions of the Activision Blizzard higher ups resulted in 10% of their workforce being fired, despite record-breaking profit, because the following year was gonna be ‘kinda hard’ and, instead of finding any other solutions, (like not giving their cfo a 15 million bonus) they chose the quickest solution.

Yes, I’m aware these people will be receiving a fair deal of help finding new jobs. That’s great, but that doesn’t change the fact that they let them go instead of trying to find another solution. Even if there -was- no other solution, the end result is still nobodies fault but Blizzards, because they dug that hole themselves.

I’m sorry for not being willing to support Activison, the company that is merged with Blizzard now and may as well own them, because their CEO is the kind of person who boldly states that he deliberately inspires fear amongst his workforce for their jobs and livelihoods, constantly reminding them of an economic depression that keeps them dependent, constantly working harder and harder until they burn out, for that almighty dollar.

“We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games.”

"I think we definitely have been able to instill the culture, the skepticism and pessimism and fear that you should have in an economy like we are in today. And so, while generally people talk about the recession, we are pretty good at keeping people focused on the deep depression."

Bobby Kotick, folks.

People have every right to be unhappy. We all know it’s not the fault of the developers who are in charge of coding and making the game. They’re not responsible for decisions their higher ups make. That does not mean, however, that our unhappiness is any less justified or that we shouldn’t show it. If that were the case, we may as well let any company do whatever they please, regardless of the harm it does to things we may care about.

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65

I did the day he left the company. It was and is pretty clear why. Hopefully he joins bonfire studios some day and they make great things again.

66

While I suppose that is true, I have no idea how that equates to your comment about him being paid by Blizzard to say nice things about them now.

67

I only take issue with this part. I’m sure there’s a lot of developers who agree with us, that the state of BFA is unacceptable. I think most people love the work the art and music teams put in, ect ect.

But sorry, Chris. The game isn’t great right now, the classes are garbage, the balance is a mess due to this garbage azerite system, the timegating is as transparent as it gets, the time it takes for fixes to come has been unacceptably long, and the business practices of Activision these last few months are absolutely unacceptable.

You can’t blame people for giving Blizzard crap, Chris. It’s absolutely deserved. I don’t care how much love the devs put into BFA. The end product sucks.

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68

I rarely come here anymore mostly i just got tired of the growing goupthink back on the old forums. But i think in this case Metzen is only partially right. There was a time when the people at Blizzard had a passion for their games and a great respect for its players.

Those days are long over no matter the Pollyannish sort of blind defence of Blizzard and it’s decisions.

Blizzard has been making serious mistakes since the end of Wrath of the Lich King and through those bad decisions, the refusal to communicate meaningfully with its playerbase they manged to bring a peak number of subscribers of 12 million to what? Three, maybe four at best? This had been a real trend in the gaming industry for gaming companies to release half completed products like Fallout 76 and then blame the players for not understanding what is ‘fun’.

Or with the Diablo ‘immortal’ fiasco wherein the biggest concern on the minds of Acti-Blizzard is whether we had phones or not.

And when this downward trend goes on for long enough its not the tall forehead executives who get to wear the responsibility but the actual people who we would like to communicate with us more often but are no effectively fired. And what were left with in terms of community contacts have had a history of openly insulting them on thier twitter feeds

So. no it’s not cynical to say Metzen is out of the loop. He is out of the loop. He’s done, gone finished. Those days are long gone. When you think of Acti-Blizzard dont see them as a passionate company who cares about thier games. But just another corp looking for the easiest fastest buck - Diablo Immortal i’m looking at you

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69

When can you realize restructuring is normal? I can’t help but think of how naive and green the people making a big deal about this are. Nobody cared when one of my jobs moved to another country, just because I made their product behind the scenes? Get over this already, it sucks but it’s normal and has been happening for decades.

70

And this is when you hire a good design team vs what they currently have. If you go to apply to Blizzard as a Senior Designer, more often than not they take advantage of your passion for the IP and give you a significant pay cut. Most people with talent outright reject this and move on to other studios.

(I’m married to a senior designer at a AAA studio so that’s my source here)
Most people with any kind of design sense ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO consider all the cons when designing anything. Most of our mutual friends look at WoW’s recent systems and decisions and scratch their heads asking, “How in the world did that make it to a playtest, let alone live?”

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71

All true, but even so I think there’s a large chunk of the community that is outsourcing their opinions from youtubers/streamers and allowing whatever enjoyment they were deriving from the game (despite its flaws) to be stolen away from them. They get caught up in the doom and gloom hysteria and begin to see everything through red-tinted lenses.

Blizz has problems for sure but I think a lot of us could benefit from taking a step back, taking a deep breath, evaluating the situation, and making sure our opinions are backed by rational thought and not emotional sensationalism.

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72

Metzen is certainly right on this particular point… though some can certainly argue things have gone too far at this point, or that there are signs of bigger problems.

But the community in a doom-saying mood would probably be DEVASTATING for the morale of the remaining developers… on top of how bad it already is with so many people getting let go.

That being said, most of the ire isn’t being directed at said developers… it’s aimed at those making the decision to let people go. Probably a small comfort to tell the truth.

Nevertheless, he is correct in saying the developers do NOT need more negativity to cripple what little morale is left. That won’t help Blizz in the long run.

… but the pessimist can also say neither is Activision helping Blizz in the long run either.

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73

Everything quoted in OP is cliche PR bull. He’s just confirming that Thrall is coming back at some point and he’s using his popularity to get some blizz points. People only talk like that when a contract is being written.

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74

I just feel he is morally obligated to beef up blizzard even when it only has 1 million active Americas subs

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75

World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, etc. are his lifes work…

Nobody would want to see that go down.

and I hope it doesn’t. I love the Blizzard IP’s.

76

Perhaps. I see the link you are making now even though I disagree. :slight_smile:

77

Jokes on you - I never cared what Chris Metzen had to say.

His Go’el fan fiction self-insert actively made Warcraft worse.

78

I like Chris Metzen I really do but he lives in the same bubble that managers at blizzard do. They don’t recognize the damage they do to the game. They start from the point that we are wrong and we don’t understand and they lecture us while skirting the problems with the game.

It was very visible from the beginning that Azerite armor and it’s acquisition method were bad. The community could see it and content creators made long video essays detailing the issues. These weren’t the sky is falling clickbait garbage videos they were well thought out presentations that detailed the issues made by people who have a better understanding of the community than the chiefs at blizzard do.

Metzen like his former protogés are blaming the community when they made the problem by not listening. “you think you do but you don’t” people think that’s just J A Brack’s attitude it’s the blizzard motto now, it’s the same mental wall they are trapped behind they just don’t see it.

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79

Eh, I can forgive this because Metzan really does feel like just a naturally upbeat kinda guy, and…

Honestly? As awful as this all is, this is one of those things I blame Activision for.

Not to say that there aren’t a plethora, a parade of terrible decisions, both in terms of design and morality, that I don’t pin 100% on Blizzard. They’re not perfect and we’re completely justified in demanding better. But this? This whole decision reeks of the worst of corporate tampering, which has reportedly gone way up in recent times.

Yes, Blizzard’s done some awful things, and more specifically the designers of this very game have made some completely indefensible decisions. I’ll be first in line with a steel-toed boot to kick them in the butt when it’s called for. But the current drama…? That’s not on Blizzard. That’s on Kotick.

Blame and outrage are fine, understandable, and justified, but only when targeted appropriately. While I’ll never be as sunshiny and upbeat as Mr. Metzen, especially about these kinds of things, in this, I generally agree with him.

Those impacted by all this don’t have any power in the matter. Hell, I doubt even J. Brack could have stood up and said, “No, Mr. Kotick, I’m not effectively upending the lives of 800+ people just so you can look good to the shareholders after promising them the gold-fartingly impossible.” He may operate on a whole other level of existence, but when Activision-Blizzard says “bark” all he can really do is go “yip-yip!” and try to make sure there are enough mattresses at the bottom of the window he’s be ordered to defenestrate all these people out of.

Which, to his credit, he has. This does suck, but at least it isn’t a Tell Tale Games level of suck.

Still, this should never have happened, that the consequences don’t impact those who’re truly responsible for it does suck. But I for one don’t think that this one can be pinned on Blizzard. I don’t think Metzen is offbase when he tries to defend his former company. I wouldn’t be so upbeat or forgiving about it, but he’s right to not hang this on Blizzard’s own head.

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That all said, It doesn’t fill me with any form of faith, that Activision won’t continue to subvert and poison this well of dedication and good vibes Metzen speaks of so glowingly.

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80

Unless you are a child or autistic, if you get your opinions from someone else you really need help. Children are supposed to “try on” ideas and such to help them figure out who they are. People with autism often copy what others do or say in order to navigate a world that is difficult for them.

I can’t imagine “outsourcing” my opinion on anything. Yuck.

81

Unhappy customers.
Unhappy developers.
Happy Bobby.

Anyone see the problem here?

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