Rearranging and Removing Portals

Community General Discussion
9793

I think the reason WoW is still around is simple.

Blizzard grabbed the lightning in a bottle at the perfect moment.

For a number of years they maintained that flash. But then slowly they began to realize they had a captive audience and believed they could do whatever they wanted.

By that point the audience had been hooked, not by a high quality game, but by the skinner box mentality, the hours they played and the friends they developed.

The players quite simply didn’t want to leave it all behind and Blizzard understood that fact. They became complacent and their push for quality began to slip as a result. Because they didn’t have to work to keep an audience. They had one, they just had to maintain it.

And that is what led them to making more and more questionable decisions, which of course began their slow decline as well as shaping them into the company they are now today.

They also became so big in the market due to all these factors that they had become a giant, and they didn’t have to worry about the competition. Which wasn’t helped by the competition either getting greedy or trying to innovate in bad ways.

The smart company would have simply gone “take everything good about wow and add something unique to it.” That would have done damage to wow. But they all had to make something “unique” and different.

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9794

Wasn’t their QA department one of the ones that was hardest hit by the layoffs?

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9795

Very true. Sad, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s spot on.

Semper Fi! :us:

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9796

Complacency is a terrifying enemy that has destroyed many a good man.

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9797

Actually, I think the problem is very few, if any, of the original developers still work on WoW. Certainly there has been a decline in game quality, but I think it’s more to do with changes in leadership combined with personnel changes. It’s a different game now because different people are creating the content under different parameters.

Sadly, “different” does not necessarily mean “better”–something the folks in charge at Blizzard don’t seem to understand.

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9798

I agree with this. It seems logical to think that the higher ups have a different vision for this game than what they had years ago. Doesn’t make it a good vision with the lack of communication on their part, though.

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9799

They also became so big in the market due to all these factors that they had become a giant, and they didn’t have to worry about the competition. Which wasn’t helped by the competition either getting greedy or trying to innovate in bad ways.

Except now the competition is slowly and quietly pushing WOW off its pedestal, by providing a better quality experience.

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9800

I won’t deny the changing of the guard did damage as well. In short, its a multitude of factors that mutated them into the state they’re in today.

Any group can lose touch with their roots. I mean, look at various political groups. Many of them were founded for the most honest and just reasons. Years later many of them have become radicals that are nothing like what they were founded for.

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9801

Hey Verdre

Want the example of complacency?

Take a look at the OCE forums sometime.

9802

Ergo, they learned from the mistakes other companies have made.

They’ve seen that once again they have a chance at a piece of the pie that is gamers who play mmorpgs. So long as they don’t rush or get greedy, they can potentially become genuine and real competition.

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9803

Example: Class depth, player agency, fun.

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9804

Just like “change” is not always good.

I can be forced to move from a 3 bedroom how down to a studio. My living arrangements have changed. That doesn’t mean its a good thing. Change can indeed be bad. Something people tend to forget.

“Change for the sake of change” is a bad idea but Blizzard loves to use that as a design principle far too often.

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9805

The thing that makes me laugh the hardest is that Square Enix (FF14) and Grinding Gear Games ( Paths of Exile , which is kicking Diablo 3 out the door) are both OCEANIC companies.:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

9806

uh… the people who aren’t bothered by it, are just going about their business.

millions of happy campers, vs the vocal minority.

9807

FF14 seems to be a good example of a game that took what made WoW great, and added to that, and seems to try to stay in touch with it’s players. ActiBlizz can learn a thing or two from them. And considering WoW’s subs are likely below 2 million by now, well, they could use all the good ideas they can get.

Semper Fi! :us:

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9808

\uh… the people who aren’t bothered by it, are just going about their business.

You so sure about that?

millions of happy campers, vs the vocal minority.

Source?

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9809

Yo, I just tried to port to the blasted lands for the first time since this change went live. The dude doesn’t even offer me an option to teleport there lol! Am I on candid camera right now? This is a joke, right?

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9810

why are you asking for a source?
i already gave one.

the source is literally these threads.

9811

There is a danger in saying “they’re the vocal minority, they can be safely ignored”.

Something like 95% of unhappy customers never speak up. They don’t say anything, they just stew as an unhappy customer or finally leave without saying a word.

That’s terrifying. That companies are only hearing from less than 10% of their unhappy customers about what they’re doing wrong.

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9812

Again, you don’t have proof. Because you’re simply looking at the WoW forums. When there have been multiple boards across the net (as mentioned multiple times) covering these changes. Almost none of the commentary has been in favor of Blizzard.

So if you judge strictly based off the forums, you’re willfully blinding yourself to the facts.

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