I dislike people always falling back on this with zero added context. Blizzard fell back on classic because it was actively costing them an immense amount of money and marketing when they already had all the tools to make a massive amount of money in the first place. They did not change it for any reason other than that. Constantly acting like classic is the be all end all example of Blizzard changing their minds is silly because it is not applicable to this situation in any regard.
No it doesn’t because you have the option to adjust and get it done and are actively choosing not to. That is your fault. Your actions are your responsibility. You are choosing to not adjust. That is your fault.
And this is the part people don’t get or don’t want to get.
This wasn’t just a typo. All meta achievement mounts specifically say “normal or higher.” A typo is a misspelled or missing word. “All difficulties” isn’t a misspelling of “normal or higher.”
Then there’s the fact they had months to fix it on the PTR then days or weeks to fix it once it went live. For three months they just left it as is and allowed people to think they could earn it on the PTR.
Then instead of correcting their mistake on the achievement or making a real announcement (like maybe on the information page for Fated raids on their official website) they went into a thread with over 700 replies and stated it there. For players that don’t come to the forums or Wowhead, they wouldn’t have found out until Aug 1st (day before it was released.)
Then there’s the way they fixed it. They slithered into live like the snakes they are and did an update that didn’t even bring the servers down. No patch note or acknowledgment or any kind.
I think they did all this because the whole “we’re listening,” “we’re communicating” thing is a lie. They only “listen” to feedback they were already planning on changing. Take the 500 mount reward as example. They changed it from a recolored yeti to a recolored otter. If they were actually listening to mount collectors then they would have given us a unique model or a recolor that stands out from a mile away like the Feltalon. I’m confidently saying that anyone that collects mounts seriously (500+) did not want a recolored ground mount that shares a model and skin with 8 other mounts. That yeti was a placeholder they’ve had on the books for a while and they used this situation as a publicity stunt to say “we listen!”
Back to the Slime Cat. Blizzard should have done one of three things:
Immediately fixed the wording and announced it was a mistake.
Owned up to their mistake and allowed it to be earned in LFR. Announce that in the future all seasonal raid mount rewards will be earned in normal.
Apologized for allowing the incorrect wording to go live and give LFR people some kind of participation trophy. Pet, title, toy, etc.
Regardless of why you can’t say they didn’t change their minds because they did. If someone says they don’t go to hospitals then they get shot in the arm and they go to a hospital they changed their mind There’s people who will be stubborn and just have their arm get infected and die before going to a hospital, those are the people that didn’t change their mind.
I don’t believe this was a decision of the design team so I am reluctant to blame them. This feels like a decision made by mid-level senior manager from accounting who noticed token sales were slipping.
No they did https://www.wowhead.com/news/jig glesworth-sr-slime-cat-mount-for-completing-all-season-4-fated-raids-326882#p5364369
Remove the space between the g’s to read the comment.
I can’t directly link because blizz has an issue with the name of their own mount. But they directly commented to a Wowhead staff member and deliberately changed the text to any difficulty. On the assumption that if LFR was fated it would have the mount. That’s very clear intent. So no it as very very clearly a post-ex-facto decision from on high.
And this is something else I didn’t like about the optics of this entire situation. I know, I know I’m putting on my tinfoil hat for this option but I don’t care.
In that three months the slime cat said “any difficulty”, the preorders and 6 month mount was released.
It appears that is the case, then they made public comment clearly saying that the mount would be in lfr if fated. This was then posted to the announcement article indicating that not only was blizz aware but intended this to be a path. The if is whether or not LFR was fated. It is, so they pulled back on what they said and moved goalposts. They had months to fix this and chose not to. That’s why I’m so irked.
Blizzard: Releases a vague achievement description.
Blizzard: Fixes the achievement description before the achievement itself can actually be achieved and clarifies how the achievement can be completed.
GD: WHY ARE BLIZZARD BEING SILENT ON THIS ACHIEVEMENT.
I’m tired of saying this… it wasn’t vague it was deliberate. See my post to Brewa above. The blues deliberately changed it to any difficulty and indicated they’d add the mount to LFR if they made it fated. They did make it fated… and then pulled back on what they said.
There’s people who will be stubborn and just have their arm get infected and die before going to a hospital, those are the people that didn’t change their mind.