This has to be the worst Blizzard comment I've ever seen

"We appreciate all feedback, and the most valuable feedback for this feature will come from experience in Torghast, rather than discussions about time-based difficulty that aren’t informed by in-game experience."

In other words - “If you haven’t play tested it, your opinion isn’t as valuable as someone who has.” That is - anyone not in Alpha, don’t bother giving us input.

Blizzard, here’s the thing - I don’t need to be bitten by a poisonous spider to know I won’t enjoy the experience. It is possible to offer an opinion on something despite never having had first hand experience of it.

That comment shows that what they are seeking is not “is this a good thing”, its “how does it work for you”.

I am generally a supporter of Blizzard - I love this game and have been in love with it from the first day I played it back in 2009. I’ve recognised the high and low points but I’ve always been willing to give them the chance to learn and move on. Yet this statement worries me. It makes me think they haven’t learned from past unfortunate mistakes and stumbles. They are making decisions based on statistics and numbers rather than how the game feels to play. And they are telling us that our opinion doesn’t matter.

News at 9, Blizzard: my opinion DOES matter. So does the opinion of every other player. If you believe our opinions are uninformed, then inform us. Don’t treat us like mushrooms. Or milk cows.

I’m not going to verge off into discussion on Torments (which is a whole other kettle of untasty fish) - this post is purely a dissatisfied input from someone who has purchased Shadowlands through a longterm player loyalty. Don’t make me feel I made a mistake.

PS: I am getting a lot of comments that seem to miss the core of my post.

I am not saying that people who play the content won’t have a better idea of how something works than those that don’t.
What I am saying is that Blizzard, in this particular part of their post, are basically saying that they don’t want to hear from anyone on the idea itself, just on how it works. If you can’t see my point, I’m obviously not making it very well.

I won’t keep reiterating that to those who don’t quite see what I am getting at. Of course, if you don’t care and agree that them saying we shouldn’t comment on the philosophy of a change, and just how it works, then that’s fine.

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But they’re right. First hand experience trumps an observer on the side lines.

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So in other words the truth.

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You are missing my point.

It is possible to form an opinion on something on principle.

Not how it works, not whether Part A goes well with Part B - but whether the idea itself is a good one.

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they would rather to take feedback from people who know how to play this game. this is bad how? it’s not like they set out to hurt your frail feels intentionally, despite whatever you may be thinking.

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See my comment above.

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Yeah that’s pretty dumb but nothing will ever beat Ions comment in WoD; “We just don’t want you to play Demonology”.

Lol, okay? That’s the dumbest most unprofessional lowpoint I’ve ever heard from a corporate representative.

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Then go ahead? They just said that play test feedback is more valuable, which is the truth.

By the way, that post was on the alpha forums. They could just be saying to alpha testers, “Test it first before giving feedback.”

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No, I fully understand what you’re saying. I just don’t agree with it.
It is completely normal for someone having tried the content would have a more insightful idea and first hand experience is always better than simply theory.
It’s kind of like the scientific method, you theorize then you apply it. If your results aren’t what you expected, then great. You can adjust, you receive feedback.

Just spitballing without trying it will miss details and nuances in the gameplay itself.

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Yes, but an opinion formed on principle is less valuable than one that’s formed on experience, which is what they said. They never said they’re completely disregarding our opinions. They said they’re lending more weight to those that have seen how it actually feels rather than have an idea of how it could feel.

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oh.

They’re not going to listen to the Alpha testers either anyway so I don’t know why anyone cares. It’s gonna be fun watching them scramble together 5 extra systems in 9.2 and 9.3 to try to fix everything they mess up in the initial release.

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This is true, but someone who has been bitten by a venomous spider will be able to accurately describe why they don’t like it and why other people won’t like it. It is an objective fact that the person who was bitten has more useful information on the subject than you do.

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We appreciate all feedback
Most valuable feedback comes from experience.

They never dismissed your feedback, they said it isn’t as valuable as experience, which is completely factual.

Helps to know what you’re reading, sometimes, you know?

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I took it as the feedback from what is in the game is much more useful than conversations about a timer that isn’t actually in there.

That’s just what I got from it. But, since I haven’t played it, I don’t know if a timer is indeed in the thing or not.

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HA ha you actually think they give a crap what we think? HAHA Not in a million years. They added the timer it will never leave. They will drive a few more milliion away from this game before they admit defeat. Torghast is dead to me I don’t plan on ever stepping foot in it. I actually thinking of moving on for the first time in 15+ years. It’s a shame, I love this game, I have found nothing better and probably won’t

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The fact that this discussion is going on in this forum now is a reflection of the fact that they know there are a lot of features in shadowlands that will be controversial. Everyone won’t like it. Lots of people who have prepurchased will end up feeling like they got something less than they could reasonably expect.

I didn’t buy BfA until mid-expansion. I have no regrets. BfA was Legion stripped down to design templates. Shadowlands will be Horrific Visions on steroids with a big dollop of “No you can’t play that content, you must live with the consequences of the decision you made, this is an RPG!”

I would advise no one to prepurchase at this time.

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that’s absurd. if you’ve been around long enough, played enough stuff, whatever, you’ll know what kind of gameplay you wouldn’t enjoy and what kind you would.

if blizzard wants more feedback up to their standards, let more people in.

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Great advice. Wish I would not have preordered it.

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This could be remedied by letting us play Torghast instead of a few streamers.

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