Ten years ago Blizzard had the midas touch now since alot of high quality developers left them they turned human. The thing is that the mjority of the gaming genre still hasn't a clue so that still keeps Blizzard ontop of mostly everyone else. Bioware and ArenaNet are the only ones that even come close to being better or as equal as Blizzard was 10 years ago.
This.
It took me a while too, catching up and reading up on current state of affairs as it is now with Blizzard, for a long time I thought Blizzard couldn't change. But even the best sports teams change in the course of the years.
A number of those high quality developers went to ArenaNet. 5-10 years ago Blizzard was phenomenal. Then in the course of the years I started to wonder, then to frown and then to get disappointed by the decisions they made and sometimes lack of great decisions.
And nowadays almost all of the news coming forth around Blizzard makes me sad to see that touch of brilliance and creativity that used to show so obviously in those years past now being gone.
I hope that Activision Blizzard's new MMO will recall that old Blizzard magic again, but so far the news of their other games only gives off an 'acceptable' vibe, where in the past their games used to be 'exceptional'.
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Originally posted by pencilrick Originally posted by Horusra one of the benefits of being Blizzard is we don't have to ship a product until we think it's ready. Our marketing department works with us on the game, but they understand that when the game is ready is ultimately up to the team. We didn't cut it because we ran out of time. We cut it because we didn't think the design we had was fun. I wish more companies would follow this line of thinking. Maybe while fewer games coming out they would be better quality.
There are two ways to get out a polished product: 1) Work extra hard and do it right 2) Take FOREVER Tell me, which category do you think Blizzard fits mostly in? . You've always got to strive for a balance. . If you demand perfection, it might take twenty years and by that time, your game will be out of date. . So far, Blizzard is like Pixar, both are batting a thousand. . Doesn't mean at some point they wont screw up. . Looking at Cataclysm, my sense is that it's another winner. . Look for WoW's numbers to hit 13 million soon.
Originally posted by alphasquid Originally posted by nariusseldon
Originally posted by alphasquid
I haven't read all the post so If this has been stated before .... Oh well. For all of you that claim that Blizzard only releases quality and virtually bug free products I have to ask; "How's Wintergrasp working out for you?"
Great .. why do you ask? Never had so much PvP fun. That's good to hear. I'm glad you are having fun. But that doesn't change the fact that Wintergrasp was bugged when WOTLK was released. . I played Wintergrasp since release. I vaguely remembered some exploit, but both sides used it. . Compared to other MMOs, we can use the word 'bugfree' when talking about Wintergrasp.
Don't you worry guys I'm sure these cut features will be coming to an Item shop near YOU!!
When you think Blizzard is respectable just remind yourself of how they used the make a wish foundation to introduce their item shop. Hey lets create 2 pets and give half of the proceeds to make a wish foundation. People wont complain because its for a good cause. Then they have their way to introduce items in the future. AND THATS HOW THE WOW ITEM SHOP CAME TO BE.
The Original blizzard was great. Current Blizzard is nickle and diming people in all their titles. $2.99 a month for a mobile auction house that could further ruin the economy ingame? Starcraft being released in 3 different box sets. So in the end it costs $180. If they cared about fun why do they ignore unbalanced servers where one faction rules 10 to 1. They cancelled these features because it was going to take more work than planned. Therefore costing them more money.
Without beating around the bush I see people like you as completetly retarded. You talk about all these optional things as if they were forced upon you and you have no choice but to buy them. "Oh golly gee they made an iphone app for the auction house thats is useless to over 95% of the people playings, I sure do hope mommy is home so I can use her credit card to buy this." "Oh noes teh item shop only gives half of the revenues to charity. Those money hungry douchebags should be giving 100%, although I have never before gave a shit about any charity Ima gonna rage and whine till someone listens." This is what I see in your post.
Well, aside from the first line that was kind of retarded (remember, it is against the RoC to make personal attacks - so you cannot call the person retarded, just what they are saying)... the rest of it pretty much makes sense, you know?
Okay, the SC2 thing is perhaps off - but I already posted my views elsewhere on not paying $60 for WoL.
I was fine with the fluff companions Blizz offered in their store. The mount is an entirely different story. Spend $25 and you no longer have to buy four mounts for any character on your account...training yes, mount no. Slippery slope. Slipper slope.
The cost of mounts is so small it doesn't even matter compared to the cost of the riding skill (which you still must buy). There are also so many factions and classes that give free mounts that again, which limits it even more. I think level 20 riding skill is 40 gold, and the mounts cost 1 gold.
When you compare it to items like AOC's EXP boosts and UO's advanced character options that they have in their stores, it doesn't even compare.
Don't you worry guys I'm sure these cut features will be coming to an Item shop near YOU!!
When you think Blizzard is respectable just remind yourself of how they used the make a wish foundation to introduce their item shop. Hey lets create 2 pets and give half of the proceeds to make a wish foundation. People wont complain because its for a good cause. Then they have their way to introduce items in the future. AND THATS HOW THE WOW ITEM SHOP CAME TO BE.
The Original blizzard was great. Current Blizzard is nickle and diming people in all their titles. $2.99 a month for a mobile auction house that could further ruin the economy ingame? Starcraft being released in 3 different box sets. So in the end it costs $180. If they cared about fun why do they ignore unbalanced servers where one faction rules 10 to 1. They cancelled these features because it was going to take more work than planned. Therefore costing them more money.
Without beating around the bush I see people like you as completetly retarded. You talk about all these optional things as if they were forced upon you and you have no choice but to buy them. "Oh golly gee they made an iphone app for the auction house thats is useless to over 95% of the people playings, I sure do hope mommy is home so I can use her credit card to buy this." "Oh noes teh item shop only gives half of the revenues to charity. Those money hungry douchebags should be giving 100%, although I have never before gave a shit about any charity Ima gonna rage and whine till someone listens." This is what I see in your post.
Well, aside from the first line that was kind of retarded (remember, it is against the RoC to make personal attacks - so you cannot call the person retarded, just what they are saying)... the rest of it pretty much makes sense, you know?
Okay, the SC2 thing is perhaps off - but I already posted my views elsewhere on not paying $60 for WoL.
I was fine with the fluff companions Blizz offered in their store. The mount is an entirely different story. Spend $25 and you no longer have to buy four mounts for any character on your account...training yes, mount no. Slippery slope. Slipper slope.
The cost of mounts is so small it doesn't even matter compared to the cost of the riding skill (which you still must buy). There are also so many factions and classes that give free mounts that again, which limits it even more. I think level 20 riding skill is 40 gold, and the mounts cost 1 gold.
When you compare it to items like AOC's EXP boosts and UO's advanced character options that they have in their stores, it doesn't even compare.
Actually, the cost for lvl 20 riding is 4g (skill) + 1g (mount), and you'll probably have at least 10% discount by then because of faction rep.
Lvl 40 mount skill costs around 20g if i'm not mistaken, 100g for the first flying and 5000g for the ultimate flying one (total costs as in skill + mount, being that the mounts cost a fraction of the skill).
Nowadays the added cost of all 4 mounts is probably around 150-200g, which you can make in 20m running daily quests.
[sarcasm]
Yes, clearly buying an all-terrain mount for 25$ on the shop is gonna make your life so much easier now that you can save the trouble of running 20m of daily quests to afford for them all on your alts (note: I've never had any problem affording the skill + mount at the appropriate levels [discounting the 5000g one, that hurts]).
I think I'll never succeed in doing something because I didn't pay the 25$ for the mount. I feel soooo left out of the real game, where only those people with shop items can be in.
[/sarcasm]
The mount looks awesome. Like it? Buy it. Don't like it can't be arsed to spend money on it? Then don't! You're not missing out on any gameplay feature anyway.
one of the benefits of being Blizzard is we don't have to ship a product until we think it's ready. Our marketing department works with us on the game, but they understand that when the game is ready is ultimately up to the team. We didn't cut it because we ran out of time. We cut it because we didn't think the design we had was fun.
I wish more companies would follow this line of thinking. Maybe while fewer games coming out they would be better quality.
Completely false.
Originally posted by Hyanmen
Then again, Blizzard doesn't develop games, the players do and Blizzard just does what they say.
Which is why I don't respect them as developers, although I acknowledge that they are good at what they do.
I respect Blizzard too, but not for what you quoted there, because we have no knowlege whatsoever about anyone's INTENT. Only another person knows their INTENT. So whether what he's saying is true or not....only he knows, and frankly....I don't really buy it. But that's beside the point.
I respect Blizzard for providing a polished and well-maintained game that caters to the casual gamer, and to the raider who appreciates their particular art style and game play. Those people have to have SOME PLACE to play. And I respect Blizzard for providing that for them. It keeps the people that don't like the same kind of games that I do....OUT of MY game. And honestly....I'm reeeeeally okay with that. I'm also quite sure that they don't want me playing in their little world either. Win/Win
To feel that Blizzard products are 'bugless' is somewhat off.
HOnestly, I remember the first months of WoW and there were plenty of issues, patches, bugs, etc
However I feel we were a much more forgiving audiance back in 2005 than we are today. I wager Blizz's next MMO will come with a lot of hype followed by a lot of forum flames ...just like every other release
Yeah, the WoW launch was awful really. Frankly their customer service was top notch though. I didn't have to pay a sub for the first three and a half months I played the game. Made it kind of hard to bitch when they kept giving out free time to make up for all the crashing, connection, and straight up "wtf" typs issues like falling through the world, dissappearing zeps/ships, and getting stuck in harvest/loot mode.
I wasn't any more forgiving back then. If they wouldn't have offered all that free time I doubt I would have stuck around. But they did and it was a smart move on their part.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
WoW had a smooth polished release. . Problem was, they were expecting hundreds of thousands. . Millions showed up. . Throw a party at your house for ten people. . Have a thousand people show up. There are going to be problems. Hopefully you have more than one bathroom. .
Problem was, they were expecting hundreds of thousands.
.
Millions showed up.
.
Throw a party at your house for ten people.
.
Have a thousand people show up. There are going to be problems. Hopefully you have more than one bathroom.
.
Keeping in mind, the only way that millions could have gotten in the door to fubar the game was if Blizzard took their money and let them in, which they did.
So in a way, they were the real cause of the problem, weren't they?
And you don't recall some of the things that didn't work so well when the game launched, but much of the upper level content was indeed bugged, only it was a small group of hardcore gamers who were impacted by it so you don't recall much about it.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Love them or hate them so far Blizzard's business model works, and love or hate WoW millions still play it and haven't bailed into other games yet. Given the competition they have had and that WoW graphics wise is becoming dated, the fact is they are still on top and worthy of some respect. They must be doing something right.
Indeed. In fact, even WC3 looks good today. The secret is that art direction >>> polygon count. That is how WOW survives so many years with a low poly count engine.
In fact, just look at anime .. same principle. Animation does not have to be 100% realistic like live action to look good.
No it didn't. Even if you don't consider the server and queue issues there were a lot of problems at launch. It certainly wasn't awful or in a category to be remarked on when discussing the cream of the crop bad launches but it sure as hell was not a smooth, polished release.
Of course, this has always been a testament to me as to how good a game it was for many out there. Because considering all the issues people kept coming to it in droves.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Stop living in the past. All their glory is from 10 years ago and now since the real masterminds behind Blizzard's success are just about gone they lost their midas touch. Sure they still make pretty good games but no way are they even close to being what they were 10 years ago. After seeing how good both The Old Reublic looks and Guild Wars 2 I don't see how Blizzard will be able to top those. Blizzard was great but their time has passed now.
Originally posted by Wickedjelly Originally posted by uquipu WoW had a smooth polished release.
No it didn't. Even if you don't consider the server and queue issues there were a lot of problems at launch. It certainly wasn't awful or in a category to be remarked on when discussing the cream of the crop bad launches but it sure as hell was not a smooth, polished release. Of course, this has always been a testament to me as to how good a game it was for many out there. Because considering all the issues people kept coming to it in droves. . I guess it's relative to the person. . I remember one bug. When you mined certain resource nodes you'd stick to them. Like one out of a hundred. . A non-game breaking bug like that doesn't constitute a flawed launch. . The only game that had a better launch was LotRO. . Curious about all these WoW threads? WoW has a ten day free trial..
Comments
This.
It took me a while too, catching up and reading up on current state of affairs as it is now with Blizzard, for a long time I thought Blizzard couldn't change. But even the best sports teams change in the course of the years.
A number of those high quality developers went to ArenaNet. 5-10 years ago Blizzard was phenomenal. Then in the course of the years I started to wonder, then to frown and then to get disappointed by the decisions they made and sometimes lack of great decisions.
And nowadays almost all of the news coming forth around Blizzard makes me sad to see that touch of brilliance and creativity that used to show so obviously in those years past now being gone.
I hope that Activision Blizzard's new MMO will recall that old Blizzard magic again, but so far the news of their other games only gives off an 'acceptable' vibe, where in the past their games used to be 'exceptional'.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
1) Work extra hard and do it right
2) Take FOREVER
Tell me, which category do you think Blizzard fits mostly in?
.
You've always got to strive for a balance.
.
If you demand perfection, it might take twenty years and by that time, your game will be out of date.
.
So far, Blizzard is like Pixar, both are batting a thousand.
.
Doesn't mean at some point they wont screw up.
.
Looking at Cataclysm, my sense is that it's another winner.
.
Look for WoW's numbers to hit 13 million soon.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
I haven't read all the post so If this has been stated before .... Oh well.
For all of you that claim that Blizzard only releases quality and virtually bug free products I have to ask;
"How's Wintergrasp working out for you?"
eh i never even heard of wintergrasp
Great .. why do you ask? Never had so much PvP fun.
That's good to hear. I'm glad you are having fun. But that doesn't change the fact that Wintergrasp was bugged when WOTLK was released.
Great .. why do you ask? Never had so much PvP fun.
That's good to hear. I'm glad you are having fun. But that doesn't change the fact that Wintergrasp was bugged when WOTLK was released.
.
I played Wintergrasp since release. I vaguely remembered some exploit, but both sides used it.
.
Compared to other MMOs, we can use the word 'bugfree' when talking about Wintergrasp.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
The cost of mounts is so small it doesn't even matter compared to the cost of the riding skill (which you still must buy). There are also so many factions and classes that give free mounts that again, which limits it even more. I think level 20 riding skill is 40 gold, and the mounts cost 1 gold.
When you compare it to items like AOC's EXP boosts and UO's advanced character options that they have in their stores, it doesn't even compare.
Actually, the cost for lvl 20 riding is 4g (skill) + 1g (mount), and you'll probably have at least 10% discount by then because of faction rep.
Lvl 40 mount skill costs around 20g if i'm not mistaken, 100g for the first flying and 5000g for the ultimate flying one (total costs as in skill + mount, being that the mounts cost a fraction of the skill).
Nowadays the added cost of all 4 mounts is probably around 150-200g, which you can make in 20m running daily quests.
[sarcasm]
Yes, clearly buying an all-terrain mount for 25$ on the shop is gonna make your life so much easier now that you can save the trouble of running 20m of daily quests to afford for them all on your alts (note: I've never had any problem affording the skill + mount at the appropriate levels [discounting the 5000g one, that hurts]).
I think I'll never succeed in doing something because I didn't pay the 25$ for the mount. I feel soooo left out of the real game, where only those people with shop items can be in.
[/sarcasm]
The mount looks awesome. Like it? Buy it. Don't like it can't be arsed to spend money on it? Then don't! You're not missing out on any gameplay feature anyway.
Completely false.
LOL, they don't listen to CRAP.
To the OP:
I respect Blizzard too, but not for what you quoted there, because we have no knowlege whatsoever about anyone's INTENT. Only another person knows their INTENT. So whether what he's saying is true or not....only he knows, and frankly....I don't really buy it. But that's beside the point.
I respect Blizzard for providing a polished and well-maintained game that caters to the casual gamer, and to the raider who appreciates their particular art style and game play. Those people have to have SOME PLACE to play. And I respect Blizzard for providing that for them. It keeps the people that don't like the same kind of games that I do....OUT of MY game. And honestly....I'm reeeeeally okay with that. I'm also quite sure that they don't want me playing in their little world either. Win/Win
Three cheers for Blizz....HIP HIP HOORAY!
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
Yeah, the WoW launch was awful really. Frankly their customer service was top notch though. I didn't have to pay a sub for the first three and a half months I played the game. Made it kind of hard to bitch when they kept giving out free time to make up for all the crashing, connection, and straight up "wtf" typs issues like falling through the world, dissappearing zeps/ships, and getting stuck in harvest/loot mode.
I wasn't any more forgiving back then. If they wouldn't have offered all that free time I doubt I would have stuck around. But they did and it was a smart move on their part.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
What bugs? Not that i noticed.
Yes with millions of subscribers they can afford to wait and discard things, most others don't have that luxury.
Stop feeding the giant so we can actually play something else that isn't for teens that looks like a cartoon please.
Adults are the ones with the money not the children.
With so much money coming in why don't they update the graphics for us power users???? Is WoW running in DirectX 8 still?
I'll stick with Age of Conan for now thanks.
I respect Blizzard because of this basic formula
9,000,000 x $14.95 x 12 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci39KGTtjVQ
"Yea, I've been drinking again.."
Except that most of the people that play WoW are 25-35....
WoW had a smooth polished release.
.
Problem was, they were expecting hundreds of thousands.
.
Millions showed up.
.
Throw a party at your house for ten people.
.
Have a thousand people show up. There are going to be problems. Hopefully you have more than one bathroom.
.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
And there is NOTHING wrong with cartoon when the art direction is good. Have you watched anime lately? Some are much better than live action.
And I would feed whatever company that gives me the most fun, and you don't have a say.
Haha.. Love the analogy!
"If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse." - Henry Ford
Keeping in mind, the only way that millions could have gotten in the door to fubar the game was if Blizzard took their money and let them in, which they did.
So in a way, they were the real cause of the problem, weren't they?
And you don't recall some of the things that didn't work so well when the game launched, but much of the upper level content was indeed bugged, only it was a small group of hardcore gamers who were impacted by it so you don't recall much about it.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Indeed. In fact, even WC3 looks good today. The secret is that art direction >>> polygon count. That is how WOW survives so many years with a low poly count engine.
In fact, just look at anime .. same principle. Animation does not have to be 100% realistic like live action to look good.
ever since they made mounts that cost $20, i lost all the respect i had for them.
No it didn't. Even if you don't consider the server and queue issues there were a lot of problems at launch. It certainly wasn't awful or in a category to be remarked on when discussing the cream of the crop bad launches but it sure as hell was not a smooth, polished release.
Of course, this has always been a testament to me as to how good a game it was for many out there. Because considering all the issues people kept coming to it in droves.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Stop living in the past. All their glory is from 10 years ago and now since the real masterminds behind Blizzard's success are just about gone they lost their midas touch. Sure they still make pretty good games but no way are they even close to being what they were 10 years ago. After seeing how good both The Old Reublic looks and Guild Wars 2 I don't see how Blizzard will be able to top those. Blizzard was great but their time has passed now.
Of course, this has always been a testament to me as to how good a game it was for many out there. Because considering all the issues people kept coming to it in droves.
.
I guess it's relative to the person.
.
I remember one bug. When you mined certain resource nodes you'd stick to them. Like one out of a hundred.
.
A non-game breaking bug like that doesn't constitute a flawed launch.
.
The only game that had a better launch was LotRO.
.
Curious about all these WoW threads? WoW has a ten day free trial..
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren