MMO-Champion BlueTracker - Thanks to Ghostcrawler

2008-11-18 12:16:34

This isn't a brown-nosing thread. I'm not here to instill a sense of worship for GC. If you have read my posts (my alt is Lilshanker of Bleeding Hollow), they have been anything but conciliatory.

I just want to say that I appreciate GC's attempts to respond and address certain threads. He is the lead developer at Blizz and is actually spending time reading and responding to forum posts. That speaks of a fairly high level of dedication to players' concerns.

So I may have differences of opinion on certain topics, but I do thank Ghostcrawler for putting himself out there. You don't get access to lead developers all the time and he has provided us with uncommon access.

Unless, of course, it's just an intern who logs on and posts in GC's name. In that case, fix my class's arena probs you scrub!!!!! j/k

Can't do that while stunned.
Can't do that while stunned.
Can't do that while stunned.
Can't do that while stunned.
Can't do that while stunned.

Pharizztur

2008-11-18 14:32:27

Re: Thanks to Ghostcrawler

Q u o t e:
He rarely gives any indication that he's truly considered a - well-explained, well-reasoned, politely delivered - point from our perspective, and instead only continually delivers Blizz's completely inflexible line regarding the hunter class: We do not believe your analysis of your own class. It does not matter how well-evidenced or well-researched your feedback is, nor how skilled and experienced the players delivering it are; we refuse to listen to it.

I realize the forums have a long tradition of attacking the messenger when you don't like the message, but I hope you don't really feel this way.

With only a couple of exceptions, every change we made to hunters and every new talent we added were done to address specific concerns of players. You're in fantastic shape for PvE and if you are indeed still too low in PvP as you suspect, then we'll get that taken care of. We have a Deterrence idea we're working on right now, but I don't want to say any more until we're farther along. One reason I don't say as much about future plans as I could is players tend to get really upset if we change our minds or the implementation takes longer than we think. Somehow my mentioning "we're working on it" gets turned into "broken promises" and then everyone gets their torches and pitchforks. :(

We are often skeptical of the analysis done by players. We have to be. Players nearly always have a conflict of interest when asking for buffs or nerfs. That doesn't mean players are always wrong by any stretch. We discuss what is said in the forums all the time, and you shouldn't think for an instant that I am the only person here reading them. We have a pretty large company by now. It should be obvious that I listen because I am in here so much. :)

Believe it or not, I do understand class mechanics pretty well. That's the whole attacking the messenger thing again. If you have a concern, my advice is just to present that concern and back it up with meaningful numbers if you can. Attacking our ability or motivation often just detracts from your argument anyway.

Having said that, you're going to have a really hard time hurting my feelings. Sorry. I've been doing the game design gig for quite awhile. Thick skin comes with the territory.

Ghostcrawler

2008-11-18 16:13:40

Re: Thanks to Ghostcrawler

Q u o t e:
Hey Ghostcrawler, can you post the meeting notes for all the class design review meetings you have? Also, tape record all conversations you have in cubes and hallways with your coworkers and upload them..a transcription would be ok as well. And although it isn't necessary, you may want to think of carrying a video camera around on your shoulder so we can watch streams of your daily activities. We want to make sure you're doing your job.

You can turn it off in the bathroom, of course. Only if noone ever talks in there...otherwise, just cover the lens.

Thanks! Appreciate it! ;-)

We'll look into this.

Q u o t e:
But you often say this, and in the next post threaten players with the option of withholding information or replying the forums less frequently if players start using your words against you, "throwing things back in your face," "bringing things back to haunt" you, etc.

It puts us in an awkward position in which we have to wonder whether we should thank you for every post you make and beg you not to leave, or trust that a few insensitive or poorly thought out BUT U SAID posts aren't going to get through. =(

I'm just trying to reinforce social behavior. I see players get turned off from the forums because of some of the juvenile name-calling and that makes me sad. I've talked to enough WoW players in real life that I think you're generally good people who love the game and it's just the Internet that gets in the way. :)

Q u o t e:
At this point, does it even mean anything to tell us this? And does it even mean anything for me to say that we've been following your advice over a year now? You've mentioned in the past that there's a point where the opinions of the players and the opinions of the devs are so disparate that further debate is pointless.

I can tell you when something is pointless. Arguing for Camo back is pointless -- as I've said that's just a problem with our vision for the class. Talking about PvP concerns is not. Yes, there is a terrible signal to noise ratio when you deal with player feedback, and for every gem we get there are plenty of people who think they can play and blame their failings on the class design (and the two aren’t always easy to tell apart without a lot of digging). But we still get a lot of good information and ideas by talking to the community too.

I’m trying in my own small way to make these forums a better place – a place for information and communication and not venting and flaming. We can ban and lock our way to that of course, but voluntary compliance is easier on everyone. :)

Ghostcrawler