Blizzard and professionalism

Note: Pardon my after-hours post, I know this is no-CM hour :P

The WoW forums have always been a place of back and forths between CMs, Devs, and Players, and I've watched the back and forths between Lore, Kalgan, Tigole, Bashiok, Eyonix, Tseric, etc and our players for years, and I just want to be clear that we don't consider this anything new. I think it's what makes our forums a fun place while discussing serious issues. I'm appreciative of the overall conversation, though, and I've read through all of it, both on here and /r/wow, throughout the day.

My post in question was directed at a snarky player on the "there's no content" train who hadn't touched a good amount of Legion's content, including LFR, minus a wing of Nighthold. My comment to the player was only pointing out facts, albeit in a snarky way not unknown to the forums.

I think folks have gotten confused by the message on both sides. If you tell me, "There's nothing to do in Legion!" I'll tell you that's a lie, flat out. If you tell me, "There's nothing for *me* to do in Legion!" or "Nothing in this patch makes me want to play!" that's a topic I think we can discuss. Now, the post in question was the former, and, as said, in an attempt to be catty towards me, that comment was made. It's easy to delete a comment and move on, but it takes a lot more willpower to engage in a conversation, call out false statements (even if done half-assedly in a joking manner), and try to engage on the real issue.

Our team is not part of Customer Service, and we don't necessarily adhere to the same levels of 'professionalism' that they may in their day-to-day, and, even when we do, it's very much relaxed as it is in most of the industry. Not trying to put down our Customer Service compatriots in any way, they do a stellar job, I just think its important to note that our teams goals are different. My goal here is first and foremost engagement and community-building, and I'm given free rein to do that as I see fit (albeit to my own pleasure and detriment). I appreciate everyone here who talks about their time in CS roles, I've had some experience in them myself, and I understand the difference of the role vs the audience in both capacities.

An interesting note, but I don't see our team as 'professional', in the sense that we uphold ourselves to some golden, glorious, corporate standard. I consider us 'experts' in our crafts, but nothing more than players who sit at the developer's table who have been given blue text and sometime receive emails with information that you may not see.

05/23/2017 08:24 PMPosted by Shrew

So GD's righteous indignation is chasing off another Blizzard employee? The only one that still posts here?

No one's chasing me off, don't worry.

I think we can all stand to take and throw a few punches, and we'll all get along better if we have a bit of fun. :)

05/23/2017 10:15 PMPosted by Culin

I feel like Ornyx made a valid counter-response to the player in question, and a solid followup. I read the post, chuckled, and moved on.

I also feel like his response in this thread basically confirms the core reason why we have very poor communication:

I consider us 'experts' in our crafts, but nothing more than players who sit at the developer's table who have been given blue text and sometime receive emails with information that you may not see.

Kinda gave that one away brother.

Gotta give 'em something, I guess. o7

Still appreciate you all. Have a good night everybody!

05/23/2017 11:09 PMPosted by Relena

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Possibly.

However, asserting that the game lacks content while simultaneously not having participated in a large majority of what is available is not a cry for change. It is merely a lie.

I've seen more than a quarter of Legion and I think Legion lacks content. That's all. Never claimed it was fact.

Don't see the point in nerfing AP gains so we can 'move on' to other things. I don't see that as an incentive to go find content one may or may not have consumed yet. My point was that capping AK doesn't open up any content we didn't already have that isn't also the same repeatable content we've had since launch, so what is the point in the nerf except to make what we already have more tedious? To do more of the same?

Somewhere along the line that point got away from the discussion. Please refer to my post on page one.

I wonder how much completion I need for my opinion to 'have weight' but also wonder if those goalposts won't be moved much like adding on to the artifact weapon grind.

I think I agree that we've gotten a bit away from the real discussion, though a couple folks here have tried to steer the ship back in my absence - but also good to see you don't take what I say offensively. :)

Of course you're entitled to an opinion and you can say for yourself how much you personally enjoy Legion - and I think that's the point I wanted to get across. Legion may not have what you're looking for in an expansion, but it does have it for someone else, always two sides to the coin, and we have to be aware that while we may be missing something for one group, we're hitting it for another.

If you ever want to have a 1:1 discussion about it, feel free to hop on the /r/wow Discord - I'm always around. Probably the best way to contact me directly.

Again, thanks for being graceful. I want to say I think you understood it wasn't meant to be insulting as others may insinuate. :P