GC, how do you do it?

Gin helps.

Really though, I've been in this industry for awhile, and you just get to a point where you let the negativity roll off of you. I talk to enough players to know that by and large most of them still love the game. In fact, many of the haters still love the game or they would have moved on. They only get upset because it's important to them (or else they just enjoy trolling).

You can't take the venom that shows up in every public forum (whether you're talking about games, movies, politics or global warming) as an indication of the health of the entire community. I'm a gamer at heart, so I make it a minigame of never getting upset no matter what the nattering nabobs might say. It's a game I almost always win. Gin helps.

Finding good info here is one of those needle in a haystack deals. We have some exceptional posters, and their feedback makes it all worth while. If we ever get to the point where those A+ comments stop showing up, then I probably will as well. So far, it's still worth it to get a sense for what players think of the game, what problems they're having, or when they are or are not having fun.

On the flip side, whatever you guys can do to improve that signal to noise ratio is in your best interest. You want information getting to the developers as quickly and succinctly as possible. The occasional offtopic thread (like this one) isn't a big deal. Very long threads that essentially rehash the same idea over and over again are more of a stumbling block. Ranty threads with little actual information are just wasting everyone's time.

Edit: Turns out "nabobs" has no Y.

Q u o t e:
There is no law in this world that you can't make a point and be rude at the same time, and most people seem to embrace this.

Nope, there is no law, but I will likely ignore it.

We're willing to take the risk that some amazing gem of design genius might be lost inside a ranting or whining post. If you want us to take your feedback seriously, communicate the way grown men and women communicate in civil society. We're not asking for something unreasonable here. :)

Q u o t e:
Gin straight, on the rocks, or mixed?

Don't add too much glamor and ceremony to it. For forum posting it only takes a dirty coffee cup (the current one has Loque'nahak on it). Lukewarm. Early in the morning.

Q u o t e:
you seem to live in a 60's sitcom. You dont seem aware that the average person curses every 3 words in everyday life, and thats considered normal by most, not rude.

I make full use of the entirety of the English language myself. You should probably tone it down here since this is a relatively public place and profanity understandably offends some people. But really that's not what I meant.

The anonymity of the Internet has fostered a culture where being ridiculously over the top with your communication is pretty typical. We're just asking you not to do it here. If it helps, imagine you're in a meeting room with all of the WoW designers and you have 30 seconds to make your point. Are you going to waste it on whining, you-hate-my-class, you-don't-play-the-game stuff? Or are you going to try to make an intelligent point that the designers will actually listen to and hopefully take under advisement?

If you've ever seen a court of law or a government debate, those discussions can get pretty heated, but the participants generally try to maintain a modicum of respect for each other. They want to focus on the legal and / or logical strength of the argument and not the color of the delivery.

In writing, you are generally supposed to show restraint in your use of adjectives and adverbs. Yes, they are necessary in specific situations, but if you overuse them, you risk bloating, confusing or derailing the actual point you're trying to make. The same is true of a forum post. Don't dress it up with junk, which around these parts is typically QQ. Speak plainly. There was a recent thread whose thesis was "Blizzard lies and here's an idea I had for a spell." The mistake there sort of speaks for itself.

Q u o t e:
Ever used capillary electrophoresis? I bet GC has run many of gels back in the day...

Ugh. Bad memories there. I hope I have PCR'd my last PCR. I respect the heck out of scientists and science educators, I really do, but orcs are more fun.

Q u o t e:
GC, arent you a systems analyst with a PhD?

Oceanography. I studied benthic ecology (hence the crab), and ecology uses a lot of statistics. The data sets tend to be large and noisy since so many variables are involved when you're looking at the way organisms interact with their environment. It's a complex system and in that way not unlike the virtual ecology of Azeroth.