Icecrown Radiance - Incompetence or Arrogance

#0 - Nov. 3, 2009, 3:22 a.m.

First off we all understand why you implented this and how it will make healing easier and remedy the problems that you were responsible for causing yourself.

What I want to know is how you could have possibly screwed up so bad as to have put the game in a position to need a fix as clunky as this in the first place. Did you not forsee the impact of inflated gear lvls from ToC would have on ICC (incompetence) or did you full well know the impact and just decide to go ahead with it anyways (arrogance)

ICC was suppose to be the flagship raid for this expansion....the trailers...the box art...the storyline was all leading up to this moment....this is how you marketed this expansion pack. This was not a bonus raid or afterthought like sunwell was....this is suppose to be the focus of the expansion.....everything should have been checked and rechecked to make sure the gear would fit for the ICC. Now the flagship raid is spoiled by this gimmick debuff....you guys should be embarrassed.....some of you should resign.

From what I read you say the problem with avoidance was caused because of the unanticipated Tier introduced in Toc and HToC. At what point did you know that the inflated gear was going to screw up lvls in ICC. If you did know this then why was ToC even introduced....or why didnt you just keep it on the same tier as Uld? I suspect you fully knew the consequences for this and went ahead anyways.....you would rather keep your subscriber base increasing by enticing players with high lvl gear than suffer a temporary lull during the gap waiting for ICC.

The ToC raid has not been received well as it is.....1 environment....5 encounters that are a rehash of existing models......no one bought the expansion to play the ToC raid....we were waiting for ICC. This ToC raid that no one wanted or liked ended up screwing up the mechanics for ICC. You chose to release ToC to keep subscriptions up and/or inflated all the gear to keep casual players interested.
You chose more subscriptions over the integrity of your product. I can imgaine the boardroom meeting where the game designers lined up against the accountants....and the designers wiped against the accountant boss.

#42 - Nov. 3, 2009, 10:58 p.m.

It's an MMO. Stuff changes. If you want to play a game where the designers don't continually tinker with things to try and improve them, you might want to pick up a 10-year old game from the bargain bins. I'd be happy to provide my favorite list of classics. :)

Blizzard developers are our own greatest critics. We've changed our minds over and over on the best way to handle things -- the guys working on WoW long before I got here did the same thing. We take some forward steps and backwards steps, but overall I believe the game improves over time and most players I speak with think the same thing. (I know not everyone does, but you don't need to reply to this response to point that out.)

I think WoW would be in far worse shape today if we were still using the Molten Core-era class and raid philosophy. At the end of the day we think Icecrown will be a more fun place to tank knowing that bosses don't need to hit quite as hard to make up for your high avoidance. When we think something is not going to be fun like this, we try and make corrections. If any of you are so wise that you can clearly see the consequences of your design decisions many months away such that the patches you help release will be filled only with new content instead of bug fixes and course corrections, please send us your resumes. :)

Also, Greenkappa made me laugh. :)