My problem with Blizzard...

[DeadlyYellow]

So.... why not wait for the Starcraft 2 Battlechest?

 

[Wolfram23]

I pretty much agree with the OP. Not a fan, anymore. I was terribly disapointed with SC2, and nothing to do with it only being one campaign. I just thought they crushed the soul of SC - but then, I also didn't like the whole Hero crap in WC3.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Oh, wow. Thank you for that bit.

When WOW came out, I bought half a year of no-fuss pastime addiction for me and my loved ones, because I was really looking forward to whatever it was, and I believed in Blizzard.

So, we had this guild up and running basically after the first week was over, and what followed was me witnessing young people throwing their money and their souls in the bin, starting what is best described as a polytox gaming and substance abuse addiction, failing at school and university, some figuring out how they could raid while in lectures, others starting to steal and cheat and lie to/from their parents/sibs/buddies and rough estimate of 90% of the males going berserk due to unused man juice, wanting to bumraid that one girlfriend that one guy managed to miraculously get a hold of. It was an ugly sight, and I decided it was just not the world I could afford to live in.

So I quit playing WOW after four months, selling/dropping/destroying my stuff, sending my gold to the next best random player that wasn't being an ass by jumping around like a kangaroo and saying hi in a polite manner, and running to a nice place where I laid my (naked) character to rest.

The councelling and agony aunting I did for WOWs lost children ended after about a year or so. It was not a pretty sight.

I still play WC3-TFT, though. SC2... not so much.

 

[Freechoice]

Links to things we think are facts or everyone should stop talking.

For example! A link to Team Liquid [http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=228212] wins the day.

Priced like an expansion pack, but cut down in content by 33% and requiring a full install of WoL depending on where you are.


And yes, Blizzard can't write for shit. Blame hiring a wannabe rockstar as their lead creative retard.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

snip

This is basically my exact opinion of Cataclysm. I can understand why they needed to update the old world, but in the process, they lost a lot of what I enjoyed about WoW in the first place.

But the main reason I despise Blizzard is not how they changed WoW with Cataclysm, but how they insist on shoving online connectivity bullshit down everyone's throats whether they like it or not.

The fact that a connection is required for Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 ensures that I will never buy either of those games. It's not that I don't have a reliable internet connection (I think it's gone down once in the past 6 months), but there is absolutely no reason that I should need a connection in the first place, and there are no benefits (at least for me) for it being this way.

And then there's the fact that you can't pause Diablo 3's single player. That's right, Blizzard has taken away a feature that has been standard in single player games for decades.

 

[theultimateend]

Wait, what's this? Mists of Pandara? F'ing really? REALLY? Now they're just straight-up pulling stuff out of their ass.

I wish I knew the words to express to you how excited I am that they pulled this out of their ass.

I'm hoping this becomes a theme where they began exploring new art styles, cultures, and various themes.

Deathwing was so awkwardly placed that I don't really know what to say. The raid to kill him was very anti-climactic (He's a hentai monster?)

They made the mistake of trying to make the game Hardcore in Cataclysm, I am super psyched about the pokemon pet battles and Chinese/Far East Theme of the next expansion.

If this goes full ever quest with content I'd not be complaining.

And yes, Blizzard can't write for shit. Blame hiring a wannabe rockstar as their lead creative retard.

Talking about Chris Metzen? If so I'm not entirely sure "wannabe rockstar" fits, given the interviews of his I've read.

He basically writes because he likes writing and has said "Even if people hate what I write, it feels good, because its nice to know its out there." Doesn't sound real "metal" to me.

I hope to be as lucky as he is, doing something I enjoy and getting paid to do it.

IF you mean someone else then /shrug I dunno.

 

[Weaver]

I agree with the SC2 thing.
"We can't fit all on one Disc!"

"By the way, did we mention the campaign is 4/5ths filler crap that has nothing to do with the main story?"

 

[mcnally86]

The point where I gave up on Blizzard was when Jim Raynor started talking in SC2.

So many cliched dialogues... my ears hurt.

I remember my brother asking, "why is every space related fantasy a western now? Was firefly that popular it changed the setting of all space in star craft." That didn't bother me as much as the gun with one bullet he was saving for the man he was hunting. Granted that was cool and all in Pirates of the Caribbean, But olde timey pistols are single shot guns. Jimmy had a six shooter. Was he really traveling on a vendetta though space to Russian roulette a guy to death?

 

[Yureina]

Blizzard used to be my favorite game developer. I've played all the Warcraft and Starcraft games (the original Starcrafts anyway, not the new ones), and sunk 5 1/2 years into WoW. By the end however, I reached a similar conclusion that alot of people seem to reach: that WoW ultimately was a constant cycle of me doing to same thing over again. Despite that, I actually managed to hang on for quite a while because I found other things to occupy my time. Creating a server-sized personal economy, getting a ridiculous amount of rare achievements, and hanging out with tons of great friends. Even when I had all the gold in the world, all the achievements I could ever care for, and my good friends had moved on, I still managed to keep playing. It was only when the Cataclysm beta rolled around and I saw how they were going to suck the fun out of playing my Holy Priest that I finally realized that WoW no longer had anything fun for me anymore. And so I quit then before another expansion pack threatened to steal another 2 years of my life.

I've not played a Blizzard game since. Partly their fault because they only have 3 franchises, two of which i've burned out on and the third (Diablo) i've never cared for because hack-and-slash dungeon crawlers bore the hell out of my.

So, for now, I am done with Blizzard.

 

[theultimateend]

I agree with the SC2 thing.
"We can't fit all on one Disc!"

"By the way, did we mention the campaign is 4/5ths filler crap that has nothing to do with the main story?"

I...

I'm so glad I'm not into that whole internet justice thing anymore. This would have killed my night.

It wasn't a great game (I don't really get that feeling from anything anymore), but 4/5ths of it being "filler crap" is pretty ambitious commentary. Makes it sound like you never played the original.

It's as big as Starcraft 1. The expansion will probably be as big or bigger than Starcraft: Brood Wars.

Then they'll have a 3rd expansion.

Something like 10 years and they've managed to add ONE expansion to the formula. Feels like they should be given a medal, frankly.

They didn't string along half the characters as DLC either.

Buuuuut...not a big deal. The game is out, the past won't change, and a couple random smucks on the Escapist aren't going to make them suddenly change.

...I saw how they were going to suck the fun out of playing my Holy Priest that I finally realized that WoW no longer had anything fun for me anymore. And so I quit then before another expansion pack threatened to steal another 2 years of my life.

Their greatest mistake. Assuming that the loud minority represented the silent Majority.

So few people wanted unfun hardcore no-second chances content. They went balls to the walls with it and have suffered greatly.

Now people ask themselves "Why do I play?" for the first time, and the answer is the same for WoW as for any other MMO "I don't know."

I'm saying that going off the subscription numbers and how most MMO's end up F2P and just filling a niche market instead of being mainstream.

I'm sure before December of this year SW:TOR will announce they are going F2P because of issues. (I realize numbers don't support that now, but its an inevitable shift, these things have melted most of their flavor because developers don't seem to grasp the idea of adding fun silly extras to keep people entertained in between the mindless grind).

I disagree on the SCII thing. Having played it, I feel the 60 dollar price tag is more than justified. If the other parts are the same, I do not see a problem. You are still getting more than enough bang for your buck, and when you take a look at how much work went into them, 3 parts at 60 dollars each seems fair.

Other than that, I do agree. Blizzard have become exceptionally greedy. Theres nothing inherently wrong with that, they exist to make money, after all, its just that their greed has started to negatively affect their games. And that, for me at least, is the point where its time to write a developer off.

To be fair, strict capitalism is not a requirement. A business can exist for many things besides profits. They can be a pleasant side effect of the other activities.

Now publicly traded companies only have one goal, if they wish to survive. Which is probably why I don't like the stock market or Public Companies.

Is Activision/Blizzard Public? I don't even know...if they are ignore my point since they are for money strictly then .

 

[Weaver]

I agree with the SC2 thing.
"We can't fit all on one Disc!"

"By the way, did we mention the campaign is 4/5ths filler crap that has nothing to do with the main story?"

I...

I'm so glad I'm not into that whole internet justice thing anymore. This would have killed my night.

It wasn't a great game (I don't really get that feeling from anything anymore), but 4/5ths of it being "filler crap" is pretty ambitious commentary. Makes it sound like you never played the original.

It's as big as Starcraft 1. The expansion will probably be as big or bigger than Starcraft: Brood Wars.

Then they'll have a 3rd expansion.

Something like 10 years and they've managed to add ONE expansion to the formula. Feels like they should be given a medal, frankly.

They didn't string along half the characters as DLC either.

Buuuuut...not a big deal. The game is out, the past won't change, and a couple random smucks on the Escapist aren't going to make them suddenly change.

Of course I played the original
I waited 4 fucking hours outside the store to get the collectors edition. I blitzed the story, in two sessions sleeping 3 hours in between because I WAITED 12 DAMN YEARS TO PLAY IT.

And god damn, it let me down.

Not that I think you need to feel the same. If you liked it I'm happy for you, but I was just severely disappointed.

 

[theultimateend]

Of course I played the original
I waited 4 fucking hours outside the store to get the collectors edition. I blitzed the story, in two sessions sleeping 3 hours in between because I WAITED 12 DAMN YEARS TO PLAY IT.

And god damn, it let me down.

Not that I think you need to feel the same. If you liked it I'm happy for you, but I was just severely disappointed.

Honestly every game I've played that hasn't been an indie title has disappointed me in some way or another.

The only reason Indie games don't is because they hit me from an angle I'm not expecting.

I played SC2 long enough to get all but 1 Achievement (that stupid sniper rifle one...could never manage it), after that I put it away.

I often wonder if major game developers have just left me behind or if I'm just not giving them a chance anymore. It feels like that whole rush in the 90's and early 00's to be the best graphical powerhouse has left every company spending millions just to look OK and then having no money left for actual development.

(In long/short I actually didn't love it, it just often feels like there is a bandwagon hatefest for it when content wise it actually does meet up to its predecessor. Quality of content, possibly not, but I (like you) would never expect everyone to agree with me on that).

Holy shit...double paranthesis, hardcore. Time for bed.

 

[BanicRhys]

You don't raid for gear, you raid for the thrill of finally downing a boss and for the enjoyment being in the company of people you like. But fine, vanilla WoW and Cataclysm are shit and MMOs aren't for everyone, so I won't go any further on that game.

WoL had one fewer campaign mission than the original had, plus challenges, achievements and an engine capable of almost anything the modding community can imagine. When I played SC1, I couldn't care less about any of the races because I only had them for 10 or so short missions with a dialogue screen in between. In SC2, I grew very attached to the all of the characters on the Hyperion.

And you know what's more cliched than SC2's dialogue, the argument that SC2 had cliched dialogue, it's such a cop out and never backed up in the slightest.

I'm surprised the OP didn't complain that he can't play Diablo 3 on the bus, as well. Because that argument has been beaten to death about just as much.

Quit your nitpicking and enjoy an exceptional game, sure it might not be as good as you think SC1 was, but it's still better and more polished than a vast majority of the shit that gets put out there these days.

 

[mcnally86]

And you know what's more cliched than SC2's dialogue, the argument that SC2 had cliched dialogue, it's such a cop out and never backed up in the slightest.

How is it a cop out? Here is some back up. Its a western now. SC1 had Jimmy being a Marshal and being on a backwater planet but it still was futurey. Now SC world is a western, with jukeboxes hardwired into the ship and people dressed like extras from Firefly. Why does he have a six shooter with one bullet in it why? It was never in the game before that cut scene. Why was it important. It just seemed a silly thing to throw in and not explain.

 

[Vault101]

my problem with blizzard is they have seemingly abondonded the Idea of single player

and I dont approve

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

only problem I have with blizzard is how with SC2 in order to experience the fullest extent of the multiplayer you will NEED all 3 installments, if you got friends with all 3, and you only got one it limits stuff unfairly, I wouldn't mind so much if they were selling each game as $50 instead of $60 either, pretty much every other PC game produced costs $50 or less on launch, it kinda seems like they're only gouging the extra $10 to punish their fans for their undying loyalty... that and how they're chopping pretty much all the character customization outa diablo with their third installment, I mean the whole thing that made diablo 2 so awesome was just HOW MANY BUILDS you could have, will be sad to see that go.

 

[RJ 17]

And then that black day came...I hop onto the Blizzard site and find a new bit of news waiting for me. "We just can't fit everything we want to do onto one disc. So we're going to break the game into three pieces each with a $60 price tag and release them all completely seperately from one another."

If I remember correctly, at one point early on, blizzard put the question to the fans:
A) Release the Terran campaign first.
B) Or wait longer for everything to be included.

The crowd was overwhelmingly in favor of option A. So this is something that is the fan's fault as well. It's a little bit hypocritical to point the finger at blizzard only, when the players are equally responsible.

Personally I wasn't in favor of it at the time, but after playing SC2 the Terran campaign was really well done, and allowed them to do stuff they wouldn't have been able to do if each race only had 10 missions each.

Why slap a full price on a game that's only 1/3 of a greater whole?

So... any game that's part of a trilogy is now worthless? Each Mass Effect is only 1/3 of a greater whole, each Halo is only 1/5 of a greater whole. Yet those games each cost full price. It's not like SC2 skimped on content, SC2 has a bloody lot of content.

To the first point: in previous posts I had already been convinced to give up on the SC II issue. If, as you say, there was a fan-based vote that I didn't know about, I guess it means that I would have been one of the people voting for one big game rather than 3 separate games.

To the second point: there's a difference between trilogies and the core issue of what my problem with SC II is/was. The ME and Halo series weren't all originally going to be one game, SC II was. So to me it seemed like they were making a lame-ass excuse just to milk as much money out of a highly anticipated game as they possibly could. But as I mentioned in my response to point 1: I have since been convinced otherwise.

I know, it's crazy, right? Someone on the internet actually admiting that they were wrong? Freaky.

The disillusionment occured mostly due to monitary reasons...specifically I decided I could no longer pay the subscription fee just to sink hours of my life into a game in which my greatest achievement would be getting the next set of armor that every other warlock would eventually get.

I think this is not a correct view. It's like saying you're not going to pay for a single player game because you are going to get the same ending as everyone else. Isn't the actual game part relevant to the whole issue? The gameplay you have to go through to get to your goal?

It's not fully about the armor, it was the fact that everything became way too routine. Log in, do some dailies, log out. Rinse and repeat until a Raiding day comes. Go on a raid, down the same bosses you've downed every time (I fully agree there is a rush when you down a boss for the first time, but after that it's just another step in the routine), hope the loot you want drops, if it does then hope you beat out the other people wanting said loot, then go back to the schedule of dailies.

Like I said in a previous post (and as others have echoed) at a certain pooint that routine starts to feel more like a chore or a job than an actual game...and it's a chore that you're paying to do. Even up till the end, I enjoyed the social aspect of raiding, but in the end the negatives outweighed the positives and it was time for me to leave Azeroth forever. I'll fully admit that I had tons of fun with the game for a couple good years, but in my opinion it was just no longer worth it to pay a subscription fee for playing fantasy dress-up.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Yuuup. I don't really care for Blizzard anymore either. Not a fan of WoW, but I think MMOs suck so that isn't fair. Starcraft 2 was fun for a few months but not nearly as good as Brood War. Diablo 3 looks like shit also.
I am never really too attached to developers though, they go up and down. Blizzard could release an awesome game tomorrow and I wouldn't really fault them for all the crappy games they made lately.

 

[The Rainmaker]

I like Blizzard. Should i feel bad? :S I think they make great games, but I can see how long time fans can be dissapointed with their recent work, but I still think the games they make are FUN.

 

[RJ 17]

I read your wall of text and... A lot of what you're saying rings true, no doubt. Blizzard is a bunch of hacks at this point.

But no, the SC2 expansions won't be sold full price. Doesn't change the fact that SC2 itself is a horribly cliched, holey, dumb, padded out experience, to the point where it's obvious that it isn't actually a full game. It's one of the campaigns from the previous games stretched out to fill an entire game.

Yeah, I've pretty much given up my claim on the SC II issue, as numerous people have come out with facts that I didn't know and convinced me otherwise.

I like Blizzard. Should i feel bad? :S I think they make great games, but I can see how long time fans can be dissapointed with their recent work, but I still think the games they make are FUN.

This topic is just an opinion piece, nothing wrong if you disagree with my opinion and like Blizzard. For me it really boils down to the fact that I, like countless others, had been waiting over a decade for SC II and very eagerly looked forward to it when it was announced. Then I come to find out that they decided to split the game into three separate games and to me it just felt like they were screwing over their fanbase, knowing how loyal they were and how eager for this game they were. I could just picture some marketing guy in a Blizzard meeting saying "We know they want this game, we know they'll pay for it...why don't we just say it's so massive that we have to make it three games? Get those suckers to pay three times for the game they've been dreaming of for years?" Though as I mentioned above and in previous posts, I have since backed away from that position.

Yup, 6:30AM here. Totally not reading all that.
Probably should put a tldr or something in there, reading that whole thing should be an achievement lol

Don't wanna read it? Then you don't have to, it's just my opinion on Blizzard. I'm a writer so I tend to write...a lot...especially about something like this.

But if you really want a synopsis of the original post, it'd probably be something like "Blizzard seems to care much more about the dollar signs in its eyes these days then pleasing its fans. WoW has gotten to the point where many people feel like its a job or a chore that they have to pay to do rather than getting paid to do it. I had originally brought up how I thought the idea to split SC II into 3 separate games was the most soulless and greedy thing Blizzard could have possibly done, taking a game the people had waited over a decade for and deciding to make themm pay 3 times to get the full experience (I have since backed away from that argument as other posters have convinced me otherwise). I'm a conservative and a capitalist, so I've got no problem with a company doing what it needs to do to make profit...after all, that's the entire point of a company being in business: to make money. But when you unleash a monster such as WoW on the world and start taking in millions (if not billions) of dollars in subscription fees, it's hard to see any "suspicious" decisions (i.e. splitting SC II into 3 games) as being motivated by anything but pure greed...it's like the company saying "How can we suck even MORE money from these people?"

See? Even my tl/dr was rather verbose.