I personally feel that since the launch (and to a degree before it) there has been a completely insufficient level of communication between Blizzard and the Classic player base.
Now, this level of communication would be tolerable if the product had launched and there were no major problems. A smooth launch and product doesn’t require communication as for the most part no customer will complain if they are happy with a product or service.
However, you can see from both the EU/US forums and the plethora of websites berating the launch and product that there are major issues and they need addressing. From bugs to queues to game breaking problems there has been two constants from Blizzard and that is silence or dismissive statements. When they haven’t been able to fix a problem, they have stated it’s not possible to fix. For almost every other issue there has been silence.
To add insult to injury, we have no roadmap for the product and no idea what they plan to fix or change next. As someone who works in an IT environment, when the brown stuff is hitting the fan you generally don’t spend time as an engineer communicating with your end users, but unlike Blizzard my organisation doesn’t have an entire communications department.
The product and communication is unacceptable on so many levels and I can’t be the only person so frustrated by this. I’m not even angry, it just feels so depressing that Blizzard have allowed this to happen. Wotlk was the best expansion I had the privilege of playing and it just feels wrong in its current form.
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Go to the US forums if you want communication.
They don’t get any communication either.
Blizzard posts on their twitter feed before they announce anything on the official forums.
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The whole Earthshaker lock down was a sad state of affairs too. Has it even been officially mentioned yet?
It doesn’t take much to pop a quick post 24hrs before you action something.
I believe they always intended to give classic minimal support knowing that it would bring in money regardless. I also think the times Blizzard catered to #nochanges and #somechanges was mostly just about minimal effort as opposed to actually thinking it was a good idea.
And as it it seems they put absolute bare minimum workforce into classic, they don’t deserve our money either.
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They put a lot of money into marketing and advertising tho.
Dono why they would drop the ball so hard after launch.
Marketing promotes hype which gets them a nice cash boost for a month or two.
The customer service is up there with the worst i have seen. Comunication is on par with someone suffering from deafness, blindness, and some form of learning difficulties, actually its worse than that.
The game wasnt anywhere near ready for launch, they don’t have enough staff to cope with issues /tickets, but they sold it to us anyway.
The nostalgia has worn off quite a lot for me not even been playing a month, the whole launch just seems an exploitation off its customers, sorry we’re not customers we’re just $$$$ signs to them.
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And before they post on their twitter feed they make sure that some random streamer gets the inside scoop from some half cooked up interview with absolutely no pushback or request for clarification.
And I always love when i read people hating on Pserver players on these forums because its some sort of “theft”… the same players have no problem getting their money “stolen” by Blizzard considering the abysmal state of the servers, service and performance of the product.
Having read the US forums the past couple of weeks the communication is just as poor over there.
Well, it is a theft however you turn it.
About money “stolen”, everyone can stop paying if product is not up to expectations, works with every service, not just wow.
If i purchase a product and get fleeced there is also legal action too i can take in real life.
Just cause they write in their trashy TOS “well we just do what we want, when we feel like it”, does not mean thats in conformity with EU law.
Not that I am looking to seek legal action but it makes the whole “private servers are a form of theft” argument pretty much void.
Edit: atleast for my personal gaming experience. I should add. This isn’t legal advice. I just think, given how they perform their “service”, there really isn’t a reason to feel obligated or anything to blizzard anymore. Its just a terrible experience to play classic.
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Taking legal action is quite valid decision on your part if you feel so.
Playing on private is buying stolen goods while knowing they are stolen.
nobody buys anything on pservers, they are usually free for the players. As for hosting em, thats another story.
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My first thought would be a public list of things they are working on. Certainly there could be a few secret items, but the majority.
I have a few explanations, none better than the other.
- They are actually ashamed of their priorities. Their product owners and managers define and prioritise features nobody wants.
- Fear of community. Regardless of their choice on RDF, half of the vocal community goes rampant. Many other topics the same. They don’t want to be disheartened.
- Disrespect of community. Basically the above, except it’s more about listening and then knowing better. Which is, frankly, the job of a product manager. Customer is always right is a blatant, stupid marketing statement with a hint of truth, but not an objective reality. (I’m a customer. I have a number of ideas on what shall change tomorrow. First and foremost, we get dungeon and raid finder. Don’t look at me. I’m a customer, I’m always right. You say, you are a customer, too?)
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It is possible all of your points are the reasoning behind their lack of communication.
If I were in their shoes I would probably feel a mixture of stress, anxiety, disappointment and anger towards the project managers and heads of the various teams that such a mess had been passed through quality control and released to the public. I don’t know what the culture is like at Blizzard but I doubt if you stick your head out and say “We can’t release this because it’s not finished” you will get any positive results.
The customer being right isn’t always correct and it greatly varies depending on the industry. The devs have made it clear in this case that the customer is wrong and their small focus groups on subjects like RDF has proven they are wrong in their approach to market research. They have also implemented fixes and changes no one asked for (or wanted) showing almost contempt for their player base.
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Them stolen goods are delivering a much better service than the offical product
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Sadly, it feels like not even that.
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