TL; DR - I feel ashamed if I log in, because it makes me feel like part of the problem rather than the solution to making Blizzard great again.
My friends list is empty, everyone I ever met and have known in World of Warcraft no longer plays the game.
When I recently resubscribed, my girlfriend gave me a disappointing look and said that I just wasted my money. It was the kind of look as if I had spent money on a game from EA.
People I know, laugh about the downfall of Blizzard, they make jokes and youtube is completely filled with terrible news in regards to everything related to Blizzard. Even content creators, whom have always remained positive about anything Blizzard related, are now criticizing the company.
But I am hurting. It honestly pains me to see and hear all this. Blizzard, the company of my childhood memories, my favorite game in the whole world, World of Warcraft⌠turning into a greedy slotmachine.
World of Warcraft was the game my friends and I would play all the time during our late teens. It was our relief and outlet, a place of wonders you could escape to. As we grew older, we all had less time to play as real life, work and family started taking up more and more time.
World of Warcraft was the game where I met my first online friends. It was incredible, to become part of online communities and passionate developers would always deliver new and exciting content for us. Blizzard was a company, a giant in the game industry where both players and developers could prosper.
But then those priorities shifted. Blizzard was suddenly no longer about making great games, but instead⌠it become about making great profit. When it became Activision Blizzard, it certainly became all about the profit and my friends began to leave the game.
World of Warcraft turned pay 2 win and got away with it, due to a loyal and passionate fans who didnât want to see the company taking a turn for the worse. You no longer had to level a character to experience and explore the World of Warcraft, you could just buy your way to max level⌠and then to BoE gear from mythics and raids.
The core systems and game mechanics, were replaced with simplified versions, to draw in the casual crowd, the amount of content that would come with each expansion became smaller and smaller. We started getting less for our 14 euro a month and everyone felt it. Developers started leaving the company.
Creative control was taken away from developers, unrealistic deadlines were set and expansions started feeling less like actual expansions, but more like a small content mod, fitting of a Steam EARLY ACCESS game. Meanwhile, marketing would offer exaggerated growth to investors and shareholders, blatantly lying to fans about what were going to get.
Censorship went to the extremes, community feedback could only be accepted if it was within the company rules. Any direct criticism towards staff or employees would be immediately shut down. Comments removed, users banned from reddit and forums and overall community feedback would be completely ignored.
So called âPTRâ or âBETAâ stages, would in reality become pre-alpha versions, no where near ready of being deployed. But they were anyway, so quality control went out the window. Interestingly enough, the fans kept paying. No one wanted to believe that things had gone so bad.
Activision Blizzard, your staff and employees⌠the reality is though, that it has. It is bad, you all know it and unfortunately, we know it too now. I know, that you working for the company have been hurting too. In that way, I feel personally that I let you down. Because even though I voiced my opinions on the forums, the real way I should have spoken, should had been with my wallet.
I know that you have for years been silently screaming at us, the fans, hoping that we would catch on what really is going on. Bound by confidentiality contracts, at the risk of losing your most passionate and desirable job, you hoped that we, the consumer, would catch on and make things better for you. I am sorry that we are so late to do so.
In a way, we failed you. But from a different perspective, one could say you failed us. You could have come forward too, spoken up against the injustice and I believe it is great that you do now, but there are two sides to the coin.
What are we make to make of all these recent news, about paycuts, lost bonuses, employees living in communes and unable to start families due to your obscene working conditions. I want to feel bad for you, but you need to speak up in order for us to do. Because when you donât, you give the impression that you are part of the company that makes great money, rather than the one which makes great games.
The issue, however⌠is that a lot of fans have lost faith that Blizzard can be restored. Because it is no longer up to the passionate developers to restore the greatness in Blizzard, because there is no Blizzard anymore. There is Activision Blizzard, and their priority is clearly not make great games. Investors and shareholders need satisfaction, not the consumer.
You guys working for the company have been in the crosshair ever since Blizzcon, but rightfully so. Throughout all this time, every fan of any or all your IPâs has been desperately waiting and hoping for some kind of communication, metaphorically speaking âa pat on the back, with a reassuring glimpse of a bright futureâ. But it hasnât come and instead we got corporate damage control, which only made things worse.
These forums are our only links, to the company behind our favorite franchise and childhood memories. Heavily censored by moderators and rarely glimpsed by community managers. But you, the community managers, were for a long time a part of the community until you went silent. You were the voice of players, the voice of feedback and criticism that relayed the most important information to the developers. Perhaps you still do and perhaps it falls on deaf ears up the chain of command⌠but we, do not know.
I feel ashamed to pay a subscription, because I do not feel that 14 euro goes to the development of my favorite franchise. It goes directly into chasing the latest best thing that will keep investors and shareholders satisfied and not the actual game I wish to see grow. Hell, I would gladly pay 30 euro a month, if I knew that money would give a rookie intern programmer or a game master a good meal or help them pay their rent.
I feel absolutely disgusted knowing that my 14 euro is going to chase mobile games or a completely different franchise, while Battle for Azeroth is left to rot in the awful state it is in. But thatâs the sad fact, corporate capitalism at its worst. Not a single lesson learned from other companies that took this direction, itâs all about milking the cow.
It frikken sickens me, to know that I am the cow being milked here, that you, Activision Blizzard is squeezing my teets for maximum profit. I will not let you anymore, let me tell you that is for certain and I feel absolutely sorry for everyone who is still in a state of denial, because throwing money down the drain never had a more direct meaning than paying a current WoW subscription.
Those of you, who left the company and stayed silent due to the huge check you got at the door⌠shame on you. Shame on all of you, you took the âblood-moneyâ and remained silent. You allowed these greedy corporate suits, to take advantage of your loyal fans for years. You may be speaking up now, but you should have done so earlier⌠way earlier. You let us down!
To those of you, still working and endorsing/enforcing the greedy corporate politics of Acitivision Blizzard? Shame on you even more. When you look in the mirror every morning, you should know that you above all others, are a spineless coward that takes advantage of other people, their passion and money.
To those of you, employed in within the company itself who finally speak up against Activision Blizzard? Bravo⌠that took some serious guts and we the fans know and are aware of the risks you took. We the fans, salute you and above all, thank you! You are true heroes.
Thanks for the reply however.
i enjoy this expansion a lot - leveling is amazing and there is a lot to do .![:poop:](https://d1bg94bbsh66ji.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/poop.png?v=6" ":poop:")