Blizzard used to make the best games possible with extreme attention for the smallest of details.
Money spent was of no importance.
Money generated (income/profit) was of no importance.
No stupid deadlines.
Beancounters had nothing to say.
Shareholders had nothing to say.
Most important of all was that players were not seen as customers that were only needed for their money but as normal human beings that would love their game and get fun out of it.
It has been taken over by corrupted people. People who see the player base as nothing but lowlife stupid people who need to get ripped off their money and maximize their profit.
All is about cost saving now.
If u watch carefully they will always implement some quality of life feature and remove a lot of other things, dumb down things, generalize things, simplify things.
We have to follow their way of playing the game now if u understand what i mean. U are forced into content u do not like because they failed to make that content enjoyable.
1 simple example:
Island Expeditions. I absolutely hate it⊠but⊠what do they do? U get a huge amount of azerite for getting 36k every week. I am sure some will say that u can do that within an hour but those people miss the point.
And before i finish i must say something about Ion Hazzikostas.
His eyes wide open having that weird look and always sitting arrogantly with his back stretched out against the chair leaning backwards.
That man is now one of the faces of Blizzard.
The old Blizzard is dead.
A parasite took control of it and will milk it dry until there is nothing left to milk.
It was a lot easier back then when games were much smaller and lower resolution.
Also a fair amount of classic WoW was actually a happy accident.
Ah yes, I miss the early 2000s where you didnât need money. Especially companies with employees to pay.
Not just* customers.
The same with any multi-billion dollar company.
Donât get me wrong , blizzard today is not as good as blizzard a decade or two ago, but letâs not BS and pretend we are living in some land of make belief because that does nobody any favours.
âBlizzard just wants money!!!â Is not a good argument to get them to change.
âBlizzard could make more money by doing XâŠâ or âblizzard is out of touchâ, those are better ways to hopefully get some change.
The complainers are not zealots? Thereâs no sheeple mentality goin on there at all?
Blizz are a business, always have been from day one. Business is about making money through providing a service/product that people want. Thatâs business. If your product is sub standard, people donât buy it. Simple. Blizz are pretty darn successful, and have great quality product. They make money, players get a great game.
Donât like the game? Itâs the complainers choice to play a game they donât like. If they choose to pay and play something they dislike, what does that say about the complainer? Vote with your wallet if you want change.
Funniest thing Iâve read in a while, especially the part about Blizzard making great quality products so that the players get a âgreatâ game (like BFA?).
I do agree though, vote with your wallet! but unfortunately my sub is tied to Classic, and if I could choose, I would unsubscribe from retail to sub to Classic.
Name a gaming company youâre familiar with that is better today than in the old days.
Like with movies and music and so on, itâs natural to develop a fondness for the classics, the golden age, the early days, and so on. Comes with being an aficionado, I guess. If you know the Blizzard of old, then youâve been gaming for at least 25 years.
I also consider 90âs cartoons the best ever made, because thatâs what I grew up with. If you grew up with Blizzardâs old games, then they should have left a lasting impression. Thatâs a good thing.
The whole gaming industry has changed over the years.
Companies started to care more for the stockholders instead of customers. Because of that they only try to get nice figures and try to make as much money by not focusing on games but focusing on transactions and dlc to squeeze out more money.
I do think blizzard still is one of the least terrible gaming companies when it comes to microtransactions though. Not many companies allow you to pay for subscription and other games with in game gold. I mean if some idiot is willing to throw real life money at his screen for a little bit of gold that is easy to farm yourself, then they can go ahead.
I donât think itâs like that.
I mean, if you take Blizzard, then Adham, Morhaime, and Pearce sold the company to Davidson & Associates in 1993. And the first thing they did was to put their own guy - Paul Sams - in as Blizzardâs COO. Today we are quick to say âOmg! Activision is taking over!â whenever a person from Activision Blizzard join Blizzard Entertainment. But thatâs always been happening. Vivendi employees have held major positions within Blizzard Entertainment too.
The only reason why it seemed as if Blizzard Entertainment had more creative freedom in the past was that the gaming business was a lot simpler. The only source of income was box sales. So if Blizzard made a popular game, then they basically fulfilled their obligation to their owners.
Itâs the same today. The ownership of Blizzard has just moved from private to public hands, and rather than being a small part of something much bigger and foreign to themselves, then they are now a big part of something thatâs closer to what they do.
And then the business model in the gaming industry has changed. Box sales are not really the primary source of income. But the obligation to earn money and keep up with the competition and not lose market share, thatâs still there. So if the market moves toward microtransactions and DLCs, then Blizzard can either compete for their place in the market, or they can roll over and die. Their owners - whoever buys their shares - obviously donât want Blizzard to be annihilated by EA, Nintendo, Ubisoft, or whoever.
Itâs not really stockholders instead of customers. Without customers there wonât be any stockholders. And stockholders really only care about customers, beacuse theyâre the source of the money. And the customers are only there if the games are worth their time and money.
Yes and no. Blizzard as a company is alive and well.
The original members are gone, yes, and they are also in the chains of ActiVision now. So, Blizzard, as a free and independent company, are gone.
well if we start looking at other games and how their expansions been, BFA is not that bad at all, many new games who has come out be it an MMO or even sport game has been horrid to the extent it even been cancelled.
WoW as a whole is a great game, to someone that enjoys the game. If you donât enjoy the game, ye, put your wallet away. I personally love bfa, but I only play the parts I enjoy and completely ignore the parts I donât.
Funniest thing Iâve read in a while, especially the part about Blizzard making great quality products so that the players get a âgreatâ game (like BFA?).