UMAD BRO?: Tears in the Rain Edition

If opinions are like assholes then pucker up, here comes one...

UMAD BRO?

Originally I had planned on publishing a completely different post this morning, I had it ready to go, but over my morning coffee I made the mistake of doing some reading elsewhere. That reading made me abort my original plan and begin writing in response, so here it is...

Blizzard recently announced they would be increasing the iLevel of current tier items by 5, interestingly this was met with criticism by some. The general complaint was that Blizzard was nerfing the new content (which apparently doesn't exist, amirite). See, first people complained that they weren't getting access to raiding content fast enough. So Blizzard released the 6.1 raid content before they actually released 6.1, then people complained that there was no content released with 6.1. Now people have started realizing that only the absolute top guilds in the world are clearing all of the new raid content (you know, what a lot of people have been whining about for literally years).

Now of course, Blizzard announces this 5 level increase to the ilevel of items from this tier, and people call it a nerf. THEN when maintenance times comes around (days after the announcement of the impending update) they complain that Blizzard promised them the upgrade, where is the upgrade?

Seriously, if you want to see tears in the rain just visit the forums and look at all of the crying over all of the ways the company they love has victimized them...

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Gun ships on fire off the shoulder of Icecrown. I watched eye-beams glitter in the dark near the Wrath Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die...

THE ARGUMENT

It seems that the dissenting voices can best be summed up by the following exchange I found on MMO-Champion:

Blizzard's logic for deploying this on a Wednesday instead of a Tuesday shows how out of touch with the game you guys are.
The logic is its not done yet, and providing lots of heads up let's people make the right choices. (Bashiok)
Make sure something is done and ready to go THEN announce it, instead of the other way around.. you can lawyer talk -- cont.
Giving people advanced warning isn't anything but positive. You know it's coming, so you can make the right choices. (Bashiok)
Thanks for the headsup. That said, really poor communication about the intended timeframe for this.
We said next week, and we intended for it to be sometime this week. Doesn't matter when it's applied. (Bashiok)
Except to the people who raid on Tuesday, I suppose.
Why? (Bashiok)
Kinda does matter to people raiding tonight...
Shouldn't really. (Bashiok)
Oh you're being serious, so you actually are crying over 5 iLevels. Gotcha.
Think his point is it's more the principal of the thing than ilvls. (Bashiok)
Ideally it could have been out this morning. It wasn't. (Bashiok)
For one week, on a few item levels. I think it's probably fine. (Bashiok)
Awful communication as well as releasing for European reset day & screwing over the United States in the process.
We're releasing when it's done. It's a somewhat complex change. (Bashiok)
any eta on the time this will be live tomorrow?
No. When it's ready. I would personally suspect afternoon. (Bashiok)

Basically, since Blizzard announced they were going to do something (not when mind you, but that they were going to do it at all) they are honor bound to make it happen immediately. To me, this is a perfect example of entitled gaming culture can be, and how ultimately we can't have nice things, because basically we shit all over them once we get them. Give people exactly what they want, you get the drizzling shits in return and more demands.

PERSPECTIVE

For the couple of years I was away from World of Warcraft, I was away from Blizzard entirely. I was cultivating a relationship with another game company, Games Workshop. Now, this is a company that like Blizzard is at the top of their chosen niche. Unlike Blizzard however they have basically no communication with their fans at all. They publish a regular magazine, but other than that there's no real feedback or community interaction with their customers/player base. Their games development essentially exists in a bubble. And so you end up with exactly what the dissenters here seem to want, no updates on upcoming content or releases until the very last possible moment. Which sometimes leaves the fans sitting on their thumbs for months at a time with just the game. Nothing to be excited about other than playing the same thing they did last week.

A big part of what brought me back to World of Warcraft? The fact they actually do interact with their fans. Is that interaction perfect? No, of course not. Neither is the decidedly one way street of interaction from some other companies. In short, be careful what you wish for...

Does it suck that people who raid on Tuesday don't get to fully enjoy the benefits of the ilevel boost? Sure, you know what would suck more? Pushing the thing out the door and having hundreds of thousands, if not millions of players dealing with stupid bugs introduced by sloppy coding. I'd rather Blizzard wait until they're ready to release the thing than deal with another "Ice Block" bug like we had in Wrath. But you know what they say, you can't please everybody all the time. Lately though it seems like you can't please some of you people, ever. So, keep up the good fight or whatever, I guess.

Remember,

Always Be Closing...

K