Stratics dev chat: live coverage
by Eliah Hecht 
May 15th 2007 at 5:55PM
Well, it's time to get some answers, hopefully! Here I'll be covering Stratics' Q&A chat with WoW lead developers Kalgan and Tigole, as well as some of the CMs. I will keep this post continually refreshed with everything the devs say, so feel free to reload for updates.Edit: The chat has been postponed until a week from today: Tuesday, May 22, at 6:00 PM Eastern time.
5:55: Chat starts in five minutes. Drysc, Eyonix, Kalgan, Tigole, and Nethaera have just joined the room.
5:59: Kalgan left, but I'm sure he'll be back. Several people are present with nicknames like "HELP_Shamans."
6:02: I estimate there are about 900 people watching the chat. That's quite a few. Looks like there are some set-up issues, as Eyonix has now left too, Kalgan isn't back, and nobody's said anything yet.
6:10: Here we go! Welcome to the first ever Stratics house of commons chat with the developers of World of Warcraft! We'll begin with a brief introduction from our guests and then jump straight into the questions. The full logs will be available at http://wow.stratics.com shortly afterward.
6:12: Introductions time.
Nethaera: Good afternoon everyone. I'm Nethaera and one of the World of Warcraft Community Managers.
6:20: The developers are experiencing some minor technical problems, it should be corrected in a moment.
6:42: I know Blizzard likes to delay things, but this is absurd. Get on with it, people.
6:52: Won't be too much longer folks, hang in there.
6:54: Unfortunately this chat has been postponed until tomorrow due to technical difficulties. Please keep an eye on http://wow.stratics.com and http://www.worldofwarcraft.com for the new date.
Well, alright then! See you guys later I guess. (A further message added that the postponement might be until next week; I'll keep you posted.)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nelson May 15th 2007 6:20PM
look at all the people who are made at the Arena Tournament.
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/1323/tournyjokeoc3.gif
Nelson May 15th 2007 6:21PM
opps, i meant MAD (not made)
Corrodias May 15th 2007 6:24PM
"lol @ ebayers" is all i have to say to them.
lolwtfstfu May 15th 2007 6:54PM
nah more like they quit and got back or they initially started with a friend's account to save the 50$ OR they quit during BC and got a friends account to play on.
I am for one of those people that will be cockblocked like that ~_~
Becca May 15th 2007 6:39PM
So many whiny names.
WhydidIhavetorespectoresto
ShamansNeedBuffs
ShamansNeedAntiCC
FixshamanTotemsPleaseeee
ShamanEnhancementNeedsPVPFix
DevsHateEnhancement
AnyTotemUILoveInTheNearFuture3
Nogun May 15th 2007 7:15PM
[01:13] * Antarion changes topic to 'Unforunately the HoC with Blizzard had to be postponed. The new date will be the 22nd at 3pm PDT!
Would be pretty cool if it collided with the other HoC chat that day (Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - Everquest Online Adventures - 5pm PDT / 8pm EDT) everyone knows how much those 2 player bases love each other let alone the developers :)
Baluki May 15th 2007 8:07PM
@4: If by "whiny" you mean "desperate", then you're absolutely right.
Kyrra May 15th 2007 10:42PM
@3
I don't have much of a problem with people "ebaying" their character... my issue is that Blizzard decided to drop the ball on this right as they are getting ready for the regional finals.
None of the accounts have been banned yet, but they DQ'ed everyone where the account name doesn't match the billing.
Blizzard should have investigated all the teams much earlier on, not this late in the game.
DontLetsStart May 15th 2007 11:34PM
I think Blizzard have handled it perfectly. If they'd done it earlier, it wouldn't have got anywhere near the attention. By waiting this long, they've ensured that the account sharing thing has gotten heaps of publicity. Now people are more aware of the issue and are less likely to do it. That's probably exactly what they wanted to do.
As for it being unfair on the teams, those cheaters can cry me a river. People want to make this into an "e-sport", so do you think an olympian who tests positive to steroids will get much sympathy if they say "The IOC should have warned us earlier we'd be tested at the event! It's so unfair we haven't been given more of a chance to get away with cheating!"
tython25 May 15th 2007 11:57PM
I love the Shaman names. Blizzard is too lazy to fix the class but it's still funny.
The PvP tourney is a joke now. I don't care if Blizzard wanted to bring attention to the bannings. It's a horrible way to treat people especially when the rules were so ambiguous.
Doesn't surprise me this event was postponed. I fully expect very little in the way of feedback from the developers. They'd rather demean people on the forums. They'll make WoW into whatever they want regardless of what the players say...
Angelus May 16th 2007 11:29AM
This is just true to life. No need to be mad at Blizz for wanting some integrity. These people that did not match thier accounts were simply breaking the TOS.
If this was say, football players, and it came out that the jersey they were wearing wasn't really their's, or even, how many other people wore that jersey during the tournamant, you must disqualify that player for cheating.
Blizz was very wise in doing this, IMO.
bonse May 16th 2007 4:36AM
As far as the tourney affair is concerned, these are players that will be spotlighted as the best of the best (in that particular strand of the game as a whole), publicity that annoys people but ultimately gets everyone to be very aware of the possible outcomes of account sharing / ebaying could arguably be good or bad, but publicly promoting certain players as 'elite' whilst knowing that there were irregularities with those accounts, and it coming out afterwards can only be detrimental to the company, there is very little opportunity to put a positive spin on it. Some people feel cheated as they can't compete due to irregularities in their accounts, where as it could have been that some people felt cheated as they came second to someone who was ineligible. At this point blizz have to decide who to upset, those that conform to the ToS or those that dont, I know what I would do if I were the one who's decision it was.
Seperately I hear a lot of concerns as to shamans, I have a little elemantal shaman that I enjoy playing from time to time, but have always been told that the way to go early on is enhancement, and i can see the reasoning. I also understand and sympathise with the concerns as to priests, Holy in particular, but i would also suggest that the fact that i have never actually met, or heard much of, disc priests should be concern enough. So my question is, anyone else suspect the technical problems were directly related to the number of names created with an obvious intention of raising issues that were once dismissed with a 'wait for the class review' answer?
To be blunt, in their position, seeing the amount of opposition i would be facing, I know I would consider postponing 24 hrs and coming back better prepared, whether I would or not is another question
Eldiablohijo May 16th 2007 8:48AM
It's not that the names on the account didn't match the billing on the account.
It's that the name on the account didn't match up to the name/addresses supplied to Blizzard when they were working on setting up arrangements to get all the players out there for the final tournament.
That's why it just happened, it's not like they had all this information before hand because they didn't have any reason before this to ask players for their personal information so they could set up flights for them.