Breakfast Topic: You're in charge
by Mike Schramm 
Jul 21st 2007 at 8:00AM
Richard Bartle (who also blogs over at Terra Nova) gained notoriety among WoW players this week for saying that if Blizzard put him in charge, he'd shut the game down for good. His point was not that he's angry at WoW, but that if players suddenly woke up without it, they'd move on to other, more interesting and varied virtual worlds. WoW is the 800 lb. gorilla in MMO gaming (and in some cases, videogaming) right now, and if Bartle could do one thing with that gorilla, he'd get it out of the picture, so other games would have a chance to shine brighter.Yesterday on Terra Nova, he asked players the same question he was asked, and today, we'll ask it to you. If Blizzard called you up this afternoon, and said "Boy, we really love the way you're playing this game, and we want to put you in charge," what would you do? And not just in terms of the game world (although I'd love to finally buff Shamans), but in terms of the game business itself. Would you start working on a sequel, or make plans to push out expansions every six months instead of every year? Would you combine the realms together, or create an hourly payment plan instead of a monthly one?
Or would you shut the whole thing down and let players have a chance to play something else (or get back to their lives)? If you were in charge, what would you do?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Shadowisp Jul 21st 2007 8:39AM
If I had a choice of running Blizzard... I would seriously take a look at the way they manage things, and look at streamlining things but also put a more friendly face to them.
Their GM/Customer/Technical support is below par imo, they tend to say "Sorry cant help" "Working as intended" way too often. I swear thier PR department runs customer service and that is wrong.
I would also look at their Patch Implementation and Source Coding for the game. Patches seem to be in PTR way too long, and it often seems they odd things get bugged in patches (small shoulders, pink weapons, Boss bugs) but the odd thing about those bugs is the Blizzard didnt go anywhere near those codes in the first place to get those bugs.
Would also look at thier priority basis on hotfix/bug fixes... some bugs are running way too long, and when they do fix something the players often say "Finally!"
I would also try to convince them the focus should be on Features and Moderate Level Raid Instances which would cater more to the whole community instead of focusing on high-end raids that only less than 1% of the people will get a chance to see. (especially when said instances are the reasons PTR testing takes too long)
jess Jul 21st 2007 8:59AM
I'd revamp a lot of the lower zones to be more on par with what Outlands is like - break down larger dungeons into wings so that no dungeon should take more than 2 hours if you've got a decent group.
I'd also redo a lot of the questing areas so that it's easier to stay in one area for for a level or two rather than having to ping pong back and forth between a few levels.
I'd make rewards clases that use it, no more strength stamina robes for example.
I liked how Tranquillen worked, it would be cool if players could gain rep with say the Cenarion Circle or the Argent Dawn at level 20 and up through quests and there were more rep rewards for lower levels through those factions. That way there is more of an enticement to quest and if the player doesn't have the expansion they have a leg up on some of the level.
Junzim Jul 21st 2007 9:18AM
I'd revamp World PvP to make it worthwhile (ie: introduce Honour bonuses for completing World PvP tasks as in battlegrounds instead of the insanity of 500 Halaa kills for a single +resi gem) so other realms can enjoy it as much as RP-PvP realms.
I'd create more of the great evocative armour looks that the old Honour Gear had (don't get me wrong, the Arena gear looks awesome but it doesn't shout "FOR THE HORDE!" or "FOR THE GLORY OF LORDAERON!" like the old High Warlord's Shield Wall or High Warlord's Recurve).
The current gear says "Zomg I'm a priest" or "Rawr! I'm a warrior!" but I'd like it to say "I SHALL SPILL YOUR BLOOD FOR THE GLORY OF THRALL!" or "I have ended hundreds of greenskin scum for the horrors your kind rained upon my people. Your fate shall be the same!"
I'd make PvP banners far more usable and far more interesting - Guild banners for instance which would have the faction symbol as a crest at the top and then your guild sigil on the flag. They could level up depending on how much successful PvP your guild did to confer better bonuses because, honestly, +max Stam is a stupid buff (and I say that as a class who can easily top people's HP up after I place it) I only like the current Horde banner because it looks cool.
If for instance, at its highest level your Guild banner could confer +10% haste that'd be pretty cool and not too overpowered. It'd ad a lot to PvP confrontations. There's nothing like shouting "RALLY TO THE BANNER!"
Finally I'd alter the game to make the Horde vs Alliance theme much, much stronger than it already is to beat Warhammer Online to the punch.
Ian Jul 21st 2007 9:23AM
I'd simplify the combat and user interface, make the quests meaningless and boring, and run commercial after commercial on TV for it.
It worked for Star Wars Galaxies, right?
BONG!
CVJ Jul 21st 2007 10:05AM
Like #2 said I would also rework some of the older zones, upgrade quest rewards and give a boost to the XP rate.
A friend of mine told me about EQ2 and how it is kind of hard to get into it now with all the expansions and how you are basically alone in the lower zones.
Once another expansion comes out no new race/class will have a chance of doing much unless they just grind solo to 60.
robodex Jul 21st 2007 10:16AM
I would probably set up the forums to automatically ban anyone who complains about their class or someone else's class being under/overpowered.
I'd also probably do the same for people who think they know how the game's programming works, and that they could probably do a better job.
Actually, scratch that, I think I'd probably just completely shut down the official forums. Nothing good ever comes from them; they're simply a sea of idiocy and QQ posts with the occasional "buff my class" post that includes flawed math and or arguments.
Juliah Jul 21st 2007 10:28AM
I'd:
1) Train the GMs to actually enforce roleplaying on the roleplaying servers.
2) Offer player housing.
3) Create a sidekick/exemplar system similar to that in City of Heroes/City of Villains so that friends of different levels can play together.
4) Create multiple levels of difficulty for dungeons. In "Story mode" you'd only need five team members to complete a dungeon. The loot wouldn't be as impressive, but casuals and smaller guilds would at least get to see the end game lore and content.
5) Give both priests and warriors some love in their talent trees. I'd especially extend the timer on warrior shouts.
6) I'd make it a little easier for warlocks and paladins to get their epic mounts. It's hard for them to find a group for old Azeroth dungeons.
7) I liked one of WoW Insider's suggestions about making it easier for hunters to bring pets to peer level. I see no reason why they should have to grind a level 10 when they're level 70 simply because this was their first character and they weren't familiar with the world, or even the 'net resources on it.
8) Both paladins and shamans could probably use a little love. It would be fine with me for paladins to get a little boost in the Retribution tree, and why not have Enhancement be a viable end game spec?
9) Make Noblegarden more fun. Have many more egg spawns in different parts of the world. Putting the eggs in the newbie zones often means that 70s on epics are just zooming around taking all the eggs while the young ones are struggling on foot.
That's all I can come up with right now.
Paw Jul 21st 2007 10:30AM
I would rework the original content. Add to and improve the existing zones, quests, etc. To make it more interesting for the end-gamers to reroll from scratch yet another alt I would introduce a new race for each faction and new classes. I would do the major overhaul in an expansion, but continually add new instances for all levels (not just end game) as patch updates.
I agree with those who said they would improved world PvP. I think world PvP should generate greater hnonor than the battlegrounds toon for toon. Have raid objectives scattered about each of the faction's towns and villiages and camps. You would not have to be a part of a raid to benefit from any action therein.
I would also implement random raid events on the enemy cities. A hero-type NPC would begin gathering the troops over a weeklong period (you would sign up for the event at designated recruiters in each of the cities, towns and villiages around the world). During that lead-in time, spy NPCs would be reporting back their findings to the soon-to-be-assaulted faction cities. When the go time was reached, everyone who signed in for the raid would be transported via faction flying mount (a selection similar to when your BG is ready would appear and you could opt in or choose to opt out) to the city to be raided where a camp would then appear. The camp would not appear until the hero NPC arrived so the faction to be raided would not know they were coming...unless they put the clues from the spies together successfully, until the raid party was outside their gates. When the go signal was given, the assult would start. The camp would be the base for the attacking faction, with appropriate vendors to distribute needed materials.
Spencer Jul 21st 2007 10:33AM
Bartle's an idiot. Of course people would play other MMO's if WoW was gone, thats like saying if wal mart closed tomorrow, people would shop at *gasp* OTHER STORES. Maybe if other companies started putting together some QUALITY games then maybe people will leave wow, more than this website has already pointed out that they are. Saying that this game is limiting the growth of the industry is incredibly shortsighted. It sounds like sour grapes.
Paw Jul 21st 2007 10:33AM
@7
"Create multiple levels of difficulty for dungeons. In "Story mode" you'd only need five team members to complete a dungeon. The loot wouldn't be as impressive, but casuals and smaller guilds would at least get to see the end game lore and content."
Thank you. I vote for this one. If nothing else is ever changed, this should be the one thing that is.
lolwtfstfu Jul 21st 2007 10:44AM
i would allow pve to pvp realm xfers and nerf warlocks, even though id lose revenue
cchhiipp Jul 21st 2007 11:14AM
I'd come up with follow-up games that could be tied back in to WoW. For example, perhaps a 1-player game that would allow you to transfer the character back into WoW at some level other than 1. Or a way to get items that you could transfer back into WoW. Sorta like what they're doing with the card game.
rick gregory Jul 21st 2007 12:36PM
Wow... every single one of the comments above completely ignores the point of the post and whines about whatever the commenter wants changed in the game.
If I ran Blizz... hmmm I wouldn't want to actually. I'd rather build a kickass game elsewhere that was as addictive as WoW but very different. Some people who can't get into WoW might like my game instead, some WoW players might play both. A few might switch.
But if I ran Blizz... I'd look to do that same thing inhouse. WoW is fine as is with minor issues. But you will ALWAYS have minor issues in a complex game played by millions. Try to minimize then, sure, but perfection ain't happening.
I'd explore ideas for games that 1) were not quest based/killing centric 2) that were outside of the mythos of Warcraft/Tolkien universes. For example, there are a lot of people who find the Sims games addictive. Could you combine that idea of building a polity (maybe around a guild) with a Civilization idea of making alliances, conquering, etc? There would be issues - how do groups initially start and build polities, etc... but something like that would tap into people who want to build/create things in world and who like the strategy aspect to games.
Paw Jul 21st 2007 1:25PM
"Wow... every single one of the comments above completely ignores the point of the post and whines about whatever the commenter wants changed in the game."
And what does yours do but the same, except as you would prefer to see with another license altogether? And you use the word "polity" correctly in a sentence. No one does that outside of a political science classroom.
We all know the coments the OP was referring to. The questions he then asked were fairly straight forward, although a bit broad. People simply answered with "what [they] would do", just as you.
RaydenUni Jul 21st 2007 1:33PM
I would like to see zones turned into mini campaigns with a branching quest tree.
When you arrive in a zone you are greeted by one of the major quest givers and he tells you the situation in the zone. You do a couple quests and then you are given some choices on what quests you want to do. You can do every quest if you want, but you don't have to in order to complete the overall "campaign" for the zone. You may favor assassination quests, or gathering quests, or kill x of these quests. Whatever you choose you will end up at the end of the quest tree with some difficult elite group quests. After those you are then given the quests for the dungeon where the big bad awaits who was causing all the trouble in that zone to begin with. After you complete the dungeon are you done with that zone, unless of course you are called back 20 levels later to defeat the higher level dungeon.
The whole BE starting area was sort of like this in that there was some elite quests that ended several series of quests in Deatholme.
Because the quest tree would be rather complicated, I think players should be given a picture of the quests in the form of a node graph with nodes filled in as they discover the quests. So they know how far along each branch they are.
Fiddle Jul 21st 2007 1:36PM
I have two irritations that I'd implement a fix for immediately:
1. Stop gimping the GM's. Either take them out of areas where they cannot help or give them more authority and integrate them with the folks that actually pay attention to suggestions. Blizz has a great resource that is completely under utilized.
2. STOP the incessant attacks on newbie city zones by deflagging NPC's. ESPECIALLY on PVE servers. It is a royal pain to be trying to level a new toon, and have your NPC consistently one shotted by some bored level 70 that has nothing else to do. There's nothing in it for them, it's a way to grief the newbies, and the GM response of "oh well...nothing I can do, they are allowed to" isn't worth the pixels they take to type it, nor my time to read it..
Krick Jul 21st 2007 3:18PM
I'd add a dishonor debuff for players who kill other players or NPCs that are grey to them. Something like the rez sickness debuff.
sheepe Jul 29th 2007 6:53PM
"I'd add a dishonor debuff for players who kill other players or NPCs that are grey to them. Something like the rez sickness debuff."
Something like if you kill more than one grey level player or pvp npc in half an hour you get knocked down to their level and strippped of most of your gear bonuses. Only for a few minutes of course but long enough for the players being ganked to get some revenge.
bill gates Jul 21st 2007 4:17PM
Add collision detection so i don't feel like I'm being molested every time i go to the mailbox
Druid dude Jul 21st 2007 5:13PM
Kind of funny that we are all making comments on how to fix the most wildly successful video game of all time lol! But what the heck, I will play expert-for-a-minute too.
I would do something about the old world leveling situation. It just doesnt have the organization and 'sparkle' of the Outland content. A few more quests would be in order, and many of the quests would need to have their rewards upgraded to be in line with the way Outland quest rewards are.
I would deepen the fairly recent trend of separating PvP and Raid gear. PvP gear would become much less useful in raids, and Raid gear would not be so capable of OMGWTFBBQing people in pvp.
Healers and tanks get pretty shafted right now. Most good raid healers have at leasat one farming alt. A prot warrior or a holy priest can't kill squat. Yes, there are many other ways to make gold in the game right now, but its just not enough. Not sure exactly *how* I would do that though lol! One thing that might work are daily quests where you have to heal an NPC in a fight, or tank some mobs while being healed by NPCs. They would have to be something you could do by yourself too.
There are a few smaller class tweaks I would want to take up too. The twitchy part of that is keeping both pvp and pve balanced, thus my previous thing about separating out the gear rewards from each a lot more than they are. Druids need some love in pvp, just a little, not a lot. Shammies need a little better healing juice. The Pally ret tree might as well be removed as it is lol! Simply raiding their melee AP modifiers would help, and a few new talents as well.