Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsJeff Kaplan leaving World of Warcraft
by Elizabeth Harper 
Feb 12th 2009 at 2:48PM
In a surprise announcement this afternoon, World of Warcraft's Game Director Jeff Kaplan (whom you may know from the forums as "Tigole," and whom those of you with a longer memory may remember as the guild leader of Legacy of Steel back in the EverQuest days) is leaving the WoW team to work on a their unannounced MMO. (What this means for how far along that project is it's hard to say -- are they perhaps bringing in a solid game designer because they're just now getting things started? Or to polish off the finishing touches?) Says Kaplan of his time with the World of Warcraft team:I wanted to take a moment to let the community know that I've switched roles here at Blizzard to work on our upcoming, unannounced MMO. World of Warcraft has been such a central part of my life these past six and a half years, and it's success would not have been possible without the tremendous community around it, so I wanted to say thank you to all our players who've shared this amazing experience with us so far.
World of Warcraft isn't going anywhere, however, as the rest of the team is remaining in place, including Kaplan's "partners in crime" Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brack.
Mr. Kaplan, while we haven't always agreed with you, we'll certainly miss having you around. And, since you're going, we have to ask... can we have your stuff?
Filed under: Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 6)
Gwarr Feb 12th 2009 5:35PM
Respect , Tigole Bittes! Oh , and besides killing mosters in EQ he actually is a pretty darn good programmer so the mmo experience+ the programming one made him fit in Blizzard.And for all you naysayers , remmember Tigole been here since Vanilla WoW and its the same guy that made fights like Cthun and Naxxramas 40 man and for that he deserves some respect!
delrob Feb 12th 2009 5:39PM
Good riddance
lanceg33 Feb 12th 2009 5:55PM
@25
Regal Beagle reference . . . too funny. Tigole definetly has a Larry look about him.
CrusaderStrike Feb 13th 2009 4:16AM
"And, since you're going, we have to ask... can we have your stuff?"
LMAO
redmatrix Feb 12th 2009 6:20PM
"RogueJedi86 said...
Guys, calm down. I just meant I love how Ghostcrawler tells us about upcoming changes and exactly why the changes happened. That's why everyone loved Ghostcrawler at BlizzCon'08 and love him now, it's his openness to the player base. It makes us feel like we're involved in the development process."
Its because the users are a cheap source for beta testing and feedback. That of which Blizzard does not have to spend on Q&A costs. Like when Wrath was in beta and everyone who got an invite. Was auctioning off their code. I remember seeing codes going up to 200+ US dollars. I bet blizz was like laughing at us "Dance puppets, Dance!" Simple stuff that they are doing with each patch. Makes you think they should have had it in place since day 1 or first or second year. Like clams are now stackable yet the meat is not? Level 30 mounts. Faster leveling curve from 20-70. The dead level zone from 30-40. Mining one hit and get everything in the vein. Like herbalist and skinners.
I do agree that GC seems a lot more open but doesn't mean he will listen. He only listens to what he wants to hear. Like the hunter nerfs. A few weeks passed GC says "Opps, our bad" When there was a huge forum posts spanning pages upon pages. If Tigole is leaving he should have taken that Palading Nerfing, Hunter axing noob of GC too. Blizzard teases us with new feature and they don't deliver. In BC took almost 8 months before Wrath came out to have guild banks. I guess we will have that dumb dance studio 6 months before the next expansion hits. Just like you can create DK on any server. Try creating a new DK on a new server like Winterhoof. Then complain and the GM says that you need a 55 toon. When you already have multiple 55+. Dual spec I wont believe it until I have installed the patch onto my game. I wonder if Blizz took a crap in a box and labeled it the next expansion how many of you fanboys would be still defending, what a great game it is.
wordsofivory Feb 12th 2009 6:46PM
Bias, ignorance, and assumptions. Yup, sounds like your usual WoW Insider comments section, alright.
First of all, Kaplan isn't leaving the game. He's just stepping down from the lead role. He has stated as much himself. So his name disappearing from the credits isn't going to happen any time soon.
Second of all, and this is correcting a hugely ignorant assumption that everyone is making... game developers have staff turnovers ALL THE TIME!
Saying that WoW is at its end because old staff aren't working on the game is the most ignorant and blind-sighted assumption anyone could possible make. Do you really think Blizzard are planning to "drop" one of the most played games on the entire planet... just because?
It's *very* common to see entire teams disbanded after a product is released, and a new one assembled for the next project. This is as much true for the WoW expansions as it is for anything else.
You gotta love the internet at times, for being such a giant cesspool of idiocy and overblown hyperbole.
Gurev Feb 12th 2009 7:08PM
Great news for WOW, bad news for whatever new MMO is.
shayskir Feb 12th 2009 9:58PM
Nigga? What are we 12?
Cedia Feb 12th 2009 10:50PM
And there was much rejoicing!
Mr. Kaplan, please be sure to take your elitist raiding arshole friends with you. Don't let the door hit you on the way out!
Plastic Rat Feb 13th 2009 3:01AM
Pitty there isn't a dev we could send the idle, shallow, ADHD plagued casuals and their whiny buddies off with.
Have you tried Hello Kitty Adventure Island? They apparently don't have 'elitist raiders'. Nobody has to worry about being part of a team and you never have to put in any effort to achieve or learn anything.
Just like real life.
Dreadskull Feb 13th 2009 2:01AM
So I guess any chances of them moving towards focusing on battlegrounds as the main source of PvP again are going down the drain.
Oh, and most likely in after "zomg WoW's going to die now"
tack Feb 13th 2009 2:54AM
Finally!!! He's been screwing up for a while now.
RangerRick Feb 13th 2009 6:52AM
Fuck blizz's next-gen mmo, as soon as star wars old republic comes out, I'm rolling Jedi.
MCRaider Feb 14th 2009 2:03PM
I miss the old WoW, 40-man raids, playing for at least 5 hours a night trying to down those last few bosses. Ya...those where the good old days. When everyone was in a raiding guild and if you where not in one, well you did PvP. If you did not do PvP then why are you even playing?
MMOs are about time consumption and dedication. I left (only to come back on a few occasions to play with friends) after BC came out. I was a raider and loved it, some of the times I had playing WoW came from doing those amazing 40-mans.
Then people started to complain that they only had an hour a day to play the game and wanted epics as well. You could still get some but when you get enough people to cry then you have to listen.
I hope the next MMO continues with the same style as Vanilla WoW. MMOs since WoW have become so easy; max level, obtaining gear, raid content. The whole thing is a snooze fest since you can play for an hour and get amazing things. (Ok maybe not an hour but you get the idea)
Also this game better have a major graphical update or there is just no hope. When I can make a computer out of a ginger bread house and have it play WoW, there is a problem.
I am not saying it has to be like AoC or Crysis but at least levels of Warhammer or close to that.
Hopefully Jeff brings the ideas that made the game fun to this new MMO. Also please, no focus on it being an E-Sport. Gaming for profesnials is a joke...except in South Korea.
1b1len Feb 14th 2009 6:05PM
Blizzard is doing great, I mean some people are whining about the patches that they come too late in their opinion, I prefer that then a half finished patch or with bugs everywhere.
Anyway, Jeff.. HF, GL and Baibai
Daxmort Feb 18th 2009 8:02PM
@MCraider
You do realize WoW looks the way it does because it uses a similar, cartoony style in the Warcraft RTS games, right?
WoW isn't meant to look gritty. It's stylized, and runs well on any PC, as they want it to, to help keep the playerbase larger.
So, more than one benefit for having it look the way it does.
Morgis Feb 17th 2009 9:53AM
you lot are really going over the top and it wasnt predicted
kaplan said some time before xmas that he would be working on the next mmo was a interview with him on mtv games
and also in saying that blizard have also stated that Wotlk is NOT the last expansion for WoW
Ro Mar 17th 2009 12:10PM
omgz internet fight!
>.>