Ghostcrawler suggests we play other games
by Amanda Miller 
Feb 27th 2009 at 11:15AM
He points out that if you're feeling burned out, it's "not the worst thing in the world to try out some other games -- the past couple of years has been great for them."
Of course, he did take the time to remind everyone that there is more to the game than clearing raid content or completing your latest PvP gear set. There are achievements, alts, questing, and tradeskills, to name a few.
While this does indicate that Blizzard is feeling pretty confident in their chokehold on the MMO market, it's also a smart move on their part. There are already enough paranoid conspiracy theories out there claiming that the company merely wants our money, and less concerned with product quality than with elaborate plans designed to trick us into playing longer and shelling out more money.
In fact, GC said this in response to one of these inspired theories.
This reminds me of one of the loading screen tips that urges players to spend some time with their friends outside of this game as well as in it. As Ghostcrawler says, "just check back in with WoW every now and then."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Nick S Feb 27th 2009 11:21AM
Since full-clearing all the available content a month after Wrath came out, I've been exploring other games, and I'm actually enjoying it a lot.
Left 4 Dead is my current favorite - leaping onto hapless friends in Versus is so much fun!
Marolas Feb 27th 2009 1:59PM
As Ghostcrawler says, "just check back in with WoW every now and then."
... Until you realize that all of the achievements that you've striven for in order to obtain their rewards have become moot in the latest patch release. (The 3.1 'Glory of the Raider' and 'Heroic: Glory of the Raider' nerf comes foremost to mind.)
It seems really hypocritical for a game designer to tell players to spend less time playing their game, only to reduce the awards available to the players who actually take the advice.
Personally, I recommend that Blizzard leave the rewards for the current achievements untouched, and simply continue to add new achievement rewards that the upper echelons of raiders can continue to strive for.
peagle Feb 27th 2009 11:26AM
You're not the boss of me!
milk Feb 27th 2009 11:29AM
*cough cough* http://www.massively.com/2009/02/24/wow-lead-systems-designer-tells-people-to-play-other-games/ *cough cough*
y2fatboy Feb 27th 2009 12:17PM
Indeed... Took the WoW Insider guys a while to cotton onto this...
miked Feb 27th 2009 1:00PM
Congratulations, you found one of the links in this blog post!
Massively and WoWInsider are also both the same blog network.
If you want to zing Amanda for posting old content, how about linking to mmo-champion when they first reported it? The day it happend (feb 22). Put some effort into your trolling, at least.
Kakistocracy Feb 27th 2009 1:29PM
I don't know if you read new papers... but if you look at an article, then research the press release that provides information for that article, you'll be surprised (at either how common this is, or at how fantastic you are at pointing out the obvious). Might be easiest to do with political or business articles.
lolballs Feb 27th 2009 11:32AM
In other words:
"As long as you're paying your monthly subscription fee, we could care less if you're actually logging in or not."
lol
Robert M Feb 27th 2009 11:40AM
/agree
Roflpanda Feb 27th 2009 12:02PM
I like all these comments about how Blizzard is "just out to get our money".
OF COURSE IT IS. IT'S A FLIPPIN' COMPANY. Grow up a little. Quit thinking everything revolves around you and your BFF Blizzard is going to ALWAYS BE ABLE to cater to ALL your needs.
It is COMPLETELY NATURAL for people to get bored of games, and it is a FANTASTIC suggestion that you try OTHER things while you wait for more content. Everyone with common sense already does that, realizing WoW is only one means to deal with boredom. WoW should not be the "end all-be all" in your gaming life (considering, of course, that you're hardcore- which this post is centered around. You probably aren't bored of the game yet if you're not hardcore).
It is ALSO a fantastic suggestion to "check back in to WoW once and a while", for several reasons, infact. To those who bash Ghostcrawler for telling them to "pay for wow but not play it", how would it sound if one of the lead designers for wow said "just quit the game if you're bored". YOU'D CRUCIFY HIM FOR THAT TOO. Secondly, WoW isn't JUST a game. It's also a social thing. You SHOULD keep in contact with your friends in game, you SHOULD check back for new content. If you don't want to- LEAVE, FOREVER. It's as simple as that.
Cray Feb 27th 2009 12:12PM
Although Blizzard itself is just a company out to get our money, there is more to be said about the people that work there and the individual goals of those employees. A truly great company is one that, through the want of making money, hires the staff that wants to make something great. So if the employees care about the game and want it to be great then that is all that matters. And i believe that blizzard does a good job of keeping there employees happy. Lol. i would say its the fans that drive them to madness.
rosencratz Feb 27th 2009 1:54PM
He said this quite a while ago and it's a little out of context here. He suggested it in response to some people who were getting immensely frustrated as people on thef orums tend to do at the drop of a hat.... and he's quite right.
If the Game gets you that irritated... take a break, they've always said similar things, even one of the loading screens advises you to not play too much.
Amaxe Feb 27th 2009 11:32AM
Ghostcrawler: Aw come on guys! Play another game so we can get some rest for once!
WoW Addicts: Blasphemy!
sephirah Feb 27th 2009 11:32AM
Or maybe he just meant
"We don't actually know what we're doing with all these class changes. Go away, maybe when you'll be back we'll have implemented balance by sheer luck"
jim carey Feb 28th 2009 10:52AM
or maybe not.
WoWie Zowie Feb 27th 2009 11:34AM
the plague and black drakes are going bye4ever, which is a direct contradiction of "play wow every now and then".
not that i have a problem with my wow addiction, just don't try to all the sudden say "ya you should play other games" when wow's rewards system clearly aren't set up like that.
Kemikalkadet Feb 27th 2009 1:11PM
GC's comment was aimed at people that got those drakes a long time ago and complain about nothing to do now.
WoWie Zowie Feb 27th 2009 2:40PM
well ok
Genudan Feb 27th 2009 11:34AM
To add to the conspiracy theories...
Wouldn't less people playing while still paying the monthly fee mean more money for Blizzard? Since there would be less operating costs?
I may be totally wrong, I have no clue if costs change with how many people log on, but it's just a thought.
Noraa Feb 27th 2009 11:36AM
"just check back in with WoW every now and then."
While it's cute to think "they care",
They're quite aware that if you do everything as fast as possible, you won't be as interested in playing and could cancel your account. So of course they're interested in us doing other things with one caveat: Keep your membership active. The less hard core the players are, the less they have to work to create new content for them to chew on. If everyone, in theory, played other games and only spent a couple of hours on WoW every other day, they wouldn't have any pressure to release Ulduar at all, or anything else.
I imagine Utopia for blizzard is nobody plays very much, but everyone keeps their account active.