Is WoW being run by its B-team? Is that bad?
by Eliah Hecht 
Jul 14th 2009 at 8:00PM
This post by Eric Heimburg on the excellent MMO design blog Elder Game, alleging that WoW is currently run by Blizzard's B-team, has ignited a fair amount of controversy around the blogosphere. The general argument appears to be that the people previously in charge of WoW, like Jeff Kaplan, have moved on to other projects. As a consequence knee-jerk changes are being pushed through very fast, without being sufficiently tested first. "Back in the day," claims the article, "QA held the game to a higher standard."
My reaction to these claims are mixed. Kaplan may not be in charge of WoW anymore, but I don't think that "the steady hand has left the rudder," or if it has, maybe a less straight-ahead course is a good thing. Changes may be getting pushed through very quickly - Ghostcrawler routinely refers to players getting whiplash from the frequency of balance changes - but in many cases, I think this is for the best.
Throughout the BC era, WoW followed a model of punctuated equilibrium: relatively large changes in major patches, and very little in-between. This did mean a lot of testing could be done for most changes, but the downside is that it regularly took months for problems to be fixed.
Nowadays, we appear to have a faster cycle of minor (two-decimal-point) patches, as well as copious hotfixes. Sure, it causes some cruft to accumlate - like leatherworkers being able to craft now-worthless quivers, in Heimburg's example - but I think a faster problem/solution turnaround time is well worth a few rough edges. Rapid iteration has been a principle of web design for a while now. Maybe it's time it came to MMOs, which are conceptually similar to web apps.
Overall, I think the game is continually improving. It's in a better state now than it ever has been, and it will be better still in 3.2, if what I'm seeing from the PTR is any indication. (Caveat: No more jousting, please. It is simply not fun.) So if there are indeed new people in charge of WoW, I for one welcome our change-happy overlords.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Devsio Jul 14th 2009 8:04PM
I don't care who is in charge. The content patches are packed with things.
Posi Jul 14th 2009 8:24PM
Who cares who's in charge? This actually explains a lot. It's not been a secret to anyone the recent downfall in implementation and support being offered in World of Warcraft. It's the paying customers that are suffering because of it. Authentication servers going down for an hour before any attention is payed to it, weekly maintenance downtime weekly instead of monthly, entire battlegroups suffering primetime outages, bosses regularly bugged, and when's the armory going to work again? It's really sad that a game that at one time the developers took pride in has fallen to the back burner even though it is still one of their top earners.
Ken Jul 15th 2009 11:18AM
Anyone who has been playaing wow since vanilla would agree that the game is getting worse every patch. When the Star Wars MMO comes out this winter, I think you'll see the biggest hit to subscribers yet. WOW has gotten to the point of at best, no longer being fun and at worst not playable.
For those players who recently started playing mmo's and WOW in particular, you may not get it because you never knew the WOW that once was.
SomnambulistArygos Jul 14th 2009 8:07PM
HEY I like jousting.. My only complaint is that they need to tweak the AI and make it a little more challenging.
nyctef Jul 14th 2009 10:27PM
Yeah, more jousting please. It really is fun.
Arbitor Jul 15th 2009 2:43AM
What's wrong with you people?
Jousting isn't exactly hard, its just a bit repetitve, if I can master it on my 24 FPS laptop anyone can.
Besides, can we stop down rating comments just because you don't like the same thing as the aforementioned commenter?
Jousting will probably be used in a world event to knock down the doors of icecrown, thats it so dont panic that you can't be assed spend a while mastering jousting.
Arbitor Jul 15th 2009 2:44AM
LOL now that I really look at the comment is smacks of sarcasm, damn you sarcasm troll!!
Luisette Jul 14th 2009 8:09PM
I'd much rather have little patches in-between the big ones. Just because there are more mini-patches to fix bugs than there were in the past doesn't mean that the past didn't have any less bugs than today's game. We're just fixing them faster.
Anony. Jul 14th 2009 8:10PM
I'm going to stop reading anything written by you, Mr. Eliah Hecht, because I respectfully disagree with you on the state of the game.
Dreadmaker Jul 14th 2009 8:15PM
That's an awesome way to deal with a differing viewpoint; shut it out entirely.
MusedMoose Jul 14th 2009 10:01PM
"Every man ... should periodically be compelled to listen to opinions which are infuriating to him. To hear nothing but what is pleasing to one is to make a pillow of the mind." --St. John Ervine
Dreadmaker Jul 14th 2009 8:12PM
Names to me are fairly meaningless. If Superman-McAwesome left blizzard's WoW department and left it to Sucky-McSucksalot, so be it; if the game experience improves, it's been a win.
Blizzard's B team may well be running WoW now, because of all the other various things that are going on with them, but frankly, I think the game is improving to an extent, and certainly we aren't regressing. New content is appearing quickly enough, and I, for one, won't be complaining.
Valensword Jul 14th 2009 8:21PM
Hehe.. Superman McAwesome, this made me lol irl cause i thought of:
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2008/04/03/singapore-superhero-batman-bin-suparmen/
Clevins Jul 14th 2009 8:25PM
I'd agree but...
"Additional Instances cannot be Launched. Please try again later" and the various lag and other issues. Of course, the old team might have been worse...
Jason Jul 14th 2009 8:15PM
WoW is getting really old now. If they don't keep making changes often people will get bored. Anyway most of the changes are welcome I think.
Eternauta Jul 14th 2009 9:07PM
I respectfully disagree.
IMO they game is getting older BECAUSE they're makin' changes faster.
Also:
I'm not very excited about this new gen-mmo they're making. I like warcraft, and I want to play warcraft. Period.
Off-topic: I'm glad that idiot of Jeff Kaplan is gone!
Scott Jul 14th 2009 8:15PM
How many rough edges can you have before something becomes too sharp to handle safely? It would not be wise to allow that kind of leeway in the design of a game this enormous.
styopa Jul 14th 2009 8:24PM
"It's in a better state now than it ever has been"
Um, no.
Balance was far, far better in Vanilla WoW. It wasn't red v blue, no, and pallies were grossly op but Vanilla WoW was a far more interesting, and challenging experience.
Now it's a sheer dps race vs ungodly amounts of hp, both in pvp and in boss fights. CC? Kiting? Skill?
No.
Gessilea Jul 14th 2009 8:34PM
I'm not sure which vanilla you're talking about. Or where this skill or challenge was. Yes, Naxx40 and AQ were cool, but they were way late in the cycle and almost no one got to see them. The only challenge I remember in MC and BWL was the challenge of trying to farm gold when the only option was killing dudes in Tyr's Hand, or the challenge of trying to get 40 people to show up on time, or the challenge of putting together a fire/shadow/whatever set for one fight (we won't even mention the challenge of getting into a five man group if you were a hunter or loldps druid/paladin/shaman/priest/warrior). I could get into questioning the skill involved in endless, endless tank-n-spanks, or keeping up five minute buffs, but I think that might be overkill.
Eamara Jul 14th 2009 8:37PM
"Um, no.
Balance was far, far better in Vanilla WoW. It wasn't red v blue, no, and pallies were grossly op but Vanilla WoW was a far more interesting, and challenging experience.
Now it's a sheer dps race vs ungodly amounts of hp, both in pvp and in boss fights. CC? Kiting? Skill?
No."
Balance was far better but Paladins were grossly OP? Doesn't sound very balanced to me. Besides, Vanilla WoW was horrible. Endless grinding (a few hours of grinding for 1 hour of raiding, or thereabouts), entire specs being completely unviable to the point of being a joke, hybrids forced to heal in raids as their other specs were jokes... I could go on.
Finally, your point about skill not being a part of PvE endgame in WotLK? Try some Ulduar hard modes then try saying that again. Or did you miss the part where Ensidia, Stars, et al said that Mimiron hard mode, Algalon, Yogg + 1/0 are the hardest encounters WoW has ever seen? Take off the rose-tinted glasses. Vanilla WoW was terrible. WoW is at its best ever right now, and it can only get better from here on.