A challenge to Blizzard's secretive philosophy
by Adam Holisky 
Sep 10th 2009 at 4:00PM
Blizzard is notorious for not announcing release dates or patch days until the very last minute -- if at all. Sites like WoW.com and MMO-Champion have had to develop relationships with people in the know in order to have any idea when a patch is coming out, and even then we usually don't find out for sure until about 12 hours before a patch makes it onto the live servers.
Not all MMORPG companies are so secretive however.
CCP, which runs the hard core space based MMO EVE Online recently had to push back an announced patch -- from Wednesday to Thursday.
What happened when they did this? Fans rejoiced that a bug was being fixed. They cheered because you finally could shoot stuff that was 0 meters away with turrets.
Now in Blizzard's world, at least the one they display to everyone outside of their organization, pushing back an announced patch would be the end of world. Cats and dogs would live together, and fire with the occasional brimstone would rain down upon the Earth. They have said many times that the reason they don't want to announce patch dates is because if they don't hit their target, they are going to upset the fans.
This is an admirable notion, one that a lot of other companies could use a little bit of. Don't upset your player base, keep them happy. But there does come a point where a company needs to stand up for what it's doing. If they are targeting a release date of Smarch 13th for Patch 3.3, then they should say it. If they can't hit it because there are still things that need to be worked out -- then say that. Such a level of communication from Blizzard can't hurt, indeed it would help immensely in providing a certain, and dare I say necessary, level of transparency.
Granted if a larger company like Blizzard would announce and then push back a release date, many people would complain and flood the forums. But that happens on a daily basis about anything. Such is life when you're dealing with 12 million people, 6 million of whom are going to complain no matter what Blizzard does.
It's high time that Blizzard stops catering to the whiners and complainers and stands up for the development process that has served them so well. Pushing back a release date isn't a bad thing, especially when there are reasons given to sedate the intelligent of the masses.
With Patch 3.2.2 on the horizon, I have a challenge for makers of WoW -- take a page from EVE's playbook. Let us know when the patch is scheduled to be released, and if it can't be -- communicate briefly why and see what happens.
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
2n - 1 go left, 2n go right. I don't see enough DoTs! More DoTs now! Are you ready for the return of Onyxia? With the Brood Mother being revitalized as a 10 and 25 person raid, you'll need to be sure you know everything that's coming at you. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2.2 will make sure your set for the next patch!
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
ComradeSean Sep 10th 2009 4:06PM
Different game. Different fanbase.
Pretty sure you'd just get a bunch of pissed off fans no matter what you do.
Aedilhild Sep 10th 2009 4:12PM
Agreed.
World of Warcraft's user base could eat EVE's for breakfast every day for a month.
mel Sep 10th 2009 4:28PM
@Aedilhild
Probably true. But the combined IQ of EVE's 60,000 player base is probably 10 fold that of WoW's 12 million player base. Like ComradeSean said.. different game.. VERY different player base.
Another thing about EVE that few people probably know. There is an actual player council sanctioned by CCP. Members of the council are elected by player votes. Anyone with an active account can vote. The council members are then invited to Iceland to sit down with CCP devs and act as proxies for player issues, etc.
CCP is much more in tune with their players than any gaming company I've ever seen. Kudos to them.
NoTomorrow Sep 10th 2009 4:27PM
As a player of both games, I can truthfully say that while the playerbase is much smaller (~12 million to 300 thousand), the players in EVE are much more mature and patient about bearly everything. Patch got delayed? No big deal. They lost a ship that cost 750 mil ISK? Most pilots congratulate the person who killed them, even though their death had a much higher penalty than dying in WoW. I'm not saying there aren't nice people in WoW, just a much higher percentage of jackasses being, well, jackasses.
My point is, just because a game has a smaller fanbase doesent make one game (or the people) better.
Rhabella Sep 10th 2009 4:34PM
Just because the unsophisticated savages outnumber and could eat the more refined players does not mean they should justify their juvenile actions. And let’s make no mistake, I love WoW, but the players tend to be less refined than in other MMO’s. WoW is first time MMO for many players which leads many to believe the behavior they see on the forums or in trade chat is appropriate.
If Blizzard wishes to continue to treat the savages like savages, they will only have themselves to blame when they are the only players they have left. Open lines of communication are always good, and I think Blizzard has made great strides compared to their previous policies, but there is always room for improvement.
Aedilhild Sep 10th 2009 5:00PM
I should have elaborated, but I thought the first commenter's point was plain enough.
EVE Online isn't smaller because it's less appealing. If anything, its industry stature in spite of size is partly owed to a dedicated community which, arguably because of gameplay intended for dedicated and mature players, isn't prone to forming angry mobs. Different game, different players.
Elle Sep 10th 2009 5:10PM
EVE also shuts down for a short time every evening for scheduled maintenance, whereas WoW shuts down only once per week for the same. This means that, while EVE players expect a daily interruption of service, WoW players expect a weekly interruption. Neither company wants to violate these expectations - expected outages are more important than expected release dates (outages affect the entire player base, whereas release dates affect only the portion of the player base who care to follow them).
So, if EVE pushes back a patch, it's 24 hours. If WoW pushes back a patch, it's one week. EVE, therefore, has less at stake in mentioning a release date before it's solid.
Stephen Sep 10th 2009 5:17PM
This is exactly what I was thinking....
There is a wide chasm between Eve player mentality and Wow player mentality.
Zhero Sep 10th 2009 7:12PM
Blizzard would get a bunch of pissed off fans if they announced they were releasing a patch ahead of schedule, with all known bugs fixed.
Bronwyn Sep 11th 2009 10:46AM
Gotta say I agree. I don't think Blizz would be "pleasantly surprised" I think they'd experience an even worse fan QQ than they usually do.
jfofla Sep 10th 2009 4:09PM
Blizzard is dealing with the most hostile fanbase ever. They cannot announce anything before it is actually released or suffer a storm of nerdrage.
Just look at the anger that was spewed at WOW.com when they dared to "reveal" leaked information. The amount of hate was stunning to me.
mtsadowski Sep 10th 2009 4:39PM
There is one thing that Blizzard fears more than a hostile fan base. It's something we all fear and dread... lawyers.
In these days were people sue over anything, Blizzard is just protecting their butts.
Taladan Sep 10th 2009 5:17PM
The problem, at least to me, was that information was leaked and not official.
Check WoWWiki for "unannounced changes" in patches. Blizz changes things and never tell anyone. We never know what the next patch will do till it's there.
grump-e Sep 10th 2009 6:29PM
But why?
Sometimes I wonder if its blizzards fault the way that hostile fanbase became so hostile.
Don't take this as an insult or an opinion, its just the thought of a maybe that would explain why things are the way they are.
Fierna Sep 10th 2009 8:04PM
When people told me LOTRO players were largely more polite and mature than WoW players I assumed it was elitist garbage. It's true. It's all true.
Killchrono Sep 10th 2009 11:32PM
@mtsadowski: That's pretty much it. I was having an arguement on the official forums the other day about a similar issue. It's easy for Blizz to ignore the irrational cries of their customerbase, but we live in a day and age where the customer wants everything go their way, have someone to blame if things go wrong, and feel entitled to compensation if it doesn't.
Mind you, Blizz probably has enough money to hire lawyers that would blow any lawsuits out of the water. It also doesn't mean that Blizz is always in the right. But the threat it always there; think of the customer from McDonalds who sued a restaurant (and won) because they burnt their lip on a cup of coffee.
tutti Sep 11th 2009 3:56AM
She suffered third degree burns to her thigh. It was revealed in the lawsuit that McDonalds sold coffee that was so hot as to be "unfit for human consumption", and that they were aware of it before this incident.
The woman didn't win the lawsuit because she spilled coffee in her lap, she won the lawsuit because a drink she had been sold was warm enough to seriously damage her when it touched her skin. What do you think would've happened if she had drunk the coffee properly?
Eisengel Sep 11th 2009 6:07AM
I agree that Blizzard has pretty much made their own bed in the way they manage their fan base. As a developer of standalone games I think Blizzard's philosophy works very well, however as an MMO developer, I think it leaves a lot to be desired. I think the biggest thing they have to overcome is the 'hey, it's our game, so we're going to do what we want'. This is entirely true... however... if you're talking about a standalone game you look at some reviews and gameplay videos, maybe find a demo and fiddle with it, and then decide if you like it. You're getting one thing and you can decide if what the designer did is something you like. An MMO is constantly changing, you don't just buy it, you have a relationship with the developer, and if they start making updates that you don't like, they risk alienating the customers they brought in.
If you design and market a standalone game and someone doesn't like it you shrug it off, compile some user surveys and figure out how to make your next title... but you don't wake up one day and say 'tokens instead of gear drops!' and all of a sudden you change the game for everyone who bought it... however this is exactly what happens with an MMO. Any time the devs release any update they can change any aspect of the game, so you don't really buy a game, what you buy is much more like an 'entertainment contract'.
This is why Blizz's policy of 'it's our game, suck it' doesn't seem to fit WoW to me. It isn't their game, they're developing new content for us, it isn't set, it isn't in some signed, sealed, shrink-wrapped package that isn't going to change. They are constantly changing it to deliver new content to us to keep us buying it. We aren't buying WoW, we're buying their development of WoW (i.e. the subscription).
Incidentally, that's also why I'm firing Blizz. I don't think they're developing WoW correctly, they don't care, so I'm not paying them any more. As far as I'm concerned, now it's their game, they can do whatever they want with it because I'm no longer paying them to develop it.
Maegwynn Sep 10th 2009 4:10PM
I'm perfectly fine with the way Blizzard does things. There's no reason for having to know the release date of patches.
snowleopard233 Sep 10th 2009 4:41PM
I kind of agree. We’re thinking Blizzard always has a specific release date in mind, but it’s always seemed to me that they release stuff when it’s ready and don’t like to set artificial dates ahead of time because it will only create pressure and frustration for both the playerbase and the developers.
They probably don’t even have a release date for Cat yet and if they do, it’s probably vague like Q2,Q3, or Q4 of next year. It’s not that these guys aren’t telling us dates, they just don’t want to set dates or promise anything until they’re 100 percent ready to go. Sometimes (in the case of patches) that means making the call 24 hours beforehand.
Overall, you can’t rush art and we all know what kind of craptastic mmo’s emerge when you don’t follow that philosophy.