Comments on: Ghostcrawler is WoW Game Design Porn

By: GoW

GoW — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:47:43 +0000

@2ndNin - Blizzard forums should be global. I never understood the design in splitting per region. I remember the first time that I read a class guide on the European forums and thinking, “why are they splitting these communities?”

I hope that Blizzard people like GC are the start of a new direction and not just one awesome person. I guess we’ll find out over time.

By: 2ndNin

2ndNin — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:10:16 +0000

As a player I really appreciate them doing this (well GC at least, not seen so many other posters on at 1am giving us hints :P), however it would be nice if they would post on the EU forums or give us some hints, there are so many areas that we could give more appropriate feedback or ideas in if we knew what direction they were heading in, instead because we are left in the dark and guessing we just leave semi-random feedback and hope it gets seen in the chaff.

I would love to see more game developers getting involved with us, while I know its really a one way street, the number of hours logged and played by the players and the ideas that get presented offer many unique and feasible ideas for the game.

By: GoW

GoW — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:53:14 +0000

@Lassirra - I agree entirely. I’m hoping that GC sticks around after the Wrath launch and talks just as openly about instance and raid content and balancing.

By: GoW

GoW — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:51:33 +0000

@Wynthea - Gah! I even remember reading that GC was a she! My main’s a holy priest too, and I’m hoping every day for her to swing around our way and dropping some knowledge. :)

By: Lassirra

Lassirra — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:14:13 +0000

It seems to me that perhaps Blizzard has discovered and capitalized on something few other game companies do: making sweeping changes to classes people have played for the better part of three years can be a bitter pill to swallow, but when players see a logical explanation of why the changes are being made and what’s being done to make sure the changes are adequately balanced engenders a lot more trust in the development team.

Players respond much more positively when presented with the why. It’s easier to place trust in devs when you can see and understand the logic they’ve used to make the changes and what other changes may be in store for us as a result. Seeing the emphasis Ghostcrawler has put on class balance in his discussions, as well as the honest acknowledgment that they aren’t necessarily sure what obscure impacts to game-play the changes might have but that they’re watching for them diligently and will address them promptly when they do arise is comforting.

They say the key to a good relationship is communication. It would seem that Blizzard may finally have taken this to heart. I say it’s a step in the right direction.

By: Larísa

Larísa — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:06:26 +0000

This was indeed very intresting. I don’t read the official forums much, I’ve definitly got to check out the posts by Chostcrawler. I hope there’s something about mages as well.

By: Wynthea

Wynthea — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:46:50 +0000

No, you’re totally right, I’m VERY single-class focused, and emotional about my class to boot. But, although I will remain quite a single-issue player (Holy Priest PvE), some good, open communication on the matter WOULD mollify me significantly. Unfortunately, Ghostcrawler hasn’t made her (yup. GC is a she) presence known in my neck of the woods.

Hopefully she will soon. Meanwhile, just getting my QQing out of my system has gone a long way towards emo reduction.

Cheers!