07-13-2005, 09:44 PM
Holy Moses, GG. Quite the dissertation.
As far as Pallys go, I've seen enough blue posts to know they don't consider them "broken". Blue has repeatedly said the class is Working As Intended, and don't have any radical changes planned. Most of the gripes seem to be about the lack of dps, about being a "priest in plate", but I don't play mine much or follow the issues closely so I might be wrong. If I'm right, I side with blizz on this, and ask the whiners "Did you play WC3, and did you ever use a paladin?"
But I agree with your general thrust. Blizz bit off more then they were expecting with this one. MMO's are a whole different game as far as the number of bugs and testing you need to do, and the sales for this were off the chart. It does not excuse the giant bugs and design flaws they should have caught.
As far as designers and coders go, more != better. There is just a shortage of people who can do this job, and throwing monkeys at the problem will only make it worse. I don't know about testing, it seems most of the bugs are being caught relativly early, it's just the fixes that are taking forever. I think they have been hurt by a bit of a brain drain recently. Also, many of thier guys were probably used to getting some time off after pushing a product out. Notice the frequency of updates picked up about 6 months after the game was released, right about when people who took time off after working too hard would be coming back. What were the first things out the door after release? Mauradon and DM, perfect projects for half days while you recover.
What were the game breakers for WC3? I just recall some units getting nerfed and buffed to stop cheese, but there was never a point where cheese pwned all.
As far as Pallys go, I've seen enough blue posts to know they don't consider them "broken". Blue has repeatedly said the class is Working As Intended, and don't have any radical changes planned. Most of the gripes seem to be about the lack of dps, about being a "priest in plate", but I don't play mine much or follow the issues closely so I might be wrong. If I'm right, I side with blizz on this, and ask the whiners "Did you play WC3, and did you ever use a paladin?"
But I agree with your general thrust. Blizz bit off more then they were expecting with this one. MMO's are a whole different game as far as the number of bugs and testing you need to do, and the sales for this were off the chart. It does not excuse the giant bugs and design flaws they should have caught.
As far as designers and coders go, more != better. There is just a shortage of people who can do this job, and throwing monkeys at the problem will only make it worse. I don't know about testing, it seems most of the bugs are being caught relativly early, it's just the fixes that are taking forever. I think they have been hurt by a bit of a brain drain recently. Also, many of thier guys were probably used to getting some time off after pushing a product out. Notice the frequency of updates picked up about 6 months after the game was released, right about when people who took time off after working too hard would be coming back. What were the first things out the door after release? Mauradon and DM, perfect projects for half days while you recover.
What were the game breakers for WC3? I just recall some units getting nerfed and buffed to stop cheese, but there was never a point where cheese pwned all.