04-12-2003, 07:28 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-12-2003, 07:35 AM by CelticHound.)
He's never been exactly that way to me - and I didn't say that about him, anyway - though we've had an exchange or two where the phrase "just messin' wit' ya" would fit right in. Here's an example of what I meant (quoted from a post on the b.net forums):
No problem with the first two paragraphs. And I understand the various reasons why the patch is taking so long. (Aside from resource issues, if this may well be the final patch to D2, wouldn't you want to take the time to nail it?)
That's the applaud part. The third paragraph is pure strangle. He's trying to make it sound like Blizzard is doing all this just as a favor to the fans, but I can justify every single phrase from a business perspective.
- Fixing hacks/cheats & addressing hacked items: If they are going to be selling an MMORPG, having a rep for being hacked is bad for business. Think Credibility.
- Free realms: That was a conscious decision on the part of their marketing depatment to sell more copies of the game. (Maintaining realms goes with credibility for the MMORPG.)
- That leaves working on 1.10. I could lump this in with the credibilty argument, but that would be weak. So allow me to indulge in a fantasy...
Imagine that Blizzard is a software company. In that case, I'll claim they have two major assets: their trademarks & codebase, and their development staff. The first represents what they've done in the past; the second is what will allow them to execute in the future. Next, imagine that the dev staff is a dedicated group of gamers who like to do good work. Putting out this patch to keep the staff happy is perfectly sensible from a business perspective. (Turnover is expensive. Low morale == low productivity is expensive.)
Add to that the notion that releasing this patch creates good will from gamers, and it seems to me that 1.10 makes perfect sense. (Plus it keeps the buzz going and helps sell more copies of D2 - it's still on the shelves, you know.)
-- CH
(plagiarizing from myself.)
(edit: spelling & minor phrasing changes)
Quote:1.10 is a lot of work as it's the biggest patch in terms of changes (not file size) ever released by Blizzard (except for beta patches). It's practically an expansion with all of the changes.I believe the context was explaining why 1.10 was taking so long. (I hear people ask about this occasionally. :) )
There are 100+ new items. There is a new character template (ladder), and many more things. If all the changes were listed line by line it would be 25-50+ pages. This requires time to test all this stuff and keep in mind there's lots of other stuff to work on such as Warcraft III: The Fronze Throne, StarCraft Ghost, and World of Warcraft.
If Blizzard didn't care about Diablo II they wouldn't continue to fix hacks/cheats (do it all the time without announcement), they wouldn't be planning on addressing hacked items, they wouldn't spend any time working on the realms or have the free realms (they cost $$), they wouldn't be working on 1.10.
No problem with the first two paragraphs. And I understand the various reasons why the patch is taking so long. (Aside from resource issues, if this may well be the final patch to D2, wouldn't you want to take the time to nail it?)
That's the applaud part. The third paragraph is pure strangle. He's trying to make it sound like Blizzard is doing all this just as a favor to the fans, but I can justify every single phrase from a business perspective.
- Fixing hacks/cheats & addressing hacked items: If they are going to be selling an MMORPG, having a rep for being hacked is bad for business. Think Credibility.
- Free realms: That was a conscious decision on the part of their marketing depatment to sell more copies of the game. (Maintaining realms goes with credibility for the MMORPG.)
- That leaves working on 1.10. I could lump this in with the credibilty argument, but that would be weak. So allow me to indulge in a fantasy...
Imagine that Blizzard is a software company. In that case, I'll claim they have two major assets: their trademarks & codebase, and their development staff. The first represents what they've done in the past; the second is what will allow them to execute in the future. Next, imagine that the dev staff is a dedicated group of gamers who like to do good work. Putting out this patch to keep the staff happy is perfectly sensible from a business perspective. (Turnover is expensive. Low morale == low productivity is expensive.)
Add to that the notion that releasing this patch creates good will from gamers, and it seems to me that 1.10 makes perfect sense. (Plus it keeps the buzz going and helps sell more copies of D2 - it's still on the shelves, you know.)
-- CH
(plagiarizing from myself.)
(edit: spelling & minor phrasing changes)