Blizzard brings on a new consultant

[Nev]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php

I liked this. If the strip is true, Blizzard's rather done with the idea that WoW should be fair to people of all income levels. I mean, it may be hard to fault them - they're in the business to make money - but what the hell, I will anyway. I'd love to see a major online game actually take steps to minimize twinking and gold/itemfarming. It sucks, and it makes the game unfair for a lot of people.

If I want to live in a world where relatively undeserving people are given massive advantages due to favoritism, and sometimes end up abusing positions of power because they don't realize the difficulty of success on one's own merits, I'll spend more time outside my front door. If I want to go somewhere where you can buy ridiculous amounts of power with lots of money, I can do the same thing.

So, boooooo, says I. Then again, I don't even play WoW, so perhaps I should leave the grousing to those who will actually have to deal with it.

[Don]

This issue isn't on the first 2 pages of FOH boards and wasn't on the Blizzard general boards until the strip was posted, so it's safe to say that absolutely no one cared about this issue until PA felt like they need to make some profound statement on the state of MMORPGs.

As always PA is clueless when it comes to MMORPGs. They should stick to their Gabe the GM WoW strips because at least it's funny even though it has nothing to do with reality.

[Nev]

If they're clueless, why are they clueless? If this is a nonissue, why is it a nonissue?

I'm not a big fan of "xxx is dumb" without any backup for the opinion. If you could cite your reasons on this one, it would be great.

[Andrew, Killer Bee]

I'm not a big fan of "xxx is dumb" without any backup for the opinion.

While I did like the strip, it felt like this is what PA were doing with it (that is: saying '"xxx is dumb" without any backup for the opinion'). Are we supposed to assume that designing a game that people want to play and then cross-promoting it is inherently evil? What are these "massive advantages due to favoritism" that Blizzard are granting people that buy the CCG? Nobody knows yet, but given their history they will probably just be exclusive pets (nerf!).

I don't even play WoW, so perhaps I should leave the grousing to those who will actually have to deal with it.

Probably.

[Don]

Until told otherwise everyone just assumed that it's going to be something like the exclusive mini diablo pet you get for buying the collector's edition. That's why absolutely no one cares about it.

Consider PA *revoked* their game of the year award to WoW in a publicity stunt, that should be a good sign they've no idea what's going on even if you don't play WoW.

I'm not particularly fond of Blizzard but this issue isn't even BNet whine-worthy. Even whining about how class X killed you so they must be nerfed would have around a 50% chance of being at least somewhat right, which is much higher than this.

[Tortolia]

There is zero reason to make this an issue unless the items given through the cards actually provide in-game advantages.

If they do that? Yes, it's worth making an issue of.

If not? Hey, people like fluff. Let them have fluff.

It is way too early to draw conclusions.

[Don]

You have always received in game advantages for various promotions since the day EQ was out. Buy the collector's edition and you probably get an extra 100 XP for the quest to claim your mini Diablo/zergling/panda pet. Buy a WoW strategy guide and you get (in theory) an advantage over other people. Now if finding the equivalent of Black Lotus in this CCG instantly makes you a WoW PvP God then maybe something's messed up. If it just makes you look cooler than other guy, that kind of stuff has been going on forever.

[Tortolia]

Yeah, I meant advantages in terms of items, spells - tangible things. Not just a bit of extra information that can be accessed on the web in short order anyway.

[Nev]

There is zero reason to make this an issue unless the items given through the cards actually provide in-game advantages.

If they do that? Yes, it's worth making an issue of.

If not? Hey, people like fluff. Let them have fluff.

It is way too early to draw conclusions.

I'd thought that was most of the point of the strip (that the cards would confer in-game advantages). Of course, Tycho exaggerates a whole bunch. I should remember to double-check stuff before I take anything in that strip for real.

Then again, like I said, I don't even play WoW, so I really should stop posting on this thread at all.

[Tortolia]

I've not seen any evidence that items gained via cards will provide anything but more customized avatar looks.

Given how little character customization there is in WoW, it's not a bad idea.

[Oracle]

It's still funny.