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Assistant game director Ion Hazzikostas responded to a forum thread about expensive vendor items, and actively tried to dismantle the widespread belief that there exists a feeling of consensus in a world as massive and diversified as WoW's. He wrote:

"If I’d instead posted that we were going to reconsider and massively reduce the prices of the cosmetic items on this vendor, there would be other people feeling like their feedback was ignored.

It’s exceptionally rare that everyone wants the same thing,” he added. “And even then, there is a large silent majority that does not post on forums. If there were actual unanimity regarding a certain issue, we would change our design: For example, early on in Warlords, we changed Group Finder loot from Personal back to Need/Greed until we could iterate on Personal loot further, and the community overwhelmingly told us that was a dumb idea. The change was reverted within 2 days.”

He wrapped up his response by honing in on the value of tailoring different kinds of content to different groups, as opposed to just issuing one 'low common denominator' that lacks any real excitement, for anyone.

“If an awesome mount comes exclusively from PvP, the majority of players who don’t participate in PvP yet desire the mount would prefer that it were otherwise,” Hazzikostas explained. “If our goal were to please a majority, we would likely have to make a version of that mount also available through raiding, and one also available through outdoor questing and reputation, at the very least. But doing that would dilute the reward itself. Ultimately, the approach we take is usually to tailor different content and rewards that can feel special to different groups, rather than trying to come up with a lowest common denominator that isn’t special to anyone.”

Can we actually get a Jon Snow character in Overwatch that yells 'Winter is Coming!' just like McCree does with, 'It's High Noon!'?



Please?

Sweet Christmas.

Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures released the first picture of 2016's World of Warcraft movie May 18.

The picture is of an orc named Orgrim. It looks a whole lot like an orc from World of Warcraft. So, well done, people of Industrial Light and Magic who are handling the effects.

Directed by Duncan Jones (Moon), the movie feels like it's been in the works for decades. There has so far been little word what it will entail or how the accomplished Jones will manage to squeeze 11 years of continual video gameplay into a story that will please it's millions and millions of paid subscribers. 

In actuality, Ogrim is played by Pacific Rim's Robert Kazinsky. Or this normal-shaped man here:

Alright, Blizzard Entertainment outdid themselves for April Fool's Day..again. Anyone else out there gung-ho to play the living sh*t out of this hypothetical game? Yep. Let's take a quick look at another skullduggerous prank unleashed by Blizzard for this grand day of trickery:

You've got the freshly announced Frostdoge Clan, which in all honesty should totally be added as part of the game for going forwards. Such quest, such wow indeed.



Oh, and the 'reward title' is absolutely sensational:



The cold hard truth of it all is Blizzard Entertainment spawned desired, where there was otherwise none to be had. The only path toward redemption now is to give us this! Happy April Fool's Day, all.

The day has finally come! Get yoselves ready for heal-snipes people. Ana, Pharah's mother and also a sniper support character can heal allies from far away, AND put enemies to sleep. Check out the Ana origins trailer as well:

It all begins with Kyle's eloquent wit, as seen in the following letter he sent off to Blizzard with the highest of hopes something might work out....



Kyle approaches the matter with impressive candor, talking about how his efforts began with a table dance, until his wife told him to get down; and that he hasn't asked for anything in five years...except for a Darth Vader Pez dispenser, a waffle iron shaped like the DeLorean, and a Walking Deadblanket.

Kyle then asked Blizzard to send him a free copy of Overwatch in exchange for a piece of artwork he created as a gift to them for their generosity. The gift was titled, “Deadpool Licking Some Rock. A Dog Watches.”



And at long last this epic saga wraps up with the following response from a Blizzard representative, who addressed Kyle's previous letter/efforts:

From the press release:

The action of Overwatch takes place in a technologically advanced, highly stylized future earth. In a time of global crisis, an international task force of soldiers, scientists, adventurers, and oddities known as Overwatch had come together to restore peace to a war-torn world. After many years, the group's influence waned, and it was eventually disbanded. Overwatch might be gone now . . . but the world still needs heroes.

With an emphasis on accessibility and pure fun, Overwatch brings Blizzard's signature easy-to-learn, hard-to-master gameplay to the FPS genre. Harnessing the power of their hero of choice, players will join forces in teams of six and battle each other across a range of futuristic global locations, from the hologram-lit streets of London to a bazaar in the shadows of a high-tech Egyptian pyramid. Every battlefield is iconic and built to highlight each character's unique abilities, and fights can shift from streets to rooftops to open skies within the span of a breath.

"Overwatch is our take on a vibrant, near-future universe with amped-up characters and action-packed team-based gameplay," saidMike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "With every new Blizzard game, we look at our favorite aspects of a genre and put our own spin on things. Our goal with Overwatch is to create an awesome FPS experience that's more accessible to a much wider audience while delivering the action and depth that shooter fans love."

The heroes of Overwatch each bring their own distinct weapons and superabilities to bear. Here's just a glimpse of the numerous heroes that will ultimately fill Overwatch's rosters:

Tracer, a former British test pilot who shrugs at danger, can execute impossible acrobatic assaults thanks to her ability to teleport, drop energy bombs, and even reverse time.
Reinhardt, a hulking German soldier in battle armor, can charge great distances and pin his enemies to a wall or slam the ground with his rocket hammer to knock them off their feet.
Hanzo, a bow-wielding Japanese mercenary, has the ability to scale walls with his bare hands, fire off a tracking device that illuminates nearby enemies for his team, and unleash a huge spirit dragon that does grievous damage to all enemies in its path.
Symmetra, an Indian architech, manipulates light and energy to shield her allies and damage her enemies—and she can turn the tide of any battle by building a device that instantly transports her teammates to the front lines.

Expect a beta some time next year.

Honestly, so ready for some sort of full-length movie from these guys!

I close my eyes, trying to fall asleep at night, only to be struck by a barrage of tormented images....the corpses of players lining the once busy streets of Orgrimmar. Such devastation and ruination, in such an alarmingly short period of time. Some folks found it humorous, as it was all one colossal f**king accident. For those unaware, here's what you need to know about the 'Corrupted Blood' incident in World of Warcraft:

The Corrupted Blood Incident began on September 13, 2005 and went on for one week. The epidemic took root in the intro of a new raid Zul'Gurub and its end boss Hakkar the Soulflayer. Whattup Hakkar:



If you attacked Hakkar he'd cast a hit-point draining, debuff spell called 'Corrupted Blood' that was highly contagious, on players. 

Now this is where it gets interesting in our little story...

The spell which was only intended to last a few seconds and STAY in Zul'Gurub ended up being spread by way of pets and minions well outside Zul'Gurub. And thus the pandemic was underway--both low and high level players were instantaneously 'rekt' by this curse that massively altered traditional gameplay.



Players tried everything...quarantines, straight up abandoning zones, but nothing worked until a series of new patches/updates were implemented. Pretty damn funny, pretty damn annoying. So pour one out today for the brave souls lost in The Great Plague of Zul'Gurub!

When one particularly perturbed Overwatch gamer named Fipps basically flipped the f**k out on a forum over the 'over the shoulder' pose (I mean hey, you're entitled to your own opinion..) the game's director made quick moves to say they'll be removing it in his official statement that reads, "We'll replace the pose. We want *everyone* to feel strong and heroic in our community. The last thing we want to do is make someone feel uncomfortable, under-appreciated or misrepresented. Apologies and we'll continue to try to do better.

And now, the pose in its full and unfettered, and highly controversial glory:



Next, a tidbit from the incendiary monolague unleashed by the outraged Fipps on the actual forum:

“What about this pose has anything to do with the character you’re building in tracer? It’s not fun, its not silly, it has nothing to do with being a fast elite killer. It just reduces tracer to another bland female sex symbol.”

“We aren’t looking at a Widowmaker pose here, this isn’t a character who is in part defined by flaunting her sexuality. This pose says to the player base, oh we’ve got all these cool diverse characters, but at any moment we are willing to reduce them to sex symbols to help boost our investment game.”

“I have a young daughter that everyday when I wake up wants to watch the recall trailer again. She knows who tracer is, and as she grows up, she can grow up alongside these characters. What I’m asking is that as you continue to add to the overwatch cast and investment elements, you double down on your commitment to create strong female characters. You’ve been doing a good job so far, but shipping with a tracer pose like this undermines so much of the good you’ve already done.”

What do you think? Are people getting 'butt-hurt' over a badass pose, or what?