Square Enix should hire Asmongold as an adviser

[Penthea]

If any dev team needs Asmon's advice it's Blizzard. WoW is in a horrendous state because they actively ignore feedback for too long and act upon it when it's too late. FFXIV was doing just fine without Asmon. Is it perfect? No, but is any game?

I think if SE were to seek out advice for FFXIV they should look at someone who does a lot of pvp because that is currently the game's biggest weakness. It isn't given enough attention.

[Larirawiel]

If any dev team needs Asmon's advice it's Blizzard. WoW is in a horrendous state because they actively ignore feedback for too long and act upon it when it's too late. FFXIV was doing just fine without Asmon. Is it perfect? No, but is any game?

After Patch 9.1.5 it seems more like a management problem for me. Patch 9.1.5 shows the devs know exactly what they have to do to and where the real pain points are. But something was holding them back.

Cheers

[Penthea]

After Patch 9.1.5 it seems more like a management problem for me. Patch 9.1.5 shows the devs know exactly what they have to do to and where the real pain points are. But some was holding them back.

Cheers

I think it's more that Blizzard are now wearing brown trousers. We have seen what is happening with patch 9.1.5 before. For the past few expansions Blizzard ignored feedback until players reach the end of their patience, which before was towards the end of an expansion. However this time it's different. Players lost their patience far sooner and to top it off a significant chunk of their enormous player loss has gone to their main competitor which is launching a super hyped expansion in only three months. The lawsuit paired with FFXIV's sudden boom has forced Blizzard's hand to act much sooner than usual. Unfortunately much sooner is still far too late.

There is zero doubt in my mind that the same patch content would be announced even if there was no change in management. Over and over again Blizzard have proven that they can improve the game to a degree that players want, they just always do it super late even though the same feedback is repeated since beta. Likely the timing was to generate hype for the expansion that comes after. If they get players to resub at the end of an expansion then they're more likely to pay attention to new expansion announcements and stay subbed for that expansion launch. But this time Blizzard cannot afford to wait until the end of this expansion to bring in much needed changes. Many of the biggest WoW content creators have left the game, many left for their main competitor, those who haven't quit have little other than harsh criticism, this was already happening before the lawsuit came to light and that just gave even more reason for people to move on. Faith in the company is at an all-time low while FFXIV is booming during what is supposed to be a quiet time during an expansion. On top of that New World is launching next month. Blizzard's trousers are very very brown.

I'm not even vaguely surprised about the 9.1.5 changes that were announced. With everything that is going on I expected them to have a patch of this sort announced before the end of September. And here it is.

I speak for many when I say that the only thing that would convince me that Blizzard are changing their ways is if they address feedback in a timely manner and not only when their sub numbers are noticeably diminishing. If I see Blizzard giving players reasons to stay subbed, and not resub much later based on long overdue bait...then I could start believing they're changing for the better.

I am not saying the announced content isn't good, it honestly looks great, but Blizzard's activities for the past few expansions have left me very jaded. I'm going to need much more than this to have hope.

[Thaciscokidd]

Not a chance.

But by some strange 0.001% chance they ever did this for someone who ragged on the game and only been part of it a almost a couple of months? Oh the the fireworks from the community would be priceless!

[WoW]

If you're deluded enough to think that then go ahead. He's only important if at all to his social media platform and nothing more and the extent of it is likely limited to just 1 region in the world while being completely non-existent outside that bubble. In the end he's just another consumer or player. Just because you want to place him on some kind of pedestal doesn't mean everyone else will too.

You think only it's in one region rofl?! Clearly you're the one living in a bubble, which explains why you never heard of him. But hey, why should I burst that bubble? it's kinda fun hearing what kind nonsense you come up with in each reply.

[Ronduwil]

I really don't understand where this is coming from. For one, Asmongold hasn't presented any groundbreaking insights on this game. He hasn't even level capped yet. He's heaped tons of praise on the game and has recognized many of its strengths, such as the community and the redemptive aspects of its story arcs. He's called out some well-known problems that were discussed long before he started playing, such as the inferior web design on their store and the inferior glamour system. Those observations don't qualify anyone to be game designers. They're just indicative of average observational skills.

Secondly, his video channel this past weekend featured a rant where he explicitly stated that he didn't want to be a game designer, and he's really mad at Blizzard for forcing that role on their players. He correctly called attention to the fact that the mistakes that they've made time and time again were explicitly called out on the Public Test Realm and that Blizzard publicly defended them for months before inevitably reversing course after a mass exodus. That doesn't sound like a guy who's eager to take on the role that you're eager to foist on him. Like most players, he just wants to trust in the company and play their game.

Finally, I think that SE is doing a fine job with FFXIV. They take player feedback for what it is, and when there are points of contention, they come out with logical, well reasoned arguments. I have yet to see the same nonsense from SE that I see from Blizzard. For context, these are the ridiculous defenses to recent unpopular changes that Blizzard has presented:

• They removed a bunch of portals from the game to "make the world feel more alive."
• They always disable flight in the latest area through the entire duration of a given patch to "make the world feel more dangerous."
• They added major restrictions on covenant switching, despite the fact that all covenants were allied from the beginning, in order to provide "meaningful choice." This past week they finally reversed that decision "now that the covenants are working together." They were always working together!
• They added a stupid "conduit energy" resource to prevent min-maxers who would naturally feel compelled to switch their conduits up between every fight from feeling compelled to switch them up every fight. They just backpedaled on that in a rare moment of "oh, right -- our bad."

This is just the recent stuff. They've been making terrible decisions and doubling down on them for years. SE, in contrast, seems to make the game better with each release, not worse. Hopefully that trend continues.

[Kes13a]

I really don't understand where this is coming from. For one, Asmongold hasn't presented any groundbreaking insights on this game. He hasn't even level capped yet. He's heaped tons of praise on the game and has recognized many of its strengths, such as the community and the redemptive aspects of its story arcs. He's called out some well-known problems that were discussed long before he started playing, such as the inferior web design on their store and the inferior glamour system. Those observations don't qualify anyone to be game designers. They're just indicative of average observational skills.

honestly, nothing he offers is groundbreaking. other people make vids on theories, facts etc, and he runs them and comments on what others say basically to entertain. as you point out, like the rest of us, he is just a gamer. I can think of quite a few others that have actual thoughts and insights and arent just ranting or going on for simple entertainment value.

but, you do have to remember that for some on these forums, the fact he passes wind is enough to warrant a post about his greatness and fortitude or some other such dribble.

[Mika_Zahard]

Why should they hire a guy I never heard of to be an advisor on a game I play? If I haven't heard of them then they aren't important.

/intergalacticfacepalm

[AusarViled]

Asmongold would be a great advisor, but he is still very old school WoW, we need someone with a large scope of experience. Here would be my recommendations

1) 500 commendations as min
2) cleared 90% of savage content
3) has 1500 hours in game minimum
4) has played GW2, Swtor, WoW, Rune scape 3, eve onlne, eso all min 500 hours. [to know what works vs does not]
5) has min 3000 people watching them on stream [twitch or YouTube]

[Kes13a]

Asmongold would be a great advisor, but he is still very old school WoW, we need someone with a large scope of experience. Here would be my recommendations

1) 500 commendations as min
2) cleared 90% of savage content
3) has 1500 hours in game minimum
4) has played GW2, Swtor, WoW, Rune scape 3, eve onlne, eso all min 500 hours. [to know what works vs does not]
5) has min 3000 people watching them on stream [twitch or YouTube]

why on earth do they need a stream?
you want advisors, not internet mouthpieces