Think we are about to see another wave.

[TeraRamis]

In some ways it's like... yes... I hope FFXIV gobbles everything hope like a blackhole, muahaha, and then Yoshida and team (always important it's more than just one person lol) takes all that money to make more great games and particularly invest into bigger ideas / general employee comfort (not arguing for some top exec to make another mil on their mil), but it's not really that simple and overall only one thing in the sky is a relatively boring sky. It'd be better if we've more stars- successful happy stars (both player and employee) and not less.

I think Blizzard is beyond saving - at least in a moral and creative sense - and has been for a while. They are simply bankrupt when it comes to spirit and soul.

I also don't think this will in any way be the end of either Actiblizzion or WoW - there are just too many people who can't seem to quit, despite the fact that the latter is an almost appallingly bad game at this point.

Either way, it's not keeping me up at night. I'm sorry the young woman took her own life - that is horrific. I'm sorry that the Blizzard that once was - from a creative standpoint only - is little but a desiccated corpse. I'm sorry that a number of MMORPGs that were probably better-designed than WoW - and certainly had much healthier work environments for their development teams - bit the dust for years while Blizzard wallowed in luxury and perversion. I'm sorry that a sinister snake like Bobby Kotick isn't rotting in some windowless cell. But, ultimately, I've washed my hands of the entire thing, and there's nothing else I can do but boycott... which is the exact same thing I'm doing with Coke, the NFL, the Olympics, and about a half dozen other prominent brands.

[Shougun]

I think Blizzard is beyond saving - at least in a moral and creative sense - and has been for a while. They are simply bankrupt when it comes to spirit and soul.

Minus the moral part, one might have said similar things about FFXIV on release.

Sometimes something wont get the energy it needs to revitalize, but it's not something I root for. Especially if some are willing to do the work, I'm sure many who work at Blizzard currently would love to continue working there but with an improved work environment. Part of what makes the FFXIV team so endearing is that legacy and way of going about it, FFXIV team generally sending a message of "I wont give up with you at my side" type of sentiment (which causes players not to want to give up on them and offer them good will, as long as it is reciprocated back and forth it's very heartwarming, one sided and spending good will of course turns it into a sad toxic relationship for either party). Moral issues for blizzard makes this a whole new type of issue to fix, than FFXIV's, but if they can do it then that's wonderful for the employees (and therefore for the players).

On boycott I've already the games and purchases I want from Blizzard at this moment (which is stuff Diablo 3 and previous), so .. there is no real boycott for me to have (and I don't subscribe to WoW), but I would follow and see how things are handled. It may impact Diablo 4 purchase depending. Their 5 step plan has the potential to make big changes, like I said in that post the internal reflection is key. Given the will of enough with power there seems to me to be a way. Again, sans moral problem, FFXIV had massive issues that one might just say "wow, that's unsave-able" but someone decided to give power to the will and found a way.

[VayaTruesong]

With the amount of resources at their disposal, there is no doubt that Blizzard could revitalize their brand with right people at the helm if given time. However, I don’t know if Activision is willing to give them the amount of time and patience that SE gave to FF14.

Also, the current crisis is hitting on the reputation of the very founders of Blizzard. It is equivalent to if Sakaguci, Nomura and Kitase all embroidered in a disastrous scandal that has been going on since the golden days of SquareSoft . That kind of reputation damage on a brand is difficult to repair.

[EriShvakh]

Also, the current crisis is hitting on the reputation of the very founders of Blizzard. [...] That kind of reputation damage on a brand is difficult to repair.

We're watching it from the position of knowledge. I wonder how far these news spread out among less "hardcore" gamers.
I fully expect Diablo 2 to sell millions of copies, even among people who are currently outraged and screaming bloody murder on social media. Because if there is one thing certain, it's how easily boycotts are forgotten when new shiny thing is out.

[Liam_Harper]

With the amount of resources at their disposal, there is no doubt that Blizzard could revitalize their brand with right people at the helm if given time. However, I don’t know if Activision is willing to give them the amount of time and patience that SE gave to FF14.

At this point the only way to salvage WoW would be to give up and hand the entire thing over to another, better team/company. Which obviously isn't realistic, but unlike FF14 1.0, on top of a poor quality game, they're going to carry this scandal with them to the end. Who could trust they've learned any lesson and will magically become decent people when this has been happening an entire decade and their immediate response is to lie and cover it up. I don't see this as a case of patching things over, Blizzard is basically done for me. I'd never trust them enough to buy one of their games ever again.

Also pulling a ff14 1.0 just isn't possible for Blizzard even without the scandal. It's not just resources, it takes a ridiculous amount of hard work and passion to dig a dead, failed game out of the grave and make it into one of the top MMO's in the world. I don't think we quite appreciate how amazing our developer team is for accomplishing this.

[ItMe]

Anyone know how the strike is going?
Last I heard Blizzard was forcing the strikers to use up paid time off while striking.

Also, any WoW content creators that have started making compelling FF14 content?

[Enla]

Also, any WoW content creators that have started making compelling FF14 content?

*Asmongold is making some decent content on the youtube front and basically made a bet recently to complete one of the Ultimates before EW is released. Given that he isn't finished with ARR yet that essentially means that unless he skips ever cutscene he's going to be playing FFXIV almost constantly for the next month or two.
*Richwcampbell has basically turned full on FFXIV devotee and just reached SB yesterday before trying T9. He's genuinely worth watching because the story has fully hooked him and he seems to show a huge level of appreciation for the community. There's some iffy people in his chat like Asmon, but overall it's been a fairly positive experience watching him play.
*On a smaller scale, Jesse Cox has been here for over a year and has made compelling content for awhile now. He recently put out a comparison video contrasting the two MMO's and streams FFXIV almost daily.
*There's multiple smaller creators putting out youtube videos as well. In fact there's a HUGE boom in reaction content now for the game from WoW Refugees over on youtube. Many are documenting their journey day by day like Medieval Marty.

Not very many of them have hit endgame after seeing the kerfuffle with that Quin guy, and thus not many are in a position to actually talk about current content. If you're looking for the chance to watch people enjoy the story and old raids though there's plenty to find. I expect about a fourth of them will likely keep up that momentum till endgame and potentially make the switch to being FFXIV content creators instead.

[Vipes]

Anyone know how the strike is going?
Last I heard Blizzard was forcing the strikers to use up paid time off while striking.

Can I get a source for that? Because if that’s happening then blizzard can screw off even moreso.

[Enla]

Can I get a source for that? Because if that’s happening then blizzard can screw off even moreso.

I can't find too much confirmation as to whether or not this eats up their existing PTO or not. But yeah it's been seen as them taking PTO.

[Shougun]

I can't find too much confirmation as to whether or not this eats up their existing PTO or not. But yeah it's been seen as them taking PTO.

Probably not there when you first read it but in that post there is now:

Update: Blizzard senior software engineer Valentine Powell says the World of Warcraft leadership team will pay employees for the time they spend participating in Thursday's walkout.

"Our leadership on the WoW team has worked with us over the last week to respond and start taking action," Powell tweeted. "In addition to this message, crafted in large part by the non-men across our team, our leadership has also agreed to pay us for the time we are taking off for our walkout and committed to allowing leads and managers to participate in the strike without fear of recrimination. I see this as the first step toward them being willing to speak with their actions."

Additionally, Axios reports that Activision Blizzard as a whole will grant extended paid time off to employees participating in Thursday's walkout.