Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

[Jan 19, 2013, 6:11 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

Blizzard ~~CEO~~ Chief Creative Officer Rob Pardo has added his thoughts to the forum post from Jay Wilson about leaving the Diablo III team. Rob expresses disappointment at some responses to this, expresses pride in the action/RPG sequel, restates Blizzard's commitment to refining Diablo III "until it is the best game in the franchise," and takes full responsibility for who the game turned out:

This thread saddens me greatly. I know that the Battle.net forums have earned a reputation for rough justice, but I do not believe justice is being served by how people are speaking about Jay’s departure from Diablo III.

I am very proud of the Diablo franchise and what the team was able to accomplish with Diablo III. As a gamer I have enjoyed the game and played for many, many nights with friends and family. I’m not, however, going to use that as an excuse. The Diablo community deserves an even better game from Blizzard and we are committed to improving it. We have a talented team in place and have no intention of stopping work on Diablo III until it is the best game in the franchise.

I’m the only person in this thread who has actually worked with Jay. I hired Jay to head up the Diablo project and had the pleasure of getting to work with him, both in building the team and designing the game. He has great design instincts and has added so much to the franchise with his feel for visceral combat, boss battles, and an unparalleled knack for making it fun to smash bad guys. I’ve worked with many, many designers at Blizzard and Jay is one of the best. He has a great career at Blizzard ahead of him and I guarantee that you will enjoy Jay’s game designs in future Blizzard games.

If you love Diablo as much as we do, then please continue to let us know how you feel we can improve the game. If you still feel the need to dish out blame, then I would prefer you direct it at me. I was the executive producer on the project; I hired Jay and I gave him advice and direction throughout the development process. I was ultimately responsible for the game we released and take full responsibility for the quality of the result.

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72 Replies. 4 pages. Viewing page 2.
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52.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 14:17

Dades

nin wrote on Jan 20, 2013, 14:16: Sadly, that's totally plausible. I was being totally serious - *DADES* - This is a signature of my name, enjoy!

51.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 14:16

nin

Dades wrote on Jan 20, 2013, 14:14:
Diablo 3 was a beta test for Titans RMAH, Jay Wilson is being move there to apply the important lessons they learned about monetizing gamers.

- DADES - This is a signature of my name, enjoy!

Sadly, that's totally plausible.




RollinThundr Apr 17, 2013, 12:25: Eh really tossing stuff like that in there only to get your panties all bunched up. If you really want to call that trolling sure. Mr. Tact Apr 17, 2013, 12:33: Pretty sure that's the definition of trolling...

50.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 14:14

Dades

Diablo 3 was a beta test for Titans RMAH, Jay Wilson is being move there to apply the important lessons they learned about monetizing gamers. Maybe Chris Metzen will join him and we can again have a Blizzard game without a plot ripped from an episode of He-Man. - *DADES* - This is a signature of my name, enjoy!

49.

Re: More Big Picture Details

Jan 20, 2013, 13:36

Slashman

HorrorScope wrote on Jan 20, 2013, 13:22: I simply couldn't keep playing a shallow game like an ARPG over and over again. MMO's even have more hooks to keep one playing longer. I also wouldn't spend more then a $25 on a top/down ARPG game, it's old-school, small team material now. Bring that up into a nice 3rd person perspective, with the same over the top action, now you can get my fifty. But when it's Blizzard... For me, Torchlight 2 was the right kind of game for the right kind of price.

48.

Re: More Big Picture Details

Jan 20, 2013, 13:22

HorrorScope

I simply couldn't keep playing a shallow game like an ARPG over and over again. MMO's even have more hooks to keep one playing longer. I also wouldn't spend more then a $25 on a top/down ARPG game, it's old-school, small team material now. Bring that up into a nice 3rd person perspective, with the same over the top action, now you can get my fifty. But when it's Blizzard...

47.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 12:48

Smellfinger

These poor victims are being unfairly singled out by the fans who made them millionaires. Why should developers of their caliber be forced to take criticism and learn from their mistakes? They're rich so that automatically makes them right.

46.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 12:38

rist3903

Speaking of LOD I am really hoping that the expansion will fix a lot of the problems with D3. It will never make the game have an offline mode, but perhaps they can learn from what did not work in the original and come up with a game that is pleasant to spend time in.

45.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 12:10

Armengar

There are still ample people playing d3 regularly though. Maybe not as many as launch but enough. I found d3 to be an ok game, but sure bit was no d2 but d2 was also shite until LOD was released. I got my money worth out of d3,other people didn't.

No one is holding a gun to your head to play it though.




Its not the cough that carries you off but the coffin they carry you off in.

44.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 11:53

nin

Reactor wrote on Jan 20, 2013, 10:56:
I must be in the minority for actually loving Diablo 3. :/

You're likely not- Blues is just the extreme whiner centre of the gaming universe. I agree the game isn't perfect, but even though I enjoyed 1 and 2 quite a bit, I'm getting just as much enjoyment out of playing through 3.

Yeah, clearly everyone else is the problem, not you.




RollinThundr Apr 17, 2013, 12:25: Eh really tossing stuff like that in there only to get your panties all bunched up. If you really want to call that trolling sure. Mr. Tact Apr 17, 2013, 12:33: Pretty sure that's the definition of trolling...

43.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 11:41

Dades

Reactor wrote on Jan 20, 2013, 10:56: I must be in the minority for actually loving Diablo 3. :/ You're likely not- Blues is just the extreme whiner centre of the gaming universe. I agree the game isn't perfect, but even though I enjoyed 1 and 2 quite a bit, I'm getting just as much enjoyment out of playing through 3. Maybe people were just really disappointed with the game. Blues rocks, you suck. - *DADES* - This is a signature of my name, enjoy!

42.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 11:22

Ozmodan

When I see these threads, I think of the many times I have retried D3 only to leave it again after a few hours play. Itemization is still horrid. All the boss fights are scaled to top tier equipment and I hate using the auction house, but I have not seen a decent drop in ages.

41.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 10:56

Reactor

I must be in the minority for actually loving Diablo 3. :/ You're likely not- Blues is just the extreme whiner centre of the gaming universe. I agree the game isn't perfect, but even though I enjoyed 1 and 2 quite a bit, I'm getting just as much enjoyment out of playing through 3.

40.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 09:50

Mr. Tact

Cutter wrote on Jan 20, 2013, 01:40:
I'll bet dollars to donuts they won't see a repeat of those sales numbers again, not even close. They've just burnt too many bridges with this.

I doubt it. Too many drones. I think it will take at least another couple of "bad" games for the shine to get washed off the Blizzard name.




Truth is brutal. Prepare for pain.

39.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 08:32

shinchan0s

Pretty sure having ladder play would help freshen up the game once in awhile (like it did for D2), but OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH that's impossible with the RMAH. Better luck next time, Blizz.

38.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 06:12

jdreyer

I think Cutter has the right of it. D3 sold so many on the strength of D2. It's easy for people to dismiss the complaints and buy the game anyway. It's not until people feel the pain themselves that their opinion changes. It's human nature.

You see this all the time. Spiderman 3 was a mess but out-earned the brilliant Spiderman 2. This is because so many people either saw and loved S2, or heard about it from their friends and were expecting the same of S3.

If and when Diablo 4 comes out, it won't sell near 6 million copies, because of the problems with D3. And it won't matter how brilliant it is.




Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.

37.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 05:50

SM0k3

Rob pardo hired Jay? well eff that loser too.

36.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 04:39

Kythlyn

I must be in the minority for actually loving Diablo 3. :/

35.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 03:12

Ash

Just FYI, as far as I know, Mike Morhaime is still the CEO of Blizzard, not Rob Pardo.

34.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 02:22

Yosemite Sam

Clearly what he means is that they will listen to any ideas that will make the game better that doesnt interfere with its main purpose of being another WOW(money) printing press.




PSN id PR345, PST - GTA4, BoS, COD WaW, KZ2, Borderlands, RAGE, GT5, Dirt2, MC LA, Skate2, RDR, LBP, Uncharted2-3, Burnout Paradise, Tiger Woods 10, Dead Nation - Mention Blues News. CIV4 MOD http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=326525

33.

Re: Rob Pardo on Jay Wilson and Diablo III

Jan 20, 2013, 02:02

PropheT

MisterBenn wrote on Jan 19, 2013, 22:18: I was thinking something very similar. A lot of these design compromises were known up front (online only, real money auction house loot system etc) but millions bought it anyway. You'd also have to conclude that consumers don't listen either. Online only doesn't mean anything when Diablo 2 could easily have been the same way and it wouldn't have changed the way it played. Having an AH doesn't automatically mean that its use will be mandatory and progression would require it. It doesn't mean drop rates on the really neat gear would be so low that you'd never see them without a trip to the AH. Having those things aren't compromises, and I don't really get how you could call them that in the first place. The design decisions associated with them are what was the problem, not those things in and of themselves.If anything, Blizzard has earned the right to be given the benefit of the doubt over the years and the reason the outcry has been so loud is because they weren't someone where those failures would have been expected based on the information provided. You can't just look at a feature sheet and declare, "Yup, crap" like so many people here love to do with practically everything.

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