World of Warcraft - Pandora's Box

[00:04] uh

[00:26] does the international addiction to an

[00:28] internet game represent a danger

[00:31] maybe but there is also no indication

[00:33] that anything can slow the explosive

[00:35] growth of the intoxicating game called

[00:38] world of warcraft

[00:40] [Music]

[00:50] what the [ __ ] was that [ __ ]

[00:53] [Music]

[00:58] and by the way you don't want that to do

[01:00] that either you think you do but you

[01:03] don't

[01:04] [Music]

[01:08] you guys take care of this man yeah

[01:16] [Music]

[01:19] incredible 16 hours a day his mother

[01:21] says his personality has changed and

[01:23] that he's become moody and violent and

[01:26] his addiction is tearing the family

[01:27] apart

[01:30] but our actions

[01:32] are gonna matter more than any of these

[01:45] [Music]

[01:50] the power level

[01:52] where

[01:53] i basically get all the good loot and

[01:55] they get all the great experience

[01:58] [Music]

[02:08] [Applause]

[02:13] [Music]

[02:32] in the world of mmorpgs you'll scarcely

[02:34] find anyone who hasn't heard of if not

[02:37] played the world of warcraft released in

[02:39] 2004 and you would quickly begin to make

[02:42] a name for itself garnering worldwide

[02:44] praise for its innovation accessibility

[02:47] and the closeness to the community by

[02:49] its developer blizzard entertainment

[02:52] both celebrated and condemned for its

[02:54] addictiveness in the span of a few short

[02:56] months it would not only become the most

[02:58] popular of the mmorpg genre but also set

[03:01] the standard for all of those that would

[03:03] follow in its footsteps many would try

[03:06] and over the course of 15 years few

[03:08] would gain even a fraction of the player

[03:10] base of the seemingly unstoppable giant

[03:13] today though a much different picture is

[03:15] painted what was initially considered

[03:17] inspirational in the world of game

[03:19] development now leaves behind a

[03:21] controversial history marred with what

[03:23] many describe as betrayal deception and

[03:27] squandered potential leaving many asking

[03:29] the question how a snapshot of history

[03:32] of a world created within a world a

[03:35] microcosm of mayhem a virtual playground

[03:38] for humanity to show each other their

[03:39] best and their worst this is the story

[03:42] of blizzard entertainment and their

[03:44] iconic mmorpg the world of warcraft

[03:57] at the dawn of the new millennium the

[03:59] online world was growing rapidly the

[04:01] intellect of man and the advancements of

[04:03] technology combined bestowed upon the

[04:06] world the creation of the internet by al

[04:09] gore news of a new star wars movie was

[04:11] spreading the storyboard for the lord of

[04:14] the rings the fellowship of the ring had

[04:15] been completed nerd culture was about to

[04:18] reach critical mass

[04:20] and bill clinton did not have sexual

[04:23] relations with that woman and so entered

[04:25] the massively multiplayer online role

[04:27] playing game or mmorpg for short the

[04:31] creation of the first mmo can be traced

[04:33] all the way back to the 70s depending on

[04:35] your definition and standards as they

[04:38] would be text based though they had

[04:39] existed for decades it was only near the

[04:42] new millennia that they would attract a

[04:44] sizable player base although varying in

[04:46] implementation they all shared the

[04:48] central idea of an online persistent

[04:51] world to be shared with players from all

[04:53] over the globe a genre unique in the

[04:55] sense that there is no planned end no

[04:58] credits rolled nor thanks for playing

[05:00] game content would be added as long as

[05:02] there are players playing and the

[05:04] journey would only end when the player

[05:06] decided that it was over a concept that

[05:09] was remarkably foreign to many at the

[05:11] time

[05:12] in these early years many would try

[05:14] their hand in breaking through the genre

[05:16] and overall it would contain a niche

[05:18] audience some were beginning to make a

[05:21] name for themselves though such as

[05:23] origin system sleep into the online

[05:25] persistent world with ultima online an

[05:27] isometric fantasy game memorable for its

[05:30] pvp combat in particular

[05:33] mythic entertainment who would later

[05:34] develop warhammer online took their shot

[05:37] with the dark age of camelot a third

[05:39] person take on arthurian lore mixed with

[05:41] norse mythology and high fantasy

[05:44] star wars would make their debut into

[05:46] the world of mmos with the 2003 release

[05:49] the star wars galaxies an mmo with a

[05:51] more heavy focus on community and

[05:54] sandbox gameplay and most prolific at

[05:57] the time was everquest in 1999 by varant

[06:00] interactive and 99 studios decrowning

[06:03] the previously reigning champion ultima

[06:06] online just 24 hours after launch it

[06:09] would quickly become the most subscribed

[06:11] mmorpg and

[06:13] uh

[06:14] 10 000 subscribers

[06:16] yeah really 10 000 was the most

[06:19] subscribed mmo rpg at the time it would

[06:22] eventually peak at over 500 000 years

[06:25] after its launch but as history has

[06:27] shown this would yet be a fraction of

[06:28] the potential that was hidden within the

[06:30] genre a potential that had yet to be

[06:33] realized

[06:46] the mmo was on the rise and the time to

[06:48] strike was nigh and in the background a

[06:51] beast was stirring silently observing

[06:54] the strengths the weaknesses the

[06:56] successes and the failures of the then

[06:58] relatively unexplored genre blizzard at

[07:01] this point already had established

[07:03] themselves as innovators with their

[07:05] diablo starcraft and warcraft series the

[07:08] latter being a real-time strategy game

[07:10] set in a fantasy world of orcs elves

[07:13] magic and adventure and having seen the

[07:16] success of other fantasy based games

[07:18] such as everquest the table was set

[07:21] after halting development on an

[07:23] abandoned project a small team of

[07:25] developers were left in limbo and were

[07:27] searching for inspiration on their next

[07:29] game

[07:30] they had the ip they had the funding and

[07:33] most importantly the timing

[07:40] september 2nd 2001 long before blizzard

[07:44] was big enough to hold their own

[07:45] convention they held a panel at london's

[07:48] european computer trade show and it was

[07:50] then that the public for the first time

[07:52] saw the world of warcraft

[07:58] [Music]

[08:10] they made it clear

[08:12] this was not the sequel to the popular

[08:14] rts series at the time but rather

[08:16] something completely different players

[08:19] would transition from controlling

[08:20] pre-made heroes and progressing through

[08:22] a campaign to creating their own heroes

[08:25] and making their own stories the game

[08:27] would be multiplayer on a massive scale

[08:30] bringing together fans of not only the

[08:31] warcraft series but of mmos as a whole

[08:35] the reaction however was mixed some

[08:38] waited with eager anticipation

[08:40] trying to imagine their beloved series

[08:42] making its sleep into the massively

[08:44] multiplayer setting and many were upset

[08:46] at the abrupt change of focus preferring

[08:49] blizzard to concentrate on what was

[08:51] proven to work instead of taking a

[08:53] gamble into unfettered territory the

[08:55] idea of paying a monthly fee to continue

[08:58] playing was a hard pill to swallow at

[09:00] the time especially by blizzard fans who

[09:02] had grown accustomed to the one-time

[09:04] purchase models set standard by the

[09:06] company work would continue on the

[09:08] project however and the very first

[09:10] interview would be claimed by the

[09:12] computer gaming world magazine by this

[09:14] time everquest was the clear reigning

[09:16] champion but the genre as a whole had

[09:19] one fatal flaw that's the learning curve

[09:22] xp loss gear loss and even permanent

[09:25] character death were commonplace in

[09:27] nearly every game of the genre and

[09:29] combined with the large time investment

[09:31] in playing it cultivated a very niche

[09:34] and hardcore community and the everyday

[09:36] casual player would quickly succumb to

[09:38] the intense difficulty and seek

[09:40] entertainment from other more forgiving

[09:42] games it was a genre with a focus on

[09:45] character progression with death

[09:47] penalties centering around character

[09:49] regression and a steep learning curve to

[09:51] go along with it however this

[09:54] transitionary period would prove to be a

[09:56] key moment where players for the first

[09:58] time would leave single player games

[10:00] that looked like this into this online

[10:02] sprawling world they were incomparable

[10:05] to each other and although it's funny to

[10:07] think now it was an intimidating thing

[10:09] the time investment was and still is

[10:12] incredibly high you had to have a

[10:14] computer you had to have a good enough

[10:16] graphics card to run it you had to have

[10:18] internet and you had to pay a

[10:20] subscription the amount of hurdles

[10:22] standing between the average person and

[10:24] the game were already high and combined

[10:26] with the unforgiving gameplay of the

[10:28] landmark titles representing the genre

[10:30] it was just too much for the average

[10:32] person

[10:33] but it was this person this untapped

[10:36] market of new and casual players that

[10:38] blizzard would set their sights on world

[10:40] of warcraft took a completely different

[10:42] style of approach during a time when xp

[10:45] loss was the bare minimum penalty for

[10:47] dying world of warcraft made you simply

[10:49] run back to your corpse one of the great

[10:51] things here is that

[10:53] when you die and death is an

[10:54] inevitability in all these games it's

[10:56] really not that big of a deal all other

[10:58] online rpgs make death a really bad

[11:01] thing because dying should be bad right

[11:03] well in world of warcraft pretty much

[11:05] all that happens is you sit out for a

[11:06] bit you respawn back at a graveyard and

[11:08] you run and get your corpse and you

[11:10] respawn you don't lose experience points

[11:12] you don't lose your items or any of that

[11:14] stuff when hitting the max level took

[11:16] years and other games world of warcraft

[11:19] it took months for most players and when

[11:21] systems were complicated and confusing

[11:24] requiring external literature to

[11:26] understand world of warcraft systems

[11:28] were relatively straightforward and when

[11:30] character stat and template choices were

[11:32] often permanent world of warcraft

[11:34] featured costly but reversible methods

[11:37] of character progression and

[11:39] customization in other games he had

[11:41] areas designed for large groups of

[11:43] high-level players referred to as raids

[11:46] but they were commonly out in the open

[11:48] world which resulted in having to

[11:50] compete against one another for kill

[11:52] credit due to this and there was a

[11:54] greater sense of urgency to complete the

[11:56] raid in its entirety in one sitting

[11:59] before any other guild had the chance to

[12:00] catch up and bring unwanted competition

[12:03] marathon sessions of guild setting up

[12:05] 24-hour shifts was a common strategy to

[12:08] maintain dominion of these raids in many

[12:11] cases to the detriment of the health of

[12:13] the players this final fantasy 11 boss

[12:16] was engaged for 18 hours until players

[12:19] were forced to quit after they began to

[12:21] faint and vomit though this bus in

[12:23] particular was nerfed shortly after the

[12:26] incident this was the state of the end

[12:28] game for most mmos in these early stages

[12:31] however world of warcraft had been one

[12:33] of the first mmos to standardize

[12:35] instance trades where players and guilds

[12:38] could create their own unique raid

[12:39] instances resetting on a weekly basis

[12:42] and as for the raid bosses themselves

[12:45] although today seen as archaic and

[12:46] simplistic at the time they're quite

[12:49] advanced in a genre where raid bosses

[12:51] boil down to having a unique name with a

[12:54] higher health pool and increased damage

[12:56] world of warcraft would add unique and

[12:58] often at the time complex mechanics that

[13:00] required teamwork and thought to

[13:02] overcome which in turn would become one

[13:05] of the game's major selling points the

[13:07] worlds had npcs but were commonly static

[13:10] whereas the world of azeroth felt more

[13:12] alive with dynamic npcs going about

[13:15] their daily lives simply put what it

[13:17] didn't invent it improved mmos were in a

[13:20] constant state of almost theirs and

[13:23] world of warcraft was the first one to

[13:25] bridge that gap and bring it into a more

[13:27] mainstream audience and it reaped the

[13:29] rewards because of that the game would

[13:31] continue development throughout the

[13:33] years with teasers being released in the

[13:35] form of magazine interviews and trailers

[13:38] keeping the curious onlooker abreast on

[13:40] its direction and after a long alpha and

[13:43] beta testing period the moment of truth

[13:45] came on november 23rd 2004.

[13:55] [Music]

[14:07] its strategy of appealing to the casual

[14:09] gamer worked well a little too well

[14:12] blizzard in no way was prepared for the

[14:14] frenzy of players eager to get into the

[14:16] world disconnects lag and rollbacks

[14:19] would persist heavily for the opening

[14:21] months and still consistently through

[14:23] the next couple of years forms daily

[14:26] would be filled with outrage demands for

[14:28] a refund and even threats of lawsuits

[14:31] the miraculous thing about it though is

[14:33] that it didn't even seem to slow its

[14:35] growth the launch today is looked at as

[14:38] disastrous and yet still people came

[14:41] back again and again how can a game

[14:43] that's playable maybe 50 percent of the

[14:45] time hold such a demand well it's

[14:48] because it was that good years of

[14:50] development had paid off as world of

[14:52] warcraft quickly became ahead almost

[14:55] immediately dwarfing all competition at

[14:57] the time and robbing them of their

[14:59] player bases it was the vampire of the

[15:02] mmo industry at its release and it would

[15:04] suck the life force out of every single

[15:07] previously mentioned staple of the genre

[15:09] but it was one unfortunate thing

[15:12] the unfortunate thing was it launched

[15:15] right when wow launched

[15:17] yeah so wow brought the whole industry

[15:20] down not just us every online game out

[15:22] there went down as soon as wyo went out

[15:24] wow was like a huge succubus of players

[15:28] went over there and drove into wow

[15:30] and it drove all our numbers down 60

[15:33] levels of progression and a world of

[15:35] challenges awaited the eager player base

[15:37] and there would be many landmark moments

[15:39] just waiting to be claimed players

[15:41] rushed to the max level and the title of

[15:43] the world first level 60 went to a

[15:46] player named zenith a troll rogue on the

[15:48] stormreaver server on december 3rd 2004

[15:52] a little less than two weeks after

[15:54] release by today's standards incredibly

[15:57] slow but back then a no-life nerd as

[16:00] onlookers weren't shy of expressing on

[16:02] january 30th 2005 the game would see its

[16:06] first raid cleared with the death of

[16:08] onyxia taken down by the guild ruined on

[16:10] the proudmoore server and many players

[16:12] for the first time got to see the famed

[16:15] epic quality items that she hoarded

[16:17] [Applause]

[16:24] [Music]

[16:27] blizzard would spend the following years

[16:29] perfecting their craft as their

[16:31] subscriber base increased so too did

[16:34] their budget and more servers would

[16:36] quickly be added to support the booming

[16:37] player base new patches would not only

[16:40] release new raid tiers but also systems

[16:43] items and much more and in may of the

[16:46] same year the subscriber base would see

[16:48] its biggest surge for the next decade

[16:52] [Music]

[16:59] okay guys

[17:00] these eggs have given us a lot of

[17:01] trouble in the past uh does anybody need

[17:05] anything off this guy one of the

[17:07] earliest videos to go viral in the world

[17:09] of warcraft was created by the guild of

[17:11] pals for life the guild was strategizing

[17:14] on how to clear out a particularly

[17:16] tricky room in the upper blackrock spire

[17:18] raid i think it's a pretty good plan we

[17:20] should be able to pull it off this time

[17:21] uh what do you think abdul can you give

[17:23] me a number crunch real quick

[17:26] uh yeah give me a sec i'm coming up with

[17:28] 32.33

[17:30] uh repeating of course percentage of

[17:33] survival

[17:35] well it's a lot better than we usually

[17:36] do uh all right

[17:38] ready guys

[17:44] oh my god he just ran in save him oh gee

[17:47] stick it clean oh geez let's go let's go

[17:50] and in the midst of the conversation a

[17:53] group member leroy charges in

[17:55] prematurely with reckless abandon

[17:57] causing the death of the entire

[18:02] [Music]

[18:08] i don't think you can cast with that oh

[18:10] my god

[18:14] [Music]

[18:20] the video was later revealed to be

[18:22] staged but nonetheless it cut on like

[18:25] wildfire and it was shared across

[18:27] multiple websites and forums making it

[18:29] one of the first videos for world of

[18:31] warcraft to gain viral popularity

[18:34] onlookers were intrigued word of mouth

[18:36] proved to be a prolific advertising

[18:38] vehicle for the game it's hard to say

[18:41] today just how many people watched the

[18:42] video as some of the uploads have been

[18:44] lost the original upload on warcraft

[18:47] movies today sits at nearly 90 million

[18:50] views and the original youtube mirror

[18:52] reached at least 46 million before it

[18:54] was taken down and surviving mirrors

[18:56] today said at a total combined count of

[18:59] around 24 million regardless it's by far

[19:02] the most viewed warcraft related video

[19:05] even to this day over 15 years later it

[19:08] was so popular in fact that it was later

[19:10] featured as a question in the trivia

[19:12] show jeopardy just a few months later in

[19:15] november

[19:16] this role-playing game out in 2004

[19:19] returns to the world of azeroth where

[19:22] heroes like leroy jenkins do battle

[19:26] and that would be the world of warcraft

[19:29] pathetic

[19:30] [Music]

[19:35] the leroy craze wasn't the only

[19:37] phenomenon to spawn from the game though

[19:39] september of 2005 saw the release of the

[19:42] zul'garub raid the final encounter of

[19:44] which was a boss named hakkar he had an

[19:47] ability called corrupted blood which

[19:49] dealt some damage to a player and if

[19:51] they were to stand too close to another

[19:53] it would spread to that person in a

[19:55] contained environment it's just another

[19:57] raid mechanic that is until one player

[20:00] intentionally or otherwise managed to

[20:02] create a virtual pandemic that spread

[20:04] across every single server the mechanic

[20:07] had one fatal flaw by getting a pet

[20:09] companion afflicted with the disease and

[20:11] then dismissing it it would persist when

[20:14] the pet is summoned once more this

[20:16] person did just that but in a crowded

[20:19] area and spread the affliction to every

[20:21] nearby player and npc

[20:24] and as long as there were living hosts

[20:26] there was no escape entire cities became

[20:28] infected by the plague

[20:36] word quickly spread and other players

[20:39] intentionally started spreading the

[20:41] disease

[20:42] ironforge stormwind orgrimmar every

[20:45] major capital city was a death hub and

[20:48] was uninhabitable by lower level players

[20:51] the spread would continue to go on for

[20:53] days until blizzard eventually hotfixed

[20:55] the disease but the resulting chaos

[20:57] remains to this day to be one of the

[20:59] most memorable moments in the game's

[21:02] history and has even been used in real

[21:04] world research of the spread and

[21:06] reaction of contagious diseases

[21:17] though there are many memorable landmark

[21:19] moments in the game's history some are

[21:21] more controversial than others in 2006

[21:25] on the illidan server a player by the

[21:27] name of fagin passed away suddenly from

[21:30] a stroke and in memoriam of one of her

[21:32] favorite activities fishing her guild

[21:34] had decided to host an in-game funeral

[21:37] service to pay one final tribute to her

[21:39] there were two problems though it was

[21:42] publicly advertised on the realm forums

[21:44] and illidan was a pvp server where

[21:47] players of the opposite faction could

[21:49] freely attack one another a guild

[21:51] stranded he now saw the thread they felt

[21:54] that they would join in to pay tribute

[21:56] but in a very different way having snuck

[21:58] through a nearby tunnel leading into the

[22:01] zone an entire raid team prepared to

[22:03] crash the funeral as players lined up to

[22:06] pay tribute to their friend the raid

[22:08] quickly closed in on the location and to

[22:11] make matters worse in an effort to role

[22:13] play many of the attendees had

[22:15] unequipped their armor and weapons

[22:17] leaving them defenseless against the

[22:19] surprise onslaught

[22:27] the funeral was quickly and easily

[22:30] dispatched serenity now would become

[22:32] infamous under server and the crash

[22:34] still stands today as one of the most

[22:36] controversial in-game events in its

[22:39] entire history

[22:40] all of these moments serve a crucial

[22:42] role in the telling of the history of

[22:44] the game and it would serve as a

[22:45] reminder of the reasons why it became

[22:47] such a success it's due not only to its

[22:50] own merits but perhaps even more

[22:52] drastically by the community that the

[22:54] world of azeroth was comprised of this

[22:57] world however was about to change

[23:02] how many of you have played world of

[23:04] warcraft

[23:07] due to the success of world of warcraft

[23:10] blizzard for the first time held their

[23:11] own event a convention centered solely

[23:14] around a blizzard games named blizzcon

[23:16] this was and remains to be a unique

[23:19] aspect of the developer to hold a

[23:21] personalized convention tailored to

[23:23] their products a form of celebration of

[23:26] not only the games that they're creating

[23:28] but also the already massive community

[23:30] that they've built the strong focus on

[23:32] the community would be something that

[23:34] blizzard would become known for and it

[23:36] created a loyalty of sorts from the

[23:38] players it felt like it was more than a

[23:41] game it was a community of people

[23:43] sharing their combined love and passion

[23:45] for the worlds that they

[23:48] us man

[23:49] you created really take care of us

[23:51] diablo starcraft warcraft fans from

[23:54] around the world would plan vacations

[23:56] around it long time friends and guild

[23:59] mates would meet each other in person

[24:01] for the first time and blizzcon as a

[24:03] whole would become a very crucial part

[24:05] of blizzard's identity from this point

[24:07] forward and in the very first convention

[24:10] held in october of 2005 a bombshell

[24:13] announcement was unveiled the world of

[24:15] warcraft is about to get bigger with the

[24:18] release of his first expansion the

[24:20] burning crusade

[24:27] [Music]

[24:35] the expansion boasted what players had

[24:37] come to expect from the world of

[24:39] warcraft and more they would step in to

[24:41] the world of the outland and progress

[24:44] through 10 more character levels new

[24:46] zones talents dungeons spells raids

[24:50] races a profession a new pvp system and

[24:54] much more it would add on to and improve

[24:57] in just about every aspect of the game

[25:00] but it's still 2005 and there's a lot of

[25:03] game left to conquer before players

[25:05] began worrying about their foray into

[25:07] the outland

[25:08] there were dragons to kill and dkp to

[25:11] acquire

[25:13] odd groups got left

[25:15] even groups got right that means one

[25:18] three five seven left two four six eight

[25:22] right and again he had casual hardcore

[25:26] and everything in between

[25:28] and there were some who took it even

[25:30] further beyond no reason to lose many

[25:32] tank and i am blaming you because i

[25:34] blame my i don't i can [ __ ] do it

[25:36] everyone can do it do it right this is

[25:38] [ __ ] videos of a more serious or

[25:41] angry nature would start to spring up at

[25:43] this point those of raid leaders chewing

[25:45] out members for failing and properly

[25:47] performing the mechanics of a boss fight

[25:50] well

[25:51] christian was feared interested

[25:54] [ __ ] was that

[25:56] crush him what the [ __ ]

[26:00] left side

[26:02] even side many wells

[26:05] now handle it

[26:08] [Music]

[26:10] the most prolific of which being dives

[26:12] the raid leader of the guild wipe club

[26:14] enyxia at this point had been slain by

[26:17] numerous guilds and after some

[26:19] unsuccessful attempts one of the members

[26:21] decided to record what would later

[26:23] become one of the biggest meltdowns in

[26:26] history the enyxia white animation

[26:32] what the [ __ ] was that [ __ ] much like

[26:36] leroy and the animation would quickly

[26:38] become popular and it highlighted the

[26:40] frustrating side of coordinating 40

[26:43] people and clearing the challenging

[26:44] raids don't play like you're just

[26:46] [ __ ] going through the motions you'll

[26:48] get your goddamn loot eventually

[27:00] shut the [ __ ] up

[27:02] you stupid [ __ ] stop

[27:05] these videos would paint players in a

[27:07] much less flattering light as many

[27:09] people would become so obsessed that

[27:11] they would shirk real life

[27:12] responsibilities and fall out of contact

[27:15] with friends quit work or school and in

[27:18] the most extreme cases cause harm to

[27:20] themselves or others

[27:22] in korea of june of 2005 the

[27:25] four-month-old child of a couple would

[27:27] suffocate when left unsupervised for

[27:29] several hours as the parents were

[27:31] playing world of warcraft in an internet

[27:33] cafe the phrase world of war crack was

[27:36] coined shedding light on the dark side

[27:38] of video game addiction particularly

[27:40] that of mmos and the consequences of

[27:43] obsession something that the media was

[27:45] not shy of reporting as world of

[27:47] warcraft due to its popularity would

[27:50] find itself at the center of this war

[27:52] against video game addiction computer

[27:54] games he's playing them an incredible 16

[27:56] hours a day his mother says his

[27:58] personality has changed and that he's

[28:00] become moody and violent and his

[28:02] addiction is tearing the family apart to

[28:05] many it was more than a game it was a

[28:07] virtual life with the graphical

[28:08] interface it attracted people from all

[28:11] walks of life and blended them together

[28:14] in the chaos of this online world

[28:16] news of the burning crusade remained to

[28:18] be scarce as it was still under nda in

[28:21] the friends and family alpha a blog post

[28:24] teasing new features would be shared

[28:26] scarcely but otherwise it was still

[28:28] largely a mystery outside of what was

[28:30] shared at the 2005 blizzcon the

[28:33] excitement was palpable and players from

[28:36] all over the world couldn't wait to get

[28:38] into the outland the beta test for the

[28:40] expansion started not too long after as

[28:43] players got to discover and explore its

[28:45] features and shortly after world of

[28:48] warcraft would become the focus of the

[28:49] cartoon series south park with their

[28:52] make love not warcraft episode the

[28:55] episode detailed the boys fight against

[28:57] the hacker antagonist and their struggle

[29:00] with video game addiction

[29:02] oh that's a big boy

[29:04] though on release it was an instant

[29:06] success many years later series

[29:08] co-creator trey parker detailed his

[29:10] worries with the episode revealing that

[29:12] he even tried to get it pulled as he

[29:14] feared that it simply wasn't funny but

[29:17] as history has shown the episode would

[29:20] become an instant success and despite

[29:22] the fact that the series at this point

[29:24] now has over 300 episodes it remains to

[29:27] be one of their most popular to this day

[29:41] [Music]

[29:42] [Applause]

[29:48] january 16th finally came and it marked

[29:51] the beginning of a new era the official

[29:54] end of vanilla world of warcraft people

[29:56] lined up outside of stores and tents in

[29:59] the freezing cold launch parties were

[30:01] held and the community was stronger than

[30:04] ever and pulled together with their one

[30:06] shared trade

[30:07] their fear of women or i mean their

[30:10] collective love for the game at this

[30:12] point it had amassed roughly 8 million

[30:14] subscribers by the expansion's release

[30:17] never once reporting a loss and holding

[30:19] on to the lion's share of the market in

[30:21] the background stirred some serious

[30:23] competition however mythic entertainment

[30:26] who developed the dark age of camelot

[30:28] sought to compete against blizzard with

[30:30] an mmorpg adaption of the renowned

[30:33] warhammer series due to its similar

[30:35] fantasy setting holding orcs magic elves

[30:39] and wizards many thought it to be the

[30:41] direct competitor to world of warcraft

[30:43] and deemed it to be one of the first of

[30:45] many would-be wow killers during the

[30:47] time another such game was the age of

[30:49] conan the hyborian adventures developed

[30:52] by funkom who was mostly known in the

[30:54] mmo community for anarchy online in 2001

[30:58] its selling points would be impeccable

[31:00] graphics at the time and the new and

[31:02] fresh combat system in a dark and

[31:05] visceral world featuring the fatality

[31:07] mechanic where players could execute

[31:09] each other in brutal fashion often

[31:12] described as the mortal combat of

[31:13] mmorpgs

[31:15] and the lord of the rings online by

[31:17] turbine was also in development an mmo

[31:20] of one of the most celebrated franchises

[31:22] in nerd culture history certainly posed

[31:25] as a serious threat to blizzard at the

[31:27] time

[31:28] though these contenders would be far off

[31:29] from release the competition was

[31:32] beginning to get fierce and to stave

[31:34] them off the burning crusade had to be

[31:36] as exceptional as its predecessor months

[31:39] and months of doomsaying was put to the

[31:41] test did the burning crusade kill the

[31:44] world of warcraft of course the answer

[31:46] is no the expansion was a major success

[31:50] and the subscription base rose even more

[31:52] rapidly as players explored the

[31:54] dangerous reaches of the outland the

[31:56] classes evolved and the gap between them

[31:59] was lessened while still retaining the

[32:00] features that made them special the

[32:03] raids were more challenging the bosses

[32:05] more complex and offering more to

[32:07] conquer to the ever-growing subscriber

[32:09] base and the rating scene itself proved

[32:12] to be even more difficult for players

[32:14] than what they had encountered in the

[32:15] base game with many lists today naming a

[32:18] plethora of burning crusade bosses as

[32:21] the hardest in the game's history even

[32:23] over 14 years later with some of them

[32:25] going unkilled by 99 of the player base

[32:28] until blizzard intervened themselves to

[32:31] make them easier the expansion today is

[32:33] remembered for having an extensive

[32:35] process for gaining entry to the raids

[32:37] called attunement a large series of

[32:39] story-based quests served as an

[32:41] alternate form of character progression

[32:44] and players would rarely find themselves

[32:46] with nothing to do the pvp system had

[32:48] evolved to be more competitive with the

[32:51] new arena mode where players create

[32:53] custom teams and battle and small skill

[32:55] matches to the death setting the stage

[32:57] for future competitive events in

[32:59] blizzard's attempt to gain a foothold

[33:01] into the growing esports scene the

[33:03] alliance for the first time got to

[33:05] experience a new class to them the

[33:07] shaman and for the horde the paladin

[33:10] both with two new races added to the

[33:11] game the draenei and the blood elf

[33:14] five-man dungeons rose back to the

[33:16] forefront with the advent of the more

[33:18] challenging heroic difficulty the

[33:20] expansion was packed with features and

[33:22] upgrades in its design and stands as one

[33:25] of blizzard's most critically acclaimed

[33:26] releases even to this day the lord of

[33:29] the rings also sat release in 2007 to

[33:32] serve his competition for world of

[33:34] warcraft and although receiving

[33:35] favorable reviews at the time it

[33:37] couldn't compare to the size and scope

[33:39] of wow selling under 200 000 copies in

[33:42] the first months of release and

[33:44] dwindling shortly thereafter the game

[33:46] does still run today supported by a

[33:49] niche community and is hovering around

[33:51] 40 000 active players at the time of

[33:53] this video so the burning crusade

[33:56] pressed on undaunted and in the

[33:58] following blizzcon in august the next

[34:00] expansion the wrath of the lich king was

[34:02] announced

[34:04] [Applause]

[34:08] players were teased of the land of

[34:10] northrend where they had once visited in

[34:12] the events of warcraft 3. it's here

[34:14] where they would face off against arthas

[34:16] menethil as the lich king 10 more levels

[34:20] a new class the death knight new zones

[34:23] and siege vehicle combat were just a few

[34:25] of the many new features teased at the

[34:27] convention and due to the success of the

[34:29] burning crusade there was little

[34:31] question if it would be just as good

[34:34] 2008 came and on the one year

[34:36] anniversary of the release of the

[34:38] burning crusade world of warcraft hit a

[34:40] landmark 10 million subscribers

[34:42] absolutely dwarfing any and all

[34:45] competition the up-and-coming contender

[34:47] the age of conan saw its release in may

[34:49] of 2008 and received generally positive

[34:52] reviews by the media and had sold over 1

[34:55] million copies by the end of its release

[34:57] month though ultimately the game had

[34:59] failed to retain this impressive surge

[35:01] of subscribers although reviewers

[35:03] worldwide had praised the game the

[35:05] player base condemned it as being

[35:07] unfinished and rushed as subscriptions

[35:10] quickly declined and just one year later

[35:13] funko would perform a fatality on 31 out

[35:16] of its 42 servers much like the lord of

[35:19] the rings online the game still holds a

[35:22] dedicated yet niche following by and

[35:24] large falling short of being the wild

[35:26] killer that many predicted that it would

[35:28] be

[35:35] in july in a bombshell announcement at

[35:37] the height of the game's popularity the

[35:39] power of the dark side could be resisted

[35:42] no longer as blizzard's parent company

[35:45] vivendi announced a merger with

[35:47] activision already having gained a

[35:49] reputation for excessive monetization

[35:52] and driving franchises and developers to

[35:55] an early grave many were dismayed at the

[35:57] news fearing that the same would become

[35:59] true for their beloved franchises

[36:01] including the world of warcraft along

[36:03] with ea they would gain the reputation

[36:06] of exploiting the player base to the

[36:08] fullest extent and spearheads today one

[36:11] of the largest focus on cash shops and

[36:13] pay-to-win game design and just one year

[36:16] later in september of 2009 activision

[36:19] blizzard would release the paid faction

[36:21] chain service and one month after that

[36:24] the paid race change service along with

[36:26] in-game collectible pets these services

[36:29] were seen by many as an affront on the

[36:31] integrity of the game and although not

[36:33] terribly impactful by themselves it was

[36:35] believed that they would serve as a

[36:37] gateway for more damaging paid services

[36:39] to be introduced later in september of

[36:42] 2008 the release date for the wrath of

[36:44] the lich king expansion became set in

[36:46] stone for november of the same year

[36:49] just as it was back in 2006 the clock

[36:52] began ticking for players to finish

[36:54] their activities in the burning crusade

[36:56] before the content was made to be

[36:57] irrelevant and due to the difficulty of

[37:00] the raiding scene in general they had

[37:02] their hands full there was quite a long

[37:04] draw between the final patch of the

[37:05] burning crusade and the launch of wrath

[37:08] nearly eight months but players didn't

[37:10] seem to mind due to the success and

[37:12] lingering challenge that the expansion

[37:14] had to offer those who thought otherwise

[37:16] though sought to fill in this void with

[37:18] the release of the highly anticipated

[37:20] warhammer online which such release in

[37:23] september but wasn't enough to succeed

[37:26] where the lord of the rings online and

[37:27] age of conan failed

[37:29] [Music]

[37:32] the game saw similar numbers to the age

[37:35] of conan selling 1.2 million copies at

[37:37] launch and starting off with a solid

[37:39] subscriber base of 800 000 players but

[37:43] similar to funcom's debacle it simply

[37:45] wasn't ready performance issues

[37:48] overshadowed and what could have been a

[37:49] great experience and players that have

[37:51] grown accustomed to world of warcraft's

[37:53] finely tuned and polished combat system

[37:56] immediately noticed a lack of fluidity

[37:58] with its gameplay additionally the game

[38:01] would suffer from major scandals such as

[38:04] erroneously charging subscribers for

[38:06] years of game time in a single day with

[38:08] some racking up charges and overdraft

[38:10] fees into the thousands

[38:12] similar to the age of conan warhammer

[38:15] failed to retain this early surge of

[38:17] players and servers were shut down and

[38:19] the subscriber base dropped even lower

[38:21] than that of their 2001 mmo the dark age

[38:24] of camelot the game officially shut down

[38:27] in 2013 but many deemed it to be truly

[38:30] dead just one year after its release

[38:37] [Music]

[38:44] shortly after the wrath of the lich king

[38:46] expansion saw its release and blizzard

[38:48] would once more break sales records

[38:51] plurals charged into northrend with new

[38:53] zones to explore dungeons and raids to

[38:56] conquer and a new class to discover the

[38:58] death knight was what everyone expected

[39:00] and more

[39:02] a lot more

[39:03] way too much in fact as many saw them to

[39:06] be far too powerful on release they

[39:08] would later be tuned down in upcoming

[39:11] patches replayability was amplified as

[39:14] the achievement system was implemented

[39:16] and players could collect points titles

[39:19] mounts and more through this new feature

[39:21] aimed towards completionists it would

[39:23] receive positive reviews of its many new

[39:26] features and improvements and the

[39:28] subscriptions continued their upward

[39:30] trend eventually peaking at 12 million

[39:33] just as with the burning crusade it

[39:35] seemed to be unstoppable though it would

[39:38] be where the first sign of weakness

[39:39] showed through the numbers that have

[39:41] been made public there wasn't a single

[39:43] moment where wrath had lost

[39:45] subscriptions between reports but it was

[39:47] also the first expansion where they had

[39:49] stopped gaining subscribers as they

[39:51] hovered around 11 to 12 million

[39:53] throughout the course of the expansion

[39:55] and as shown it wasn't due to any of

[39:57] these would-be wow killers in august of

[40:00] the same year the rating scene expanded

[40:02] in a big way as the third grade tier

[40:05] four the expansion the trial of the

[40:06] crusader would release with the heroic

[40:09] difficulty setting

[40:10] previously if players saw an extra

[40:13] challenge with the encounters they could

[40:15] impose boss specific hurdles or

[40:16] restrictions upon themselves for bonus

[40:19] loot achievements and bragging rights

[40:22] players would now instead toggle this

[40:24] optional difficulty setting before

[40:26] entering the raid and every boss within

[40:28] would deal more damage take more damage

[40:30] and gain extra mechanics in exchange for

[40:33] better quality loot

[40:34] this along with the mythic grading mode

[40:36] to be introduced later would become a

[40:39] landmark change in the core design of

[40:41] the game aimed to increase accessibility

[40:43] by greatly lowering the base normal

[40:45] difficulty and funneling those seeking a

[40:47] greater challenge into this optional

[40:49] difficulty setting this change in design

[40:51] would later be accelerated in the next

[40:54] expansion of the cataclysm which would

[40:56] be unveiled in blizzcon 2009

[41:04] [Applause]

[41:18] the world of azeroth was about to change

[41:20] for good as the entire old world was

[41:22] deemed to be outdated by 2009 standards

[41:26] this expansion's villain deathwing would

[41:28] ravage the eastern kingdoms in kalimdor

[41:31] reshaping them visually and mechanically

[41:34] by reworking each quest players would be

[41:36] able to explore all of these changes

[41:38] from the comfort of their flying mounts

[41:40] which were now enabled in the old world

[41:42] two new races the worgen for the

[41:44] alliance and the goblin for the horde

[41:46] would also make their debut as well as a

[41:48] reworked talent system the game was to

[41:51] go over its biggest makeover today and

[41:54] whether it was for the better or worse

[41:56] was yet to be seen

[41:58] december marked the month of another

[42:00] hallmark feature being added to the game

[42:02] the dungeon finder no longer did players

[42:05] have to travel the world to run to their

[42:07] favorite dungeons as this tool match

[42:10] makes them together and teleported the

[42:12] party directly to the entrance at the

[42:14] time this feature was received with

[42:16] overwhelmingly positive feedback and a

[42:18] welcome quality of life improvement

[42:20] though restricted to players only on

[42:22] their server at the time of its launch

[42:24] it would later be opened up to other

[42:26] servers which had the unintended side

[42:28] effect of alienating the community from

[42:30] each other previously having to manually

[42:33] form groups had served as a critical and

[42:36] natural way for players to meet one

[42:38] another and make friends and they would

[42:40] soon learn the downsides of automating

[42:42] the process by handling the formation of

[42:45] the group automatically social

[42:47] interaction was replaced with

[42:48] convenience and the social aspect

[42:50] critical to mmo gameplay suffered as a

[42:53] result by itself this negative impact of

[42:56] the system would remain relatively minor

[42:59] but in the coming years players would

[43:01] notice a trend of eliminating these

[43:03] critical social structures in the name

[43:05] of convenience and at the cost of the

[43:07] game's sense of community which many

[43:09] claim to be one of the biggest features

[43:11] to which it owed its success

[43:24] the community would also see changes

[43:26] outside of the game in july of 2010

[43:29] blizzard unveiled their new real id

[43:31] system where they're supporting forums

[43:33] for all of their games not just world of

[43:35] warcraft would no longer display

[43:37] character names when posting but rather

[43:39] real names tied to the account

[43:42] players and onlookers alike reacted with

[43:44] concern of blizzard's disregard of basic

[43:47] privacy rights deeming that their

[43:49] actions would essentially box the entire

[43:52] forum community doxing is the act of

[43:54] unearthing someone's personal

[43:56] information such as their name or

[43:58] address with the ultimate goal of

[44:00] real-life harassment today the advent of

[44:03] swatting shows the repercussions of

[44:05] those whose personal information was

[44:07] leaked

[44:14] for a company to do the work for them

[44:16] was seen as extremely dangerous flame

[44:19] wars and online disputes past present

[44:22] and future would serve as vessels for

[44:24] real-life harassment they argued they

[44:27] stated that the reason for the change

[44:29] was to cut down on forum trolling their

[44:31] logic being that if someone's real name

[44:33] was tied to their post they'd think more

[44:35] carefully about how they treat others

[44:37] and that quote removing the veil of

[44:38] anonymity typical to online dialogue

[44:41] will contribute to a more positive forum

[44:43] environment and connect the blizzard

[44:44] community in ways that they haven't been

[44:47] connected before

[44:48] another community manager put it to the

[44:50] test and in an effort to quell the

[44:52] player's fear he posted his real life

[44:55] name within one day players found and

[44:58] published his address phone number age

[45:01] and took to placing false pizza orders

[45:03] in his name and even placed death

[45:06] threats connecting him with the

[45:07] community in ways that he's never been

[45:10] connected before shortly after the

[45:12] co-founder of blizzard mike morheim

[45:14] stepped in and announced that they had

[45:16] rescinded their plans of publishing the

[45:19] player's real names

[45:20] in october blizzard pinned down the

[45:22] release date for the cataclysm expansion

[45:25] december 7th of the same year and

[45:27] despite the controversy the game in

[45:29] october would reach its peak subscriber

[45:31] count of 12 million the holidays came

[45:34] and the day of reckoning was at hand and

[45:37] the world of warcraft would suffer

[45:39] cataclysm in more ways than one in

[45:41] addition to the retuned old world the

[45:44] talent system would also see an overhaul

[45:46] altering the traditional freeform three

[45:48] tree talent system into specializations

[45:51] players would be forced to pick just one

[45:53] and lose access to many spells iconic to

[45:56] the other two the trees as a whole would

[45:58] also be simplified and the amount of

[46:00] points to invest reduced

[46:02] class and item balance in general would

[46:04] also be at the forefront of changes in

[46:06] the expansion mostly through the form of

[46:09] removal spell drinks were removed and

[46:11] all abilities now just had one rank that

[46:14] skilled with your level and were trained

[46:16] automatically and much more the

[46:19] cataclysm expansion is seen by many to

[46:21] mark the point when the rpg and mmo rpg

[46:25] was made to be lower case as it

[46:27] transformed into a much simpler version

[46:29] of an already straightforward game

[46:32] as world of warcraft straight further

[46:34] and further away from its social and rpg

[46:37] roots a community of private server

[46:39] players would grow larger and larger

[46:41] with each expansion independent groups

[46:44] took to hosting past versions of the

[46:46] game the most prolific of which being of

[46:48] its original state referred to as

[46:50] vanilla

[46:51] though its beginnings were humble this

[46:53] private server community would

[46:55] eventually grow large enough to become a

[46:57] problem for blizzard they would find

[46:59] themselves embroiled in legal battles to

[47:01] protect their ip from infringement and

[47:04] would eventually influence a major

[47:06] developed project many years later

[47:08] regardless they showed once more that

[47:10] they had no difficulty in selling

[47:12] expansions as once again they broke

[47:15] their own sales record with cataclysm

[47:17] selling a staggering 3.3 million copies

[47:20] on release day but unlike the previous

[47:23] expansions they had not seen an overall

[47:25] increase in subscribers post release

[47:27] instead remaining steady at the 12

[47:29] million mark it had been stuck at since

[47:31] the beginning of 2009 and for the first

[47:34] time since its inception in 2004 the

[47:38] world of warcraft would see a loss in

[47:40] reported subscribers in fact cataclysm

[47:43] would fail to gain subscribers in a

[47:45] single reported quarter in its near

[47:48] two-year run discounting the release of

[47:50] the next expansion the mists of pandaria

[47:53] which would be announced in october

[47:59] [Music]

[48:03] the initial reaction would be very mixed

[48:06] the theme of the expansion was so

[48:08] unexpected that many thought it to be an

[48:11] out-of-season april fool's joke players

[48:14] would explore the mysterious world of

[48:16] pandaria with a new race the pandaren

[48:19] and a new class the monk dungeons were

[48:22] getting a special challenge mode to

[48:23] bring relevancy once more to five-man

[48:25] content and scenarios would be queueable

[48:28] micro dungeons designed for three

[48:30] players and the pet battle system was

[48:32] also implemented a minigame reminiscent

[48:35] of the popular pokemon franchise as for

[48:38] the talent system it would be simplified

[48:40] even further into the tier system

[48:42] offering more impactful choices but at a

[48:45] reduced quantity of just six points to

[48:47] invest

[48:48] and most controversially crossroads

[48:51] zones would eventually be implemented

[48:53] where players of differing realms would

[48:54] be able to see and interact with one

[48:57] another due to the falling subscriber

[48:59] base brought on by the cataclysm there

[49:01] were far too many servers running for

[49:03] the dwindling player base and as a

[49:05] result the worlds were starting to

[49:07] become barren by grouping servers

[49:09] together blizzard aimed once more to

[49:11] breathe life into the world of azeroth

[49:14] while many looked at the expansion as

[49:16] something new and fresh many more would

[49:18] be immediately turned off by its

[49:20] aesthetics and due to the downward trend

[49:22] in subscriptions skepticism if it would

[49:25] be a success was at an all-time high

[49:28] this was still far into the future

[49:30] though and the current focus remained to

[49:32] be cataclysm which at this point was

[49:34] still steadily losing subscribers in

[49:36] november along with the final raid

[49:39] dragon soul the lfr system would see its

[49:41] release similar to the dungeon finder

[49:44] released in the wrath of the ledger king

[49:45] expansion this would allow players to

[49:47] match make with others in a queue-based

[49:49] raiding mode doubling down on their

[49:51] design of trading away critical social

[49:54] and rpg functions for the sake of

[49:56] convenience and accessibility to

[49:59] accommodate for the increased

[50:01] disorganization that came with

[50:03] queue-based matchmaking the difficulty

[50:05] would be lowered even further than that

[50:07] of the base normal difficulty it was

[50:10] from this point forward that players no

[50:12] longer needed to even join a guild to

[50:14] experience the endgame content they

[50:17] didn't need to read strategies and they

[50:19] didn't even need to speak a single word

[50:21] in fact as blizzard deemed it an issue

[50:23] that 100 of the player base were not

[50:26] completing these raids in their entirety

[50:28] the accomplishment of clearing a raid

[50:30] would be more accessible than ever

[50:32] before but as a result the

[50:35] accomplishment would mean nothing from

[50:37] this point forward

[50:38] during this time another would-be wow

[50:41] killer was beginning to generate

[50:43] interest star wars galaxies at this

[50:45] point had been shut down in order to

[50:47] bolster the subscriber base of star wars

[50:50] the old republic developed by bioware

[50:53] and published by

[50:55] uh

[50:56] uh-oh

[50:57] it would be attempt number two for star

[50:59] wars on the massively multiplayer scale

[51:02] this installment promised a unique and

[51:05] fully voice acted campaign for each of

[51:07] their classes a space shooter component

[51:09] with a customizable ship a thriving end

[51:12] game for pve and pvp and perhaps most

[51:15] importantly it was during the first time

[51:18] where the reigning champion showed

[51:19] weakness while ultimately the previous

[51:22] contenders failed on their own merits it

[51:25] can be argued that the tremendous

[51:26] success of the world of warcraft during

[51:28] their debut certainly made them look

[51:30] worse in comparison now that this

[51:33] weakness was showing though the timing

[51:35] was ideal would the old republic succeed

[51:38] where its predecessors failed

[51:40] ex-subscribers disillusioned with the

[51:42] direction that the game had taken

[51:44] throughout the cataclysm looked at the

[51:46] old republic as the true successor this

[51:49] time players have been doomed saying the

[51:51] imminent demise of world of warcraft

[51:53] ever since its launch in 2004 only this

[51:56] time the game's downward trend would

[51:59] support their claims

[52:00] so the moment of truth came the launch

[52:03] arrived and like many other mmos before

[52:05] it the old republic launched too early

[52:08] in an attempt to release it during the

[52:10] holiday season it was rushed out and

[52:12] would suffer from technical issues game

[52:15] breaking bugs and questionable design

[52:17] decisions most notable of which is their

[52:20] use of the hero engine which proved to

[52:22] be poor in an mmo environment there

[52:25] would be a short delay between the

[52:26] player casting a spell and that spell

[52:28] actually landing

[52:30] [Music]

[52:36] [Music]

[52:38] an issue they attempted to rectify by

[52:40] tying an animation for each ability to

[52:43] make it seem more natural as a result

[52:45] though the combat felt very sluggish and

[52:48] awkward and those used to the crisp and

[52:50] smooth nature of the world of warcraft's

[52:52] combat system noticed the huge and

[52:55] immediate downgrade in quality this

[52:58] combined with other disappointing

[52:59] features such as their spaceship

[53:01] component being entirely on rails

[53:03] hindered its success in its crucial

[53:05] launch period the game had sold over 2

[53:08] million copies and held 1.7 million

[53:10] subscribers which was around the sixth

[53:13] of the world of warcraft subscriptions

[53:14] at the time the closest that any recent

[53:17] mmo came to rivaling wow's popularity

[53:19] since its launch in 2004

[53:22] but much like the lord of the rings

[53:24] online the age of conan and warhammer

[53:26] online the star wars the old republic

[53:29] suffered a similar fate and the

[53:30] subscriptions quickly plummeted not even

[53:33] eight months later it would convert to

[53:35] the free-to-play model often seen as the

[53:38] death sentence of mmos today the game

[53:41] holds a total of five servers once again

[53:44] coming nowhere near being the wow killer

[53:46] it was predicted to be

[53:49] you were the chosen one

[53:53] it was said that you were destroyed

[53:54] world of warcraft

[54:02] [Music]

[54:04] time marched on and the mists of pandari

[54:07] expansion would release in the month of

[54:09] september and for the first time since

[54:12] the release of the wrath of the lich

[54:13] king expansion they saw an increase in

[54:15] subscriptions though the eagerness of

[54:17] the player base was notably diminished

[54:20] as this would be the first expansion to

[54:22] fail and breaking sales records for

[54:24] blizzard upon release falling 30 below

[54:26] than that of cataclysm barring this

[54:29] initial surge they would be unable to

[54:31] halt the downward trend that had begun

[54:33] since the launch of cataclysm as

[54:35] subscribers would quickly drop from 10

[54:37] million at launch to 9 million then aid

[54:41] and around 6.8 at its lowest point a

[54:43] drop of over 30 percent and the players

[54:46] were starting to feel the effect of a

[54:48] world that grew less active with each

[54:50] passing day cross realm officially saw

[54:53] its release which would make the world

[54:55] seem sprawling once more but once again

[54:57] at the expense of the server's community

[55:00] which would be present only a name from

[55:02] this point forward seeing the same

[55:04] players and guilds on your server

[55:06] consistently turned out to be an

[55:08] integral part of establishing a

[55:09] community that was only realized once it

[55:12] was taken away the world once more had

[55:14] players in it but due to the large

[55:16] amount of servers that would be grouped

[55:18] together players scarcely saw or

[55:20] recognized other players from previous

[55:22] adventures the basis to form a community

[55:25] which had been a key reason for its

[55:27] success was now a distant memory the

[55:30] world was in a predicament and blizzard

[55:32] had a difficult problem to solve a

[55:35] nearly empty world with little community

[55:37] or a full world ironically enough with

[55:40] no community though innocent enough on

[55:42] launch crossroad was seen today as a

[55:45] necessary evil for a problem which true

[55:47] solution lies in recapturing subscribers

[55:50] now lost an issue that blizzard would

[55:52] struggle with for years to come as the

[55:55] once iconic mmorpg now barely resembled

[55:58] an mmo due to its destroyed social

[56:00] structures and barely an rpg due to its

[56:03] abandoned rpg elements which would be

[56:06] taken a step further in march of 2013 as

[56:09] the game saw another major change with

[56:12] its first instance of forged loo

[56:14] released with the throne of thunder raid

[56:16] loot had the potential to have an

[56:18] increased quality regardless of the

[56:20] difficulty at which the players defeated

[56:22] the bosses having previously lost

[56:25] longevity in the raiding scene through

[56:27] the reduced base difficulty they had

[56:29] hoped to regain it via randomized loot

[56:32] and although it was relatively tame at

[56:34] the time of its release this forging

[56:36] system would later be seen by many to

[56:38] get out of hand and help diminish and

[56:41] confuse the reward structure that had

[56:43] been standard for the game for eight

[56:45] years at that point time passed patches

[56:48] released new raids and systems debuted

[56:51] and much changed with the expansion in

[56:53] the year of 2013. something that didn't

[56:55] though was this ongoing downward trend

[56:58] of subscribers in blizzcon 2013 blizzard

[57:01] would announce its next expansion the

[57:04] warlords of draenor the player base

[57:06] would journey back to the world of

[57:08] draenor an alternate reality before it

[57:10] was corrupted into what they knew as the

[57:13] outland in the burning crusade expansion

[57:16] it's here where they would establish

[57:17] forward bases known as garrisons and

[57:20] elantra campaign against garrosh

[57:22] hellscream the leader of the united orc

[57:24] army known as the iron horde who were

[57:26] set to invade the land of azeroth at

[57:29] this point the private server community

[57:31] had gained considerable traction as

[57:34] players yearned for the game that had

[57:36] originally captivated them and were

[57:38] becoming more and more unruly as the

[57:40] retail version strayed further and

[57:42] further away from its roots and they

[57:44] began campaigning blizzard to officially

[57:47] develop and support this past version of

[57:49] the game in a q a panel during the

[57:52] convention one such player asked for an

[57:54] official answer on the possibility of a

[57:57] legacy server the question was fielded

[57:59] by j alan brack at the time a production

[58:02] director for world of warcraft and he

[58:04] delivered this now infamous answer have

[58:07] you ever thought about adding servers

[58:09] for previous expansions as they were

[58:11] then

[58:14] no

[58:15] [Music]

[58:17] and

[58:18] and by the way you don't want to that to

[58:20] do that either you think you do but you

[58:23] don't

[58:24] remember when you had to like

[58:27] spam cities and say need a tank need a

[58:29] tank need a tank during the burning

[58:30] crusade days you don't remember that

[58:32] because now you just push a button that

[58:34] says go to the dungeon

[58:36] you don't want to do that though the

[58:37] quote would draw immediate ire of the

[58:39] legacy community it would prove to be an

[58:42] integral moment in its development

[58:44] serving as a rallying cry of sorts and

[58:46] bringing more and more attention on the

[58:49] possibilities of developing such a

[58:50] version of the game the answer was seen

[58:53] as dismissive and out of touch

[58:55] especially considering the fact that

[58:57] private servers at this point had grown

[58:59] to new levels of popularity and with

[59:02] this dismissive answer the questions

[59:04] started turning into demands and

[59:06] discussion of its viability or not and

[59:09] serve to fend the flames of a community

[59:11] becoming increasingly disillusioned of

[59:13] the world of warcraft and blizzard in

[59:15] their current state

[59:19] [Music]

[59:23] as the players were leaving blizzard had

[59:25] sought to recover financially through an

[59:28] increased focus and impact of their cash

[59:31] shop and against all assurances

[59:33] previously made shortly after their

[59:35] merger with activision they would

[59:37] finally turn the corner in december of

[59:39] 2013 and officially implemented the cash

[59:42] shop in-game and along with it came the

[59:45] most impactful service today

[59:47] the level boost

[59:48] leveling was now skippable as players

[59:51] could pay 60 dollars to immediately be

[59:54] fast tracked to the maximum level and

[59:56] jump right into the end game by and

[59:58] large the most impactful paid service at

[1:00:01] that point what was at one point seen as

[1:00:03] a cornerstone of mmo design was now

[1:00:06] skippable through an officially endorsed

[1:00:09] service the consequence and investment

[1:00:12] of picking a class investing time into

[1:00:14] it leveling it and learning it were

[1:00:17] thrown away sacrificed like many other

[1:00:19] features for convenience accessibility

[1:00:22] and short-term financial gain further

[1:00:24] damaging its already crippled rpg design

[1:00:28] the backlash was immediate but little

[1:00:30] did players know it was just the

[1:00:32] beginning and the standards of paid

[1:00:34] advantage in the game would sink lower

[1:00:36] and lower in the coming years

[1:00:39] time passed and two things remained

[1:00:41] constant a decrease in subscriber count

[1:00:44] and stagnation the final major patch of

[1:00:46] the expansion i had released in

[1:00:48] september of the previous year 2013 and

[1:00:52] other than the addition of the level

[1:00:53] boost the game saw no updates until the

[1:00:56] warlords of draenor pre-patch in october

[1:00:59] of 2014 an astounding gap of 13 months

[1:01:03] in the game's development this had

[1:01:05] marked the longest drought yet and

[1:01:07] subscribers fled the game in record

[1:01:09] numbers as the mists of pandaria failed

[1:01:12] to retain the migrating player base

[1:01:22] november came and with it the launch of

[1:01:25] the warlords of draenor expansion

[1:01:27] despite the game's troubles a

[1:01:29] combination of marketing and hype led to

[1:01:31] a rather successful expansion launch

[1:01:33] sales-wise over 3.3 million players had

[1:01:37] expansions in hand ready to step through

[1:01:39] the dark portal for a second time and

[1:01:41] subscription skyrocketed to 10.5 million

[1:01:45] the highest it had been since the launch

[1:01:47] of the mists of pandaria and it holds

[1:01:49] the record of the largest surge in

[1:01:51] subscribers for expansion launches

[1:01:53] though unfortunately for blizzard

[1:01:55] history would repeat itself in more ways

[1:01:57] than one as once again they had failed

[1:02:00] to retain the spoon as problems soon

[1:02:03] arose after launch oh that's nice every

[1:02:06] [ __ ] server that i even play on is

[1:02:08] offline

[1:02:11] oh yeah

[1:02:13] it looks like mine aren't the only ones

[1:02:15] they had come under a ddos attack as

[1:02:18] their servers were flooded with

[1:02:20] artificial traffic until they shut down

[1:02:22] from the strain this would go on for

[1:02:24] several days as law enforcement

[1:02:27] investigated into the matter meanwhile

[1:02:29] though players would become increasingly

[1:02:31] frustrated as the game remained to be

[1:02:34] mostly unplayable the culprits were

[1:02:36] eventually stopped but the damage had

[1:02:38] been done and the game experienced its

[1:02:40] worst launch since its initial release

[1:02:43] in 2004. what's more once the issue

[1:02:46] subsided players were met with what is

[1:02:48] now widely considered to be one of the

[1:02:50] worst expansions in the game's history

[1:02:53] the main feature of the expansion the

[1:02:55] garrison system isolated players in

[1:02:58] their own instance where they could

[1:02:59] recruit followers start an herb garden

[1:03:02] mine and craft and even use the auction

[1:03:05] house with the correct buildings

[1:03:07] although convenient it served as yet

[1:03:09] another future to alienate an already

[1:03:12] fractured community from each other and

[1:03:14] the game at times seemed as if it was

[1:03:16] single player a problem made worse by

[1:03:18] the massive hemorrhage of subscribers

[1:03:21] that was yet to come just as how the

[1:03:23] expansion broke subscription records on

[1:03:25] launch it also broke records for lost

[1:03:28] subscriptions shortly after as players

[1:03:30] saw a little enjoyment from what was

[1:03:33] eventually ousted as an unfinished

[1:03:35] expansion as many of the features

[1:03:37] previously teased would be left on the

[1:03:40] cutting room floor including new systems

[1:03:43] two major cities battlegrounds another

[1:03:46] zone and even an entire raid tier to

[1:03:49] name just a few time between patches

[1:03:51] would grow even larger and the patches

[1:03:54] themselves delivered less content the

[1:03:56] expansion held a total of just three

[1:03:58] major raids throughout its entirety with

[1:04:01] every expansion proceeding having at

[1:04:03] least four the combined effect of

[1:04:05] instanced garrisons and players flocking

[1:04:08] away made the new world seem dead and so

[1:04:11] more and more servers would be connected

[1:04:12] to each other in an attempt to bring

[1:04:14] life back into the dying world as

[1:04:16] subscriptions plummeted to an all-time

[1:04:18] low since its initial rise in vanilla at

[1:04:21] 5.5 million it was announced shortly

[1:04:24] after that they would no longer report

[1:04:26] subscription numbers stating that there

[1:04:29] are better indicators of business

[1:04:31] performance the message was clear where

[1:04:34] they had lost revenue and subscriptions

[1:04:36] they gained several times over via the

[1:04:38] paid level boost success was no longer

[1:04:41] tied to a healthy player base but rather

[1:04:43] revenue and although looked at today has

[1:04:46] an embarrassing period in the game's

[1:04:48] history financially it lifted the

[1:04:50] developer to new heights combined with

[1:04:52] other cash shop services the level boost

[1:04:55] and the warlords of draenor have played

[1:04:57] a large role in activision blizzard's

[1:04:59] best financial quarter to date

[1:05:02] the influence of the cash shop now fully

[1:05:04] realized it would be taken a step

[1:05:06] further in march of 2015 with the

[1:05:09] addition of the wow token where players

[1:05:11] could exchange real money for in-game

[1:05:13] gold or on the other hand use gold to

[1:05:16] purchase a token to pay for the

[1:05:18] subscription fee or convert it into a

[1:05:20] balance only spendable on blizzard

[1:05:22] products regardless of the method it

[1:05:25] would prove to be a massive commercial

[1:05:27] success for activision blizzard earning

[1:05:29] them record profits during record low

[1:05:32] subscriptions a long time had passed

[1:05:34] since the cash shop's initial rise in

[1:05:37] 2008 those who warned of the dangerous

[1:05:39] path that world of warcraft was set on

[1:05:41] as other predictions unfold slowly over

[1:05:44] the course of several years at this

[1:05:47] point in the game's history it was

[1:05:49] possible to buy levels it was possible

[1:05:51] to buy currency and with this currency

[1:05:54] you could buy items and even services

[1:05:56] from other players such as raid or arena

[1:05:59] carries and a list of things that you

[1:06:01] couldn't buy was now far shorter than

[1:06:03] the list of things that you could buy it

[1:06:05] was at this point that the game was

[1:06:07] deemed by many to be paid a win as

[1:06:10] real-life purchases now had a clear and

[1:06:12] heavy impact on the power levels between

[1:06:14] different players behavior that

[1:06:16] previously warranted suspensions was now

[1:06:19] officially endorsed and advertised and

[1:06:22] any semblance of integrity the game had

[1:06:24] left was abandoned though at this point

[1:06:27] subscriptions were no longer being

[1:06:29] reported morale of the game's future

[1:06:31] continued to decline

[1:06:33] [Music]

[1:06:38] in august of the same year at the

[1:06:40] gamescom convention the next expansion

[1:06:43] legion would be announced the long-lost

[1:06:45] broken isles were discovered and the orc

[1:06:48] warlock gulban unleashed a second

[1:06:50] burning crusade upon azeroth it would

[1:06:52] feature a new class the demon hunter

[1:06:54] among many supporting systems such as

[1:06:57] powerful and unique artifact weapons

[1:06:59] that players could obtain and level up

[1:07:01] as an additional form of character

[1:07:03] progression each class would have a

[1:07:05] story driven order hall campaign quest

[1:07:07] line a new legendary system would be

[1:07:09] added where for most activities in the

[1:07:12] game players had a small chance to

[1:07:14] obtain powerful legendary items to

[1:07:16] further enhance their characters daily

[1:07:18] quest hubs would be replaced with world

[1:07:20] quests offering a greater variety in

[1:07:22] daily activities which had become

[1:07:24] standard for several years and the

[1:07:27] mythic plus system an infinitely scaling

[1:07:29] timed challenge mode to bring dungeons

[1:07:32] back once more as a focus of end game

[1:07:34] content after the warlords of draenor

[1:07:37] the confidence of the players was at an

[1:07:39] all-time low and many would hope that

[1:07:41] legion would be the expansion to redeem

[1:07:43] it although subscription numbers were no

[1:07:46] longer being reported it had tied the

[1:07:48] release day sales records set by

[1:07:50] cataclysm several years prior selling a

[1:07:52] total of 3.3 million copies on release

[1:07:56] quarterly investor reports would also

[1:07:58] provide promising data on the overall

[1:08:00] reception of the legion expansion

[1:08:02] suggesting higher play time per player

[1:08:04] mostly due to the success of its major

[1:08:06] features the expansion as a whole proved

[1:08:09] to be a much needed recovery the order

[1:08:12] halls being public locations that

[1:08:14] players shared served as a base of

[1:08:16] operations and unlike the previous

[1:08:18] garrison system didn't harm its own

[1:08:20] social aspect world quests compared to

[1:08:23] the old daily hubs offered much needed

[1:08:25] variety in players daily activities and

[1:08:28] mythic plus high activity as players

[1:08:31] enjoyed the timed ever increasing

[1:08:32] challenge that they provided most of its

[1:08:35] features were received well and with a

[1:08:37] solid rating scene to support it it's

[1:08:39] generally looked back at favorably by

[1:08:41] even the most embittered fans with its

[1:08:44] criticisms primarily being drawn from

[1:08:46] its reward structure the legendaries due

[1:08:48] to their low drop chance and high impact

[1:08:51] on gameplay would be a source of

[1:08:52] frustration so much so that they would

[1:08:55] receive a re-haul late into the

[1:08:56] expansion where players could purchase

[1:08:59] specific pieces with a new currency and

[1:09:02] similarly the forging system also

[1:09:04] contributed to this atmosphere of luck

[1:09:06] by holding too much power and character

[1:09:08] progression at this point it was called

[1:09:11] titan forging which had a much larger

[1:09:13] eye level range compared to the more

[1:09:15] tame thunder forging first introduced in

[1:09:17] pandaria items could roll up to 60 eye

[1:09:20] levels higher than that of their base

[1:09:22] which made it possible to obtain mythic

[1:09:24] rating quality gear from even the most

[1:09:26] mundane activities world of warcraft and

[1:09:29] mmos in general already have a high

[1:09:31] amount of luck tied to progression but

[1:09:34] this added layer of needing the right

[1:09:36] piece to drop and for that piece to

[1:09:38] tighten forge shifted the reward

[1:09:39] structure further from time investment

[1:09:42] to blind lock and combined with the

[1:09:44] legendary system many players would

[1:09:46] liken the expansion to a slot machine

[1:09:49] though overall legion would be received

[1:09:51] quite well it was meant with troubling

[1:09:53] news from within senior vice president

[1:09:55] of story and franchise development chris

[1:09:58] metzen who had been with the company for

[1:10:00] 23 years at that point had announced his

[1:10:02] retirement exciting burnout panic

[1:10:05] attacks and the desire to spend more

[1:10:07] time with his family as the primary

[1:10:09] reasons for the decision

[1:10:12] what a casual

[1:10:13] having been one of the most

[1:10:14] public-facing figures and the primary

[1:10:17] visionary for the world of warcraft and

[1:10:19] the characters who inhabited it it was

[1:10:21] seen as a tremendous loss with fans and

[1:10:23] co-workers alike commenting on his

[1:10:25] influence on the franchise

[1:10:28] along with this newfound growth of

[1:10:30] legion the private server community had

[1:10:32] also been thriving and in 2016 it was

[1:10:35] larger than it had ever been at that

[1:10:37] point with most congregating to a server

[1:10:39] named nest eldrius

[1:10:42] so many goddamn people

[1:10:44] this is literally the surface been up

[1:10:46] for about ten minutes and people are

[1:10:47] just entering and this is the scene the

[1:10:50] server had been hosting over 130 000

[1:10:54] active players worldwide an impressive

[1:10:56] feat for a game that users had to seek

[1:10:58] out on their own their success proved to

[1:11:01] be their downfall however as in april of

[1:11:03] 2016 and blizzard had sent cease and

[1:11:06] desist letters for those responsible for

[1:11:09] running the server threatening legal

[1:11:10] action if they refuse to shut it down i

[1:11:13] personally had a private investigator

[1:11:15] hired to track me down by a legal firm

[1:11:17] that represents blizzard

[1:11:19] he called numerous people in my life

[1:11:22] including my employer my owner of my

[1:11:24] company to confirm information about me

[1:11:27] so he could serve me papers at 10 pm on

[1:11:29] a wednesday night slamming and knocking

[1:11:32] on the door freaking the crap out of my

[1:11:34] wife and waking up my baby daughter in

[1:11:36] the next room

[1:11:37] they would comply shortly after as tens

[1:11:40] of thousands of players logged in one

[1:11:42] last time to say farewell to the

[1:11:44] community that they had built the

[1:11:46] shutdown although completely within

[1:11:48] blizzard's rights legally naturally

[1:11:50] sparked outrage among the private server

[1:11:53] community a petition was created for an

[1:11:55] officially developed blizzard legacy

[1:11:57] server and it would reach nearly 300 000

[1:12:00] signatures in the span of two weeks and

[1:12:03] although it didn't provide immediate

[1:12:05] results much like the infamous you think

[1:12:07] you do but you don't quote it would

[1:12:09] prove to be a critical moment in

[1:12:10] classics history

[1:12:15] [Music]

[1:12:23] the next expansion would be revealed at

[1:12:26] blizzcon 2017 and players learned of the

[1:12:29] battle for azeroth having thwarted the

[1:12:32] second burning crusade the horde and

[1:12:34] alliance now turned their attention on

[1:12:36] each other and would stage an all-out

[1:12:38] war over a new resource called azerite

[1:12:41] this resource would serve as a way to

[1:12:42] empower a new amulet the level of which

[1:12:45] would unlock traits in accompanying

[1:12:47] armor pieces the system had been set up

[1:12:50] similarly to the previously successful

[1:12:52] artifact system and advertised increased

[1:12:54] customization and player agency allowing

[1:12:57] them to tailor their characters to suit

[1:12:59] their gameplay style you might find a

[1:13:01] power that makes you think twice about

[1:13:03] using a talent that you'd previously

[1:13:04] written off and you will certainly find

[1:13:06] combinations that reinforce your

[1:13:09] favorite way to play your character one

[1:13:11] of the main methods of obtaining this

[1:13:13] resource were through island expeditions

[1:13:16] where a team of three players could

[1:13:17] fight against another team of players or

[1:13:19] ai for azerite found randomly throughout

[1:13:21] the island with random enemy selection

[1:13:24] placement and quests serving as the

[1:13:27] primary means of attempting to add

[1:13:29] replayability and longevity to them it's

[1:13:32] something that we're calling dynamic

[1:13:34] replayability

[1:13:35] every time you come to this space the

[1:13:37] puzzle is different the creatures are in

[1:13:39] different locations there are additional

[1:13:42] gameplay elements scattered throughout

[1:13:44] the world and it's always a little bit

[1:13:46] different warfronts were a new feature

[1:13:48] which were reminiscent of the original

[1:13:50] strategy games that the mmo was based

[1:13:52] off of in here you would battle for

[1:13:54] resources and construct and upgrade

[1:13:57] buildings and fend off troops with the

[1:13:59] ultimate goal of defeating the enemy

[1:14:01] commander these wouldn't be the only

[1:14:03] announcements the world of warcraft team

[1:14:05] had though

[1:14:07] and i want to talk about

[1:14:10] ice cream

[1:14:13] ice cream is great

[1:14:16] ice cream is one of my favorite desserts

[1:14:19] personally

[1:14:21] i love chocolate

[1:14:23] and i love cookies and cream

[1:14:26] cookies and cream is actually

[1:14:29] my all-time favorite dessert

[1:14:32] [Applause]

[1:14:35] but i stan i understand that for some of

[1:14:37] you

[1:14:38] [Applause]

[1:14:39] your favorite flavor

[1:14:42] is vanilla

[1:14:44] [Applause]

[1:14:47] though for years they had claimed a

[1:14:49] re-release of previous versions of the

[1:14:50] game was impossible world of warcraft

[1:14:53] classic would be unveiled combining the

[1:14:56] updated legion client with old data

[1:14:58] discovered on a backup of a backup held

[1:15:01] onto by an ex-employee a small team

[1:15:04] dedicated their efforts in providing a

[1:15:06] home for the ever-growing population of

[1:15:08] vanilla fans in place of the one that

[1:15:10] they had not so long ago taken away

[1:15:13] details of development would follow

[1:15:15] shortly after with a philosophy of

[1:15:16] changing as little of the game as

[1:15:18] possible in an effort to most accurately

[1:15:21] recreate the experience as it was from

[1:15:23] 2004 to 2007 including a phasing

[1:15:26] schedule to match roughly the original

[1:15:28] release schedule and as requested by the

[1:15:31] playerbase the absence of many features

[1:15:33] such as the dungeon finder looking for

[1:15:36] raid mode and the end game cash shop to

[1:15:38] name just a few combined with legion's

[1:15:41] recent success the outlook of the game

[1:15:43] was looking more promising than ever

[1:15:45] before the battle for azeroth soon saw

[1:15:47] its release in august of 2018 selling

[1:15:50] 3.4 million copies on its first day

[1:15:53] breaking the record initially said by

[1:15:55] cataclysm in 2010

[1:15:57] however when the honeymoon phase ended

[1:16:00] the faults of the expansion started to

[1:16:02] become clear

[1:16:03] the azerite armor system which was said

[1:16:06] to hold major traits that altered how

[1:16:07] classes played instead were a series of

[1:16:10] incidental procs that rarely did

[1:16:12] anything other than increased damage

[1:16:14] done healing throughput and damage

[1:16:16] mitigation with some being just base

[1:16:18] stat increases you might find a power

[1:16:21] that makes you think twice about using a

[1:16:23] talent that you'd previously written off

[1:16:25] and you will certainly find combinations

[1:16:27] that reinforce your favorite way to play

[1:16:30] your character

[1:16:31] not at all as gameplay altering as

[1:16:34] advertised

[1:16:35] and despite bfa being centered around a

[1:16:37] faction war warfronts were exclusively a

[1:16:40] pve game mode that were also nearly

[1:16:42] impossible to lose with the only

[1:16:44] recorded losses resulting from the

[1:16:46] entire team waiting within the base

[1:16:48] until they were overwhelmed wow i'm

[1:16:51] screenshotting this due to this extreme

[1:16:53] lack of challenge there were seemed to

[1:16:55] be more of a chore than anything else

[1:16:58] and as for island expeditions players

[1:17:00] saw little replayability in the

[1:17:02] randomized selection of enemies and

[1:17:04] behind the bells and whistles was a

[1:17:06] simple and repetitive truth rush to get

[1:17:08] the required amount of azerite before

[1:17:10] the enemy team does and as a result the

[1:17:13] game mode would become very repetitive

[1:17:15] very quickly the story would also come

[1:17:18] under heavy criticism the whole

[1:17:20] expansion would have a heavy focus on

[1:17:22] sylvanas windrunner the leader of the

[1:17:24] forsaken of the horde and throughout

[1:17:26] bfa's two-year run she would face many

[1:17:29] major lore characters and even entire

[1:17:31] armies outwitting them at every turn or

[1:17:34] dispatching them with ease and combat

[1:17:36] the decision she made often came with no

[1:17:39] reasonable explanation or logic leaving

[1:17:41] the player based in the dark for the

[1:17:43] entirety of the expansion and many would

[1:17:45] liken her to a mary sue a fiction

[1:17:48] archetype who is inexplicably free of

[1:17:50] any and all weakness such traits are

[1:17:53] also common through self-inserts which

[1:17:55] there was also evidence of as a writer

[1:17:58] for blizzard would roleplay as a major

[1:18:00] character nathanos blightcaller on

[1:18:02] twitter the narrative structure remained

[1:18:04] ambiguous throughout the entirety of the

[1:18:06] expansion with most criticism being made

[1:18:09] towards the ending as was custom with

[1:18:11] the final boss of an expansion since the

[1:18:13] wrath of the lich king players were

[1:18:15] treated with the finale cut scene they

[1:18:17] would typically run a few minutes and

[1:18:19] were fully voice acted animation

[1:18:21] presentations is it

[1:18:23] over

[1:18:26] at long last

[1:18:29] no king rules forever my son

[1:18:32] though for the battle for azeroth the

[1:18:34] old god nazath would be the finale with

[1:18:37] years of anticipation building up as his

[1:18:39] existence was referenced several times

[1:18:42] up to the final patch of the expansion

[1:18:44] and where players expected a similar

[1:18:46] voice acted dialogue between the major

[1:18:48] lore characters and their thoughts on

[1:18:50] defeating a god they were instead met

[1:18:52] with the same footage i just droned over

[1:18:55] in a monotone manner the feedback was

[1:18:58] immediate and clear

[1:19:00] and shortly after its premiere the video

[1:19:02] would be unlisted as blizzard tried to

[1:19:04] hide the blundered finish to a blunder

[1:19:06] of an expansion

[1:19:12] come on guys let's go play video games

[1:19:15] the initial wave of excitement quickly

[1:19:18] soured as all three major systems of the

[1:19:20] expansion fell short of their goals they

[1:19:23] would later be addressed in major

[1:19:24] patches though players would have to

[1:19:26] wait nearly a year following their

[1:19:28] initial release in response monthly

[1:19:31] active users would start taking a dive

[1:19:33] and in an attempt to bolster engagement

[1:19:35] metrics the expansion would aim to rely

[1:19:38] on what many described to be an

[1:19:40] excessive amount of activities designed

[1:19:42] around daily and weekly timers by the

[1:19:45] end of the expansion's lifespan this

[1:19:47] would be the full list many would

[1:19:49] comment that the entire game at this

[1:19:51] point had devolved into a list of chores

[1:19:54] that she had a limited amount of time to

[1:19:56] complete aimed to keep players in a

[1:19:58] gerbil-like routine of going down a

[1:20:01] checklist for their daily session

[1:20:03] instead of feeling rewarded for their

[1:20:05] playtime and dedication many would feel

[1:20:07] punished for missing sessions and

[1:20:09] questioned their reasons for playing to

[1:20:11] begin with and just two months after

[1:20:14] release blizzard would suffer another

[1:20:16] devastating departure as co-founder mike

[1:20:19] morheim announced that he was stepping

[1:20:21] down as company president promoting

[1:20:23] then-executive producer jaylen brack to

[1:20:26] take his place more troubling still

[1:20:28] these people weren't quitting game

[1:20:30] development they were quitting blizzard

[1:20:32] later in 2020 morheim would announce a

[1:20:35] new company dreamhaven and under its

[1:20:37] umbrella were two studios moonshot games

[1:20:40] and secret door of which many former

[1:20:42] members of blizzard would be employed in

[1:20:45] its announcement they would stress that

[1:20:47] the goal of the company would be to

[1:20:49] prioritize product quality and player

[1:20:52] experience over short-term financial

[1:20:54] pressures a development mindset that

[1:20:57] many fans say activision blizzard had

[1:20:59] abandoned long ago chris metzen would

[1:21:02] later found warchief gaming which is

[1:21:04] dedicated to developing worlds and

[1:21:06] tabletop experiences and outside of

[1:21:08] world of warcraft the former hearthstone

[1:21:10] director ben brode would launch the game

[1:21:13] studio's second dinner ex-starcraft 2

[1:21:15] developers would join frost giant and

[1:21:18] work towards developing a new rts and

[1:21:20] lightforged game was opened by former

[1:21:22] blizzard engineer matt shimbari and

[1:21:24] would later partner with dreamhaven

[1:21:26] morheim would be just one of many long

[1:21:28] time talent leaving the company in

[1:21:30] recent years and his departure would be

[1:21:32] instrumental in what would later be

[1:21:34] known as brain train afflicting the

[1:21:36] developer slowly but surely the people

[1:21:39] who made blizzard what they were were

[1:21:41] departing this rash of departures would

[1:21:44] be downplayed as ordinary for the world

[1:21:46] of game development and that the games

[1:21:47] were more about the team rather than

[1:21:49] individual members but internally

[1:21:52] employees shared a different story

[1:21:54] rather that these people were

[1:21:55] irreplaceable mentors and that they drew

[1:21:57] inspiration from each other and that

[1:21:59] each departure would be accompanied by a

[1:22:02] negative cascading effect to those left

[1:22:04] behind and just months later another

[1:22:07] co-founder frank pierce would be the

[1:22:09] next to announce his departure leaving

[1:22:11] just alan adam as the last co-founder

[1:22:14] standing development with classic was

[1:22:16] progressing steadily and a release date

[1:22:18] for the summer of 2019 was announced a

[1:22:21] new game within the warcraft franchise

[1:22:23] was also revealed warcraft 3 reforged

[1:22:26] would advertise fully remodeled

[1:22:28] characters and animations as well as

[1:22:30] retuned maps and campaigns in this

[1:22:32] modern day remaster with the set release

[1:22:35] year of 2019 this would later be delayed

[1:22:37] to january 2020 in an official post

[1:22:40] exciting delays in development and the

[1:22:42] desire to retain a high quality standard

[1:22:45] that the player base held them to though

[1:22:47] not pertaining to the world of warcraft

[1:22:49] directly but would transpire with the

[1:22:51] development of warcraft 3 and other

[1:22:53] titles revealed the priorities and

[1:22:55] development practices of blizzard as a

[1:22:57] whole and set the standard of how they

[1:22:59] would treat their community across all

[1:23:01] franchises world of warcraft included

[1:23:03] this was also the blizzcon where they

[1:23:05] announced a mobile diablo game which was

[1:23:07] met with

[1:23:08] [Music]

[1:23:09] a less than desirable reception

[1:23:12] [Music]

[1:23:15] did you guys not have phones yeah you

[1:23:17] guys all have identified well that's a

[1:23:19] story for another time to make matters

[1:23:21] worse the following years although

[1:23:23] financially successful would prove to be

[1:23:25] the most damaging to their reputation

[1:23:27] though reaching historic revenue

[1:23:29] earnings treatment of their employees

[1:23:31] would become the focus of negative press

[1:23:33] in february of 2019 800 employees would

[1:23:37] be fired many without warning and were

[1:23:39] left crying in the parking lot this is a

[1:23:42] trend that would continue through the

[1:23:44] following years of record-breaking

[1:23:45] profits with massive layoffs and

[1:23:48] multi-million dollar ceo bonuses

[1:23:50] following shortly after in one instance

[1:23:53] employees would be given gift cards to

[1:23:55] the games that they just got fired from

[1:23:57] working on on their way out hey here's

[1:23:59] some overwatch skins

[1:24:01] you're fired by the way and in other

[1:24:03] cases the amount of people fired would

[1:24:05] be underreported combined with the poor

[1:24:08] reception of the battle for azeroth the

[1:24:10] reputation had quickly started to sour

[1:24:13] from that of a community first industry

[1:24:15] innovator to one operated on greed

[1:24:17] predatory business practices and the

[1:24:20] cold treatment of their employees and

[1:24:22] even their player base little did

[1:24:24] everyone know though the worst was yet

[1:24:26] to come

[1:24:33] since 2008 they had hosted an esports

[1:24:36] event called the arena world

[1:24:37] championship or awc where high-end

[1:24:40] competitive players would face off in a

[1:24:43] style competition

[1:24:44] of the game's arena mode for cash prizes

[1:24:47] ranging from 120 thousand dollars since

[1:24:49] its inception in 2008 to 280 000 in 2018

[1:24:54] for 2019 however they had announced a

[1:24:57] special campaign where players would be

[1:24:59] able to contribute to the ever-growing

[1:25:01] prize pool two new toys the transmorpher

[1:25:04] beacon and some faction-themed fireworks

[1:25:07] were made to be available in the in-game

[1:25:09] cash shop and to encourage sales 25 of

[1:25:12] the proceeds would contribute towards

[1:25:15] the prize pool of both the arena world

[1:25:17] championship and also the mythic dungeon

[1:25:19] international stating that the support

[1:25:21] of the players would help take the wow

[1:25:23] esports scene to the next level they

[1:25:26] also assured that a minimum price pool

[1:25:28] of 500 000 would be offered split up

[1:25:30] evenly between the two events

[1:25:32] considering that all announcements used

[1:25:35] verbage such as help or contribute the

[1:25:37] player base had assumed that this 500

[1:25:40] 000 prize pool would be funded by

[1:25:42] blizzard as they had done for a decade

[1:25:44] prior and that the proceeds of the toy

[1:25:46] sales would

[1:25:47] well contribute to the total as stated

[1:25:51] after the campaign had concluded though

[1:25:53] fans were dismayed to learn that they

[1:25:55] didn't help nor contribute as blizzard

[1:25:58] pocketed what they would usually put up

[1:26:00] and put the responsibility on funding

[1:26:02] the entirety of the prize pool on the

[1:26:04] player base as confirmed by an awc

[1:26:07] participant snucks

[1:26:09] so so let's rephrase this

[1:26:12] so people gave blizzard so much money

[1:26:15] boyzer decided to give themselves even

[1:26:17] more

[1:26:18] right so they collected around 2.6

[1:26:22] million dollars give or take

[1:26:24] and um

[1:26:26] instead of adding prize money for

[1:26:27] themselves they just pocketed 2 million

[1:26:29] and decided to just

[1:26:31] use the money that the community gave us

[1:26:33] and

[1:26:34] pay for their tournament

[1:26:37] both competitors and viewers expressed

[1:26:39] their anger stating that they had felt

[1:26:41] deceived and that the good nature of

[1:26:43] those wishing to support the esports

[1:26:45] community of blizzard were taken

[1:26:47] advantage of blizzard would never

[1:26:49] acknowledge the controversy and the

[1:26:51] prize pools were funded solely by the

[1:26:54] crowdfunding campaign and despite the

[1:26:56] self-proclaimed success in raising the

[1:26:58] funds crowdfunding such as this would

[1:27:00] not be repeated for future tournaments

[1:27:02] presumably due to the intense backlash

[1:27:04] that they received

[1:27:10] [Applause]

[1:27:18] [Music]

[1:27:24] world of warcraft wasn't their only

[1:27:26] franchise that would be at the center of

[1:27:28] controversy as soon after their

[1:27:30] hearthstone division would attract the

[1:27:32] attention of national media here's a

[1:27:34] story which just won't go away

[1:27:36] activision blizzard it has suspended a

[1:27:39] gamer and taken his prize money away

[1:27:42] because he made

[1:27:44] comments supporting hong kong protesters

[1:27:47] the protests in hong kong were at their

[1:27:49] climax at this point having been a

[1:27:51] british colony until 1997 when

[1:27:54] sovereignty of the territory was

[1:27:56] returned to china hong kong would retain

[1:27:58] a separate legal and economic system

[1:28:00] with basic human rights safeguarded in

[1:28:03] contrast to other cities in china which

[1:28:05] are heavily governed by the

[1:28:06] authoritarian central government though

[1:28:08] in march of 2019 a bill would be

[1:28:11] proposed that would allow extraditions

[1:28:13] of fugitives to mainland china which

[1:28:15] infringed on these rare freedoms and due

[1:28:18] to china's opaque legal system would

[1:28:20] allow the prosecution of citizens for

[1:28:22] political purposes

[1:28:24] citizens held marches in protest which

[1:28:27] quickly turned violent after they were

[1:28:28] fired upon with tear gas rubber bullets

[1:28:31] pepper spray and even live rounds as the

[1:28:35] situation spiraled out of control

[1:28:37] in october of the same year a tournament

[1:28:40] competitor jung naiwan or blitzchang

[1:28:43] after a victory took out a face mask

[1:28:45] similar to those being worn by the hong

[1:28:47] kong protesters and voiced his support

[1:28:49] to them quoted liberate hong kong the

[1:28:52] revolution of our times

[1:28:57] the feed was quickly cut and the

[1:28:59] following day blizzard announced that

[1:29:01] blitz chung had been banned from

[1:29:03] competing further in the tournament in

[1:29:05] addition to revoking the prize money

[1:29:06] that he had won up until that point

[1:29:08] totaling ten thousand dollars

[1:29:10] additionally he would be banned from

[1:29:12] competing for a full year and the two

[1:29:15] casters interviewing blitzchang at the

[1:29:16] time would also be fired

[1:29:19] as a result activision blizzard would

[1:29:21] swiftly come under heavy criticism as

[1:29:24] many saw morality cast aside for vested

[1:29:26] financial interests

[1:29:28] players of another team american

[1:29:30] university would add their voices to the

[1:29:32] protest which was also quickly censored

[1:29:35] and condemned by blizzard spirits

[1:29:39] and that is game wpi with the win the

[1:29:43] winners similar to blitzchang they would

[1:29:45] also be banned from competing in future

[1:29:47] tournaments this time for six months

[1:29:50] shortly after then president j allen

[1:29:53] brack released a statement saying that

[1:29:55] the penalties were not appropriate and

[1:29:57] that blitz chung's winnings would be

[1:29:58] reinstated to him and that his ban would

[1:30:01] be reduced to six months down from 12

[1:30:03] and also state that their business

[1:30:05] dealings with china had no influence on

[1:30:07] the initial penalties brac would open up

[1:30:10] the following blizzcon with an apology

[1:30:12] to the mishandling of the situation

[1:30:14] stating that their actions would speak

[1:30:16] louder than words but our actions are

[1:30:19] going to matter more than any of these

[1:30:20] words a phrase that the blizzard

[1:30:22] community would quickly become very

[1:30:25] familiar with

[1:30:26] in the same blizzcon the new expansion

[1:30:28] for world of warcraft would also be

[1:30:30] revealed players would enter the

[1:30:32] shadowlands and join factions called

[1:30:35] covenants similar to the order halls in

[1:30:37] legion these would serve as a base of

[1:30:39] operations for players to conduct their

[1:30:41] campaign and also gain unique abilities

[1:30:44] and perks they would also explore the

[1:30:46] tower of tour guest a randomized 1-3

[1:30:49] player dungeon crawl with powerful

[1:30:51] affixes to power up their characters and

[1:30:53] upon completion and gain the ability to

[1:30:55] craft legendary armor pieces similar in

[1:30:58] function to those of the legion

[1:31:00] expansion though following the poor

[1:31:01] reception of the battle for azeroth many

[1:31:04] more would look at the reveal through a

[1:31:06] more critical lens

[1:31:14] though their current projects were met

[1:31:16] with mixed reactions world warcraft

[1:31:18] classic had seen its release in august

[1:31:21] of 2019 to surprising success initially

[1:31:24] holding only a handful of servers it was

[1:31:27] quickly overwhelmed and new servers were

[1:31:29] created to hold the surprising amount of

[1:31:32] people that had longed for the azeroth

[1:31:34] of years-long past upon launch interest

[1:31:37] was so underestimated that queue times

[1:31:39] would balloon up to several hours and

[1:31:41] even months following the release for

[1:31:43] some of the highest population servers

[1:31:46] some aspects of the game would age well

[1:31:48] such as a renewed sense of community and

[1:31:50] a heavy focus on traditional rpg

[1:31:52] elements and other aspects such as

[1:31:55] assault and archaic raiding scene and an

[1:31:57] eventual stagnation of content would

[1:32:00] remain to be problem areas within the

[1:32:01] game as well as botting as the game grew

[1:32:04] in popularity so too did third-party

[1:32:06] websites offering in-game items or

[1:32:09] services in exchange for real money a

[1:32:12] practice that's against the game's terms

[1:32:14] of service

[1:32:15] these sites oftentimes use automated

[1:32:17] programs to obtain this currency and

[1:32:19] blizzard would be ineffective in

[1:32:21] controlling them throughout the duration

[1:32:23] of classic even though they were

[1:32:25] relatively easy to spot by the players

[1:32:27] as displayed many times by content

[1:32:29] creators within the community i found a

[1:32:31] warrior mob grinding in tonaris having a

[1:32:33] bit of trouble getting to his target

[1:32:35] cheating had always been and continues

[1:32:37] to be an area where blizzard would

[1:32:39] perform poorly even in the current

[1:32:41] version of the game but due to the more

[1:32:43] fragile nature of the economy in world

[1:32:45] of warcraft classic and its community it

[1:32:47] would have greater negative consequences

[1:32:50] though cheating was to remain a problem

[1:32:52] area due to its traditional design and

[1:32:54] the absence of what many now deemed to

[1:32:56] be an overly intrusive cash shop it

[1:32:58] proved to hold the attention of a wide

[1:33:00] player base consistently through its

[1:33:03] year and a half run though not every

[1:33:05] re-release was to be met with the same

[1:33:07] success

[1:33:17] warcraft 3 reforged side's release in

[1:33:19] the following january though delayed as

[1:33:22] they ensured to maintain a high quality

[1:33:24] standard it was universally met with

[1:33:26] negative reviews as players saw a little

[1:33:29] polish with the remaster citing a poor

[1:33:31] ui copious bugs a low frame rate missing

[1:33:35] features from the original and

[1:33:37] consistent crashes the latter of these

[1:33:40] issues would take the spotlight and the

[1:33:42] competitive scene shortly after

[1:33:44] in their very first major tournament in

[1:33:46] a quarterfinal match between two top

[1:33:48] players moon and thorsing a crash

[1:33:50] occurred at a key moment the score was

[1:33:53] 1-1 and thor zane seemed to be on track

[1:33:55] to take the win but suffered a

[1:33:57] disconnect mid-match tall zane smells

[1:33:59] blood in the water he's going in for the

[1:34:01] kill here we have banners ready mountain

[1:34:03] king was a little hurt this is all

[1:34:04] buying time for the towers we have no

[1:34:06] breath of fire by the way it is drunken

[1:34:08] haze so big miss chance on these dragon

[1:34:10] hogs and

[1:34:12] a disconnect

[1:34:14] that fight was

[1:34:16] the most important one in this game yet

[1:34:18] the match would then be restarted

[1:34:20] despite thor saint's advantage and he

[1:34:22] would once again retake control of the

[1:34:24] rematch and once again suffered a

[1:34:26] disconnect thank you already has enough

[1:34:28] mana i don't i don't need a blood mage i

[1:34:30] don't need you

[1:34:31] you're benched

[1:34:32] once this

[1:34:36] and looks like another drop

[1:34:39] just happens

[1:34:40] oh wow

[1:34:42] that's thousand i think yeah i kind of

[1:34:44] like his position here in this game

[1:34:46] again yeah this is so frustrating the

[1:34:49] match would be replayed for a third time

[1:34:51] and moon having adapted to thor's name

[1:34:53] strategy at this point was the one to

[1:34:55] take the lead and eliminated thor zane

[1:34:58] resulting in the forfeiture of the large

[1:35:00] prize pool he surely would have won

[1:35:02] twice though they are the most impactful

[1:35:05] as they happened during a quarter-final

[1:35:06] match these would not be the only

[1:35:08] disconnects to occur in the tournament

[1:35:10] as competitors in lower level brackets

[1:35:12] would also become victim to random drops

[1:35:15] at key moments years later an internal

[1:35:18] investigation would reveal that they

[1:35:20] knowingly released the game in an

[1:35:21] unfinished stage unwilling to delay it

[1:35:23] for a second time in fear of losing the

[1:35:25] pre-orders they had already amassed it

[1:35:28] was also noted that the entire project

[1:35:30] was hamstrung by a low budget due to its

[1:35:33] low potential for being a big earner for

[1:35:35] the company internal sources would also

[1:35:37] share their struggles with exhaustion

[1:35:40] anxiety and depression for more than a

[1:35:42] year and at their warnings of the game's

[1:35:44] unfinished state being largely ignored

[1:35:47] in order to make the tight release

[1:35:48] schedule negative reviews continued at a

[1:35:51] steady pace and as did refunds as

[1:35:54] players were less than impressed at the

[1:35:55] level of polish that they received

[1:35:57] compared to what was promised the

[1:35:59] classic game teams would be shut down a

[1:36:01] new team now in their place and in a bit

[1:36:04] of irony in a bloomberg interview a

[1:36:06] blizzard spokesperson repeated the same

[1:36:08] failed promise made by brac a few months

[1:36:10] prior that their work in actions would

[1:36:12] speak louder than words

[1:36:16] a delay was also announced with

[1:36:18] shadowlands this time from october to

[1:36:20] december once more sighting that extra

[1:36:23] polish is needed before a release would

[1:36:24] be made and despite the struggles with

[1:36:26] the battle for azeroth blizzard proved

[1:36:28] as they have many times that selling

[1:36:30] copies wasn't the problem as shadowland

[1:36:33] sold an impressive 3.7 million copies on

[1:36:36] launch day alone much like its

[1:36:38] predecessor though not long after the

[1:36:40] initial launch the expansion's major

[1:36:42] features would be the focus of criticism

[1:36:45] the tower of tour gas or chore gas this

[1:36:47] player soon likened it to suffered the

[1:36:49] same fate as island expeditions from the

[1:36:52] battle for azeroth and quickly became

[1:36:54] repetitive as with most systems that

[1:36:56] reset on a weekly timer as for the

[1:36:58] expansion's high levels on the ma due to

[1:37:01] the player's inability to mount it was

[1:37:03] seen to be unnecessarily frustrating to

[1:37:05] navigate and formulaic to other such

[1:37:08] zones released in the past by now

[1:37:10] players were noticing a pattern of

[1:37:12] high-level zones with new reputations

[1:37:14] and excessive daily timers such as

[1:37:16] quests regulate enemies and treasure

[1:37:19] chests as for covenants and they

[1:37:21] received a mixed reaction with some

[1:37:23] praising the unique abilities and

[1:37:25] aesthetics obtained from choosing a

[1:37:26] specific faction and others condemning

[1:37:29] them for being unbalanced thus burdening

[1:37:31] them with regret if they had made a poor

[1:37:33] choice some people's classes 40 of their

[1:37:36] damage is just their covenant ability

[1:37:38] they're all over the place they're a

[1:37:40] mess some would also take issue with

[1:37:43] being locked out of a large amount of

[1:37:44] content offered from the other covenants

[1:37:47] as choosing one meant excluding three

[1:37:49] others though a time-gated quest was

[1:37:51] available should they feel the need to

[1:37:53] switch

[1:37:54] for better or for worse blizzard would

[1:37:56] stand their ground at launch but also

[1:37:58] stated that they had the ability to pull

[1:38:00] the rip cord to give players more

[1:38:01] freedom with covenants should the

[1:38:03] systems be received poorly this comment

[1:38:06] would start a movement called pull the

[1:38:07] rip cord which they would comply to

[1:38:10] nearly a year later in patch 9.1.5

[1:38:13] as for the story many would see it as

[1:38:15] even worse than that of the battle for

[1:38:17] azeroth expansion the plot somehow

[1:38:20] became even more confusing and

[1:38:22] contradictory requiring external

[1:38:24] literature to follow along as even

[1:38:26] youtube channels dedicated to the lore

[1:38:28] of the game and difficulty piecing

[1:38:30] together the disorienting storylines

[1:38:33] they would not be shy in expressing

[1:38:34] their frustration how many books are you

[1:38:37] gonna [ __ ] get out of me how much

[1:38:39] money am i gonna pay before i can

[1:38:41] finally explain the lore to the people

[1:38:44] that want to know about it to the degree

[1:38:46] that it's actually comprehensible

[1:38:48] i will never serve

[1:38:51] major cutscenes would continue to be

[1:38:53] unlisted on their youtube channel in

[1:38:55] response to the negative reception only

[1:38:58] time will tell of the fate of the

[1:38:59] shadowlands if it'll go down as a good

[1:39:02] or a bad expansion but players are quick

[1:39:04] to note the similarities between it and

[1:39:06] the battle for azeroth where the major

[1:39:08] systems are released in a poorly

[1:39:10] implemented state only to be addressed

[1:39:12] in patches several months later and many

[1:39:15] at this point would take notice to a

[1:39:17] rising contender within the mmo genre

[1:39:19] over the years final fantasy xiv would

[1:39:22] slowly but surely gain a sizable

[1:39:25] subscriber base following a failed

[1:39:27] initial launch in 2010 after listening

[1:39:29] to player feedback the mmo was remade in

[1:39:32] many ways and relaunched in 2013 it

[1:39:35] would see steady growth due to these

[1:39:37] improvements and also the shortcomings

[1:39:39] of the world of warcraft and as players

[1:39:41] became increasingly embittered with

[1:39:43] shadowlands they started migrating over

[1:39:46] including major streamers and youtube

[1:39:48] channels creating more tension within

[1:39:50] the already tribalistic mmo community as

[1:39:53] players content creators and even

[1:39:55] employees would take shots at each other

[1:39:58] over social media

[1:39:59] though subscriptions remain to be hidden