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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 9109021" data-attributes="member: 18">Yes. They don't always exist, the right circumstances have to occur but they can.The wildest example isn't actually of a survey, but of what amounts to MMORPG terrorism.Back in EverQuest (EQ) days, EQ's main designers decided to improve the "hybrid" classes - classes which mixed fighting and magic - classes like Paladin, Shadowknight, Bard, and Ranger. This was a very popular decision with the fans in general, and you could see that in places where game was discussed widely. However it was extremely unpopular with a certain group - the elite of the elite hardcore raiders - the people right at the top of the game. Those people didn't have characters of those classes, specifically because the hybrids weren't very good (instead they tended to Warrior, Cleric, Wizard, etc). Those people didn't want to "have to" potentially level up and gear up new characters of those classes - admittedly that would have taken them months, but they didn't have to do it, the hybrids still wouldn't be "better", they were just on-par (arguably still slightly inferior). So what did they do?<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Launched smear campaigns and vituperative verbal attacks on individual devs, making out they were bad people, dumb, unqualified, or biased, or just wanted to benefit individually (most of the devs played the game) from these buffs</li> </ul><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Threatened all their guild members and all associated guilds that they had to support them on this, or else they'd never raid again (given how raiding worked in EQ this was a viable threat.</li> </ul><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Worked out how to hard-crash the game servers reliably (get enough people into certain zones), and then proceeded to do so, over and over and over and over again, whilst threatening the game devs that unless hybrids were not buffed, this wouldn't stop. This was their primary weapon and most effective one.</li> </ul>What was amazing is, they didn't get banned! The devs were so worshipful and afraid of their "best" players, that despite them really committing acts of terror against their game, and individually attack them, they just didn't even try for fear of mass-quitting or something (which would never have happened, given the other major MMOs were PvP-centric DAoC and ultra-Japanese FFXI). So the devs just gave in and let the terrorists win.And the names of the top virtual terrorists here? Why, Jeffrey Kaplan and Alex Afrasiabi!And what happened these gentlemen? Why, they were hired by Blizzard! (because Blizzard's then-CEO, Rob Pardo was in one of their guilds and big mates in-game with the other), and rapidly promoted through the ranks, but their careers followed very paths as Kaplan matured and became a decent guy and honestly a good designer and Afrasiabi... didn't (the less said the better).I agree re: wild shape templates, despite me being against what they'd done specifically, they should have revised the idea but in classic WotC fashion, the moment there was pushback, they just abandoned the idea wholesale! I disagree re: the Warlock - arguably the approach was perhaps even a buff, but it was a fundamentally different approach, and abandoned what made the Warlock unique (and arguably the best-designed class in 5E) in favour of a possibly effective but quite messy design.</blockquote>

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