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Blizzard's B Team
Of Teeth and Claws —
... , published a masterful article yesterday that gives a lot of insight into the MMO development scene and then goes on to apply that industry knowledge to speculate about the state of World of Warcraft. ...
In Defense of the "B Team"
Blessing of Kings —
Eric at Elder Game has written an article claiming that the current Live team working on WoW "is making newbie design mistakes that seem like a benefit on the surface, but are really not good decisions." ...
Scott Hartsman Leaves Scott Hartsman
Broken Toys —
... ‘. Given that that is probably the best result for a live team manager possible (in an industry that really doesn’t give live teams enough respect) I’d say that he probably is trying out ...
Live Team Blues
Mobhunter.com —
... Check out a great post by Eric at Elder Game talking about the cycle a live game goes through as it matures and a new generation of developers comes aboard. ...
Daily Bog Roll 7/11 – Two Ply Edition
The Ancient Gaming Noob —
... Eric the Elder Gamer points out that the live team, the team that runs an MMO after it ships, often isn’t the same group that built it. Wasn’t that Scott Hartsman’s job at SOE? Anyway, he calls them the “B-Team,” at least when it comes to WoW. ...
Is WoW being run by its B-team? Is that bad?
WoW.com —
... This post by Eric Heimburg on the excellent MMO design blog Elder Game, alleging that WoW is currently run by Blizzard's B-team, has ignited a fair amount of controversy around the blogosphere. The general argument appears to be that the people previously in charge of WoW, like Jeff Kaplan, have moved on to other projects. As a consequence knee-jerk changes are being pushed through very fast, without being sufficiently tested first. "Back in the day," claims the article, "QA held the game to a higher standard." ...
The "B" Team
Killing 'em Slowly —
... and is co-written by two MMO developers with impressive looking resumes. It's more of a general MMO blog and covers topics that are mostly about game design and decision making. It's a good read if such things interest you. The post is called "The Warcraft Live Team's B-Squad" and explores the thought that there are very likely some new hands at the helm of WoW. ...
I’ll take the B Team Any Day
Rawrbitchrawr —
... Eric Heimburg has an excellent post on who’s running WoW and what it means for the community over at eldergame, and though I agree with him on many of the points, when you examine his perspective on working on the B team and the current state of WoW, I am positive the game is better off for it. ...
Why is the B-team messing with your AAA product?
Hardcore Casual —
... I’m a bit late on this one, but Eric from ElderGame has a long and detailed breakdown of why WoW is currently being run by the B-team, adding his own experience as a former dev on AC2. It’s a great read and is a nice look behind the curtain of MMO development. ...
[The B-Squad]
The Pensive Harpy —
Elder Game has made a fascinating post talking about the obvious shift to the 'B-Team' running WoW, and the side effects that are the result: When we say that WoW is “polished”, what we mean is that it is surprisingly clean of linty little bugs... But that’s changing. More and more little mistakes have crept into the game recently — changes that are positive on the surface, but have not been implemented with the finesse that makes them worthwhile. Mana expenditure rates have changed, rules for dungeons have been tweaked, the cost of items has fluctuated. It all seems useful. ...
Why I hope the melting iceberg will hold a bit longer
The Pink Pigtail Inn —
... With the official movement of the leading creative staff from WoW to the future, secret MMO project, the community couldn’t draw any other conclusion but that it was the B-squad that remained in the building, with the instructions to keep the boat afloat as long as possible. ...
Remaking The World (Of Warcraft) In His (Ghostcrawler's) Image
Player Versus Developer —
... notes from Blizzcon, I can't help but think of Elder Game's take on the abortive hunter ammo revamp of patch 3.1. Though there were good reasons to change the system, the results failed to address most of the major issues while leaving the game littered with obsolete crafted and quest reward quivers and ammo pouches. As a veteran of AC2's live team, Eric concludes that this is the sort of thing that the enthusiastic new guy decides isn't going to fly anymore now that they are in charge. ...
Cataclysm - Not for me
Of Teeth and Claws —
... I will admit to being intrigued by the initial changes that have been proposed to the talent system; they are certainly ambitious. That said, I'm not sure that I trust the B Team to do a very good job. Certainly if the state of Feral Druids in WotLK means anything, both balance and flawless implementation will be tough to come by. ...
