Support NeoGAF

[Tschumi]

7 = amazing, 1= crap, numbers in between = various degrees of good or crap

Blizzard is about to enter a new era. Presumably they will have new production values and targets, perhaps they might try to return to their heyday, perhaps some of the old staff will come back? Or similar figures take their place...

On the cusp of this new era, let's rate the era just passed. There's no drama in saying that Blizzard's stock has fallen slightly from its unimpeachable status in the 00s. But how far?

Let's tie a bow on this past decade and a bit. Feel free to leave comments on how you arrived at your "rating".

Note on poll: i stopped at 7 because 10 seems too much, 5 too little, and 7 has a "neutral" middle number in 4.

-----

My personal take on blizzard is that they had about a 3 decade, just below par. I think Diablo 3 was a pretty huge tonal misstep, Starcraft 2 was, eventually, pretty great but it also never sucked me in, and none of their subsequent games have caught my imagination. I haven't played WoW since the x-realm lfg patch of wotlk so i don't figure it into my rating. Diablo 2: Resurrected was a super safe reskin/remodel which i enjoyed a lot, Warcraft 3: Reforged was a meme.

So, compared to the 7/7 00s in which they were my fucking heroes i think this decade was one in which they just faded from gaming, as i know it.

 

[TintoConCasera]

A 4 because of Starcraft II and for allowing the remaking of Diablo II. Diablo III was oretty fun but overall it felt like a steo down from II.

This company makes me sad man. I grew watching my bro play games like Warcraft II and BlackThorne, my first own PC game was Starcraft, got gifted Diablo soon after and I also played a hell lot of Warcraft III on college. They've been there all my gaming life and now they are merely a husk of their former selves.

I really wish being purchased by MS help changing things internally, but I don't know.

 

[JLB]

This is ridiculous. You stopped at 7 because whatever reason, but put 1 there.
If you put a post OP, let be straight to people can vote freely.

 

[JLB]

In any case, Im not a fan of Activision games in general, only Diablo.
I'd prefer MS to spend that money buying EA, Ubi and giving the remaining to me because of the business advise.

 

[TintoConCasera]

This is ridiculous. You stopped at 7 because whatever reason, but put 1 there.
If you put a post OP, let be straight to people can vote freely.

OP went crazy with the scale, but I think he meat like 7 being the 10, and 3'5 being the 5.

 

[Hendrick's]

Why out of 7. What heathen scale is this?

 

[JLB]

Note on poll: i stopped at 7 because 10 seems too much, 5 too little, and 7 has a "neutral" middle number in 4.

 

[LazyParrot]

Starcraft II was alright and so was Overwatch at first, but everything else sucked hard. WoW really started shitting the bed with Cataclysm, Diablo 3 was a joke, and HotS came 5 years too late. I’m not into card games so Hearthstone was never for me, but everyone I know who loved it at launch now hates it with a passion.

 

[Vagswarm]

Starcraft 2 was the only game of theirs I really enjoyed during this time. The entire trilogy + expansions were incredible.

I also liked Mists of Pandaria because it was different. Every other WoW expansion I got bored of quickly.

 

[Coolwhhip]

God-awful.

They even managed to ruin their own classic games, when re releasing them would have been perfect. Like Wow classic, a perfect game from 2004, yet they somehow managed to fuck it up. And current Wow has been ruined beyond redemption about 8 years ago already.

 

[AJUMP23]

No Warcraft 4.....you get a 2.

 

[kingpotato]

The wheels have been falling off for the last few years. Let's hope they are on the verge of a new era and not just going to shit the bed.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Efforts? Acceptable.

Results? Middling.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Sorry, forgot about Reforged. Can I change my vote to a 1?

What a way to spit on your most beloved franchise, legendary fuck up right there.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Tschumi you should have done colored shapes in the poll.

I'd give them a green circle.

 

[adamosmaki]

Blizzard died when they made warcraft a f*****g MMO

 

[Fbh]

As someone who isn't into multiplayer:

Starcraft 2 was fine though dividing the story into 3 separate releases was annoying
I hated Diablo 3 at launch and never went back to it
Don't care about Overwatch
W3 reforged was crap


So not very positive. Hopefully the studios sees a turnaround under MS.

 

[xrnzaaas]

I only care about Diablo 2 Resurrected and even that was a problematic release. I didn't like Diablo 3 and I have no hype for Diablo 4.

 

[ReBurn]

I think their games have been really good. I stopped playing them because they took over my life.

 

[Spukc]

Starcraft 2
Diablo 3
Diablo 2 remake

Top list of playtime for me
So they did well

 

[Tg89]

2

Diablo III sucked. RoS was slightly better but still a huge miss in terms of what made D2 good.
WoW has been trash since 2010. They finally pulled their heads out of their ass and made Classic, at least. Then they fucked that up.
Diablo II remake was great, so good on them for greenlighting it. Thank god they brought VV in for that one.
StarCraft was good but completely mismanaged and they let it die.

So yeah, pretty poor. They went from being one of the absolute best to do it (StarCraft/BW, Diablo II, World of Warcraft/BC, Warcraft 3) to kinda sucking.

 

[newtypepilot]

a scale out of 7. and doesnt say if 1 is top or bottom.

nice job OP

 

[Bonfires Down]

Diablo 3 - The campaign was so easy as to be a bore, and when I finally got to choose difficulty I didn't want to play anymore.
Overwatch - Very good game, but the fact that everyone wants to be dps causes a lot of problems.
Diablo II Resurrected - Dunno how fair it is to include but Diablo II is a GOAT.

Overall 5 out of 7

 

[Fuz]

What do you give them out of... TEN, to a seven vote scale?​

 

[Tschumi]

This is ridiculous. You stopped at 7 because whatever reason, but put 1 there.
If you put a post OP, let be straight to people can vote freely.

This is some wacky stuff.. it's not a 10 list cut in half lol are you high? Some places give scores out of 5, i wanted a bit more nuance, chill

a scale out of 7. and doesnt say if 1 is top or bottom.

nice job OP

Good point, for me higher is better in the scales, maybe it's different for some

 

[Captain Toad]

Rate my looks. 9 or 10?

 

[Tschumi]

Blizzard died when they made warcraft a f*****g MMO

That is mostly certainly a take.

 

[lastmessiah]

D2: Resurrected is my most played game lately. Excited for D4.

 

[Rickyiez]

The effort was definitely there , just not the quality and some of the magical touch from the past .

Starcraft 2 trilogy isn't that bad TBH and it's still my most watched competitive RTS scene

Diablo 3 , they turned it around with Reaper of Souls . And it's great on consoles

Overwatch started off amazing and fresh to the stagnant FPS genre . Too bad it's gameplay loop doesn't hold up .

WOW Legion was pretty cool ?

Blizzard late 2010 outputs though is another story .

 

[Velius]

The StarCraft II campaigns, all three of them, were fucking horrible. The multiplayer was and is awesome.
Diablo III sucked.
Wrath was the last good expansion of WoW.
Blizzard hasn't done anything amazing since 2007. It's a piece of shit now and I have no idea why MS bought it for that much

 

[drganon]

Diablo 3 on console was fun. Other than that I didn't play any other blizzard games and barely any Activision over the last ten years or so.

 

[Inviusx]

They got a bit cocky after WoW's success and took "it will be done when it's ready" to a whole new level. So their output has been almost non existent since Overwatch. Plus if rumours are to be believed they have started and cancelled many projects in the last 10 years. Overwatch was born out of Titan which I think was in development since like 2008 or something.

In my opinion (aside from the dud that is W3 Reforged) a Blizzard release is still a big moment in the industry, they just take their sweet fucking time pushing them out the door.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Blizzard died when they made warcraft a f*****g MMO

Wait I thought warcraft was always an MMO lol

I'm not big on these games so I don't know.

 

[Y0ssarian]

I give them 7 thumbs up.

Not really

Overwatch was fun for a little while

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Wait I thought warcraft was always an MMO lol

I'm not big on these games so I don't know.

 

[BusierDonkey]

A guy who collects VHS tapes will for sure remember the original Warcraft

For the Horde!

 

[nush]

Note on poll: i stopped at 7 because 10 seems too much, 5 too little, and 7 has a "neutral" middle number in 4.

Kevin Samuels does a 1-10 scale of somones opinion of their own personal attractiveness an purposely says they cannot choose 7. 7 is safe, 7 is non committal, 7 is "No answer".

Now 6 and 8 have the power of making someone be clear of what they really think.

 

[Imru’ al-Qays]

Diablo 3 fucking sucked. Schlocky and cartoony as hell

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Diablo 3 fucking sucked. Schlocky and cartoony as hell

Agreed. D2R is amazing tho and D4 actually looks promising.

 

[Tschumi]

Kevin Samuels does a 1-10 scale of somones opinion of their own personal attractiveness an purposely says they cannot choose 7. 7 is safe, 7 is non committal, 7 is "No answer".

Now 6 and 8 have the power of making someone be clear of what they really think.

In my poll 4 fills that function

Alright it was arbitrary, for me the mystifying thing is that some people are stubborn enough to genuinely see it as "a 1-10 with the top 3 cut off" instead of "a 1-7" lol

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Terrible decade, so I guess 2.5. WoW grew beyond being ridiculous with all the systems changing each expansion, now each patch is just more numbers, more submenus, more slots for some shitty math systems.

Diablo 3 was ok, but a tonal mistake with them wanting to appeal more to PG gamers + RMAH fiasco.

Hearthstone was great, I just can’t get over the candy aesthetics.

But the worst was not related to the above it was:
1. Abuse allegations, meaning people that makes games there are a-holes.
2. Terrible project management making not having a timeline and OKRs a virtue.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

D4 actually looks promising.

Coming exclusively to Windows/Xbox.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Coming exclusively to Windows/Xbox.

I got an xsx so my body is ready

 

[bbeach123]

Not a fan of blizzard but did played most of their game (for a while at least) . It weird seeing them going to shit even though all of their game was a hit . Even overwatch and hearthstone was huge in the first year .

Clearly they have a problem with updating and keep their game service going...And for some reason they stopped making new game .

 

[GymWolf]

I only played overwatch and some diablo 3 so not an high score from me personally...