The Queue: Let me be philosophical for a moment
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today.
I want to take a moment and get philosophical about the greater WoW community for a moment. One of the things that has popped up in the discussion of Ghostcrawler taking his leave is that it must be the community's fault. He must not like all the hate that gets sent his way, and all the people that take it to the extremes.
Ghostcrawler has said now, several times, that the community isn't the reason he's leaving. And you know what? I believe him. There are some huge jerks that play WoW and feel they're entitled to everything. I've dealt with them a lot, although it's just a small pittance compared to what Greg has had to deal with, I'm sure. But even in my limited interaction, I still love you all -- and I'm very thankful for the wonderful group of players that coalesce around this game.
The vast majority of people in this community are kind, caring, fun loving folks. The vast majority are adults with jobs and multiple interests. The vast majority are successful individuals who, while they have opinions, don't do things like threaten to kill designers (or bloggers).
That vast majority, who while often silent in their language, speak volumes in other ways, is the community that Ghostcrawler serves. The self-centered man-child on the forms? That man-child couldn't be further from his mind when making life impacting decisions. A guy that walks around BlizzCon and is happy to meet every WoW player he runs into doesn't dislike the community.
Jeff asked:
Favorite Thanksgiving side dish. Mine is stuffing. My aunt makes a very good stuffing with ground beef. I could make a meal on just that.
For me it's creamed corn and mashed sweet potatoes with marshmellows melted on top. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do today, given my calorie intake restrictions. I think just a bite, and then go and eat a whole bag of carrots until I get sick.
MTA asked:
Am so bummed to see Ghostcrawler go. He honestly was and has been my favourite Blizz guy after Metzen for the past few years. So my questions are:
1-) Was this "opportunity" there for him before Blizzcon? He seemed more distant than previous Blizzcon 2011.
2-) Who will take his place as Warchief? Chilton? Stockton? Ian Hozitokisomething or the long haired guy who's been giving more interviews recently?
For your first question, we don't know. It wouldn't surprise me, however, if this was in the works for several months. Most big jobs like this have about two months of lead-up time, at least.
As for your second question, Skarn answered it great. Except I'd just add that it's not that huge of a deal if Chilton were to "demote" himself to Lead System Designer. It'd just be him focusing on a role rather than on both -- such switches and movement happen often at that upper echelon in a company. That said, I agree the likely choice, from our vantage point, is Ion. Skarn's full answer is:
Tom Chilton is the Game Director. He (was) Greg's boss. It's unlikely he's going to be demoted to Lead Systems. Cory Stockton? Maybe. He and Greg were essentially "Vice Presidents" of WoW, so if Cory wants to move to Systems design from Content design, he could. I think he'll stay. The long-haired guy? You probably mean J. Allen Brack. He's a Production Director for WoW and an actual Vice President at Blizzard. He's Tom Chilton's boss.
Ion Hazzikostas is the most likely option at the moment. He did field a lot of Systems questions at BlizzCon, quite a bit more than his usual lead read dev role. A solid option. It could also be someone totally new or someone on the team that has previously been quiet.
Demon Within asked:
Why is everyone hell bent on killing the Dark Lady? Shes not evil like Garrosh, shes just chaotic neutral, I really don't want to kill her and I dout shes after world conquest, just her own land and for her people to live on said land with out being attacked
I don't get it either. I just played through the starting zones for the undead campaign, and really, she's nuts, but not evil. She wants to protect her people's unique situation in life, and she's doing what any good leader would -- going the extra mile. I think at the end of the day, we're going to see Sylvvanas in a good position, and the Forsaken given some good feelings.
Also I love describing her as chaotic neutral. That's always my preference in D&D, and that might also explain why I'm drawn to her.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column. Leave your questions in the comments, and we'll do our best to answer 'em!
