When Azeroth Choppers aired and as we saw it go on I said no matter who wins that both sides would end up with a mount. I even went so far that to say if anyone wanted to bet me I would put real money on the table. There was no way in hell blizzard would release only the winner. Well, readers, you lost the chance to win money from me. I was dead wrong and blizzard surprised me.
As you can read here if you log into your warcraft account between now and September 30th you will be flagged to receive the horde bike, for free to which is nice, when Warlords comes out and it will only be usable by horde characters.
Holy crap I did not see that coming. With the absolute shitstorm that blizzard has been getting themselves into with the upcoming expansion and all the changes they have made from their announcement of Warlords at Blizzcon such as the removal of flight, many changes to garrisons, and the moving of our faction hubs among other things I would have never thought blizzard would, on purpose, create another shitstorm but, once again I have to say it, I was wrong.
Blizzard has managed to surprise me by making what will only be raged about by alliance fans for years to come I am sure. How they once again got the shaft and get screwed. As I said, I would have bet they would have given both sides their bike.
In my opinion the best bike won. The horde bike, while still missing something in my eyes, was leaps and bounds better than the alliance one. The alliance one was wanting, wanting for some strength in its build, wanting for some direction to its vision, wanting for not looking like an insect of some sort, wanting to just not be, well, bad.
What really is the kicker is that they are making it so only horde can ride it. I would have never thought in a million years blizzard would so blatantly side with the horde even if many people always say they do to begin with. Yes, I know that the horde bike won, yes I agree the horde bike should have won, but no I do not think they should only release the horde bike. It is not good for the image of the game. It is not good for the millions of players that already scream at any slight they might interpret as such as horde favoritism. And most of all it is not good for a company that is already burying itself in mountains of bad press.
I must say I am completely in awe of what happened. I agree that only the horde should have one because the horde won. I just never thought that blizzard would have the balls to go through with it and I do not believe it is a sound decision to go through with it. Wow blizzard, just wow. Thanks for showing you can still surprise me but brace yourself because the backlash will come.
BTW: I still think they will release the alliance version. Some time after September 30th when you can no longer claim your free horde mount they will release both available for purchase in the item shop. That is my new guess. Like I said, I am surprised there is no alliance bike there and I am still thinking they will release it. I really can't believe they didn't.
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I think you're definitely correct that a lot of backlash will be coming from this.
ReplyDeleteBut, I think blizzard made the better decision. I have more alliance toons than horde, by a pretty good margin. And I still think it's waaay better to have a competition be a competition. So, I'm glad for this. I expected this to be meaningless, and it wasn't. Good job, blizz.
Also, I've almost got my 200 mounts, and I use maybe 5 on a regular basis. It's fun to get more, I'd like to hit 200 on my main (who is alliance), but it's really not that big of a deal. This would be just another mount I used for a couple days then went back to something cooler.
I agree as I said in the post, that only the winner should get one. If we were talking about a competition like that and not a business model. It is not a good business idea to alienate half of your player base but saying thanks for voting but you get nothing.
DeleteI have over 200 as well. I used more than 5 however. Each character has their own mounts that they use. Their own flyer and their own ground mount. They all have the utility ones on a mount bar like the tundra, the strider and my two seat refer a friend rocket, but they all have their own mounts. I guess I am weird that way. I like to use different ones on different characters because I believe it gives them a sense of individuality.
well, if you look at the voting, the majority of voters (about 4 to 1, it looks like) were horde to alliance. Considering that it was always rumored that the majority of alliance players are those under 18 to possibly what 7(?) and probably could not vote. Plus it seems the majority of those horde voters are European. That the rest of the world could care less.
DeleteI like the horde bike better, but I really do wish it was useful for all.
Now add that if you pvp and die, your mount can be taken, then I just might get back into PVP. :- \
Headless Horseman's Horse is the only mount I use. Hell, I had it 5 toons before mounts became unversal. Too me, it is the best looking and smoothest riding video of all the mounts. I can take it, while the others twirl and jump about, bucking where I get a siezure coming on.
I think horde won because it was clearly the better looking bike, in my opinion of course.
DeleteI love the headless horsemen too. Had it on 2 characters before it was account bound. Makes for a nice looking ground and flying mount.
I completely disagree that this is a good decision. My main is Horde as well, but giving one more mount to the Horde with all the Horde favoritism that is there is just stupid, there's no other way to describe it. The Alliance players who care about them being the Alliance are punished twice: first, their bike loses - due to no fault of theirs, mind you - it's on the makers of the bike, the judges, etc, and, second, the loss is going to be reflected in the game.
ReplyDeleteIt's idiotic, Blizzard are punishing half of those who care about stories apparently because they are on the wrong side of the fence. The players that have chosen the Alliance are going to lose time upon time because Blizzard like the Horde more. Disgusting.
And take a deep look at this "it's good because it makes the competition meaningful" argument:
DeleteWho were competing? The players? No. Some guys paid by Blizzard made two bikes, that's all. I didn't do anything to compete, you didn't do anything to compete, neither of us ever had a vote on anything, it was all a show.
And who are getting punished? The guys who did the bike which was judged to be worse? Nah. It's the players.
Nice, isn't it? So, the whole supposed "meaning" of this is that the Alliance should have one less mount because ...what? because otherwise there would be no meaning. Yup.
Like I said, I think it is a bad business decision which is why I expected them to give it t both sides But for the integrity of the competition it is a good thing. It shows it was really a competition and not just something to pass the time while we wait for a new expansion. I really thought they would cave and do what is best for business.
DeleteAs for punishing half the people, yes, as someone that has done this expansion from 85 to killing garrosh on both sides of the fence, this was without a doubt a horde expansion. Anyone that says otherwise is only fooling themselves. It is a fuller story on horde side.
In the end I think blizzard will cave and add the alliance bike as well. Might be a store mount, would fit their current business model. And just the people that logged in got the free one because the horde one.
I am sure that is how it will end. The horde get theirs free because they won and the alliance need to pay for it, or the horde that did not log in before sept 30th need to pay for it.
I still expect the Alliance bike to appear at some point in the future. Remember how Blizzard caved in and gave Worgen a racial mount because people complained that it was unfair?
ReplyDeleteI would have liked the boars they were originally had as an idea for the worgen but when they did add them they just gave them new skins for horses. A little boring but something I guess.
DeleteI expected it to be only usable by the winning faction and only the winning faction would get a bike, as it makes a mockery of the vote otherwise.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I didn't expect them to use it to pad their sub numbers for the quarter. That's a really interesting business decision.
As much as we might "complain" about them using stuff like this to get paid it is a very smart move. Not exactly sure how many people would resub to get it but even if only a few do, it is money made that they would have not made.
DeleteWhat is this 'Alliance' thing you speak of? I keep hearing there is a different faction out there than mine, but I'm not entirely sure.
ReplyDeleteYou never told me you worked for Blizzard James. Why did you keep that information from me?
DeleteIf Blizzard releases the Alliance bike to be sold in the shop they will just create yet another backlash (Horde got theirs for free, Alliance has to buy theirs).
ReplyDeleteI actually expect the Alliance mount to show up in a short-story where Varian races against Thrall on the (in-game) Horde bike. No need telling who wins.
This whole PR-stunt was doomed the moment they decided Metzen was leading team Alliance.
As for the voting, any competition where people can vote multiple times and where people can vote who don't even play WoW is a competition not be taken seriously.
Horde got theirs for free because they won, and it was only free to them for a very limited time. If they want one now they will have to pay for it too, just like alliance.
DeleteThat was me writing the press release on how they will handle that backlash.
But I agree, there will be backlash but it will be handled just like I mentioned.
Yeah, when I saw Mr. (For the Horde) Metzen leading the alliance team I knew it was not intended for it to be a fair fight. As you mentioned, the voting system was suspect too. However I do agree with the results, the horde bike was the best in my opinion.