Let the shills commence!

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Vvemoth wrote:

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Scarecrovv wrote:

I think so too, the shill thing seems too hysterical.

Listen, shills aren't always hired. In fact, some of the most avid shills are employees making the game. It's happened before, and not in the gaming industry alone in any industry, an employee browses the internet looking at topics for his product he's working on and tries to defend it and get people interested in it.

Is that so difficult for you guys to believe?

Shills are, by just about every definition, hired and paid to be shills. Avid employees protecting their work product, or rabid fanboys protecting their object of veneration do not count as shills. They are just employees and fanboys. The example you use, even, is specifically NOT a shill - an employee defending his product is not someone "planted" on a message board to feed misinformation.

People are free to not be happy with PoE. The game is in CB stage and Chris has stated that they already plan on a huge amount of changes, not including whatever changes he feels are necessitated by the results of the CB. CB is aesthetically and, in terms of gameplay quite similar to the earlier Diablo games. The skill system and talent web, however, is wildly different. A lot of the really cool, niche features (cut-throat league) aren't implemented yet. The game's graphics are good, but don't have big-studio polish of similar games further down the pipeline (D3, obviously). Given the way a very vocal minority of the fans of Diablo/ARPG games seem to get particularly angry about their favorite features not being included in on game or another, it's entirely possible that some of the negative stuff is just a few people getting salty about a lack of one feature or another. And of course, let's not discount the fact that the internet is what it is and some people just spend their day on boards talking shite.

The fact of the matter is, is that if Blizz hired shills and got caught, the ensuing shitstorm is one that even they wouldn't come out of smelling of roses.

Even more to the point, Blizzard doesn't need to pay anyone to trash PoE. I thought Jay Wilson said he "loved" torchlight and PoE. If anything, the way D3 is shaping up, the only real competitor for D3 is going to be Torchlight 2. In no way has the massive marketing team at Blizzard positioned themselves as in competition with PoE, that I've seen. There are just too many decisions made in the development of D3 that seem to specifically carve out the things we all especially trumpet when talking about PoE. D3 is an almost entirely different market from PoE. And finally, both games have a highly iterative style of play - lots of grinding for gear, etc. Given the way us ARPG fans seem to work, I think it's REALLY possible that a lot of the PoE players (the majority) will wind up playing plenty of D3 too.

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wasp wrote:

even ppl from GGG will play Diablo 3 xD so stop make treads or post about d3 or blizzard nubs.This is poe forum not d3 ffs.

True, lets talk about this game not others.

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PW_Shea wrote:

D3 is an almost entirely different market from PoE.

It's like that only since RMAH is announced for D3 - Blizzard changed target audience from millions of gamers to billions of people lacking money. Great move!

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Vvemoth wrote:

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Chromeburn wrote:

I seriously doubt it. They are going to disparage a free to play game. Nah. D3 will make boatloads of money.

You might be right. But the video game industry isn't iron clad and stock holders do care about the reputation of the company. If you hold hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock and you see people flocking to the competition you might sell most of it.

It's really less about whether or not the game will be "successful" and more about whether or not their stock will be worth the same if big investors decided to pull out if they believe the company is over the hill.

Thats an extreme and wildly inaccurate viewpoint. The projected loss to Blizzard by path of exile is probably minimal, if any at all. It is not an either or situation, someone could play both if they want. Especially with a free to play game. And investors are not going to dump stock from a proven company with a great track record. People invest for long term return.

No one is dumping stock because of POE, and therefore putting pressure on Blizzard and Activision.

I see no reason why Blizzard wouldn't do such a thing. And don't get me started on: "But what about the drama that would ensue if they got caught".