Would you say that Warcraft III: Reforged is the most anti-consumer act ever committed by a large game publisher?

[Paz]

Sounds like they did a shitty job of meeting expectations, but that's considered the most "anti-consumer" thing ever?

In this industry??

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You mean they didn't meet the expectation that the game people have been playing for 17 years would continue to work as it did 3 days ago? I thought it was sad that they cut all the new content (and continued to advertise it) but it wasn't the biggest deal to me, but killing the old version of the game, permanently and with no warning and all the features that came along with it is a bit beyond doing a shitty job of meeting expectations.

Again, for nearly two decades this game had functioned perfectly, a few days ago people woke up to find a forced 30GB update that removed nearly every feature they'd ever enjoyed including: A functional and responsive interface, chat commands, all ladders, all stats, all unlocks/3d icons/profile, automated tournaments, and a ton of other stuff like broken visual effects and ownership claims over user created content and LAN being killed.

 

[Deleted member 23381]

Not the most anti consumer thing ever but scummy as fuck with blatant false advertising.

Blizzard is a corpse.

 

[Ethical Hedonism]

Corporate fuckery at its finest
As a Biz Admin student, Activision amazes me sometimes

 

[IDreamOfHime]

You ruined any chance of debate by using the phrase "anti consumer". People are just gonna run in here to shit on you without knowing anything about what's going on with the game and Blizzards shenanigans and the no chance these people will read anything in the OP, they don't have time for that. Got to get those hot takes.


As for the topic. No it's not the worst of all time, but it's probably the worst in quite a while.

 

[notsol337]

Still not as bad as EA and Sim City.

 

[ShinUltramanJ]

You mean they didn't meet the expectation that the game people have been playing for 17 years would continue to work as it did 3 days ago? I thought it was sad that they cut all the new content (and continued to advertise it) but it wasn't the biggest deal to me, but killing the old version of the game, permanently and with no warning and all the features that came along with it is a bit beyond doing a shitty job of meeting expectations.

Again, for nearly two decades this game had functioned perfectly, a few days ago people woke up to find a forced 30GB update that removed nearly every feature they'd ever enjoyed including: A functional and responsive interface, chat commands, all ladders, all stats, all unlocks/3d icons/profile, automated tournaments, and a ton of other stuff like broken visual effects and ownership claims over user created content and LAN being killed.

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You gave a better explanation of what happened then any of the reviews I looked at. Yeah, that's really scummy. Not sure if it's the all time most anti-consumer but it's pretty damn bad.
They should've left the old version stay alongside Reforged instead of forcing it.

 

[Pocky4Th3Win]

No there are far worse.

Battlefront 2
The mobile game industry designing games around timers and pay to win.

 

[unicornKnight]

Nah I don't think so but it's really really bad. I was mildly interested in this and now I'm like "won't buy this even for 5$".
1) They definitely have to make the old client available exactly as it was
2) They should listen to the community and address at least the most critical issues.

I am fairly certain they won't do either, and not because I'm negative or because "fuck blizzard they are only a shadow of their self now" but rather because I'm pretty sure they won't bother spending any more resources on this. If it was for example Diablo 4 I'm sure they would gradually keep updating to satisfy the consumers, but in this case they just wanted to finish it and be done with it.

 

[Deleted member 7373]

This is definitely one of the worst things I have seen a game company do, maybe the worst.

 

[Lobster Roll]

At first I was unsure, and the more I think about it, I can't think of a worse situation. After 200+ posts, I haven't seen a worse situation put on the table that comes close. There have been plenty of "it's bad, but perhaps not the worst" types of responses without a counter-example.

Also L O L for people bringing up Battlefront 2.

 

[Hieroph]

It's fuckery on unprecedented scale. Blizzard are taking their "we are evil" image and running with it.

 

[GlitchyDegree]

Not sure if it's the worst but yeah that's pretty bad

It's bad, but it's not Fallout 76 or putting a rootkit in the PC version of Street Fighter V bad.

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Um what?!?! Did Capcom really do this?

Nah, not the worst, Dark Souls 2 & Silent Hill HD are up there with Reforged. It's just Blizzard isn't an indie dev like they pretend to be, they have made around 10 billion dollars from WoW alone, they could have put more budget into Reforged when it's a $30 title.

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The Silent Hill HD collection is bad (like, really bad) but at least it didn't replace peoples original copies of 2 & 3. & I'm not sure what Dark Souls 2 did.

 

[Chief Malik]

In what way is this worst than the glorified gambling preying on people with devious psychological practices we see on mobile?

 

[OtakuCoder]

Nintendo were once fined for price fixing in Europe.

This was a while ago, but it takes something to be so bad that the authorities smack you down for it.

 

[Ethical Hedonism]

I mean, even EA launched Sim City 2015 and left Sim City 4 alone.
Imagine Atari launching something like Rollercoaster Tycoon Online and crippling existing digital copies of RCT1 and 2 at the same time.
I'm still baffled by this.

 

[GlitchyDegree]

I'm sure why people keep bringing up Battlefront 2. The way it launched was horrible but at least it didn't replace the original.

 

[Thrill_house]

No its not the worst but it is pretty bad. Taking og warcraft 3 from people is just...fucking wrong. If you want to half ass a remake go ahead but don't strip the classic version from everyone.

 

[lactatingduck]

I'm hype a blizzard product is trash. They're a trash company that actively supports oppression in China through legitimizing those in power just to make a buck. Good riddance.

 

[Batatina]

It's horrible, but it doesn't beat lootbox ridden games like EA releases (Battlefront 2 for example), that NBA 2k19, etc etc. It sucks for those who pre-ordered, but it's not preying on people in a daily basis like those games do.

 

[Deleted member 7373]

It's horrible, but it doesn't beat lootbox ridden games like EA releases (Battlefront 2 for example), that NBA 2k19, etc etc. It sucks for those who pre-ordered, but it's not preying on people in a daily basis like those games do.

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Warcraft 3 is a gaming classic and a super important game... and blizzard just took a giant shit on it permanently and retroactively. No one is going to care about battlefront 2 in a year or 2... if anyone even does anymore.

 

[Batatina]

Warcraft 3 is a gaming classic and a super important game... and blizzard just took a giant shit on it permanently and retroactively. No one is going to care about battlefront 2 in a year or 2... if anyone even does anymore.

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I did use the word horrible though!

 

[MajesticSoup]

For me its Nintendo postponing Twilight Princess' gamecube launch by almost a year so they can launch it with the Wii.
..AND they delayed it on the gamecube for another month after launch to further push people to buy the wii.

 

[singo]

It doesn't install rootkits on my machine or get my kids addicted to gambling, so you are going way overboard with the hyperbole.

That said, it is an abysmal way to treat your customers/fans.

 

[Fugu]

I think the DRM practices in the early 2000s where games had the potential to break computer functionality, such as the DRM that interfered with the correct operation of CD burner drivers, is the peak of anticonsumer practices in this industry. But I will give you that this is pretty bad given that the older version can no longer be used online.

 

[Otherist]

Completely fucking over people who owned the original version of the game, without even giving them an option, in favour of some half-assed cash grab, is practically sadistic in its cruelty towards users.

The counter-examples people are giving in this thread like "game had too many microtransactions" or "game was delayed/bad" are weaksauce in comparison, just bog standard examples of corporate greed and incompetence.

 

[darkside]

Am I missing something about Battlefront 2? For starters it wasnt even as nearly as bad as this, and EA has also kept supporting the game for 2 years with updates and its still got a healthy playerbase right now.

I don't expect any positive updates for this game.

 

[bangai-o]

4 months ago:
- Blizzard's handling of the Hong Kong protests is unacceptable
- "Here's Diablo 4"
-Ooh

Soon probably:
-Blizzard's handling of Warcraft 3 is unacceptable
-"Here's StarCraft 3"
-Ooh

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Hardly anyone here plays StarCraft or any RTS. An SC3 thread would go about three pages.

 

[KernelC]

Tone down the drama

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this.
What they did last year was tenfold times worse. But y'all forgot about it because they showed a brand new shiny toy called Diablo 4

 

[Deleted member 3093]

Many of the games/actions people are saying aren't more anti-consumer by virtue of the fact that you don't have to deal with them. People who never bought WC3R are getting fucked over, and that's the biggest issue.

 

[Timppis]

Level of drama in the OP - Overabundant

 

[OrangeNova]

Honestly, I'd disagree with the statement, if they hadn't retroactively made playing the original version impossible/incredibly difficult

 

[abellwillring]

Because the new version replaced the old version with a new client (without the remaster graphics), many features from the old game are just gone now.

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I mean..the fact you could even still play the old game all this time on is pretty rare. I think they've earned your money at this point so it's hard to quantify anything as anti-consumer.

 

[Legacy]

Taking everything into account, including the mind-boggling decision to overwrite the OG version... this is certainly up there

 

[Ryuhza]

Reading the details, yeah, it might be.

Battlefront II was really scummy but

a. It was overhauled fairly quickly
b. It didn't ruin anything prexisting
c. It was just a really bad loot box system, which got (and still gets) more attention because it was attached to Star Wars. Bad loot box systems were a dime a dozen around that time, it's just that most weren't rallied against so fiercely because they weren't Star Wars.

What happened with WCIII is far more destructive and far-reaching. I don't think people are really grasping it.

 

[Weltall Zero]

I have a feeling all the people calling "hyperbole" haven't read the part about pushing a patch onto a decades-old game to actively remove features for the sole purpose of making the new version look less inferior. This is on a whole another level to selling a bad game or one riddled with greedy microtransactions.

The only case remotely similar to gutting features that I can remember was Breath of the Wild, which was pretty shitty, but even then that was done on release, not patched in after the fact. Imagine if BotW had released on the Wii U first, and you could have the map on the gamepad while you played like in the preview videos, use the touchscreen to control it, etc. Then when the Switch version released, they pushed a patch to disable these features on the Wii U. Can you imagine the outcry?

 

[Disclaimer]

Warcraft 3 is a gaming classic and a super important game... and blizzard just took a giant shit on it permanently and retroactively. No one is going to care about battlefront 2 in a year or 2... if anyone even does anymore.

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Yes, WC3 was a great game, and now it's frustratingly worse than before. Online WC3 players might be relegated to third party avenues, which they were already used to, and which might be an improvement considering Blizzard's ladders were rife with cheaters.

Meanwhile, predatory MTX practices have literally ruined people's lives and instilled gambling addictions in children and adults alike.

Perspective, please.

 

[MrWindUpBird]

And gamers continuously fail to understand what anti-consumer means.

 

[Pryme]

Well, There was this one time when Square Enix allegedly shot themselves in the foot...

 

[Weltall Zero]

this.
What they did last year was tenfold times worse. But y'all forgot about it because they showed a brand new shiny toy called Diablo 4

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From a political and human rights point of view, the Blizzchung fiasco was indeed much worse than this. But this is undeniably worse from a consumer rights' point of view; it sets a rather ominous precedent for companies to gut their own products in order to force you to re-buy them. I'm wondering if it doesn't break quite a few laws, in fact.

Also can we please just not do this "that was worse so this isn't worth complaning about"?

 

[tsampikos]

One of the most important games Ive ever played to my life. No joke. I learned how to type by playing this game and Dota is responsible for so many friendships and the fanart I drew gave way to career opportunities down the line.

They didn't deliver on what they promised and they killed the original game in order to do so. Fuck Blizzard.

 

[Lothars]

I have a feeling all the people calling "hyperbole" haven't read the part about pushing a patch onto a decades-old game to actively remove features for the sole purpose of making the new version look less inferior. This is on a whole another level to selling a bad game or one riddled with greedy microtransactions.

The only case remotely similar to gutting features that I can remember was Breath of the Wild, which was pretty shitty, but even then that was done on release, not patched in after the fact. Imagine if BotW had released on the Wii U first, and you could have the map on the gamepad while you played like in the preview videos, use the touchscreen to control it, etc. Then when the Switch version released, they pushed a patch to disable these features on the Wii U. Can you imagine the outcry?

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I knew but again it's not the most anti consumer thing I've seen or even close to being that bad. This thing is alot of hyperbole and overreacting

 

[Loxley]

Not in a world where EA, Ubi, and Activision continue to push games with disgustingly predatory MTX practices.

 

[Kittens McMittens]

So, I haven't been keeping up with this, but I want to be clear on something: Is this new WC a forced update to the original client? So you can't even play the old version anymore? If so then yea, this is such an insanely terrible decision.

 

[Dever]

To everyone saying Battlefront 2, how is releasing a shitty game worse than wiping out a classic?

 

[Weltall Zero]

And gamers continuously fail to understand what anti-consumer means.

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Kindly explain to us what your definition of anti-consumer is, and how pushing patches to remotely disable features of a years-old product that's already been sold doesn't qualify, because it frankly boggles the freaking mind.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

Why can't people here explain problems they have with things without launching to starkest extreme? I totally believe that Reforged is awful, but geez.

 

[Deleted member 3208]

To everyone saying Battlefront 2, how is releasing a shitty game worse than wiping out a classic?

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This honestly baffles me. MTX are bad, loot boxes are scum level of being anti consumer, but at least you can ignore them, or the game.

With this, Blizzard altered the original Warcraft 3 and even removed features.

I do wonder if it is possible to sue Blizzard? There is a precedent already when Sony removed Linux installation from PS3.

 

[Mzen]

So, I haven't been keeping up with this, but I want to be clear on something: Is this new WC a forced update to the original client? So you can't even play the old version anymore? If so then yea, this is such an insanely terrible decision.

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Here's a pretty complete rundown of all the stuff that went wrong:
arstechnica article on this "remaster"

 

[Disclaimer]

From a political and human rights point of view, the Blizzchung fiasco was indeed much worse than this. But this is undeniably worse from a consumer rights' point of view; it sets a rather ominous precedent for companies to gut their own products in order to force you to re-buy them. I'm wondering if it doesn't break quite a few laws, in fact.

Also can we please just not do this "that was worse so this isn't worth complaning about"?

Click to shrink...

How are they forcing people to rebuy? It's worse regardless of whether one has the classic or Reforged version. That's the point—that the Reforged version retroactively updates the classic version. The only way around it is to circumvent Blizzard's online altogether and play via third party.

We can recognize how terrible the Reforged situation is, and how profoundly incompetent and irreverent Blizzard is, without labelling it "the biggest consumer rights violation EVAR." This is ultimately no worse than when other online games have had to shut down services, or when DRM has rendered games unplayable, both of which remove official means of play entirely for an already purchased product—which Reforged has not done.

 

[Kittens McMittens]

Here's a pretty complete rundown of all the stuff that went wrong:
arstechnica article on this "remaster"

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Wow. I also noticed this screengrab of a forum post from the video in the OP:

If this was just a shitty remaster, then I wouldn't consider it a big deal. Just don't buy / refund and move on with life. But the fact they pushed a patch that broke classic WC3? That's so wild.