It makes me sad that your replies have become jaded compared to years past. I do appreciate the honesty though.
I'm still pretty upbeat and optimistic most of the time. :)
But even the hardiest messenger, if shot enough times, will start to show wear. I'll take being perceived as blunt or brusque over compromising on honesty any day of the week. There's too much dehumanization of folks in my kind of communication roles and, if being a little real helps that, I'm happy to do so.
I mean, we're 7 days into 2020. For some, the first day back at work from holiday vacation was yesterday. I understand how excited everyone is, but let's set expectations and cover a few points (some reiterated, some that might be obvious but should be said).
Diablo IV very, very early in development. Part of the reason we're aiming for quarterly updates is because there's not a lot right now that's ready to share. If it was ready to show, you saw it at BlizzCon.
Diablo IV isn't the only project we're working on, though it might be the one you're most excited about (and it's fine if you are). As a reminder, we have patches actively being developed for Diablo III as well as the ongoing work on Diablo Immortal. For both bandwidth reasons on our end as well as avoiding flooding our (currently shared) communication channels, there's strategy needed in pacing out the distribution of information.
Q1 means sometime between now and the end of March. April would mark the beginning of Q2. I don't have a time estimate for you, but my personal goal is to aim for somewhere in the middle to second third of the quarter. I'm not sure where exactly it's going to land; we've never approached communication in quite this manner before, and sometimes there's changes and schedule adjustments that need to be made. I suspect there will be many learnings for myself and the team with the first update as a result. :)
We want to put a lot of time, effort, and polish into these updates because they are so few and we care a lot about our work. However, ultimately, the content will be decided by (1) what's ready to show and (2) what conversations we're ready to have with the community. For example, I wouldn't expect the first update to be about the intricacies of end-game activities. It's still too early (some areas of the game are still in concepting, while others are being actively implemented) - but we do want to make sure we're checking in with you on systems of interest as they come together, concept art, and possibly in-progress models. It's really going to vary. Actually making the game will always be the priority.
Blogs take a really long time to produce, especially when they are of this caliber and content level. If video is required, even more so (as it adds an entire new team and process for review/approvals). What content we end up showing will drive the production needs, which is part of why it's so hard for me to give you an estimate on arrival.
Making games is complicated. So is supporting and communicating around them. Almost none of it can be done fast if we're going to do it well. We want to make sure the information we're giving is as clear and accurate as possible and, while we want to maintain transparency, we also don't want to risk over-promising and under delivering. This happens all too often by showing features too early.
So we are going to take our time. I understand it's hard to be patient; I literally live day to day in a building full of cool stuff I can't share and sometimes it's maddening. You can bet your hard earned gold we'll be sharing what we can as soon as possible, and it's okay to take a break from the waiting if it's eating at you. We'll just be here, hard at work. ;)
It was a joke. I don’t really expect anything new in January.
I honestly expected this to get deleted pretty much immediately. But hey instead I got an actual reply. I see this as an absolute win!
Quite frankly, I expected this post to happen on January 1st and expect it to continue happening up until the update actually gets made, so rather than later being accused of "ignoring everyone" and "never updating," I'd rather get that bullet out of the way and let other folks quote this when people decide they want to be obnoxious. ;)
Not sure if you are still reading comments here Nev but I believe in part II of the itemization Blog David, or was it Luis? Said they were excited to share more in the upcoming quarterly report in February. Not sure if you saw that part or if it was a bit premature to say but since you are stating somewhere between Jan-Mar I just wanted to point that out to you in case you weren't aware as we unfortunately know that if nothing happens in February now the pitch forks will come out.
Oh, trust me, I'm aware. I spent many hours editing and formatting that blog for your consumption, even if I wasn't the primary writer. ;) I work on virtually every Diablo communication.
But, things can and do change. Not to say they have as of yet, but it's better to be realistic about the window and honest about where our priorities lie - which is working on the game. If it becomes necessary to push back a post because attention is needed on development, that's a sacrifice we're likely going to make—while still upholding our promise to provide updates on a quarterly basis.
Hello Nevalistis, thank you for the hard work. Despite the many complaints and disappointments surrounding Diablo 3, you're doing a good job and deserve the community's appreciation.
I'm just wondering when the blog post about D3's game balance will come out. From what I know, many dedicated D3 players are more eager to see this blog post than D4 updates, since D4 is still a long way from release. Thank you.
It's being worked on! It will publish before the 2.6.8 PTR, as I believe it will lend good insight on the upcoming changes to the game for this patch as well as moving forward. I actually have the latest draft in front of me to work on right now. :)
Nevalistis
I'm still pretty upbeat and optimistic most of the time. :)
But even the hardiest messenger, if shot enough times, will start to show wear. I'll take being perceived as blunt or brusque over compromising on honesty any day of the week. There's too much dehumanization of folks in my kind of communication roles and, if being a little real helps that, I'm happy to do so.
Nevalistis
Indeed, but I couldn't do its actual complexity justice by myself. :)
Nevalistis
I mean, we're 7 days into 2020. For some, the first day back at work from holiday vacation was yesterday. I understand how excited everyone is, but let's set expectations and cover a few points (some reiterated, some that might be obvious but should be said).
Making games is complicated. So is supporting and communicating around them. Almost none of it can be done fast if we're going to do it well. We want to make sure the information we're giving is as clear and accurate as possible and, while we want to maintain transparency, we also don't want to risk over-promising and under delivering. This happens all too often by showing features too early.
So we are going to take our time. I understand it's hard to be patient; I literally live day to day in a building full of cool stuff I can't share and sometimes it's maddening. You can bet your hard earned gold we'll be sharing what we can as soon as possible, and it's okay to take a break from the waiting if it's eating at you. We'll just be here, hard at work. ;)
Nevalistis
Quite frankly, I expected this post to happen on January 1st and expect it to continue happening up until the update actually gets made, so rather than later being accused of "ignoring everyone" and "never updating," I'd rather get that bullet out of the way and let other folks quote this when people decide they want to be obnoxious. ;)
Only a matter of time, really.
Nevalistis
Oh, trust me, I'm aware. I spent many hours editing and formatting that blog for your consumption, even if I wasn't the primary writer. ;) I work on virtually every Diablo communication.
But, things can and do change. Not to say they have as of yet, but it's better to be realistic about the window and honest about where our priorities lie - which is working on the game. If it becomes necessary to push back a post because attention is needed on development, that's a sacrifice we're likely going to make—while still upholding our promise to provide updates on a quarterly basis.
Nevalistis
It's being worked on! It will publish before the 2.6.8 PTR, as I believe it will lend good insight on the upcoming changes to the game for this patch as well as moving forward. I actually have the latest draft in front of me to work on right now. :)
Nevalistis
If only it were that easy.
We'll have more for you soon™.
Nevalistis
Nope, those were bonuses. :)