Rod Fergusson Departs Blizzard, Diablo Franchise
- Thread starter havoc00
- Start date
StereoVsn
Gold Member
I thought D3 was decent after the yanking of the auction house, expansion release and some patching. Was it as good as D2? No, but it was enjoyable on say consoles with a bit more dynamic gameplay.
D4 was a turd that had that enshitification as a base mechanism due to MMO-lite mechanic and focus on mainly seasons. It felt like a chore to play and wasn't fun at all.
D4 was a turd that had that enshitification as a base mechanism due to MMO-lite mechanic and focus on mainly seasons. It felt like a chore to play and wasn't fun at all.
bighugeguns
Member
He had an outstanding run.
Now it's time to find and onboard a monster.
Now it's time to find and onboard a monster.
mayham2199
Member
Is he moving to Xbox and taking Phil/Botty's asses
next/ongoing : Power Vacuums and turmoil.time
This is exactly what I think of everytime I hear another big name leaving MS.
xVodevil
Member
I have absolutely no clue whether this is a good or bad thing. I get the dislike towards D4 but I do enjoy jumping in for 2 weeks or so for new seasons. For a side activity it's fine for me, but guessing there's no D5 coming anytime soon let's just hope they do justice with the next expansion to freshen things up.
Arsic
Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Rod wasn't the mastermind to create a vision here, nor did he create the loop of content they follow now. So nothing changes.
He's just the guy making sure people hit deadlines and coordinating teams.
To be fair his other projects were Gears 4&5 as lead, and those never lived up to 1-3 under Cliffy Bs helm.
It's hard to gauge what Rods legacy is, or his direct involvement. He's not a visionary like Cliffy, Todd, Kojima, Levine, etc. He's more of a management role/coordinator.
So far I'd say he's getting a B- from me. Gears 4,5,& Diablo 4.
DownLikeBCPowder
Member
Yep. Buried deep in that grave, too. I kept hoping each iteration would bring "Diablo" back, but it just travels farther and farther away. I stick with the first two games even to this day.
bighugeguns
Member
Yeah, it's probably not good to speculate about this stuff after the fact. I'm sure at the least we might see interesting and brave new directions, preferably across the board.
Arsic
Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Titan Quest 2 IMO even in early access is a love letter to Diablo 2 fans.
Keep that on your radar.
Miyazaki’s Slave
Gold Member
Everyone has their opinion, ultimately I think trying to make D4 more "D2 like" was a huge mistake. They, IMO, do not have the development talent to produce that type of cohesion. I personally put more hours intoD3 than I did into D2 and I enjoy the end game activities in D3 more than D2. While I played a good bit of D4...I will not come anywhere close to the time I spent in the previous 3 games.
I am also willing to bet that the next D4 expansion pack will be the last (if we even get that one). The writing has been on the wall in the past few developer campfires; would I love a turnaround, yes...the diablo franchise is in my top 5 for sure. Is that going to happen..."You don't have quite the treasure there in that mis-begotten pile of game you call Diablo 4!" (in the best D.Cain impression I can muster)
I am also willing to bet that the next D4 expansion pack will be the last (if we even get that one). The writing has been on the wall in the past few developer campfires; would I love a turnaround, yes...the diablo franchise is in my top 5 for sure. Is that going to happen..."You don't have quite the treasure there in that mis-begotten pile of game you call Diablo 4!" (in the best D.Cain impression I can muster)
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Kacho
Gold Member
What happened?
Miyazaki’s Slave
Gold Member
Should be been specific there, but the past few Campfires has seen some of the core "presenters" (including Fergusson) just *poof* disappear, which in and of itself isn't a major issue. What was an issue was the constant repeated information. The last two campfire chats were almost 100% identical. Not only that, but they doubled down on the content that had already been not well received by the players in the PTR.
I don't expect them to make sweeping system changes half way into a season, but to just ignore the comments/complaints from the people that were invested enough to play the PTR was, at least for me, all I needed to know in terms of skipping season 9.
I have enjoyed maybe 4 out of the 9 seasons at this point but I (and I think most players) would rather them spend time tweaking/creating new core end games systems since they have trivialized the "path to endgame" in the most recent seasons.
I do not think that is a bad game design decision, I think it is a huge mistake to MAKE that decision when you have not added additional content to the end game mechanics.
Just my .02 but I do not know how they are going to recover from the current state of the game.
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SILKYSMOOTH30FPS
Member
D4 is easily one of the worst games i ever bought. Such a hollow game made by suits who thought of nothing else but how to introduce an mtx in every hole.
DownLikeBCPowder
Member
Definitely am. Loved the original TQ - played a lot of it LAN with friends and my daughter. Backed Grim Dawn also, though I like it somewhat less for reasons I can't articulate. But definitely interested in TQ 2 and was surprised to hear about it some time ago.
foamdino
Member
100% this - he's the guy that gets a phone call "our game is in trouble" and he comes in an cuts half-baked stuff out to rescue the project. Almost uniquely at Microsoft he *can* ship games. Now he's leaving...
"Fergusson also worked with Stormfront Studios to help finish Blood Wake"
"Fergusson returned to a producer role to help bring Valve's Counter-Strike to the Xbox, as the project at Ritual Entertainment was behind schedule"
"Fergusson was introduced to the upcoming Gears of War from Epic Games, targeted for Microsoft's new Xbox 360 console. Fergusson described the state of the game as being "on fire" and well behind schedule, which he attributed to Epic having only one producer at the time, splitting duties between Gears and Unreal Tournament 3. Fergusson discussed the situation with Microsoft where it was determined the best route would be for him to quit Microsoft and join Epic in a full-time capacity to help get Gears back on track"
His whole thing is to come in and rescue a complete mess - which suggests that D4 was in a bit of a bind before he joined the team...he's obviously salvaged it to the point where it's on token life-support and he's ready for the next "oh crap we need to ship - lets call Rod" phone call
MiguelItUp
Member
D3 at least rebounded with Reaper of Souls and beyond. 4.... is still trying lmao.
Jinzo Prime
Member
If Rod's happy playing fireman his whole career, more power to him. There is no shortage of projects on fire he can rescue right now.
Like, where's that new Tomb Raider game that Crystal Dynamics needs to stay afloat? Or the next Bioshock game from T2? Or the new Splinter Cell game at Ubisoft? Lots of people need a to get a game shipped right now, which appears to be a dying art.
P:axMagellanic
Member
The mmo shit was ridiculous. What a waste of time and effort.
Arsic
Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Bingo. That's his job. Align, and help get things out on time in a good state.
All of his oh shit projects release to high review scores and high sales, it's after they become turds. Which isn't his gig. He isn't a visionary or creative type. He's like you said, the guy you call to save a giant investment from being cancelled to recoup dollars.
So anytime you see his name you know that game is a shit show behind the scenes.
Surprised Sony didn't call him up for Concord lmao.
Kacho
Gold Member
People still shit on D3 because it isn't D2, but it was good in its own way.
D4 is fundamentally ASS
MiguelItUp
Member
Truth, lmao.
Jinzo Prime
Member
Sony should call him up to make sure their Jason Blundell/Call of Duty game gets shipped. They could really use a hit right now and Marathon and Fairgames ain't it.
Edit: Freudian slip.
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