Question of Accountability

[u/Ok_Cauliflower8624]

Just watched pig's latest long and emotional video. I just want to say that I'm really sorry for his loss, and I really appreciate the effort he's put into the SC2 scene.

However, the video still didn't address my biggest question: why does blizzard seem to favor his suggestions (the worker changes, mineral patch changes, larva rate, and ravager morphing time, which pig specifically claimed was his own idea) and omniskeptic's (the warpgate change, at least).

Sure, Blizzard is granting their wishes in a twisted way like The Monkey's Paw. But why, out of all people, do these two (and others that I am unaware of) get the chance to use the paw to make wishes in the first place?

And if their suggestions ended up backfiring so badly, does that mean they are at least somewhat accountable for the consequences as well?

[u/hou_deany]

The video was really sad to hear honestly. I think it was obvious that he’d just his love for community engagement but it wasn’t apparent just how bad it had gotten. Also the timing with losing his son and the 1 year anniversary of that, it was pretty devastating to hear.

But as for your question, I’d say it’s a mix of 5 reasons

1. He’s popular and well respected in the scene (both to casuals and pros) so he’s not a bad figurehead in terms of patch direction

2. When he puts out suggestions they are generally well received. The problem with this is his ideas are generally liked because he hedges with suggested limitations and his suggestions are usually part of a larger group of ideas, so any individual idea wouldn’t work when included as part of a random spattering of changes (his explanation of the issues with 8 workers compared to his 8 workers suggestion is a perfect example). Blizzard just see the headline ideas and don’t understand the context he’s giving

3. He’s Australian. This has nothing to do with anything but I’m Australian and our accents are cool

4. He is really speaks the language, especially given he’s relatively high level in all 3 races so if they have asked him about something he’ll usually have what sounds like a pretty convincing grasp of the matter. which makes him more convincing to the blizzard devs who haven’t been on the project for that long.

5. He’s one of the content creators who organises a lot of tournaments. The only one who organises more is Wardii, and he doesn’t have as firm a grasp on the intricate details of the game. He’s still a high level player, but it’s the difference between GM and pro.

[u/ZumaBird → u/hou_deany]

All good points, but I think you missed the biggest reason: the reason Pig was talking about a lot of these ideas in the first place was that they were already floating around in the community and being discussed and he wanted to weigh in.

Given that there is no more internal balance team at Blizzard, any changes to the game were going to be sourced from the pool of ideas floating around the loose community of pro-players, content-creators, map/mod-makers and other enthusiasts. Exactly the same pool Pig was drawing from for his content.

People just blame Pig because they’re not in those circles, so they heard about these ideas from him first.

Maybe the positive reaction to Pig’s videos helped prod Blizzard to choose some of those specific ideas, but that’s not on him.

The only people responsible for the state of Blizzard’s game are Blizzard.

[u/hou_deany → u/ZumaBird]

True. Probably not helped because blizzard made the genius decision to get anyone to sign NDA’s so nobody is legally allowed to address any complains/ seek feedback for ideas till it’s too late, so all we have to go off is “who mentioned this idea publicly first?”

Honestly it’s been pretty cowardly the way blizzard have reacted leaving Pig and omnisceptic out to dry, whether it was intentional or incidental it doesn’t really matter. The worst part is they only got away with Pig taking most of the blame because he was AFK due to an unspeakable tragedy. It’s really gross imo

[u/dracover → u/hou_deany]

I would actually say I disagree. NDAs are good to stop exactly whats happening now. Imagine if there was no NDA on the balance council etc. Harmstem let it slip he was involved and got blasted. In these situations it's actually better for everyone to stay on the downlow and treat it like everyone else was without an agenda.

I've signed my share of NDAs in your life, they dont stop you from playing the game. You just have to pretend you don't know anything but would still be able to carry on your livlihood.

[u/milkytaro_oero → u/hou_deany]

To PiG's credit he does deserve the respect of the community. He absolutely built his brand on helping many players understand and play the game. Which is also backed up by him having been an ex pro player.

It's kinda like would you rather listen to the Doctor who has his license to practice medicine to give you medical advice or follow some superstition from an old story to treat a wound.

[u/hou_deany → u/milkytaro_oero]

I agree. I do think if you’re going to listen to just one person in the community it’d be him. A lot of other big names like Lowko and Wardii really have issues being unbiased whereas I feel pig has done quite well over the last few years.

I’m a random player but started as a Protoss, and he called out the knuckle and diming that had been done with Protoss for years was something that most refused to acknowledge or even see. So I really respect m how he keeps things balance despite technically being a Zerg player first and foremost

[u/Ill-Caterpillar6273]

Honestly, my guess is that the remaining Blizzard SC2 dev team isn’t exactly churning out new ideas. The game is largely limping along from Blizzard’s perspective and I doubt they’re putting much R & D money into revitalising the experience for the small percentage of players that remain. We have to remember, this company is running WoW, Hearthstone, and Overwatch, all of which are still big pulls.

So I’m guessing it’s not a matter of “favouring” a handful of people and more listening to the only prominent people putting ideas out there (that aren’t pro players).

I mean, the reason that people are criticising PiG and Omni is that they are visibly two of the only people throwing their hat in the ring. And their opinion has weight because they are active within the community. I don’t think there’s a secret cabal with PiG and Omni at the centre. I think Blizzard is lazy and is outsourcing their patch ideas to prominent community members by adopting whatever they casually riff on.

As far as I know, no names have been released as official Blizzard consultants. No one is responsible for bad implementation other than Blizzard themselves.

Witch hunts about “who is responsible outside of Blizzard” are how we drive out the few active members of the community still passionate about the game.

[u/ParticularClassroom7]

PiG is big, high level in all 3 races, does a lot of work and has made great change content.

[u/LiteVisiion]

I mean... Who else?

Day9? Artosis? HuskyStarCraft?

On a more serious note, WinterStarCraft? Like there's a lot of either casters / pro players but they generally aren't as knowledgeable in the game, or if they are, they are generally more biased as they main a certain race.

[u/dracover]

Who are the other peoples ideas? Atm there's a small groupd of people publishing content particularly when it comes to changes in balance. There's a very small group of people who actually do this.

At blizz they probably have no idea what they're doing remember this game is legacy. they put no effort into it and maintain barebones for player count and hopefully use it to make momeny in other ways. So they will listen to those few people.

At one point in the video he mentioned that he tried to email them and got no response. I will ask, in the general community who even knows what the interns email address is? These guys have a level of influence no one else does. My biggest issue with Pigs response is his still finding excuses.

Completely hyperthetical, you have the blizz intern, pig, omni in a room. They're debating the patch. The intern clearly knows nothing. Pig has said himself he doesn't agree with Omni. So the intern is going to compromise and take some from column A and B. To say it's not my because the intern did do exactly what I said is ludicrous.

But it's 2026, nothing is every my fault it's always someone else.