I had a few conversations with Blizzard devs during the now infamous panels. They have no idea why people are angry with them. None. But that's not surprising,

I had a few conversations with Blizzard devs during the now infamous panels. They have no idea why people are angry with them. None. But that's not surprising, because they have no idea why their company was loved in the first place. They view users that balk at the imposition of exploitive business models as entitled internet trolls (nevermind that their most famous and successful product owner is literally a famous and successful internet troll). How could they be so disconnected? Well, it seems there's a massive normative shift following WoW. Most of the staff I spoke with date to after the MMO's massive money-spewing success. They're in their mid-twenties and didn't really play early Blizz titles at the time they came out. The few greybeard OG nerds I spoke with that were there still got it but didn't care. The ones that cared left, the ones that didn't stayed. Maybe they got tired of fighting back against the suits when Titan failed to become WoW2.0? I don't know. Morhaime's departure, and his replacement, are emblematic of this this shift to post-WoW money inurement. This is the first year I'm considering skipping my annual visit to Blizzcon.