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"Thank You Everyone!" David Kim leaves StarCraft 2 - Page 10

Forum Index > SC2 General
290 CommentsPost a Reply
Prev 1 8 9 10 11 12 15 Next All
Be civil.
JimmyJRaynor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada17805 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-04-08 14:13:19
April 08 2017 14:08 GMT
#181
Great work Mr. Kim. Your talent and dedication will be missed.
On April 08 2017 21:17 gtbex wrote:
The Jay Wilson of Starcraft 2. I wonder what he will do from now.

Wilson was lead game designer/director. Kim was never lead game designer.

This thread looks like a 1970s hockey game. players want to punch someone in the face so badly they think its worth the 5 minute penalty.
Ray Kassar To David Crane : "you're no more important to Atari than the factory workers assembling the cartridges"
HalcyonRain
Profile Joined March 2017
United States124 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-04-08 14:30:05
April 08 2017 14:27 GMT
#182
I always thought that SC2 had large game design problems. One of which was warpgate negating the defenders advantage, meaning the units that could come out of gateways had to be weaker. This led to reliance on hero units, like the colossus, to win games; promoting a turtle-like style of play. There are many other problems I see but they're mostly problems that would have to be fixed by radical overhauls. Instead of overhauling the game Blizzard gave David Kim (and Co.) a stack of band-aids and said "fix our patient that's bleeding out due to massive lacerations".

Realistically, there was only so much David Kim could do to patch up a patient in critical condition, with band-aids. I think he, and the rest of the balance team, did a fine job when you consider their situation. Unfortunately, I found that I was not a member of SC2's target audience. I just didn't find the gameplay that compelling or engaging (when compared to BW). I still checked in every now and then, but never found SC2 gameplay as compelling as BW.

Regardless of this I wish David Kim the best in his future projects. Being the head of the balance team was (is) a rough job. I would liken it to the job of U.S. Federal Reserve's Janet Yellen. Much like Yellen he had the job of soothing the masses; and no matter what he did, someone was going to be pissed.

So good luck David Kim. I hope your next position in Blizzard will be a little less stressful.


Lastly, I'd just like to point out that my view of SC2 is just my opinion. I came from BW and would have liked SC2 to be more like BW; so my opinion is very biased and should be taken with a large amount of salt.
Clbull
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
United Kingdom1439 Posts
April 08 2017 15:11 GMT
#183
I don't agree with many of the decisions David Kim made as balance designer, like the Queen attack range buff which single-handedly ushered in months of Zerg dominance during late WoL, or even how the units of later expansions were designed around a harassment and aggression heavy meta. The amount of pros that ditched SC2 for other games should be considered a testament to this guy's legacy.

Nevertheless, I wish him luck in his future endeavours, and really hope his replacement will actually revolutionise StarCraft II and make it a fun and worthwhile game again.
realityyy
Profile Joined January 2011
Germany50 Posts
April 08 2017 16:05 GMT
#184
Well, his work in Starcraft 2 is finished as it seems
jpg06051992
Profile Joined July 2015
United States580 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-04-08 17:33:16
April 08 2017 17:32 GMT
#185
On April 09 2017 00:11 Clbull wrote:
I don't agree with many of the decisions David Kim made as balance designer, like the Queen attack range buff which single-handedly ushered in months of Zerg dominance during late WoL, or even how the units of later expansions were designed around a harassment and aggression heavy meta. The amount of pros that ditched SC2 for other games should be considered a testament to this guy's legacy.

Nevertheless, I wish him luck in his future endeavours, and really hope his replacement will actually revolutionise StarCraft II and make it a fun and worthwhile game again.


At least someone said it, agree with this completely. Or when Brood/Infestor was not patched out because, "the players will figure it out" but Blue Flame Hellions and Ghosts were castrated the instant they looked imbalanced in a tournament setting while Korea Zergs collected free paychecks. Not trying to attack the guy personally and all of the heartfelt good-byes feel nice but the bottom line is that David Kim's approach to balance was flawed, inconsistent, and lacked a vision that the community and fans could get behind.

Only at the very end did Kim start implementing more community based changes, and low and behold, they were by FAR the best changes he made to the game, (buffing tanks and Hydras for example) but it was too late. Hopefully his replacement has a real vision for this game and understands SC2 on a more fundamental level, because saying Kim was out of touch is just being PC.
"SO MANY BANELINGS!"
BronzeKnee
Profile Joined March 2011
United States5226 Posts
April 08 2017 17:38 GMT
#186
On April 08 2017 04:12 Charoisaur wrote:
... and now David Kim leaving sc2. This is a tough time to be an sc2 fan


I have never been more hopeful for SC2 than now.
Drakorb
Profile Joined March 2013
United Kingdom5 Posts
April 08 2017 17:49 GMT
#187
I haven't got so much of an informed opinion on his balance decisions, but I definitely always appreciated the fact that he really was trying to do the best he could for the good of the game. Here's hoping the less constructive members of the community didn't get him down - although it certainly seems from his statement that they didn't!
JimmyJRaynor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada17805 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-04-08 18:06:09
April 08 2017 18:05 GMT
#188
On April 09 2017 02:38 BronzeKnee wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 08 2017 04:12 Charoisaur wrote:
... and now David Kim leaving sc2. This is a tough time to be an sc2 fan

I have never been more hopeful for SC2 than now.

this is a great position to have if you want to set yourself up for feeling indignant, angry, and offended in 6 months.

if anything major occurs it'll be Blizzard decreasing the resources devoted to competitive multiplayer. in fact, an incoming decrease in resources may have catalyzed mr. kim's exit from the team. ATVI laid off 5% of its staff recently. The pressure is prolly on for Morhaime to cut budgets where prudent.
Ray Kassar To David Crane : "you're no more important to Atari than the factory workers assembling the cartridges"
jpg06051992
Profile Joined July 2015
United States580 Posts
April 08 2017 18:06 GMT
#189
On April 09 2017 02:38 BronzeKnee wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 08 2017 04:12 Charoisaur wrote:
... and now David Kim leaving sc2. This is a tough time to be an sc2 fan


I have never been more hopeful for SC2 than now.


+1 lol what the hell are these people even talking about
"SO MANY BANELINGS!"
QuinnTheEskimo
Profile Blog Joined March 2012
Germany55 Posts
April 08 2017 18:34 GMT
#190
I always thought DK was only the guy to take the blame but the actual work was done by other people. So he just took it when we said something was his fault, when in reality he had nothing to do with it.
Well, we'll see what's next. Measured in viewing figures and active players, the game is certainly not at a high and the trend is not encouraging either.

You've got to go apeshit. -- Day[9]
SHODAN
Profile Joined November 2011
United Kingdom1162 Posts
April 08 2017 19:52 GMT
#191
hell, it's about time
[PkF] Wire
Profile Joined March 2013
France24239 Posts
April 08 2017 19:54 GMT
#192
He certainly took the blame for mistakes a whole team was behind but I won't miss him at all. Most decisions and additions since HotS' launch were just abysmal.
Ling22222222222
Profile Joined April 2017
1 Post
April 08 2017 20:30 GMT
#193
I definitely do not think that Kim leaving is a) a bad thing or b) even early enough. As head of his department David Kim was responsible for its work and any result thereof. As do many others, I think many bad decisions have been made and the disaffection and disenchantment of so many players with Sc2, because of balance, meta and unit design in Lotv are in no small part due to David Kims work/ decision making. It was his job, he did get paid for it and, at least in my opinion, he had and has to face the criticism for things the customers disagree with.

No, I am not sad to see him go. Had the news struck a year ago or maybe even in November 2015. Maybe we would still have a larger number of players enjoying Sc2.
StarscreamG1
Profile Joined February 2011
Portugal1653 Posts
April 08 2017 20:32 GMT
#194
I hope SC2 can now drive into a Starbow kind of game (dream, dream, dream...)
SHODAN
Profile Joined November 2011
United Kingdom1162 Posts
April 08 2017 20:46 GMT
#195
DK is a nice guy. he's a skilled communicator and passionate about game design. I have nothing against him personally. balancing sc2 while also making it fun to play is an extremely difficult job - and in the end, DK was not able to do this. I'm very interested to know who else was considered for the job. maybe there was someone on the short-list who would have done a better job... who knows. I'm sure DK's skills will be extremely welcome in other departments of Blizzard. I just hope it's not Warcraft IV balance team.
Riquiz
Profile Joined June 2011
Netherlands402 Posts
April 08 2017 20:55 GMT
#196
I feel it is kinda sad to see so many comments that talk about him ruining sc2,
imo the game is in a very nice place right now.
It's a thankless job and I think he did a good job.
Thanks for everything mr. Kim
Caster man does casting on yt/RiquizCasts
Deleted User 183001
Profile Joined May 2011
2939 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-04-08 22:02:42
April 08 2017 21:59 GMT
#197
Dayvie was a guy who meant well, worked hard, but at the end of the day just wasn't competent enough. Still, one has to appreciate the years and effort he and Blizzard put into balancing SC2. For comparison, the last balance patch for Brood War was in 2001. There was a total of 5(?) balance patches. And let's not kids ourselves, BW was not balanced at all, saying this as a BW Terran player. Community maps added a great degree of balance but still wasn't absolutely balanced.

It's a bit saddening that despite DK's great efforts, the game still had glaring issues, which along with other matters, disillusioned many pros who went to other esports are retired altogether. SC2 had a great esports run and still has a decent esports scene. It's not like the old days, but there's a few things I'd like to point out:

1) SC2 was a lot bigger in the foreigner (ie non-Korean) scene than BW in popularity, tournaments, etc.

2) RTS is a very difficult genre. This isn't the days of RTS and skill FPSs. Pro gamers have shifted their focus to streamlined FPSs and MOBAs, games which are take little effort to play and get into and so attract higher numbers of players, viewer, and visibility. RTS as a whole has been falling off. Even if SC2 surpassed BW as a game, I'd still expect it to have fallen off in the face of esports competition.

3) SC2 didn't become one of South Korea's biggest professional sports like BW did. There's a number of factors here, but a big reason why BW was alive and well even by the time of SC2's release was the serious and large-scale professional scene in Korea.

Whoever DK's replacement with is hopefully better suited for the position, but at this point it's hard to say how significant it will be considering it's not the heyday of SC2 when this seriously mattered.
benkei
Profile Joined June 2011
Spain51 Posts
April 08 2017 22:07 GMT
#198
Finally some good news for sc2

User was warned for this post
Bub
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
United States3518 Posts
April 08 2017 22:11 GMT
#199
Thanks for everything Kim.
XK ßubonic
Aron Times
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States312 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-04-08 22:37:47
April 08 2017 22:37 GMT
#200
On April 09 2017 02:38 BronzeKnee wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 08 2017 04:12 Charoisaur wrote:
... and now David Kim leaving sc2. This is a tough time to be an sc2 fan


I have never been more hopeful for SC2 than now.

Going to reinstall SC2. There is hope for the future.

Mr. Kim, don't forget the lessons your learned during your time with SC2. Gameplay >>> all. Don't sacrifice gameplay for the sake of esports or viewership, because good gameplay will lead to esports and viewership but not vice-versa.

*tips plunger*
"The drums! The drums! The drums! The neverending drumbeat! Open me, you human fool! Open the light and summon me and receive my majesty!"
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