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Hearthstone | Posted by | 4 years, 8 months ago
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In defence of Team 5's silence

I guarantee you that Hearthstone employees were simply told to shut up until they were allowed to speak, not because they didn't want to speak.

There are many things that go on behind the scenes that we have no idea about. There are many repercussions to both going through with and cancelling the stream, all of which is managed by Blizzard's legal department. If you've worked in a company that has had such scandals (I personally have not, but I know someone who has), then you will know that employees will receive strict gag orders not allowing them to reveal any information about the situation, lest the company would fire them and take further legal actions against them. Therefore, it's not that they don't choose to talk, they're simply not allowed to talk until the legal department decides on what they want to do moving forward.

It's also entirely possible that nobody on Team 5 knew what was going to happen to the livestream before we did. The reveal livestream isn't something employees post on their personal social media accounts because they're just that: personal. They're not making official statements as Blizzard employees, which is what the reveal livestream would fall under.

If you want to hate Blizzard for whatever justifiable reason, then I'm not stopping you. All I'm saying is that stop saying that Team 5's silence is "unprofessional". Please don't jump to conclusions and blame people who likely have nothing to do with it whatsoever. 

You can read this Reddit thread that goes into more detail by someone who's more credible than me. I just did my own research after reading this on Google and from people I know that went through the same situation.

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  • I guarantee you that Hearthstone employees were simply told to shut up until they were allowed to speak, not because they didn't want to speak.

    There are many things that go on behind the scenes that we have no idea about. There are many repercussions to both going through with and cancelling the stream, all of which is managed by Blizzard's legal department. If you've worked in a company that has had such scandals (I personally have not, but I know someone who has), then you will know that employees will receive strict gag orders not allowing them to reveal any information about the situation, lest the company would fire them and take further legal actions against them. Therefore, it's not that they don't choose to talk, they're simply not allowed to talk until the legal department decides on what they want to do moving forward.

    It's also entirely possible that nobody on Team 5 knew what was going to happen to the livestream before we did. The reveal livestream isn't something employees post on their personal social media accounts because they're just that: personal. They're not making official statements as Blizzard employees, which is what the reveal livestream would fall under.

    If you want to hate Blizzard for whatever justifiable reason, then I'm not stopping you. All I'm saying is that stop saying that Team 5's silence is "unprofessional". Please don't jump to conclusions and blame people who likely have nothing to do with it whatsoever. 

    You can read this Reddit thread that goes into more detail by someone who's more credible than me. I just did my own research after reading this on Google and from people I know that went through the same situation.

  • As all of that may be true: they could at least silently dump all the cards to the website....

  • Whether the live stream is there or not, the cards will soon be revealed and will happen anyway. I think we're just have to be patient for some time. (For me, I chose to focus on my work rather than to expect the unexpected).

    I'm just hoping that there's no 'executives agenda' to postpone the release of the expansion. I'm gonna hate that decision very much. There's no justification for them (execs) to affect Hearthstone's hard work in anyway, even for publicity reasons.

  • Apparently in reddit there's some video of trump confirming that the theorycraft stream will still continue and obviously they've been given the full list of new cards to work with. Also apparently this will take place tomorrow.

    Usually all the cards would be dumped into the website right after the full reveal livestream is complete so if that stream has been canceled I don't see what repercussions there would be simply dumping it all to the website, even if unceremoniously.

    The gag order is to be expected. But that has nothing to do with the full card reveals. As it stands, we're actually likely to get a look at all the new cards from the theorycraft stream, which would be what I would call disastrous.

    Edit: Just want to add that this is not saying team5 is incompetent, in light of the scandal. People have the right to be upset about this, but as long as no one is calling for anyone's head to roll that's fine in my opinion.

    Friendly

  • Look, I completely understand that pointing random fingers is nonsensical because no one here knows who the actual culprit would be.

    What I don't understand is why Blizzard choose the radio silence option. Especially for one of their better-running games at this moment.

    Call me naive but how could this approach possibly be better than at least saying something.

    At least from my professional experience the worst thing one can do is not communicate. Which is exactly what they're doing right now...

    • It makes sense that Blizz says as little as possible. They did the same with Blitzchung controversy. As long as they don't bring it up, the consumers will forget eventually. 

      • Quote From HuntardHuntard

        It makes sense that Blizz says as little as possible. They did the same with Blitzchung controversy. As long as they don't bring it up, the consumers will forget eventually. 

        The blitzchung issue was addressed after like a week. J Brack went with the usual 'acknowledged the issue etc.' speech and then reduced blitzchung's punishment, which is largely why he's still in GM last season. To be honest, even blitzchung himself acknowledged that he knew what he did was wrong and was ready to face punishment. The only real innocent casualty were the casters who were banned (not sure if they were unbanned after that speech).

        Its certainly not a case where the community simply forgotten because it was not mentioned. They've been fired up all week before J Brack's speech retuned some semblance of normalcy. Far as Im concerned, that issue is closed.

        Friendly
    • Quote From iWatchUSleep

      Call me naive but how could this approach possibly be better than at least saying something.

      At least from my professional experience the worst thing one can do is not communicate. Which is exactly what they're doing right now...

      Maybe they want to communicate, but the upper management told them to stay quiet. You can't expect them to not follow orders. So we can't blame Hearthstone about this because we don't know what's going on. It's not their decision.

      One other reason is the feedback they would get for everything they say, especially at this moments. Toxicity and Disputes comments would hinder the important announcement. You can't evade things like this. So staying quiet is possibly the best solution.

      • Quote From h0lysatan
         

        Maybe they want to communicate, but the upper management told them to stay quiet. You can't expect them to not follow orders. So we can't blame Hearthstone about this because we don't know what's going on. It's not their decision.

        One other reason is the feedback they would get for everything they say, especially at this moments. Toxicity and Disputes comments would hinder the important announcement. You can't evade things like this. So staying quiet is possibly the best solution.

        ?

        I never directed this at the HS team. This was aimed at all of Blizzard. Whether they refuse to talk themselves or told everyone else to keep quiet. 

        Neither makes sense to me.

  • I also think Team5 had to sign some sort of NDA or other agreements with their legal department to be quiet about this. 

    Almost every company or at least bigger ones have a legal departmant for reasons like that etc. So i agree with the OP. 

    But also still hope for some sort of reveal or even a silent dump etc. 

    I guess we have to be patient and maybe get surprised with a dump etc from Team5.

  • They don't have to say anything. Just toggle the button from "unpublished" to "published" for all the remaining cards. 

  • I certainly understand and respect silence from team5 ON THE LEGAL ISSUE.

    But a public message from whatever department warning about the reveal stream being canceled and possibly giving a timing for the dump would have been more than feasible, and in a relatively short time too (it's just a message on a webpage, it takes more time to greenlight it to the final dev than actually posting it).

    Not sure who's in charge for this kind of communications, but it was/is well due to their customers, independently of the ongoing legal issue.

  • Iksar made a statement:

    https://old.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/os5mfs/stop_bashing_team_5s_silence/h6oc8tt/?context=1

    (This is marked as 18+/NSFW but I don't know why)

  • I hope they just leave it until the expansion drops

  • Just an update, Thijs and Trump (possibly others, but I know at least these guys) confirmed that both the card dump and theorycrafting streams will be happening in just a few hours, presumably at 9 am PDT. 

    Iksar confirmed that the expansion will not be delayed, and turns out there wasn't a gag order or any legal department shutting them up (although ironically it's entirely possible that it's a legal department telling him to say that /s). I guess all we have to do is just be patient for about 5 and a half hours. 

    • Quote From GameTheory345

      Just an update, Thijs and Trump (possibly others, but I know at least these guys) confirmed that both the card dump and theorycrafting streams will be happening in just a few hours, presumably at 9 am PDT. 

      Iksar confirmed that the expansion will not be delayed, and turns out there wasn't a gag order or any legal department shutting them up (although ironically it's entirely possible that it's a legal department telling him to say that /s). I guess all we have to do is just be patient for about 5 and a half hours. 

      Thx for the information - realy looking forward to the TheoryCrafts and the Card Dump.