[The B-Squad]

Elder Game has made a fascinating post talking about the obvious shift to the 'B-Team' running WoW, and the side effects that are the result:

"When we say that WoW is “polished”, what we mean is that it is surprisingly clean of linty little bugs... But that’s changing.

More and more little mistakes have crept into the game recently — changes that are positive on the surface, but have not been implemented with the finesse that makes them worthwhile. Mana expenditure rates have changed, rules for dungeons have been tweaked, the cost of items has fluctuated. It all seems useful. But it’s usually full of little side effects. Worse, it doesn’t take the human equation into account: it doesn’t counter-balance for the actual needs of the players very well. There are ways to meet both goals, but you have to try a lot harder at it than WoW is."

  I have to admit, reading the analysis of someone who has worked in the industry before and who can recognize the signs of the 'B-team' influence really cleared up a lot for me. That vague feeling of things being 'off' for a while makes a lot more sense now.