wow WoW Narrative Lead Steve Danuser Confirms and Discusses Blizzard Departure

[Staff 1,488]

 

We previously reported that WoW's narrative lead may have left Blizzard back in November, and now it has been confirmed. The departure was not announced on any level, and was discovered by redditor Tigertot14 via LinkedIn, which lead to PC Gamer contacting Danuser and getting his comments on the matter. 

Aside from confirming his exit from the company, Danuser said there was "nothing particularly noteworthy" to say about it, but did offer some details at least. Apparently one of the reasons for his departure was due to the recent return to office policy Blizzard enacted, as he lives a long way from the Irvine offices, with another being him wanting to move on from WoW into other creative endeavors.

"Wanting to continue working remotely was a factor, as I'm a big believer in the effectiveness of online team collaboration. But eight years is a long time to work on a single game, and while helping to architect WoW's story direction for the next several years was challenging and rewarding, more and more lately I've felt the itch to stretch my creativity in new directions."

He did not mention his future plans, but said he's looking forward to an exciting 2024.

He also discussed some of his own WoW's writing, from the Sylvanas-Nathanos relationship, to the loyalist dialogue at the end of BfA, the Il'gynoth and N'Zoth whispers, and much more, including his most recent work on Dragonflight, which he says he's most proud of:

"I'm most proud of my work on Dragonflight, from creating the original pitch for the expansion's story, cultures, and history to helping plan its narrative beats across the patches alongside my fantastic creative partners. And of course: 'Guards! Arrest this handsome wizard!'"

Check out the full article over on PC Gamer.

[Swarf 110]

8 hours ago, Staff said:

The departure was not announced on any level

There is no larger, greater snub that Blizz possibly could have given this guy than to have simply not mentioned or announced in any public way that he was let go.  A well deserved honorless, disgraceful exit.

 

8 hours ago, Staff said:

Aside from confirming his exit from the company, Danuser said there was "nothing particularly noteworthy" to say about it, but did offer some details at least. Apparently one of the reasons for his departure was due to the recent return to office policy Blizzard enacted, as he lives a long way from the Irvine offices, with another being him wanting to move on from WoW into other creative endeavors.

He has always been completely oblivious to what people really think about him.  He has absolutely no awareness of what reality he lives in. 

"Nothing particularly noteworthy" to say about it, because there is nothing noteworthy about him, unless you count having the most emphatically embarrassing legacies of anyone who has ever played a major role at Blizzard.

He gave us the Toy tab, which is cool; so there's that.  Thanks for the Toy tab, you absolute joke of a delusional asshat.

[KLWN 7]

I don't think he will be missed that much

[TheCake 144]

"and while helping to architect WoW's story direction for the next several years was challenging and rewarding"
 

This worries me to no end.
Not only did he ruin the OLD story, but he has future-proofed new story to be ruined as well?
Ugh.. Please, mr self-insert; Stop taking a dump at our community. ;(

[Malgron 2]

Well Metzen stepped back into the building and the first thing he did was going to this guy's office like "what the *filtered* did you do to my warchief? GTFO" :D 

[Arcling 898]

28 minutes ago, Malgron said:

Well Metzen stepped back into the building and the first thing he did was going to this guy's office like "what the *filtered* did you do to my warchief? GTFO" 😄

That would be odd, because Metzen did most of it himself (he was still around when early BfA's story was being written, in one interview). So that story of Thrall being sad and going to live on a farm in Nagrand most likely still had Metzen's involvement. And let's not forget he was the one who introduced Aggra, a character who had like zero personality and development, and was only there so Thrall could have kids (most likely because Metzen had them around that time). Also Metzen actually praised Shadowland's story on his Twitter. Whether it was genuine or not, no idea, but he was always very positive about the story.

Anyway, it's good that Danuser is gone, but I wouldn't expect too much from the story. I would like to be wrong, though. It's been so long that older stories might seem way better than they actually were. I guess people will soon start complaining about Metzen again as they used to once we will be bombarded with another set of retcons and new factions/races who serve no purpose beyond one expansion.

[Twojastara 1]

Well, he'll finally be able to write a whole story for little kids in kindergarten xD. There will be a lot about holding hands and then giving a flower. In the next chapter, someone kisses someone on the cheek unexpectedly. This is the intellectual level of this *filtered*.

 

[Grumar 188]

Imagine your life is as big of lie as this dude and you somehow try to make your living not on something you're bad at but objectively the worst at compared to the majority of the human race. He should really consider vaping an exhaust pipe. either that or he need to change his entire career choice and reinvent his life cause right now he is actually just a burden on the human race,. 

Edited February 16 by Grumar

[Arcling 898]

8 hours ago, Grumar said:

Imagine your life is as big of lie as this dude and you somehow try to make your living not on something you're bad at but objectively the worst at compared to the majority of the human race.

I always wondered how he got his job, perhaps it was due to his connection within company? But the other part of this post is too much, guy may have been a shitty writer, but he doesn't deserve this. It's good that he left the company, but telling that he should kill himself? C'mon.

Edited February 15 by Arcling