Back Alley Brawler gone?

Yeah, he's gone. It's confirmed.

This is a shame, as we all liked him. The community aspect of this game is so important to me that I'm feeling this on an emotional level rather than a "He made my game" one.

My favorite time BaBs was during the implementation of Custom Weapons. He read the Closed Beta boards and was very active in discussions as to what weapons should and shouldn't be there. He'd hear people out and explain why their ideas were brilliant, idiotic, or somewhere in between.

After a very dragged out conversation about left and right handed weapons, he conceded to me and a couple others, making off-hand swords for the right hand. It wasn't so much this option that impressed me; it was that a developer didn't just say "Because I say so!" (which would have been completely acceptable). He presented his argument, allowed people a chance at challenging it, and completely agreed when someone presented a winning argument.

Investing extra work time into both being proven wrong and making amends for it is a humility and work ethic I genuinely respect.

Good luck, Chris. You rocked while you were here.

I laughed at the crack animator comment Noble Savage had left about that non-redname guy, Colin Brown. Nice way to brush Babs under the rug, who has always been seen as the top guy. You stay classy, Nakayama.

quick! if you're at the meet and greet tongiht or at the panel tmorrow, someone find out whats going on!!!!

don't worry guys and gals, they are just making room for a pvp dev team like i suggested to posi.

I guess as far as off beat community interaction goes, we still have Castle and the shill Noble Savage. Which isn't saying Babs being fired made it that way, he went silent months ago so I can't blame it on that. I can however blame it on marketing, and lament the old days of dev/player interactions on the forums. I guess the dev events in game will have to do for that, from here on out!

This upsets me a great deal, as BaB was not only a valuable asset to the game, but he was friendly, accessible, and downright likable. He was always willing to listen to the players and took great care to explain things to us so we'd understand. He addressed my own concerns with weapon scaling and customization, and made it a point at the first HeroCon to pull me aside and explain his position to me in detail. That meant a lot to me.

I'm incredibly disappointed by the actions of Paragon Studios today.

It's a sad thing when someone leaves, sure, but also keep in mind that BaB has been with the game just about forever. There are times when it's time to move on. And indeed with any project ending, it usually also means the end of employment on that particular project for people.

Good luck to ya BaB, I'm sure there's a nice project waiting on you somewhere (if you're not already kneedeep in one )