Watcher promoted to Assistant Game Director

[Divinexve]

naga please

[lanesia24]

I've always thought Ion was the epitome of dipshit (Goes to school for 8 years to be a lawyer, then quits that to get a job at a place that someone at McDonalds has the qualifications for). Then just today I find out he was the founder of Elitist Jerks (the website and the guild), and it all made sense.

But congrats to him. Every rung higher up the ladder, will hopefully make the pain feel a little less severe 10-20-30 years from now when he asks himself why he quit a promising career to play with video games.

Lol? Never seen a random stranger pass judgment on someone elses life over the internet this hard. I'm sure your life is the pinnacle of productivity and excellence.

[Crovyn]

Grats Watcher.

Why the hate on him, I dont get it.

He is the lead designer of the Garrison system. He even bragged in a WOD interview how much time he put into it. THAT's why the hate. He is most likely responsible for this crap still being in Legion, because it's his baby.

[Indigenously Abled]

I don't like him, he is essentially a for the 1% kinda guy.

Yet he can't be bothered to upgrade his gear. Tsk.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...thock/advanced

[Deleted]

I've liked watcher for a long time, definitely a smart guy with a lot of open minded/interesting ideas. His interviews (all of the ones I've seen) are 100% honest (he's the one that came out and said they messed up with WoD), I'm glad he got a promotion.

Link please, I would really would love to favorite that

[Stormspark]

He is the lead designer of the Garrison system. He even bragged in a WOD interview how much time he put into it. THAT's why the hate. He is most likely responsible for this crap still being in Legion, because it's his baby.

Um, Watcher was in charge of raid and dungeon encounters in WOD, not garrisons. Garrisons all fall on Cory Stockton.

[Taeldorian]

Link please, I would really would love to favorite that

I'll try to find it, give me a bit. It was on the front page of MMO-C a while ago, during the middle of BRF.

Edit: Best I could find in a short amount of time was a reaction video to the interview I was talking about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BAg_hKwjz8

[Deleted]

I'll try to find it, give me a bit. It was on the front page of MMO-C a while ago, during the middle of BRF.

Edit: Best I could find in a short amount of time was a reaction video to the interview I was talking about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BAg_hKwjz8

Not bad.. But seems like Watcher, still doesn't want to admit that Garrisons were part of the issue that contributed to WoD problems.

Mandatory & easy rewards of the Garrison were also part of the problem.. Not just the dungeons.

[Taeldorian]

Not bad.. But seems like Watcher, still doesn't want to admit that Garrisons were part of the issue that contributed to WoD problems.

Mandatory & easy rewards of the Garrison were also part of the problem.. Not just the dungeons.

Overall I agree with you, and having the garrisons be mandatory even though they were said to be optional really sucked, but this is the first expansion that had the dungeons become irrelevant after the first month of hitting 100, not even. That was a bigger problem to me than having garrisons be mandatory and have easy rewards, even without garrisons easy rewards are still present (LFR gear/PVP gear gets you into normal hfc), so that wasn't a problem that resided with garrisons alone.

[Aori]

Yet he can't be bothered to upgrade his gear. Tsk.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...thock/advanced

What are you trying to say exactly?

[Indigenously Abled]

What are you trying to say exactly?

I'm chiding him for not keeping his toon as min/maxed as possible, in response to the guy calling him 'for the 1%'

Did that really need an explanation?

[Hyve]

Good for him. He deserves it.

[Aori]

I'm chiding him for not keeping his toon as min/maxed as possible, in response to the guy calling him 'for the 1%'

Did that really need an explanation?

Ya kinda, I didn't know what you were on about. He is still largely for the "1%". That pretty much entails 2200+ rated PvPers and real Mythic raiders.

[Indigenously Abled]

Ya kinda, I didn't know what you were on about. He is still largely for the "1%". That pretty much entails 2200+ rated PvPers and real Mythic raiders.

My remark was in jest.

What are real Mythic raiders?

[Aori]

My remark was in jest.

What are real Mythic raiders?

The ones who actually progress at a reasonable rate. Not the ones who do the trash bosses or the ones who clear the content when the prepatch rolls in.

[Indigenously Abled]

Link please, I would really would love to favorite that

Here's an interview from Pre-Wotlk, before he ever worked for Blizzard.

http://mods.curse.com/news/world-of-...-elitist-jerks

[Deleted]

I am of two minds about him.

On the negative side, I've never really forgiven him for saying that the only important things in the game are raiding and PVP. He said that in a Q&A with CM Lore and I think it was one of those things that they think in Irvine but try not to ever say. So it was to me a moment of honesty and a great disappointment. I thought him smarter than that.

You forgot the second moment of honesty he had in that interview.The "We dont want you to play Demonology" moment.Given Blizzards history at balancing specs, this is the reason that I believe Legion's plan to tie weapons to specs will fail hard.Nerfing an overperfoming or buffing an underperforming spec,will be met with the same outcry,for obvious reasons

[MoanaLisa]

Here's an interview from Pre-Wotlk, before he ever worked for Blizzard.

http://mods.curse.com/news/world-of-...-elitist-jerks

Thanks for digging that up. That's actually an awesome thing to read knowing what we know now. I wonder how much of that has stuck once faced with the reality of the game. Ion is probably the only one that knows. The whole last bit about itemization and progression is pretty interesting to read given his new position and what direction Legion seems to be going. Like I said earlier, I hope that he grows into the position. He's a smart guy even if he has his 'honest' moments. As long as he keeps his eye on what's best for the whole game I think it will be fine over the long run. WoW is a big boat to turn around.

[Normie]

https://twitter.com/watcherdev

Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas has previously been promoted from Lead Encounter Designer to Lead Game Designer. He has now been promoted to Assistant Game Director (presumably this means second in charge to Tom Chilton).

He's well-spoken and level-headed. Sort of what you need in management.

In a role with more management responsibility he will almost certainly have less creative control -- more control over the general direction of the game, but less control over any particular part of it. GC tried to make that point but of course no one believed him.

The Director title also guarantees he won't be able to speak publicly about the game or the company except under highly controlled conditions.

[High Marshal Sigismund]

Seeing Ion call people "retards" made me laugh pretty hard when I imagined him saying it in my head.