Legion Developer Q&A - Paul Kubit

[Sastank]

Who is Lore?

Poofy hair

[rogoth]

Alright, so redesign them like you did with other things. Also, the most challenging dungeons I've ever done were probably during Vanilla. The group's "control" was more important than any other expansion - position, crowd control, threat, pulling, damage priority, etc. TBC dungeons were tough for a while, too, along with those three ICC ones in Wrath. Those are the first that come to mind.

to be honest with you, i highly doubt they will add the timewalking tech to classic dungeons, for several reasons, mainly because firstly they have cut back on so many class abilities, many of the fights in these dungeons would actually be mathematically impossible if they were tuned properly to be "like they used to be", and this point applies to timewalking raids too, they have cut so many abilities that many bosses in older raids are just plain unkillable as a result, secondly there is the issue with doing something like this in a queue-able group that requires so much setup and control, don't forget the vast majority of the playerbase today has no knowledge of what it was like back in times of yore, and even if they did, there's so many dungeons now that are nowhere near what they were like back in the day that it's not a proper experience.

and yeah, i agree with you about the 3.3 dungeons being the last truly "hard" dungeons they added to the game, even cataclysm release dungeons weren't hard even though the usual minority screamed they were etc, and since then blizz have made dungeons so asinine and boring snoozefests it's not even funny.

[Biggles Worth]

After reading the summary there, why even bother making a video.

[Deleted]

Ohh ffs...not a fucking clue about the game, huhh?
"Obliterum upgrades help to keep crafted gear relevant." aham....

"The Vanilla dungeons don't hold up to current dungeon design standards, which is why they didn't start with Vanilla timewalking. They don't feel challenging and aren't tuned for max-level players." Because BC and LK dungeons are challenging and tuned for max lvl players?

"Archaeology got a time gated quest line, Fishing got an Artifact fishing pole, First Aid got items that drop out in the world." Archaeology is ok, Artifact fishing pole is beyond useless (for me..got it, levelled it and looks nice in my bank..) First aid just made it levelling pain in the ass and anyway..any1 using 1. aid for anything? (beyond CoS? even there the healer can "use" it anyway...)

"The randomness with Nomi is probably a little bit too random." Liitle bit? LITTLE BIT? Fuck you...

"While the team was building the profession quest lines they leaned on dungeons because they could scale." Sending into a mythic only dungeon to be able to craft 815 ilvl items...smart....

[Alfakennyone]

After reading the summary there, why even bother making a video.

Don't be an ass.

[Gaucho-]

If they think of doing WoD timewalking before classic one, then... wow.

[nicode]

I really wish Legion crafted gear wasn't such a joke. There really needs to be a way for people to incrementally increase the power of crafted gear so that you can at least keep it on par with the raid progression you've made. Something like a drop from bosses which is used to upgrade crafted gear appropriately (normal, heroic, mythic). Limit it to 1 or 2 crafted items equipped. And you can use the obliterum concept to make it so that you don't waste an item because RNGesus gives you a better boss drop. Obliterate your old crafted item and use it to get a slightly less powerful item for a different slot.

The cost of mats is insane. This has nothing to do with the garrison -- it's a 100% classic Blizzard over-correction.

And lol at the incoming hunter changes... can't wait to see those.

WTF is the point of the PTR if you change everything the night before and have to immediately implement untested hotfixes

PTR is Blizzard's new alpha testing. Why pay for a QA department if your paying customers will test it for you?

[Banquetto]

"Nomi is learning, with every patch he becomes more efficient. In Patch 7.1.5 the chance to get recipes has gone up significantly."

Huh, maybe I should start throwing stuff at Nomi again, then. I gave up a couple of months back when I realized a new cooking recipe was a rarer drop than Ashes of Al'ar or suchlike. :-P

[Tarx]

I would love too add a third main profession. I would like to have engineering only for fun on my main without lost the enchanting and the jewel crafting .

[Bags]

f yore, and even if they did, there's so many dungeons now that are nowhere near what they were like back in the day that it's not a proper experience.

and yeah, i agree with you about the 3.3 dungeons being the last truly "hard" dungeons they added to the game, even cataclysm release dungeons weren't hard even though the usual minority screamed they were etc, and since then blizz have made dungeons so asinine and boring snoozefests it's not even funny.

do you not do m+?

[ElDoorO]

Getting rank 3 recipes from RBG is so asinine, Blizzard logic is fucking ridiculous. Trying to force people into any part of the game is silly, or did Blizzard forget the backlash in MoP with the Ring forcing you to PvP. Blizzard is so out of touch with their own game it's a great /popcorn show at times.

It's rank 3. If it were rank 1 I would agree, but rank 3... I have no problem wrapping these around other aspects of the game. In most cases I've seen rank 3 just saves you a small few mats -- nothing significant.

[aphmau]

"The Vanilla dungeons don't hold up to current dungeon design standards, which is why they didn't start with Vanilla timewalking. They don't feel challenging and aren't tuned for max-level players." Because BC and LK dungeons are challenging and tuned for max lvl players?

Vanilla dungeons, aside from a few that have already been redone and don't really exist in their old form, were tuned for the level they were appropriate for. There was no high-level BFD for example. BC and LK, and every expansion, has had dungeons that already exist in two difficulties, normal and heroic, with heroic being tuned for max level of that expansion. It's easier to tune TW stuff around that because the dungeon itself doesn't need a lot of tuning, and instead it's about making sure that you are synced down to a level/stat level that is appropriate for that difficulty. It means less work because most of it was already done. Vanilla dungeons, on the other hand, mostly had a single difficulty, and tuned a decade ago. Any vanilla dungeon that got extra work, such as The Deadmines or Scholomance are out because of the statement Blizzard made today about wanting to include dungeons from the new area, not reworked vanilla stuff.

Also, you seem mad about all of this. You should probably relax a bit, designers do this for a living, and while they certainly can't sit there and give you access to all of the e-mails and meeting minutes to explain the minutiae of every single decision, understand that a lot of thought goes in to decisions. It isn't arbitrary.

[Coldfire989]

Anyone else think this guy was a bit of an ass?

Most of the ones they have on these things are over rated high and mighty my shit dont stink types.

[retrograde]

Don't be an ass.

Step 1: Practice what we preach
Step 2: Allow people to have opinions
Step 3: Be a good example, not a bad one

[Alfakennyone]

Step 1: Practice what we preach
Step 2: Allow people to have opinions
Step 3: Be a good example, not a bad one

I have.
It's not really an opinion.
I am.

Ty

[Bquitze]

With crafting they so completely missed the mark. Adding quests (which are quickly forgotten) doesn't make crafting or farming feel more meaningful. Working hard towards a single piece of gear that will last even if it takes a concerted effort of farming provides a more meaningful experience.

[adondriel]

I really wish Legion crafted gear wasn't such a joke. There really needs to be a way for people to incrementally increase the power of crafted gear so that you can at least keep it on par with the raid progression you've made. Something like a drop from bosses which is used to upgrade crafted gear appropriately (normal, heroic, mythic). Limit it to 1 or 2 crafted items equipped. And you can use the obliterum concept to make it so that you don't waste an item because RNGesus gives you a better boss drop. Obliterate your old crafted item and use it to get a slightly less powerful item for a different slot.

The cost of mats is insane. This has nothing to do with the garrison -- it's a 100% classic Blizzard over-correction.

And lol at the incoming hunter changes... can't wait to see those.



PTR is Blizzard's new alpha testing. Why pay for a QA department if your paying customers will test it for you?

I would much prefer to equip an entire set of 865 crafted gear, than only be able to equip 2 that go up to raid quality. it's not meant to be raid quality, it's meant to get replaced by raid quality, to then be upgraded later, when possible.

[TartyMelon]

I really love these sessions that these guys do, like so much!

[Deleted]

Vanilla dungeons, aside from a few that have already been redone and don't really exist in their old form, were tuned for the level they were appropriate for. There was no high-level BFD for example. BC and LK, and every expansion, has had dungeons that already exist in two difficulties, normal and heroic, with heroic being tuned for max level of that expansion. It's easier to tune TW stuff around that because the dungeon itself doesn't need a lot of tuning, and instead it's about making sure that you are synced down to a level/stat level that is appropriate for that difficulty. It means less work because most of it was already done. Vanilla dungeons, on the other hand, mostly had a single difficulty, and tuned a decade ago. Any vanilla dungeon that got extra work, such as The Deadmines or Scholomance are out because of the statement Blizzard made today about wanting to include dungeons from the new area, not reworked vanilla stuff.

Also, you seem mad about all of this. You should probably relax a bit, designers do this for a living, and while they certainly can't sit there and give you access to all of the e-mails and meeting minutes to explain the minutiae of every single decision, understand that a lot of thought goes in to decisions. It isn't arbitrary.

aham because the difference between a normal and hc dungeon is tremendous... new bosses, new mechanics, etc..ohh wait, no...bigger healthpool and damage...yeah kinda hard to to do it...

No offense but the TW dungeons tuned for god knows what, but 100% not the original hc....

And those designers and developers...they are not doing too good job, do they? I mean I`m working for my salary as well, but if i try to do such a low level, "don`t give a fuck" result in the end....well, i would not stay long in my workplace....They fucked up...big time, not the first nor the second and i`m sure not the last time either. I could not care less about how easy or hard is the job what they are doing (especially because no such a thing exist "too hard job"..just lack of necessary and relevant knowledge, experience, assets, skills....for example: to run 10km is easy, hard or impossible task? Or is it based on personal skills and abilities? Same with everything..they sucks because of lack of the mentioned traits and/or natural intelligence) but it`s their job to fix...I know I can vote with my wallet and hell I`m gonna do that....

[FelPlague]

I'm not sure I agree with the assessment from the devs that materials are only more expense this expansion because we have to go and gather them, rather than relying only on our garrison. For example, in expansions other than WoD we've seen blue gems become cheap on the market after a few months, and potions and flasks have always been negligibly expensive. Now 1 potion of the old war goes for around 700g on my server - which even accounting for inflation was not the case in Wrath, Cata, or MoP. I've prospected hundreds and hundreds of stacks of ore all this expansion too and the yield of blue gems seems far below what it was in MoP, Cata, or Wrath. It's more than just the garrison.

lol what? no, i remember i couldent raid in our main team back in wrath because i was too younge to use the AH enough to afford pots and flasks, i was given the spare ones and was on our second team for mosto f the expansion, they were super expensive