GamesCom 2017 World of Warcraft Patch 7.3 Interview (Ion Hazzikostas)

[Medievaldragon]

Blizzplanet interviewed Ion Hazzikostas at GamesCom during the Press Day (Tuesday) to discuss Patch 7.3 and beyond. Full transcript here.

Jaina is not a dreadlord in World of Warcraft. The dreadlord skin in Heroes of the Storm is not canon.

Antorus Item level 985 and Legendary items up to 1000.

Mythic+ dungeons item level increase to make them relevant.

[Malorne the White Stag]

Void themed expac is next. Woo! Also, I hope the next expansion is on Azeroth, I really want to see how Alleria and Turalyon react to how much the world has changed.

Also glad they addressed the whole dreadlord thing, would have been stupid if it was real.

[Al Gorefiend]

Alleria and Turalyon are boring, thought it was just a meme to mention them at this point.

Love a void themed expansion, just hope we don't become space rangers.. Please Blizzard, no more planets.

[TheFirstOnes]

Void themed?

Jaina?

Naga Set for Hunters, and Troll set for Shamans?

Would be a dick move to say I called it, BUT I FUCKING CALLED IT!

[Malorne the White Stag]

Void themed?

Jaina?

Naga Set for Hunters, and Troll set for Shamans?

Would be a dick move to say I called it, BUT I FUCKING CALLED IT!

Hope naga are playable, so I can be a naga wearing the skin of a naga

[clevin]

I swear, sometimes I want to slap these interviewers for not doing the obvious followup. The interview has this:

One question that I know is difficult to answer — Is 7.3 the final raid tier of Legion?

Ion: Yes, it is. We still have much story to tell, and of course, the raid won’t be opened until later in the year, and there is more of the story of Legion after that. We have been very happy with how we have been able to tell the story of Legion through a mix of large patches and small patches, and sometimes even just non-patch live content updates.

Like a couple of weeks ago, when Argus appeared on the sky for everybody and Doomsayers were in Dalaran, and the quest Magni had most recently. That is exciting, and we want to keep doing that. We want to keep telling a story, and never really feel like it reaches an end point, but just continues; but as far as big raid tier, I think yea. This is what all has been leading up to. There isn’t much left about Legion, depending on the outcome after Argus.

Right, I think most of us realize this is the final raid tier and that 7.3.5 is the final raid patch. But Ion's answer doesn't actually exclude there being another patch that's NOT raid focused but has world content. Do they follow up and ask "so is there a 7.4 with world content?" Of course they don't. #sigh

[Lady Velvet]

Alleria and Turalyon are boring, thought it was just a meme to mention them at this point.

Exactly my thoughts. They lost their relevancy the moment they didn't show up in TBC. They can fuck off somewhere again.

[elderu]

Void themed?

Jaina?

Naga Set for Hunters, and Troll set for Shamans?

Would be a dick move to say I called it, BUT I FUCKING CALLED IT!

[GrinnersGrin]

Void themed?

Jaina?


Would be a dick move to say I called it, BUT I FUCKING CALLED IT!

Excellent deduction skills, truly unrivaled

[Deleted]

. Turalyon and Alleria will be relevant in the next expansion too.

Oh great more Alliance characters for evryone.

[Julian Rayne]

The video isn't appearing for me. Is it the same as this?

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

Yeah but what about the Horde?

[Al Gorefiend]

Exactly my thoughts. They lost their relevancy the moment they didn't show up in TBC. They can fuck off somewhere again.

The thing about Turalyon and Alleria..

This is like, what? The 5th, 6th MALE HUMAN PALADIN relevant to lore. Blizzard just keeps making the same character over and over again. Is he meant to be Tirion's replacement?

Then there's Alleria. God I fucking hate Alleria SO. MUCH. Not only is she the source of the most cancerous and baitey pixel-squabbling I ever witnessed over in the lore forum, she's so damn generic like holy crap.

She is a female elf archer in love with a human. Holy dog shit, innovative fantasy storytelling Blizzard.

[Zephre]

Not a big fan of Alleria, Turalyon's alright, he seems to work for the greater good while she's just another generic boring elf who hissy fits, the proto veressa, if you will. I'm not keen on following either of them around for an expansion though especially since they decided to scrap development for Baine in Highmountain claiming it'll feel awkward for alliance players to follow Baine around.

But then making us follow that harpy around Val'sharah but I think that was just punishment for both factions haven't to listen to their fan fiction dialogue. I'd rather see more development for forgotten faction leaders than Turalyon and Alleria, maybe do something about the whole " trolls have no leader " situation.

[Grimo]

The thing about Turalyon and Alleria..

This is like, what? The 5th, 6th MALE HUMAN PALADIN relevant to lore. Blizzard just keeps making the same character over and over again. Is he meant to be Tirion's replacement?

Then there's Alleria. God I fucking hate Alleria SO. MUCH. Not only is she the source of the most cancerous and baitey pixel-squabbling I ever witnessed over in the lore forum, she's so damn generic like holy crap.

She is a female elf archer in love with a human. Holy dog shit, innovative fantasy storytelling Blizzard.

Been saying this for years, so glad people are catching on

[Deleted]

Yeah but what about the Horde?

Horde needs nothing.

- - - Updated - - -

Antorus Item level 985 and Legendary items up to 1000.

985 will be the absolute cap, not the mythic base item level. Base will be 960, with Sargeras dropping 970.

[8bithamster]

Yeah but what about the Horde?

irrelevant, they got enough of a spotlight Enjoy having an expansion that isn't all about the horde for once

[Discopew]

"Gamescon is all about patch 7.3"

get ready for a teaser boys this is merely a distraction.

[Wyrt]

*yawn* Turalyon. Could there be a more bland and generic character?

[Medievaldragon]

Alleria and Turalyon are boring, thought it was just a meme to mention them at this point.

Love a void themed expansion, just hope we don't become space rangers.. Please Blizzard, no more planets.

Actually, back in 2005 Metzen said the plan was to open the Outland portals to reach at least 5 planets taken by the Legion, and possibly 2 more. Not sure if that plan changed as time went by, but we have been to Outland twice (different timelines), now Argus, and the 6 invasion point scenarios count as different planets as well.

There is also Xo'roth.

- - - Updated - - -

I swear, sometimes I want to slap these interviewers for not doing the obvious followup. The interview has this:



Right, I think most of us realize this is the final raid tier and that 7.3.5 is the final raid patch. But Ion's answer doesn't actually exclude there being another patch that's NOT raid focused but has world content. Do they follow up and ask "so is there a 7.4 with world content?" Of course they don't. #sigh

I agree we should have asked about 7.4, but we were not lucky getting a response about the final raid boss. So chances are we wouldn't have gotten a response anyway about 7.4. He did say there is more story to tell beyond 7.3, so that kinda counts as 7.4, because 7.3.5 is likely going to open Antorus, and add some minor content, and maybe Just maybe class balances.

What is very clear is that a new expansion might be announced at BlizzCon. I can't see 7.3 and 7.4 sticking around a full year without an expansion announcement when their philosophy now is to release big and small patches continuously every few months instead of waiting 2 years gaps before an expansion without updates.

Concerning the questions, most of the questions were provided by reddit fans.

The video isn't appearing for me. Is it the same as this?

If you can't see this, you likely need to update your Adobe Flash and Shockwave plugins at adobe.com

Otherwise, try the Chrome browser.