Developer Q&A with Ion Hazzikostas

[Eggroll]

The most remarkable thing about this QA is most certainly how much weight Lore lost, new hairstyle, too. Good job, Lore.

The rest is.. meh, whatever.

[SilenceRedo]

Thing is that if DPS is the only thing that matters there will always be specs on top and always be specs on bottom... what if in the next patch your Retri Paladin goes to bottom of the logs? Imagine if your best class was warlock, how would you feel this expansion... On the other hand, if you chose a class based on the utility / support it brings to the group, you will never feel neglected.

You want Tank/DPS/Healer.. I want Single target tank/ AoE tank/ DPS / Debuffer / CC / Buffer / Tank healer / Raid Healer :P

I am not saying I am right and you are wrong, just my preference.. honestly I dont see wow go back to old design / mechanics, so you have not to worry about it :P The only thing you ll have to worry is that Paladin wont be the Legion Warlock on next expansion...

Warlock is doing fine. Every class does it fine. If you are good with your class you can get into a core these days, perhaps not a realm first aspiring guild but to a guild aiming with no rush to cutting edge.

The only spec that was really abyssal in dps was Unholy in Nighthold, poor things, it was a disaster. I'm glad they kinda fixed them.

The three lock in my guild are main locks since ever hence they're very good and far above average with the class and do very nice dps, specially single target. Perhaps a more mundane lock is having trouble. But at high end I even saw many guilds having at least one lock within the kill roster.


Ret has never been in a desirable position, you'll never find a guild that says "oh nice a ret". I earn my spots always by being best than most. By experience, talent, discipline (I never miss a raid, when I can't raid whatever the reason I take a break from the game), and working my ass hard since wotlk when I could finally raid as Ret.

[Deleted]

Ion is so far out of touch with reality, its scary. He still thinks legendary RNG is good idea. Lottery style game play is here to stay, I'm out.

[papajohn4]

Ret has never been in a desirable position, you'll never find a guild that says "oh nice a ret".

I know exactly what you mean :P

[Swizzle]

On an alt paladin, im ilvl 917, with not bis legendaries and im pulling 1m+ dps sustained. So yeah, you are dead wrong. 1m+ is enough to start clearing stuff in mythic tomb.

Any other false assumptions?

I sincerely don't believe you. Can you provide proof of this 1 million sustained DPS as a under geared ret paladin? Especially if you have bad legendaries.

[Justpassing]

Ret was pretty foine in EN tho, with Old War pots and Crusade...was pretty yummy.

[Jaylock]

Ion is so far out of touch with reality, its scary. He still thinks legendary RNG is good idea. Lottery style game play is here to stay, I'm out.

So you are going to quit the game over a small part of the gearing system?

Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

rofl

Random distribution of legendary items statement directly contradicts the Progression statement made just before. People are forced to farm to get their legendaries.

And to try to claim that a utility legendary is just as good as a non-utility legendary is simply disingenuous.

You are (no surprise) misunderstanding what he is saying. The problem is NOT that the items are random. The problem is that every legendary is not equal, and this problem was even worse in the past.
I expect they are doing their best to rectify this in whatever the system turns in to, but the solution is not to just make it so you can pick the two legendaries you want then never care about the system again. That is not good game design and frankly, as is, this system keeps people doing content they never would have cared about before.

[vandalhart]

Wow. Glad I let my sub expire last month. Don't think I'm ever coming back unless ion goes to a completely different team.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

Ion is so far out of touch with reality, its scary. He still thinks legendary RNG is good idea. Lottery style game play is here to stay, I'm out.

He says the legendary RNG is not the problem. The problem is that legendaries are not equal in desirability.
If you disagree with this, you are just being short sighted. If you were this worried, you wouldn't be playing, as every single item in a dungeon or raid operates this way.

Truly, I wish people like you, who make knee jerk reactions to something they don't comprehend, would unsubscribe. The game is trying to cater to people like you, and you do nothing but cloud the water with your contradictory feedback.

Please do quit, and please stop commenting about the game. Leave that matter to people who actually play the game. You know, people who realize that the legendary system is not enough of a reason to stop playing a 14 year old game?

- - - Updated - - -

Wow. Glad I let my sub expire last month. Don't think I'm ever coming back unless ion goes to a completely different team.

Step 2: Stop commenting on wow related topics!

[Al Gorefiend]

wow cherry picked questions as usual nothing

they never answer the hard hitters in these Q&As

[[Apok]]

Am I the only person who would like to punch jaylock in the throat and gouge his eyes out with my thumbs?

[Deleted]

So you are going to quit the game over a small part of the gearing system?

Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

Its not "small part". Its everywhere in game now. Reputation rewards are RNG, quest rewards are more RNG than ever before AND time limited.

Its not MMORPG anymore.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

It is very very easy! make the classes unique again and drop down the stupid "bring the player not the class" that homogenized all classes... thats why only the biggest bar matter now.. you made it so. It wasnt the case in Vanilla and TBC

Yet if you go back to those expansions now you see people spec shame people like fuck. The problem is not the game, its the community. In reality, the solution is to give every class the same options as every other class, but only be allowed to take certain options with talents etc.
IE give everyone shroud of concealment, blood lust, battle rez etc, but only be able to pick so many utilities.
That's true balance, and if you believe the leaks likely coming as a part of the new shared specs discussed.

- - - Updated - - -

Remember when Brewmasters where shit.. The Blizzard told people they were playing wrong?

What changed that made them suddenly a top tier tank in progression?
That was a poor example, because Blizzard was actually right.

[Deleted]

He says the legendary RNG is not the problem. The problem is that legendaries are not equal in desirability.
If you disagree with this, you are just being short sighted. If you were this worried, you wouldn't be playing, as every single item in a dungeon or raid operates this way.

I do agree with that, but its impossible to fix without allowing players to select what legendary they want. Either remove their effects, which would make them just another item with higher ilevel or make legendaries selectable. There is no way to make legendaries equally desirable.

However that's not my biggest concern. I'm mostly concerned about warforged/titanforged, paragon. Ion is happy with current levels of RNG and endless grind it creates. Its here to stay.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

Ion is spot on with the legendary system, I remember when I got norgannons shit treads for my fire mage, have not logged in on it since. Great system!

If you did, you'd have them all by now. Seems like you are the problem, no?

- - - Updated - - -

I do agree with that, but its impossible to fix without allowing players to select what legendary they want. Either remove their effects, which would make them just another item with higher ilevel or make legendaries selectable. There is no way to make legendaries equally desirable.

However that's not my biggest concern. I'm mostly concerned about warforged/titanforged, paragon. Ion is happy with current levels of RNG and endless grind it creates. Its here to stay.

As it should be. I made a video on this topic about 2 weeks ago, but these systems are the reason Legion has insane playability and the reason the game's activity is growing. Is a bit scummy because a lot of people are only playing because if they don't they will fall behind, but still the smartest decision Blizzard has made.
The fix for legendaries is a tough thing to come to, but with how quickly you can get them now, the only real problem is alts.
Anyone who is having a problem with legendaries at this point is not playing the game enough to have an opinion on it.

[papajohn4]

Yet if you go back to those expansions now you see people spec shame people like fuck. The problem is not the game, its the community. In reality, the solution is to give every class the same options as every other class, but only be allowed to take certain options with talents etc.
IE give everyone shroud of concealment, blood lust, battle rez etc, but only be able to pick so many utilities.
That's true balance, and if you believe the leaks likely coming as a part of the new shared specs discussed.

Homogenization 101... like we dont already have homogenized classes... the solution is to make class really unique, with strengths and weaknesses, like all normal RPG games... people will always shame other people, either for spec or for skill or for damage meters... you cant fight that.

[Dizzeeyooo]

the game's activity is growing

based on what?

[Corroc]

This isn't setting a precedent for future zones post-release, it just has to do with how Argus was built.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this is a lie. A decision was made before they started building it, that there would be no flying. Why lie, Ion? Just say it - post release zones won't include flying. Just fucking say it. Now there will be expectations of flying in new zones in the future, when you damned well know you're not going to design for it. You haven't for 3 expansions now. You couldn't in MOP and the Timeless Isle, you couldn't in WOD, and now Legion. It's your intent - fucking stand by it. This was a lame ass statement, and it's GOING to bite you in the ass next expansion.

He basically said that just because argus is made as a no-fly zone it doesn't mean all the new patch zones in the future are going to be like that. He just said that there wont be flying in argus because of how the three zones were made.

[Poundcake]

On an alt paladin, im ilvl 917, with not bis legendaries and im pulling 1m+ dps sustained. So yeah, you are dead wrong. 1m+ is enough to start clearing stuff in mythic tomb.

Any other false assumptions?

Lmao no you're not unless your alt is one of the top 917 ilvl paladins in the world. Link with logs where you are sustaining 1 million at that ilvl with out bis legendaries because i dont believe it for a second.