Developer Q&A with Ion Hazzikostas

[dmerriam005]

Alright so bad fight then, add me dmerriam#1805 US horde on area 52 if you want me to show you that a ret paladin can sustain over 1 million ST dmg on boss fights. If you don't want to then meh your loss because skill does play a big part in dps. I'm not saying gear and legendaries don't but if your good enough with your class it doesn't make that big of a difference. I'm only speaking for ret paladins

[Sorshen]

YES! THEY ARE NOT PLANNING ON TAKING AWAY THE RNG!
I was sure that they would give in to all the "BWAAAH I DIDN'T GET MY BIS LEG" whiners or the elitist raider "nobody should get good loot if they don't raid 4 times a week for 6 hours like me" whiners.

Legion RNG is the best thing this game ever implemented. More of my friends than ever before started playing wow during that exp and every single one of them absolutely loves the RNG elements.

My wish for the next exp is to introduce the Diablo set bonus system. This way set bonuses aren't just limited to one single raid instance and 1 single patch. You'd be able to get pieces from your favorite set no matter what activity you choose to do.

Can't tell if sarcasm.

[VyersReaver]

differences between lets say prydaz and your bis legendary are still very minimal, not to mention that prydaz has other useful factors like stayin alive in m15+

theres this problem however that a bunch of people only look at sims and see that X item does Y more damage, ergo every other legendary is totally useless

Yup, but difference between DH chest that heals you when you perform acrobatics and fucking AotHG is astro-/fucking/-nomical.

[Zoroknash]

In my honest opinions is does not make sense to just abandon the artifacts after Legion..

We spend time recovering these longforgotten (or wanted) weapons, yet we are going to abandon them like a piece of crap after Legion.. Those are the most precious relics of old (or newer for some).. Yet we just leave them in our basement..? Come on Blizz.. Where is the fantasy..

[arcaneshot]

Also, to further add, their argument for why Krokuun and Mac'aree are not account-wide in world quests is stupid. "Oh the story and lore is going to seem weird". Well I did it once on a character, therefore I understand where and what is going on in the story in regards to world quests.
Now I've done it on 10+ characters instead. I think I defs know what is going on in the story.

If you hadn't noticed the World Quests in both of those areas overlap with the actual story quests there... in fact some of them ask you to do the exact same things.

The game does funny stuff when that happens.

Remember the Battlefield: Barrens patch? That giant hole in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms caused a huge crapload of problems for the Golden Lotus's final quest which was designed when there wasn't a big giant hole there.

[Deleted]

Alright so bad fight then, add me dmerriam#1805 US horde on area 52 if you want me to show you that a ret paladin can sustain over 1 million ST dmg on boss fights. If you don't want to then meh your loss because skill does play a big part in dps. I'm not saying gear and legendaries don't but if your good enough with your class it doesn't make that big of a difference. I'm only speaking for ret paladins

Do it please..the original topic was MYTHIC bossfights, ST,1 million sustained in 917 without bis legs...the best retri paladins of the world (according to logs) can pull that out...and even then we talking about 4-5 ppl...and even them have 1-2 bis or close to bis legendaries...

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/ranking...ion&bracket=19

[VyersReaver]

Also

There is something cool about not having the ability to choose a specific legendary from a list. Each person may have a different legendary, but those should be good in some different situations.

When I get more and more legendaries I roll my eyes harder and harder when it's not AotHG. You know what I will do when I get one? No, I won't lose my shit. I'll just say "Finally I can perform on the level of other DHs FFS".

[Deleted]

Incompatible with flying? Are you serious? The damn place is incompatible with running.

Hehe, that made my day. Completely agree with you

[kamuimac]

"There won't be flying on Argus, because of how the environment is built. It is incompatible with flying."

because why design zone with 3 axis when you can design it with 2 cut cost and then play a " tomato" with playerbase pretending its anything but milking the f.... out of $$$$ from them

[Cavox]

Warforging ruined natural item progression and sucked meaning out of raiding.
Glad to see they still think it's an "ok" system.

[Deleted]

"There won't be flying on Argus, because of how the environment is built. It is incompatible with flying."

because why design zone with 3 axis when you can design it with 2 cut cost and then play a " tomato" with playerbase pretending its anything but milking the f.... out of $$$$ from them

I don't even think it's about the 3rd axis. It's more that you would have to design areas where you can fly much bigger than those where you can't fly. Bigger = more expensive. That's actually the only true reason for this no-flight discussion. A dev must have brought that up in one of their meetings: "Dudes, if we didn't allow flight, we wouldn't have to design these huge areas, small areas with as many obstacles (gorges, mountains, water bodies that force longer ways) would feel just as big."

Then of course these cost-savings convinced everyone else and there it was, the new-born "flying is evil" mantra.

[Deleted]

I don't even think it's about the 3rd axis. It's more that you would have to design areas where you can fly much bigger than those where you can't fly. Bigger = more expensive. That's actually the only true reason for this no-flight discussion. A dev must have brought that up in one of their meetings: "Dudes, if we didn't allow flight, we wouldn't have to design these huge areas, small areas with as many obstacles (gorges, mountains, water bodies that force longer ways) would feel just as big."

Then of course these cost-savings convinced everyone else and there it was, the new-born "flying is evil" mantra.

Exactly. This is nothing more than cost savings. As if they don't already copy-paste many things, but no.

Have you seen the movie "Inception"? There is a scene where the protagonist Cobb enlists a dream architect (Ariadne, what a great name) for his team. He sets her a task to draw a labyrinth in 1 minute, which would take a person 2 minutes to solve. This is what zone design in WoW is all about lately. Put in as little time as you can and blow things up so we will waste much more time with going through the place.

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Um, you just described exactly what an MMORPG is. If anything WoW is becoming more and more LIKE one than UNLIKE one. RNG is a staple of these games, it creates replay value. The execution is what's poor, don't blame the RNG.

Well, RNG in an RPG is not that extreme. If we are talking slot machines, then yes, but then we just should be rolling dice then pretending that we play an RPG.

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After all the heavy criticism of the saturation of RNG in Legion, Ion's response is complete dismissal; adding "It's fun and exciting!" -- go suck a dick you fucking dead-eyed trout!!

Bet this asshole hasn't even played the game at all this expansion.

I think his salary should become random. Give him 10% as baseline, and roll each month if he gets a random upgrade. Maybe 0,1% chance to titanforge to 200%. Then we will talk again.

[Deleted]

Exactly. This is nothing more than cost savings. As if they don't already copy-paste many things, but no.

Have you seen the movie "Inception"? There is a scene where the protagonist Cobb enlists a dream architect (Ariadne, what a great name) for his team. He sets her a task to draw a labyrinth in 1 minute, which would take a person 2 minutes to solve. This is what zone design in WoW is all about lately. Put in as little time as you can and blow things up so we will waste much more time with going through the place.

Well, that's how the world works. Either cut costs (become more efficient) or increase revenue (e.g., increase price). Would you be willing to pay more every month (and for the new expansions) for getting a world like vanilla? (Only the landmass / sheer size of it, not its content, mind you).

[Deleted]

Well, that's how the world works. Either cut costs (become more efficient) or increase revenue (e.g., increase price). Would you be willing to pay more every month (and for the new expansions) for getting a world like vanilla? (Only the landmass / sheer size of it, not its content, mind you).

Please...we already paying a fortune for same or lower quality what a f2p game can offer....

[Deleted]

Exactly. This is nothing more than cost savings. As if they don't already copy-paste many things, but no.

Have you seen the movie "Inception"? There is a scene where the protagonist Cobb enlists a dream architect (Ariadne, what a great name) for his team. He sets her a task to draw a labyrinth in 1 minute, which would take a person 2 minutes to solve. This is what zone design in WoW is all about lately. Put in as little time as you can and blow things up so we will waste much more time with going through the place.

Well, given the size of the game you have to admit that we've seen almost anything being used somewhere already. The maze argument is nonsense; you can do the new content just as fast as the old.

Well, RNG in an RPG is not that extreme. If we are talking slot machines, then yes, but then we just should be rolling dice then pretending that we play an RPG.

What's the alternative? Linear progression along a predictable farm path? As a proud owner of a pre-nerf Winterspring Frostsaber, I hope that will never happen again.

RNG with bad luck protection is the most addictive incentive system discovered so far. It won't go anywhere. The problem is that it's working too well. Players are getting addicted to the unexpected moments of great happiness, playing in a constant state of anticipation. Just like in gambling, however, it doesn't make people happy in the long run.

To get real here for a moment - I strongly think that games which use these mechanics should be looked at much closer by the respective national authorities because they implement insights on psychology from the gambling industry into a framework with no external supervision.

I think his salary should become random. Give him 10% as baseline, and roll each month if he gets a random upgrade. Maybe 0,1% chance to titanforge to 200%. Then we will talk again.

You should implement this analogy correctly. For every hour he works he gets the minimum wage.* In addition to that, he gets to roll once after each our worked for a random bonus between zero and a million dollars, with the mean of this random salary distribution being the difference between the minimum wage and his current hourly wage.**

// edit:

At the extensive margin, there are two exteme outcomes. Either he gets lucky early and can spend a lot of time with his family (his first legendary is BiS) or he doesn't and he'll work for barely nothing. However, he'll can always be hopeful that the future will get better. Scale this up to a working population and you'll get a few lucky people who work very little and still become rich while others work all of their life and still end up with nothing. For every individual the system looks fair and promising, but in the aggregate it produces a great amount of inequality and disappointment.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the legendary system in its current state.


*This makes sure that he constantly progresses in terms of his income, but on the very minimal trajectory. I guarantees a reward for your time, so that you get something in return even if you're unlucky.

**This distribution would be highly skewed. Bad luck protection could be easily built in by requiring at least every 8th payout to be above average, which would make sure that he's getting a positive surprise at least once per day. While it seems that you have a chance to get that million dollars, you might die before that actually happens. It also means that you will, on average, earn just about as much money at the end of the year as you would have on a regular payment system. However, you'll live in the constant hope that you win a million dollars, which motivates you to get more chances to win in, which means you will want to work more. Furthermore, due to the shape of the distribution you'll end up being constantly disappointed, because you will see more payouts below the mean compared to the relatively few large payout above it that compensate them in total value. It's a brutal treadmill that plays to your hopes while keeping you enganged, but unhappy.

[Eleccybubb]

You're talking to Jaylock here. He picks an unpopular opinion and trolls you with it.
Don't bother. He's just trying to trigger people.

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Legendaries?
Did you not hear the guy talk as if the system is ok in any way?

Watcher has no clue what so ever. It's ridiculous.

I only glossed over it. But yeah I agree with you. Some of the things they say about legendaries and RNG just frustrates me a little.

Random distribution of legendary items isn't a problem. There is something cool about not having the ability to choose a specific legendary from a list. Each person may have a different legendary, but those should be good in some different situations.

Uh no. Being able to target or choose a specific legendary is way more fun that getting Prydaz as your first on 3 characters.

[Deleted]

Also

When I get more and more legendaries I roll my eyes harder and harder when it's not AotHG. You know what I will do when I get one? No, I won't lose my shit. I'll just say "Finally I can perform on the level of other DHs FFS".

As I feel with my Unholy-Shoulders and Chest. It would never be a problem if those 2 pieces would not be a 15-20% dmg increase....

[Deleted]

Please...we already paying a fortune for same or lower quality what a f2p game can offer....

lol. OK. Didn't know you were one of those "Wow should go f2p" folks. Wouldn't have bothered replying to you if I had known.

[dmerriam005]

Do it please..the original topic was MYTHIC bossfights, ST,1 million sustained in 917 without bis legs...the best retri paladins of the world (according to logs) can pull that out...and even then we talking about 4-5 ppl...and even them have 1-2 bis or close to bis legendaries...

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/ranking...ion&bracket=19

Do you raid mythic? I have only done mythic en up to killing cenarius. I am honest and only so heroic tos due to coming back to the game mid tier. The best ret paladins don't mean shit to me I want to see YOUR logs not these guys that no life play the game. I sustain roughly 1.2mil dps. Also before you call me out on my logs check the dates on them. When I get home I will upload a fresh one for you.

[Deleted]

Another day, another "we know RNG is sh!et, but we like it" from them.
Yes, randomness has always been a factor in this game, but they don't seem to understand that having THIS EFFING MANY (wf/tf, crucible, Legendaries, etc) RNGs AT ONCE is just not helping the game. AT ALL. It's just lovely how they keep ignoring all these feedback.