Hazelnutty Dragonflight Interview with Ion Hazzikostas

Hazelnutty Interview with Ion Hazzikostas


  • Borrowed Power
    • The team reflected on the borrowed power systems of the past few expansions and admit that giving players power and then taking it away at the end didn't feel good.
    • As they thought of a way to move forward without borrowed power systems, they realized that the only talent system used to fill those gaps by giving you something new every expansion that would not be taken away at the end.
    • The goal of the new talent system is to grow on it in further expansions with more layers and rows.
    • They want the new talent system to be sustainable for at least a few expansions and what to do at that point is an issue to solve then.
  • Reputation and Renown
    • Reputation hasn't changed or evolved much since Vanilla. The path to exalted and rewards were not well structured or visible. Aspects of Renown solved some of these issues, and the team wants to adapt this to end-game structures in Dragonflight. Building Renown will open up more perks with reputations, and it will not necessarily be through structured weekly quests, but more open-ended objectives.
    • Reputation Renown will not unlock more player power except for some gear rewards. It will instead provide cosmetic rewards and perks.
  • Crafting
    • The team doesn't necessarily want gold to be the cost of entry for building a profession like it was in Shadowlands.
    • Specializations will be the main way of finding a niche in a profession to separate yourself from the rest.
    • Not only can you specialize in a certain skill of a profession such as armorsmithing, but specific crafts as well.
    • Hardcore crafters will eventually be able to make everything, but it will take time.
    • Players who don't want to engage with the system will still be able to utilize professions, but the goal isn't to force players to interact with the system.
    • To keep crafted gear relevant, the team wants there to be options equivalent to mythic raiding level, but players will never just be able to go to an auction house and buy sets of gear at max item level. It will involve BOP crafting items or recipes that are obtained from higher level content.
    • Players will be able to use their own BOP crafting items to get gear crafted by other players by utilizing work orders.
  • Legendaries
    • Legendaries as they have existed in Legion and Shadowlands are not going to be in Dragonflight.
    • These types of legendaries were a way to fill the gap left by the removal of talent trees and tier sets.
    • This is not to say that we will never see legendaries again. Thematic items that drop such as Sylvanas's bow will still be added where it makes sense.
  • Dracthyr and Flying
    • Dracthyr will be able to perform the basics of dragon riding in their dragon form from the start. The unlocked abilities earned over time will also have to use their dragon companion, but while in their visage form.
    • Dracthyr can glide and get a little bit of lift in a manner like Demon Hunters, but cannot fly outside of the Dragon Isles in their form.
  • Mounts
    • Dragon Riding is not replacing mounts in Dragon Isles. There will still be plenty of new ones to collect.
    • A feature of Dragon Riding that Ion brought up is learning to instantly port back to a quest hub after completing a quest, much like the whistles of Legion and BFA.
    • The team is implementing methods to address anyone who is prone to motion sickness in the Dragon Riding system.
  • Player Housing
    • The team also wants player housing, but it is a big undertaking to get it right. If it was to be implemented, it would have to span multiple expansions and take a lot of time.
    • Housing will not be coming in Dragonflight.
  • Archeology
    • Archeology needs a fresh coat of paint, but it will not be getting anything new at the launch of Dragonflight.
    • The focus on profession updates is on the main professions currently.
    • The previous iteration of Archeology will not be returning.
  • Pet Battles
    • The team wants to incorporate something different for PvP pet battles, such as setting up a pet blockade and testing it against an opponent.
    • Changes will not be made at launch to the current pet battle systems, however.
  • "Mid-range" Class
    • Mid-range means 25-30 yards, but will also have plenty of normal ranged attacks.
  • Seasonal Mythic Plus Dungeons
    • Ion wants to release some of the talent trees to the community before Alpha.
    • Dragonflight will launch with 8 new dungeons, but only 4 will be available for Mythic Plus at launch. 4 dungeons from previous expansions will also be available for M+ in season 1.
    • The goal is to have 4 Dragonflight dungeons and 4 dungeons from previous expansions available for Mythic Plus every season so that players don't farm the same gear every season.
    • Shadowlands dungeons will not be included in the rotation at the start because they are too recent.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Hazelnutty Dragonflight Interview with Ion Hazzikostas started by Stoy View original post
Published on 2022-04-21 09:09 PM
119 Comments
Comments 118 Comments
  1. StillMcfuu's Avatar
    Ion wants to release some of the talent trees to the community before Alpha
    They should release them on live servers to actually work them out with real players, not just alpha/beta testers.
  1. Relapses's Avatar
    Wow, there's a ton of information in this interview. I'm pretty surprised that they're open to player housing after Garrisons but it's interesting to see it's on the menu. I also like the fact that work orders will allow you to use BoP crafting mats even if you're not the person crafting it. That's always been a major sticking point for me on the way professions have worked. I'm excited to see how this plays out.
  1. kranur's Avatar
    Must be hard to make M+ have a separate pool of loot each season, regardless of the dungeon that you complete.

    Solid info though .. remains to be seen how it turns out ... plenty of other stuff have turned out to be shit in impelementation in the recent past.
  1. Biomega's Avatar
    So a race with wings, that clear CAN use them to fly as it does in certain animations, will not get that as a racial flying mount option like Worgen get Running Wild.

    What's the deal here Blizzard, are you guys trying to be, like, professional assholes or what?
  1. Rustykeyboard's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by StillMcfuu View Post
    They should release them on live servers to actually work them out with real players, not just alpha/beta testers.
    thats not how developing components in an application worksXD
  1. Kharthus's Avatar
    Sounds just like the talent system of old before it got totally unwieldy after too many expansions.
  1. McNeil's Avatar
    I doubt that Blizzard will get player housing right
  1. Relapses's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by McNeil View Post
    I doubt that Blizzard will get player housing right
    I'm inclined to agree though one could make a compelling argument that Garrisons have given them the perfect blueprint for what not to do.
  1. Balrog's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by McNeil View Post
    I doubt that Blizzard will get player housing right
    They'll do it like they did everything else prior to this : they'll take the ideas from other games that did it right and try to improve on it. Emphasis on try.
  1. Eurhetemec's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by McNeil View Post
    I doubt that Blizzard will get player housing right
    I mean, has anyone ever got it right? FFXIV definitely does not, impressive as it is.

    DAoC was kind of close, maybe. Certainly closest to what I'd want to see from Blizzard.
  1. Locruid's Avatar
    The team also wants player housing, but it is a big undertaking to get it right. If it was to be implemented, it would have to span multiple expansions and take a lot of time.

    They been saying this BS for 18 years now.

    Face it, housing is never coming. Not to me tion the "several expansion."
    We an expansion roughly every 2 years so several to me means 3+ which means a min of 6 years.........just face it they just want to keep throwing that carrot out there so you hopefuls keep subbed.
  1. Aeula's Avatar
    I have absolutely 0 interest in player housing after experiencing it in FF, SWTOR, RIFT and ESO and could do without the bag clutter and the likelyhood that RP realms will become ghost towns.

    That said, people seem to really crave it. They're missing out on catering to that audiance. Great for me, maybe less so for the longterm health of the game.
  1. Raelyn's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Eurhetemec View Post
    I mean, has anyone ever got it right? FFXIV definitely does not, impressive as it is.

    DAoC was kind of close, maybe. Certainly closest to what I'd want to see from Blizzard.
    LotRO had a decent system, from what I remember. It was like 10 years ago though in fairness so I could be well off the mark. I like FFXIV housing, it's excellent. Just can be hard to actually find a house to buy on busy servers.
  1. Locruid's Avatar
    They been saying the same thing about housing for 18 years.
    Face it they just wanna dangle the carrot and keep your sub.
  1. Kiwijello's Avatar
    They know we want housing, but didn't even begin to start it. Not buying this expansion. First one ever.

    Stop dangling carrots and treating us like we are stupid. Ion...
  1. Eurhetemec's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kiwijello View Post
    They know we want housing, but didn't even begin to start it. Not buying this expansion. First one ever.
    People who say this are never the people who actually don't buy the expansion. Those people just silently quit. People who say this either buy the expansion a few days before launch and blame their friends somehow (either claim it was "a gift" - yeah right lol - or that they couldn't leave all their friends in the lurch), or maybe wait a few weeks then get it, saying "Ok now Blizzard fixed what I was mad about!" (even if they totally didn't).
  1. StillMcfuu's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Rustykeyboard View Post
    thats not how developing components in an application worksXD
    Sure it is, Blizz does it all the time, they just trick people into looking at it on test realms before they make no change to it, let it go live and then say oops. Pretty much just described their development cycle.

    I just want them to skip the alpha/beta part where they ignore all the feedback and go straight to live during the upcoming content drought, because it won't really matter.
  1. Icecat's Avatar
    I think it's possible that Housing could be added to WoW soon. It's possible housing was even meant for Dragonflight initially and was cut, considering that leak predicting the dracthyr evoker alongside housing.

    I wouldn't say no to housing but honestly, it's sort of against their current philosophy with Dragonflight, right? If their goal is to refine core gameplay systems, it seems counterintuitive to go all in on this new mechanic that would require a ton of engineering and artwork. I don't think Blizzard has the capacity to make something new and complex like that... They should focus hard on making the core gameplay right above all else.

    Quote Originally Posted by Eurhetemec View Post
    I mean, has anyone ever got it right? FFXIV definitely does not, impressive as it is.
    I think FFXIV's housing is like perfectly where "the bar" is at. It could be a lot deeper, but there are a ton of assets, and you can easily visit other people's houses. It's also fairly stable. That stuff is like the absolute bare minimum for housing, but most devs can't even manage that.
  1. Kiwijello's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Eurhetemec View Post
    People who say this are never the people who actually don't buy the expansion. Those people just silently quit. People who say this either buy the expansion a few days before launch and blame their friends somehow (either claim it was "a gift" - yeah right lol - or that they couldn't leave all their friends in the lurch), or maybe wait a few weeks then get it, saying "Ok now Blizzard fixed what I was mad about!" (even if they totally didn't).
    People who try to psych people online are the people who look like they have no idea what psychology is?
  1. Video Games's Avatar
    Ok interview. The first 4 points are solid
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