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
Comments 119 Comments
  1. Xilurm's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by kamuimac View Post
    no borrowed power means no power progression after first 3 weeks of patch . but raiders will rejoice as they can log in and log out after raid.

    no legendaries means nothing exiting to wait for as player.

    crafting proffesions locked behind raiding. means its not real crafting - failed system before release. its raiders crafting

    seems like worse version of WoD incoming - more and more signs proving this will be another ultra casual unfriendly expansion aimed only at raiders.

    they even announced wolk - most casual friendly expansion as casual unfriendly due to removal of lfd

    those combined are extremly bad signes for game.

    thx god for FF14. really if it wsnt for that game mmorpgs would be dead now like wow is dead.

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    the point is they are still at war with playerbase and want to remove flying from game for as long as possible so you will get the new exiting version of engineer glider - you wil get somethign like you had in mechagon with rocket backpack - dragon will launch in the air and then glide down.

    while in flying oriented epxansion your dragon mounts will be grounded prevented from flying

    they are dead set on making this game as unfun as possible
    I don't get it. You just described the most unfun, boring game that coule possibly exist, in the same post as FF14.

    FF14 doesn't have borrowed power, yet its fun. Raiders just log in and raid and log out. The thing is that FF has lots of other fun stuff other than just endgame raiding. Which is what I think they are trying to do with Dragon Riding. I love the idea of training a dragon to fly in a more interactive way. Give me more of that stuff.
  1. Inukashi's Avatar
    So.. do I need to run m+15 to get m+15 gear, when I'm a armorsmith? Or do I not? I'm confused.
  1. czarek's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by McNeil View Post
    I doubt that Blizzard will get player housing right
    Garisons were straight connected to character progression over the expansion that was one of biggest problems. Ppl simply locked them selfes in garissons to do chores and thats it. Housing MUST be side content like pet battles.
  1. Kiwijello's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Bonkbonk100 View Post
    See you at release day
    Doing what? Not playing with dragons. I barely play as it is now. Th carrot holder belt is my big bad. It's the only reason I even log in, and I am to the point I dont even care about that anymore. While I appreciate your meme style waste of space, each case is different and I really am burnt out. This whole xpac feels watered down and just MEH. OOOOOh soaring feature!!! Goblin hang gliders anyone? I don't have much to do in game now, with them not adding anything, all I have left is that carrot holder belt.
  1. Zyrinx's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Relapses View Post
    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.
    Yeah the crafting overhaul is really exciting to me personally. I'm willing to work that system, as a non raid/m+ player.
  1. oplawlz's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Icecat View Post
    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.
    Exclusive housing is a terrible system. LOTRO did it better.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Inukashi View Post
    So.. do I need to run m+15 to get m+15 gear, when I'm a armorsmith? Or do I not? I'm confused.
    You'll need a bop item, it's unclear whether you'll have a means of aquiring them for yourself as a crafter(I doubt bliz knows yet). If you can though, the gear it makes will be bop because just being able to buy endgame gear on the ah is unhealthy for the game. At least that's what Ion is saying.
  1. deenman'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.

    Stop dangling carrots and treating us like we are stupid. Ion...
    damn dude,i would also love a good housing feature,but not playing the game because it doesnt exist is kinda silly...i also like transmog,i wouldnt quit if they removed it tomorrow,and that would be a MUCH greater offence to do to an existing feature
  1. Kiwijello's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by deenman View Post
    damn dude,i would also love a good housing feature,but not playing the game because it doesnt exist is kinda silly...i also like transmog,i wouldnt quit if they removed it tomorrow,and that would be a MUCH greater offence to do to an existing feature
    I probably wouldn't be so annoyed by it if Ion hadn't lied in an interview and said the "Team" wants housing but it's a big undertaking. The truth is, they want it NOW because everything blew up in their faces, but they didn't have time to implement it after they stripped SL2.0 from DragonFlight.

    It's not that we aren't getting a specific feature, per se, it's that they continue to let Ion lie to us. Blatantly. He NEVER wanted housing, and he almost choked on his own spit when he said it in the interview. Dangling carrots again. They need to stop.
  1. Inoculate's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kiwijello View Post
    Doing what? Not playing with dragons. I barely play as it is now. Th carrot holder belt is my big bad. It's the only reason I even log in, and I am to the point I dont even care about that anymore. While I appreciate your meme style waste of space, each case is different and I really am burnt out. This whole xpac feels watered down and just MEH. OOOOOh soaring feature!!! Goblin hang gliders anyone? I don't have much to do in game now, with them not adding anything, all I have left is that carrot holder belt.
    If you're burned out, take a break from the game? No one is forcing you to play. I haven't and will not sub to SL and it's amazing what that will do for your obviously damaged psyche.
  1. kamuimac's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Inukashi View Post
    So.. do I need to run m+15 to get m+15 gear, when I'm a armorsmith? Or do I not? I'm confused.
    more like if you want to craft any decent gear you will have to spam m+15 for recipes. or m20 and ofc anything decent will be only for mythic raiders.

    as always

    they learned nothing what crafting should be
  1. Sauredfangs's Avatar
    Maybe they can introduce player housing to Stormwind and Orgrimmar first, then spread it out to the rest of the world in another expansion.
  1. Ielenia's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Cloudmaker View Post
    No archeology? Excuse me? What a bore!
    Which is made even more egregious, IMO, considering the fact we're not participating in a military expedition to the Dragon Isles, but accompanying the Explorer's League and the Reliquary.

    Y'know, just the Alliance and Horde major archaeology groups, respectively.
  1. StillMcfuu's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by rrayy View Post
    Alpha/Beta testers ARE real players.

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    Nah your impression is what you have convinced yourself is happening, not what is actually happening. There is Zero evidence to support any of this.

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    But those haters don't actually play the game. Therefore, they do not matter.

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    It also basically keeps people on the ground until flying is fully unlocked while still allowing a form of flight at the beginning.
    Yes and no, there are a few issues with Alpha and Beta testers;
    -They are limited in numbers
    -Many who get invites play very little or they wind up playing just as testers
    -Many leave and Blizz has dried that pool of people willing to deep dive into testing for them through multiple alpha/beta cycles of ignored feedback
    -Simpler still, they aren't an accurate representation of the community, the ones who stay and test are a more hard-core subset.
    -You don't play the beta realms the same as you play the live servers, it's not your live character you aren't playing as you would day to day.
  1. Zorachus's Avatar
    If Dragonflight sucks there's at least two other MMOs coming to try out, but no idea if they'll be good or not;

    - Ashes of Creation
    - Riot Games MMO
  1. Aggressive's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Bonkbonk100 View Post
    See you at release day
    The joke is on you. You won't see my ass at release day. But keep looking. I am sure you will see someone else standing in line like a fool for Blizzard's copium.
  1. pfbe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by StillMcfuu View Post
    -You don't play the beta realms the same as you play the live servers, it's not your live character you aren't playing as you would day to day.
    I played the MoP beta far more than I played live beforehand. One of the bigger frustrations with beta/ptr is how they kneecap your instanced performance with preset/forced ilvl. I understand why they do it, but it's pretty much a boner killer for someone who is really into playing that content. A tester's motivation must be strongly in the "testing for the sake of testing" camp if they're to endure and be useful. I remember farming motes of harmony for hours on end to test a bunch of crafting professions.
  1. Inukashi's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by kamuimac View Post
    more like if you want to craft any decent gear you will have to spam m+15 for recipes. or m20 and ofc anything decent will be only for mythic raiders. as always. they learned nothing what crafting should be
    Quote Originally Posted by oplawlz View Post
    You'll need a bop item, it's unclear whether you'll have a means of aquiring them for yourself as a crafter(I doubt bliz knows yet). If you can though, the gear it makes will be bop because just being able to buy endgame gear on the ah is unhealthy for the game. At least that's what Ion is saying.
    Meh sucks. I have no problem with running 1-2 m+15 a week, but I can't spam them. It feels like work and isn't fun.

    I think a system like this would be much better:
    You build a tool, a hammer, a rod, whatever.

    You can upgrade the tool by:
    m+, raid, pvp-rating or a singleplayer challenge like torghast/magetower.
    If you get to m+15, you get a hammer that can upgrade crafted gear the highest ilvl.

    The recipes can be farmed in
    hc/lfr/random bg or lower whatever-singleplayer thing, matching the content you did.
    and every harder version of it.
    The higher the recipe, the higher your base-item you can craft and you need less upgrade-costs.

    But when you craft your gear and it comes out on hc-dungeon level, but you have a m+15 hammer, you can upgrade it to m+15, you just need a lot of mats, that you could farm outside.
    When you found your recipe on m+8 and have a pvp 2k raiting, you can upgrade the recipe to.. i don't know.. m+12?
    You could run lfr for raid-recipes and get the magetower-thing done on the highest level for mythic raid gear.
  1. Eapoe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kiwijello View Post
    I probably wouldn't be so annoyed by it if Ion hadn't lied in an interview and said the "Team" wants housing but it's a big undertaking. The truth is, they want it NOW because everything blew up in their faces, but they didn't have time to implement it after they stripped SL2.0 from DragonFlight.

    It's not that we aren't getting a specific feature, per se, it's that they continue to let Ion lie to us. Blatantly. He NEVER wanted housing, and he almost choked on his own spit when he said it in the interview. Dangling carrots again. They need to stop.
    Except they tried housing as an expansion feature.
    It didn’t work out so well as they also tried making it a self contained area that allowed players to get everything they needed in terms of crafting materials and gold.
  1. KevyB's Avatar
    *violent puking*
  1. Chromell's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by B01L View Post
    Regarding Legendaries...

    The Sylvanas's bow comment makes me hope for new Class Legendaries; but what would also be cool is if Blizz would make some quest chains to allow those with old Legendaries (such as my Fangs of the Father Rogue Legendary Daggers) to update/upgrade them for use in current/future content...
    I'd put a solid NO on this. Exciting as it might be to use old legendaries updated in new content, nobody wants to go back to old content, say, Firelands, to farm Tarecgosa's to use in the new expansion. They also have stated plenty of times they don't want items you never replace, the exception being artifacts in Legion due to obvious reasons. Every class/spec would use their niche legendary and there would be no point to introduce new wepons in the game, ever.

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