Developer Q&A with Ion Hazzikostas - Battle for Azeroth
Ion Hazzikostas is back to talk about Battle for Azeroth!


Zandalari Trolls
  • The story of BfA details Zandalari Paladins and this arc could lead to Zandalari Paladins. We have to wait and see.
  • Zandalari Trolls won't be unlocked at the release of Battle for Azeroth, it is part of the first story arc.
  • Zandalari trolls were made slightly taller in the Alpha recently.

Allied Races
  • Allied Races will always come out in pairs for now, but in the long run they may not come out for both factions at the same time.
  • Mag'har Orcs - Mag'har means uncorrupted, not necessarily the survivors from Outland.
  • Class balance on factions is more linked to lore than equality.
  • Kul Tiran Humans were mentioned as an Allied Race.
  • As new Allied Races are added, more character slots will be added.
  • Allied Races will continue to get more customization options if they are lacking compared to other races.

Non Allied Races
  • More customization options for non-Allied races are not planned on the near horizon.
  • There is no immediate plan to give existing races Heritage Armor like Allied Races, but it is a good idea that could happen in the future.
  • Ion mentioned Racial Questlines for unlocking existing race Heritage Armor, but it's just a thought.

Dev Communication
  • Data and screenshots help get a point across when communicating with devs.
  • Rational feedback is more effective when communicating with devs over emotional feedback.
  • Personal feedback is more effective than trying to speak for everyone.
  • The platform to use for feedback depends on what the feedback is. (Forums for lists, twitter for pics)

Class Balance
  • They don't want to undo class pruning as much as wanting to add unique class abilities.
  • The team wants to double down on strengths rather than emphasize weaknesses.
  • Class envy is okay as long as it works both ways.
  • Adding more abilities every expansion isn't sustainable.
  • Giving classes new abilities usually involves giving them something that they need, and after awhile it leads to everyone feeling the same.
  • The team wants to do more with gameplay modification through external sources. This is what legendary items were trying to accomplish in Legion.
  • In Battle for Azeroth, Azerite Armor modifications are going to fill the new abilities gap.
  • Raids and Mythic + Dungeons should both test the strengths and weaknesses of classes.

Itemization
  • The team needs to do better at making primary stats stronger than secondary stats in BfA.
  • Item level should generally tell you if an item is an upgrade.
  • Items that are 20 or 25 item levels higher in Legion were sometimes not an upgrade, which is a bad thing.
  • You shouldn't have to run sims to find out of items are an upgrade.

Talents and Abilities
  • Some classes don't necessarily need the abilities from their artifact weapons.
  • If a talent choice is taken by everyone and mandatory, then it could shift to baseline or change it.
  • Legendary abilities that are getting added baseline to classes or as talents will stack with the legendary effect.
  • Switching talents between AoE and single target wasn't compelling and just felt like burning a tome.

Artifact Weapons
  • When 8.0 launches, the traits on artifact weapons will be disabled. The weapon and relics will stay, but not talents.
  • Battle for Azeroth will have traditional weapon drops including war glaives.

PvP
  • If CC is too limited, PvP turns into DPS races. It it's too much, it's frustrating.
  • The team believes teamwork comes into play when someone is locked down.
  • Useful feedback involves certain crowd control chains that can last too long.
  • Prestige rewards will still be available and earned from participation in PvP. The team doesn't want to keep adding a ton of rewards, as new players will feel like they can never earn them all. Cosmetic rewards from PvP is something the team wants to continue to build upon.
  • Something similar to the World Defense Channel could come back in some way as the faction war concept continues in BfA.

Personal Loot
  • Personal Loot is the desired loot rule moving forward.
  • Some people have kept using Master Loot to funnel set pieces to specific people, but set pieces are gone in Battle for Azeroth, so Personal Loot only is a good thing. It will help to balance things at the top end of the raid scene and split runs.

Mission Tables in BfA
  • A mission table system will be in BfA similar to Legion but less involved.
  • The mission table will not be used as a time gate.
  • War Resources will be a currency in BfA for the mission table.

Mythic +
  • The team is looking at bringing Tyrannical and Fortified down to the base level, with new Affixes at Mythic 10.
  • The Mythic+ UI will be improved.
  • The UI was based on the previous expansion challenge modes and doesn't make much sense for Mythic+.
  • New affixes are being experimented on. The team is not happy with the datamined ones.

Professions
  • The team is changing the way the universal profession skill system works. It was always a bit awkward, as the team wanted people to be able to catch up for the latest expansion. Going back to craft useless gear wasn't great.
  • There are expansion themed categories for each profession, so you can go back and level those up if you want to craft that old gear.
  • The team wants crafted gear to be relevant, but there is nothing to announce on it at the moment.

Alts
  • BfA will be similar to Legion in terms of alt-friendliness.
  • If you are looking to get varied content from alts, the team has taken a number of steps to deliver that.
  • If you are looking for more alts to farm things, that is less of what the team is trying to prioritize.
  • There were issues with alts early in Legion, but things are closer to okay now.
  • The Heart of Azeroth catch up process for Azerite will work passively in the background, similar to Artifact Knowledge.

Guilds
  • Guilds will have all the same features as the new WoW Communities.
  • Communities are smaller commitments than guilds. They are meant to organize pugs or for players that aren't in the same guild.

Leveling Experience
  • Having two separate continents for Horde and Alliance is not much different than previous expansions.
  • There are still neutral areas with quests for both factions.
  • A unique trait of BfA is once level cap is reached, these faction specific zones become zones that are utilized by both factions.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Developer Q&A with Ion Hazzikostas - Battle for Azeroth started by chaud View original post
Comments 196 Comments
  1. McNeil's Avatar
    So I just tuned in.. have they only talked about allied races or what?
  1. Killmaim Deathbringer's Avatar
    this Q and A is so boring so far
  1. Unholyground's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sett View Post
    The story of BfA details Zandalari Paladins and this arc could lead to Zandalari Paladins. We have to wait and see.

    Hopefully a no since they gave time to address why they couldn't in that quest.
    I feel like the quest to unlock the Zandalari will give us Paladin, they are being tight lipped about it because they don't want Alliance cry babies to shit themselves.
  1. Skirdus's Avatar
    Allied Races
    • Class balance on factions is more linked to lore than equality.
    Well that explains nightborne priests
  1. OokOok's Avatar
    2 years from now - "Guilds were only used as a means to hand out loot, without master loot we feel guilds are no longer needed, pugs is the way forward"
  1. mmoc4282a3f415's Avatar
    Again one of those Q&As where nothing really gets spoken about. Or it just might be that there are so many people playing this game that ask such stupid questions...
  1. Katsutomai's Avatar
    Azerite Armor modifications are going to fill the new abilities gap.
    ... So you just verified you're taking any type of true character progression away. That's great. Keep moving further and further away from the original RPG experience.
  1. Super Kami Dende's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Katsutomai View Post
    ... So you just verified you're taking any type of true character progression away. That's great. Keep moving further and further away from the original RPG experience.
    The fuck are you talking about. Azerite is max level character progression.
  1. RangerDaz's Avatar
    I was hoping for an interesting Q&A interview, especially for new features of BfA.

    After seeing it, I got the impression that it was one of the most bland and uninteresting ones they have done.
  1. Ophenia's Avatar
    BfA will be similar to Legion in terms of alt-friendliness.
    ... Oh. Really.
  1. RangerDaz's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Surfy View Post
    That would be a huge slap in the face
    That would be insulting their playerbase lol

    I doubt they would deny it after so much lore development, especially with all the $$$$$ they will get with race changes
  1. Katsutomai's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Meat Rubbing Specialist View Post
    The fuck are you talking about. Azerite is max level character progression.
    That fucking goes away next goddamned Expansion. Just like Artifact Weapons. Use your damned head.
  1. Mhyroth's Avatar
    So Ion basically confirmed an AP-like Knowledge level thing for Azurite.
    Those nay-sayers here on the Forums can crawl back in their cave.
  1. Arkura's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ophenia View Post
    ... Oh. Really.
    Tbh it aint that bad now if you dont take into account the legendaries wich wont even be a thing next expansion so yeah it became instantly more alt friendly by not having legendaries to grind.
  1. AmazonDruid's Avatar
    More customization options for non-Allied races are not planned on the near horizon.
    So orc gotta go to orthopedics and be Upright.

    But Nelf still can't have a decent EYEBROWS. The fuck blizz...
  1. Varitok's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by AmazonDruid View Post
    So orc gotta go to orthopedics and be Upright.

    But Nelf still can't have a decent EYEBROWS. The fuck blizz...
    I love when my eyebrows pierce through my helmet
  1. cuafpr's Avatar
    soooo RIP alts continues :/ was hoping that would change at least.
  1. Varitok's Avatar
    You can really tell Ion was a lawyer, The way he says 17 paragraphs worth of words to convey one sentence worth of information.
  1. slowbro202's Avatar
    I'm a little confused by this section:

    Personal Loot
    Personal Loot is the desired loot rule moving forward.
    Most raids used master loot for tier which is not in BfA.

    Is that saying master loot is going away?
  1. Onikaroshi's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by slowbro202 View Post
    I'm a little confused by this section:

    Personal Loot
    Personal Loot is the desired loot rule moving forward.
    Most raids used master loot for tier which is not in BfA.

    Is that saying master loot is going away?
    No but I wouldn't be surprised if they did something stupid like that in the future

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