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. mmocd08eb6ddf2's Avatar
    Bah, wrong quote, sorry. I was talking to DesoPL.
  1. FelPlague's Avatar

    @chaud
    you put Alts twice
  1. Tiwack's Avatar
    Wish these two leeches would get their heads out of their own butts.

    Pay to be able to participate in a great game while having little to none to say on the future direction of it. It truly sucks.
  1. Hiromant's Avatar
    That's how being a client works.
  1. Segus1992's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Gsara View Post
    Im not sure how I feel about personal loot being the only option for raids.
    With no tier and ilvl = upgrade no matter what, does it matter at all? Gearing is not a thing anymore, you just upgrade your ilvl by 0.5 points, get 0.5% damage, and move on to the next boss. Thought-based decision making is not encouraged.
  1. Saverem's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by DesoPL View Post
    Seriously again nothing about gnome paladins...

    Oh no, the 2 people that play Gnomes will be so disappointed.
  1. Segus1992's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ophenia View Post
    Well Void Elves are still Blood Elves anyway so



    Ion said BfA will be the same level at Alt-friendliness as Legion.
    So, there will be something completely alt-unfriendly that will replace the Legiondaries.

    The fact there is a catchup mechanic for the Azerite is enough for this expac to be alt-unfriendly. It was shit in Legion (until the moment they finally decided to give everyone the same Knowledge, which will still be an end-of-expansion mechanic, likely), and they didn't learn anything by not setting this Heart of Azeroth as unique for all specs.
    How the hell is the bolded part "likely"? Do you think they thought the original system was good? It's one thing to not believe Blizzard can do good design, it's another entirely to think they're all just stupid.
  1. Aestholus's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by FelPlague View Post

    @chaud
    you put Alts twice
    Professions too
  1. Queen of Hamsters's Avatar
    Not a very exhaustive Q&A, nothing major was revealed and no action on the Alpha...

    At least the chat of Twitch proved once and for all how fortunate we are that random nobodies are not in control of this game.

    Random 1: M+ has been great, will Uncharted Islands utilize affixes as part of their randomness?
    Random 2: M+ WAS SHIT LOL THIS GAME DEAD USED TO BE GREAT BUT BLIZZ ONLY CARE 'BOUT MONIES!!!!!!!!!!!111

  1. Ophenia's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Segus1992 View Post
    How the hell is the bolded part "likely"? Do you think they thought the original system was good? It's one thing to not believe Blizzard can do good design, it's another entirely to think they're all just stupid.
    Well, they had the possibility to make the Azerite neck the same for all your specs (that's a damn neck), that would make sense (of course that couldn't have worked for Artifact weapons as they are designed).

    So yes, they still want us to farm like hell to keep alt-specs on par, that seems obvious to me.

    They even said the catch-up mechanics will be the same as Legion. And during Legion, catch-up mechanics arrived late, and the only one that was fine was the last one.
  1. Segus1992's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ophenia View Post
    Well, they had the possibility to make the Azerite neck the same for all your specs (that's a damn neck), that would make sense (of course that couldn't have worked for Artifact weapons as they are designed).

    So yes, they still want us to farm like hell to keep alt-specs on par, that seems obvious to me.

    They even said the catch-up mechanics will be the same as Legion. And during Legion, catch-up mechanics arrived late, and the only one that was fine was the last one.
    And they said it'd be more like it was towards the end, specifically mentioning being 3 AKs behind and that feeling terrible. Did you not watch it and just came here to whine about things they actually adressed?
  1. VyersReaver's Avatar
    BfA will have traditional weapon drops including war glaives.
    Oh, good. Can't wait to NOT get any other weapons as a DH ("Just wait for the glaive to drop, mate").
  1. Super Kami Dende's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Katsutomai View Post
    That fucking goes away next goddamned Expansion. Just like Artifact Weapons. Use your damned head.
    ALL Player progression except Levels in an expansion goes away at the end of a goddamned expansion, Use your damned head.
  1. DesoPL's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Saverem View Post
    Oh no, the 2 people that play Gnomes will be so disappointed.
    Blame blizzard for putting gnome priests back in CATA.
  1. Dracullus's Avatar
    I liked what Ion said about feedback, but it was kinda pointless. People with brain know this already, rest.. well they'll keep bitching as usual.
  1. Edlarel's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by VyersReaver View Post
    Oh, good. Can't wait to NOT get any other weapons as a DH ("Just wait for the glaive to drop, mate").
    Nah, it'll be just like any expansion. Demon hunters will equip 1h swords, axes, fists, and warglaives. Not sure if they get any 2h.

    Warglaives, meanwhile, will likely go to the classes that can win them from Illidan (rogue, monk, warrior, death knight) in addition to demon hunters. This will be no more an issue than giving a rogue a 1h sword over a dagger.
  1. Ashcrack's Avatar
    If a talent choice is taken by everyone and mandatory, then it could shift to baseline or change it.
    They always say this but nothing ever happens...
  1. Katsutomai's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Meat Rubbing Specialist View Post
    ALL Player progression except Levels in an expansion goes away at the end of a goddamned expansion, Use your damned head.
    Only since Legion and now BFA. Legion cut huge swaths out of characters and then put in inside an Artifact Weapon. That was taken away. Now it's being added back as Azerite gear. Only to be taken away yet again at the end of BFA. Legion didn't add any Talents. BFA won't add any Talents. We're going backwards instead of forwards. Shit like this didn't happen in MoP and earlier. Blizzard is slowly taking away core RPG elements while pushing RNG harder than ever.
  1. Bormec's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ophenia View Post
    Well Void Elves are still Blood Elves anyway so
    All of the Allied Races are really just subraces, but in the case of all of them, they’ve been physiologically altered by outside forces, natural or cosmic/divine. Barring some kind of unreleased quest text saying they crossbred with the Drust or were subjected to a witchs’ curse, then the only thing that has affected Kul Tirans to be different than any other human is an over abundance or severe lack of food.
  1. Masternewt's Avatar
    Grats, you cried enough to get zandalari paladins. Can you now cry us some actual content for BfA?

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