Developer Q&A - Ion Hazzikostas

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Forbes Interview with Ion Hazzikostas on Battle for Azeroth's Launch
Forbes sat down with Ion Hazzikostas to discuss the launch of BfA and hot topics from the community.



  • The team has enjoyed seeing the millions of people dive into the world of Battle for Azeroth.
  • Ion admits that there was some major issues at launch such as the auction house lag and the Legion Mythic + data carrying over to the first week of BfA Mythic +.
  • When they introduce major new systems, there's a lot to learn in terms of player feedback, from the beta to seeing millions of people interacting with them in a much more real way.
  • The team is actively trying to bring Azerite Traits in line with each other via Hotfix.
  • The "we told you our issues during beta" criticism is always tricky because there are many different people with many different opinions and play styles doing a variety of different content. It is impossible to please everyone, but they are always listening.
  • Things like long ramp up times for Shadow Priests and Feral Druids are major concerns because it essentially does make them irrelevant for the environment of Mythic +, and the team recognizes that as a problem.
  • The team makes sure that the core systems of the expansion are polished and ready to go, but realize that they can't delay an entire expansion for millions of players if a specific class or spec is not perfect.
  • Ion never said that the classes were not complete in the Q & A in which he said certain specs needed to wait for a patch to get adjustments, just that some of them needed to be adjusted and looked at still.
  • The truth of the matter is that classes are never complete in WoW and are always being adjusted and iterated. Often times changes in beta require other unforeseen additional changes in live.
  • The team recognizes that pressing several abilities on the global cooldown that do nothing but buff your character is not good gameplay and plan to address it (such as with frost death knight). They want to further develop classes so that these abilities do more than just buff.
  • Gameplay hasn't necessarily slowed down so much as whenever a new expansion launches stats have to be brought down as a character levels in order to stop characters from getting ridiculous stat percentages.
  • The team's top priority as of now is getting out content consistently and working on the Azerite System and the feel of Island Expeditions.
  • Azerite Armor was easily accessible in early game, but the team realizes that it became hard to acquire as you progressed in item level.
  • They are looking at how they can improve delivery of Azerite armor to get it into player's hands without also just having a loot hose where suddenly everyone is drowning in the stuff and it doesn't feel like it's even a reward anymore. They want to find a happy medium.
  • The team wants the Azerite powers to be more than just an externally solved math problem and give decisions such as what is most enjoyable for gameplay.
  • The team likes some sort of mystery that requires players to solve such as with Reorigination Array. They like to see players figuring out that this special buff takes 3 bosses per week to upgrade and that it basically happens organically as you raid.
  • The team recognizes that they could have done a better job explaining the different phases that happen during Warfront progression.
  • The team also recognizes that they should have explained the changes to the amount of loot rewarded from your weekly cache before BfA went live.
  • The team still wants Island Expeditions to be the best way to obtain Azerite and will continue to iterate on Island Expedition rewards as a whole.
  • They want Island Expeditions to feel more like questing and exploring in the world while leveling, meaning more clear roads and camps that lead to quests and objectives that are more dynamic.
  • The main source of pride for this expansion is the art team and the world that they created.
  • The team is happy with how War Mode turned out as well as the dungeons and raid.
  • It was awesome to see the race for Mythic World First.


Blizzcon Early Access Sale
Blizzcon attendees and virtual ticket holders can now view the early access sale for some Blizzcon merchandise!




Play with the Blues - Darkshore Warfront
You can help test the Darkshore Warfront with the Blizzard Devs tomorrow at 1 PM Pacific!
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
Tomorrow - Friday, October 12, starting at 1 PM Pacific (4 PM Eastern) - many members of the World of Warcraft design and QA teams will be hitting up the PTR to test the new Darkshore Warfront being added in Tides of Vengeance!

This initial test will feature the Alliance version of the Warfront. For testing purposes, it'll be accessible to characters level 110 to 120, and be forced active for the duration of the test regardless of the state of the Darkshore zone. We've also added an extra Warfront table to Stormwind to help newly-created PTR characters get in on the test easier, and sped up the overall cycle (again, to aid with testing).

Your participation is invaluable at this stage of development for the new Warfront, so we'd love to see you join us tomorrow as we put it through its paces. Thank you!

Join The Great Gnomeregan Run–October 13!
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Are you a gnome? Do you know a gnome? Would you like to BE a gnome? (And who wouldn’t?) Then rise UP to the challenge of The Great Gnomeregan Run on Saturday, October 13 from Gnomeregan to Booty Bay.

Where: Beginning outside the gnome starting area and ending in Booty Bay
Who: Alliance-Only (Don’t worry, Horde can create a level 1 gnome and join in the fun too.)

Whether you’re a level 1 gnome (highly encouraged), a level 71 human, or a level 110 draenei, you’ll be able to join in this fun run beginning in the gnome starting area, winding through Dun Morogh, Ironforge, the Deeprun Tram, Stormwind, Elwynn Forest, Duskwood, and Stranglethorn Vale where the run culminates in Booty Bay.


It's a big big BIG world out there, but don’t worry about getting lost, there will be course markers and spectators along the way to help keep you on track. You’ll even see a few familiar faces among the onlookers!



Stranglethorn Vale is a dangerous place for low-level characters so you may want to find some muscle to join you along the way for a little extra protection. If you’re a higher-level character, think about playing chaperone for a gnome.

Whether short or tall, it will be a good time for all.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Forbes BfA Interview, Blizzcon Early Access Sale, Darkshore Warfront with Devs started by Stoy View original post
Comments 116 Comments
  1. dranlord's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Gadzooks View Post
    "Direction" is literally in his fucking job title.

    The board at ATVI don't have one fuck to give about gameplay, classes, or warfronts. All they care about is profits - how Ion and Brack do that? That's up to them.

    Ion is the DIRECTOR of WoW. Thus, he's responsible for the direction of the game, regardless if the ideas are his, or the teams. The Board at ATVI is not sending him emails to not let raids go into warfronts as a group. Ion and his team decided that.
    LOL dude u have 0 clue how a director job is actually, every decision he take need to be a probe no meter what.
  1. Renuts's Avatar
    I never thought I could grow to despise someone the way that I despise Ion. I loathe everything that comes out of his mouth because of how clearly detrimental his thinking and actions are towards creating a video game that is actually fun to play. More and more people are finally beginning to see the damage he is causing to this game. The people who actually created World of Warcraft are all gone, and the people who are now being tasked with picking up the pieces would so clearly be better off creating mobile games instead.

    That interview is a bunch of hot garbage, just like BFA.

    For the last month I have literally only logged in on Mondays to play for a few hours just to do a few of the soon to expire weekly tasks, and only out of some kind of inherent obligation. This is in stark contrast to early on in Legion where I actually logged in more than once a week because I was playing out of enjoyment, and not out of the ingrained obligation that you develop from playing this type of game. The kind of learned behavior that makes you believe that you are somehow missing out if you don't do your weekly in-game tasks.

    I lasted for about 10 months before losing interest in Legion, and now after just 2 months in BFA I'm basically already holding on by my fingernails. I love World of Warcraft for what it was, and what it could be, NOT for what it has become. I think I just don't want to accept that I have already quit for the foreseeable future, I just didn't know it yet.

    I'm looking forward to picking up Divinity Original Sin 2 again for the definitive edition, and frankly there are so many great games out right now, and being released every month that are more worth your time than anything Ion and company would have the potential to create. World of Warcraft desperately needs some developers with true passion for creating FUN games.
  1. Gadzooks's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by dranlord View Post
    LOL dude u have 0 clue how a director job is actually, every decision he take need to be a probe no meter what.
    My years in corporate America have given me an extensive knowledge of what directors do, kid.
  1. Al Gorefiend's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Renuts View Post
    I never thought I could grow to despise someone the way that I despise Ion. I loathe everything that comes out of his mouth because of how clearly detrimental his thinking and actions are towards creating a video game that is actually fun to play. More and more people are finally beginning to see the damage he is causing to this game. The people who actually created World of Warcraft are all gone, and the people who are now being tasked with picking up the pieces would so clearly be better off creating mobile games instead.

    That interview is a bunch of hot garbage, just like BFA.

    For the last month I have literally only logged in on Mondays to play for a few hours just to do a few of the soon to expire weekly tasks, and only out of some kind of inherent obligation. This is in stark contrast to early on in Legion where I actually logged in more than once a week because I was playing out of enjoyment, and not out of the ingrained obligation that you develop from playing this type of game. The kind of learned behavior that makes you believe that you are somehow missing out if you don't do your weekly in-game tasks.

    I lasted for about 10 months before losing interest in Legion, and now after just 2 months in BFA I'm basically already holding on by my fingernails. I love World of Warcraft for what it was, and what it could be, NOT for what it has become. I think I just don't want to accept that I have already quit for the foreseeable future, I just didn't know it yet.

    I'm looking forward to picking up Divinity Original Sin 2 again for the definitive edition, and frankly there are so many great games out right now, and being released every month that are more worth your time than anything Ion and company would have the potential to create. World of Warcraft desperately needs some developers with true passion for creating FUN games.
    I just hate how powerless players are when devs do the shit Ion is doing.

    Any other job on the planet requires some form of passion and decent public relations. That dude who got caught on camera spitting on a customers pizza got fired immediately. Yet here Ion is, spitting on the game we all pay $100s a year on, with this smug look on his face like "I know better than you millions of people do".

    And he still has his job! It's incredible, just mind-blowing. How he has such a leading position within the WoW team yet doesn't at all want to make it fun.
  1. Gadzooks's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Al Gorefiend View Post
    I just hate how powerless players are when devs do the shit Ion is doing.

    Any other job on the planet requires some form of passion and decent public relations. That dude who got caught on camera spitting on a customers pizza got fired immediately. Yet here Ion is, spitting on the game we all pay $100s a year on, with this smug look on his face like "I know better than you millions of people do".

    And he still has his job! It's incredible, just mind-blowing.
    I honestly wonder if the rest of the team below him sit there and cringe when he speaks publically, and if there are private discords and chat conversations with them going "What the fuck did he just say? Did he really tell them we knew the expansion wasn't done? What the fuck?"

    Or, are they all brainwashed drones like Lore?
  1. oathy's Avatar
    Each interview he gives. More convinced now he wont be there in 2019.
    the line about beta feedback is just awful. No people kept saying the same thing
    over and over and not ranting. It was constructive and detailed.
    when there was a reply "its still beta"..

    trouble was nothing changed as it went to the actual expansion.
    so they havent learned anything from WOD.
  1. THEORACLE64's Avatar
    He’s awful honestly. I’ve never liked him tbh, and he just keeps getting worse.
  1. Naiattavain's Avatar
    a good question forbes should of asked Ion is why does your rogue suck and any plans to fix the experience?
  1. oathy's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by THEORACLE64 View Post
    He’s awful honestly. I’ve never liked him tbh, and he just keeps getting worse.
    BFA really has put a torch on him and the team.
    If we can see clear failings other people can in blizzard.
    the way he's talking its like sorting out the mid term lull all expansions have
    not just a few months into a new one
  1. Kithelle's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Maarius View Post
    he's right though, there WAS a lot of feedback and there WAS a lot of BS-feedback as well. I can imagine that if you have no one who filters out the good from the bad, that it's impossible to find useful information.

    A lot of feedback is also not useful. Statements like "remove the GCD change, it's garbage" isn't useful since it doesn't adress the reason why they implemented it in the first place. I've seen no thread where someone who doesn't like it mentioned the problem Ion talked about above.
    And? They practically ignore all feedback that is given because they "know* better....you wonder why they cause people to get so toxic.

    He is one of the few smug assholes who I'd really say has a punchable face, him along with Ajit Pai I just want to take a swing at smug douchebags like them.
  1. Kallisto's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by VanishO2 View Post
    Unfortunatelly they're doing it for the rewards.

    They're not minor pve rewards. Extra XP, rep (and of course honor, which is 0 from pve), azerite, dmg and healing (both fro the kill buff and from the powerful pvp skills) for faster WQ completion and gear drops (the chests).

    At launch, just the extra XP and damage was enough. While I was still at 111 with WM off, all my friends and guildies with WM on where already 113 and when we had the power drop from disabled legendaries, they were still doing high damage to mobs while I was suffering from the bad mob power scaling at 117-120. And those bonuses in a expansion where each side plays on it's own map...

    In the end I just turned WM on and enjoyed a much faster leveling and less problems with mob scaling. Turned it off again at 120 for WQs, but can still see how far ahead others are in azerite, rep and gear... while doing the same activities. When I turn it on for some specific activity (like the WM achievements or making it easier to find groups for Arathi rares), I can see so many players trying to avoid wpvp with WM on, because of the unecessary bonuses, instead of just turning it off.

    Players just standing there, still (or trying to run away), because they don't want to do it, they're doing that only for the damn bonuses.

    People should be playing with WM on because they like it, just like when they decided to play on pvp realms. Not because they'll receive plenty of pve rewards and faster progression for doing so while the others receive 0.
    Then people need to learn this little thing.

    Just because something is slightly more rewarding doesn't mean they are forced to do it even if they are super mythic and can choose not to.
  1. Utigarde's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by dblanch369 View Post
    That's about right on the mark.

    And "millions of people" playing? Who is he kidding? Didn't they stop tracking subs when they went below 500k? (or something, I don't remember the exact #)

    Ion is completely full of shit.
    WoW's lowest recorded point was 5.6 million. The last two expansions there have been devs commenting separate from earnings reports talking about having over 10 million at the start of Legion and BfA. Millions is the correct term to use.
  1. Exkrementor's Avatar
    "The "we told you our issues during beta" criticism is always tricky because there are many different people with many different opinions and play styles doing a variety of different content. It is impossible to please everyone, but they are always listening."

    -Since day 1 Alpha nearly everybody told them that there were major issues with azerite gear, secondary stats and class design. They started adressing these issues a month before launch so only a few classes could get fixed and then they said they didnt had enough time. Bullshit.

    "The team makes sure that the core systems of the expansion are polished and ready to go, but realize that they can't delay an entire expansion for millions of players if a specific class or spec is not perfect."


    -Then maybe dont launch that unfinished game a month earlier. Nobody would have minded another month or two of argus.

    "The team also recognizes that they should have explained the changes to the amount of loot rewarded from your weekly cache before BfA went live."

    -That is a total lie and you know it. Blizzard changed it last second and said that it always was supposed to be this way. We know it, Ion knows it, everybody knows it. Its like he is spitting in our face at this point.

    "The main source of pride for this expansion is the art team and the world that they created."

    -Yeah bacause everything else sucks or is totally broken.

    "Gameplay hasn't necessarily slowed down so much as whenever a new expansion launches stats have to be brought down as a character levels in order to stop characters from getting ridiculous stat percentages."

    They changed the math on secondary stats so that you just dont get as much. So this statement ist totally wrong and he knows that.



    Its sad to see the game director throwing such obvious lies in our faces. Bring Ghostcrawler back I say!
  1. Zaganite's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Exkrementor View Post
    "The "we told you our issues during beta" criticism is always tricky because there are many different people with many different opinions and play styles doing a variety of different content. It is impossible to please everyone, but they are always listening."

    -Since day 1 Alpha nearly everybody told them that there were major issues with azerite gear, secondary stats and class design. They started adressing these issues a month before launch so only a few classes could get fixed and then they said they didnt had enough time. Bullshit.

    "The team makes sure that the core systems of the expansion are polished and ready to go, but realize that they can't delay an entire expansion for millions of players if a specific class or spec is not perfect."


    -Then maybe dont launch that unfinished game a month earlier. Nobody would have minded another month or two of argus.

    "The team also recognizes that they should have explained the changes to the amount of loot rewarded from your weekly cache before BfA went live."

    -That is a total lie and you know it. Blizzard changed it last second and said that it always was supposed to be this way. We know it, Ion knows it, everybody knows it. Its like he is spitting in our face at this point.

    "The main source of pride for this expansion is the art team and the world that they created."

    -Yeah bacause everything else sucks or is totally broken.

    "Gameplay hasn't necessarily slowed down so much as whenever a new expansion launches stats have to be brought down as a character levels in order to stop characters from getting ridiculous stat percentages."

    They changed the math on secondary stats so that you just dont get as much. So this statement ist totally wrong and he knows that.



    Its sad to see the game director throwing such obvious lies in our faces. Bring Ghostcrawler back I say!
    I also like how he keeps pushing Azerite gear and traits in everyones face during any interview or Q&A! Its to late to try and fix it and they should have listened to the feedback. Its complete BS - I remember in Legion when we were told no more carrying around a pile of gear because everything goes to your spec and it was a god send! Now I have bags full of stuff again and its ridicolous! they did all these changes including the GCD change to make everything slower to give them more time to fix everything. I much prefer WoD to this
  1. ElDoorO's Avatar
    Ion never said that the classes were not complete in the Q & A in which he said certain specs needed to wait for a patch to get adjustments, just that some of them needed to be adjusted and looked at still.
    The truth of the matter is that classes are never complete in WoW and are always being adjusted and iterated. Often times changes in beta require other unforeseen additional changes in live.
    He should become a lawyer. He's desperate now.

    I'm pretty sure during Legion they said they had new tools to help "tweak" and "adjust" classes so they could easily fine tune them in situations like this...
    Or did they throw it away? They seem to throw a lot of good things away.
  1. Enan1981's Avatar
    So thats why they were doing the 6 month promo... Trying to pad the numbers for this interview? *Smirk* XD
  1. lockybalboa's Avatar
    More lawyer talk and lies!
  1. Alopex Major's Avatar
    They're happy with War Mode? Oh right, the devs play Horde, of course they are.
  1. OPLIX's Avatar
    It's like reading a first grader's book report.
  1. Freaking Frumpy Frak's Avatar
    Look at that dead eyed look on his face, he's totally burned out. It's time Blizzard got someone with a bit more passion for the job to lead the WoW team.

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