Preach Developer Interview with Ion Hazzikostas - Patch 9.1
Preach is sitting down to discuss the details of Patch 9.1 with Game Director Ion Hazzikostas!


  • Patch 9.1 Time Frame
    • Patch 9.1 is the first content developed completely from work at home.
    • There is more content already well in the way for the future and it is coming along well.
  • Korthia
    • There is a lot more for the zone that will be dropped into the PTR in the coming weeks.
    • Korthia will have more daily quests, rares, and events that are tied to the narrative and the progenitors.
    • There will be a reward system similar to mana pearls from Nazjatar without the RNG and bis issues from that patch.
  • Gear
    • Sylvanas's bow and unique drops are because she is a special boss fight.
    • The initial unique bow ability was too hard to balance, and so it was changed to what it is right now.
  • Legendaries
    • There are some pain points the team is working on for the future.
    • Wearing 2 legendaries may come later in the expansion.
    • There are no plans to add legendary refunds in 9.1 but the team is discussing it.
    • Covenant legendaries do not swap to their alternative Covenant options when switching Covenants.
  • Conduit Energy
    • Conduits are not perfect.
    • The team still stands by not having too many systems that you switch between fights.
    • They are trying to address conduits that feel mandatory.
    • It is almost impossible to accommodate the playstyle of being perfectly optimal in every situation. There is a distinction between optimal and viable.
  • Torghast
    • There will be updates to the Torghast system in the next stage of the PTR update.
    • The short team fixes of nerfing Torghast was to address the frustrations of the Torghast rewards system, but in doing so the content became less engaging.
    • The death counter in Torghast is gone in Patchj 9.1.
    • Torghast will return to being more challenging in 9.1, but you will always get your soul ash upon completion regardless of performance. You will never leave without feeling rewarded.
    • There are new UI elements for Torghast in 9.1. You will have a "hot streak" rating bar that improves your score by playing well.
    • There will be a Torghast "talent tree" similar to Visions from BFA. You will gain tower knowledge to spend on perks and upgrades to improve your runs.
    • The rating system will be on a 1-5 gem system. You need 4 gems to make it to the next floor. This can be done by being quick, or by being slower and efficient. This is not a speed run system.
    • No plans to add gear drops to Torghast. There are plenty of gear reward options in the game already.
    • They are adding more modifiers to the runs and powers. These will be both affixes and "blessings" which give positive benefits.
  • Raid - Shards of Domination
    • The Shards of Domination system is very early and not necessarily going live as is.
    • The team wants to make sure raid gear is special for raiding.
    • The general goal is to make raid gear improve performance while in the raid.
    • The team wants you to primarily be interested in the gear for the content you are doing, but complimenting that with other sources.
    • The team still plans to add tier sets back.
  • Covenants
    • There is still ongoing balance to address Covenants.
    • Overall the team is happy with Covenants as they relate to Shadowlands.
    • The team wants to carry the idea of branching paths and unique choices and experiences between players.
    • They don't necessarily want it to be in the same way as the Covenant system played out.
  • Borrowed Power
    • Awhile ago the team realized that evergreen adding systems permanently would eventually be unsustainable.
    • They saw in Draenor that there was a gap there with no new systems. This is where the idea to add temporary systems came from.
    • Legion was the most successful of this system largely because it was new to players.
    • However, Legion felt awful at the end when everything was taken away.
    • The team wants to find a middle ground. Ion uses the example of "a mage going to the Shadowlands, learning new things, and coming back better for it."
    • The team agrees that they want to move away from borrowed power.
    • There has always been some sort of borrowed power in the game (tier sets) that you eventually leave behind, but there has to be a balance.
  • Performance Gaps and Gearing Up
    • Power level from item rating has not changed even since Wrath. 1 item level is basically the equivalent of 1%.
    • If there is such a big gap between players 20 item levels apart, it is more likely a skill issue.
    • The team is happy with the catch-up systems for Renown, but they have mixed feelings on other check boxes to catch up. There are areas that could be improved.
    • There are some players who are playing alts because they are done progressing on their main character. Making catch-up mechanics too easy would do them a significant disservice. There are many players who enjoy the journey.
  • Class Design and Issues
    • Damage is a way for healers to contribute effectively when there is downtime in HPS. Disc priests were designed around this philosophy, but they should not be without weaknesses. Reigning in Spirit Shell is a way to address this. Holy Paladins have the same issue, some of which is caused by Ashen Verdict, but the team also wants to give these classes choices between damage and healing like other healers instead of just passive damage while healing.
    • The team wants every class to have a reason not to be sat. They want to make changes to spells like Anti-Magic Zone which feel too effective. An idea is to add its mitigation cap back.
    • The team is hesitant to go back to "spec-specific utility" and instead like "class utility" so that players don't feel compelled to play a specific spec.
    • The team wants to design encounters that allow for a few more melee.
    • The team ultimately would like one class or spec in each available spot, but right not it seems like there are certain classes that are way more favorable for a spot than others. They want to create encounters that allow different utility abilities to shine.
    • The team still wants niches where certain classes excel at 4 target cleave, and some favor other forms of AOE. Having uncapped AoE still exist but only on certain classes is not ideal and they want to address it.
  • World Quests
    • World quests seem less important because there is a lack of "artifact power" Anima is total optional to partake in.
    • Making world quests take longer was a design choice to switch time spent doing world quests vs travel time. Previous expansions players spent way more time traveling between quests over doing them.
  • Solo Content
    • There is nothing exactly like the mage tower in the near term, but the team loves it and wants to include something like it in the future.
    • The team has discussed having a goal for solo players to work for in manner similar to other content. They want to design more things like the Warlock green fire.
  • 9.1 is still SOON TM
This article was originally published in forum thread: Preach Developer Interview with Ion Hazzikostas - Patch 9.1 started by Stoy View original post
Comments 406 Comments
  1. Mardux's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Azmoden View Post
    How short was the bus you rode to school?
    Longer than yours apparently. How is what they said confusing to you? Person A shows something anecdotal as evidence of fact. Person B counters with something anecdotal as evidence that something is anecdotal. Person C (that'd be you) gets confused by person B and makes the insinuation that the person they can't understand is mentally challenged.
  1. Biomega's Avatar
    They want to design more things like the Warlock green fire
    They've been saying this for what, 4 expansions now?

    Add this to player housing and the dance studio, I guess.

    On the whole it's a bunch of bleh non-answers colored by the expected player-retention agenda - not making catchup easier because some people 'enjoy the journey' feels borderline insulting.
  1. Azmoden's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Mardux View Post
    Longer than yours apparently. How is what they said confusing to you? Person A shows something anecdotal as evidence of fact. Person B counters with something anecdotal as evidence that something is anecdotal. Person C (that'd be you) gets confused by person B and makes the insinuation that the person they can't understand is mentally challenged.
    My point, which went way over your head, is that he shot himself in the foot in the space of two senteces by bragging about his friends list being full, and in the next freaking sentence claiming friends lists don't matter...

    Do you get it now, or do I need to type slower?

    Ahh, I get it, you were his bench buddy in that same bus!

    It all makes sense...
  1. Lei's Avatar
    Pfffffffffffffff. What an absolute flop. Tried to watch the stream but 5 mins in I got so bored, then I tried to read the transcript but literally nothing interesting is in it.

    Man, even the latest Sims stream was better than this.
  1. ParanoiD84's Avatar
    Well that was boring and just meh all around.
  1. Cavox's Avatar
    I didn't bother to watch it. Did Ion answer with his usual PR speech and non-answers about what "the team" wanted to achieve?
  1. Jujudrood's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Alja View Post
    "Making world quests take longer was a design choice to switch time spent doing world quests vs travel time. Previous expansions players spent way more time traveling between quests over doing them."

    This just seems objectively false. If you want to go from zone to zone in this expansion you HAVE to take a flight path through Oribos. In Legion if I wanted to go from Stormheim to Azuna to do a daily I wasn't forced to fly through Dalaran each time. If I am wrong and the travel time is less please let me know because currently it feels like it takes forever to get anywhere.
    I think what he tried to say was:
    "In BFA, you would finish world quests within a minute of landing, some even less, and it took you 2.5 minutes to get there, so in SL, it takes a few minutes to do some WQs and it also takes a few minutes to fly there, so it's more balanced in time played vs time travelled".

    Which of course means "we made it take longer because reasons".

    They just missed the point that WQs aren't engaging or varied enough to be considered fun by a great many people, and making them take even longer to complete because travel time has increased AND the quest time itself has increased really just encourages people to not bother with them.
  1. Sanguinerd's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Alroxas View Post
    The question I have is why? Why does a casual with zero interest in high M+ keys or Mythic raiding need gear at ilv 220+? Sure I get that we all may want BiS top end gear but for most players, reward = effort put in and for a casual, the effort is relatively low in comparison to a dedicated Mythic raider who also pushes high (above 15+) keys on a regular basis including Tyrannical weeks.

    And then there's also the question of effort on the part of the casual: Honestly it doesn't take much effort to clear a handful of +4s for the weekly chest or even do a few YOLO RBGs up to 1400 PvP rating (even as Alliance).
    They don't and they're not asking for 220. But a dead stop at around 200 isn't fun for anyone.

    The effort of m+ isn't the issue either, I'd say it's more the content itself and the people you're forced to do it with.

    It's made less awful with a group of people you know though (only reason I'm doing it) but plenty of solo players avoid it because of that.
  1. Goat7's Avatar
    Korthia - There will be a reward system similar to mana pearls from Nazjatar without the RNG and bis issues from that patch
    Sylvanas's bow and unique drops are because she is a special boss fight.
    Covenant legendaries do not swap to their alternative Covenant options when switching Covenants

    These 3 things popped out at me. So looks like 9.1 is gonna be awful at best. peace out rabbit
  1. deenman's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by damonskye View Post
    I honestly think the thing that depresses me the most about these interviews is the lack of insight by the developer team into the trends that EVERYONE understands but them.

    Take, for example, the point Preach brought up about item level. Ion pushed back against this saying their item budget was just like it was during Wrath. But let's face it... nobody thinks it's the same as it was in Wrath. Someone with ten item levels above you isn't doing 10% more DPS, they're literally doing 50% more. Anyone in M+ or raids understands this. It's an example of the player base perceiving something, and the developers saying no, this can't possibly be the case and our numbers are correct... but those numbers are entirely opposite of what the players perceive.

    Another example, Preach mentioned the Maw starting area skip. There was no reaction whatsoever from Ion. This is literally something that 99% of the player base has asked for... but nothing. Crickets.

    I truly don't understand why they even bother with these interviews. Personally I'm tired of everyone so outgearing the raids via M+ that the loot awarded inside the raid becomes useless (or, people are still stuck with sub-200 gear because the only thing that drops for them to take them out of the hole is on Denathrius). The answer to these issues always seems to be "working as intended". Well, that's fine, it might be working as intended, but working as it's intended is boring, annoying or extremely irritating, and it's killing the spirit of your players.
    i think some actual math needs to be sone here,i recall very clearly in wrath that going from one tier to the next the dps increase was huge,a player with shadowmourn and huge armor pen and the icc trinkets would demolish someone with trial gear
  1. Revamp Man's Avatar
    what do you plan on doing about conduit energy??

    "well everyone hates it but we dont want farm content to be fun"
  1. Edward Wu's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Utrrabbit View Post
    Yeah.. no. You are 100% wrong. SL is the most casual friendly the game has ever been. Vanilla was more sweaty than SL. If you think SL caters to the top players, frankly your just wrong.
    Gearing up in Classic is way easier than gearing up in SL. This entire post is a cope.
  1. Wrath of the Lich King's Avatar
    Gearing was easiest when we have four different badge types to choose from and Tier armor from a vendor. Blizzard should just bring this back.
  1. Niwes's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Cæli View Post
    looks like what they deliver is hamster wheel content, maybe players like that
    thats what they deliver since years...

    and, funny, EXACTLY thats the point. regardless if you like all that hamsters wheel stuff or not, its just „more of the same“.

    - i read the notes
    - i read the interview
    - i forget for a moment that i hate all that hamster stuff...
    - i forget for a moment that a lot of modern design is just for feeding their top1 smart cash grab system (token)
    - i look at 9.1 and think „ok, sounds good. could be nice.“
    - for a moment, a tiny second, i am microhyped for 9.1
    but then this comes in my mind: „nothing new. more of the same.“

    so, idk Blizz...
  1. Cuppy's Avatar
    Power level from item rating has not changed even since Wrath. 1 item level is basically the equivalent of 1%.
    If there is such a big gap between players 20 item levels apart, it is more likely a skill issue.
    So I’m definitely the absolute worst in math, but... is he saying someone 20 ilvls higher should do 20% more damage, but if there is such gap, it’s skill issue?
  1. Katchii's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Edward Wu View Post
    Gearing up in Classic is way easier than gearing up in SL. This entire post is a cope.
    How is it easier? And at what point are you talking about? Leveling? 50-60/ Fresh 60 (Classic where you can start running BRD, DM, LBRS, UBRS, etc...)? or 60 and getting geared from raids?

    SL has FAR more options and avenues of attaining relevant gear than Classic, so you can participate in multiple types of content and be almost guaranteed that you're going to get an upgrade/ something useful. You can't say the same for Classic.
  1. Wrath of the Lich King's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Cuppy View Post
    So I’m definitely the absolute worst in math, but... is he saying someone 20 ilvls higher should do 20% more damage, but if there is such gap, it’s skill issue?
    Preach implied it was "multiple times," Ion responded that it shouldn't be that much and that if it seems like it is, it's probably because the guy with 220 item level parsing at the 80th or above percentile is a lot better than somebody at 200 parsing in the 10th percentile.
  1. Trumpcat's Avatar
    Questions when you compare someone with 200-205 ilevel to someone with 220-225 ilevel and ask why is 20 such a huge gap:
    - Is the 200ilvl with optimized secondary stats? (bis on most slots)
    - Do they have bis trinkets?
    - Did they socket those 200ilvl items?
    - Do they also have their bis conduits?
    - Is the Soulbind fully unlocked?
    - How about r4 bis legendary and full range of consumables?

    Those questions are mostly yes for someone 220+, but they aren't for a 200. Let alone that if you are 200 at this point in the game, regardless of whether it's an alt or a new/returning player you do not have the experience and skill built to perform at the level of someone who has spent months running the most challenging content, farmed their gear and honed their performance.

    There is a lot more to character progression than looking at ilevel and pretending you know the "facts". The first thing that should come to mind is that if the main stat difference is about 10% (or whatever number he said), does that account to the same spec having double the output? Since 10% isn't double, then there must be something else than the pure ilevel, hm?
  1. Alroxas's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sanguinerd View Post
    They don't and they're not asking for 220. But a dead stop at around 200 isn't fun for anyone.
    Then what are casuals asking for? 210? 207? Regardless of what the number is, my question remains: What does a Casual need the gear for if they aren't engaging in content that requires it? Alternatively, ilv 200 is sufficient enough to go back and solo most things back in BFA (maybe not Mythic Ny'alotha raid).


    Quote Originally Posted by Sanguinerd View Post
    plenty of solo players avoid it because of that.
    And that's another issue, WoW is built as a MMORPG. Certain activities require group/team play in the current content. If folks don't want to group up, there are more than a handful of prior expansions content that is soloable but current content in WoW has always required some level group effort for dungeons/raids/BGs/Arenas. There are exceptional players that are able to pull off solo current content but those are exceptions and not the norm.
  1. Sanguinerd's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Alroxas View Post
    Then what are casuals asking for? 210? 207? Regardless of what the number is, my question remains: What does a Casual need the gear for if they aren't engaging in content that requires it? Alternatively, ilv 200 is sufficient enough to go back and solo most things back in BFA (maybe not Mythic Ny'alotha raid).




    And that's another issue, WoW is built as a MMORPG. Certain activities require group/team play in the current content. If folks don't want to group up, there are more than a handful of prior expansions content that is soloable but current content in WoW has always required some level group effort for dungeons/raids/BGs/Arenas. There are exceptional players that are able to pull off solo current content but those are exceptions and not the norm.
    Doesn't matter what they need the gear for, what matters is feeling like their character is progressing in some way. Having that taken away is in part why so many have quit. That directly ties into the mmoRPG part of the game

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