Developer Q&A with Ion Hazzikostas

[Aerisot]

"What would an Old God themed Paladin set even look like?"

Well, the light likes to corrupt everything it touches, so why not make the set have tentacles surrounding it, but instead of all slimy and gross, they are light infused and dripping bright shiny holy goo, so the paladin's armor would be holy tentacles wrapped around the armor and constantly moving.

To me, it just seems like they do not want to waste tier sets on a filler expansion.

[Deleted]

A hard cap on Titanforging that kept it from going into the Mythic item level space would be very restrictive.

I'm fucking done.

[Leyre]

>Combat forms of Zandalari Trolls will not change to other animals, just the travel form.

And all my hype about zandalari trolls its gone

[Zeilar]

I'm fucking done.

So am I dude.. so am I.

That answer alone made me bring out my pitchfork.

[Daedius]

The team would like to hear from players that are actively using 50 characters.

That'd probably number in the double digits, excluding gold seller bots spamming.

[Awsyme]

To be fair, if they keep adding classes, it's a lot of work for not much.. considering artwork is the bottleneck in development, not sure it's such a bad thing.

I'm going to assume you will get one set per xpac now, instead of 3, and will be link to challenge stuff like the Mage Tower or MOP Challenge Modes, but not one with every raid tier.

Artwork isn't ever much of a bottleneck, if anything it's one of the things that gets done first. Animation, effects and coding are almost always where teams don't have enough people for the job.

[Logwyn]

Are they saying they make no Warrior, Paladin and Death Knight set but just one overall Plate set? In that case, disgusting idea.

They did this in WOTLK was horrible with the tourney raids didn't they?

"A size of 20 allows for a wide variety of classes" for mythic..... yeah we really see a variety of classes in all those world first kills don't we with all druids and rogues!

[Adoxe]

WTS is that question?
"The team would like to hear from players that are actively using 50 characters."

They cannot make an SQL/Oracle macro in their database to get the exact numbers for this? OMG...

How about watch the whole thing? He literally said they checked the statistics and there is very few people compared to the overall playerbase that actually have 50 active characters so there's no reason for them to increase the amount. They would like to hear the opinions of those who do, which is what the quote is referring to. I also have 50 characters, and most of em are active, but I'm not gonna pretend to be part of the majority and that I should be the reason why they add something to the game that isn't gonna be used by the majority.

[Onikaroshi]

They did this in WOTLK was horrible with the tourney raids didn't they?

"A size of 20 allows for a wide variety of classes" for mythic..... yeah we really see a variety of classes in all those world first kills don't we with all druids and rogues!

No matter the raid size, 10-400, when it comes to world first there will always be class stacking, the issue lies in when you get past world 100 and it's still going on.

[Kathranis]

Are they saying they make no Warrior, Paladin and Death Knight set but just one overall Plate set? In that case, disgusting idea.

No, they said they will be doing the same number of armor sets overall, potentially even more, but that they won't be class-themed.

They said there will be a tier quality set for each armor type for each zone/raid tier, plus separate faction-themed sets for PVP and Warfronts.

They specifically cited the following themed sets for each armor type: Zandalari, Kul Tiran, Titan, Horde, Alliance, and naga/highborne.

That should be in addition to the questing, dungeon, and crafted set. Plus there's also the six Heritage Armor sets at launch.

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What? That was not what he said, he was asked if there will be ONE set for every armory type, and he said yes. That means, one set for cloth, one for plate etc. therfor that would mean, they will look the same for their particular armory type. And that is horrible

He said one per type for each zone/raid/faction. 4 Zandalari themed sets, 4 Kul Tiran themed sets, 4 Titan themed sets, 4 Horde themed sets, 4 Alliance themed sets, etc.

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Yea like if it's modeled on how the PVP sets are; Same armor diff colors. That will be complete and utter shit.

They flat out said there would be different Faction-themed sets for PVP/Warfronts. They showed some of the PVP armor at Blizzcon. Like the Alliance plate set is a Lordaeron Knight style armor from WC3.

[Super Kami Dende]

Are they saying they make no Warrior, Paladin and Death Knight set but just one overall Plate set? In that case, disgusting idea.

A set for every Zone and Raid. Sounds good to me, since generally you get 1-2 sets for each armour class then only "class" sets. Will be nice to have Multiple different plate sets etc.

[dranlord]

actually i kind like this new approach for Armor. If they actually work as they said. If they add ALOT of variety of armos design, not focus on classes, that will be cool. Close to what it was back them on BC.

For a transmog collector having more option it will be cool. I mean i love the Class base armor, but over the year been getting duller and duller.

[Super Kami Dende]

They did this in WOTLK was horrible with the tourney raids didn't they?

"A size of 20 allows for a wide variety of classes" for mythic..... yeah we really see a variety of classes in all those world first kills don't we with all druids and rogues!

Its a good thing that the World first kills are a 0.00001% of players, so for every other group it allows Variety.

[Kilperch]

Currently the plan is for Artifacts to be spec restricted when it comes to transmog.

The plan is to go back to weapon drops. Compared to the old days, there are so many more sources of loot, so it isn't as hard as it used to be to get a weapon.

I think its a mistake to be this restrictive. Holy paladins can't transmog their two-handed hammer over the more traditional sword and shield that they've used for so many years, but perhaps they'd enjoy the option to use the Holy artifact skin as Ret? What is so wrong with that?

Would it be so horrible to allow a BM hunter use the MM artifact skin? Perhaps an Arms warrior would like to transmog his weapon using the Fury skin? Why not?

Would it open Pandora's box to let me transmog the Scythe of Elune as Resto on my druid? Would that break the game?

Your job as developers is to make an expansion that sounds fun and exciting. Allowing Arcane mages to use the Frost mage staff for transmog is a small thing that people would be excited for.

[Dembai]

Hi there, Blizz. I know you don't read these things and never will, but I've been capped at 50 characters since Vanilla, and hate erasing them.

Yes. I play 50 characters with some frequency. I have a variety of RP characters with established backstories on RP servers, I play challenge series on PVP servers (like leveling an alt on a critically unbalanced server as a very rare race/class for the underdog), I have a few achievement characters who have done something insane in the game (I skipped outland pre-cata twice by doing ONLY pre-60 quest chains, once on alliance, once on Horde), I have Ironman characters. And I have two full servers of "main alts", one horde, one alliance, that I literally roll a d10 and see which one I play that day.

50 isn't enough. Thanks. It'll never be enough. And I hate that I end up having to delete characters I've enjoyed playing (and would play again!) simply because if I come up with a new RP character, I have to sacrifice someone else.

[MayhemPenguin]

No, they said they will be doing the same number of armor sets overall, potentially even more, but that they won't be class-themed.

They said there will be a tier quality set for each armor type for each zone/raid tier, plus separate faction-themed sets for PVP and Warfronts.

They specifically cited the following themed sets for each armor type: Zandalari, Kul Tiran, Titan, Horde, Alliance, and naga/highborne.

That should be in addition to the questing, dungeon, and crafted set. Plus there's also the six Heritage Armor sets at launch.

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He said one per type for each zone/raid/faction. 4 Zandalari themed sets, 4 Kul Tiran themed sets, 4 Titan themed sets, 4 Horde themed sets, 4 Alliance themed sets, etc.

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They flat out said there would be different Faction-themed sets for PVP/Warfronts. They showed some of the PVP armor at Blizzcon. Like the Alliance plate set is a Lordaeron Knight style armor from WC3.

I love how people misread info and freak out.
You put all this in a good way for people to understand and I bet people are still freaking out that they don't get yet another DK set with skulls all over it.
I for one am happy with the design changes in this expac

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I'm fucking done.

Why? I mean like he said most mythic raids are still going to be higher GS than most normal raiders.
What is so wrong with getting a TF upgrade in a LFR, or even in a M+?

[deadman1]

I love how people misread info and freak out.
You put all this in a good way for people to understand and I bet people are still freaking out that they don't get yet another DK set with skulls all over it.
I for one am happy with the design changes in this expac

Opinions, I dislike it, I want class sets.

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Why? I mean like he said most mythic raids are still going to be higher GS than most normal raiders.
What is so wrong with getting a TF upgrade in a LFR, or even in a M+?

Because it makes the treadmill longer, you can't ever get good pieces of gear, you're never done, the artificial grind never ends.

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@ less armorsets...

No, they are saying that they will add more variety of armor sets while having raid themed amorsets based on armor class as well.



sigh... a lot of people here have no comprehension skills

If I gave you 200 different varieties of feces or 12 varieties of pizza, which one would you eat? Quantity =! Quality

[Twilight Cultist]

So...basically just confirming everyones worst fears that we're going to get generic cloth/leather/mail/plate armor themed "sets" for each raid tier? Not that i'm surprised, expecting the absolute worst is always the safe bet when it comes to WOW these days.

Also no mention of the fact that the azerite system is totally going to lock you into helm/chest/shoulders/neck anyway, completely negating any advantage of removing tier. But hey, at least they can be lazy now and not bother designing tier sets anymore!

All of the statements you made are incorrect. Ion specifically said that each raid (not tier) will have different sets related to the aesthetic of that raid. Not every tier only has one raid. The first "tier" of BfA has already been confirmed to have at least 2 raids

The Azerite system does not lock you into pieces like tier. Tier locks in pieces because the bonus is based on having multiple pieces of that set equipped. The bonuses for the Helm/Shoulders/Chest pieces are a part of each individual piece. If you have a heroic raid quality shoulder/helm/chest and then you get a mythic raid quality shoulder from your weekly mythic+ chest, you can equip those shoulders and you still keep the traits that you already had from your currently equipped helm and chest piece. You only lose the traits you had for your old shoulders and gain the new traits from your new shoulder piece. There is no penalty from replacing an Azerite piece from a raid with a non-raid Azerite piece other than losing it's unique traits for different ones.

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Opinions, I dislike it, I want class sets.

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Because it makes the treadmill longer, you can't ever get good pieces of gear, you're never done, the artificial grind never ends.

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If I gave to 200 different varieties of feces or 12 varieties of pizza, which one would you eat? Quantity =! Quality

While this statement is true, you are making the assumption that the armor sets in BfA will be of lower quality than previous tiers sets without having seen them first.

[deadman1]

All of the statements you made are incorrect. Ion specifically said that each raid (not tier) will have different sets related to the aesthetic of that raid. Not every tier only has one raid. The first "tier" of BfA has already been confirmed to have at least 2 raids

The Azerite system does not lock you into pieces like tier. Tier locks in pieces because the bonus is based on having multiple pieces of that set equipped. The bonuses for the Helm/Shoulders/Chest pieces are a part of each individual piece. If you have a heroic raid quality shoulder/helm/chest and then you get a mythic raid quality shoulder from your weekly mythic+ chest, you can equip those shoulders and you still keep the traits that you already had from your currently equipped helm and chest piece. You only lose the traits you had for your old shoulders and gain the new traits from your new shoulder piece. There is no penalty from replacing an Azerite piece from a raid with a non-raid Azerite piece other than losing it's unique traits for different ones.

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While this statement is true, you are making the assumption that the armor sets in BfA will be of lower quality than previous tiers sets without having seen them first.

Not necessarily I'm just saying that quantity isn't the same as quality, and simply stating "there will be more" doesn't mean that it's a better system. I'd also like to add that I love class themed sets so anything that isn't that even if it's impeccable will be of lesser quality in my personal opinion

[MayhemPenguin]

Opinions, I dislike it, I want class sets.

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Because it makes the treadmill longer, you can't ever get good pieces of gear, you're never done, the artificial grind never ends.

Only if you think about it that way, really you only need enough to get into what you want (IE if you want to get into mythic raid) you really don't need to get BiS+ titan forged + socketed on every piece. You can be fine with just getting to x ilvl and doing mythic.
and having a few pieces TF wouldn't hurt that

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If I gave you 200 different varieties of feces or 12 varieties of pizza, which one would you eat? Quantity =! Quality

Except they said they will be putting the love of class sets into the raid and dungeon sets, so more like 200 varieties of pizza.
That being said class sets are not in this xpac, but we are getting diverse armor sets in each raid tier also probably from each dungeon as well. I would love to see them combine both aspects, IE a Zandalari themed Mage set but we either deal with it, cry on forums or just not play.