Reddit AMA with Ion Hazzikostas

[Katsutomai]

1 day a month?
that is not 1 day a month
warfront
world boss
rares
turn ins
you cannot do those all in "1 day"


also "half the expansion" we are fucking 1 month into the expansion with 8.1 quick to come, and with it possibly a warfront, save your "half way" until we know if 8.1 will have a warfront or not.
your saying the equivilent of "we are only going to have 1 raid in BFA, cause they havnt made another raid yet"

I'm honestly curious how much you get paid to do what you are doing.. Hm..

[morph4037]

Yikes, shamans basically got the middle finger from what I'm reading. Disappointing.

Basically.

[RobertMugabe]

What do you mean don't do it? There isn't anything to even do lmao. It takes 1 day a MONTH. That's the problem.

People like FelPlague seem like they want to defend this but i don't see how. The warfront system is clearly designed for when there are about 3 warfronts active in the game, and if that was the case it would be completely fine. That's not the case though because there is only 1 even available. A system designed for 3 but being used for 1 feels is stupid and does not work. This is obvious.

Ion's answer of "it will be better when there's more" is bullshit because that will not happen until we are at the very least halfway into the expansion. The system being shit for half of the expansion is not okay.

We'll have to see I guess. I kinda expect them release multiple warfronts in the next patch (or in 8.2) instead of just 1 by one.

[FelPlague]

Imagine not having Felplague on ignore in 2018. The guy actually has no idea what he's talking about.

hey atleast i can read unlike mhm...

[Socialhealer]

More mobility should pretty clearly equate to more DPS on a fight that is based around mobility. Stepping out of fire is the movement mechanic in the vast, vast majority of situations in the game. Yes, warriors can gap close back in very quickly, that hasn't stopped Frost from outperforming Fury (or being middle of the pack on fetid). While warriors are using that time to close back in, DKs are landing ranged attacks.

Is it any less fair than single target focused specs/classes being benched for heavy cleave ones in multi-target fights? Fights, by virtue of having different mechanics, will have favored classes and specs.

lol fury, lol, what lol.

[FelPlague]

I'm honestly curious how much you get paid to do what you are doing.. Hm..

I used to get paid working on a few things in the development and IT areas but whatever you want to make up to make yourself feel better buddy.

[kamuimac]

Ion is the master of writing a huge wall of text while not saying anything. Here are the answers for the first 2 questions:

Azerite gear: We will only do some tunning, too bad you guys think it's a garbage system.
Shamans: I don't know anything about it, just wait until 8.1 like I said before BFA launched.

were you people really expecting anything else ? like for real ?

ofc they are happy with how game is atm else they would make changes in beta.

[Gadzooks]

I'm not excusing their shitty answers, but how else do you expect them to fix an expansion outside of rolling out fixes in future patches?

By not releasing content too early in the first place. Why is this on me to fix? THEY DESIGNED IT. It's on them to deliver a quality product that isn't flawed from step one. And charge $60 and $15 a month for.

I don't mind bugs, they happen. But if I pay AAA prices for a title, what they delivered doesn't cut it, and that's the issue.

It's not on US (well, YOU, as I'm not playing) to fix this. It's on Blizzard to do their fucking jobs better, and right now, Ion isn't.

[Mafic]

again, doing this initially would have stopped the whine wagon out the gate. Personally, I don't care about the warfronts. I'll get my one weekly piece of gear, see them and move on to the things I like. The endless whine could have been avoided and should have been foreseen and easily fixed with starting with two active.

It doesn't take more than one glance at the forum topic list to go, "Huh, if we release one, Alliance controlled first, do you think the Alliance will complain like small children the Horde got an advantage? Nah, the Alliance never whine about that. Drop one."

I mean come on. Simple solution to avoid a PR issue and avoid going "Don't worry, like you thought, there will be more later." And balances the story out the gate Horde and Alliance both control one and lose one. Either way, this was foolish on their part and could have avoided all this pathetic whimpering.

Warfronts are scenarios so I don't see a point in holding back the release of the others to slowly drip them out over the expansion cycle. Better off to use warfronts as a way to front load content and then use raids as the slow drip of content and the release of new zones to keep players interested.

Bad management of warfronts for sure.

[Jastall]

WW has many flaws in that it is buggy as hell and why it was made a talent is baffling to me.

AMS is strong true but still not enough compared to other specs which have lets say CloS + better mobility than a DK due to Sprint, Shadowstep/grappling hook, etc.

You cite Rogue abilities because they have the most OP tooklit in the game by a country mile and the only reason Blizzard hasn't nerfed the piss out of them is because the tears would drown out the Grand Canyon because apparently a Rogue is only a Rogue if they have as many defensives, mobility and utility as 3 other classes combined. Hell they whined a bit when Feint was put on a measly 15 second cooldown. 15 second CD on an ability that ignores 50% of the most dangerous source of damage in raids. Meanwhile most classes are lucky to get 30-40% mitigation on a 2 min cooldown.

Compared to pretty much anything else, AMS is a super strong defensive that saves your hide and cheeses mechanics like no tomorrow, and Wraith Walk isn't what it was in early Legion, it is perfectly usable now. Plus they still have Death's Advance, Death Strike, Icebound Fortitude and of course the unique and incredibly powerful Death's Grip and Gorefiend's as Blood. As a Warrior I'd kill to just have AMS instead of my sub-par 30% reduction on a 3 minute cooldown one. And yes, I know DKs would love to have Leap or Charge, but that's the balancing act. Warriors are quicker, DKs are tougher and bring more unique utility. The only classes that break the mold are Rogues being on the strong side and DPS Shamans and arguably Priests being on the weak side, toolkit wise. Death Knights are exactly where they should be in terms of strengths vs weaknesses.

[Zoldor]

so highest dps AND best mobility? wow who designed this shit then? some classes get weaknesses some clearly get none, 10/10 design.

and every fight has a knock back right?

I think the mobility is less of an issue for the general public and cherry picking the world first situation isn't an issue. I mean DK on Aggramar?! I mean yeah, DK has never had a niche that made it amazing. Chain lightening on Portal Keeper? No, Shaman have never had a place.

[FelPlague]

I don't think people would have their pitchforks raise AS high, if they were more open about what they planned on "fixing". That's the problem, there's zero communication about where they stand on any of this.

Cherry-picking the questions you don't feel like being open about it being something the majority of players dislike is..... fucking bad.

Issue is if they make plans, and tell us, then we take it as PROMISES and the community is very quick to take ANYTHING blizzard, or even people who are NOT BLIZZARD as BLIZZARD making PROMISES

for example "blizzard now giving 3 items in mythic cache" was said by wowhead, but is now claimed that it is a promise blizzard made.
"Morally grey" taken out of context, aswell as class accessories, a concept they said they would like to work more on...
Yep promised obviously...

also hes literally going from highest voted down, i would need to look again if he skipped them

[Sluvs]

Issue is, they tweak it... then 3 weeks later (or however long) in 8.1 when they add more, they have to change it back again...

- - - Updated - - -



*Locks, 2/3 specs in utter trash, while the top one feels bad to play, and the class has no mobility baseline.*

And.... how is that a problem?

[Seramore]

By not releasing content too early in the first place. Why is this on me to fix? THEY DESIGNED IT. It's on them to deliver a quality product that isn't flawed from step one. And charge $60 and $15 a month for.

I don't mind bugs, they happen. But if I pay AAA prices for a title, what they delivered doesn't cut it, and that's the issue.

It's not on US (well, YOU, as I'm not playing) to fix this. It's on Blizzard to do their fucking jobs better, and right now, Ion isn't.

I mean your alternative right now is to just not fix the game and leave it as the mess it is with some of these systems. Actually think before you type, them fixing the game in a later patch is fine if it actually fixes these issues. BFA is salvageable.

[FelPlague]

And.... how is that a problem?

idk if you have been around long, but people do not like blizzard making changes.... then changes again...

[oathy]

Reading that properly on the front page of MMO what stands out a Mile for me
a lot of the issues raised and his answers these should have been picked up at development stage,
even at beta they were told over and over on the forums.. Azerite isnt working its boring and a bad replacement to artifact weapons/traits.

did they just assume those concerns were going to vanish?

again on the warfronts and poor communications.. they knew the rotations when the expansion went live it didn't get a mention
the excuse about it being on beta is just laughable. they didn't see the rotation a problem but the players have thats the reality

[Zoldor]

Warfronts are scenarios so I don't see a point in holding back the release of the others to slowly drip them out over the expansion cycle. Better off to use warfronts as a way to front load content and then use raids as the slow drip of content and the release of new zones to keep players interested.

Bad management of warfronts for sure.

Thank you. My point exactly. This was a fail and defending it is pure fan boy.

I love blizzard and WoW is my game for 14 years unashamed with only like 3 months not playing because I moved and didn't have internet for a bit. Hell, I love my friends, but a fail is a fail and I have no problem calling it out.

[Sluvs]

I think the mythic cache was an ok answer, i would probablly do something like: each 2 weeks you get an azerite weapon.

[Deleted]

About Warfronts - 50/50 answer. On one hand, they actually admitted poor communication, on the other - nothing changes.
Yes, I get that later, when we will have more of them the gaps will not matter, because there will be another one up, but right now, for months? Mrrgh......

Yeah and ofc they didnt answer my question on WHY there aren't difficulties or a PvP mode cause I guess thats a hard thing to answer..

[kamuimac]

"We don't play favorites"

*Looks at BM Hunters, Rogues, Locks and Mages*

Oh ok

especially rogues. Method's zul kill shown how utterly broken op rogues are atm.