would blizzard scrap azerite gear?

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

That just sounds like making it even more boring.

Depends on what the players want.

Reading a lot of Azerite complaint threads it sounds like most people take issue with how it results in one specific piece that you target over all others.

[Logwyn]

Game development doesn't allow for pivots like that.

Pffft... It does. Only people in the industry that can't think outside the box think it can't. Or will Blizzards proverbial game development nazi/inquisition come out of the wood work and smite them? You know the one they refer to when they say if "we did this we'd have to....." or "We can't do that unless we did XYZ.."

[SoulSoBreezy]

Its not a new concept.

It's not cheap to do and certainly not all devs have the resources.

Blizzard do, but they chose not to, for whatever reasons.

I'm not arguing whether they can, merely whether or not it's a good idea. I speculate they chose not to because it's not a good idea.

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Pffft... It does. Only people in the industry that can't think outside the box think it can't. Or will Blizzards proverbial game development nazi/inquisition come out of the wood work and smite them? You know the one they refer to when they say if "we did this we'd have to....." or "We can't do that unless we did XYZ.."

Thinking outside the box has nothing to do with the realities of development cycles. In fact, their thinking outside the box is what we're seeing with the tweaks we're seeing (ilvl buffs, rebalancing, changing traits).
On top of that, I see the addition of another ring to Azerite gear as a HUGE change if this wasn't already planned. I speculate it's not because of the awkwardness that will come from reacquiring the same items that will now have the additional ring.
I get that you and others may not like it. I'm only identifying what appear to be allowable changes while acknowledging that no, the scrapping or re-doing of azerite gear isn't likely to happen.

[BlueRemedy]

They won't. But they can probably improve it, to make it bearable.

Anyway, they screwed up, and BfA will remain as "this Azerite expac". The good news is that whatever they'll create in 9.0, it probably can't be worse.

Nothin says quality Blizzard game like working to make a system "bearable"

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

No, Blizzard has always been too proud to admit when they've made something bad

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Imagine this, Blizzard announcing at Blizzcon:

"So we're just gonna say it, we know azerite isn't very popular so we've decided get rid of azerite armor and to bring back certain gold traits from legion to classes that needed them, and we're gonna give everyone a 120 talent row"

Imagine how universally happy everyone would be

*Cut to MMO-Champion which is being flooded with threads about "Wow, Blizzard cutting more content from BFA. Worst expansion ever."*

[Sierra85]

No, Blizzard has always been too proud to admit when they've made something bad

being too Proud to admit they fucked up massively, at the cost of the player base being unhappy for a year / 2 years seems like a risky play for any company...

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

being too Proud to admit they fucked up massively, at the cost of the player base being unhappy for a year / 2 years seems like a risky play for any company...

It's a calculation. Does the perception of cutting content outweigh the discomfort of the system.

Blizz has apparently yet to find a situation where the latter outweighs the former.

[Zandalariprelate]

Nah they just need to work with the traits, the same fiasko happened with the artifacts and forcing the players to run MoS for hours, it was in 7.2 and 7.3 with the catch out huge boost of the AP bounty that helped the players to complete every important trait and that is what most people remember

[Zantos]

They removed a type of badge and stopped adding other ones. Each raid dropped it's own per tier till it was changed to justice and valor. I'm not talking about the gear itself.

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I don't think people want it reworked they want it removed. A simple patch to change the heart of azerite to a static level and add stats to shoulders,helms,and chests while striping out traits.

They wont remove a major expansion feature. Badges were such a minor thing that they could easily and freely consolidate them. They were only used to buy a few items in a few slots. They weren't even the best aside from tier. They also didn't just remove them, simply consolidated them. So they were still very much there and were kept relevant. They can't do that with a system that is at the core of the expansion.

So no, they would not, cannot and will not remove a core feature and lore item at the start of an expansion or even halfway through. We are stuck with this craptastic system.

[plaits]

Blizzard doesn't admit fault until the roof comes crashing down on their heads. That said... I think there is a real chance that unless 8.1 really brings back people they will abandon the system. I haven't really seen the game feeling so empty and with nothing to do that was rewarding since WoD's just mail casuals epics system backfired.

very true. the next quarterly report will show a huge bump in revenue because it includes box sales, but look for the quarter after that. that's when they'll release 8.1 and they'll be hoping they hold onto subs through that period. if they fail, bfa is not looking good. they really need to pull something out of the box for 8.1.

ysithens can beat his chest on the forums about how they're not bleeding subs but I just don't believe them. they lie. I haven't seen so much unrest, unhappiness and posts about unsubbing since WoD. Sure, people complained during Legion too but I don't think morale was so low.

*Cut to MMO-Champion which is being flooded with threads about "Wow, Blizzard cutting more content from BFA. Worst expansion ever."*

itemisation isn't content.

[huth]

itemisation isn't content.

When did that ever stop the complainers?

[Cosmic Janitor]

being too Proud to admit they fucked up massively, at the cost of the player base being unhappy for a year / 2 years seems like a risky play for any company...

Worked for EA and activision for over a decade now.

[Synstir]

Not scrap it but improve it.
And by improving I don't mean changing traits on head, shoulder and chest pieces.
Improve it by adding traits to the neck itself, traits which won't change as you change the 3 other pieces.
I believe the system would be better if there were permanent traits on the neck itself.

[Verkaik]

Not scrap it but improve it.
And by improving I don't mean changing traits on head, shoulder and chest pieces.
Improve it by adding traits to the neck itself, traits which won't change as you change the 3 other pieces.
I believe the system would be better if there were permanent traits on the neck itself.

Isn't that just glyphs ?

[Cosmic Janitor]

Not scrap it but improve it.
And by improving I don't mean changing traits on head, shoulder and chest pieces.
Improve it by adding traits to the neck itself, traits which won't change as you change the 3 other pieces.
I believe the system would be better if there were permanent traits on the neck itself.

I think it would have made more sense to unlock certain traits as templates by doing content (dungeons, finishing story lines) and being able to put them onto blank azerite items (that way the head/shoulder/chest-idea is preserved), therfore inscribing it onto the piece of loot. The neck would just boost the level/scaling of the azerite trait. You could check your HoA for which traits you have unlocked. That way you could also put up some challenges like complete temple on +10 to unlock thunderous blast or something like that.

[huth]

Rental Gear

That's a lie and you know it.

The gear is yours to keep. It just doesn't stay useful. Rental gear would have to be given back eventually.
And gear not staying useful after the expansion it is from is over is hardly new.

[andrewjoy]

How is it " 1/2 of the xpac ?" its 3 bloody items. Scrap the shitty items. Put the traits on the neck, let us switch them like talents as we need em. Give us normal 8 part sets with set bonus back !

[caervek]

it might be too late now to do a major rework..

It's not that difficult.

1. Replace Azerite pieces (existing and on loot tables) with pieces with regular secondary stats (same name/appearance/icon)
2. Rework the Heart of Azeroth to give you the talent tree of your active specs Legion artifact.

In all honesty it's probably less work than trying (and failing) to salvage the Azerite armour lol.

[Sunderella]

too late for that. is central system of the game this expansion. it sucks. it sucks bad. but is not going anywhere because is the main force driving the grinding and the prolongation of the subs.

However, I would be happy if they removed all traces of that PoS of a system and replaced all azerite gear with regular gear as soon as 8.1. Dreaming is gratis

[caervek]

I feel like even though the vast amount of the community hates the system

I feel this is the problem with assumptions. Where do you get the idea what "the vast amount of the community" thinks? MMO C? 23 000 members considered active across all forums? And some of them making negative threads about an x-pac feature?

You seem to be making the argument that correlation doesn't equal causation, which is a very valid point. However when there is so much correlating evidence and every tangible/possible marker/metric point towards the same answer it becomes no longer an assumption/theory but the prevailing hypothesis.

Your argument is basically on the same level as "climate change is just a theory!".