PC Gamer interview with Ion

[kamuimac]

I have no doubt Azshara is the final major tier, we may get one more Raid as a tie in like Ruby Sanctum was, but I'm getting a feeling due to the negative feedback on BFA's core systems, theyre going to rush to their next expansion to sweep it under the rug.

Ion is a lawyer - he chooses words very carefully so people shouldnt just dismiss it so easily .

it is likely they may give BfA the same treatment as they given to WoD - (with cut out raid tier&faralon) and resources moved from creating it relocated into 9.0 .

This my be the main reason why they are dragging out first tier so long - in june they will give people nazjatar and new "mega dungeon" and then drag out release of azhara raid till september/october - and then it will be 1 year long tier.

wouldnt really surprise me.

if this was the case imo they should just turn gnomish dungeon into raid - instead pretending nothing is happening.

- - - Updated - - -

I disagree, temporary systems are fine, as long as they're fun systems. Legion artifacts were fine, legion legendaries sucked. Azerite gear sucks. If Azerite gear was fun and cool from day 1, it wouldn't matter that it was temporary, just like artifacts.

i wonder if this feeling of "azerite gear sucks" doesnt come from sheer amount of ap needed to open traits.

imo it should have been much more easy to farm up to opne up traits then it would work .

imo the biggest negative feeling comes from fact that the 30% nerf is not a real 30% nerf because it stops artificialy at 1000 - meaning you have to farm up at least 30k base ap to get to level 30 atm . while if it really was real 30% nerf then for example initial 100k after 10 weeks would turn into 4k ap needed.

lets go further - if we take initial value of 500k then on week 25 it would be only 100.

which woudl mean that it would be automaticly fully unlocked.

that 1000 wall is nothing but artificial gate .

[Kallisto]

I have no doubt Azshara is the final major tier, we may get one more Raid as a tie in like Ruby Sanctum was, but I'm getting a feeling due to the negative feedback on BFA's core systems, theyre going to rush to their next expansion to sweep it under the rug.

They've already stated what's coming in 8.3 though with the N'zoth fish at the end of the blizzcon what's next panel. They're certainly not ending with Azshara. Nzoth is being built up far too much.

[capri sunset]

It fills me with very cautious optimism that they haven't backtracked on the changes to the heart, I do wonder how much they could've come up with in such a seemingly small amount of time but gaining actual abilities at least provides some promise.

I disagree, temporary systems are fine, as long as they're fun systems. Legion artifacts were fine, legion legendaries sucked. Azerite gear sucks. If Azerite gear was fun and cool from day 1, it wouldn't matter that it was temporary, just like artifacts.

I think they can be fine but to me it feels best when we get to keep some of the better parts. If we think back to tier bonuses, particularly through cata, they were basically testing grounds for fun mechanics which would later become baseline. That's what could have happened with artifacts and legendaries but we saw basically nothing return except in the form of talents which is particularly insulting.

[Alkizon]

All the passives are boring, because almost none of them change your gameplay in any way.

And majority of passives should be in talents' system, which means that it shouldn't be outside "character = class", same for active abilities, and therefore there should be nothing "changing (class) gameplay" outside "character = class" (all control mechanisms must be inside, with only characteristics outside, for the party role component (and expansion/season progression)), and therefore "no" for such "mined" (=temporary/episodic) items with similar properties...

In simple terms: items' presence or absence shouldn't determine capabilities of your character = class, it simply adds efficiency for a particular chosen role for a particular case to them, one more time "doesn't adds or changes, just makes it more effective" together with being universal for any class&build representative at the same time.

...and we're returning to recent discussion of legendary items, class sets and stupid AA design as such.

[SirCowdog]

theyre going to rush to their next expansion to sweep it under the rug.

I feel I need to point out that Legion wasn't "rushed" per se. You have to remember that WoD was cut short. Basically they sacrificed the second half of WoD in order to focus a majority of the dev team on Legion. This is why, I believe, that Legion was able to maintain such a high content release schedule. It's not that they magically just worked harde or anything like that. They just took resources away from WoD and spent them on Legion.

It's possible they could try something similar with BfA, but I think that kind of high-risk manouver might not work a second time. Too many people have been either driven away or irritated by Blizzard's failures this expansion. Cutting things short might do more damage than they could reasonably afford to recover, even with a masterwork of an expansion to follow up after BfA

- - - Updated - - -

They've already stated what's coming in 8.3 though with the N'zoth fish at the end of the blizzcon what's next panel. They're certainly not ending with Azshara. Nzoth is being built up far too much.

Personally I think both of those characters are far too important in the lore to have one be a mini-boss of the other. They really ought to each get their own expansion. Azshara should probably be the final big boss of BfA, and N'zoth should be central to the following Old-God expansion.

[Muajin76]

Isn't this just a duplicate thread of one currently up? Curious why we need two threads on the same topic. :P

[Nyel]

So 8.2 is the real launch of BfA then? Funny. They didn't even mess up WoD so much that they basically needed an entire content patch to fix all of the broken things.

- - - Updated - - -

They've already stated what's coming in 8.3 though with the N'zoth fish at the end of the blizzcon what's next panel. They're certainly not ending with Azshara. Nzoth is being built up far too much.

Actually they haven't mentioned 8.3 at all yet. Back during Blizzcon BfA was 3 months live and I am sure back then they didn't think BfA would fail so bad. The What's next thing could be very well related to the next expansion now.

[Bas Prime]

Some pretty disappointing things in this article for me personally.
While before BFA launched I thought we would see a semi merge of the faction, this seems to be not happening in the next expansion. Lore wise this was kinda expected, since I cant see how they would make that happen in a short amount of time, especially after what happend to Darnassus.
Same goes for 4th specs. A lot of people seem to think this is a good idea, and the oposition talks about balance. This seems to be Blizzards point of view as well. Sadly. Making already existing classes have another thing they can add to their toolkit was something I was looking forward to (Shaman earth based tank, Mage time based healer, DK range necromancer, 4th range based monk class, mid range double pistol rogue, gladiator spec for warriors, tank spec for hunter and warlocks, paladin could get the shockadin back, i have nothing for priests, dh and druid should not get another spec.)
Big thing is we are not leaving Azeroth. Very interesting. So we do get another side or a south part, (deserts form around the aquator so tanaris and uldum, and even stranglethorn as a rainforest could be an indicator for this.) Since Dragon Isles are teased, we still have not seen Undermine and Tel Abim, there are still possibilities for a southern part. Have to throw it in here; Samuro is still not in WoW, so we cant have that, and his return is still possible, so still a good thing.
That said, "in the near future" can mean anything, I dont know what blizzards wording is in this case. So we could still not see all this in the near future meaning this expansion, or it means the next, or the one after that. Very foggy.

[Daikoku]

So 8.2 is the real launch of BfA then? Funny. They didn't even mess up WoD so much that they basically needed an entire content patch to fix all of the broken things.

- - - Updated - - -



Actually they haven't mentioned 8.3 at all yet. Back during Blizzcon BfA was 3 months live and I am sure back then they didn't think BfA would fail so bad. The What's next thing could be very well related to the next expansion now.

This.

N'zoth could be the Archimonde of BFA

[Chemii]

Cool interview but I've seen so many alpha/beta cycles now where players have told them what is going to break or is broken only for them to ignore it and then concede it was actually broken several months down the line.

I maintain that the beta is nothing more than free testing for bugs and stability and has absolutely no impact on design choices.

[kamuimac]

I feel I need to point out that Legion wasn't "rushed" per se. You have to remember that WoD was cut short. Basically they sacrificed the second half of WoD in order to focus a majority of the dev team on Legion. This is why, I believe, that Legion was able to maintain such a high content release schedule. It's not that they magically just worked harde or anything like that. They just took resources away from WoD and spent them on Legion.

It's possible they could try something similar with BfA, but I think that kind of high-risk manouver might not work a second time. Too many people have been either driven away or irritated by Blizzard's failures this expansion. Cutting things short might do more damage than they could reasonably afford to recover, even with a masterwork of an expansion to follow up after BfA

- - - Updated - - -



Personally I think both of those characters are far too important in the lore to have one be a mini-boss of the other. They really ought to each get their own expansion. Azshara should probably be the final big boss of BfA, and N'zoth should be central to the following Old-God expansion.

hm i wonder .

depends on what they have planned for 9.0 . i may remember it wrong but i rememeber they kinda thought about world remodel a'la Cata style ? what would be better for this then release of N'zoth to roam free ? dunno just my speculations.

[Bas Prime]

You're of course free to set your own expectations, but I just find it a bit strange to be disappointed over something like that. They've never even slightly hinted at 4th specs, that's just something this forum cooks up and speculates over every now and then. That kind of expectation and subsequent disappointment just seems a bit.. unrealistic?

Well, of course you are right. Expectations are a tricky thing. But another story: Since BC i wanted to play a Mag'har Orc. Now I can do that. Maybe expectation is the wrong word, or to strong a word. Lets call it hope. I hope for 4th specs (and the other stuff I mentioned earlier) because I think this could be good for the game. I also thought that Garrisons ( I hoped for something like that before WOD) would work. Ultimatively they did not, because there was not enought time to improve the system i guess (the Garrison problems are solves: You leave the Garrison for World Quests, Invasions, Assualts and War Campaign, the table is brought to a normal reward system, and theoretically you could create a Guild Garrison (that feature I also hope for) that would not have you to be alone in your Garrison 24/7)

Yeah, expectation was the wrong choice of words. It implies I demand Blizz to do that. That is not the case. I just would like to see those mentioned features in the game.

[SirCowdog]

hm i wonder .

depends on what they have planned for 9.0 . i may remember it wrong but i rememeber they kinda thought about world remodel a'la Cata style ? what would be better for this then release of N'zoth to roam free ? dunno just my speculations.

Azshara lifting an entire city and surrounding territory from the bottom of the ocean could likewise cause widespread change in climate and terrain. Combine that with naga invading everywhere and that could easily explain widespread changes to the open world as well. Although having old-god corruption creating madness and chaos would probably be a better explanation, given the way N'zoth is breaking free from his prison inside Azeroth.

I mean, they could go either way and I think it'd be fine.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Cool interview but I've seen so many alpha/beta cycles now where players have told them what is going to break or is broken only for them to ignore it and then concede it was actually broken several months down the line.

I maintain that the beta is nothing more than free testing for bugs and stability and has absolutely no impact on design choices.

Yup. Sadly WoW has kind of become a game where designers go to carve their name onto the legacy of the greatest game of all time. Half the things they change in this game really don't revolve around fun or entertainment value and they say it pretty boldly with things like "we didnt like how abilities work", "we didnt like talents","we didn't like this form of travel" but never really stopping to see that its all working so why throw a brick into the washing machine. But, thats just the players that are satisfied (and yeah I know, not ALL of them). Instead of iterating on whats proven and injecting new concepts they insist on ripping everything down and rebuilding it from the ground up. Almost feels like an ego battle of "mine, this is mine and yours is dead!" Instead of practical design to create a congruent product anymore. The whole house at this point has been torn down and rebuilt with almost all the same pieces now that it is starting to show.

[Sosua]

theyre going to rush to their next expansion to sweep it under the rug.

There in-lies the issue, they rushed BfA into production, and didn't listen to a lot of feedback, why? Not because they were 100% positive it was ready, but because $$$, nothing more, nothing less. Crappy azerite grind, and broken classes that they even ADMITTED were not proper... So when subs drop off, they might finally get it, do it right the first time, and LISTEN to feedback.

[Alanar]

can we get a TLDR on this?
or summery

Frontpage.

[FelPlague]

Frontpage.

thanks but that post was 2 hours before the TLDR came out. so i found it the 2 hours later

[zlygork]

I'm cautiously optimistic by the things said, although as others have stated, Ion should show and not tell.
Much as I have never been a crazy fan for the faction war theme, I really hope they do not go all WoD on us and give us a long ass content drought just so that the next expansion is extra amazing. Hoping we still get a proper 8.3 with a proper closure, and that they still manage to have next expansion be MoP/Legion level good.

[Schizoide]

i wonder if this feeling of "azerite gear sucks" doesnt come from sheer amount of ap needed to open traits.

I can't speak for everybody, but for me, the answer is no. That is part of it, of course, and being fixed in 8.2. But I also find it really annoying that I need separate gear for every spec, and that the traits themselves are boring, passive, and have zero impact on my actual gameplay.

[Gavll]

In some ways, we designed the Azerite armor system to respond to what we saw as a failing in Legion Artifacts in a lot of ways. Legion Artifacts had fantastic choice and customization but it was very frontloaded. It was one of those areas that players didn't complain about, but we saw a lot and perceived as designers.

This just sums it up for me. The players didn't have any problems but we decided it was one and fucked it up. It's like that loot designer guy talking about how badges were terrible...when most players loved badges.