Preach Developer Interview with Ion Hazzikostas - Patch 9.1

[Orby]

So nothing about professions, nothing about adding some fun to game, nothing about adding RPG elements.

Just usual nonsense.

Professions haven't been relevant since TBC

[Kiwijello]

It's as if he sticks his fingers in his ears and screams "LALALALALALALALA". /smh

[Wrath of the Lich King]

Remove conduits, put in actual cosmetic rewards for Torghast, reduce ilvl rewards for M+, and give us real valor points for raids. That's it. That's all you gotta do, Ion.

Agreed. I hope they make it even easier and simply re-release Wrath of the Lich King. They don't need to worry about WotLK Classic, just make it the retail version of the game again.

[Stardrift]

You forgot to add the point to not listen to people like you. Reducing ilvl from m+ for example is quite idiotic.

I'm sorry you felt the need to make a defensive comment over my wishes for the game, and hope your needs in this game are eventually met in a way that satisfies you.

But as of right now, I'm only stating my desires for the game, as Torghast is entirely unrewarding and null the moment you've got your BIS legendary. M+ rewards detract from raids and also nullifies raid progression if you don't care about/don't have the time for mythic difficulty. Not to mention as seasons go by, every dungeon still drops all the same gear with all the same effects, becoming incredibly stale and boring. Imagine if every new raid dropped the same tier sets, same appearances as the last one. Just isn't fun.

[cateran100]

"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."

WTF does it means? You can play in Torghast as you want but if you won`t do it as WE want from you....you gonna fail?

[jk1895]

No plans to add gear drops to Torghast.

This is shit! Torghast makes no sense and fun without drops. Add them!

[Sanguinerd]

Hearing this guy talk its almost like he's not even talking about a GAME anymore, you know something we should be doing for our enjoyment...

[Pufflesmash]

Remove conduits, put in actual cosmetic rewards for Torghast, reduce ilvl rewards for M+, and give us real valor points for raids. That's it. That's all you gotta do, Ion.

His comment about borrowed power so far is the only step in the right direction here. How they choose to move away from it and what they'll replace it with is a careful step they'll have to make, however.

Hello, I am another player in the World of Warcraft. I see that you, too, are a player in the World of Warcraft.

1. I think there's ways to make conduits fun. If they addressed the outliers, added more viable options, buffed the non-potencies, and made them swappable wherever (basically treat it as another talent system), it'd be a fun way to have access to different builds. I, another player in the World of Warcraft, love messing around with different builds. I understand that cookie cutter builds are a thing, but people overestimate the power difference between talents in many cases. Blizzard could do a better job of balancing the outliers, admittedly.

2. Cosmetic rewards for Torghast would be cool. I'm really looking forward to the Torghast revamp; Torghast was so much fun before they made it braindead. I, another player in the World of Warcraft, don't really care about whether there's rewards tied to it, it's just fun to play your character in a roguelike setting every now and then.

3. Absolutely do not reduce the ilvl rewards for M+. M+ is my favorite content by far, and I'm so excited for the increased M+ incentives coming in 9.1. I'm okay with dabbling in other content to complement my gear, but I just want to do M+ with my friends in peace. I, another player in the World of Warcraft, don't care as much about new content, and love just playing my character with new systems that keep the characters fresh.

4. His comment about borrowed power is one of the only things that I, another player in the World of Warcraft, disagree with. I've always enjoyed borrowed power, and it's one of the main reasons I've been able to play this game as long as I have. Anything that shakes up class/spec progression and playstyle is fun to me.

[Nyfaria]

I really want to empathize with this man but he makes it so hard. Give the players what they want for gods sake

Yes, lets give the players what they want.
Harder Raids, but at the Same time, Make Raiding Easier.
More Content, but at the Same Time, Less Content.
More Abilities, but at the Same Time, Less Abilities.


You can't give the players what they want, because the players don't all want the same thing.

[RoKPaNda]

It's so weird that this community will idolize a completely out of touch man like Jeff Kaplan but hate Ion. Ion at least acknowledges that his game has to be made fun for a wide variety of players. Blizzard is failing at it miserably right now, but that's not necessarily Ion's fault.

Shadowlands is definitely a low point for the franchise though. I think WoD is the only other time in the history of WoW that I stopped playing before the first major content patch.

[Utrrabbit]

I actually hate Preach. What a pathetic meta slave. This entire interview is a case study in how completely out of touch the developers and their elitist butt buddies are.

This game is dying and it's evident because they give no fucks in developing for casuals. Kevin Jordan put it best, this is a game for 'chasers" who chase the top 1%. There's no room for anyone else.

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.

[Alroxas]

If I wanted to DPS, I'd play a DPS spec...P E R I O D. Why even have dps specs in the first place if every class and spec is expected to dps? Such horseshit. I really despise this direction.

Because tuning of raid encounters means that for every extra DPS that a non-DPS can contribute means that the group as a whole can proceed with less DPS numbers (not necessary a function of skill but perhaps a function of lack of gear).

[Avelphina]

Absolutely nothing about new customization for Allied Races what is this lmao

[Utrrabbit]

It's so weird that this community will idolize a completely out of touch man like Jeff Kaplan but hate Ion. Ion at least acknowledges that his game has to be made fun for a wide variety of players. Blizzard is failing at it miserably right now, but that's not necessarily Ion's fault.

Shadowlands is definitely a low point for the franchise though. I think WoD is the only other time in the history of WoW that I stopped playing before the first major content patch.

Low point.

This xpac literally has more players than the last 4xpacs.

My guid has gotten 200 new members in the last month. Returning players.

[T-34]

I really want to empathize with this man but he makes it so hard. Give the players what they want for gods sake

1. Do YOU know what the players want?
2. And how do YOU know that all players want the same?

Blizzard does its best to make as many players as possible to stay subscribed for as long as possible.
Furthermore Blizzard does its best to make players return to the launch of new expacs and for patches, if possible.

Does this make everybody happy? Most certainly not. But that would be impossible anyway.
Why does Blizzard do it like this? To maxmize its profits, just like any other company.

[Sanguinerd]

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.

Err.. how exactly does SL do shit for casual players then?

The Anima grind is waaaayy too high and character progression stops at around ilvl 200 or so.

Keep in mind m+ is not casual friendly, nor is trying to get into raid pugs.

[Tic Tacs]

Ion Hozikostas:

https://www.mobygames.com/developer/...operId,583182/

World of WarCraft: Warlords of Draenor (2014) (Lead Game Designers)
World of WarCraft: Battle for Azeroth (2018) (Game Director)


Notice when the guy is in leading role, the expansion is most likely going to suck for a player. Lets see what Shadowlands brings to the table.

[exsanguinate]

Professions haven't been relevant since TBC

wrong wrong wrong

cataclysm professions where very strong throughout the expansion.

[Alroxas]

Not to mention as seasons go by, every dungeon still drops all the same gear with all the same effects, becoming incredibly stale and boring. Imagine if every new raid dropped the same tier sets, same appearances as the last one. Just isn't fun.

Yeah but it keeps those dungeons relevant from expansion launch to the Nth content patch of the expansion. Consider the alternative, dungeons reward up to mythic+0 gear and don't get refreshed as new patch come out (see WotLK, Cata, MoP, WoD dungeons).

By the time you get to the X.2 or X.3 patch of an expansion, the "catch-up" gear for new players would be better than the crap you can get from dungeons. Basically negating all that dungeon content as irrelevant for the "current" content.

By having M+ and gearing from M+ that increases with every season, yeah it's a repeat to go get IQD for the nth time in the expansion BUT at the same time, it provides something more to do than just log in, raid, then log out, wait for weekly reset (which is a gross oversimplification).

[Nitrax]

What the douche I just read?!?

Really, travelling takes longer? How about travelling is 64 times more boring now because there is no scenery just a blur and an ugly city that you always have to pass.