Ion hazzikostas leaving in 10.0 (leak)

[crusadernero]

It was with GC and Ion later that game started its decline, GC joined at the end of tbc when most of the work for wotlk was done from Kaplan, sub numbers don't lie, cata was his first expansion and cata is universally recognized as the moment when it all started going wrong, sure mop and legion can't be considered bad expansions despite the skepticism about kung fu pandas but they are not comparable to what came before cata... Ofc activision is to also to blame for that too

If you think wows decline all comes down to two individuals at Blizzard, I would call that a bit shocking to say the least. Theres a pletoria of reasons why wow has declined over the years, just as it wasnt one reason alone to why wow reached 12 million subs during wotlk.

If you draw the line at cata, one could argue its a cultural shift around that time in how MMORPGs are played & consumed by players overall. Maybe the old school MMORPG player started to fall behind at this stage? Maybe the game has changed just as gaming overall has changed?

We can talk about wows decline, its failures, how much it stinks and all that - but it doesnt change the fact its the only big mmorpg still going fairly strong in a fiercly competetive gaming landscape. The fight for a gamers attention has never been harder than now.

[Army Dreamer]

Too good to be true.

[Hibiki]

i hope Ion get fired and next person will NOT focus on raids and M+, but casual solo content.

[EbaumsTipster]

i hope Ion get fired and next person will NOT focus on raids and M+, but casual solo content.

Why play an MMO then?

[draugril]

Danuser moving up to Game Director

You say that in jest, but honestly... it might not be a bad fit. Story guys are generally are high level ideas guys. Not bogged down in the details. And, whether or not you enjoy his vision, a vision he has. WoW could use some of that. It has been so far up its own arse lately, contorting itself trying to sort out the minutiae of its power systems, that is has completely lost any kind of high level vision for the game's overall experience.

Danuser wouldn't be the best pick. But it would be the step in the right direction. Metzen was a story guy, too, and while I didn't enjoy every choice he made, the game was much better overall with his influence.

[Nyel]

They released that mount for a reason.. though I guess it won't show up in this call. They were always about the previous quarter, not the last, weren't they?

Yeah, it’s always for the past financial quarter, in this case Q3 which is July, August and September. The mount will show for the Q4 call that will be held in January or February.

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Well i mean hasn't he been entirely MIA for half a year? if it turned out he had been shifted away from his current position tanking blizzards biggest cash cow i would not at all be shocked.

Watch him be put on the Overwatch team and it to try even harder to push the esports competitive meme.

Pretty much this. Was there any official statement from Ion in the last months? He just vanished from the public. Was there anything heard of him during the lawsuit became known? (Not as an offender or anything, but an official statement or something)

[Falkeshall]

Will you people please learn the difference between a leak and a rumor already? If you don't have any actual data or confirmable information to provide, it's not a fucking leak.

Might put this in my signature. Pure poetry.

[Soon-TM]

Why play an MMO then?

I know you want to derail the thread, but you might want to take a look at this:

A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.

As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a character (often in a fantasy world or science-fiction world) and takes control over many of that character's actions. MMORPGs are distinguished from single-player or small multi-player online RPGs by the number of players able to interact together, and by the game's persistent world (usually hosted by the game's publisher), which continues to exist and evolve while the player is offline and away from the game.

Nowhere in the definition it is stated that player power (no matter the level) must come from group-only activities.

[Arakkar]

I think most people on this thread have no clue about what Ion actually does.

[s_bushido]

I think most people on this thread have no clue about what Ion actually does.

He sits behind his desk cackling maniacally while cranking the "WoW Bad" lever.

[Berri]

i hope Ion get fired and next person will NOT focus on raids and M+, but casual solo content.

This game has a box price and charges a monthly subscription. Dunno why it's somehow become acceptable on this forum for them not to deliver on both?

[draugril]

He sits behind his desk cackling maniacally while cranking the "WoW Bad" lever.

Incorrect.

Ion would never laugh while in isolation, as he does not need to pretend that he is human with a sense of humour when alone.

[Doffen]

the only guy i hope it leaves or get fired is Danuser

Danuser moving up to Game Director

Sorry Syegfryed, you are screwed.

[epigramx]

People hate Ion blindly because they act irrationally as a group (and because youtubers are click baiting leeches), but he probably brought the best feature of the last few expansions and the least problems of the last few expansions.

Mythic+ is the best addition to the game since it got its shit together in TBC and the dopamine-secretion-exploitation overdose of world grinding and borrowed powers was probably not his ideas (let alone the same people loved it).

[exsanguinate]

I think most people on this thread have no clue about what Ion actually does.

A game director is the force behind the creative aspects of a video game. Similar to a film director because your vision shapes and defines the game. Together with a team of game designers, you create a road map for the game at large.

I don't know what's so difficult to understand what he does? Hmm.... He's responsible for the direction the game went.

[Niwes]

People used this same excuse with Bioware and they claimed EA was the one behind all its problems. Turns out that no bioware is just a crappy studio that is long past its prime.

Blizzard still has the talent to put out smash hits, it’s just the current WoW team that sucks. Bobby needs to fire ion and the rest of the lead devs and reboot the WoW team

if you really think thats how its going by default, you clearly never worked in such a company and have zero clue. sorry.

y, it COULD be a teams fault (which automatically including a company/managment fault anyway, by not firing such a team and wait that long to produce that bad numbers, before changing that team). but thats a rather RAAAAARE case. things in reality, in such companies, at least in my 22 years exp there and of all the ppls i know from such companies, have COMPLETELY another reasons.

so, maybe you are right. but reality and my exp give a 1.5% chance to be so.

[Log Cabin]

I mean odds are if anything is happening he is getting a promotion. It is kind of a shame... Ion seems to be one of the most competent raid designers the game has ever had. His story seems to be one of being promoted past his personal strengths.

[Niwes]

I think most people on this thread have no clue about what Ion actually does.

yep. its clearly AF that most ppl here are either kids or never ever have worked even one day in large sw development companies or anything like that.

its clear what Ions job is (on paper), but what that means and what exactly he does, how he has to do it and what boundaries he has (by management), in example like budgets etc, all of this is DEFINITELY something ppl here have ZERO clue about.

its a bit like watching 12 year old kids talking about rocket science, when you are a doctor in physics.

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I mean odd are if anything is happening he is getting a promotion. It is kind of a shame... Ion seems to be one of the most competent raid designers the game has ever had. His story seems to be one of being promoted past his personal strengths.

thats nothing new and its called the „peter principle“ btw.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle

[Azxza]

if you really think thats how its going by default, you clearly never worked in such a company and have zero clue. sorry.

y, it COULD be a teams fault (which automatically including a company/managment fault anyway, by not firing such a team and wait that long to produce that bad numbers, before changing that team). but thats a rather RAAAAARE case. things in reality, in such companies, at least in my 22 years exp there and of all the ppls i know from such companies, have COMPLETELY another reasons.

so, maybe you are right. but reality and my exp give a 1.5% chance to be so.

Your experience with what? Posting on the internet for 22 years? lol. Thanks but I'll stick to the facts (Blizzard's continuous bungling of projects over a long period of time) over some boomer on the internet pretending he has a clue what's really going on at blizzard because he was a computer janitor for 22 years lol.

[Echo of Soul]

I think most people on this thread have no clue about what Ion actually does.

Systems, lots of systems