Ion hazzikostas leaving in 10.0 (leak)

[Unholyground]

Do you know how many times people have used that in relation to anything with WoW? It is the same logic people have used to say WoW is dying for the last 10+ years.

I mean it doesn't really matter to me anymore cause I'm not paying them I just play on a private server when I want to get my fix. I own every single expansion so I can play them the way in which I want at the very least.

I just have a feeling things are finally going to swing the other way based on how many sub are hemorrhaging. I know over 20 people who quit playing well since Christmas and that's not a joke.

[Swnem]

Ion brought the best feature added to the game since TBC. M+. He is also unlikely to have given the idea of the world grinding excessiveness since he was a hard core raider but he has decision responsibility of course.

He also removed 10 man raiding (real 10 man raiding, not the balance mess we can do with flex).
He is responsible for all decisions. He is the game director.

[Al Gorefiend]

Ion brought the best feature added to the game since TBC. M+. He is also unlikely to have given the idea of the world grinding excessiveness since he was a hard core raider but he has decision responsibility of course.

The grinding in shadowlands wasn't bad at all either, probably the tamest it's ever been in an expansion. Certainly can pace it better than BfA, WoD, MoP, Cata and BC.
The covenant callings are less world quest grinding than the legion + BfA emissary quests with options to skip them in place of doing a world boss or grouping up in an elite zone, or dungeon, finding treasure, pet battles even.

I think the pacing of their content they were on track to deliver until 2021 started flopping for them hard. 9.2 should have been a holiday release, and we're def getting nothing until spring at this point. Idk if Ions behind Torghast, I wouldn't consider it a rogue-like as they were hoping for, much more just dungeons with power ups

[epigramx]

He also removed 10 man raiding (real 10 man raiding, not the balance mess we can do with flex

You don't want to do 10man; it was objectively a very big handicap to you for mechanical and strategic reasons; for example you were usually restricted to 2 healers so you were often forced to wipe just because someone had a dc for 4 seconds.

At the very least you should wish for something like a stable 14man because at least that has some limited redundancy; or to be honest: just bite the bullet and don't be scared of 20mans; they are really not that gigantic for most leaders.

Let alone because of those handicaps I mentioned first: devs knew that and were nerfing 10mans to the ground; as a result nobody respected them compared to 25man and that was contaminating the sense of achievement.

[exsanguinate]

M+ is the worst feature ever put into this game.

[epigramx]

M+ is the worst feature ever put into this game.

No. First of all: it's multiple times better than the entire feature of PvP since it's way more balanced (PvP is DOOMED to never be even approximately balanced unless they make all specs identical).

Most importantly: your personal opinion is not enough; thousands of people are queuing to pug for them every single moment you are online; at least half of them don't need the gear!1

[Rageonit]

M+ is the worst feature ever put into this game.

How about: it's the best feature put into the game since vanilla? Nothing has ever given me as much incentive to stay subbed after I was done with raiding. Nothing, not even remotely close. I'd wager it's the single most replayable feature this game ever had.

[Coniferous]

Some people here act as they know him personally. "He's an awful leader" like they worked for him or something.

He is an awful speaker. He comes across as mechanical and far too analytical, and discounts legitimate concerns with lawyerly arguments far too often, leaving his audience pissed off. And that style resonates with players who see the same approach in the game - an analytical focus on numbers and systems, no focus on "hey, is this actually fun?". He fails the "would you want to have a beer with him?" test. Ghostcrawler, who had his own issues, is at least an engaging communicator.

[epigramx]

How about: it's the best feature put into the game since vanilla? Nothing has ever given me as much incentive to stay subbed after I was done with raiding. Nothing, not even remotely close. I'd wager it's the single most replayable feature this game ever had.

Yes it's pretty good; or at least: it's pretty good compared to most features in this game; mythic 20man can beat it only under the condition it's done well mainly because its complexity is higher to create a setup and that can be interesting.

I didn't say since vanilla but "since TBC" because I get the impression the game first started not being a buggy mess in TBC but I'm not sure exactly about vanilla because I didn't play much in it.

I could say it's in the top 3 of features in the game (especially since PvP is unrecoverably imbalanced) (with the 3rd being pet battles hehe).

[Gaidax]

M+ is the worst feature ever put into this game.

If you keep telling it, someone might believe it.

I don't know what's your beef with M+, but it's pretty clearly one of the most successful major features added in WoW in like a decade.

Blizz dreams of making another game mode that is as successful as that one, that's why they keep trying stuff like Warfronts, Torghast and Islands - just to find that one another thing to keep the show going on top of raiding/M+.

[ResentfulUK]

I wouldn’t be surprised. We haven’t even heard anything from Ion for some time

/r/agedlikemilk

[Nyel]

/r/agedlikemilk

To be fair, he has been completely silent for 7 months. This was pure coincidence.

[Biggles Worth]

At this point I would be a little worried about who would replace him. I'm not saying there are no competent developers for a promotion within Blizzard or that he is perfect but he is at least a stable influence. And radical changes, even if needed, could be even worse. I don't even think Shadowlands is that bad of an expansion. It just suffered from delays in content.

Things could get worse but a lot of important aspects of the game aren't getting any better.

[Xykotic]

What this is, is probably office rumors that's reached someone who wanted to leak it for w/e reason.

Worked in an office for years. People that's seriously thinking of quitting tends to up in the rumor mill, but they don't always end up leaving. Sometimes things change, either internally or externally to change peoples mind.

I admire that he kept trying, but I definitely feel like WoW needs fresh blood, more than ever.

[Razorice]

M+ is the worst feature ever put into this game.

This guy has shit RIO Score

[Valysar]

I wonder if someone can do worse than Ion and his team at this point.

[epigramx]

I wonder if someone can do worse than Ion and his team at this point.

Wat. Maybe all dev teams since TBC were worse; nobody introduced something better than mythic+; in terms of systemic changes to gameplay: most expansions were mainly fixing bugs and introducing LFG systems and inside the confines of the same old systems: the art and encounter design was always hit and miss and no expansion clearly dominates others.

Most people hate an expac because they became addicted or/and burned out and they consider "the best" the expansion they had the best friends in.

[Osmeric]

This guy has shit RIO Score

M+, like rated PvP, makes you feel good if you're a good player.

While this is good for retaining good players, it's shit game design for retaining most other players.

[Swnem]

You don't want to do 10man; it was objectively a very big handicap to you for mechanical and strategic reasons; for example you were usually restricted to 2 healers so you were often forced to wipe just because someone had a dc for 4 seconds.

At the very least you should wish for something like a stable 14man because at least that has some limited redundancy; or to be honest: just bite the bullet and don't be scared of 20mans; they are really not that gigantic for most leaders.

Let alone because of those handicaps I mentioned first: devs knew that and were nerfing 10mans to the ground; as a result nobody respected them compared to 25man and that was contaminating the sense of achievement.

Oh yes, i want.

How is that different from a healer DC'ing on mythic+? It's even worse.

Nah, that is not what i want. I want 10 or 8 man. Easy to organize raid groups. Devs don't know s**t. 10 man was super popular. It was another of those dumb moves made on Ion era cause they wanted 25/20 man raids to be the proponent effect of the game cause that is what the elitist jerks did. People preferred 10 man to 25 man. That is why they removed it. Another perfect example of "we know best" you don't know what you want. Arrogant and backwards thinking as always. They are simply forcing larger raid sizes on us and the result is there for all to see.

[Easyclassictopkeklel]

Obviously that would have a rather big impact on the game. Many hate Ion and are glad if he's gone, but no one knows who would follow and if it was better. Perhaps we get some great innovative active player, or perhaps we get some Activision suit that just cares about revenue.

So apart from the leak being utterly speculative (and that's already nicely said) we also wouldn't know where this would lead us, so pretty pointless to discuss anything.

that being said many of the people who hate Ion do not even know what his main job is at blizzard and what he actually is "responsible" for in person.
Blizzards problem are deeper and not to blame on single people and what the game would benefit most of would be completely different people leaving the company...but that probably won't happen, because they still earn a fkload of money.