Where is Ion ?

[Le Conceptuel]

Because we are a historic 425 days into the expansion with 9.2 still being months away from release, and it's going to take at least another 300+ days after 9.2 for 10.0 to release. 10.0 is coming Spring 2023 at the earliest.

Keep in mind we're looking at very abnormal circumstances. I'm not sure that's going to certainly ensure that we won't get the expansion sooner rather than later. Keep in mind that most patterns are not very applicable here because we're looking at a very aberrant situation. Add to this how the expansion has been cut short, which would suggest to me that they have some kind of content planned for the near-future.

[sensei]

Why is there NO chance?

Maybe it would be more accurate to say

"Not a chance of it coming out this year and being even remotely better than BFA and SL"

[DingDongKing]

I can't quite decide if it's trolling or not. So I just laughed.

It's MMO-C. Assume everyone is dead serious about such opinions. But yes, it's hilariously stupid.

[Goat7]

Hey folks,

anyone else out there, feeling that Ion (Hazzikostas) is nearly non-existent, since the Blizzard drama started ?

Since Legion, his face was always seen, in every corner. Regardless if in all that Him+Josh talks, or in some Updates or News PR videos, or as guest in some Interviews. But since around 9.1 or so (around the time when the Blizz harassments drama started) it’s like he is not existing.

I know some of you will say that’s a good thing. And i personally not wanna discuss him, or if his absence is good or bad. I personally like him for some things, but i don’t like the game design of WoW under his lead. But as i said: That’s not the topic.

The topic is: I ask myself, if i just missed some things, or if he really is that absent, and if other ppls feel/see the same.

Just curious

He is working from home due to covid, currently army crawlin around the basement. I heard from a friend who lives next to his uncle's friend.

[MeTaL GuArD]

And he is their leader.

And therein lies the problem. He's completely uninterested in anything that does not pertain to raiding, and it trickles down to all aspects of the game. I wish they had someone else who could take his position so he can move back to what he actually likes to do.

[Puupi]

Why is there NO chance?

If 10.0 comes out this year, it's bound to be shit.

[pkusa]

Because we are a historic 425 days into the expansion with 9.2 still being months away from release, and it's going to take at least another 300+ days after 9.2 for 10.0 to release. 10.0 is coming Spring 2023 at the earliest.

Months away meaning the end of February? Because that's when we're getting it.

[Nyel]

How is 9-10 months of 9.2 an 'incredibly fast turnaround' ???

Because the average is still 11 months.

By the way, Ion is hiding for half a year now, he's basically non-existent. This was not the case during BfA (or 2020) at all. It started in 2021.

[MasterOfNone]

Why? Do you miss blaming him for each and every gameplay related problem WoW has?

when the shoe fits....

OT: who cares where he is? as long as he isnt breaking the game worse than what BFA and shadowlands are, then it doesnt matter.

[Niwes]

He is the manager of a very large team that is in crisis. He's busy with that I would guess. Yes, he's been quiet and given the usual reaction to any public thing he says that's the best way. Perhaps he has decided that the Tom Chilton way of Gamemaster communication, i.e. practically none at all, is the best path while all of this is going on.

yep, thought something same around those lines.

and btw, your post (post #27) was the first useful post in this thread.

cause it was

- not offtopic
- no stupid trolling
- rational

so, thx.

i realize, i am on MMOC. *rolleyes*

[Kralljin]

Add to this how the expansion has been cut short, which would suggest to me that they have some kind of content planned for the near-future.

Remember the last expansion that was "cut short" and the waiting period towards the next expansion?

You can even check the image you've quoted to verify this.

[deenman]

I am sure that guy is still where he was before - destroying World of Wartcraft for fun.

define ''destroying'',wow has seen its biggest financial growth time after time since ion took the reigns,minus a few drops with the scandal ofc

reminds me of the people calling for ion to be fired lol,when whats more likely is he becomes the new ceo

[Niwes]

While I am not big on conspiracies, I'm sure he plans to leave after 10.0 ships and likely already announced so to the powers that be.

I'm sure he's both tired of being a target dummy for pepegas AND knows he can get much more elsewhere with his massive management experience. I bet he wants to go the way of Ghostcrawler and he absolutely can.

He'd probably jump the ship already, but I bet he got convinced to stay and oversee 10.0 development for some extra $$ and perks.

this is quite possible imo (and somewhat typical too, at least in my experience in companies like Blizz).

[Tojara]

Probably doing his job, lol? I'd imagine he might do a video prior to 9.2 coming out, but that's about it. He normally doesn't pop up that much anyways. 9.2 will probably launch late February early March if I had to guess. In regards to 10.0 I don't see that coming out until a year from now.

[Asrialol]

Unrelated - whats up with this trend of having a space before a questionmark? So it looks like this: "Insert question here ?".

People didn't write like this before.

[Kralljin]

Probably doing his job, lol? I'd imagine he might do a video prior to 9.2 coming out, but that's about it. He normally doesn't pop up that much anyways. 9.2 will probably launch late February early March if I had to guess. In regards to 10.0 I don't see that coming out until a year from now.

Well, to be fair, i do recall tons of Q&A Livestreams with Lore during Legion and even BfA.

[Coniferous]

Ion technically is also a lawyer. He was one before he joined blizzard. Tbh he is probably one od the people helping get the microsoft shit dealt with and smoothed over aswell as helping woth all the legal issues as one of the only top end people who fully understands it.

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He is also a full fledged lawyer so they probably have him helping with all the legal issues. He is probably one of the only members of blizzard who has a full understanding of the legal issues and can help those who need it.

What???? Blizzard is a huge company. They have lawyers. They're not walking around the development office like, "Hey anyone here got a law degree, we got some legal stuff to do?" Any major event like this is also typically handled by investment bankers, who do this for a living.

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Well, to be fair, i do recall tons of Q&A Livestreams with Lore during Legion and even BfA.

Pretty sure they pulled back from those because they would quite regularly get ripped apart by most of the big streamers afterwards. Instead of taking the feedback to heart (because it was mostly valid), they just stopped doing the streams.

Ion's big skill in those streams was finding a way to frame their shitty systems in a positive light that sounded good to the corporate overlords. Because remember, Blizz wasn't implementing those systems because they thought we would have fun, they were just trying to keep people subscribed longer. Overlords liked that Ion was good at making it sound like they had the players' best interests at heart - although the players mostly realized it was bullshit.

[T-34]

define ''destroying'',wow has seen its biggest financial growth time after time since ion took the reigns,minus a few drops with the scandal ofc

reminds me of the people calling for ion to be fired lol,when whats more likely is he becomes the new ceo

Let me just add to this fine post what I posted in another thread:

If we look at Acti-Blizz' finances then each of the 3 quarters (2021) so far show the highest revenue and net income compared to all other previous quarters ever.
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/c...izzard/revenue

Not liking the game and the company is a matter of opinion, but from a financial perspective, which after all is the only thing that counts in our capitalistic society, Blizzard is no way in a "downfall".


How should Blizzard's, Acti-Blizz'', MS leadership measure Ion's merits? His "reputation" on various on-line fora or the company's financial results?

Added:
The above is for Acti-Blizz.
So far Blizzard is doing better than in 2014,2015,2019 and 2020, but worse than in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Blizzard's numbers if anyone is interested:
https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...1#post53562022

[Kralljin]

Pretty sure they pulled back from those because they would quite regularly get ripped apart by most of the big streamers afterwards. Instead of taking the feedback to heart (because it was mostly valid), they just stopped doing the streams.

From what i can tell, the Livestream Q&A with Lore actually had not so terrible reception (depending the answers), it's usually been the interviews, especially where Ion goes on about tangents of game philosophy that got picked apart.

[deenman]

Hazzikostas:

- making the game a niche audience game, adressing only organized group players and ultra casuals, with millions of customers leaving short after a new expac.
- exploiting the hope of the people to make the game what they would like with lies and promises, while learning nothing from failed systems like borrowed power

Danuser:

- bad story arcs
- retcon after retcon

all subjective aspects you/me/others dislike yeah,but why would that matter to a company when profit is the main driving factor?

also pls stop calling everything you dislike a retcon,adding things we didnt know isnt a retcon