Tom Chilton Switching Projects, Ion Hazzikostas now Game Director

[bonewax]

well who cares wow is on the internet now there will always be servers

wow is on the internet? NO WAY!

[Tenjen]

You probably didn't raid back then, because if you did you would know there was overall dissatisfaction towards the new easy mode. The dungeons were a start, with grouping up and just facerolling everything. But that didn't really bother people because there were still raids. Naxx was relatively easy but still a nice raid to start with, also with the achievements of not dieing you could atleast get some fun out of it and display your skill. Then came Ulduar, with the insane hard modes and probably by far the best raid to be released at that time. It was for everyone but still didn't need to have multiple difficulties to accomplish that. Then came ToC and a lot of the players knew this wasn't going to be the game they wanted it to become. Probably most people waited it out until Lich King, then left when Cataclysm arrived.

Long story short, more numbers doesn't automatically mean it was in the best state at the time. Look at WoD's spike, you an also point to that and say it was the second best thing to ever happen to WoW, if you look only to the numbers that is. We all know better, as people should about Wotlk. Theme, by far the best. Design decisions, one of the worst.

Didn't raid back then? Don't assume and swallow your own bullshit. I went from killing kelthuzad right down to killing the Lich King when it was current content. There was no "overall dissatisfaction". It was the same then as it was now. A vocal minority of whiners, some of whom didn't even accomplish any actual raiding, complaining about what they didn't understand and the rest? the "real raiders"? The direction they would have wanted would have killed the game and was killing the game. The new direction is exactly what sustained it.

The big miss steps were releasing the tourny and ICC too early in the cycle, cutting Ulduar brutally and regretfully short, which lead to a long ass wait afterwards while the world reset in cata consumed resources.

The initial argument i was countering was stating "numbers back then" incorrectly, so dont twist it around.

The fact remains, if Blizz had not made the decisions it had concerning non-exclusive raid design, WoW would not have survived as long as it did. There may have been missteps but this is not one of them. Hell the reason it survived all those missteps is because of it.

[Velen The Just]

You do realize that Ion wasn't a designer or a developer before he came to WoW? He has been a lawyer when Blizzard hired him, which is pretty much closer to a PR-guy that should know how and what to say than a developer or designer.

Just... food for thought.

You most certainly cannot replace it with a guy who was originally a "blood sucking lawyer" before coming to Blizzard. (Ion Hazzikostas - NOT a fan of his)

[Istaria]

You guys act like the top bosses never get cycled out of a company. This is hardly "the sky is falling", he's been working on the game for 12 years - We need new blood so the game can evolve instead of continuing the same shit.

Maybe new blood, but that's not enough.

We need designers that are humble enough to go back to the roots and understand why things were designed the way they were, and how not understanding this led to worse and worse decisions over the years: if a game is well done you can't simply decide to wipe this and that talent and switch this from a class to another or from a spec to another, because balancing is very hard, interesting gameplays and depth of play are very precious.

Designers that understand a new expansion is more than a single gimmick: let's replace talent trees with a few rows of 3 fake choices, let's give every capability to every class,let's remove 90 % of stats, and let's invent a few new retarded ones, because we're more than an RPG, let's steal most capabilities from most classes (pruning), let's force people to play a single spec and let's arbitrarily attribute capabilities to one spec only (class fantasy).

Designers who understand you can't be everything to every gamer, and understand there is no future in a 3 - button MMORPG, that the 24/7 grinding is already covered by Korean MMORPGs.

Converserly designers who play other games and are willing to take greats features from a game if its adaptable and relevant to WoW.

Designers who are ready to listen to players when possible (we want housing) and not systematically overdoing it to the extreme (garrisons).

And of course, to recognize the very few good ideas, such as reforging, that were added to the game over the years, and cherish and protect them.

[f0nZi3]

Fuck yes, this is expeptional good news! Ion Fuck Fluying Hazzikostas will make WoW Great again. The Raids were the only good thing in WoD (and have been really good in Cata and MoP), I am really hyped to see what greatness he will bestow upon all of WoW.

Maybe now we get finally some challenging Solo Content again?

Well, based on his record as Lead Game Designer thus far... the "greatness he will bestow upon all of WoW" you refer to will likely be in the form of a big, steaming, pile of shit. I am actually shocked he still has a job let alone got a promotion.

[Mackk]

I see all this talk about a Diablo or Starcraft MMO or even a WoW 2 with a shiny new engine built from the ground up with the latest tech purpose built for a MMO (not a heavily modified RTS engine), I don't really put much hope into anything like this happening though. I do reckon Overwatch would make a great setting for an MMO.......oh wait... (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

[Deleted]

Well, based on his record as Lead Game Designer thus far... the "greatness he will bestow upon all of WoW" you refer to will likely be in the form of a big, steaming, pile of shit. I am actually shocked he still has a job let alone got a promotion.

Ion has given us the best raid encounters - actually challenging and not just overtuned. How in the name of Odin could you call his work "a pile of shit"?

[Deleted]

Blizzard seems to be aware that Ion as a gamedirector is pretty... well, let's say the people are divided about that. And somehow i feel they are in damage-control-mode. Look at this thread:
http://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/t...9726550?page=1

The strange thing is, yesterday in the evening the OP was at over 350 upvotes and barely any downvotes. Now at noon i looked to find the OP to receive over 500 downvotes more and ends up being so negatively voted that his post is being hidden. At the same time the downvoted posts questioning the OP got highly upvoted. I know that things like this happen all the time and people shift the voting game on threads. But usually it happens only in a matter of days sometimes even weeks. This time it happened practically over night. No... actually literally over night.

But no matter what happens there and in other threads, Ion hazzikostas is surely a person that polarizes. There are people that like him for all he did for raids and raiding, and there are people that don't like him because everything besides raiding was/is screwed up (opinions). I personally don't like his "hardecore approach", not everybody (in fact only a few players) are like his "elitist jerks". And raiding is only important for a small minority of the games population when it comes to HC+ raiding.

[Niwes]

why is this nearly 6 years old thread on MMOC frontpage? especially the title may sound confusing for many ppls, imo.

accidental necro by MMOC itself ?

ofc today we got the answer to „what is Tom Chilton doing since October 2016?“

but just posting/necroing this thread, without any additional comment, nonetheless is rather confusing imo. @mods

[OrangeJuice]

6 years later WoW is officially dead thanks to that fucking piece of shit Ion. Every single day after this post the game got worse than the previous thanks to that piece of shit Ion.

[Calfredd]

6 years later WoW is officially dead thanks to that fucking piece of shit Ion. Every single day after this post the game got worse than the previous thanks to that piece of shit Ion.

"Officially dead" and yet you can long into the game right now with no issue.

[OrangeJuice]

2 more expansions and wow is over. Everything is pointing that way.

One of the first replies to this thread. This guy gets it.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

One of the first replies to this thread. This guy gets it.

No you really don't get it. Neither does he

[Eosia]

"Officially dead" and yet you can long into the game right now with no issue.

Not to mention people said the same thing when Tom Chilton was GD too. They just like to blame whoever because they think their $15/mo entitles them to demand the game be made to their specifications and wants.

[deenman]

6 years later WoW is officially dead thanks to that fucking piece of shit Ion. Every single day after this post the game got worse than the previous thanks to that piece of shit Ion.

actualy ever since ion,raiding has become better and better,and wow has had financial increase yearly,if anything ion will be promoted eventualy

[Dioporco]

actualy ever since ion,raiding has become better and better,and wow has had financial increase yearly,if anything ion will be promoted eventualy

[citation needed]

raid partecipation is at the lowest

[Makabreska]

6 years later WoW is officially dead thanks to that fucking piece of shit Ion. Every single day after this post the game got worse than the previous thanks to that piece of shit Ion.

Obligatory picture:

[Smeagolski]

[citation needed]

raid partecipation is at the lowest

Maths is wierd like that, since raid participation can and probably is, influenced by the overall state of game, and obvious loss of playerbase.
Saying raid participation is at the lowest, without taking significant pieces of the puzzle into consideration, is super dismissive, and it does not bring anything to the table. That said, raids have been great, and I have no dubt they'll stay the same next expansion. participation numbers will go up or down depending on how well the expansion is recieved, just like all the times before. if it's a good expansion, raid participation numbers will go up too.

[Dioporco]

Maths is wierd like that, since raid participation can and probably is, influenced by the overall state of game, and obvious loss of playerbase.
Saying raid participation is at the lowest, without taking significant pieces of the puzzle into consideration, is super dismissive, and it does not bring anything to the table. That said, raids have been great, and I have no dubt they'll stay the same next expansion. participation numbers will go up or down depending on how well the expansion is recieved, just like all the times before. if it's a good expansion, raid participation numbers will go up too.

Even saying that raid got better and there is a financial increase since Ion took over, without taking in consideration : what is really selling (shop) and how WoW is countend as Classic+Retail


If raiding numbers are lower than previous expac regardless how cool raids are, that shows us how raids themselves are not the main driving force of an expac.

[Smeagolski]

Even saying that raid got better and there is a financial increase since Ion took over, without taking in consideration : what is really selling (shop) and how WoW is countend as Classic+Retail


If raiding numbers are lower than previous expac regardless how cool raids are, that shows us how raids themselves are not the main driving force of an expac.

Raids are most certainly not the main driving force of any expansion, nor would I argue such, when numbers on that are clear.