New Ion Hazzikostas intervew

[Dizson]

So it isn't subscriptions that show the health of a game but the performance. Didn't take long for you to figure that out. Subscriptions are a small part of the health of game. But like has been said many times investors don't invest for specific game. It is clear that the performance of WoW hasn't been hurting the company as the stock hasn't been tanking.

Certain types of forum dwellers like to hyper focus on subscription numbers and investors as if it has a meaningful impact on anything relevant.

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No.

Activision Blizzard owns King. Blizzard is a part of Activision Blizzard. There are five business units of Activision Blizzard: King, Activision Blizzard studios, Major League Gaming, Blizzard entertainment, and Activision.

Tell me when you found the correlation.

[rhorle]

Tell me when you found the correlation.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertc.../#52f093c727f6

Why did shares of the company rise 6% if there continued to be a drop in the subscribers of WoW? Because subscriber numbers doesn't held the power with shareholders that you are trying so desperately to imply.

[baskev]

If you knew that then why are you purposefully spreading misinformation? You outright claimed that he was speaking about black people.

I am not. And its a very sketchy way to say it.

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The way he said it has nothing to do with race or the color of skin. Like I said it is people like you who are toxic to the community. His comments did not lack tact if you know what the concept of context is. But idiots will focus on a few words in order to twist it into whatever drama fits their rage against a person. Nothing I said is raging either but it isn't surprising that is your go to response for being called out on bs.

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No it doesn't. You can say the word black with out implying anything about race. Seriously stop trying to create drama where none exists.

First part: Not BS.
Its not the force time he has talked with less tact then was needed. And it was sketchy at best.

Second part: Are you brain dead. I said he was not referring to black people in general. I am saying in current day and age...a bit more tact would have been wise.

but you and the other person...just go full bull on red cloth on this...so have fun. you are wrong.
I am not saying he saying black people should. I am saying: in how black people have problems...a bit more tact way of saying stuff would be smart on his part. He has said stuff to offend people before.

[rhorle]

Second part: Are you brain dead. I said he was not referring to black people in general. I am saying in current day and age...a bit more tact would have been wise.

The only reason why tact would be needed is if you are implying that it was a racist remark. If it wasn't racists in the slightest then there is no reason why tact is needed. You can't have it both ways. Either what he said is racist or it isn't. It clearly isn't because Morally black and white is a thing. It is a thing that has no racism inherent in the phrase.

How do black people have problems? Every one has problems can we not use any colors anymore? you used bull on red cloth. Should we lambast you for using a racial color to get a point across?

[plz delete account]

So it isn't subscriptions that show the health of a game but the performance. Didn't take long for you to figure that out. Subscriptions are a small part of the health of game. But like has been said many times investors don't invest for specific game. It is clear that the performance of WoW hasn't been hurting the company as the stock hasn't been tanking.

Certain types of forum dwellers like to hyper focus on subscription numbers and investors as if it has a meaningful impact on anything relevant.

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No.

Activision Blizzard owns King. Blizzard is a part of Activision Blizzard. There are five business units of Activision Blizzard: King, Activision Blizzard studios, Major League Gaming, Blizzard entertainment, and Activision.

No.
According to everything I've pulled up, Blizzard owns King, MLG, Itself, and the studios.
This discussion is irrelevant and offtopic anyways.

[micwini]

Being able to change gear around—to have the trash set, the set for this boss, the defensive set for this boss, in some ways it makes decisions less interesting, because there’s clearly a single right answer for each of those niche situations, versus thinking about the dungeon in its totality and coming up with a balanced solution for that.

"Makes decisions less interesting....so we take away all the decisions and lock you into a single spec/gear for the entire run"

Wut? Does he actually believe this bullshit? What is this unhealthy fixation with taking away options and decisions and choices?

People will just approach it with a different decision space in mind.

And what space would that be? Instead of deciding on gear and making dymanic decisions and swaps on the fly and incorporating THAT into the UI and gameplay, all we'll do is just equip the one, single most-powerful and all around set possible and ignore everything else. There won't be ANY decisions to make besides "Is this drop higher iLVL than what I'm wearing?" or "Is my spec the community approved and tested most optimal"?

What a joke.

This actually adds decisions.

Situation 1(gearswapping enabled): Taking the best gearset for trash, boss 1, boss 2 and boss 3 isnt really making a decision. It is picking the most optimal stuff for each part of the dungeon.

Situation 2(no gearswapping): By not gearswapping in M+, you have to actually make a decision. Are you going to focus on AoE to clear trash faster, or are you going for a more single target build to kill bosses faster?

The latter has you make a decision. The first option shoves you into a semi-forced optimal build for every part of the dungeon. Same reason they revamped talents in MoP.

[baskev]

The only reason why tact would be needed is if you are implying that it was a racist remark. If it wasn't racists in the slightest then there is no reason why tact is needed. You can't have it both ways. Either what he said is racist or it isn't. It clearly isn't because Morally black and white is a thing. It is a thing that has no racism inherent in the phrase.

How do black people have problems? Every one has problems can we not use any colors anymore? you used bull on red cloth. Should we lambast you for using a racial color to get a point across?

Nope not what i am saying. I am saying Ion has a sometimes the problem of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Like the 1 person in the world he should not make joke/comment X to...and he happens to make it.
And this remark was a bit on the fence.

You just made clear who and what you are with the second sentence.

So let me be clear to people who clearly do not read stuff: I do not think it was racist. I think it was a remark borderline on the bad site. And he has had multiple of these kind of remarks.

[rhorle]

No.
According to everything I've pulled up, Blizzard owns King, MLG, Itself, and the studios.
This discussion is irrelevant and offtopic anyways.

Then you haven't pulled up anything factual. Activision Blizzard is the parent company. Activision, Blizzard, King, Activision Blizzard studios (tv/film), and MLG are the child companies owned by the parent.

https://www.activisionblizzard.com/about-us

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Nope not what i am saying. I am saying Ion has a sometimes the problem of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Like the 1 person in the world he should not make joke/comment X to...and he happens to make it.
And this remark was a bit on the fence.

He wasn't making a comment to Black people. The remark is not on the fence because there is nothing racist about morally black and white. Stop trying to turn it into a race issue while denying you are. You deny yet every explanation is trying to justify it as an insensitive racial remark. If it was borderline bad then you have to by default think it was racist other wise it wouldn't be bad.

[baskev]

Then you haven't pulled up anything factual. Activision Blizzard is the parent company. Activision, Blizzard, King, Activision Blizzard studios (tv/film), and MLG are the child companies owned by the parent.

https://www.activisionblizzard.com/about-us

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He wasn't making a comment to Black people. The remark is not on the fence because there is nothing racist about morally black and white. Stop trying to turn it into a race issue while denying you are. You deny yet every explanation is trying to justify it as an insensitive racial remark. If it was borderline bad then you have to by default think it was racist other wise it wouldn't be bad.

Are you blind or something. I am not saying he did. I am saying a comment like that can be seen as bad. Was it bad , nope. But it was that was pretty darn close again. And he has done it ebfore.
You are the one trying to turn it into a race discussion. I am just saying he was pretty darn close to a bad remark ...again.
Nope it does not mean it is racist. The world is not left vs right. Blue vs red etc. And i think i just found the problem. You think it simple terms. Its racist or it is not. Newsflash there are more colors, options etc then just 2.

[Jagorath]

This actually adds decisions.

Situation 1(gearswapping enabled): Taking the best gearset for trash, boss 1, boss 2 and boss 3 isnt really making a decision. It is picking the most optimal stuff for each part of the dungeon.

Situation 2(no gearswapping): By not gearswapping in M+, you have to actually make a decision. Are you going to focus on AoE to clear trash faster, or are you going for a more single target build to kill bosses faster?

The latter has you make a decision. The first option shoves you into a semi-forced optimal build for every part of the dungeon. Same reason they revamped talents in MoP.

Both situations are non-choice for as long as there an optimal solution to the situation given the circumstances.
Second situation maybe require a bit more thinking through, but beyond that, it's not a choice.
Bunch of people seems to be failing to see that both "solutions" (gear swapping or not) are not choices.
A real choice would be if it would be outside of optimal and non-optimal solutions.
Unless, ofc, you consider a choice between optimal and non-optimal performance a real choice. but in my opinion, it's not that.

[micwini]

Both situations are non-choice for as long as there an optimal solution to the situation given the circumstances.
Second situation maybe require a bit more thinking through, but beyond that, it's not a choice.
Bunch of people seems to be failing to see that both "solutions" (gear swapping or not) are not choices.
A real choice would be if it would be outside of optimal and non-optimal solutions.
Unless, ofc, you consider a choice between optimal and non-optimal performance a real choice. but in my opinion, it's not that.

By that measure, no one has a choice in anything he does, ever.

The point is that you might focus on different things depending on what gear you have, how you like to play, what affixes are up, etc. ofc the top 0.000001% are going to min/max, but that's not your average player. What an average player could do in the first situation I described, is to have aoe build for trash and single target for bosses.

You need to see it from the perspective of an average player, not from your own (since I assume you're above average player if you visit these type of forums)

[Onikaroshi]

By that measure, no one has a choice in anything he does, ever.

The point is that you might focus on different things depending on what gear you have, how you like to play, what affixes are up, etc. ofc the top 0.000001% are going to min/max, but that's not your average player. What an average player could do in the first situation I described, is to have aoe build for trash and single target for bosses.

You need to see it from the perspective of an average player, not from your own (since I assume you're above average player if you visit these type of forums)

Your average player doesn't participate high enough for it to matter, your average player won't do over Heroic Dungeons, Mythic at max. Your average M+ player is just going to look at icy-veins and use what they say to use. Your top .1% may actually find things that work better for them, but its a horse a piece either way. 99% of people who do above +15 just look at what's best anyway.

[SirCowdog]

By that measure, no one has a choice in anything he does, ever.

The point is that you might focus on different things depending on what gear you have, how you like to play, what affixes are up, etc. ofc the top 0.000001% are going to min/max, but that's not your average player. What an average player could do in the first situation I described, is to have aoe build for trash and single target for bosses.

You need to see it from the perspective of an average player, not from your own (since I assume you're above average player if you visit these type of forums)

1) The average player doesn't gear swap because they dont' need to gear swap at the average M+ level. :/

2) WoW is a progression based game. We spend ALL our time gathering gear and abilities that help us better defeat the game. Why is it such a tragic terrible thing to be able to use the correct tools for the correct situation in that context?

3) Even if we have the optimal gear for each situation, there' still the execution of each situation. Mythic raid completions(or lack thereof) tells us that even with the correct compositions, gear, and buffs, execution is still a major challenge(and aspect of enjoyment) of the game.

[rhorle]

Are you blind or something. I am not saying he did. I am saying a comment like that can be seen as bad. Was it bad , nope. But it was that was pretty darn close again. And he has done it ebfore.

If you are saying it can be as bad you are the one attributing a race issue to it. I am not the one saying he was out of line or that his comment can be seen as bad. Which is it? It can be seen as a bad remark or it was pretty damn close to one? If it isn't racist at all then there is nothing wrong with saying it. Yes the world isn't black or white and their are a lot of options. That still doesn't mean what he said was bad at all.

You keep trying to say he was bad for saying something that could be seen as racist while denying that it is racist at all in the same breath. You can't have it both ways. Either it is bad for being racist or it is okay for not being racist. You keep trying to attribute racism to it while admitting yourself that it isn't racist.

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2) WoW is a progression based game. We spend ALL our time gathering gear and abilities that help us better defeat the game. Why is it such a tragic terrible thing to be able to use the correct tools for the correct situation in that context?

Then why can't we talent switch in combat for different phases of the fight? Or class swap for different phases. Or full gear swap when in combat. WoW has always been about making choices for the situation but never was it about having choices every second of play. You can't use that defense while ignoring every other mechanic that is designed to stop a choice when you want it.

[Vorkreist]

Back to OP, whats odd is that Ion and his team got another free hand to ruin this exp. But on the other hand its clear they decided to allocate less resources to Bfa and they (Blizz-Activition) don't care how WoW goes. In their eyes and everyone with half a brain wow is going away faster than the fanboys like to admit to themselves. They are just throwing some pees to keep revenues flowing before wow reaches the critical point before its not feasible anymore to invest at all in large expansions. ATVI is already making its bank in other places.

The fanboys will have a rough awakening after Bfa when they either announce wow ftp or an expansion with half the content ever made until now. They keep imagining this kind of design that drives most people away will magically stay financially viable. I'm sorry to break it to you but that "strong cash shop participation" from the whales, mentioned in investor calls can't keep the game to the same level it used to be.

[SirCowdog]

Then why can't we talent switch in combat for different phases of the fight? Or class swap for different phases. Or full gear swap when in combat. WoW has always been about making choices for the situation but never was it about having choices every second of play. You can't use that defense while ignoring every other mechanic that is designed to stop a choice when you want it.

Could you ever do any of this? This isn't really a fair comparison. You're attempting to over-exaggerate the point and misinterpret it to mean that you should always have the perfect answer for everything at any time, all the time. That's not the same as what I and others are saying.

In the situation being discussed, the swap happens out of combat. You're not magically and automatically countering everything as it happens in real time, as your examples suggest. That's not what gear-swapping does.

It's no different than bringing the correct consumables, or changing your entire spec, or talents before combat even starts. These are all accepted, normal parts of the game which have always been available. Raids regularly swap entire classes, and sometimes entire players, for different boss fights. Some of the older fights in previous expansions even REQUIRED gear swaps to resistance gear in order to be completed.

The argument could be made(and has been in this thread) that the same idea applies to setting up your spec before the entire dungeon. The problem I have with that is that it's attempting to treat the entire dungeon as using the same rules as being in-combat. If you can't swap gear while in the dungeon, then what else shouldn't you be able to do? No rez? No stealth? Only one pot for the entire dungeon? Where does it stop?

[klaps_05]

What is most annoying is Ion saying m+ dungeon is like a single raid boss encounter, yet its like a raid boss only where it fits him.

Why do you drop combat between trash/bosses? - a raid boss is active start to finish, there are no breaks to get resses or food buffs
Why can you pot more than twice per run? - raid boss keeps you in combat, always, til he dies or you die
Why isnt your key depleted once everyone dies and you have no more CRs? - when was the last time you wiped on a raid boss and he was still at 70% when you go again? If m+ progress is your raid boss hp, in m+ you get to continue at 70% but on a raid boss you start at 100% again?

Make all of the above changes true for m+ or stop with these BS excuses. At least GC had the balls to tell players they are stupid and dont understand design, Ion is just trying to make excuses.

[rhorle]

Could you ever do any of this? This isn't really a fair comparison. You're attempting to over-exaggerate the point and misinterpret it to mean that you should always have the perfect answer for everything at any time, all the time. That's not the same as what I and others are saying.

Sure it is a fair comparison. The game isn't about unlimited choices in approaching a situation. Nothing about what I said is about having the perfect answer for everything at any time all the time. Of course it isn't the same as what you or others are saying because it isn't even what I am saying. We know exactly where it stops. Because Blizzard has told us. If I can't make the comparison to other situations where we don't have unlimited choices then you can't bring up No rez, no stealth, one pot etc. Play by the same rules you want others to play with.

Not to mention Challenge mode, which M+ evolved from, didn't allow you to change talents or glyphs. (Spec was hotfixed in). This is just a further evolution of the system. In MoP and WoD gear scaled. In legion gear didn't scale and you could change when out of combat. In BfA gear can only be changed before the run starts.

Again what I said is a fair comparison because restrictions have existed. You just dismiss it because it doesn't fit your narrative. There is nothing wrong with restricting things to the start of content meant to challenge.

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Make all of the above changes true for m+ or stop with these BS excuses. At least GC had the balls to tell players they are stupid and dont understand design, Ion is just trying to make excuses.

Well you don't understand design. They want Mythics to be liked MoP and WoD challenge modes which were designed to be a single encounter. Game design allows for something to be approached as a single long encounter but not require you to be in-combat the entire run. It really is quite simple and it is down right silly that you would want someone to call you an idiot instead of someone that explains to you.

[lostinwoods]

If they would have left classes the same from WoD or something they could've been actually working on content instead of trying to fix the mess they created.

[baskev]

If you are saying it can be as bad you are the one attributing a race issue to it. I am not the one saying he was out of line or that his comment can be seen as bad. Which is it? It can be seen as a bad remark or it was pretty damn close to one? If it isn't racist at all then there is nothing wrong with saying it. Yes the world isn't black or white and their are a lot of options. That still doesn't mean what he said was bad at all.

You keep trying to say he was bad for saying something that could be seen as racist while denying that it is racist at all in the same breath. You can't have it both ways. Either it is bad for being racist or it is okay for not being racist. You keep trying to attribute racism to it while admitting yourself that it isn't racist.

Yes i am saying that. it was not racist, but borderline. l said nothing about it being okay. stop thinking black and white like that.