Developer Q&A - Ion Hazzikostas

[hyphnos]

Cool, that way instead of 100 threads about the same two vanilla questions we'll get 100 threads bitching about how having to do certain content to get badges like what happened during MoP. Awesome, can't wait.

you know, it doesn't HAVE to be the fucked up mists system or any other past system for earning currency. they caused the problem by making it hard to cap valor unless you did a dungeon and a scenario daily because the first one had a big bonus and you got zip for later ones.

in cataclysm, they had a good system - 150 valor per heroic dungeon and you could do 7 of them at any time during the week, not having to do it once a day.

basically a currency system that allows people to cap on a weekly basis doing things they like rather than trying to force daily play due to once a day bonuses on certain content essentially would remove almost all the problems people had with "having to things".

It's the urgency of having to do it in a certain time frame that there are numerous solutions to and is totally solved by an escalating cap and making any activity's currency rewards equal whether you do 1 in a day or 15 in a day or wait 3 weeks and earn your entire cap over a weekend.

currency systems are not inherently flawed - blizzard's last iteration of it was and that's no reason to say any and all currency systems would be hated by the playerbase.

[NatePsy]

These devs are so damn stubborn when it comes to the reforge system, it was all well and dandy that you could freely switch between specs with our artifacts but Azerite? Nah, we're gonna charge you out the rear because we frown upon having more than one role this expansion for some reason! It just reeks of them wanting us to farm multiple sets, more time invested looks good on their numbers I guess.

[Zeusrules]

"Allied Races
There aren't any plans to update the Death Knight starting area for Allied Races."

God damn it.

[tylenol]

The mystery is gone now because everyone knows how the game works when your developer is a former player/guild leader

All the years of people saying players could do a better job...shenanigans

[Arvandor]

thats is it for 8.1??

no word for working on broken specs?

no word for pathfinder 2?

i expect that 8.1 is ions last chance, after that he would be fired.

[kokenhalliwell]

Tips to improve Unholy DK:

Short version / issues: UH DK has too many damage buttons to press, pet needs a buff and the spec has movility issues.

Expanded version / fixes:

- Death coil should be renamed to Spiral Plague and include death strike healing effect (maybe reduce the healing effect a little bit, not sure about it). Death strike removed with this (better selfhealing and one less button)

- Epidemic must replace death coil and be stronger (too many buttons for the UH spec)

- The permanent pet needs lots of fixes:

· Way more resistance
· Reduce its casting animation or increase its speed since it lasts too much time to spawn
· Must has a taunt
· Pet's name choice is a must (same for talent 2nd pet and same for Warlocks pets)
· Basic stun should be 2s and buffed version should be 3s
· "All will serve" 2nd pet attacks need a visual improvement (at least green plague arrows or something)

- Wraith walk should replace the baseline sprint (still being able to attack while it lasts), its CD should go down to 30 seconds and could has a gliding effect like mage/moonkin/priests have

- Antimagic shield must last 10 seconds by default and have a slight passive effect

- Army of the dead CD should be 4min by default (if you think that's too OP reduce its damage a little bit)

- Death Grip should be able to be used on allies (maybe to reach them so you can quite better, or to drag them to where you are)

- Necrotic strike should be a passive effect and not another button to press


With this the spec should be way smoother to play I think.

[tangers58]

The mystery is gone now because everyone knows how the game works when your developer is a former player/guild leader

All the years of people saying players could do a better job...shenanigans

No, that means one developer is terrible at his job.

[Meow]

Don't expect a Worgen or Goblin update before next Expansion. They've literally lied through their teeth about the Worgen/Goblin model update coming since WoD.

The main reason I temporarily leave World of Warcraft is their arrogant attitude to worgen/goblin models, as my main character is also a worgen. Every time Blizzard announces a new allied race or some new tweaks of elvish faces, I feel that worgen and goblin players are ignored again and again.

[Darkguyver2020]

Quitting is not the answer but providing feedback is.

When these whining fucktards idea of "feedback" is throwing tantrums on the forums and insulting/making threats towards the developers. They might as well quit. We don't want toxic little cunts like them playing the game anyway.

[Kyanion]

When these whining fucktards idea of "feedback" is throwing tantrums on the forums and insulting/making threats towards the developers. They might as well quit. We don't want toxic little cunts like them playing the game anyway.

At least they are a vocal minority. Other people who just quit, you know. Just quit. They don't say a fucking thing. They're gone.

[Darkguyver2020]

At least they are a vocal minority. Other people who just quit, you know. Just quit. They don't say a fucking thing. They're gone.

They certainly don't feel like a vocal minority at times. The forums are just an endless cacophony of autistic screeching. It's maddening.

[Ganksinatra]

They certainly don't feel like a vocal minority at times. The forums are just an endless cacophony of autistic screeching. It's maddening.

This is why I hardly ever read these forums or the official WoW forums. Back in the day, it was filled with substantive advice and recommendations for game play and lore improvements. Now it's "YOU CHANGED SOMETHING I LIKED SO I THINK SOMEONE SHOULD FUCKING KILL YOUR CHILDREN!!!" I AM QUITTING!!"......the funniest part? That same mongoloid is back screaming about something else 2 weeks later. Sometimes, after a bit, they claim they "stopped subbing months ago". I stopped subbing to EverQuest 15ish years ago. I don't keep appraised of what changes they are making there. I call bullshit.

[Deleted]

Brewmaster and Death Knight have too much survivability compared to other tanks.

im curious to see if they - for once - manage to nerf brewmaster in raids (where it is OP) without hurting it in mythic+ (where it is mid-tier).
The real problem at hand isn't "too much survivability", it is - stagger too good against twoshotting enemies with multiple healers in your back.

So they would need to alter stagger in a way it does less damage smoothing but more actual mitigation

[Al Gorefiend]

People are blowing Azerite armor way out of proportion.

Yeah, the system sucks. Legion Legendaries was a bad system too at Legion launch. Did it ruin the expansion? No.

I hate Azerite as much as anyone else, but it's hardly the worst idea Blizzard ever had.

It's the prune that happened that is still doing so much damage to the game IMO. They really need to stop giving us things then ripping them away from us next expac. I feel like I am LOSING power every expac and it sucks!

[Th3Scourge]

im curious to see if they - for once - manage to nerf brewmaster in raids (where it is OP) without hurting it in mythic+ (where it is mid-tier).
The real problem at hand isn't "too much survivability", it is - stagger too good against twoshotting enemies with multiple healers in your back.

So they would need to alter stagger in a way it does less damage smoothing but more actual mitigation

I would prefer to see buffs to the other tanking specs rather than nerfs to top tier tanks. I'm biased speaking as a Blood DK but that would result in better representation across all tanking specs.

[Nathasil]

People are blowing Azerite armor way out of proportion.

Yeah, the system sucks. Legion Legendaries was a bad system too at Legion launch. Did it ruin the expansion? No.

I hate Azerite as much as anyone else, but it's hardly the worst idea Blizzard ever had.

It's the prune that happened that is still doing so much damage to the game IMO. They really need to stop giving us things then ripping them away from us next expac. I feel like I am LOSING power every expac and it sucks!

Legendaries were the smallest of the 3 pillars which gearing in Legion was based on:
1. Artifact Weapon
2. Tier sets
3. Legendaries

Azerite gear on the other hand is the ONLY gearing system of this expansion. And it sucks. There is no way to blow it out of proportion. WoW is a reward driven game. The primary reward is gear. If your expansion just has ONE gearing system and this one system is shit.....the whole game has a problem. How can one blow this out of proportion? Sit back and watch the cinematics (the only part of BFA that is truely above average!!) while accepting that actually playing the game for gear is just not that great right now?

[Lumineus]

I have no clue how people in California can wear a tuque designed to keep your head warm when it's freezing outside in the winter cold.

By wasting power turning the A/C down to 60. While irrigating their almond fields with Nevada's water. And commuting to work in their H2s. But telling the rest of us we need to sacrifice creature comforts to save the environment.

[SinR]

Ion



























Players
The Game

Does he even play anymore? He's so far away from the game its like he's developing for Star Wars Galaxies

[Debased]

Legendaries were the smallest of the 3 pillars which gearing in Legion was based on:
1. Artifact Weapon
2. Tier sets
3. Legendaries

Azerite gear on the other hand is the ONLY gearing system of this expansion. And it sucks. There is no way to blow it out of proportion. WoW is a reward driven game. The primary reward is gear. If your expansion just has ONE gearing system and this one system is shit.....the whole game has a problem. How can one blow this out of proportion? Sit back and watch the cinematics (the only part of BFA that is truely above average!!) while accepting that actually playing the game for gear is just not that great right now?

It's just that. Tier sets were always great, sure some were better or worse but it was straight forward and always changed spec flavor a bit patch to patch.

[maddhacker24]

Welp, so I'm going to commit to a spec and when the guild asks me to heal or tank because we're missing one I'll say "nah, I won't be as good as someone who is a dedicated tank" and I'll take the ez-mode dps spot.

If Ion wants to make swapping specs more painful then I just won't be helpful anymore. If that means we don't raid, then I'll just pug it.
I'm just not going to take one for the team anymore because I can play all the specs. Nah.

Hell, I may just get my rogue going so I can't even offer to tank or heal anymore.

Thank you for putting my exact thoughts into words. For reals...