Shadowlands - Ion's final expansion?

[Ethas]

Will Shadowlands be the final expansion that Ion is the lead on? After the colossal failure that BfA turned out to be, there's a lot riding on Shadowlands. But so far, it seems most people are heavily underwhelmed by the Shadowlands already.

Will we see a new lead dev during Shadowlands or will Ion survive yet another expansion?

Management usually don't change based on the perception of the product by consumers sadly. They can always blame everything on someone inferior in the chain.

[Claymore]

It's honestly hard to say how good a job he, personally, is doing.

BFA is definitely the low-point of the game, and Shadowlands isn't doing anything, that I can see, to get people excited. Some of the zones look kind of cool, but it again feels pretty "safe" for an expansion. Nothing I've seen has me thinking "Well, I haven't been playing WoW, but NOW I really want to!".

All I can say is, Shadowlands really feels like it's missing "something", at least for me. Personally, I still hold that WoW could greatly benefit (in a number of ways) from adding a Housing system of some kind. It's practically the only MMO on the market that doesn't have one, and it's the kind of thing that can keep people invested, even when they aren't actively raiding.

[infinitemeridian]

It's honestly hard to say how good a job he, personally, is doing.

BFA is definitely the low-point of the game, and Shadowlands isn't doing anything, that I can see, to get people excited. Some of the zones look kind of cool, but it again feels pretty "safe" for an expansion. Nothing I've seen has me thinking "Well, I haven't been playing WoW, but NOW I really want to!".

All I can say is, Shadowlands really feels like it's missing "something", at least for me. Personally, I still hold that WoW could greatly benefit (in a number of ways) from adding a Housing system of some kind. It's practically the only MMO on the market that doesn't have one, and it's the kind of thing that can keep people invested, even when they aren't actively raiding.

Wow does desperately need housing, but people will tell you garrisons were housing and that failed and also WoW is only about instanced content (bgs / raids / dungeons). Anything that has to do with immersion, worldbuilding, customization or player expression and not with excessive stat manipulations and combat is frowned upon on this site.

[Unholyground]

From a raiding standpoint this expansion was fucking spot on for me. Really loved both BoD & TEP

Only crazy people like that much RNG in a game that is about getting the gear you want when it gets down to it though. There is no fun getting the same piece of gear to have it increase by 5 item levels and do nothing else, this isn't a Korean MMO.

[otaXephon]

I guess you deserve some congratulations for writing 3 insignificant lines and get 9 pages of replies out of it. No facts, no statistics. (You know, things like: "According to this source (where you insert a link) WoW has lost x amount of subs over the x-pacs that Ion was responsible. Compare that with (where you insert another link) etc etc. His time as a game director has resulted in (insert another link) and so on...bla bla bla...Do you guys think he will be / should be replaced and who would be better suited to do his job?")

You know, stuff that people do to analyse a situation, not just throw out claims ("colossal failure") and your feelings ("it seems").

That said. Will he be replaced? How the hell would we know? Do we work with Blizzard? What I think is, he will quit by his own choices eventually and move on to a job where he is less in the spotlight, because when he is in front of a camera or on a stage, he does not seem comfortable.

I've never got the impression he was uncomfortable in front of the camera. In fact, it's usually quite the opposite. The dude enjoys coming up with bullshit on the spot. See: All the times he looks away from the camera then comes back with, "Yes but..." I see a guy who has lived his entire life thinking about how to respond to criticism and doing something he finds a lot of enjoyment in. He's perfect for the role he represents and I personally do not see him stepping down or being replaced any time soon.