Warcraft Radio Interview with Ion Hazzikostas

[Acidbaron]

I do think Ion delivered good work for what he set out to achieve and i think he still believes he does, but is he with his focus on raiding and background the best person in charge to lead WoW forward?

Perhaps a new breath of fresh air is needed from outside of Blizzard to offer new perspectives, the last expansion simply felt that everything was build around eventually to start raiding and MMO's that are more diverse seem to attract people longer.

Shadowlands seems to offer something more geared towards solo progression but i am holding off pre-ordering till the "honey moon" phase dies off.

[Ghostile]

ITT people who think devs listen to a handful of idiots crying on forums instead of the population in general.

[Kyphael]

Battle for Azeroth Ending
•There are definitely already hints building up to the future of the story.
•Ion talks about the disappointment some felt for N'Zoth's end, but at the end of the day we are the heroes of the story and we will always defeat villains and make way for new villains to enter.
•The team wanted the final cinematic of the expansion to focus on you as the hero and your efforts to build up your Heart of Azeroth being important to victory.

Nice way of saying "WE LAZY!" That goes without saying, but no ending cinematic to an expansion before felt so insignificant and hollow. Artifact Weapons were important to Legion, but its ending cinematic didn't just feature 25 heroes stabbing Argus with legendaries and him dying with no epilogue thereafter.

[Pandragon]

I agree with you that there should something that sticks and can be built upon, but I'm very glad it's not corruption because that system is awful.

As usual it's one of Blizzards "great idea, poor execution" things. Having different ranks and some effects being so freaking powerful is what ruined it. Not to mention the chance of the negative effects just one shotting you. And the fact that the corruptions effects have no cd: During one of our Mythic Wrathion attempts I literally had 8 things from below spawn from all different directions, and one attempt where I had Eye>Slow>Eye>Thing>Eye>thing without cascade.

[Onikaroshi]

As usual it's one of Blizzards "great idea, poor execution" things. Having different ranks and some effects being so freaking powerful is what ruined it. Not to mention the chance of the negative effects just one shotting you. And the fact that the corruptions effects have no cd: During one of our Mythic Wrathion attempts I literally had 8 things from below spawn from all different directions, and one attempt where I had Eye>Slow>Eye>Thing>Eye>thing without cascade.

The negative effects are an important aspect though, you're obviously stacking a bunch of corruption. It's a slow nerfing mechanic as you can stack more and more, but you can't put on all your corruption pieces either

[Kallisto]

"Ion talks about the disappointment some felt for N'Zoth's end, but at the end of the day we are the heroes of the story and we will always defeat villains and make way for new villains to enter."

Probably the worst takeaway from this interview. It completely ruins any potential storylines and various potential endings in favour of Scooby Doo level monster of the week expansions where us meddling kids always win 100% of the time. So disappointed with that.

So every expansion?

[Pandragon]

The negative effects are an important aspect though, you're obviously stacking a bunch of corruption. It's a slow nerfing mechanic as you can stack more and more, but you can't put on all your corruption pieces either

I have 45 corruption. Corruption increases the range and damage of them, but not the spawn rate. That's a base value with no cd. Some fights I rarely see any of it, some fights I just get chain hit by it.

[twothe]

The problem is not the length of the cinematic. The problem is that it would have taken me like 5 minutes to come up with a way better ending than this.

Blizzard is forgetting more and more how to be good game company.

[Awsyme]

Whenever Ion speaks its like a corporate lawyer whispering platitudes into the camera. That bit about the cinematic... "We meant it to be focused on you!' - Sure... which doesn't explain how cheap the actual 20 odd seconds showing N'Zoth destroyed was. All they did was apply a physics shatter effect to a tower and a glow shader to some of the other structures. That's a terrible ending to an expansion.

[Kyphael]

The problem is not the length of the cinematic. The problem is that it would have taken me like 5 minutes to come up with a way better ending than this.

Blizzard is forgetting more and more how to be good game company.

Me too, watch.

Alliance

Anduin: It's... over.
Alleria: But there is still the matter of Sylvanas.
Anduin: In due time Alleria, but we must rest for now, we've earned this victory. [Insert generic complimentary line to hero player here; "we couldn't have done it without you."]
Wrathion, having avenged his father's corruptor, transforms into a black drake and flies away into the sunset.

Horde
Thrall: You've done it, hero, the world is in your debt... now, we must turn to re-building The Horde. It will not be easy, but no path for The Horde ever has been.
Lor'themar nods.
Baine opens his mouth to speak.
Baine: I--

END.

[david0925]

I usually shit on 8.3 but Corruption gear is actually something that is very promising, if they properly executed it. I like the idea that every piece of gear can potentially be that BIS trinket (assuming IS/EV/TD etc are "trinkets"). The Corruption mechanism also ensure that there is a theoretical soft cap on how much you can wear, even if you get super lucky.

The execution, on the other hand, is very bad
-Multiple ranks: this isn't necessary, or should be customizable
-Large power discrepancy, as well as combining utility and throughput into direct competition: This is the two biggest mistakes for Legion Legendaries, which most people, including myself, liked. It is fun being powerful and customizing is fun, but choosing between Prydaz and your best throughput legendary isn't.
-Cleansing system: this should 100% be a quarantine instead of a full cleanse. It is terrible to remove corruption from a piece of gear because you can't use it yet due to corruption resistance. If you are cleansing something because it has a bad corruption affix, that's a balancing issue.

So I would give them points for Corrupted gear itself, but take away all the points and then more for the execution. Knowing them, however, the poor execution is probably intentional to drag on the grinding.

[Alayea]

• The team wanted the final cinematic of the expansion to focus on you as the hero and your efforts to build up your Heart of Azeroth being important to victory.

I never felt more disconnected than I have with Battle for Azeroth. And being jerked out of the moment with the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King ripoff — yes, RIPOFF — only made the experience worse. (And what's hilarious is that the placeholder music for the scene was infinitely better in the early version they accidentally left in the files.)

[Cinamonjackz]

I have 45 corruption. Corruption increases the range and damage of them, but not the spawn rate. That's a base value with no cd. Some fights I rarely see any of it, some fights I just get chain hit by it.

considering I'm playing with 50 corruption and have never had 8 things from below spawn on me at once I'm calling BS on your previous statement!

[MakeMeLaugh]

Ion believes N'Zoth lives up to the standards of previous final boss encounters.

Ion talks about the disappointment some felt for N'Zoth's end, but at the end of the day we are the heroes of the story and we will always defeat villains and make way for new villains to enter.

The team wanted the final cinematic of the expansion to focus on you as the hero and your efforts to build up your Heart of Azeroth being important to victory.

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA. Hilarious stuff right there.

[Sithalos]

Wait, people still take Ion seriously?

..Oh. Okay then..

[Onikaroshi]

I have 45 corruption. Corruption increases the range and damage of them, but not the spawn rate. That's a base value with no cd. Some fights I rarely see any of it, some fights I just get chain hit by it.

That means you have 90 corruption, that's a decent amount, it's a tradeoff for the power the corruption gives you.

That said... the most things i've ever seen is 2 at once, that must have been interesting to see.

[Ashenhoof]

God I hate that piece of fucking shit.

Well, you also don't seem like a likable person yourself.

[Laqweeta]

Well, you also don't seem like a likable person yourself.

Well I'm not pissing all 50 players of wow off though

[agentsi]

I really don't see why people hate Ion so much. He seems like a pretty reasonable and fair guy. Is it because he isn't doing what they want to WoW? Like, are people so blind to think that their version of wow in their head is better than what an entire team can come up with?

[Pandragon]

considering I'm playing with 50 corruption and have never had 8 things from below spawn on me at once I'm calling BS on your previous statement!

You just completely ignored the part where I said during one attempt didn't you. Its called RNG. I've seen 8 things at once one time, not repeatedly.

That means you have 90 corruption, that's a decent amount, it's a tradeoff for the power the corruption gives you.

That said... the most things i've ever seen is 2 at once, that must have been interesting to see.

The corruption negated by the resistance doesn't count towards the negative effects.