Cut off the arm to save the body.

[Kaver]

Do we appoint you, with your sagely infinite wisdom of all things working and not working, to appoint Blizzard which things are broken? We certainly can't trust the playerbase because they don't agree on anything. But you, well -- you clearly know it all because you've been able to figure out how to fix every problem WoW has ever encountered.

Just out of curiosity, though, do you have a button which vaporizes anybody who may disagree with your decisions? Asking for a friend.

Instead of bashing me, I would rather hear why you think Azerite gear is a good addition to the game and what positive features of the system justifies the dev time used to create it?

Azerite gear adds an extra element of RNG to the competitiveness of players which is negative and it adds no positive impact on gameplay in return. If you disagree I would love to hear why?

[Arainie]

I agree. Cut off the players who just hate everything!

[Ghostile]

Indeed. For you it's the latter. Which I'd agree. He is blameless.

Ah, yes. If I think he is not the godking, I must think he does literally nothing.

[Zantera]

The acquisition is still a problem. And it's a pointless problem when the system have no positive gameplay impact.

I don't think it is really. I mean you can get it from raids, warfronts, I assume some PVP equivalent, Emissaries (and WQs for lower ilvls) and you have a vendor where you can obtain new pieces at a pretty decent pace. Honestly doesn't feel that different to me than back in the day with vendors selling badge gear where you might already have the gear you need by the time you can afford it - OR you are able to buy it from them. I also disagree on the 'no positive gameplay impact' because whether you like Azerite or not, I'd argue that the traits they bring still makes those pieces more interesting than just a normal shoulder item with mastery/crit and that's that.

Don't think azerite is flawless in any way but I get their attempt at trying to make a few items in your equipment more interesting than just flat items because they did remove tier sets which was a whole other headache in itself and I can guarantee 100% people would complain just as much (probably more) if you were robbed of 3 azerite slots and the neck and those were replaced with normal items as well. Personally I liked Legion's artifact weapon better than BFA's version with a neck and separate azerite gear, but Legion had other flaws like the fact you needed to fit 2 legendaries AND 4 tier pieces into your gear (for some classes maybe even 2 set from previous tier) and also make the gearing progress fun.

[aceperson]

Except that you had to wear specific pieces of gear in specific slots. So not zero negatives.

you were going to wear a piece of gear in that slot anyways, the trade off was possibly worse 2nd stats. the down side wasn't literally character killing.

[rhorle]

No because that player power is artificially created by the azerite gear itself. If the azerite gear was removed the relative competitiveness between players would be the same. The only difference would be that the competitiveness would be less dependent on RNG. A system which doesn't change gameplay is a pointless system. Increasing or reducing numbers doesn't make the game any better.

All gear artificially creates player power. You can't have it both ways. You say that Azerite gear is needed for competitiveness but then say its removal would have no impact. Which is it. It is needed or it has no impact? All gear doesn't change game play yes is far from pointless. Of course increasing or reducing numbers makes the game better. A player doing 1 million damage has a huge impact on the game versus one doing 10,000.

Numbers in WoW has a huge impact which is why the game is based around getting gear with higher numbers in order to create player power. All of our power comes from equipped gear. Which is based on numbers.

[Kaver]

I agree. Cut off the players who just hate everything!

I love WoW. I love raids and dungeons.

I hate Azerite gear, Corrupted gear, Warfronts and Island Expeditions.

I hate some parts of WoW but I love other.

[lockybalboa]

Ah, yes. If I think he is not the godking, I must think he does literally nothing.

You know of any vacancies for the Game Director? Best job in the world. Immune to criticism but can get unlimited adulation from FBs like us.

[Kaver]

All gear artificially creates player power.

Yes but not all gear takes a lot of dev time to develop and adds a huge element of RNG to your competitiveness. This is the different between Azerite gear and normal gear.

Azerite gear adds a lot of negatives compared to normal gear but it adds not positives compared to normal gear.

[Ghostile]

You know of any vacancies for the Game Director? Best job in the world. Immune to criticism but can get unlimited adulation from FBs like us.

The only vacancy that is apparent seems to be between your ears.

[Guildenstern]

Coronavirus would definetely entice Blizzard to rethink its policies. Money loss and increase of expenditure to keep the big machine going would probably mean they would have to wise up real fast about how Ion's anchoring the whole thing down. Times like this, they're gonna need some real talent, some real player-friendly, feedback-oriented gamedesign. Ion and his crew of "we're happy how this turned out" despite fan outrage got to go, if the company is to endure this crisis.

[Kaver]

I don't think it is really. I mean you can get it from raids, warfronts, I assume some PVP equivalent, Emissaries (and WQs for lower ilvls) and you have a vendor where you can obtain new pieces at a pretty decent pace.

That's because you don't do high-end content my friend. The acquisition method is still a problem if you're trying to get max parses in mythic raiding. I get my BiS piece of Azerite gear on Wednesday but I had to wait 9-10 weeks to get it. That's not enjoyable at all. And the BiS piece doesn't impact my gameplay at all. It only impacts my performance. No fun in that.

[Relapses]

Instead of bashing me, I would rather hear why you think Azerite gear is a good addition to the game and what positive features of the system justifies the dev time used to create it?

Azerite gear adds an extra element of RNG to the competitiveness of players which is negative and it adds no positive impact on gameplay in return. If you disagree I would love to hear why?

What does Azerite gear have to do with anything? It's not being carried over into SL so the problem it presented has already been solved. Unless you just want a negativity echo chamber for people to agree with you that the Azerite system sucked, I don't really understand why it matters at this point.

[rhorle]

Yes but not all gear takes a lot of dev time to develop and adds a huge element of RNG to your competitiveness. This is the different between Azerite gear and normal gear. Azerite gear adds a lot of negatives compared to normal gear but it adds not positives compared to normal gear.

So how much time did Azerite take versus other developments that are gear related? Since you know you should be able to share it. Azerite was an evolution from Artifacts and Tier Sets. Azerite gear doesn't add a lot of negatives. It is funny how each time you respond you keep changing the argument. First it was no value. Now it is lots of negatives.

Azerite gear also adds no more RNG then normal gear drops. It pretty much adds less since your source of azerite gear is increased when compared to tier sets and raid drops. You also stated you've used the same traits for all of the expansion. Which means it couldn't have been that bad of an RNG if you've managed to always get it.

[Kaver]

I also disagree on the 'no positive gameplay impact' because whether you like Azerite or not, I'd argue that the traits they bring still makes those pieces more interesting than just a normal shoulder item with mastery/crit and that's that.

I Blizzard use money on developing a system which also adds RNG to the competitiveness of players, then that system needs to do better than just being a little more interesting than mastery/crit shoulders. It should have an actual impact on the gameplay of the game.

[lockybalboa]

The only vacancy that is apparent seems to be between your ears.

Awwww don't be that nasty. I thought we were fellow lovers of the great and blameless Ion. We should try to get along.

[rhorle]

I get my BiS piece of Azerite gear on Wednesday but I had to wait 9-10 weeks to get it. That's not enjoyable at all. And the BiS piece doesn't impact my gameplay at all. It only impacts my performance. No fun in that.

People used to go entire expansions with out their BiS piece dropping. Mythic 8.3 hasn't even been out for 9-10 weeks. This also shows that this is nothing to do with Azerite but everything to do with time to get BiS and not wanting to wait.

- - - Updated - - -

I Blizzard use money on developing a system which also adds RNG to the competitiveness of players, then that system needs to do better than just being a little more interesting than mastery/crit shoulders. It should have an actual impact on the gameplay of the game.

But it does have an impact on game play. It increases the output of your character since you said it is required to be competitive. That is part of game play. It also adds more to game play then normal gear which just adds stats.

[Relapses]

People used to go entire expansions with out their BiS piece dropping. Mythic 8.3 hasn't even been out for 9-10 weeks. This also shows that this is nothing to do with Azerite but everything to do with time to get BiS and not wanting to wait.

Back in Legion, some players waited nearly the entire length of the expansion to get their BiS Legiondary. Yet somehow this system is remembered more fondly. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[azka]

This is how you spot the bullshit.

Tier sets - available from raid only
Azerite gear - available from anywhere, even casuals can get these bonuses

Tier sets - occupies 4-6 slots, once you got them from highest difficulty you will never change it
Azerite gear - occupies 3 slots, some classes can change traits depending on situation

Tier sets - no vendor, raid drop only
Azerite gear - M+ vendor, can buy cheap but random (one of 6), can buy specific more expensive, can drop specific from raid


Azerite gear is superior in every aspect compared to tier sets. Except for visuals. But those could have been solved like ToV did - ensembles not tied to gear.

I agree, also the essences give a good amount of customization options depending on the content you are going to do. Same with corruption. Corruption is fun and frustrating at the same time, and the way Blizz is using the cloak to slowly nerf the content was really smart.

My only complaint is that the corruption system will be useful only for one tier of content.

I understand that for some people, what is fun for some of us, it's confusing for them. But at the same time, they don't really need to understand the systems if all they are going to do is WQs, LFR and farm mounts from old content.

That is my honest opinion.

[rrayy]

Blizzard need to much more critical when it comes to their own work. If something doesn't work, then just drop it. Don't spend months trying to save a lost cause only to end up with something which makes the game worse. With systems like the Azerite gear which from the beginning clearly didn't work they just need to make a clear cut and remove it from the game instead of using a lot of resources trying to fix something which is already lost. Azerite gear brought much more negatives to the game than positives and adding systems like that is only damaging. Especially when they use extra resources on them. Only a very small minority of players are going to look back at the Azerite gear with any positive feelings. The same thing can be said about the corruption gear. The situations where you feel bad because of the corruption just massively outweighs the times when you feel good. They shouldn't spend time and resources on these systems which just have a overall negative impact on the game. If something clearly doesn't work, they just need to put their proudness aside and cut it from the game. Simple as that.

If your game has fun content people will play it. Don't add negatives to it.

You need to realize that just because you think it doesn't work, doesn't mean that they think it doesn't work or that everyone else thinks it doesn't work. Basically what you are saying is "Remove anything I don't like. Cater the game solely to me and what I want".