Ion & Co. at it again

[Raisei]

I wonder why...

Because people project their hate on Ion and just wait to pounce on any irritating word dropping out of his mouth?

I believe azerites are the exact same thing as set items. Once you get your hands on thy one you need, you forget about equipping anything else ever again in that slot, despite the fact that the azerite piece can potentially offer different bonuses. The unused bonuses are pratically non-existent as they are inferior and never used.

You believing that only shows that you have very little idea what you are talking about. Different Azerite traits are needed for different content, that is why many times guides have a section for Traits seperated by AoE and ST. Seldom one piece will have both traits and you need to have a different one. Leading to some people carrying 10+ Azerite pieces around for the different things they do.
Set Items do not have that, your set bonus is either good or bad for a situation and accordingly is your performance. You have no influence on that whatsoever.

Yes and no. People need to like what they pay for, in order to continue paying for it. And Blizzard is perfectly aware of that, otherwise they wouldn't be coming out with lamb's eyes on stage and explaining how they hear the community and blablablah (practically apologizing). They are perfectly aware that they keep spewing fuck ups after fuck ups. They are perfectly aware that the current fully corporate company is still alive only because of the good name the real Blizzard accumulated for itself.

Oh they keep spewing fuck ups after fuck ups? Huh... when did that happen? Sure escaped my notice. Yeeeeep, as all of the other hate posters you can't help but pose your general hate as proven fact. If you hate everything about the game, you should go, because it will not change according to your demands.

In this case, I guess an apology is in order? Sorry for posting my opinion on a forum whose purpose is to serve as platform for people to post their opinions.

Opinions are fine. The endless hate threads on this forum however are wearing down people's tolerance. As I said above, the second Ion says a word in an interview or video 20 of your peers latch onto it and open a thread that decries the unfairness/stupidity/insanity of the man because he dared to not fullfill your every wish IMMEDIATEDLY. If it isn't the current expansion that is the worst ever, full of fuck ups after fuck ups, then it is this particular system in the next expansion that they hate, even if they have next to no information about it.
In fact it is amazing for me that Ion has the determination to still do these interviews, knowing that the haters will 100% use it against him and his colleagues. In his place I would have long stopped.

[Tyron]

Pretty sure we will see Arthas in the Maw zone or raid. I'm not interested in another redemption arc, but I would like to see him there, paying for what he did. Just a small cameo similar to the BFA Jaina cinematic would be fine for me, need my dose of "an karanir thanagor" music

[kaminaris]

nice exaggerating :P.

but yeah the practical gist of it is: 2-6 weeks to get 4 set and then upgrade ilvl as you are able vs 6+ weeks to get 3 azerite pieces with a guarantee they won't be the ones you want. set was just faster (and azerite was obv designed to take longer).

no raid = no tier also wasn't universally true. and if they do bring them back they will guaranteed put in a currency and/or make m+/pvp sets.

Its not exaggerating. I raided since SoO so i know how long did it took.
You don't need to get exactly the ones you want. You need just the one with one bis trait and you are ready to go. That takes a week. Two is you have absolute garbage luck.
To assemble heroic tier sets you needed 3-6 weeks.

And no, most pvp tiers were garbage for pve so no raid = no tier sets.

[Will]

Say that again please, YOU don't want to whatnow?! Ion, I respect you for all your contributions to WoW, and the fact you have devoted such a bit part of your entire life to this game. You are obviously not doing it primarily for the money, but let's get one thing straight: WE pay your greedy AF company to create content that WE must enjoy. If the community wants more Arthas, then give them the hell more Arthas. What's the problem with that? His character's integrity? Illidan was pissed upon when nobody asked for him. Why not give us Arthas, now that we want him? And yeah, I know some of you out there will be like "NOOOOO" but I guarantee you if it's put through a vote, the majority of the community will want Arthas back.

Seriously? He never confirmed shit. He gave a typical evasive answer which, if anything, tells me they might have a treat planned with Arthas.

Don't get your knickers in a twist. And stop being so damn self entitled. Yes you pay, but it's still their game to do with as they please.

[ReVnX]

so they just lied?no i rly doubt it has anything to do with m+,legion did just fine,they gave the reason why,they wanted players to have more diversity in gearing,before you got 1 hc tier and then the mythic and you were done,now you need different azerite pieces for the same slot for multiple stuff,pve,pvp,all specs,dungeons vs raiding,aoe vs single

Listen to Ion at 03:28:20. Clearly states that bonuses were removed because Raid gear took priority over Mythic+ & PvP because of the tier set bonuses

[DotEleven]

Just finished reading the bullets from Ion's latest interview, and man I gotta say, besides the usual "we have no clue what we're doing, but we want to do this and that" stuff, I'm specifically dissapointed to read the 3 following things:

• Set bonuses are one of the reasons they pulled back on tier sets originally. They limited item diversity because certain slots were locked to tier sets.

What? Set items locking slots away? Hello BFA neck, cloack, helm, shoulder, chest?! I mean, sure you exchange a few azerites till you cash in on that specific one which nets you most power, but it was the same with set items as well, as there was mutliple ilvl iterations of each item.

• PvP stats are not returning. Itemization will remain like it is in Battle for Azeroth, with the inclusion of a PvP vendor to give players more choice of gear acquisition.

Why? Why force PvP players, who exclusively enjoy PvP, into farming PvE? Why allow PvE players to gain PvP power through NOT playing PvP? To me, this honestly is neither fair, nor logical. PvP players should have stronger PvP gear, and vice versa.

• Arthas is obviously SOMEWHERE in the Shadowlands, but they want to be respectful with the character. We will learn more about him and his true nature, but we most likely won't be adventuring or interacting much with him.

Say that again please, YOU don't want to whatnow?! Ion, I respect you for all your contributions to WoW, and the fact you have devoted such a bit part of your entire life to this game. You are obviously not doing it primarily for the money, but let's get one thing straight: WE pay your greedy AF company to create content that WE must enjoy. If the community wants more Arthas, then give them the hell more Arthas. What's the problem with that? His character's integrity? Illidan was pissed upon when nobody asked for him. Why not give us Arthas, now that we want him? And yeah, I know some of you out there will be like "NOOOOO" but I guarantee you if it's put through a vote, the majority of the community will want Arthas back.

Alright, so point 1: I've pointed out in another thread. There's a big difference between requiring a set (which is 4 pieces that you absolutely must have and can't change even in the next patch until you get the next one) and Azerite pieces. With Azerite pieces, everything from BFA in that slot is an Azerite Piece. You're not more locked into a specific Azerite Piece than you are what boots you want. There's always going to be BiS, but you DO have a choice over what shoulders, helm, or chest you want. With Tier Gear you needed the set. Period. And even if you got a piece of gear that would be an upgrade itself, it doesn't matter because it breaks the set and so you can't use it. THAT'S the difference between Azerite and Tiers.

Point 2: I mean, you don't HAVE to PvE, you can farm your conquest and it sounds like they're adding more ways for PvP players to get geared. PvE players should be able to PvP without having to grind forever to feel like they aren't a hindrance and same for PvP in PvE.

Point 3: Yeah no. The community shouldn't have any fucking final say on storyline. If they did we'd probably be screwed right now. Blizzard hasn't always does the best storywise, but just going "Oh, the fans want that, fine we'll fit it in" is a terrible way to write a story. You pay the "greedy AF company" to play the content they generate. They are not required to make it something you specifically will enjoy.

[justandulas]

Let people have tier back. It was incredibly popular. Seems tone deaf to say “oh well 4p tier locked you into pieces all tier long, but azerite and necks are A ok”

If you put it to a core, 90% or more of wow players would take tier over azerite. Give the people what they want.

Hell, give several different chooseable options for tier powers if he wants to be so controlling and keep the feel of azerite. Example: you have a select screen for your tier where you choose what your unlocked 2-4-6-8p bonuses do

Also, tier sets looked great and the sets of bfa have been putrid

[Pheraz]

Just finished reading the bullets from Ion's latest interview, and man I gotta say, besides the usual "we have no clue what we're doing, but we want to do this and that" stuff, I'm specifically dissapointed to read the 3 following things:

• Set bonuses are one of the reasons they pulled back on tier sets originally. They limited item diversity because certain slots were locked to tier sets.

What? Set items locking slots away? Hello BFA neck, cloack, helm, shoulder, chest?! I mean, sure you exchange a few azerites till you cash in on that specific one which nets you most power, but it was the same with set items as well, as there was mutliple ilvl iterations of each item.

• PvP stats are not returning. Itemization will remain like it is in Battle for Azeroth, with the inclusion of a PvP vendor to give players more choice of gear acquisition.

Why? Why force PvP players, who exclusively enjoy PvP, into farming PvE? Why allow PvE players to gain PvP power through NOT playing PvP? To me, this honestly is neither fair, nor logical. PvP players should have stronger PvP gear, and vice versa.

• Arthas is obviously SOMEWHERE in the Shadowlands, but they want to be respectful with the character. We will learn more about him and his true nature, but we most likely won't be adventuring or interacting much with him.

Say that again please, YOU don't want to whatnow?! Ion, I respect you for all your contributions to WoW, and the fact you have devoted such a bit part of your entire life to this game. You are obviously not doing it primarily for the money, but let's get one thing straight: WE pay your greedy AF company to create content that WE must enjoy. If the community wants more Arthas, then give them the hell more Arthas. What's the problem with that? His character's integrity? Illidan was pissed upon when nobody asked for him. Why not give us Arthas, now that we want him? And yeah, I know some of you out there will be like "NOOOOO" but I guarantee you if it's put through a vote, the majority of the community will want Arthas back.

On the arthas thing: please understand that you are not speaking for many people here. Warcraft3 was much more than arthas, and wow is much more than arthas. For me arthas is just the shitty stereotype of fallen knight. It may be something special or important for you.
I also did not like wotlk then or now. I hate the story I hate the zones and I hated how piss easy the heroics were after coming out of tbc.
I just think that many people like it because they started in the end of tbc or at the start of wotlk.

[Unholyground]

Well I mean very likely they want to move away from Arthas as to not fuck up his story. That being said I do believe that a new helm of domination and frostmourne will be forged for Bolvar since there always has to be a conduit to allow the spirits to pass over and I believe that was the original purpose but the helm and sword were twisted by the legion/nethrazim.

For PvP gear stats, if they re-added them to the game I would literally never PvP again. The real solution is templating gear and letting no one have items they earn so it is always an even playing field when you enter PvP, so basically you would just get a generic set of gear and your skill would be all that matters, PvP rewards would become all cosmetic based.

[wraysbury]

Point 2: I mean, you don't HAVE to PvE*

*except for essences and legendary cloak and getting the dumb one-shotting trinkets

[Jujudrood]

The Set Bonus issue with Tier gear can be very easily remedied.
Have one of each, restricted to their content type:
* a Raid set that offers bonuses that are activated only in Raids
* a Dungeon Set that offers bonuses activated only in Dungeons
* a PVP set that has bonuses activated only in PVP
*** all 3 allowing their bonuses in open world content, feck it, let people go crazy

That would solve the "well, raid tier gear was the best so you had to get it for PVP or run M+" issue.
Would this be collecting a shitload more gear? I mean, 4-6 items from each content type to throw int he bank or store in a bag somewhere, if you are the kind that dabbles in all 3, yeah, it would.
But, that's a fair trade-off, I feel, because if you only want to PVP, you no longer have any need of PVE tier.

This also removes the need of some boring, flat Resilience-like stat that doesn't really work well and is far from interesting.
PVP gear having a set bonus of its own (like it used to, once upon a time), so getting your PVP tier will give you extra perks, thus more power.

Disclaimer: This is assuming they don't flub the set bonuses, which in the past, they have done more than a few times.

The "item locked" slots thing never made a whole lot of sense to me.
I mean, there's going to be a "best item", so if you get that on day 1 of the tier, it's going to stay there until the tier is over.
Sure, having a tier piece that offers additional bonus does this, but so does any other piece that doesn't offer bonuses, like a wrist item.
If I get my BiS wrist on day 1, in my mind, I am done with wrists this tier, so yay.
There may be rare occurrences where you have potentially 2 BiS items, contingent on your current gear (haste soft cap, etc), but that's for a minority of min-maxers, not the majority of folks.

As for Arthas, tbh, I'm largely indifferent.
Odds are, we get a storyline of some redemption-like arc where he makes his peace with the Alliance, maybe where he sheds the last of NEr'zhul's influence or whatever and becomes Paladin Arthas again, but I don't need it.
Forcing a story just to get a major lore character involved is getting old, but if it feels authentic, natural, and makes sense in the greater narrative, sure, why not.
Good Story >>> Fan Pandering

[Zephre]

The Devs obviously understood the problem better then you.
This was exactly the reason why people did not like set bonusses, yes. It forced them in many cases to wear much lower ilvl pieces then what they had in the bag because the set bonus had to be used. In some cases this even meant using set pieces from the previous tier.

Yes, of course they did, they understood a problem THEY created. Titanforging and Warforging forced us to use lower ilvl items to maintain our set bonuses yet this was a problem of their own design, they screwed up. Titanforging and Warforging will be gone in Shadowlands so I don't see the problem, as for using previous tier bonuses, it never stopped them in Legion they were more than content to nerf the bonuses and push people out of them. If classes weren't in such sorry states they wouldn't need to hold onto previous tier sets, such as WW for almost the entirety of Legion (Pre Antorus).

[Sixnalia]

He had a point with set bonuses locking gear slots(worse is when it was subpar ilv, but the set bonus is too good), and this expansion ultimately fell prey to it as well.

I wouldn't mind set bonuses being drops off bosses that could be applied to gear you have.
Maybe like a unique enchant. Have 2 on your equipped gear for a bonus, 4 for the other effect.
Then you could also make them possible to obtain in PvP and M+.
That way, PvPers aren't forced to go to raids for set bonuses.
Same for those who focus more on M+ content.

Only downside is when the new raid arrives with possibly new set enchants?
People doing old raid content for it. . . (or pvp/M+ drowning in additional set enchant loot tables)
Perhaps it can be a grind in the new patch to allow you to not do old content that loses popularity.
New raid, PvP, and M+ drops currency that you can exchange for old set bonus enchants?

[Doffen]

Love tier sets. Not necessarily because of the set bonuses but the cosmetic. What we had in BfA is just awful. Luckily the devs have done an effort this time and made us awesome sets like we had in the other expansion bar BfA. Just look at the low effort they did with HV helms and Ny'alotha sets and compare it to Castle Nathria, Covenant sets and the Torghast sets. It's night and day.

Looking forward to the class sets in the next tiers in Shadowlands. Hyyyype!

[korijenkins]

Their sheer stupidity with set bonuses, and the inability to understand that PvP stats are required for PvP players to not have to worry about PvE is mind blowing.

It shows they don't play their own game, or at least don't play it at anything other than the most basic, rudimentary level. I actually think part of the reason PvP is so shit, why healthpools are so high relative to damage output, has to do with lead devs sucking at the game and getting globaled by superior players years ago.

[mojusk]

Ok so, Blizzard and Ion are poopyheads for daring to look at Arthas, but they're also poopyheads for NOT wanting to bring him back into the current story.
The fuck?

at least both sides agree that blizz devs are bad and dont listen to their players

[Beefhammer]

I am very happy the developers are often resistant to listen to "feedback".

And no I don't want to see Arthas standing behind a fruitstand in the middle of Oribos. Arthas story is one of the most tragic and epic in all fiction. Let it be.

You must it read much. The Arthas story, while tragic, is pretty standard. Nothing really epic about it. Playing through WC3 originally, it was pretty obvious where he was going to end up.

[Gurahk]

at least both sides agree that blizz devs are bad and dont listen to their players

Because if they do listen to players, then they're not listening to players.

[TorAndre]

You must it read much. The Arthas story, while tragic, is pretty standard. Nothing really epic about it. Playing through WC3 originally, it was pretty obvious where he was going to end up.

Thats what made it epic.

[Kaver]

You are locking those slots with Azerite that can be interchanged.

As an outlaw Rogue I have used the same Azerite traits for the whole expansion. There might be customizability on paper, but in reality there isn't for a lot of specs. My chest, shoulder and head have been locked with the same traits for 2 years.