Preach Developer Interview with Ion Hazzikostas - Patch 9.1

[Nite92]

This dude has no idea what he's talking about.

Well that is most certainly true. In the +10-+13 region are a lot of bad players. You can quite easily beat them even though you have 10-15 ilvl less.

[munkeyinorbit]

Read it..does not say anything about "playing well"..5 star, need 4 to reach the next level...Stating it can be quick or slow but it was like this until now as well..So let me ask again: What is "playing well" in Torghast? Until now it was when you finished successfully....what is gonna be from 9.1? If you not dies? Or just once per floor? Or not using any food/potion? Or need to smash X amount of objects/floor? WHAT IS PLAYING WELL?

You read the correct line. Now comprehend it.

[Nite92]

wrong wrong wrong

cataclysm professions where very strong throughout the expansion.

Also profs in BFA were quite nice, the gear was pretty powerful. Also engineering in SL is a FUCKING BLESSING.

[Gaidax]

You sound like someone who thinks they're better than they are based on your gear level.
You, the master of skill, were doing 43% less damage with 14 ilvl difference. So how are we, us inferior skill-less peons, supposed to do just 20% less than you given a -20 ilvl handicap when you yourself didn't do 20% (but 43%!) less with just 14 ilvls lower? Sorry, your logs disagree that it's your skill level.

If your argument is experience rather than skill, you should probably use that argument. Otherwise, you learned how to play in 14 ilvls.

Experience is part of the skill, that's why farm is farm - you and the whole raid learned boss patterns and timing precisely and as such you can now go ahead and put your skill in to better exploit that.

Inerva is a great example with her add burst phases, nowadays I prepare much more for that (and other stuff), that's why my last 5 kills have increasing DPS without increasing ilvl. I simply learned the timings and figured out how to pace my abilities better.

It is also skill.

[kiramon]

Experience is part of the skill, that's why farm is farm - you and the whole raid learned boss patterns and timing precisely and as such you can now go ahead and put your skill in to better exploit that.

Inerva is a great example with her add burst phases, nowadays I prepare much more for that (and other stuff), that's why my last 5 kills have increasing DPS without increasing ilvl. I simply learned the timings and figured out how to pace my abilities better.

It is also skill.

For the record, I don't disagree with that point.

[Nite92]

Then we agree then.. question mark...

- - - Updated - - -



Right.. but why does it matter if someone not as good has a little higher gear to progress to if getting good is the primary factor? I mean I never cared if bads have gear because I know gear isn't the deciding factor. But a lot of people seem HYPER concerned about bads getting gear. I mean I know for one my wife getting 220 won't be getting her into mythic raids. But at least she would still be paying a sub working towards 220 instead.

People only care about ilvl bcs it is not free. If you are not a great player, you will get stuck at some point. And then you wish for better items, but you'd always wish for that until you have the best, and when you get the best, it is suddenly worthless because everyone has it.

[Gaidax]

It's more attainable than with WF/TF, but some specs have for example M+ trinkets in their bis list and the chances of getting a 226 one are pretty slim. It's of course nitpicking because the difference between a 220 trinket boosted by valor points and a 226 one is pretty negligible.

That's pretty much my thought process with that. That 1 BIS item being 220 instead of 226 is so negligible that only pure bleeding edge perfectionist would be bothered with that.

I have 1 such item - a lucky 226 BIS trinket from Vault, but if I'd have it at 220 - it would be what 0.2% DPS difference? I think I'd live with that.

[ArchbishopBenedictus]

Making world quests take longer was a design choice to switch time spent doing world quests vs travel time. Previous expansions players spent way more time traveling between quests over doing them.

What... just what?

[munkeyinorbit]

That's hardly the double or triple the power streamer lead that loaded ass question with. Ion answered what really is happening, you may not like it, but reality is that skill is a MUCH bigger factor in power gaps.

If a mythic player does double the damage of heroic one given same class - it's a legitimate skill issue first and foremost.

No amount of whining and crowd pleasing BS will change that. Ion said exactly what needed to be said, because it was simply the truth and IMO, he was too nice about it, given the question.

I know you're on a crusade to get all the bad players but please actually read my reply as it relates to your post. This is a conversation. It's not an opportunity for you to stand on your soap box and rant.

[Barzotti]

That's pretty much my thought process with that. That 1 BIS item being 220 instead of 226 is so negligible that only pure bleeding edge perfectionist would be bothered with that.

I have 1 such item - a lucky 226 BIS trinket from Vault, but if I'd have it at 220 - it would be what 0.2% DPS difference? I think I'd live with that.

Nonono, you shouldn't accept such a disrespectful behavior. You're supposed to yell at evil Actiblizz and Ion the lawyer for sucking the fun out of the game, and you should threaten Blizzard to hold your breath and rate them 1 star on Yelp. Not sending you BiS gear via mailbox is already a human rights violation.

I have the same thought process as yours: who cares if I get a very marginally worse piece of loot in a video game played for fun. It's not the end of the world if my character is 0,1% worse than it would have been if the stars aligned. The reality is that the current gearing process is probably the best it has even been.

[ElDoorO]

I'll believe gear doesn't matter when a fresh max level isn't on farm in battlegrounds.

As it stands, a rogue can kill someone 100-0 in one single stun, with plenty of time to spare. That's just obscene.

But I suppose need to give the mythic raiders someone to feast on lest they quit the game, right? That's the only reason they game, is for gear. Literally nothing else.

Or so I keep being told.

[exdeath202]

I think we are forgetting about stamina. Yes, 1% more damage per ilvl might be acurate, but 226 ilvl characters not only deal 26% more damage(not considering good trinkets which make a bigger difference), they have almost 50% more hp and in many cases receive less damage. This all adds up and the difference is much bigger than the extra damage. This expansion, when I see someone 20 ilvls lower than me, they cant even fight back, they just die in seconds of burst. People are talking here as if 20%+ damage isnt a big deal, but thats the extra damage some class CDs provide, its the difference between someone without cds and someone with perma cds, add the stamina and damage reduction and its a much bigger effect.

[Toppy]

Certainly are a lot of people in this thread who love the taste of boot.

[Freedom]

So I remember being perfectly happy to farm MC in Vanilla to get T1 and feel like a badass for having killed Nefarian once (lol). And I'd inspect all the players with AQ40/Naxx gear and be envious, but still happy overall with the game. Now people can't even tolerate a number being higher, let alone lower players generally not having access to cool looking gear in Vanilla, whereas now even if you're in quest greens you can look pretty cool thanks to old content and transmog. And yes, I remember being mad that the Tauren hunter in T2 could easily beat me in PVP, but that wasn't THE reason that I quit back then.

Is this just an overall cultural shift in both WoW and IRL that people whine for equality rather than saying, "Yes, that is a nice Mercedes, and I am just thankful for what I have" or am I some sort of weirdo for having had these attitudes back then, let alone now?

[Zorachus]

World Quests fucking blow in Shittylands, it's like clocking into a factory job. Time to get to work. And they drop useless crap.

No flight whistle. Ugh.

Still needing to travel through Oribos to get between each zone is ridiculous.

Covenants are stupid and useless.
Soulbinds and the stuff is dumb
Anima is stupid
Soul Ash another grind

These stupid game systems need to fucking go and never return.

Bored-ghast a fucking sad tedious joke waste of time, that for some reason doesn't drop gear rewards.


Man I miss MoP style expansion.

[Gaidax]

Nonono, you shouldn't accept such a disrespectful behavior. You're supposed to yell at evil Actiblizz and Ion the lawyer for sucking the fun out of the game, and you should threaten Blizzard to hold your breath and rate them 1 star on Yelp. Not sending you BiS gear via mailbox is already a human rights violation.

These fiends! We must resist with our hyperbolic outbursts of reality bending until our just demands are met.

[Tiwack]

What... just what?

I believe he's refering to the old version of world quests often with 1 mob to kill - players would just tour around focussing on that type of world quests as they were quick and easy to do - but also ending up with a ton of travel time and with very little actual play as a result - outside of idling at respawn location only to promptly burst it down in the span of a few seconds and then haul ass to the next one..

No flight whistle is a low blow though, in some zones more than others, despite all of them having pretty good spreads of flightmasters.

[Stardrift]

Hello, I am another player in the World of Warcraft. I see that you, too, are a player in the World of Warcraft.

1. I think there's ways to make conduits fun. If they addressed the outliers, added more viable options, buffed the non-potencies, and made them swappable wherever (basically treat it as another talent system), it'd be a fun way to have access to different builds. I, another player in the World of Warcraft, love messing around with different builds. I understand that cookie cutter builds are a thing, but people overestimate the power difference between talents in many cases. Blizzard could do a better job of balancing the outliers, admittedly.

2. Cosmetic rewards for Torghast would be cool. I'm really looking forward to the Torghast revamp; Torghast was so much fun before they made it braindead. I, another player in the World of Warcraft, don't really care about whether there's rewards tied to it, it's just fun to play your character in a roguelike setting every now and then.

3. Absolutely do not reduce the ilvl rewards for M+. M+ is my favorite content by far, and I'm so excited for the increased M+ incentives coming in 9.1. I'm okay with dabbling in other content to complement my gear, but I just want to do M+ with my friends in peace. I, another player in the World of Warcraft, don't care as much about new content, and love just playing my character with new systems that keep the characters fresh.

4. His comment about borrowed power is one of the only things that I, another player in the World of Warcraft, disagree with. I've always enjoyed borrowed power, and it's one of the main reasons I've been able to play this game as long as I have. Anything that shakes up class/spec progression and playstyle is fun to me.

Fair points, I'm glad you enjoy the things that you do. However, M+ has dampened raid progression significantly and wish things were different. There's gotta be a system in place to keep players like you happy and players like me happy.

[ArchbishopBenedictus]

World Quests fucking blow in Shittylands, it's like clocking into a factory job. Time to get to work. And they drop useless crap.

No flight whistle. Ugh.

Still needing to travel through Oribos to get between each zone is ridiculous.

Covenants are stupid and useless.
Soulbinds and the stuff is dumb
Anima is stupid
Soul Ash another grind

Bore-ghast a fucking sad tedious joke waste of time, that for some reason doesn't drop gear rewards.


Man I miss MoP style expansion.

I stopped doing WQs weeks ago when I realised it had become a chore. I really don't understand how making them take longer is a good thing. Some people literally spend their entire gaming time trying to figure out ways to do things quickly and efficiently and then post it online. So how can Blizzard justify making something take longer? To balance travel time is such a non-reason...

[Gaidax]

I believe he's refering to the old version of world quests often with 1 mob to kill - players would just tour around focussing on that type of world quests as they were quick and easy to do - but also ending up with a ton of travel time and with very little actual play as a result - outside of idling at respawn location only to promptly burst it down in the span of a few seconds and then haul ass to the next one..

No flight whistle is a low blow though, in some zones more than others, despite all of them having pretty good spreads of flightmasters.

In my opinion they went and "fixed" something that did not to be fixed.

I'm glad, at least, that their immersive story WQs with 500 steps of wiping dirty butts and noses for the whole X covenant family are now truly completely unrelated to any sort of actual power progression.