Preach Developer Interview with Ion Hazzikostas - Patch 9.1

[Alroxas]

Yeah progression slows right down around 200 or so, not that you need it but it still feels nice to upgrade -something- once a while but that just isn't the case in SL.

I hate how in this discussion someone will always come along with "casuals want free raid loot" or something but that just isn't the case. (that that you're saying that)

The question I have is why? Why does a casual with zero interest in high M+ keys or Mythic raiding need gear at ilv 220+? Sure I get that we all may want BiS top end gear but for most players, reward = effort put in and for a casual, the effort is relatively low in comparison to a dedicated Mythic raider who also pushes high (above 15+) keys on a regular basis including Tyrannical weeks.

And then there's also the question of effort on the part of the casual: Honestly it doesn't take much effort to clear a handful of +4s for the weekly chest or even do a few YOLO RBGs up to 1400 PvP rating (even as Alliance).

[Mardux]

How short was the bus you rode to school?

Longer than yours apparently. How is what they said confusing to you? Person A shows something anecdotal as evidence of fact. Person B counters with something anecdotal as evidence that something is anecdotal. Person C (that'd be you) gets confused by person B and makes the insinuation that the person they can't understand is mentally challenged.

[Biomega]

They want to design more things like the Warlock green fire

They've been saying this for what, 4 expansions now?

Add this to player housing and the dance studio, I guess.

On the whole it's a bunch of bleh non-answers colored by the expected player-retention agenda - not making catchup easier because some people 'enjoy the journey' feels borderline insulting.

[Azmoden]

Longer than yours apparently. How is what they said confusing to you? Person A shows something anecdotal as evidence of fact. Person B counters with something anecdotal as evidence that something is anecdotal. Person C (that'd be you) gets confused by person B and makes the insinuation that the person they can't understand is mentally challenged.

My point, which went way over your head, is that he shot himself in the foot in the space of two senteces by bragging about his friends list being full, and in the next freaking sentence claiming friends lists don't matter...

Do you get it now, or do I need to type slower?

Ahh, I get it, you were his bench buddy in that same bus!

It all makes sense...

[Lei]

Pfffffffffffffff. What an absolute flop. Tried to watch the stream but 5 mins in I got so bored, then I tried to read the transcript but literally nothing interesting is in it.

Man, even the latest Sims stream was better than this.

[ParanoiD84]

Well that was boring and just meh all around.

[Cavox]

I didn't bother to watch it. Did Ion answer with his usual PR speech and non-answers about what "the team" wanted to achieve?

[Jujudrood]

"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."

This just seems objectively false. If you want to go from zone to zone in this expansion you HAVE to take a flight path through Oribos. In Legion if I wanted to go from Stormheim to Azuna to do a daily I wasn't forced to fly through Dalaran each time. If I am wrong and the travel time is less please let me know because currently it feels like it takes forever to get anywhere.

I think what he tried to say was:
"In BFA, you would finish world quests within a minute of landing, some even less, and it took you 2.5 minutes to get there, so in SL, it takes a few minutes to do some WQs and it also takes a few minutes to fly there, so it's more balanced in time played vs time travelled".

Which of course means "we made it take longer because reasons".

They just missed the point that WQs aren't engaging or varied enough to be considered fun by a great many people, and making them take even longer to complete because travel time has increased AND the quest time itself has increased really just encourages people to not bother with them.

[Sanguinerd]

The question I have is why? Why does a casual with zero interest in high M+ keys or Mythic raiding need gear at ilv 220+? Sure I get that we all may want BiS top end gear but for most players, reward = effort put in and for a casual, the effort is relatively low in comparison to a dedicated Mythic raider who also pushes high (above 15+) keys on a regular basis including Tyrannical weeks.

And then there's also the question of effort on the part of the casual: Honestly it doesn't take much effort to clear a handful of +4s for the weekly chest or even do a few YOLO RBGs up to 1400 PvP rating (even as Alliance).

They don't and they're not asking for 220. But a dead stop at around 200 isn't fun for anyone.

The effort of m+ isn't the issue either, I'd say it's more the content itself and the people you're forced to do it with.

It's made less awful with a group of people you know though (only reason I'm doing it) but plenty of solo players avoid it because of that.

[Goat7]

Korthia - There will be a reward system similar to mana pearls from Nazjatar without the RNG and bis issues from that patch
Sylvanas's bow and unique drops are because she is a special boss fight.
Covenant legendaries do not swap to their alternative Covenant options when switching Covenants

These 3 things popped out at me. So looks like 9.1 is gonna be awful at best. peace out rabbit

[deenman]

I honestly think the thing that depresses me the most about these interviews is the lack of insight by the developer team into the trends that EVERYONE understands but them.

Take, for example, the point Preach brought up about item level. Ion pushed back against this saying their item budget was just like it was during Wrath. But let's face it... nobody thinks it's the same as it was in Wrath. Someone with ten item levels above you isn't doing 10% more DPS, they're literally doing 50% more. Anyone in M+ or raids understands this. It's an example of the player base perceiving something, and the developers saying no, this can't possibly be the case and our numbers are correct... but those numbers are entirely opposite of what the players perceive.

Another example, Preach mentioned the Maw starting area skip. There was no reaction whatsoever from Ion. This is literally something that 99% of the player base has asked for... but nothing. Crickets.

I truly don't understand why they even bother with these interviews. Personally I'm tired of everyone so outgearing the raids via M+ that the loot awarded inside the raid becomes useless (or, people are still stuck with sub-200 gear because the only thing that drops for them to take them out of the hole is on Denathrius). The answer to these issues always seems to be "working as intended". Well, that's fine, it might be working as intended, but working as it's intended is boring, annoying or extremely irritating, and it's killing the spirit of your players.

i think some actual math needs to be sone here,i recall very clearly in wrath that going from one tier to the next the dps increase was huge,a player with shadowmourn and huge armor pen and the icc trinkets would demolish someone with trial gear

[Revamp Man]

what do you plan on doing about conduit energy??

"well everyone hates it but we dont want farm content to be fun"

[Edward Wu]

Yeah.. no. You are 100% wrong. SL is the most casual friendly the game has ever been. Vanilla was more sweaty than SL. If you think SL caters to the top players, frankly your just wrong.

Gearing up in Classic is way easier than gearing up in SL. This entire post is a cope.

[Wrath of the Lich King]

Gearing was easiest when we have four different badge types to choose from and Tier armor from a vendor. Blizzard should just bring this back.

[Niwes]

looks like what they deliver is hamster wheel content, maybe players like that

thats what they deliver since years...

and, funny, EXACTLY thats the point. regardless if you like all that hamsters wheel stuff or not, its just „more of the same“.

- i read the notes
- i read the interview
- i forget for a moment that i hate all that hamster stuff...
- i forget for a moment that a lot of modern design is just for feeding their top1 smart cash grab system (token)
- i look at 9.1 and think „ok, sounds good. could be nice.“
- for a moment, a tiny second, i am microhyped for 9.1
but then this comes in my mind: „nothing new. more of the same.“

so, idk Blizz...

[Cuppy]

Power level from item rating has not changed even since Wrath. 1 item level is basically the equivalent of 1%.
If there is such a big gap between players 20 item levels apart, it is more likely a skill issue.

So I’m definitely the absolute worst in math, but... is he saying someone 20 ilvls higher should do 20% more damage, but if there is such gap, it’s skill issue?

[Katchii]

Gearing up in Classic is way easier than gearing up in SL. This entire post is a cope.

How is it easier? And at what point are you talking about? Leveling? 50-60/ Fresh 60 (Classic where you can start running BRD, DM, LBRS, UBRS, etc...)? or 60 and getting geared from raids?

SL has FAR more options and avenues of attaining relevant gear than Classic, so you can participate in multiple types of content and be almost guaranteed that you're going to get an upgrade/ something useful. You can't say the same for Classic.

[Wrath of the Lich King]

So I’m definitely the absolute worst in math, but... is he saying someone 20 ilvls higher should do 20% more damage, but if there is such gap, it’s skill issue?

Preach implied it was "multiple times," Ion responded that it shouldn't be that much and that if it seems like it is, it's probably because the guy with 220 item level parsing at the 80th or above percentile is a lot better than somebody at 200 parsing in the 10th percentile.

[Trumpcat]

Questions when you compare someone with 200-205 ilevel to someone with 220-225 ilevel and ask why is 20 such a huge gap:
- Is the 200ilvl with optimized secondary stats? (bis on most slots)
- Do they have bis trinkets?
- Did they socket those 200ilvl items?
- Do they also have their bis conduits?
- Is the Soulbind fully unlocked?
- How about r4 bis legendary and full range of consumables?

Those questions are mostly yes for someone 220+, but they aren't for a 200. Let alone that if you are 200 at this point in the game, regardless of whether it's an alt or a new/returning player you do not have the experience and skill built to perform at the level of someone who has spent months running the most challenging content, farmed their gear and honed their performance.

There is a lot more to character progression than looking at ilevel and pretending you know the "facts". The first thing that should come to mind is that if the main stat difference is about 10% (or whatever number he said), does that account to the same spec having double the output? Since 10% isn't double, then there must be something else than the pure ilevel, hm?

[Alroxas]

They don't and they're not asking for 220. But a dead stop at around 200 isn't fun for anyone.

Then what are casuals asking for? 210? 207? Regardless of what the number is, my question remains: What does a Casual need the gear for if they aren't engaging in content that requires it? Alternatively, ilv 200 is sufficient enough to go back and solo most things back in BFA (maybe not Mythic Ny'alotha raid).

plenty of solo players avoid it because of that.

And that's another issue, WoW is built as a MMORPG. Certain activities require group/team play in the current content. If folks don't want to group up, there are more than a handful of prior expansions content that is soloable but current content in WoW has always required some level group effort for dungeons/raids/BGs/Arenas. There are exceptional players that are able to pull off solo current content but those are exceptions and not the norm.