Shadowlands - Ion's final expansion?

[Justpassing]

Look at that poll... those damn shills must have made 110 accounts to post no!!

[plz delete account]

So if the story was written a little more coherently you would have enjoyed the multitude of things people overwhelmingly complained about:

• Boring class design
• tedious islands
• tedious warfronts
• tedious AP grind
• azrerite armor
• Essence rep grinding
• RNG
• Nazjatar being nothing but a boring and repetitive WQ zone with nothing else to do

I see, the real problem was the narrative lol.

That said, people love to use hyperbole with regards to BfA.

> because melting mobs with the 500k+ dps festering wound build isn't enjoyable (sarcasm, it's really fun)
> Islands are fun especially when you pull lots of shit
> Warfronts are fun as long as you do them like once a week and don't grind em
> Tedious AP grind? Who's forcing you to grind anything?
> Azerite armor is fun imo, because who doesn't enjoy seeing your death and decay bonespike everything as you begin to melt all mobs in existance
> rep grind complaint? Every expansion has had rep grinds for late game content. Deal with it.
> RNG lol. that's part of a RPG, and part of a mmo, though professions should be fixed so there is at least an alternative path for gearing
> Nazjatar has nothing but WQs? you clearly haven't played the zone.

[TigTone]

This site is in dire need of a new sub forum: Feels > Reals.

Welcome to the age of assumptions/feels = Facts.

The age of Alt Facts.

[FelPlague]

Will Shadowlands be the final expansion that Ion is the lead on? After the colossal failure that BfA turned out to be, there's a lot riding on Shadowlands. But so far, it seems most people are heavily underwhelmed by the Shadowlands already.

Will we see a new lead dev during Shadowlands or will Ion survive yet another expansion?

1. BFA was not a colossal failure, WoD was, BFA has been pretty alright actually, its had rough patches, but its had pretty amazing content all around
2. if shadowlands is a success, why would he quit?
3. dude has been playing since vanilla, idk why your acting like hes new to wow or something, he does not choose everything that happens in wow.

[ChairmanKaga]

EVERYONE hated legion, until the last patch it was widely considered to be as bad or worse than WoD.

Make-believe is fun.

[ymn]

Will Shadowlands be the final expansion that Ion is the lead on? After the colossal failure that BfA turned out to be, there's a lot riding on Shadowlands. But so far, it seems most people are heavily underwhelmed by the Shadowlands already.

Will we see a new lead dev during Shadowlands or will Ion survive yet another expansion?

"Heavily underwhelmed"? What kind of a goddamn club are you in? Everyone I know, even players who don't like BfA are stoked for Shadowlands as it looks promising and everyone's hoping that it's going to be a good expansion.

The entire Blizzard hate is really fucking annoying. Yes BfA is not all unicorns and rainbows, and Shadowlands will have its surge of players complaining about the most minute things. If you are disliking something so much, you can freely move on instead of going with in with mentality "let's see how shit this is".

[Doffen]

Lol it wasn't people are still playing it as i type lol.

It's a criticism of the OPs statement. Not my personal beliefs. Honestly, it's not as popular as wrath, legion. But colossal failure? Really doubt it. WoW is Blizzards milking cow. Nothing has changed. With classic also doing good, it's a good last half a year for Blizzard, with 8.3 being around the corner. It's all good.

[schwank05]

I don't know how you can go from being the GM of EJ during WOW's best times and do all that theory crafting and what not to helping work on the Turds of Xpacs the game has been since CATA ended.

[Flower Milk]

I hope he will be replaced because all of the things I dislike about the game and all of the reasons I don't play it anymore are solely because of Ion.

But I really doubt he will be.

[mrcodez]

After the colossal failure that BfA turned out to be

Look I'm no Ion cheerleader here but those numbers can't be spun as colossal failures *in the business world*. Players definitely have some negative reactions to parts of BfA but for Activision Blizzard management to consider forceably changing leadership on the WoW product they need to see some decline in DOLLAR BILLS not player outrage on the forums. From management's perspective WoW is doing great with retail, classic, services, and cosmetic products. Why would their management even consider changing leadership now?


https://www.google.com/search?q=bfa+sales+number+wow

"3.4 million
Battle for Azeroth sold more than 3.4 million units through August 14th, setting records and making it Warcraft's fastest-selling expansion. For the previous expansion, the press release stated Legion sold 3.3 million copies on the first day--so it's no small feat to beat that record.Aug 23, 2018"

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=...4dUDCAs&uact=5

"In the third quarter of 2019: Blizzard had 33 million MAUsD. World of Warcraft® Classic drove the biggest quarterly increase to subscription plans2 in franchise history, in both the West and East.Nov 7, 2019"

[Dracullus]

Ohh trust me, hes not the only one that should be fired. I personally would fire everyone who makes decisions in WoW. Since WoD, wow has been a pathetic joke.

Literally every single person whos signature is on a code/process sign off sheet to production servers should be fired on the spot. No warning, no two weeks notice, literally fired and escorted out of the building and have security pack up their desks and deliver it via 7 day snail mail.

I've seen teams of 74+ people at KPMG fired for MUCH lower levels of incompetence.

Lol, during WoD Ion was responsible for raids and dungeons, easily best part of that expac.

But yeah, let's trust opinion of mmochampwhiner#53123 that Blizz should fire full dev team responsible for game that earn shit ton of money every month. ;D

Huh....I was sure Ion took over part way through WoD. I mean Chilton to me was far worse than Ion is and is probably the one Game Director who ever got outright replaced instead of just leaving. (His "other project" has always smelled like he got kicked up)

Oficially he became director after Legion launch, but unoficially since they abandoned WoD and shifted whole attention towards Legion. First, they invented "assistent game director" just for him before Legion launch. Second, he was very active in Q&A, while I don't think Chilton was even present in any WoW related stuff post Legion reveal.

[d00dles]

Today's topic: I can't wait until Ion is gone!!!! Mrgllll glrrm gl!

Tomorrow's topic: I miss Ion Hazzikostas

[Lurker1]

It's a criticism of the OPs statement. Not my personal beliefs. Honestly, it's not as popular as wrath, legion. But colossal failure? Really doubt it. WoW is Blizzards milking cow. Nothing has changed. With classic also doing good, it's a good last half a year for Blizzard, with 8.3 being around the corner. It's all good.

Well said man imho there just being overdramatic by now.

[Th3Scourge]

WoW is more profitable than ever.

Ion isn't going anywhere

[Lurker1]

Look at that poll... those damn shills must have made 110 accounts to post no!!

its just logic sir.

[Dakara]

Ion's had some great ideas but he has a bad habit of ruining them (IMO).

Azerite Armor was a great idea. I enjoy having another set of "talents" for each spec, especially the utility rings where I can create a speed set, or a self heal set.
What ruined AZ Armor however, was locking traits behind an AP grind, the acquisition of "BiS" traits and the ridiculous respec costs.

Essences are another great idea. Again, I swap essences like talents to suit what I'm doing.
Essences were ruined of course, (again) by the grind to acquire them... specifically some of the higher ranks, and it's incredibly punishing to new players and Alts.

Weekly chests. Again, a great idea. You get rewarded at the end of the week (both PvE and PvP).
PvE chest was ruined by locking it behind M+ exclusively (seriously, clear the Mythic Raid, no chest, but run a +2 and get a chest). And both chests were ruined by RNG... e.g. I've had the same belt 3 weeks in a row in my Mages chest atm.

M+ Great concept. Ruined by the timer and the difficulty vs reward curve.

Class/Spec identity. Love the idea that certain specs within the same role have their strengths and weaknesses. But this is ruined by M+ and the timer... hence end up with Meta's. In raids (excluding bleeding edge) it's less problematic due to more slots available... but then look at the Top end and they stack Disc Priests and HPally's (for example).

Ultimately, I feel like Ion has created the game he (and his friends) want. That is, constant character progression throughout the expansion. Unfortunately, (from my PoV anyway) most of his playerbase don't want that as we either come and go between patches, want to enjoy alts, or simply don't enjoy tedious grinds, regardless what the reward is.

Will he get replaced? Truth be told, I hope not. Again, I like his ideas... he just needs to listen to the voice of reason and tone it down a bit so players can enjoy their alts and/or jump in mid-expansion. It would appear he's got the message for Shadowlands, but then 8.3 doesn't really fix essences so???

[Relapses]

What is with this community's fascination with blaming a singular person with all of WoW's issues? Ghostcrawler had the same problem when he was lead dev. Chilton had the same issue when he was lead dev. And you better fucking believe whomever replaces Ion (should he be replaced) will have the same issue. None of WoW's devs have been particularly bad, they just have the unfortunate job description of telling the community they don't get their promised ponies. I certainly don't agree with everything Cueball McDoucheface says but I also don't envy his position. I wouldn't want to leave my house out of fear of some warped neckbeard waiting outside my house to give me an atomic wedgie for nerfing his favorite trinket.

[alturic]

What is with this community's fascination with blaming a singular person with all of WoW's issues? Ghostcrawler had the same problem when he was lead dev. Chilton had the same issue when he was lead dev. And you better fucking believe whomever replaces Ion (should he be replaced) will have the same issue. None of WoW's devs have been particularly bad, they just have the unfortunate job description of telling the community they don't get their promised ponies. I certainly don't agree with everything Cueball McDoucheface says but I also don't envy his position. I wouldn't want to leave my house out of fear of some warped neckbeard waiting outside my house to give me an atomic wedgie for nerfing his favorite trinket.

I personally don't have a problem with Ion, never did. However, when you are the "lead" of a project, you are the one guiding the team. If something is coming along and you don't like it you don't ship it. Just sayin'.

[Relapses]

I personally don't have a problem with Ion, never did. However, when you are the "lead" of a project, you are the one guiding the team. If something is coming along and you don't like it you don't ship it. Just sayin'.

Right, but then you realize that no two WoW players ever agree on fucking anything and it just becomes ridiculous. For example, let's take Random Knobhead 237-B. He's a Combat Rogue that loves the LFR and is extremely happy with Azerite Gear but thinks that World Quests are an ungodly waste of time and should go back in the hole they crawled out from. He blames Ion for making World Quests so prevalent in the current game design. Now let's take Random Jerkface 387-K. He plays a Fire Mage and loves World Quests but despises Azerite Gear and frequently posts on WoW forums about how he wishes Blizzard would just go back to the "good ol days" pre-LFR and LFG with attunements. He blames Ion for not listening to the community and making the game the way he likes it.

Do you not see the issue here? Ion can't be to blame for everything and the bigger issue is that players just want a convenient scapegoat for which to place blame all of their many petty squabbles. It's easy to target the lead designer but it's rarely the result of his singular discretion.

[Seranthor]

What is with this community's fascination with blaming a singular person with all of WoW's issues? Ghostcrawler had the same problem when he was lead dev. Chilton had the same issue when he was lead dev. And you better fucking believe whomever replaces Ion (should he be replaced) will have the same issue. None of WoW's devs have been particularly bad, they just have the unfortunate job description of telling the community they don't get their promised ponies. I certainly don't agree with everything Cueball McDoucheface says but I also don't envy his position. I wouldn't want to leave my house out of fear of some warped neckbeard waiting outside my house to give me an atomic wedgie for nerfing his favorite trinket.

the fascination is that people look for easily identifiable targets to vent their rage at (regardless of whether the target deserves it, or if the rage is even founded in reality). I can imagine the flurry of shit that would happen if Blizzard when radio silent and decided to not tell anyone who the lead designer was/is.