Dev Q&A ft. Ion Hazzikostas - 10.0.7 and and beyond.

Some days ago we (EU WoW COntent Creators) had the privilege to group interview Game Director Ion Hazzikostas about patch 10.0.7 and beyond. The video goes through qestions and answers. You will also find the questions and my notes based on the Ion´s answers. Meaning, these are not his direct words.  

Patch 10.0.7 

How successful are the Dragonriding races? We have updates coming to them in 10.0.7 but from talking to community members, few seem to have tried them and from personal experience I have yet to see one have other entrants.

New abilities coming also in 10.1.New area means new glyphs. Adds extra quality of life. Will always be new abilities. 

Will Zskera Vaults be updated in future patches or Zskera Vaults are a feature only for patch 10.0.7?

Zskera Vault will only be a 10.0.7 content. No updates planned. 

But if positive feedback then they might add something repeatable there. 

How much time in a week do you think an average player will need to commit to spending time in the Zskera Vault, and do you worry that people who play many alts could feel overwhelmed with trying to use the vault to source items for their Annulet?

People have different play styles so it's hard to say. There is a weekly lockout when you open all doors. Also the keys are bindd on account. You can also speed up the process when you know what you want from the vault. 

Zskera's Vaults are a single content and not a group, there is a reason why it is not thought to make them flex and a multiplayer content like Stormwind/Orgrimmar's horrifying visions related to Nyalotha?

We have different types of content and this one is for one player (similar to isle of thunder treasure room. But there will be content for others in the future. This one is better for solo. 

Allied Races don't have to raise reputation to get their Heritage Armor. Why do the rest of the races continue with this requirement that perhaps we have completed with another character on our account?

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The Onyx Annulet has been presented as a worthwhile upgrade pursuit ahead of 10.1 and season 2. Can we expect to see targeted adjustments in cases where no gem combinations prove desirable for certain classes and/or specs. If so, how do you intend to balance this against the investment of other players when this goes live?

Most players that enter higher keys will replace them pretty fast. Other players later on. It is not intended to go back in season 2 and get the ring. 

Some specs do not benefit from this so much for example BM hunters since pet doesnt count to the power. 

10.0.7 has more ways for people to catch up with their renown, which is really appreciated. Are there plans for helping people to catch up with profession knowledge, as someone coming into a profession at this point faces a huge struggle to try and catch up and be competitive for crafting orders compared with people who started professions at launch?

If you want to make something specific, it can be done but prof from day 1 will have more options. 

They want a catch up but diversity is still a keypoint. Not everyone can make everything. But still something to delve into. 

At 10.0.7 we will have Retribution Paladin rework. Are there any other specs that are "in line" of rework, or have you considered any other specs instead of Retri Paladin? Thank you, Honzaj :)

Shadow priest got significant changes. Other than that there is nothing as huge as paladin happening. But live tuning class changes will still be there. 

10.0.7 brings big nerfs to Ret paladins and judging by their current performance + testing on the 10.0.7 PTR, they were at most middle of the pack performance wise. Is there any reason for the nerfs?

Tuning on ret is ongoing. More tuning is coming alongside with the patch. They want ret to be solid. 

In Patch 10.0.7 we have new hair colours available for Humans and Orcs. Is there a chance that one of the races that have less customization right now will get a big update during Dragonflight?

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Dragonflight was presented as a very exploration-oriented expansion. In 10.0.7, a "new" area to explore (the Forbidden Island) opens for everyone. Question: will there also be some hidden chain, Easter egg or secret to discover?

More unexpected things is something they want to add.

"General Dragonflight and beyond" 

Are there any further plans for Dragonriding other than more glyphs/more abilities? Something like "Realm best lap" or "Top 10 best times'' for races to motivate players to get better at it?

No hyper competition (esport) planned at the moment.

With the recent Diablo IV beta, testers were rewarded for reaching certain milestones in the beta. Could we see something like this for WoW in future? To potentially incentive testing. – MrGM

It has been considered, but not done. If we plan to have a “thank you” than it is something they could do. example, pet, or cosmetic. Problem would be the players that don't have beta. But if there is something with a huge amount of ppl, then yes. 

With the return of recruit a friend, is there a chance to see the old rewards appearing in the trading post, like the 2 seater rocket mount or the explorer outfit?

Yes, that is most likely. 

The profession trees have had a major overhaul in Dragonflight and whilst that was much needed - many people found it overwhelming as there wasn’t any guides for something that has been the same for seventeen years. If you could do it all again, what would you do differently?

Not anything huge atm. Ofc changes along the way such as work orders. The goals were 1) for crafters to add depth for investing feeling and identity 2) get more ppl in a broad way interested. Looking at those, it feels successful

The working order system has a lot of potential, but currently, on low population server is basically 90% of time empty. With us being able to group up across realm with friends not only on different servers, but also opposite factions, the restriction of work order being limited to server seems way too harsh. Especially if we consider that for most consumables, the AH is region wide. Is there any chances of lifting this restriction?

Always a chance. 

Regarding work order solution: requires new tech but something to do before DF is over. Have NPC work orders as a universal baseline. Posting work orders, not the best commission but for ppl that just want to fill their work order. 

What problems do you mainly identify with the Dragonflight ordering system?

availability

Neltharax, Enemy of the Sky, the evoker only weapon has been proven very popular in terms of class identity. A powerful item that has a unique ability without being Legendary. Is there a plan to introduce more of these items for all the classes? Using a system perhaps like the tier pieces, that will unlock the specific weapon if a class uses it?

Nothing directly planned but potential there. 

We've had a noticeable positive reception to the Fated content at the end of Shadowlands. Was there anything learned from it that can be applied to future season/raid design in terms of giving people more ever green content throughout the lifetime of an expansion?

Overall season 4 was successful, and dragonflight will have something similar. Maybe not the same fated thing. But going back to older raids was good. Adding more raids is tricky. Not used by many players. Having more raids to do alongside a tier is tricky. 

In terms of Bosses in Raids we saw 8 Bosses in Vault and 9 Bosses Aberrus. Compared to Shadowlands where we had 10 (Castle), 10 (Sanctum) and 11 (Sepulcher). What’s the reason for lowering the boss count by 1-2? Did you notice that most of the player base enjoyed a 8-9 Boss Raid more than a 10+ Raid or is it a lore reason this time?

Heard feedback that some raid tiers were exhausting. 

On in-game and off-game storytelling: Baine will be the protagonist again, do you have other characters for a 'spotlight' in mind, maybe new short stories? - Lore is Magic

Yes, we have a lot of characters in WoW. 

 

22 Mar 2023