wow Forbes Interview with Game Director Ion Hazzikostas: Part Two

[Stan 5,020]

Here's the second installment of the two-part interview by Forbes, where they asked Game Director Ion Hazzikostas about top things to do before Battle for Azeroth.

The first part of the interview was mostly about Mythic dungeons, cross-realm Mythic raiding, and Azerite armor. Ion recently held a live Q/A to answer fan questions about Battle for Azeroth and you can find all highlights here.

Interview Highlights

• Content that's not changing when BfA goes live includes:
  • The Deaths of Chromie Scenario;
  • Class Mounts and related quests;
  • Pet & Mount drops from the Argus outdoor world;
  • Hidden Artifact appearances;
  • Keystone Master achievements.
• According to Hazzikostas, the Mage Tower should be your top priority. The challenges will be going away when the pre-patch hits.
  • It was introduced and completed by players when Artifact Power levels were in mid-50s and overall item levels were around 905-910.
  • It's still about doing mechanics correctly and having 2-3% more health won't be helpful if you're missing interrupts.
• Other notable things that you might consider doing right now:
  • Achievements related to the First Aid profession (Field Medic);
  • Ahead of the Curve: Argus the Unmaker & Cutting Edge: Argus the Unmaker achievements related to defeating Argus on Heroic / Mythic difficulty.
• The Violet Spellwing mount quest from killing Argus will be removed during the expansion launch.
• Mythic Gul'dan (Fiendish Hellfire Core) and Mythic Argus (Shackled Ur'zul) mounts will become rare drops (from guaranteed to 1% drop chance).
• Fisherfriend of the Isles achievements isn't going away, but it's easier to complete it now, because large groups continuously run that content and that won't be the case come BfA.
• Underlight Angler (fishing artifact) isn't going away in BfA.
• The Chosen achievement obtained by defeating Helya on Mythic difficulty without dying.
• Legion Elite PvP armor sets, Ashran/Strand of Ancient achievements.
• The Profession system is changing dramatically in BfA.
  • It's dividing up expansion crafting.
  • If your skill's 800, you'll be 100 skill in each expansion's crafting.
  • If your skill's 650, you'll be 100 in the first few expansions, 50 out of 100 for WoD, and no Legion, because that's where you were in those terms.
  • Everyone is equal and there will be no downsides in terms of gathering professions.
• Legion Legendary items will continue to work until level 115.
• Artifact traits will be disabled when the pre-patch goes live.
• Set bonuses will continue to function in BfA, but when you'll see 50-60 item level upgrades, it's vital to break up your old sets.
• You should use Void Storage to store Legion Legendaries.
• No events are planned for the pre-patch that will boost XP gains, they're happy with the overall pacing of leveling.
• BfA will be more alt-friendly than Legion. Heart of Azeroth works for all specializations and you don't need to level it up separately, and the Legion Legendary system's gone.
• Azerite armor should give players more control over their gear.
• The pre-patch includes events leading up to the Burning of Teldrassil and will be available to everybody.
• The Battle for Lordaeron scenario will be available one week before BfA launch to players that have purchased WoW's latest expansion.

You can read the full interview on Forbes.

[Baharok 234]

1 hour ago, Stan said:

BfA will be more alt-friendly that Legion

Im not a master in english language, but isnt that a little typo or something ? ?

Edited June 30, 2018 by Baharok

[Hypersonic 113]

6 hours ago, Stan said:

 Heart of Azeroth works for all specializations and you don't need to level it up separately

Oh yeah, finally. This missed so much. During WoD I had 2 mains and 3-4 alts, but in Legion I was happy to be able push 1 character. 

[Sharknad0 67]

On 6/29/2018 at 11:57 PM, Hypersonic said:

Oh yeah, finally. This missed so much. During WoD I had 2 mains and 3-4 alts, but in Legion I was happy to be able push 1 character. 

That is exactly what they wanted. They knew that the hardcore would still do their alts at some point, and would play enough to get it done, but they wanted to make sure casuals were happy on one toon the entire expansion. Not gonna lie and say it was a bad business decision, but it definitely sucked for me.

[Rhondis 148]

2 hours ago, Sharknad0 said:

That is exactly what they wanted. They knew that the hardcore would still do their alts at some point, and would play enough to get it done, but they wanted to make sure casuals were happy on one toon the entire expansion. Not gonna lie and say it was a bad business decision, but it definitely sucked for me.

Same. Even though I enjoyed pushing my Enh Shaman all the way through Legion, I wasn't able to fully enjoy other classes due to how much effort and time it will take.