Many cannot imagine artifact weapons from World of Warcraft . However, the Game Director has a different opinion.
The artifact weapons from World of Warcraft: Legion are the focal point of the expansion, at least regarding character development. They can be powered up further with artifact power, thus unlocking new bonuses that directly reflect the hero’s strength.
In an interview with PcGamer, Ion Hazzikostas, the Game Director of World of Warcraft, spoke about the pros and cons of this kind of progression.
A clear disadvantage is that heroes would never have to think about a new weapon again – that would be 1-2 gear slots less to fill with suitable loot. This is somewhat mitigated by the relics that can be inserted into artifact weapons.
However, many players wish that the artifact weapons would become a permanent feature, eternally bound to the character. The current plans indicate that with Patch 8.0 – the start of the next expansion – players will have to say goodbye to artifact weapons and exchange them for new weapons. The artifact weapons are a feature of Legion and should be something to remember when thinking back to the time of Legion.
Hazzikostas says about this:
“We would have to develop a completely different system if we wanted to introduce the artifact weapons as a permanent element of World of Warcraft. But since we intend to use this as something central only in Legion, we can really push the boundaries here, try crazy things, learn lessons from it, and find out what worked and what didn’t – this we will then carry into the future.”
Change always frightens some players
For many players, this change with each expansion seems to be a reason to keep checking back into World of Warcraft. The developers are well aware that not every change will always be well received by fans.
“Change is inevitable. We always try to find innovations and test new things, but we know that every change also costs us something. The result of every change is that we lose some people [who don’t like the change].”
That aside, it has already been confirmed that players will be able to use their unlocked templates of artifact weapons for transmogrification after Legion. While the stats and bonuses of the artifact weapons will be lost, at least the appearance will remain for all expansions that may come.
In the interview, Hazzikostas also revealed that we have not seen everything from Azeroth yet.
