At the launch of World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, many things went smoothly – but not everything. The Game Director talks about what didn’t work at all.
The Game Director of World of Warcraft, Ion Hazzikostas, had a long interview with Forbes. It largely focused on the launch of Battle for Azeroth, but also on the first weeks afterward. There is considerable room for improvement for Blizzard.
We have summarized the key statements from the interview for you.
“You can’t make everyone happy”
Problem class balance: Although Blizzard tries to satisfy as many players as possible, Hazzikostas is aware that one can never please everyone. He said this especially regarding the balancing and the playstyle of the classes that are currently under heavy criticism (Shadow Priests and Elemental Shamans).
Sure, they could have polished it for weeks in beta, but that would always be the case. Classes would never be completely “finished.” There is constant work being done, and balance is not set in stone.
And at some point, you just have to draw a line and aim for the release, even if not everyone is happy. But that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t listen. There will always be improvements – sometimes they just take a little longer.
Expectations need to be better managed
Problem expectations vs. reality: A major problem was the expectations of many players regarding certain content. Many players expected that there would be three items from the “Mythic+” chest, as was occasionally the case during beta. The disappointment was large when there was only one item in the live version.
Similarly, the expectations were high regarding the warfronts. When the feature started, the Alliance had to wait a long time and could not enter the battle while the Horde had to gather resources first.
Blizzard sees the mistake clearly on their side. They should have made it clear to players what to expect and how it would proceed.
Just an official news or a blog post would have sufficed to explain the process of the warfronts and the gathering phases. That would have saved a lot of frustration, and in the future, they want to define new systems more clearly in advance.
Azerite system and island expeditions will be overhauled
Problem system: The two biggest systems that they currently want to “fix” are
- the Azerite system
- and the feel of the island expeditions.
The Azerite system feels unsatisfying due to poor balancing and a low availability of Azerite items. In future patches, there should be more ways to obtain these items, but without players “drowning in items” – the perfect balance has simply not been achieved yet. A first improvement has already been made, which leads to more items.
Island expeditions, on the other hand, should become more interesting and dynamic. They don’t want players to experience the same event in every expedition, like the appearance of the Azerite elementals. The opponents on the island should also be grouped together in small camps rather than just populating the entire island. This way, players can better plan which path they want to take.
Together with new, more varied events, the expeditions should feel more exciting – because currently, the team is also not satisfied with it. With patch 8.1, this is supposed to change.
How did you perceive the launch and the first weeks of Battle for Azeroth? Are you still excited about World of Warcraft, are you waiting for the first major patch, or has that already passed?
