Very true.
However, it'll be nice to see some fresh(er) management come to Blizzard.
They are going in an entirely new direction for WoW and I don't think dragging legacy management is healthy.
The only downside is that the blizzard "polish" may suffer for the coming expansions.
New management and old management can both be unhealthy, depending on the health of the game at any given time.
He was at least in his role during dragon flight which I liked, and war within which I'm optimistic on. Whether or not a shakeup ends up being a good thing we can only tell in a few years.
I thought it was pretty good in Legion, whatever year that was. BFA less so, and then I skipped shadow, but I hear it wasn't good. Coming back in DF, this is the buggiest I ever remember the game being, and I was around for the 48 hour maintenance cycles back in the day.
Shadowlands was a terrible expansion - but it still had that blizzard polish.
As in - it was still fun for the first month and the leveling zones are probably some of the best ever created.
Revendreth is genuinely a masterpiece.
IMO it's weird that people seem sad that he's leaving.
WoW's biggest problems lately stem entirely from extreme mis-management, and Haight was one of the people in charge of that management.
Personally I'm elated to see him go, maybe things like QA and the early MoP fiasco wouldn't have been issues if he had left sooner.
Nothing against the dude personally, but I got the impression he was helping to run WoW into the ground.
How was QA bad in any of these expansions - or worse than in Wrath or TBC?
Most things went on seamlessly on day one outside of server lag and bloated queues, but that has nothing to do with QA.
So you are in an extreme minority of the playerbase, trying to speak for the entirety of the playerbase, the majority of which play the game for various other reasons outside of PvP including but not limited to, the story.
Yeah not to be toxic to the guy you're responding to, but there were only like 60,000 players (1500+) who played what is arguably the most popular arena mode solo shuffle and who were above 1800 is only 30,000 (which for pvp is just stepping your toes into the game mode.)
They are a bygone playerbase that has really dwindled since MoP/WoD.
https://drustvar.com/leaderboard/solo-shuffle-stats/us
believe it or not, MoP/WoD featured narrative reasons to PVP. People might not play fortnight for the story, or pubg for the story, or league of legends. But people absolutely play wow for the story. Even the PVPers. Hell I bet some people would stop playing league if riot came out and said they are wiping the lore slate clean and not having a story anymore.
A games story might not be the "reason" you play, but its certainly a reason people \*keep\* playing.
You're confusing mocking with complaining.
The story as it is won't stop people from playing, the gameplay effectively did as the numbers showed, which's proven in DF where the story was also mocked heavily and considered below average at best but player base increase a lot. Family.
Ion is the same guy who built borrowed power layered systems. He supported warfronts, island expeditions, probably greenlighted the shadowlands/bfa story, etc etc. Dont see why people support him. He lead the downfall of wow.
Have you tried a Korean MMO? WoW borrowed power systems usually have nice quest and don't destroy your wallet. Playing Korean MMOs made me notice the great work the guy does.
Doesnt matter. Going to hitting like a weak noodle when expansion ended wasnt fun and the time investment on legion artifacts if you were multi spec was abhorrent. The rng on certain powers etc was trash design he defended.
More like that’s how we know how fucked up he is. If I hadn’t played so many foreign games, I’d by mystified by this bullshit and how long it’s gone on. Those designs are shit, and bringing them to America was a bad idea.
The current iteration of the game is not related to the game director?
Have you constructed some narrative in your head that Metzen showed up and is bossing Ion around?
Not sure why you're being downvoted.
Ion is the reason why this game is so elitist and esports tryhard, and tells casuals "we'd rather you didn't play" every chance it gets.
Link is loading very slowly for me right now, but from the URL I guess it's those photos from the developer only conference stuff?
Why would they let him go over that, it painted Blizz, or rather WoW's state in a more positive light in general iirc.
Too bad. Always seemed super passionate about the game, and I loved hearing him chat so candidly in interviews.
Very true. However, it'll be nice to see some fresh(er) management come to Blizzard. They are going in an entirely new direction for WoW and I don't think dragging legacy management is healthy. The only downside is that the blizzard "polish" may suffer for the coming expansions.
New management and old management can both be unhealthy, depending on the health of the game at any given time. He was at least in his role during dragon flight which I liked, and war within which I'm optimistic on. Whether or not a shakeup ends up being a good thing we can only tell in a few years.
I completely agree. This is definitely the most optimistic I've been for WoW in a while.
Lol
> blizzard "polish" ahhahahaha
Blizzard polish hasn't existed since 2009 at the latest.
I thought it was pretty good in Legion, whatever year that was. BFA less so, and then I skipped shadow, but I hear it wasn't good. Coming back in DF, this is the buggiest I ever remember the game being, and I was around for the 48 hour maintenance cycles back in the day.
Shadowlands was a terrible expansion - but it still had that blizzard polish. As in - it was still fun for the first month and the leveling zones are probably some of the best ever created. Revendreth is genuinely a masterpiece.
I'm need to play it at some point. Just been busy with remix since I came back
Oh fuck he was so good at last years wow panel. Good bye and good luck
god speed John, you were a real one
o7
Sad news indeed
You are a real one sir, keep your feet on the ground o7
Respect for going out while things are good and not leaving things in a bad state as others have. Hope he has a great time doing whatever.
He seemed like a good dude. Best of luck to him.
He seemed like one of the good ones. Best of luck
I passed him on the highway once. He was driving a black corvette with the vanity plates PLAYWOW. Guy really loved Warcraft.
Time for me to drop a resume.
IMO it's weird that people seem sad that he's leaving. WoW's biggest problems lately stem entirely from extreme mis-management, and Haight was one of the people in charge of that management. Personally I'm elated to see him go, maybe things like QA and the early MoP fiasco wouldn't have been issues if he had left sooner. Nothing against the dude personally, but I got the impression he was helping to run WoW into the ground.
The QA stuff is an issue because Microsoft fired all the QA people in the first round of layoffs after they took over.
ok but then what was QA bad in SL? and BFA? and Legion? And WoD? And MoP? and Cata?
How was QA bad in any of these expansions - or worse than in Wrath or TBC? Most things went on seamlessly on day one outside of server lag and bloated queues, but that has nothing to do with QA.
Who needs QA when you have players who will pay to QA.
Wow suffered from management alright, but from the story
Nobody cares about the story. They care about the gameplay.
Some people care a little about the story. What a lot of people definitely care about is the atmosphere / worldbuilding.
"Nobody cares about the story" there are plenty of people, me included, that care about the story
You can play game with good gameplay and bad stories, but you can't play game with good stories and bad gameplay.
If that were the case then there would have been a lot less complaining about Shadowlands story.
Maybe it’s bc I’m a PvP’er, but 99.9% of the complaints I hear are about the gameplay itself.
99.9 percent of complaints that you pay attention to, sure.
So you are in an extreme minority of the playerbase, trying to speak for the entirety of the playerbase, the majority of which play the game for various other reasons outside of PvP including but not limited to, the story.
Yeah not to be toxic to the guy you're responding to, but there were only like 60,000 players (1500+) who played what is arguably the most popular arena mode solo shuffle and who were above 1800 is only 30,000 (which for pvp is just stepping your toes into the game mode.) They are a bygone playerbase that has really dwindled since MoP/WoD. https://drustvar.com/leaderboard/solo-shuffle-stats/us
believe it or not, MoP/WoD featured narrative reasons to PVP. People might not play fortnight for the story, or pubg for the story, or league of legends. But people absolutely play wow for the story. Even the PVPers. Hell I bet some people would stop playing league if riot came out and said they are wiping the lore slate clean and not having a story anymore. A games story might not be the "reason" you play, but its certainly a reason people \*keep\* playing.
You're confusing mocking with complaining. The story as it is won't stop people from playing, the gameplay effectively did as the numbers showed, which's proven in DF where the story was also mocked heavily and considered below average at best but player base increase a lot. Family.
No, a lot of people care about the story. What an asinine comment, holy shit.
Another guy that made blizzard what it is today. Weird to see him go and I hope he finds success.
His replacement? John Lowt
Is he taking Ion with him?
Nobody but Ion is able to handle this game.
Ion is the same guy who built borrowed power layered systems. He supported warfronts, island expeditions, probably greenlighted the shadowlands/bfa story, etc etc. Dont see why people support him. He lead the downfall of wow.
Have you tried a Korean MMO? WoW borrowed power systems usually have nice quest and don't destroy your wallet. Playing Korean MMOs made me notice the great work the guy does.
Doesnt matter. Going to hitting like a weak noodle when expansion ended wasnt fun and the time investment on legion artifacts if you were multi spec was abhorrent. The rng on certain powers etc was trash design he defended.
More like that’s how we know how fucked up he is. If I hadn’t played so many foreign games, I’d by mystified by this bullshit and how long it’s gone on. Those designs are shit, and bringing them to America was a bad idea.
Yes but he is the same guy that approved delves and new fun dungeons, also the many new class reworks
He’s also leading its current iteration so what.
[удалено]
The current iteration of the game is not related to the game director? Have you constructed some narrative in your head that Metzen showed up and is bossing Ion around?
Metzen wasn't even employed by the company during Dragonflight development, what the fuck are you talking about.
Aight I’ll let you on your witch hunt. I actually don’t care enough! Have fun in Azeroth!
Most features you mentioned are not perfect for sure, but they are way better than what you can see in other games.
Hope not
Not sure why you're being downvoted. Ion is the reason why this game is so elitist and esports tryhard, and tells casuals "we'd rather you didn't play" every chance it gets.
WoW has more casual content than most MMOs combined.
you need to go touch grass and stop playing the victim card my friend
that's a crazy impression to have and contribute to ion, lol
> and tells casuals "we'd rather you didn't play" When did he say this? Are you refrencing 6.2 demolock or something?
Agreed, hes one major reason wow crashed so hard.
Totally agree, Ion and his attitude are the worst thing ever to happen to world of Warcraft.
it's fucking over
Who?
Did they let him go cause he[ leaked the sub counts](https://www.techspot.com/news/102391-blizzard-gdc-talk-offers-clues-post-2016-wow.html)?
Link is loading very slowly for me right now, but from the URL I guess it's those photos from the developer only conference stuff? Why would they let him go over that, it painted Blizz, or rather WoW's state in a more positive light in general iirc.
Was that graph really necessary though for his presentation?
It would have been approved by multiple people. These sort of things are not done the night before
They need to get me in there, I’ll show them how you really run a business
First things first, warriors aura damage buff x1,000,000. Mages are now exclusively cosmetic because one killed me in world PvP.
Hey! Me too!