wow No Multi-spec Soulbinds, Tank Balance, No Master Looter and More: Sloot Interview with Ion Hazzikostas

[Starym 3,800]

 

Streamer Sloot recently talked to Game Director Ion Hazzikostas and they touched on many Shadowlands related topics. Many of the answers were along the lines of "no clear solution" or "we're still working/thinking on that", so we won't cover those here, but you should definitely check out the full interview (embedded below) yourselves, not only for all the answers but for the context and tone as well, as some of the answers might look harsher when summarized.

Covenants and Soulbinds:

• Covenants overall are considered a success.
• Still no plans to change the Soulbind system in regards to multiple specs. Players should experience less issues with it as more Conduit slots and the third Soulbind is unlocked, and if it turns out only 1 Soulbind is viable/the best across all specs , they'll address that with tuning.
• You can only get duplicate Conduits if you haven't "turned them in" in the Forge.

Tanks

• Tank threat shouldn't be infinite, so they can't just do a few abilities and then kite around.
• There's a middle ground to threat that they're looking for.
• They are trying to avoid a pure "damage" meta for tanks, especially since there were times when tanks were outdpsing the DPS. Survivability needs to also be a factor.

M+ and the Great Vault

• The Great Vault has worked out well so far, but they could/should have been clearer with explaining exactly hot it worked.
• Gearing / gearing speed in general is in a good spot they're happy with.
• Class tier sets are still coming in a later patch and the art for them is looking good already.
• No Master looter return. It's Personal Loot all they way through Shadowlands at least.

Torghast and the Maw:

• No account-wide layer unlocks due to alts' weaker gear. This might change later when there are gear catch-up systems.
• Twisting Corridors will unlock account-wide and unlocked through the regular weekly Bolvar quest.
• No plans for being able to level in Torghast right now.
• Twisting Corridors is supposed to be hard. Layer 1 will be much harder than other parts of the tower already. The infinite option may be coming back, but they needed live data to judge whether it's worth it.
• There will be more to the Maw in the future, as both the story will takes us there and there will be additional content coming for it.

Other:

• Command table missions were poorly balanced, as they didn't think of how it would work on weeks 2 or 3, as it gets more balanced as you unlock new companions etc. The Soul Ash missions scaling with companion level also was a bad decision and they might change it to be static, as each one completed unlocks a new harder one.
• There shouldn't be any issues with old raid scaling after a fix to the first SL week Legion scaling, but he's eager to hear examples.
• PvP tuning is coming, with Subtlety definitely on the list. They like that PvP is faster paced, but perhaps a little too fast at the moment.

 

Thanks to Sloot for hosting the interview and for the great questions. You should check out the full thing below as well:

[tr111 6]

Covenants were a success? So this timegate upon timegate upon timegate is what they were aiming for? Even cosmetic stuff is timegated. Just thinking about it screams "no fun allowed"

The Great vault is working out well? Mythic+15 gear is LOWER ilvl than HEROIC raid. This is mythic+ being lowered to the level of pvp (read: killed) and for some reason nobody cares, or at least the infinite echo chambers they've created are hard filtering all criticism

This expansion is looking even worse than bfa so far, at least the start of it. But I guess the causals are told to like it by literally every wow news outlet so any deviant opinion is de facto incorrect

[Hagersen 34]

37 minutes ago, tr111 said:

 

The Great vault is working out well? Mythic+15 gear is LOWER ilvl than HEROIC raid. This is mythic+ being lowered to the level of pvp (read: killed) and for some reason nobody cares, or at least the infinite echo chambers they've created are hard filtering all criticism

 

well tbh  Content with more preparation and harder encounters should be be rewarded better. Getting the best gear from the raid is acually a thing i wanted since m+ started back in legion and im doing both

Edited December 15, 2020 by Hagersen

[Harvey 60]

Well, considering it's not yet been a month since launch, a little time-gating doesn't seem that bad in terms of story-telling, especially if you consider the alternative farm X thousand anima to progress your covenant, I will take time-gating. After all, converts (covenant transfers) and alts are allowed to catch up to the "current" covenant level.

I am more concerned about the reduced drop rate in raids. My friends and I used to run a couple of heroic raid PUGs every week. With the measly 3 gear for 20 man effort in raids (as compared to 2-3 gear for 5 man effort in mythic+), it is seriously dampening our enthusiasm for raid. And I can't shake the feeling that it is due to the world first competition to hold them down for a bit longer. If that's the case though, perhaps Blizzard should move the world first groups to a new separate server where rules are different, then shift them back after the competition is over. It is bad enough that character tunings are based on the MDIs, now even our loot has been toned down to cater for the world first competition. So, how about hosting a world first competition on a server where resources such as gold, world drop gears, crafting materials etc. are limited? Should make for a more interesting game, rather than organizing raid carries or heroic splits.

[Ulvgrymt 8]

Gearing is a bit slow i think, but perhaps after greater vault drops 2-3 weeks ill feel differently.

Something they really should change is Personal loot..

How can they not fix this?

Make Master looter avalible atleast for guild groups?

[OxO 24]

How I play this expansion now on my druid...

Login, do main Night Fae daily, logout.

That's it.

I do the pvp random BG's to max out conquest this week and no more because there's no point due to timegating and I can't even upgrade the conquest gear because I'm not allowed too due to requiring "rank" in poxy rated rubbish that's full of boosters and win trading.

Cannot be arsed with trying to pug Mythics, rated BG and arena are and were always utter "esport" donkey *filtered* and I'm too old to be joining a guild to raid with mostly kids .

So basically, yeah, login, do daily, logout, nice expansion, thanks Blizztards.

 

[tr111 6]

32 minutes ago, Hagersen said:

well tbh  Content with more preparation and harder encounters should be be rewarded better. Getting the best gear from the raid is acually a thing i wanted since m+ started back in legion and im doing both

I have no idea what you mean because I'm pugging a curve every raid since EN and heroic raid require only a functioning brain to finish. I get a curve earlier than I up all my dungeons to the "max" level (formerly 10, now 15)

Now what about doing those max dungeons undergeared? That's a tad more than a functioning brain that is required if you ask me

But I guess now the people who can't tackle heroic raids for 5 months have authority over the playerbase that aren't toddlers

[Hagersen 34]

1 hour ago, tr111 said:

I have no idea what you mean because I'm pugging a curve every raid since EN and heroic raid require only a functioning brain to finish. I get a curve earlier than I up all my dungeons to the "max" level (formerly 10, now 15)

Now what about doing those max dungeons undergeared? That's a tad more than a functioning brain that is required if you ask me

But I guess now the people who can't tackle heroic raids for 5 months have authority over the playerbase that aren't toddlers

im not talking about pugs im talking about a casual nhc/hc raid guild or community. Getting 10-20 People together, getting the tactics right for the encounter on the bosses and progressing threw the raid is much more time consuming then getting 5 people too run dungeons. Im not saying that dungeons are easy but raiding in general requieres much more time and ressources then dungeons and should then be rewarded that way too be worth the time

Edited December 15, 2020 by Hagersen

[Asakash 22]

Imo, the gearing is horrible. I already quit, because I just don't want to do mythic raids, which is absolutely mandatory if you want to do m+ or pvp.  
It's sooo annoying, I completely agree with tr111. I can't understand how nobody is bothered by this

[doritoes 5]

7 minutes ago, Asakash said:

Imo, the gearing is horrible. I already quit, because I just don't want to do mythic raids, which is absolutely mandatory if you want to do m+ or pvp.  
It's sooo annoying, I completely agree with tr111. I can't understand how nobody is bothered by this

Mate, you're aware that Mythic raids aren't even in the game yet right ? Also that PvP has its own gearing system back this expac, scaling of versatility with a dual trinket buff to it, so your BiS PvP are PvP items most likely. You can litterally pvp all the way through the expac without touching a single raid and be top tier if you're good.

[Mugendai 48]

I just stopped playing this week, doing 20 mythic+ to get only 3 piece of gear feels just so bad, the loot is way too low, only getting 2 in the end chests is waaay too little, and I just can't stand farming dungeons with pugs for hours to get a piece of gear I don't even need.

mm+ is dead for me, so is the game

[ResoWho 68]

3 hours ago, OxO said:

I'm too old to be joining a guild to raid with mostly kids

may i ask how old you are? i came back when legion launched and i had been in 4 guilds since then. first  one was whole legion expansion then 2 with a shorter time periode cause they changed the realm and the one im in now. the only child i met was in my first guild he was 16, he was childish some times but overall he wasnt anoying at all. but thats all, everyone else i met in my guilds was ~25-40. i havent looked for a guild with age restrictions but when i looked for a new guild i saw some with age restrictions, mostly 18+ and a few even 25+ (said that, mine had no such restrictions)

Edited December 15, 2020 by ResoWho

[doritoes 5]

2 hours ago, OxO said:

How I play this expansion now on my druid...

Login, do main Night Fae daily, logout.

That's it.

I do the pvp random BG's to max out conquest this week and no more because there's no point due to timegating and I can't even upgrade the conquest gear because I'm not allowed too due to requiring "rank" in poxy rated rubbish that's full of boosters and win trading.

Cannot be arsed with trying to pug Mythics, rated BG and arena are and were always utter "esport" donkey *filtered* and I'm too old to be joining a guild to raid with mostly kids .

So basically, yeah, login, do daily, logout, nice expansion, thanks Blizztards.

 

Serious question, your comment implies that you're not doing any content in pug, and that you won't join a guild (or a guild raid ?). Why are you playing an MMORPG if you're not playing with friends or to make friends ? There's much better solo games around than WoW, with WAY better story and gameplay. I really mean this, if you're playing alone, not having fun with content, why play at all ?

[ResoWho 68]

so far i like the expansion far more then bfa. its cool that you can buy pvp equipt with honor now, i was always more into pve but as a fire mage i had to do pvp content to get that on use main stat trinket and now i can just buy it do some arena games and upgrade it and havent to wait for it to drop.

i like the new dungeons and the raid visiually way more then the boring bfa ones, the only thing i can complain is the m+ ilvl but i still hope that they adjust the max ilvl for m+ after the mythic raid world first race is over since i hope they just made that adjustment for that. but even if they dont do that i like to break my own records and im not that focused on loot overall. (my m+ grp tank allrdy also complains about his equipment beeing to bad to push further and yells at the end of dungeon chest if it offers no loot to him ^^)

also torghast is pretty cool, i played a lot of "the binding of issacc" and Diablo 2+3 back then and it kinda reminds me of both

said that all, ive to add that due to work i havent as much time as most others. i noticed that some friends are borred since they did everything the weekly ID offers before the half ID week even was over.  

Edited December 15, 2020 by ResoWho

[Starseed 113]

3 hours ago, Hagersen said:

well tbh  Content with more preparation and harder encounters should be be rewarded better. Getting the best gear from the raid is acually a thing i wanted since m+ started back in legion and im doing both

this is the same thing i wantet since m+ startet its not a content i enjoy but kinda had to do cause the gear was so much better then what i got in raid and it felt so wrong 

[durdyenglish 298]

BFA: TOO MUCH LOOT BLIZZ YOU SUCK

SHADOWLANDS: NOT ENOUGH LOOT BLIZZ YOU SUCK

[Asakash 22]

1 hour ago, doritoes said:

Mate, you're aware that Mythic raids aren't even in the game yet right ? Also that PvP has its own gearing system back this expac, scaling of versatility with a dual trinket buff to it, so your BiS PvP are PvP items most likely. You can litterally pvp all the way through the expac without touching a single raid and be top tier if you're good.

Yes, but the expansion doesn't consist of the first 2 weeks right? It's not a thing in the first 2 weeks, but from tomorrow on, you won't be able to push high keys without getting geared through mythic raiding. 

And pvp, sure, you can get the gear... if you're already geared. Do you really think, you will stand a chance against people who have all this mythic raid gear with your bad pvp gear? You realize that, in order to get 226gs, you have to play to 2400 mmr?

[Skayan 52]

1 hour ago, durdyenglish said:

BFA: TOO MUCH LOOT BLIZZ YOU SUCK

SHADOWLANDS: NOT ENOUGH LOOT BLIZZ YOU SUCK

this

[OxO 24]

1 hour ago, doritoes said:

Serious question, your comment implies that you're not doing any content in pug, and that you won't join a guild (or a guild raid ?). Why are you playing an MMORPG if you're not playing with friends or to make friends ? There's much better solo games around than WoW, with WAY better story and gameplay. I really mean this, if you're playing alone, not having fun with content, why play at all ?

I am pugging. I'm tanking, I'm healing, I'm DPS in Balance and Feral. 

I've even been healing rather than DPS in BG's to keep morons alive who can't even string two words together in English most of the time or they're just bots because Blizzard cba doing anything about bots.

Yeah great well done for stating the obvious that it's an MMO, so you wouldn't have any problem then with letting people, like me, queue for rated BG's, Arena and Mythics, as an option, if we wish, because it's a MMO and players shouldn't be locked out of content and be forced to enter the absolute bollocks that is the LFG custom tool filled with boosters, gold sellers, gold selling communities boosting and selling raids, mythics (idiots) and win trading and boosting in rated pvp.

Of course I can make virtual friends in the game to do rated pvp, raids and all the other crap locked away from the majority of players, I just don't want too. I'm too old to be making "virtual friends" and it's childish to have that crap pushed onto people or for giving that as a reply, I have real friends and a family, I don't want to be putting up with bollocks from edgy *filtered* or pogger spammers ffs.

Regardless, I don't want a guild (I have my own), I don't really care about raiding nor do I want a to be raiding, I had enough of that in Vanilla and again in Classic, where it actually meant something. 

Or as you said, I can just not play at all, which is basically what I'm doing now really because there's no content for me outside of a daily and then waiting weekly for stuff to unlock.

 

 

[OxO 24]

2 hours ago, ResoWho said:

may i ask how old you are? i came back when legion launched and i had been in 4 guilds since then. first  one was whole legion expansion then 2 with a shorter time periode cause they changed the realm and the one im in now. the only child i met was in my first guild he was 16, he was childish some times but overall he wasnt anoying at all. but thats all, everyone else i met in my guilds was ~25-40. i havent looked for a guild with age restrictions but when i looked for a new guild i saw some with age restrictions, mostly 18+ and a few even 25+ (said that, mine had no such restrictions)

In my 40's

I meant kids as in maturity rather than age also but I get what you're saying.

I'm being forced basically to join a raiding guild in order to access the bulk of the game, or as others have said, I should just not bother playing, go play another game, I need to make virtual friends and put up with their crap in order to access the rest of the game that's locked away behind timegating or go suffer through making a rated pvp group so I can upgrade the conquest pvp gear, which I had capped in a couple hours this week.

Maybe it is best I just quit, no content or upgrade paths for gear there for me anyway, outside of heroics and random BG's.

 

 

[SidonisAntares 290]

It's frustrating not to be able to maintain set Soulbinds to different specs, and it's rather unintelligent that Blizzard is going down this road again after already learning it once with talent trees. If I wanted a limitation on changing my specialization, I'd play Classic and quickly get up to 50g talent resets.

Edited December 15, 2020 by SidonisAntares

[mgabriel93 2]

5 hours ago, Hagersen said:

well tbh  Content with more preparation and harder encounters should be be rewarded better. Getting the best gear from the raid is acually a thing i wanted since m+ started back in legion and im doing both

Mythic raiding requires a let less preparation and is easier than M+ if you consider high keys. Each boss requires your focus and maximum attention for 5 to 10 mins, while a M+ requires your best game for more than 30 mins.

But what I have to agree is: M+ can't reward the same iLvl as raids, because you can only kill up to 10 bosses per week, while the M+ you can spam all day. That's why i like the weekly cache, you can get the same ilvl gear from both M+ and raid. Especially now, where you have at least a chance to choose.

[Valhalen 1,484]

What is the deal with people wanting Master Looter back? Personal loot was the best thing Blizzard ever added to this game. No more loot drama or ninja'ing.

[Hagersen 34]

11 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

What is the deal with people wanting Master Looter back? Personal loot was the best thing Blizzard ever added to this game. No more loot drama or ninja'ing.

For the guilds it meant more interacting with each other. Sharing is caring 

[Smash 16]

44 minutes ago, OxO said:

I'm being forced basically to join a raiding guild in order to access the bulk of the game, or as others have said, I should just not bother playing, go play another game, I need to make virtual friends and put up with their crap in order to access the rest of the game that's locked away behind timegating or go suffer through making a rated pvp group so I can upgrade the conquest pvp gear, which I had capped in a couple hours this week.

It's an MMO: Massively Multiplayer Online. So, go figure you have to do things with other people in order to play the game. Your entire attitude about the game from making friends to doing anything seems to be that of, "I want to play this game solo" and that's not how the game is or ever should be. There are plenty of solo games out there with 100's of hours of gameplay that you can enjoy. If you don't want to interact with others, then don't play an MMO. 

I got a guy like you in my Guild. Literally has something new to *filtered* about every day. "I killed one boss in Raid and didn't get loot so I'm not going to Raid anymore." "Nobody in the Guild wants to group up and do things together," meanwhile it's Noon and 3 people are online while he wants to do M+. Some common sense goes a long way and less bitching about playing a MMO like it's a bad Single Player game.