Preach Talks WoW's New Direction with Ion

[@Spartacus1013]

For so long interviews with Ion felt like he was always on the defensive and pushing back. It's so wild to see him, more or less, with the armor off and being open about their failings and regrets, as well as their goals and hopes for the futures. Great interview.

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

I sincerely hope we're not postponing the Trial of Ion Hazikostas for false advertising in the Court of Public Opinion after he just confessed, right? We're not doing that... Right!?

[@odenkaz]

who's to say he needed to comply with corporate quota, but now that things are moving around they are giving freedom to employees to express themselves

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

Still life fruit bowl would like to talk to you about her previous life as a gorgeous human female being allowed to express herself.@@odenkaz

[@ivyr336]

So gonna ignore how he keeps lying about the early access?

[@dimitriuss]

​@@ivyr336lying how?

[@Adam-Morris1]

This feels like a different Ion to the one you interviewed before. The others kind of felt like he had a gun pressed in his back by someone off screen. This felt like a confident and free man who has a clear plan and it's exciting to see.

[@joanthanbrodd6374]

Probably beacuse Microsoft bought blizzard, and Microsoft devs are probably real gamers unlike Activision.

[@krim7]

Great interview! Ion sounds so happy and comfortable in interviews now. That should tell all of us how different things are behind the scenes now. 😊

[@thralazaar2760]

I love the 180 the community has had on ion, it was not good for a few years but he’s been restoring my faith in the team since 9.2.

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

He is one of the only one's remaining not pictured in the Cosby Suite....

[@jigglersmaster]

the magic of being unshackled from Activision shareholders/CEOs

[@beeman4266]

​@@Vhaal-97He's also a lawyer by trade. I couldn't see him putting himself in situations at work that could have bad repercussions.

[@OhNoTheFace]

I think people wanted to like Ion, he is a nerd usually excited about what he is doing. But it always felt confrontational and/or they were not talking about things. The lowered guard helps, I think

[@abigar-k]

@@Vhaal-97 ​ I remember reading on twitter back when everyone was trying to work out who was in the group of devs getting sacked, a woman who was a former employee of blizz who worked for Ion said he had a really good team (when he was the Lead of the encounter team) to work in as a woman. No creepiness, no harassment, and no sexism. So say what you will about his game direction (especially in the past) he is at least a decent human

[@ChristopherLongTheGamer]

Thank you for paying attention to what we were saying. This is definitely what belongs on this channel and shouldn’t be behind a paywall

[@cci9459]

Was this locked behind patreon or something like that?

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

Preach is well aware of how negative the sentiment towards Ion is... He has likely done the calculus that this video will lead to tons of negative comments and interactions. That's all it was probably.

[@jeCktHeReal]

you are not entitled to content on the internet.

[@KibblesDoesStuff]

What paywall? This channel is free

[@jonathanshuttera1734]

Preach had the full interview behind a paywall on his site, but there was strong backlash, so he uploaded the whole thing.@@KibblesDoesStuff

[@EdwinHeida]

I've been wandering around Azeroth since 2005, quit raiding in Legion and I still love this world. And I enjoy being there but I don't want every expansion to feel like it always points to endgame. I love exploring, I love just chilling in an area like Winterspring. I want Blizzard to involve the entire World. It shouldn't be obsolete. It shouldn't just be that new area, not just some quest hub. You have a world. Use it. I'll probably resub as I always have because I love new stuff, but I do hope this new saga will be worth it.

[@danny7694]

They can't bring that feel back I'm afraid, there's too much bloat and dead content in current retail wow. They'd probably have to start over with just 2-3 maybe 4 continents and take it from there. The problem is though you don't want players to lose access to the old content as in the raids etc. and implementing the old content will bring you back to the bloat problem. Mighty task for Blizzard to bring retail wow back to some form of glory.

[@IEatSand22890]

Props to Ion for being open and honest during this interview. Very refreshing.

[@blakedurrant9399]

Man, the tone shift from BFA to now has been so incredibly refreshing.

[@jag764]

Y'all say this literally every expansion lmao

[@neruneri]

@@jag764 And it has been true since DragonFlight launched. This is an extension and an increased commitment of they tone shift they started with DF.

[@fightcub655]

@@jag764The difference is we can see it in their actions unlike before. Do you sleep well with all that salt in your eyes?

[@blakedurrant9399]

Its almost like they've made incremental improvements or something. Weird. Season 1 Shadowlands was still the worst wow experience they've ever released.

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

Diablo 4 is this companies most recent "action".... Do you always spout bull shit that's easily proven false? @@fightcub655

[@dinckelman]

The longer I've watched this, the more it felt like historically Ion has been within Bobby's iron grip, unable to talk about anything. It's rare to see him receive a question, and give an answer that doesn't sound like puzzle

[@Soldruid]

Yep lol. Ion is freer. You can tell. ❤

[@bradyfereday6483]

This is what I feel as well you can tell the team feels horrible how the game has been heading. But seeing this interview and others I’m back playing and enjoying my time again.

[@Forty2de]

Ion may not have gotten everything right in the past, but I like him and he seems like he wants the best for the game. Maybe some people take it for granted now, but when he first started speaking to the community we were all very happy that someone would actually go into details with us, and I'm still glad about that.

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

I don't mean to jump on you... but are you really basing Ion's current job, on success he had ~10 years ago? Really??

[@Forty2de]

@@conanmcclanahan1069 What are you talking about?

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

You can presumably read English... Answer the question.@@Forty2de

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

The word "but" in the English language is a powerful verb. 1. used to introduce a phrase or clause CONTRASTING with what has already been mentioned. - Websters You're willing to keep Ion employed after fucking up multiple expansions, BUT "he loves us"... ????@@Forty2de

[@duman173]

@@conanmcclanahan1069 yes rando on the internet i demand you answer my question... *sigh* . He has done a lot of good since, stop being a weirdo

[@Logpet09]

Well done, sir! So happy to see more disclosure and openness from the development team. Thank you Ion for the interview!

[@mrbigglsworth]

Thank you for releasing this Preach & team!

[@jwhitefoot1976]

Fantastic interview, Preach! It feels like a slow turn to get WoW moving in a newer, more player positive direction, but it does appear that Bliz are on the right track. Dragonflight as a whole has been pretty good. Certainly the most fun I've had playing WoW in the last 5-7 years. It would be great for the community as a whole to see you back in the game. Here's to hoping the next expac lives up to expectations.

[@kingjoe3rd]

"Letting go of old stubbornness" This is a big shift

[@Ssgtspot6114]

Holy smokes, @14:45 Ion said "12" and "Midnight." Just dawning on me that Midnight is the 12th xpac!

[@audiolols]

@@masterman1502 Well it'll be 12.0 lol

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

WOW OH WOW... OMG WOW WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW WOWOWOW WOW WOW

[@alexclaton]

df = 10, tww = 11, midnight = 12, the last titan = 13@@masterman1502

[@juggernaut93]

Technically the 11th xpac, since 1.0 was not an expansion, but the base game

[@castorjay1]

around 8:20 Preach calls it "Nightmare" instead of "Midnight"

[@CidLufaine]

This is what I love about games, different games experimenting with different ways to tell stories. I think it would be dishonest to say the way GW2 and FFXIV have impacted the way stories can be told over several expansions hasn't influenced this new approach for blizzard. Those 2 mmos have shown for years how a long connective story can really be told well. Not that blizzards expansions weren't connected in plenty of ways especially lorewise, but they always felt like their own inclusive stories. I remember WoW by expansions, but I remember GW2 and FFXIV as one entire experience storywise. FFXIV especially, my brain just recalls its story as one long experience, not multiple mini experiences.

[@aka_Ingmar]

Something I would very much want to be answered at this point because they've said it multiple times now in multiple q&as they've said four zones eight dungeons and A raid. does that mean that each expansion for the world for the soul saga is going to have one raid per expansion?

[@Emraz]

The feel is great but the early access is BS.Theres no such thing, You will start on release day if you pay top dollar. It isnt early access its paying not to get delayed.

[@Rabdure]

I stepped away in SL. Soulbinds did it for me. That was it. Everything they've done in Dragonflight has been a MASSIVE STEP in the right direction. I haven't been this happy playing WoW since Legion.

[@s4nder86]

Bobby's long shadow is lifting.

[@hi_im_lexndr]

Thank you and Ion for this Interview! It has been fantastic and refreshing to see the new commitment.

[@Alexanderp488]

Really love these sit down conversations with Blizz employees and Ion

[@chidy9699]

Im curious what the devs think about 3 raids + a fated season, vs 3 raids plus a 4th, maybe even a smaller one, like a 4 boss raid or something. Id love to hear from them about this.

[@eathdemon]

@preach you plnning to upload the part of the intervew where you talked about emet, admitily I and curous to see ion's reaction.

[@Reneator]

2:30 - That busy time that Ion describes is one of the reasons i currently dont enjoy playing the game. When i log in every option for things to play just feel like time-sinks, instead of possible sources of fun. So i switch back to other games, as i can spend that time more efficiently. But i would love for wow to make me enjoy any time i put into it and that even the grind is fun.

[@DarthYogurt]

I really enjoyed this interview.

[@daveb3989]

Thanks for following up with Mike, Ion. The panel had me say "fuck yeh" outloud infront of my family. have one of these 👌

[@comiccalvin5124]

DF has been the best expansion since WoTLK for me…especially 10.2. I love the direction of retail right now. What a breath of fresh air.

[@spookyfey]

Amazing interview, Preach. Respect for calling Ion out on his 180 and fostering a conversation that enabled Ion to take accountability for past decisions. Great first steps to rebuild trust

[@marvelfan281]

Man, I love your talks with Ion. And you know - as much as I feel good for us as players with WoW's new direction, I think I feel even better for Ion and the team. Now being unshackled from the traditions of the past, they can make the game their own and do things that they want, the way they want. And it feels like most of that is listening to player feedback more and taking action at a pace we haven't seen before. Very excited for WoW's future, excited to see Preach come back home, excited to see where Ion and the team take us in the coming years.

[@slang7905]

so the thing that bothers me is that ion says no its not shrinkflation and continues to say theres 4 new zones and dungeons and then speificly says A RAID which makes it sound like theres only 1 raid per xpac

[@Rhk_G]

Watching this interview makes me want to come back to the game again.

[@steeplewiththesnakes]

Idk if WoW will ever be my main game again, but Ion's panel got me to resub. I'll mostly be playing SoD and hardcore, but its nice that the retail team seems to finally understand where the game needs to go.

[@Massacari]

I am glad the player base and FF14 kicked them so hard in the teeth they finally checked their ego at the door. They are talking about doing the right thing towards players.

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

Humiliated Ion is the natural state of Ion.

[@Trygvar13]

Preach really is an incredible interviewer. I always liked him but was mostly following him for his WoW content. The documentary he did when he visited Blizzard should have been shown at the Oscars. A real professional.

[@cosmiccorgi5781]

thanks for asking the questions you ask!

[@ElJefeMeech]

But the only thing I really want to know is, is X.3 patches still gonna be a thing though? It feels increasingly odd to not have it

[@ShoteR_Omega]

Of course not, it's shrinkflation ever since shadowlands with only 2 patches, this is how they intend to launch expansions faster, low quantity and maybe quality as well

[@Userguy931]

PULL THE RIP CORD!!!

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

Imagine never having to face anti-trust lawsuits while statements like that exist. American corporations still live in the wild west, with only passing interest in laws and morality.

[@DerrillGuilbert]

As far as rep goes, I'm most curious about Booty Bay. I've got a toon that's suuuuper hated, one exalted, and the rest just ... here and there and everywhere. Also, I'm a huge fan of this early access thing. Having even a small number of folks get through the starting zones is going to be good for all of us.

[@treeaboo]

iirc they said on the Q&A on the main WoW channel that they'll probably keep those types of reps where you gain rep with one and lose it with another (Booty Bay, Bloodsail Buccaneers, The Oracles, etc) as character-based reps, while trying to find a way to make the rewards from those reps account-wide once you unlock them on a character.

[@AdamantTVLive]

I really hope someone gets an interview and asks about gather professions. If you get 3 days of gathering before anyone else that’s huge for gold making. Great interview tho preach!

[@Hoazalf]

I thought it was two Ions talking to each other in the thumbnail.

[@Krulfar]

Awesome interview from both of you. Glad to see Ion happy and excited with the project.

[@HuckleberryMartini]

Man you can feel the relief that being under the Microsoft umbrella is bringing in terms of the creative freedom the Blizz teams have. Ion comes of much more candid and willing to engage with feedback from the community and its refreshing to see this side of him instead of the corpo lawyer side he has presented in the past. Great work Preach

[@belindagreen8267]

Ion has been through the storm with us. He's taken the brunt of our anger over the pasted few years. I'm glad to see him more relaxed when talking about WoW. Especially with Preach. lol

[@MihaZ]

Vanilla is a self sustaining experience because it is internally coherent. You don't need to input ANY work for the zones to work, the mobs to be there, for loot to drop. The world exists regardless of what you decide to do, which means you can do whatever you want however you want. I've been playing vanilla for almost 20 years at this point, and it's just a great laid back RPG. Retail wow is just a long and tedious line of chores.

[@mrgoats]

That’s what I like about classic. I know what I want and I know what I have to do to get that.

[@OrchinX]

Yep. And they actually balanced the game back then. In retail everything from loot to enemy stats is a sliding algorithm so that the devs never have to balance any real numbers. I’m so sick of algorithms, I’m sick of weighted loot chances, I’m sick of not knowing what’s under the hood. Give me static numbers, consistent drop rates, actual enemies with levels

[@treeaboo]

@@OrchinX I love Vanilla and for all its positives you cannot call it 'balanced', its imbalance is actually a big part of why it's so good and that imbalance creates roles, niches, and interesting interactions that give it that RPG nature that you struggle to find in the hyper-balanced experience of Retail.

[@johnthebarbarian]

​@@OrchinXtell that to the historically and (seemingly fogotten by yall) undertuned paladin and druid

[@OhNoTheFace]

@@OrchinX Vanilla balanced HAHA. Now I know it's all nostalgia for you

[@djmckay4869]

Excellent interview! I quit WoW about a year and a half ago. (Hated Shadowlands) Yesterday, I started playing again after seeing the new trailer for The War Within. I'm pleased to see more account wide stuff coming. WoW really needed to change and glad to see they are at least trying.

[@MapleLunii]

I'm glad he seems like less of a robot now. I've liked Ion for a while, but he always seemed so stressed out all the time, understandably I suppose given the stuff that happened at the company. I'm looking forward to seeing how the new expansions shape up, but I'm going to give it a few patches first before dipping my toes in at all.

[@NRG19892456]

great interview, looking forward to playing the next expac

[@WarlordSdocy]

Great interview overall but I feel like the claims about shrinkflation still hold some merit that Blizzard hasn't really addressed. The big one being that instead of 3 major patches we've been getting 2 now which has meant one less raid tier per expansion. And sure they have done a lot of other stuff and have added fated, but atleast for me those don't really make up for a new raid. But there's also smaller things like in the past we did get more zones then just 4 which made the new places have a lot more variety. They haven't really addressed those concerns yet and just keep saying that these are full expansions, but not defining what they think a full expansion is and their reasoning behind making these trade offs.

[@socram3254]

as someone who stepped away from WoW back in BfA I have to admit I'm starting to feel optimistic again for the first time

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

Surely he won't hit you again... right? He loves you so much.

[@The_Yukki]

@@conanmcclanahan1069 As much as it might be a weird comparison... When I stopped playing wow in shadowlands, after the last thing that kept me playing, my guild fell apart, really did feel like leaving an abusive relationship.

[@Zhohan-]

thats how they get you :D

[@Jackofskulls]

Nice! I was wondering when this would come out.

[@ChristopherCDaniels]

Great interview. I give props to Ion for some of this ideology shift - and that something I never thought I'd say in my life.

[@jacobmobile]

I’m coming home. Love the interview preach. Also Ion feels like a man reborn, so happy to see.

[@warhammerguy]

12:30 So Steve Danuser is still part of the writing team..........good to know. I think I will be holding off on buying these expansions until I see how they turn out.

[@78dgray]

Great interview. Thanks Preach and Ion

[@DaWoWzer]

I hope they actually mean allowing the expansions to breath, i enjoy my down times after AOTC that let me go back and collect some mounts and such or play other games. the only thing I'm actually still having no hope with is the story. Metzen is 1 man, the same story team that gave us BFA and SL are still in charge, if that wasn't' evident enough by how terrible DF story has been. I don't think 1 man can turn a group of horrible writers into good writers, that just doesn't seem possible.

[@selwrynn6702]

I hope the rethinking the values as developers that alienate players is expanded out past just the game systems to the game narratives too, still I am cautiously hopeful for the future of the game.

[@SSJAguila]

I feel like they could have the heroic and epic versions be the same then just wait to launch the epic one till Bobby is gone then tell everyone to celebrate by buying the epic version.

[@TheZifrit]

this interview feels like a sort of happy ending and a new beginning for wow,preach and ion,hehe.

[@Cali_Codger-su4lr]

Appreciate the changes I'm seeing for alts and respecting players time. Could this mean that we get portals added in places like Dalaran to all the capital cities?

[@clarkh3314]

Ion becoming his final form. Letting go of ego and listening to the community, who would have thought.

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

Show me the Tiger that changed it's stripes... I'll wait.

[@ryanpower1291]

​@conanmcclanahan1069 you going to just ignore the shift from shadowlands covenants not being swapped at all to the new hero talents. And you going to ignore the AP farming in legion and BFA to no longer having that. Could argue this expansion you still have to grind a bit of reputation, but you also would need to ignore the fact that warbands makes all reputations across all characters. We going to ignore the fact that resources are being able to be freely traded across characters when previously they were either not able to be transfered or if they were they couldn't be traded 1 to 1. So yeah I think that the game direction has changed quite a bit and I would imagine the game director (Ian) probably had a hand to play in thay don't you think

[@josejuanandrade4439]

Ion was tied because of PR. You can tell all the wow devs look so much more relaxed and are able to speek more openly. New management is evident. Phil Spencer aready said Microsoft wants Blizzard to work as it was, as an independant studio, no longer under the crush of Activision.

[@chaoshunting5659]

@@ryanpower1291 The guy you replied to is just a troll and hate commenting like a kid just ignore it lol

[@sorsha295]

if by ego you mean executives and higher ups then yeah sure

[@bahamuteem]

"dont have time to lvl or as much time" instant lies. well done all honesty went down agian

[@BST89]

Preach talking with Ion, this is the content I want

[@kirkwhitmire7034]

This was such a great interview!

[@DieSerah]

i Feel Cautiously Optimistic...

[@noodleguy9872]

The opening liine says it all. GG

[@Cracklingsoul]

i feel like Ion after all this time is starting to make his job his own and run it his way

[@xerox445]

We aren't just the presidents, we are also clients.

[@TheMightySpeckyNerd]

Thank you for posting this here Preach team, appreciate you listening to your community. You have the highest standards of them all and we respect you.

[@dirtymcnuggets9933]

As we move along the road thru classic, I can't wait to see how many come back for classic Panda, I for me is the best expansion after Wrath.

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

Check back in 4 years...

[@StrobeFireStudios]

A terrific conversation. Big props for Blizzard on the turn around. Great stuff Preach, time to come home buddy.

[@oshkoshbegone]

I DONT HAVE TIME TO PLAY WOW BUT I STILL LOVE THIS FUCKING GAME - Sincerely your entire aging player base. This is why making the game less grindy is important but the grind is what made WOW what it is also.

[@dr3armer]

The game has made steady improvements to its gameplay and systems since 9.2 they just need to stick the landing with story as its been lackluster. Excited for this new saga!

[@d.j.9739]

Good interview, I never watched Preach before but this was the best interview so far, actually asking questions about the next expansion not just asking for things they would like, LMAO! XD

[@richardlane3417]

Didn't they say they were always thinking 2-3 expansions ahead? They've slapped a logo against that point and everyones jumped on it.

[@Darklighter75]

The same writing team that gave us BFA, SL, DF... doesn't give me hope that the future stories will be any better...

[@josefchodounsky8173]

Thank you guys, this is step right direction.

[@albingranquist8290]

When Ion says "developer" Im curious what his exact role is? Is he more of a designer or steering the ship? Does he code too? etc

[@OhNoTheFace]

Captain

[@stefalt292]

He started on WoW as an encounter designer and later began to steer the ship, afaik he never had any code-related role on WoW, and before WoW he was a lawyer.

[@Mako2401]

Chris Metzen. that's the new direction, hopefully.

[@Onjiii]

Never played wow before, maybe I'll try it at some point if they pull through

[@gwennightsong5532]

I'm looking forward to the World Soul Saga!!

[@tommy2k3k]

Good interview. Hated how he spoke about the early Access as it was anything other than a money thing. Also, it's not just about the power or being ahead due to the preorder. It's also that it kills all the excitement for the expansion launch, and its preying on those who can't really afford it, but their friends and guildies might, and then they sit there for 3 days when all their friends are playing the new expansion and having fun. And this is not even taking into account all the spoilers that will be spammed simply because of this predatory practice.

[@ecwfanatic]

He was no doubt being extremely micro managed before and now has the freedom to do his job properly. The mention of being passed the role and expected to do it the same way kind of hinted at that. Either way this is refreshing and we don't need to know the reasons for the change. Continue like this.

[@TheNinjaRider]

Really great interview😊

[@tomekm8549]

Is this the complete interview???

[@CronosesAP]

Jeeze, who cares about the whole paywall stuff. This was a great interview. I’m looking forward to seeing Anduins story. I really hope they don’t do him dirty (like Sylvanas).

[@jereXIX]

All of this. Anduin returning is just as important to me as Metzen…lol.

[@PhoenixAU]

I'm so glad preach is back with wow again.

[@Malavander]

I'm not naive about inflation and the rising costs of development. I'd rather just pay a slightly higher base price than see the integrity of mmo fairness and meritocracy compromised by these lame pay-to-minor advantage tactics.

[@TN-fi8bx]

Amazing interview!

[@basil8940]

Iirc, Preach said he saw major spoilers at Blizzard HQ last year. I assume it's the saga.

[@3lit3gn0m3]

15:28 maximum value in the pre-purchase...kinda like taking 3 days of time away from others to give to those who spend more. Also, it's weird how he's talking as if it's normal to spend money if you need more time to level...that's not normal. There's almost zero chance of them going back on it, I understand...but I feel his answer was disingenuous to the actual problem of it being a social game and that we're paying for something we didn't before. It's being celebrated as an opportunity for those who pay more rather than a drawback to paying less.

[@basvanderwerff2725]

regardless of what ion thinks the early acces is clearly a business side desisision he wont be able to change regardless

[@stevereddy7402]

Ill wait to see how it all pans out, delves scailing to heroic raid ilvl sounds good but I bet they wont let it make live... they cant help themselves.

[@Minorheadlines]

Patch 12.0 is the midnight patch - nice

[@RuruTrash]

The weird thing is, him admitting he was wrong and is willing to change for the player base, despite it not being as "retro" blizzard and exactly how they were before, this exact thing is what once made Blizzard great, old leadership just happened to forget that. I'm looking forward to the content Ion, and thanks for listening to us

[@madara657]

With current records on how blizzard handled their games i'm going to believe the good stuff only after actually seeing it in game

[@fritzschnitzmueller3768]

Ion really did a great job here. I feel the some kind of switch was activated for the whole blizzard team

[@cdbaxul4726]

Any watch enthusiasts can ID what Ion is wearing? Kinda looks like a Grand Seiko?

[@btcyd5057]

Appreciate the interview, nice stuff all around. Note for the production team, never shoot an interview with a camera below eye level, it looks awful lol. Not sure if you guys just didn't have the best resources or whatnot but I highly suggest a lightweight tripod and aiming at eye level or slightly above

[@Kalysta]

Translation: Microsoft sees how successful FFXIV is by letting players take breaks, and want to see if they can re-create that in WoW. Still, I'll believe WoW "Respects my time" when I see it.

[@Braincleaner]

World of Warcraft: The War With Ion.