Blizzard Responds to Comments Against Azerite System

[blue author = »Blizzard» source = »https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20769060102?page=2#post-24 ″]

First, thanks this thread. Even if phrases like "worst team in WoW history" are a bit far-fetched (seriously, I can't be the only one who remembers AQ30 endurance team level 40 dungeons), you've summed up a lot of the discussions we had in community. It really helps us clarify exactly what we need to focus on.

I will talk about each of the points to the best of my ability:

Regarding the specific traits: I think we have said this several times, but just to reiterate, we think it is simply a symptom of imbalance between the traits. Ideally, the gap between them is not so great that you feel that it would be tremendously beneficial to get the perfect outfit.

The point that traits are "useless and uninteresting" is interesting considering that you also make the point that "every team change requires a simulation." These two points are at odds with each other. The way to solve the simulation problem would be to make the features simpler in nature. Similarly, creating features with more designs leads to more complicated "is it better or not" questions, which in turn encourages more simulations. Either way, it's an interesting challenge, and we remember that as we move forward with features in future updates.

I think we agree that re-farming traits is not cool to me. I don't have a solution to that problem to share today, and to be completely honest it may be something that we simply have to accept as a disadvantage to the system for other reasons. But we agree that it can be a bit depressing.

I mentioned the imbalance between traits earlier, but just to amplify it - that's why we've put so much effort into balancing Azerite traits in recent weeks. With this most recent round of tweaks, we think we've fixed most of the outliers, but please let us know if there are any that you still feel are so good they are worth sacrificing ilv.

As for the point of reforging costs: these costs get so high because we want the situation you are describing (constantly reforging) to be unsustainable. Our intention is for you to build various sets of equipment for different situations, or to lean towards traits that work in a variety of roles (even if they might not be the best for every situation). We added the Reforge system to help alleviate instances such as a DPS suddenly needing to become the main tank of its guild, not as a means of constantly resetting traits like a second set of talents. . Perhaps the current system is not accomplishing that, but if not, we are likely to become MORE restrictive in reforging, not less.

And finally, regarding adjustments: As I mentioned, we believe that we have fixed the major flagged outliers to an acceptable level at the moment. There are likely still some tweaks here and there, but we don't think we're going to need another big wave of Azerite trait tweaks like we've seen in recent weeks. To put it another way: if a trait is by far the best compared to any other option, sure, we should probably do something about it, but we don't expect it to take the form of a generalized tweak pass in the future.

Also, for Ion's comment on the new traits being introduced, he was referring to the new traits on the new content team, with a higher ilv, which completely replaces the old one. We're not planning on adding new traits to existing gear, so don't worry about saving the Azerite pieces in case their characteristics change.

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[blue author = »Blizzard» source = »https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20769060102?page=2#post-24 ″]

First off, thanks for putting this thread together. Even if phrases like "Worst Itemization in WoW's History" are a bit hyperbolic (seriously, I can't be the only one who remembers farming level 30 dungeons for AQ40 resistance gear), you've summarized a lot of the discussions we've been seeing around the community very well. It really helps us clarify exactly what we need to be focusing on.

I'll speak to each of your points as best as I can:

Regarding targeting specific traits: I think we've said this a few times now, but just to reiterate, we believe that's merely a symptom of the imbalance between traits. Ideally, the gap between them isn't so large that you feel it would be hugely beneficial to grind out the perfect set.

The point about traits being "useless and uninteresting" is interesting considering that you also make the point of "every gear change requires simming." These two points are kind of at odds with each other. The way to solve the simming issue would be to make the traits more simplistic in nature. Similarly, making traits with more outside-the-box designs leads to more complicated questions of "is this better or not," which in turn encourages more simming. Either way, it's an interesting challenge, and one we're taking to mind as we move forward with traits in future updates.

I think we agree that re-farming traits doesn't feel great. I don't have a solve for that issue to share today, and to be completely transparent it may be something we simply have to accept as a downside to the system for other reasons. But we agree it can be a bit of a downer.

I mentioned the imbalance between traits before, but just to expand on that: that's why we've focused so much effort into tuning Azerite traits over the past few weeks. With this most recent round of tuning, we think we've gotten most of the really egregious outliers dialed in, but please let us know if there are any you still feel are so good that they're worth huge sacrifices in terms of item level .

As to the point about reforging costs: these costs get so high because we want the behavior you're describing - reforging constantly depending on what you're doing - to be unsustainable. Our intention is that you either build out multiple sets of gear for different situations, or you lean towards traits that work in a variety of roles (even if they're maybe not the absolute best for each in particular). We added the reforging system to help ease cases like, for example, a DPS who suddenly finds themselves needing to transition to being their guild's main tank, not as a means for constantly re-adjusting traits like a second set of talent points. Maybe the current system isn't achieving that, but if it isn't, we're likely to become MORE restrictive on reforging, not less.

And finally, regarding the tuning passes: like I mentioned, we think we've got most of the major outliers dialed in to an acceptable level at this point. There's likely to still be some adjustments here and there, but we don't believe we're going to need another big wave of Azerite trait tuning like you've seen over the last few weeks. To put it another way: if one trait is far and away the best compared to every other option, sure, we should probably do something about that, but we don't expect that to take the form of a widespread tuning pass going forward.

Also, to Ion's comment about new traits being introduced: he was referring to new traits on new gear added in new content, with higher item level, that replaces your old gear entirely. We're not planning to add in new traits to existing items, so don't worry about holding onto old Azerite pieces just in case their traits change.

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