Disappointed World of Warcraft Game Director Admits 11.1.5 Patch Falls Short: "Our players aren't getting the quality of gameplay they anticipate or merit."
World of Warcraft's newest update had players scratching their heads due to a multitude of bugs and questionable decision-making regarding time-gated content. Pundits across the board lambasted this mess as a catastrophe. Even friendly streamers couldn't help but voice their displeasure over the broken patch process, going as far as to say that Blizzard dropped the ball.
When I sat down for a chat with WoW's senior game director, Ion Hazzikostas, he acknowledged that the 11.1.5 launch didn't go as smoothly as they'd hoped. Specifically, he addressed the problems surrounding the new in-game Flame's Radiance events, which were riddled with bugs that left players standing around twiddling their thumbs.
"We know it's not the experience our players are expecting or deserve," Hazzikostas said. "Players log in on patch day, excited to check out new stuff, and they're met with frustration. That's not cool."
The Time-Gating Nightmare
Hazzikostas also spoke about the peculiar approach to time-gating content in this update. Many of the update's coolest features, such as the release of a new form of bad-luck protection, a new game mode where players face off against two raid bosses at once, and the return of Horrific Visions and Corruption enchants, were all delayed for weeks into the patch.
This left only the Flame's Radiance events as the main content available at launch, and since they were bugged, the new content landed with a thud.
"We wanted to spread things out, letting each feature breathe and to cater to the players who juggle busy schedules," Hazzikostas said. "But in hindsight, we might have delayed too much and not delivered enough upfront."
The Frustration Boils Over
Players were furious about the delays, especially given the buggy events.
"Patch day should be the day everything drops," Hazzikostas said. "We get it, we made a misstep. We'll figure out how to do better the next time."
Many players claimed this was the result of the accelerated patch schedule, which has a new release landing every eight weeks or so. This is the quickest pace in World of Warcraft history.
"We're committed to quality," Hazzikostas said. "We know it doesn't matter if we produce a ton of content if it's not working as it should. We're always working to streamline our processes."
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Heather NewmanHeather Newman has been covering games for over 25 years, with an internationally syndicated column and articles in numerous magazines. In World of Warcraft, her Mythic Plus dungeon team secured the No. 1 spot in all-star points for a number of weeks for reasons that were slightly questionable. She once scored a single measly point against Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel in Unreal Tournament and was briefly ranked top 50 in the world in Halo.
- Despite the international outcry over the bug-ridden World of Warcraft update 11.1.5, Ion Hazzikostas, the game's senior director, admitted that the launch didn't meet their expectations.
- Hazzikostas addressed the frustration of players, who were met with broken features instead of the new content they anticipated on patch day.
- The delays in the release of several exciting features, like the new bad-luck protection and the raid boss game mode, along with the buggy Flame's Radiance event at launch, angered players.
- In a bid to accommodate players with busy schedules, Hazzikostas explained that they may have spread out the content too much, potentially sacrificing upfront delivery.
- Acknowledging the player comments about an accelerated patch schedule, Hazzikostas reiterated Blizzard's commitment to quality and continued efforts to improve their development processes.
