WoW director says its most controversial new class specialization is OP because it had to be: 'The community is naturally skeptical of things they don't understand'
Blizzard knew that its controversial new augmentation evokers—the first support class ever in World of Warcraft—were going to be overpowered. That choice was «deliberate,» the game's director told us in a BlizzCon interview, although he added that «obviously they came out the gates too strong.»
Augmentation evokers dropped like a bomb into WoW last summer, exploding the meta with a bunch of controversial firsts. It was the first time the MMO had ever introduced a new specialization for an existing class. It was the first time that a class or a specialization was ever announced while an expansion was underway. It was arguably the first time that a game-changing new element had been introduced in the middle of a competitive season. It was the first support specialization ever produced in a nearly 20-year-old MMO. The list goes on.
«We knew it was tremendously high risk, high degree of difficulty, uncharted territory,» game director Ion Hazzikostaas said.
Augmentation evokers add damage reduction, movement, and damage buffs to allies in their party or raid. Theorycrafters predicted that there would be no good way to balance the new specialization. Because its damage was largely made up of the extra boost it gave to other players, it could be wildly overpowered (with the right players and the right composition) or wildly underpowered (with less-proficient players or the wrong classes/specs).
Blizzard erred toward making them overpowered, Hazzikostas said.
«We intended them to be on the strong side. That is, I think, deliberate,» he said. «Something we've learned when introducing something new, particularly a new play style—the community is naturally skeptical of things they don't understand, don't know. Why would you want
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