Ion Hazzikostas

For some folks, the upcoming design of Conduits as part of World of Warcraft's next expansion Shadowlands has been a concern, and there's been some debate about if it makes sense if they could be permanently destroyed when removed, the way gems have worked in gear over the years.

A while back we talked about the Maw, which is the intro experience for Shadowlands.

During today's Shadowlands developer update, we learned that the alpha test is essentially close to being finished, and that the beta test will start next week.

If you remember Azerite Armor -- which you should if you're currently playing Battle for Azeroth -- then you'll remember Azerite Reforging.

During an interview on Zoltan's Twitch stream (you can see a text liveblog on Wowhead), World of Warcraft Game Director Ion Hazzikostas said there are no plans to delay Shadowlands due to COVID-19.

Sometimes I feel like Ion Hazzikostas is trolling me.

If you're wondering when we'll get patch 8.3.5 in World of Warcraft, the answer is that as of right now, there isn't one planned.

We've been wondering for a while what World of Warcraft's patch 8.3 would be about, especially after the end of the War Campaign in patch 8.2.5, and now we know.

We will likely be getting the patch 8.2 PTR soon (patent pending) according to a new interview PC Gamer just published with Ion Hazzikostas, the game director of World of Warcraft.  That's big enough on its own, but the interview covers a lot of ground: also Ion talks about lessons learned from Battle for Azeroth, how the Heart of Azeroth will change in patch 8.2, how Blizzard designs big open world content zones in the wake of the Timeless Isle and Argus, and a lot more.

During the Q&A on March 21, Ion Hazzikostas answered a question about transmog that, had I not been lying on my back in intense pain and thus not watching the Q&A at that time, would have immediately put a big dumb smile on my face.