Game director Ion Hazzikostas justifies the early access plans

When WoW developers introduced the upcoming expansion The War Within to the community at Blizzcon 2023, fan reactions were mostly positive. However, one detail has sparked anger and discussion that in itself has nothing directly to do with World of Warcraft: Blizzard officials have decided to organize a three-day early access event for the first time in WoW history. access to the next expansion for those who pre-order the Epic Edition, which costs almost 90 euros.

This plan was not well received by fans for various reasons: among other things, players pointed out that an Early Access release could have a negative impact on the game’s economy at the start of the expansion. In an attempt to smooth things over, game director Ion Hazzikostas addressed fans in a post-Blizzcon Q&A and justified the developers’ decision to pre-release The War Within.

Early Access: No endgame perks, but an Epic Edition update and support for time-pressed fans

Hazzikostas explained that the team wanted to ensure that each of the three pre-ordered digital editions of The War Within had added value for players. That’s why the basic edition includes both a character boost and immediate access to Dragonflight. Due to this increase in value compared to previous expansions, they also wanted to update the Epic edition accordingly, which is guaranteed by beta access and early access.

Hazzikostas also stressed that early access only affects the level phase and that the players in question cannot gain any competitive advantage: mythical dungeons, weekly quests, job cooldowns as well as high-level treasures and rare mobs will only be available for all with the regular launch of the Players expansion will be available.

Ultimately, the developers’ goal is to use Early Access to give an early start to those players who otherwise would not be able to start the final game in time with their friends due to work or limited free time . Eventually, at the start of Season 1, the community should no longer be able to distinguish between which characters were released in Early Access and which were released in the final version.