"Whereas earlier we took  WOTLK Gold most decisions from character first to determine the starting point, and then sometimes making account-wide unlocks as a result of achievements, cosmetics, or things like that I'm convinced that today we're asking about every reward, every bit of content, is this something that lasts for multiple playthroughs?" he asked. "Is this something that's likely to feel significantly different for a different person?"

As for why some of the changes like being able to switch between Covenants and the removal of Conduit Energy took so long even though they were long-standingly criticised by many of the fans, Hazzikostas said it came back to wanting players to make semi-permanent choices in the vein of World of Warcraft Classic talent trees. Hazzikostas admits that any changes to the system could have come sooner, as there were positives for more permanent choices grew because players were feeling increasingly constrained by Shadowlands' systems in the months following the launch of the expansion.

"It's that we've been taught to think in and accustomed to think about," he said. "Working on World of Warcraft this long could lead to what seems like stubbornness to an outsider, and I can understand that and understand that it can be difficult. It took us a while to change our minds and understand that when we put in obstacles, people will attempt to come up with a solution for it. The definition of friction is that it is not fun. You're dealing with an issue that is annoying and making you slow, so why do we keep doing it? Let people move from something they like to something they love without any hurdles.'"

The extent to which the changes above will be enough to bring back players who might have allowed their subscriptions to lapse in response to the state of Shadowlands or the lawsuits remains to be seen. Hazzikostas acknowledges there's still work to be completed. It's possible that's the reason Blizzard recently announced it would be putting off its 2022 BlizzCon event as well as the time and resources which would normally be put into for the annual gathering instead going towards supporting the various development teams as the studio attempts to revisit what BlizzCon will mean in the light of the events that  buy WOTLK Classic Gold have occurred over the last few months.