wow Chains of Domination EU Group Interview

[Staff 867]

We had a chance to talk to Game Director Ion Hazzikostas and and Art Director Ely Cannon about Patch 9.1.

• The Season 2 affix will be themed after "Domination." They are testing out some things internally, but nothing specific to announce for now.
• There is a visual similarity between Anduin and Arthas in the new trailer.
• In Patch 9.1, we will gain more insight into the Jailer's intentions and the power of Domination.
• This experience will forever change Anduin. He has always been this youthful character who fought on the side of justice and righteousness. There's no coming back from this intact.
• Players will reset the influence of the Eye of the Jailer. They think more of this as a catch-up.
• They want to come up with some catch-up mechanisms for Professions, especially crafting Legendaries.
• In a cooperative setting, Power Infusion and Innervate are collective tools and personal modifiers. They understand the underlying issue of parsing culture but have nothing specific to announce right now. They would prefer a community solution to a community problem.
• We will learn more about the Brokers as a whole and Ve'nari in Patch 9.1.
• There are no plans to add completely new expansion systems in Shadowlands.
• Covenant Armor sets have been a double-edged sword. They limit the value of everything else once you have it fully upgraded.
• Blizzard has been adjusting Anima rewards from raids, and more sources of Anima will be added in the future that will overall increase your gains.
• Moving away from open-grinded systems like Artifact Power that make the game feel like a burden was a direct response to player feedback.
• There will be some visual changes in the Maw throughout the expansion.
• Tools of the Trade were a BfA thing, there are no plans for them to return. However, they are looking for new ways of how Professions interact with the world.
• The new raid will have Domination-themed armor. You will be able to transmog a full Dominion set.
• They want to reward players who engage in more than 1 playstyle. They want dungeon and raid gear to feel attractive. The changes coming in 9.0.5 are going to address dungeons (return of Valor Points).
• For raids, we will need to wait until Patch 9.1. They are working on cool perks/effects for Patch 9.1 raid gear so that it's the best type of gear to use in RAIDS.
• They talked about PvP relative Item Level for PvP Gear (similar to what we had back in WoD). The idea they are discussing is shifting back to how PvP gear worked back then, when there were 2 item levels, so gear went up to Item Level 232 in PvP, making it the best to wear in PvP scenarios.
• They roll out more substantial changes for rotations and abilities in content patches, where they can collect player feedback instead of hotfixes that won't affect your gameplay.
• Quality-of-life updates are coming to the Ember Court soon.
• Class-themed sets are coming not long after Chains of Domination.
• In the new raid, there are 1 or 2 examples of familiar beings that have been in the Maw all the time.
• No spoilers about if we'll kill Sylvanas or redeem her. There are high expectations when it comes to fighting someone like Sylvanas. She has a really unique phase that is unlike anything we've ever seen.
• The Broker Dungeon will be available on Heroic difficulty and separated into two dungeons in future patches.
• No plans to make Conduits freely swappable, but they are trying to offset that by adding higher-item level Potency Conduits to Castle Nathria. They don't want you to swap Soulbinds around for each boss constantly. If it feels like some are useless or so far behind the others, they want to hear your feedback so that they can adjust them.

[Mishmish 62]

• They talked about PvP relative Item Level for PvP Gear (similar to what we had back in WoD). The idea they are discussing is shifting back from how PvP gear worked back then, when there were 2 item levels, so gear went up to Item Level 232 in PvP, making it the best to wear in PvP scenarios.

Am i reading this right? Is this a dream? Will arena gearing be this perfect? 

[Vasfictile 0]

Honestly I'm just super excited that M+ gear will be upgradable! Runnin anything +15 and higher nets you a 210 piece of gear. Theres really no incentive, other than your vault 226, to push higher keys. PvP you can rack up points and rating and get multiple 226 pieces a week. And, depending on the situation, running M CN can net you multiple pieces as well via loot trading. M+ has pretty well gotten the shaft since being introduced. Also, I think there needs to be a PvP exclusive stat, i.e. resilience, that differentiates PvP gear from PvE. As it stands now, there are multiple specs that versatility is their top tier secondary stat. Versatility is very prevalent on PvP gear, so you could farm the 226 pieces, then roll into CN and obliterate damage meters, but had never stepped foot inside the raid. In closing, I'm glad they are bringing balance back to gearing.