wow BlizzCon 2023 Wowhead Group Interview

[Staff 1,195]

Wowhead had the chance to sit down with Associate Design Director Maria Hamilton and Lead World Artist Kristy Moret at BlizzCon 2023 to talk about War Within, narrative focus, zone design, and more.

Interview Highlights

• The team is implementing safeguards to prevent the 3-day early access from pre-orders being a pay-to-win scenario. The aim for early access is for players to enjoy the new story at their own pace, without seasonal content / unfair advantages.
• Cross-realm guilds are on the horizon, but regional play represents big technical challenges and the developers are working on finding effective solutions.
• More Druid forms are coming in Patch 10.2 with possibly more in War Within.
• The Worldsoul Saga will deliver content at an even faster pace than Dragonflight.
• Dragonflight Dragonriding mount customization will continue for future mounts, but we won't see it being added to older mounts.
• The goal of Hero Talents is to enhance class fantasy without introducing convoluted progression systems.
• Each of the three Worldsoul Saga expansions will be standalone with a cohesive overarching narrative.
• The team's exploring ways to maintain the relevance of outdoor content with dynamic scaling and varied difficulties.
• Older mounts are updated to support Dynamic FLight.
• The team's looking to further explore the cultures of Azeroth, including Dwarves and probably the Tauren.
• Working with Chris Metzen has been a highlight for the team, helping to shape the vision of the game's future.

Don't forget to read the full interview.

[Prophet001 481]

The aim for early access is for players to enjoy the new story at their own pace, without seasonal content / unfair advantages.

 

This doesn't make sense to me.

[Q 87]

1 hour ago, Staff said:

The team is implementing safeguards to prevent the 3-day early access from pre-orders being a pay-to-win scenario. The aim for early access is for players to enjoy the new story at their own pace, without seasonal content / unfair advantages.

Even if the game launches on a date that aligns with a weekly reset, those who pay for the early access still have an advantage over those who didn't. They will have a couple extra days of gearing if they reach max level at the day of launch, which I'm sure there will be some, as well as having the means to corner the market on mats and professions.

Unless they make it so they can't do dungeons at max level or gather and level professions, which would defeat the purpose of buying early access in the first place, there is no way to ensure early access buyers won't have an advantage.

[Arcling 822]

It's a very weird explanation. Regardless, everyone can enjoy the story at their own pace.

Edited November 6 by Arcling

[TheRagingwolf 194]

Quote

We want money so early acce$$!!!

That's the only explanation needed.