Warcraft Arclight Rumble Interview Roundup
Several media outlets have held interviews and hands-on previews detailing more information about the mobile Warcraft experience.

Here are the most important highlights:
  • The game is set to release in 2022.
  • No NFTs or gacha mechanics.
  • The team has discussed a PC version, but they don't know if they will do it yet. They will base it on player feedback.
  • Nothing locked behind a timer in the preview and in-game currency came at a steady rate.
  • If you want a certain character you can simply purchase it with real-world money or the in-game currency earned from playing.
  • Units gain experience through battle, or buy earning XP Tomes through quests or bought in the store.
  • The game will receive new maps, dungeons, raids, and modes after launch.


Towelliee Gameplay Video and Twitch Stream
Towelliee provided a gameplay video and stream yesterday about the game.


  • There are no plans to make the miniatures available in real life for purchase.
  • It was mentioned in the stream that the game is expected to release in 2022.
  • It was mentioned in the stream that there are no plans to release the game on PC at this time.


GameSpot Hands-On Preview
GameSpot released a video about their experience with the title.


  • Blizzard is attempting to bring the franchise back to its strategic roots with this game.
  • The depth and complexity of previous Warcraft strategy titles is not part of this game. These is only one currency to collect, and no buildings to create.
  • The core gameplay feels a lot like the old school RTS.
  • Each unit is fully autonomous when summoned, but arrows can appear at points to allow lane changes.
  • There are two units that can attack anywhere on the map and must be utilized strategically.
  • Each victory awards a skull. Unlocking more of these over time opens up new missions and PvP maps.
  • There are purchasable units, but they are not pay to win or vastly superior to the options earned in game.
  • In-game currency comes at a steady rate and there was nothing locked behind a timer. There were no common mobile tropes shown during the preview.
  • Launch is later this year.
  • Game is off to a strong starting impression.


GamerBraves Preview
GamerBraves released a preview for the title with some new information.

  • The developers have confirmed that there are no NFT or gacha mechanics in the game.
  • If you want a certain character you can simply purchase it with real-world money or the in-game currency earned from playing.


Gamerant Developer Interview
Gamerant released a interview with technical director Monte Krol and vice president/executive producer Vik Saraf with some new information as well.

  • The design philosophy was to draw inspiration from the early Warcraft strategy games.
  • The formula here differs somewhat, but the core of Blizzard strategy games have always centered around building a base and defending a strategic point while making offensive pushes.
  • Instead of researching upgrades, units can be trained over time to become stronger, forming greater synergies within their armies.
  • The three collectibles are Leaders, Troops, and Spells.
  • You can mix and match different Families. You are not limited to only using one type in a fight.
  • There is a rock-papper-scissor element to combat.
    • Flying is strong against melee
    • Melee is strong against ranged
    • Ranged is strong against flying
  • Family categories do not have a rock-paper-scissor advantage over each other. The team did not want players to be at a disadvantage simply based on their Family choice.
  • Units gain experience through battle, or buy earning XP Tomes through quests or bought in the store.


PressStart Australia Developer Interview
PressStart Australia sat down with game director Tom Chilton and 3D artist Justine Hamer to discuss the mobile title.

  • The team was inspired to make a Warcraft mobile experience by their time spent playing fun mobile games in the past.
  • The game doesn't lean on any sort of narratives from prior games.
  • The artists took a sort of "pinball approach" in their map design.
  • The team also wanted to include some characters from across the games that are lesser known or appreciated, including Princess the Pig from Elwin.
  • The game will become devilishly challenging the further you progress.
  • They have gotten great feedback internally about the way the game ramps up and develops different mechanics for the players.
  • The main challenges during development were transitioning to this miniature artstyle and creating a large number of maps.
  • The team learned a lot from the Hearthstone team as both games are developed on the Unity engine.
  • The team has discussed a PC version, but they don't know if they will do it yet. They will base it on player feedback.
  • The maps are created for a specific intended screen size and not intended for widescreen.
  • Diablo Immortal is a landscape game, and so it carries itself over visually for PC more than a portrait game.
  • Tablet tends to port well for portrait games.
  • There is a map where an alchemist throws different potion buffs around and you can strategically focus on which ones you want.
  • Some maps have more three-dimensional gameplay with overpasses.
  • The game will receive new maps, dungeons, raids, and modes after launch.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Warcraft Arclight Rumble Interview Roundup started by Stoy View original post
Comments 21 Comments
  1. chorx's Avatar
    Can't most modern PCs emulate mobile devices these days anyways? Maybe I misunderstand how this works. The game looks cool honestly. I'll give it a shot for sure.
  1. Chickat's Avatar
    So its not pay to win, and doesn't have a timer/energy system and there are no loot boxes. Sounds pretty good, but it wont be a big earner for them. There isn't enough ways to make money. People wont buy heroes if they arent better. From a player perspective its great, but from a business perspective its questionable.
  1. Kathranis's Avatar
    No gacha, no timers, no stamina system? That's a shocker.
  1. pahbi's Avatar
    Blizzard is attempting to bring the franchise back to its strategic roots with this game.
    The core gameplay feels a lot like the old school RTS.
    Come on Blizz, do something new ffs.

    This is 90% of why Blizz can't seem to make anything fun, they are just stuck in the past.
  1. JSoup's Avatar
    >There are no plans to make the miniatures available in real life for purchase.

    Goddamn it Blizzard, you make physical products for all kinds of shit, why are you always cockblocking miniatures? And don't point me to that heroclicks crap, no one liked those.
  1. deenman's Avatar
    ''The team has discussed a PC version, but they don't know if they will do it yet. They will base it on player feedback.''

    oh rly?player ''feedback''? thats such a bollocks statement,no shit any1 would want the game to be on pc also,but the kind of feedback they are looking for is if its worth doing it

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Chickat View Post
    So its not pay to win, and doesn't have a timer/energy system and there are no loot boxes. Sounds pretty good, but it wont be a big earner for them. There isn't enough ways to make money. People wont buy heroes if they arent better. From a player perspective its great, but from a business perspective its questionable.
    its the typical blizzard recipe for failure,they been perfecting it for many years,they always try to apeal to X and end up losing or looking bad by doing Y
  1. Julmara's Avatar
    i would honestly touch it if it comes to pc since i my phone is old af
    im still sceptical towards it thou
  1. Skirdus's Avatar
    If you want a certain character you can simply purchase it with real-world money or the in-game currency earned from playing.
    "The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes."
  1. Xilurm's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Stoy View Post
    The developers have confirmed that there are no NFT or gacha mechanics in the game.
    No NFT is amazing. But what is gacha? Isn't that just buying stuff with real world money if you can't wait to gather the coin ingame?

    Quote Originally Posted by Stoy View Post
    Blizzard is attempting to bring the franchise back to its strategic roots with this game.
    And what about Warcraft 3 Reforged Blizzard? Why leave that in the dust?
  1. FelPlague's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by JSoup View Post
    >There are no plans to make the miniatures available in real life for purchase.

    Goddamn it Blizzard, you make physical products for all kinds of shit, why are you always cockblocking miniatures? And don't point me to that heroclicks crap, no one liked those.
    "No plan CURRENTLY" is the key thing of note, with how many people are talking about this idea they 100% are going to make them if they can simply because of the amount of people asking for them.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Xilurm View Post
    No NFT is amazing. But what is gacha? Isn't that just buying stuff with real world money if you can't wait to gather the coin ingame?



    And what about Warcraft 3 Reforged Blizzard? Why leave that in the dust?
    Gacha is basically lootbox, but gacha is more so the term used for

    "I BOUGHT A BOX AND GOT A 5 STAR THRALL INSIDE HELL YEAH!"
    "Awww... I bought a box and only got a 2 star sneed..."
    Also man you know what these inteviews about arclight rumble need, warcraft 3.
    cant wait till the overwatch 2 interviews start talking about wow dragonflight.
  1. Xilurm's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by FelPlague View Post
    "No plan CURRENTLY" is the key thing of note, with how many people are talking about this idea they 100% are going to make them if they can simply because of the amount of people asking for them.

    - - - Updated - - -



    Gacha is basically lootbox, but gacha is more so the term used for

    "I BOUGHT A BOX AND GOT A 5 STAR THRALL INSIDE HELL YEAH!"
    "Awww... I bought a box and only got a 2 star sneed..."
    Also man you know what these inteviews about arclight rumble need, warcraft 3.
    cant wait till the overwatch 2 interviews start talking about wow dragonflight.
    So, Overwatch is more of a gacha game than their mobile game?

    Unless you can't buy stuff with real money on OW.
  1. FelPlague's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Xilurm View Post
    So, Overwatch is more of a gacha game than their mobile game?

    Unless you can't buy stuff with real money on OW.
    yes hearthstone, overwatch, and hots are closer to gacha games then this game will be, although what makes gacha gacha is more so you are buyying boxes to unlock heroes specifically, so they arnt exactly gacha, but close to it.
  1. rhorle's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Xilurm View Post
    But what is gacha? Isn't that just buying stuff with real world money if you can't wait to gather the coin ingame?
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gacha_game

    Basically just a slot machine toy/item collection game. Though the meaning has been diluted to just toy collection with real money. Arclight doesn't seem to fit the real definition though.
  1. Adonijah's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by chorx View Post
    Can't most modern PCs emulate mobile devices these days anyways? Maybe I misunderstand how this works. The game looks cool honestly. I'll give it a shot for sure.
    There's half a dozen mobile emulators. I assume that's how most people play Fortnite and PUBG Mobile.
  1. beastytech's Avatar
    That's a hard no!
  1. JSoup's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by FelPlague View Post
    "No plan CURRENTLY" is the key thing of note, with how many people are talking about this idea they 100% are going to make them if they can simply because of the amount of people asking for them.
    Historically, Blizzard saying "no plan currently" as a preemptive response means it's likely never going to happen. Which is why I'm a tad miffed. But I'll take the strand of hope and run with it. Perhaps if Arclight really takes off it'll actually be something on the table.
  1. Enter Name Here's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by JSoup View Post
    >There are no plans to make the miniatures available in real life for purchase.

    Goddamn it Blizzard, you make physical products for all kinds of shit, why are you always cockblocking miniatures? And don't point me to that heroclicks crap, no one liked those.
    maybe they don't want to risk games workshop suing their asses for copying their product. since warcraft/starcraft started out as a videogame pitch for warhammer.

    similarities might be borderline as long as they are just in a videogame but turning them into miniatures might break the camels back
  1. pharma's Avatar
    So... Tom Chilton was working on this game for all these years... -.-
  1. Rexosaurus's Avatar
    -Blizzard is attempting to bring the franchise back to its strategic roots with this game.
    -The depth and complexity of previous Warcraft strategy titles is not part of this game. These is only one currency to collect, and no buildings to create.
    Bruh.

    Most people know that they're just making a mobile game because they're relatively cheap to make/maintain and bring in a lot of money over time. Just say some shit about how "We wanted to expand the Warcraft IP and potentially introduce it to a new audience" instead of trying to sell me on this BS that the game hearkens back to Warcraft RTS games. It would make them sound way less fake, at least.
  1. chorx's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Adonijah View Post
    There's half a dozen mobile emulators. I assume that's how most people play Fortnite and PUBG Mobile.
    I thought that MacOS and Win 11 did native iOS/Android virtualization.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSMT1pAGXyc
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cisZV4LTvFE

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