Vanion WoW Classic Interview - Classic Design and Modern WoW Philosophies
Vanion sat down with Ion Hazikostas and Calia Shie to discuss WoW Classic.


  • It's been fascinating for the team to recreate classic WoW and there have been questions of if there are ways that this could inform the way that they think about WoW today keeping in mind the philosophies of the modern game.
  • There are aspects of how to approach the outdoor world that could continue to inform designs in Battle for Azeroth.
  • Communication for retail WoW is a bit more complicated than it is for Classic as most of it is based on listening and feedback without clear answers where Classic has a lot of clear answers. It's the difference between figuring out the answers and already knowing them.
  • The team wants to sustain healthy communities and not have too many servers at launch that run into low pop issues once the initial launch dies down.
  • The Layer system is only planned for the first few weeks. As players spread out over time eventually there will be no layer system, especially by when the world bosses are introduced.
  • Each layer can hold the same population as a server from the original WoW.
  • There will be no pet/mount shop in Classic.
  • It's nice to return to a nameless adventurer, but in modern WoW there comes a point after defeating major lore villains where you can't be nameless anymore.
  • The beta is small because they are using it to make sure that they have gotten everything right, not to address if the content is fun or to nerf things.
  • Classic is about the journey and not the destination, and so players who don't have the time that they once did will still enjoy the ride.


GamerHub TV Interview - Community Feedback for Classic Expansions
GamerHubTV interviewed John Hight about Classic WoW.


  • The server architecture (population, etc) from retail WoW is used for Classic WoW.
  • Quirky bugs that are not game-breaking/exploits were actually left in the game.
  • Community feedback will be an important consideration for releasing classic expansions post launch.


GamerHubTV Interview - Design and Engineering for WoW Classic
GameHubTV also sat down with Omar Gonzalez to discuss the engineering of WoW Classic.


  • The team took the modern code and layered the old data on top of the new code.
  • The back end developer interfaces for the game is the modern infrastructure. The customer, however, sees the original game.
  • The old code recognized realms as a single cluster of servers. The modern architecture is more shared and distributed, allowing the team to be much more efficient.
  • The team recovered a lot of the original art assets from the old code. They deleted the modern graphics and reimported the old graphics just with modern code.


Staysafe TV Interview - Progressive Quests and Server Stability
Staysafe TV interviewed Brian Birmingham and Patrick Dawson on WoW Classic.


  • There will be progressive quests added during phases as well, such as having the Naxxramas introduction quests disabled until its phase release.
  • The Thorium quest hub is most likely available from launch. (The two did ask for feedback on this in the interview)
  • The original mount system is being utilized, cheap training with expensive mounts.
  • The team is taking a pass on modern WoW to re-visioning some of the spells built to address the issues of server stability when many people are in one area.
  • The team has an estimate on realm numbers, but can add more based on the amount of players. They are trying to avoid having unhealthy server populations or having to merge realms down the line though.
  • The goal is to not having Layering in the game at all after a few weeks when the populations smooth out.
  • Phase transitions will happen based on player feedback and progression of the player base.


Vanion Interview - Patch 8.2
Vanion sat down with the WoW developers to discuss Battle for Azeroth and Patch 8.2.


  • The team is excited to add Rise of Azshara to Battle for Azeroth as they have been hard at work on giving more player choice and things to collect in the new content patch.
  • The 15th Anniversary Event will include a special raid that brings back bosses from previous expansions such as Kael'thas.
  • Logging in during the anniversary event will get you the Nefarion pet while completing the raid will give you the Obsidian Worldbreaker mount.
  • The raid is not a new raid, but a greatest hits of previous bosses back to back.
  • The ability to visit Mechagon City outside of the dungeon could be possible down the line.
  • There is upwards of 30 mounts coming in Patch 8.2. A lot of them have unique animation rigs as well.
  • The team wanted to make sure that they gave a lot of new things to collect that felt unique.
  • There are two versions of the Mechacycle, one of which is easier to obtain. However, the easier to obtain one is more broken down and junker styled while the meta achievement one is complete.
  • The mount equipment system was designed to solve the water strider issue and will be iterated on based on feedback.
  • In Patch 8.2, it will take substantially more time for the opposing team to show up during normal Island Expeditions, allowing a bit more time to explore freely.
  • Heroic Warfronts will have a different flow in the battle to be aware of, such as utilizing resources right and defending your base from attack.
  • Nazjatar has many different biomes to make it easier to navigate.
  • Pathfinder Part 2 is likely to require exploring both new zones as well.
  • The team feels that as long as you become familiar with the zone on foot first, it is not to early to allow flying in these new zones.
  • If you don't like the companion system in Nazjatar you don't have to use it.
  • There will be special repeatable profession quests in 8.2. An example is a herbalism quest in which you find a seed that you can plant in certain spots to activate a combat situation.
  • Nazjatar has treasure finding gear that you can use to find buried treasure around the zone.
This article was originally published in forum thread: WoW Classic Interviews - Design and Modern WoW, Patch 8.2 - Rise of Azshara Interview started by Stoy View original post
Comments 54 Comments
  1. The Stormbringer's Avatar
    Solid round of interviews! Thanks, Stoy.
  1. Askyl's Avatar
    Why can't anyone just ask about RP-PvP, since that statement RP-PvP have been one of the most discussed subjects with loads of people behind it. It's sad to see the people who actually get to talk to Blizzard, and Blizzard them selves, don't care at all for 1000s of players.
  1. Zyrinx's Avatar
    No one cares about "exploring freely" in Island Expeditions anymore.

    Fix the god damn drop rates, god dammit.
  1. Gadzooks's Avatar
    30 mounts is just ridiculous. There's too much emphasis on "collecting" and not on "adventuring".
  1. reacher's Avatar
    - Pathfinder Part 2 is likely to require exploring both new zones as well.
    - The team feels that as long as you become familiar with the zone on foot first, it is not to early to allow flying in these new zones.

    I haven't been on the PTR since it first went live, but does this mean exploration as well as the 2 revered reps? The second bullet seems strange, since exploring will likely be complete way before revered is reached
  1. Raetary's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Gadzooks View Post
    30 mounts is just ridiculous. There's too much emphasis on "collecting" and not on "adventuring".
    What the fuck does "adventuring" even mean?

    Exploring and questing? you literally will do both by trying to collect those mounts and the rest of cosmetics they add.
  1. Lorgar Aurelian's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Gadzooks View Post
    30 mounts is just ridiculous. There's too much emphasis on "collecting" and not on "adventuring".
    You adventure to get mounts as you always have.
  1. THEORACLE64's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Gadzooks View Post
    30 mounts is just ridiculous. There's too much emphasis on "collecting" and not on "adventuring".
    They, uh, both kinda coincide with each other y’know...
  1. Archmage Alodi's Avatar
    I really like Brian Birmingham and Patrick Dawson. It's nice to see some faces other than Ion for a change.
  1. Morg's Avatar
    'water strider issue'

    Great way to make up an excuse to add more grinds to the game 10/10 PR
  1. Lionhearte0's Avatar
    Communication for retail WoW is a bit more complicated than it is for Classic as most of it is based on listening and feedback without clear answers where Classic has a lot of clear answers. It's the difference between figuring out the answers and already knowing them.
    Such bullshit.
    How about this: If it ain't broke, don't fix it?
  1. glowpipe's Avatar
    "Beta is small to see if they get everything right". And they invite people like fucking Shroud. This is nothing but a fucking pr campaign. They should have invited people who have played wow since vanilla first of all. Not fucking streamers who only stream to gain viewers and not even reporting bugs
  1. Itheni's Avatar
    I’m excited about the greatest hits bosses line up.

    I’m unsubbed but this seems awesome.
  1. 4justice's Avatar
    mount,mount and more mount... no fcking game mechanics
  1. Soeroah's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zyrinx View Post
    No one cares about "exploring freely" in Island Expeditions anymore.

    Fix the god damn drop rates, god dammit.
    Exactly.

    There's no point to making it easier to explore if the drop rates still suck.

    If they added treasure chests that guaranteed everyone in the group got at least one drop per chest to islands then yeah, sure, exploration would be great.

    But as long as the drop system and rates are as bullshit as they are now, both collectors and power players just want to finish every island as fast as possible; the other faction doesn't factor into that.

    I swear I saw them say at one point they'd continue tweaking the drop system as the expansion went on, but there's no sign of it in 8.2. Drop rates felt higher a few patches ago, and they're just adding more islands and more drops to the rotation with no way to target rewards.
  1. Th3Scourge's Avatar
    The 8.2 interview is fucking stupid. I don't get this obsession with mounts. There are only two worth having. AH mount and Xmog mount. Fuck collecting mounts and toys
  1. chrisisvacant's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Th3Scourge View Post
    The 8.2 interview is fucking stupid. I don't get this obsession with mounts. There are only two worth having. AH mount and Xmog mount. Fuck collecting mounts and toys
    What a crybaby.
  1. Th3Scourge's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by chrisisvacant View Post
    What a crybaby.
    Yeah, imagine thinking that core gameplay issues are more important than the next collectable My Little Pony. Classic can't come soon enough
  1. glowpipe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Th3Scourge View Post
    Yeah, imagine thinking that core gameplay issues are more important than the next collectable My Little Pony. Classic can't come soon enough
    Classic can't come soon enough. Prime example of someone who never played vanilla. If you think bfa has gameplay issues bad enough that classic will fix and make you happy, you are high. Classic is a shell of what the game is now. Bosses having 2-3 mechanics, classes using 2-3 abilities. Stupid shit like reagents for buffs. Warlocks having to leave a fucking raid to get shards, Paladins being outside of combat as ressbots. Bfa may have gameplay issues. But classic hardly had a gameplay
  1. Bethrezen's Avatar
    BFA is trash, sorry. Far too deep in a direction WoW shouldn't have gone. Classic WoW really couldn't come soon enough.

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