Shadowlands Press Event - Developer Interviews and More

Update - Added Judgehype interview with Patrick Dawson
Update - Added GeekCulture Interview with Ion Hazzikostas
Update - Added WarcraftRadio interview with Patrick Dawson
Update - Added MrGM Interview with Morgan Day
Update - Added Eurogamer Interview with John Hight
Update - Added HellofaRead Interview with Morgan Day

Shadowlands Press Event Recap
Blizzard recently held a Press Event for Shadowlands. We'll be updating the post below today with interview recaps, so keep checking back!


WarcraftRadio Interview with Patrick Dawson
WarcraftRadio interviewed Patrick Dawson on Shadowlands.

  • A new idea has been pitched to make sure Torghast doesn't get too much easier as you progress through floors.
  • The reward structure for Shadowlands is making sure player agency is the main factor.
  • The team has been discussing how to further give customization options to druid forms or even things like Paladin wings.
  • The faction imbalance is something that the team is constantly discussing. Top end raiding is a particular issue. They don't want to give the Alliance too much power to counter it, however.
  • Realm health is a factor in faction imbalance that the team is addressing by launch day.
  • The death of the Old Gods will definitely gain the attention of the Void Lords.
  • The community team is working on an article to address things to accomplish before Shadowlands, such as when the brutosaur is going away.
  • The team is just starting with the new customization options. As they see what people like and engage with, they will add more options as time goes on.
  • The purpose of bringing the PvP vendor back was based on community feedback. It was a thank you to the community for letting them know how they wanted to interact with the game.
  • Classic has helped the team understand a bit more about what players want. The team sees the two games as separate, however.
  • The team has discussed having pet battles added to the companion app. There are no plans right now, however.
  • There is a lot more work to do in giving players more ways to represent themselves in game.
  • The prelaunch event will likely have more information when the 9.0 PTR starts. It will likely be a few weeks after prepatch and before launch.


MrGM Interview - Artifact Weapon Mog Spec Restrictions Lifted, Heirloom Exp Buffs Removed
MrGM interviewed Morgan Day on new things coming in Shadowlands.

  • Torghast and the Maw will feature mounts to collect as rewards.
  • The death elemental seen in the Maw is the mount reward for season 1 Mythic Plus.
  • Weapon Swapping should be allowed in Mythic Plus again. Morgan Day made a note of this!
  • Shadowlands will have multiple objectives spread throughout many different play styles (Mythic Plus, Raids, PvP) that will add additional reward choices to your weekly chest. If none of the items presented are an upgrade, there is a valuable currency to pick instead.
  • The team wanted to focus on making Castle Nathria feel like a real living space.
  • The Theater of Pain dungeon is inspired by Naxxramas.
  • Legion Timewalking will not be added at launch, but it is something that will be explored in a future content update.
  • Legendaries in Shadowlands are mostly influenced by previous set bonuses. Thunderfury's proc was too unqiue and will likely not be something added to a legendary in Shadowlands.
  • In Shadowlands, Legion artifact weapon transmog will not be limited to spec. If you have the look for the artifact weapon, you can transmog it in any spec!
  • Heirlooms will no longer have experience bonuses. They are looking to replace it with something that is not a raw percentage increase.
  • There are no new class combinations for existing races in Shadowlands, but the team is always looking into adding it where it makes sense.


Shadowlands - Auto Battle Mission Table
Preach shared a video of the Auto Battle system we started to see data added for.



Shadowlands - Legendary Crafting UI
Towelliee shared a video of the legendary crafting UI.



Developer Interview - Ion Hazzikostas
Windowscentral shared a interview with Blizzard.

Character Customization
  • There was a large engineering undertaking to rebuild how characters are put together under the hood, allowing for the new customization.
  • More character customization will be added even after Shadowlands release.

Starting Experience and Leveling
  • There is a lot the team would do differently with Island Expeditions. They took lessons from Islands and applied them to Torghast, which should feel more replayable.
  • The team wanted to create a better starting experience, as the current game starts you with content that was made 10 years ago and doesn't reflect how the game is built today. That content wasn't created with a new player in mind in some cases.
  • The new intro experience reflects the World of Warcraft as of 2020. There are treasures, other players around, optional rares, a mini-dungeon, and more.
  • The more linear leveling experience in Shadowlands is an experiment. It's easier to tell a broader progressive narrative when you'll visit zones in a specific order.
  • The sense of danger and struggle was lost when you could level through zones in any order, as a new zone didn't feel difficult due to the scaling.
  • After you level your main character, then you can experience the zones in any order on alts.
  • Keeping EU and US separate systems isn't great experience or design choice that the team would make. It would be great if one day people could play across both regions.

Legendary Items
  • The ability to make multiple legendaries over the course of a raid tier with the limit of only one that you can equip at any given time, create interesting decisions, but players have control over these decisions.
  • You'll probably acquire legendaries faster than you did in Legion, but the final rate hasn't been determined yet.

Covenants, Soulbinds, and Conduits
  • The team wants players to be able to pick the Covenant that they think is cool and enjoy playing more rather than having to pick one for power reasons.
  • Making Covenant swapping easy would be a last resort. Choices in an RPG are what define your character and let you carve out an identity that's different from every other player around you because they reflect your priorities.
  • The goal is for all end-game systems to be accessible within your first week. It'll be paced a little bit so that you don't arrive at your Covenant and have a ton of systems unlocked.
  • Soulbinds and Conduits are simple modifications that should be powerful that you customize your class and spec abilities for certain situations.
  • Conduits are bonus items on top of the helm or the shoulders you might get from defeating a dungeon boss or a raid boss.
  • Conduits are put into the Soulbind device in your Covenant sanctum and replacing it will destroy the existing one in that slot.
  • You'll need to be in your Covenant Sanctum to change your Soulbind. Respeccing the Soulbind will be a minimal anima cost. You'll need to unlock the full tree over time, it's only fully unlocked in Alpha for testing.

Story
  • The Horde is definitely in for a period of rebuilding.
  • The Horde vs Alliance story isn't the main focus at the outset of Shadowlands, but there will be some story there.
  • Having the final boss known at the start of the expansion makes telling the story easier, somewhat like Deathwing in Cataclysm.
  • Recent expansions haven't revealed the end boss to preserve twists in the story. Sometimes the story needed to be told before the end boss made sense.
  • One of the challenges in creating Shadowlands is introducing a villain and building up a villain for the very first time that we previously have known nothing about
  • Villains need to be at least at Titan power level now to be a credible threat.


Shadowlands - Change Gender in Barber Shop for Free
According to an article posted on Eurogamer, Blizzard will be dropping the store fee for changing your character's gender and adding the ability to do it for free at the Barbershop! The following is a quote from John Hight taken from the article:

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
A long time ago, we had the ability for players to go in - it was actually a paid service - and change their character. Much of that is now in the barber shop in the game," he said. "And as we were adding things up in Shadowlands, we realised, 'Gosh the only way you can change your gender in World of Warcraft is to go through this paid service.' And we felt like that's not the right message.

"Unfortunately we can't fix that right now but it is our intent with Shadowlands to take that out of being a paid service thing and [put it] in the barber shop. But that's not something we can easily hotfix - unfortunately we can't do that right now. It is something that we're going to have in Shadowlands itself.

HellofaRead Interview - Raid Bosses, Mythic Plus, and Secrets of the Maw
HellofaRead sat down with Morgan Day to discuss Shadowlands!

  • Covenants
    • Covenants will also introduce Callings, which are an extension of the emissary system that guide you through the end-game and give new objectives with fun rewards that you can take back to your sanctum to help progress the story.
    • There will be all kinds of stuff you get to see and engage with as you help refuel your Covenant Sanctum with anima.
    • Each covenant has a unique story and and features that provide different experiences for a person who plays alts based on their choice of covenant.
    • Renown is the main catch-up mechanic for Shadowlands. If will be capped to a certain number that can be earned every week unless you are behind. Callings will grant you Renown upon completion if you are behind. Further sources will be Mythic+ and Pvp if you are even more behind.
    • The team wants to use the Beta to introduce these systems in a way that won't overwhelm the players.
    • The team hopes to use other aspects granted by your covenant to balance strengths and weaknesses of the class ability. Things like conduits and soulbinds will have unique spec-specific bonuses that might help balance your decision.
  • Castle Nathria Raid
    • One of the bosses in Castle Nathria is a broker that Lord Denathrius has employed to curate artefacts, weapons, and objects that he has acquired from throughout the Shadowlands. These objects will be used during the encounter.
    • Castle Nathria will be broken into 3 wings with 3 bosses each before the final fight. One of these wings is a giant ballroom with stained glass and a dance floor. A fight that takes place here will have you do mechanics that feel like a dance.
  • Mythic Plus
    • The seasonal affix in the start of Shadowlands Mythic+ will be themed around Castle Nathria.
    • The team is making changes to current affixes as well as discussing the potential for new ones, but the team is trying to rework current ones to make a lot of them less of a healer issue and give incentive to do appropriately. The example given is having Volcanic do less damage, but cause a knock up if hit.
    • The Maw will use the Eye of the Jailer system in which you will gain the ire of the Jailer while doing activities such as collecting anima or freeing souls. He will eventually send assassins after you among other things to make you feel unwelcome.
    • The Maw is also where you collect a currency called Stygia, which you have to collect and physically carry out of the Maw by bringing it to a specific location to extract it. if you die while carrying it, you will have to find where you dropped it and retrieve it again.
  • Miscellaneous
    • Morgan cannot say off the top of his head if a new expensive mount like the Brutosaur is being added in Shadowlands.


Judgehype Interview with Patrick Dawson
Judgehype interviewed Patrick Dawson on Shadowlands.

  • The Shadowlands experience is broadly linked to Shadowlands. Do not expect to return to Azeroth to complete certain quests.
  • Blizzard will add new and more powerful conduits over the course of the expansion, making it necessary to seek out new conduits the entire expansion with each update. Nothing is final, but this is probably how it will work.
  • Diminishing returns will ensure that you do not have to do an obscene amount of work to stay competitive.
  • Players who want to go the extra mile will be able to obtain cosmetic items.
  • There will not be a new class at all during Shadowlands.
  • There will be several sources to acquire legendary recipes in Shadowlands.
  • Achievements such as Herald of the Titans will be adjusted for the level squish.
  • There are still no plans to port WoW to consoles.
  • There will be nothing new for archaeology in Shadowlands.


GeekCulture Interview with Ion Hazzikostas
GeekCulture interviewed Ion Hazzikostas on Shadowlands.

  • The team first designed the shadowlands with 4 distinct zones that represent different aspects of death.
  • While leaving a covenant is a relatively straightforward process, coming back to one isn't as easy, as it is akin to "breaking" an oath.
  • Players who do so will incur penalties, such as the inability to claim covenant-exclusive rewards such as armor, and even soulbind abilities. They will still be able to access sanctum content and currency, however.
  • Don't expect cameos from every major character that has died in Shadowlands.
  • It is likely Baine will reunite with the spirit of his father and learn the truth of his people during Shadowlands.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Shadowlands Press Event - Developer Interviews and More started by chaud View original post
Published on 2020-07-09 03:53 PM
68 Comments
Comments 68 Comments
  1. Onikaroshi's Avatar
    Not to sure about the mission tables, but they're mostly useless now anyway.

    But damn, will be nice to be able to pick our secondaries on the legendaries.
  1. gblSweet's Avatar
    Got a bad, bad feeling about conduits and dualspecs.
  1. mightykong's Avatar
    Villains need to be at least at Titan power level now to be a credible threat.
    Not true, this is standard hero trope that villains have to be more and more powerful because "we" are more powerful. Probably the most known example I could provide for this would be Baron Zemo in the Captain America: Civil War movie. He literally broke the Avengers and pretty much opened the door for Thanos with zero super powers. If you tell a decent enough story, you don't need a main villain to be the ultimate super power. You can have them manipulate others more powerful to enact their ends. You can't dip into that well every time, but WoW is ripe for that kind of story.
  1. Novaice's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Onikaroshi View Post
    Not to sure about the mission tables, but they're mostly useless now anyway.

    But damn, will be nice to be able to pick our secondaries on the legendaries.
    too bad it will be limited like in Legion.
  1. Jujudrood's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by mightykong View Post
    Not true, this is standard hero trope that villains have to be more and more powerful because "we" are more powerful. Probably the most known example I could provide for this would be Baron Zemo in the Captain America: Civil War movie. He literally broke the Avengers and pretty much opened the door for Thanos with zero super powers. If you tell a decent enough story, you don't need a main villain to be the ultimate super power. You can have them manipulate others more powerful to enact their ends. You can't dip into that well every time, but WoW is ripe for that kind of story.
    To add to it, we are going into a previously unseen place, so the rules can be very different in terms of what "power" means.
    As you said here, The Jailer doesn't have to be Thanos to the Avengers (our PCs).
    If you are familiar with the comics, specifically Thanos Quest, he defeats two beings way more powerful than him by using cunning and guile.
    The Champion specifically is tricked into destroying his planet in an attempt to "win", but ultimately ends up losing to his own ego.

    I would love to see a WoW big bad who does the same, where in place of brute force, they are less powerful than our PCs but twist everything around you drive you to your knees.
    It requires some pretty good story-telling to not come across as super cheesy, and I doubt that Blizz would be hiring the Russo bros anytime soon to write a story for them lol.
  1. Onikaroshi's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Novaice View Post
    too bad it will be limited like in Legion.
    If you're talking about slot, don't really find that to be a big deal honestly.
  1. Rune B's Avatar
    Preach: "I don't like autobattles."
    Also Preach literally a minute later: "Maybe you should make them mandatory so we have to play them."

    Uh. No. See, that would be bad :-P It's more fun to have choice, and that it's largely optional content with some arbitrary rewards you don't really need.
  1. MakeMeLaugh's Avatar
    The team wants players to be able to pick the Covenant that they think is cool and enjoy playing more rather than having to pick one for power reasons.
    They say this, yet they put absurd powers to each covenant, and forget this is WoW with raiding/pvp/m+ LOL.
  1. apelsinjuice's Avatar
    so conduits gets destroyed if you replace them, how will that work for dual spec classes, forced to make an alt just to play off spec?
  1. Unholyground's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by gblSweet View Post
    Got a bad, bad feeling about conduits and dualspecs.
    Only people who feel compelled to do everything all the time care, no one is going to truly care doing regular content what you have for anything.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by apelsinjuice View Post
    so conduits gets destroyed if you replace them, how will that work for dual spec classes, forced to make an alt just to play off spec?
    You will have 3 soulbinds, probably more as the expansion goes on so you can tailor them to your specs I assume.
  1. Lahkesis's Avatar
    Heirlooms will no longer have experience bonuses. They are looking to replace it with something that is not a raw percentage increase.
    It better be an amazing "replacement" because I would not have ever invested in the things without the XP bonus. And making us spend gold over and over again to keep them relevant? I suspect a significant outcry on this one.
  1. DemonHunter18's Avatar
    Villains need to be at least at Titan power level now to be a credible threat. - Ion Hazzikostas 07.09.2020
    .............................................ok

    I want that drug he is consuming.
  1. Coconut's Avatar
    There are a lot of positives here (Artifacts being transmoggable regardless of spec, gender swap in barber shop, etc.), so don't take this criticism as a general feeling towards interview, but I also have to say that "Villains need to be at least at Titan power level now to be a credible threat" is silly, especially considering the "borrowed powers" systems we've been using these last expansions. It can easily take us in a forced, over the top and ultimately boring direction. Fighting pirates, zombies, a horde of centaurs or a botani infestation can offer a diverse range of awesome and immersive feelings; fighting mountain-sized beings that threaten to end the world all the time is gonna get old really fast. Hell, this very expansion we went from subduing a titan soul and defeating the Legion to fighting people like Jaina and Rastakhan. Is Ion saying they were close titan-powerd as well?
  1. Nero Duskwind's Avatar
    In Shadowlands, Legion artifact weapon transmog will not be limited to spec. If you have the look for the artifact weapon, you can transmog it in any spec!
    Halle-fucking-lujah

    Shadowlands - Change Gender in Barber Shop for Free
    According to an article posted on Eurogamer, Blizzard will be dropping the store fee for changing your character's gender and adding the ability to do it for free at the Barbershop! The following is a quote from John Hight taken from the article:
    *Insert "snip-snip-snip" jokes here*
  1. Darknessvamp's Avatar
    Heirlooms will no longer have experience bonuses. They are looking to replace it with something that is not a raw percentage increase.
    Refund my gold and time spent getting them then if you're planning to make them useless and functionally the same as any other piece of gear. That was the whole point of investing in them.
  1. Nero Duskwind's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Darknessvamp View Post
    Refund my gold and time spent getting them then if you're planning to make them useless and functionally the same as any other piece of gear. That was the whole point of investing in them.
    You want a refund for the time invested into the Pathfinder achievements while you're at it?
  1. Darknessvamp's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ronnosh View Post
    You want a refund for the time invested into the Pathfinder achievements while you're at it?
    Why would I? I did them when they were current content and I got the reward of flying and the mount associated with them, I earned what I worked towards and the removal of the restriction posed by pathfinder doesn't negatively affect me. I can still fly and keep my mount. Not to mention I was also not making a major gold or currency investment in completing them. Heirlooms gathering on the other hand stretches back expansions for me from farming Justice Points back in MoP along with guild leveling to garrison development in WoD for specific rings and trinkets to continuous gold investments for each new level cap increase all for the sake of having the experience bonus whilst leveling across multiple classes and up to level cap. If they're just straight up removing it, they're getting rid of the very thing I worked towards earning and the reason why I spent gold and time on them. Of course I'm going to want a refund if they're planning to take away stuff I worked for.
  1. Novaice's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Onikaroshi View Post
    If you're talking about slot, don't really find that to be a big deal honestly.
    the amount.
    Limit was 2 after research in Legion
  1. Drench's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Darknessvamp View Post
    Why would I? I did them when they were current content and I got the reward of flying and the mount associated with them, I earned what I worked towards and the removal of the restriction posed by pathfinder doesn't negatively affect me. I can still fly and keep my mount. Not to mention I was also not making a major gold or currency investment in completing them. Heirlooms gathering on the other hand stretches back expansions for me from farming Justice Points back in MoP along with guild leveling to garrison development in WoD for specific rings and trinkets to continuous gold investments for each new level cap increase all for the sake of having the experience bonus whilst leveling across multiple classes and up to level cap. If they're just straight up removing it, they're getting rid of the very thing I worked towards earning and the reason why I spent gold and time on them. Of course I'm going to want a refund if they're planning to take away stuff I worked for.

    Use em now. I hope they give 0 reward back and just delete em. It took a day to nearly max them all and thats from a pvp perspective.

    Casual people pay silver to have a npc fly them to one side of the map and act like they went on a daring month long adventure that required them to give up their wife and family to play that long.


    If you can't make time then play a autobot phone game.
  1. Onikaroshi's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Novaice View Post
    the amount.
    Limit was 2 after research in Legion
    Think they're saying 1, it's a good limit.
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