BlizzConline 2021 - World of Warcraft Q&A Panel

BlizzConline 2021 - World of Warcraft Q&A Panel
The WoW team is answering questions on World of Warcraft!


  • The Story in Chains of Domination
    • The relationship between the Jailer, Sylvanas, and Anduin is the core of Shadowlands' story.
    • The Jailer was looking for Anduin because they needed a hero with his qualities to get an audience with the Archon in Bastion.
    • Uther recognized the power of the Maw on some level when Anduin passed by him, which is why he touches his wound in the trailer.
    • The confrontation with Sylvanas at the end of Sanctum of Domination will be one of the most epic raid moments in raiding history.
    • The Archon survives her wound. They tried to show this by having her hand move after the event in the trailer.
    • Sire Denathrius
      • The voice actor's performance for Sire Denathrius caused Steve to want to keep him alive. This is why he is trapped at the end of the raid instead of killed.
      • He might have allies that want to liberate him from that sword.
    • Time doesn't really mean anything in the realm of death as it's eternity.
    • Bolvar will still be front and center in Chains of Domination. He is a pillar to rally around in Shadowlands.
    • The story of those lost at Teldrassil is not yet done. Tyrande is still out for vengeance for her people.
  • Burning Crusade Classic
    • You will decide if your character moves to Burning Crusade upon logging in on pre-patch.
    • If you choose to stay in Classic Era, your character will look inactive until you install Classic Era, which will then give you access to your character on the Classic Era version of your server.
    • You also have a paid option to make a copy of your character to keep in Classic Era while also moving on to Burning Crusade.
    • Your name will be saved for both server options. If there are server connections they will likely play out like in modern wow having names with servers attached.
    • The team wants to address faction imbalance in BC Classic with small changes such as Paladin seals being available to both factions.
    • Summoning Stones will be introduced with BC Classic as they were added originally in the expansion.
    • PvP titles will be awarded to only a top percentage of players per region.
    • They will not be added any fresh start servers for their timeline of Burning Crusade Classic, but it is something they have been talking about once the launch is successful.
    • Layering will be used much in the same way for Classic's launch.
  • Customization in Shadowlands
    • There are no plans right now to add more race/class combinations in Shadowlands, but never say never.
    • The team will add more customization options in the future for races that didn't get as much in Shadowlands.
    • More heritage armor will be added in the near future while some might still be further off.
  • The Pandemic
    • While it took some time to implement working from home, the team is happy to be able to continue to bring people together through the game during times of isolation.
  • Faction Imbalance
    • The faction imbalance has become a social issue that will likely require a social solution and it is a top priority for the team.
    • They don't quite have a way to address it yet, but recognize it is a problem that needs to be addressed.
    • The faction balance is actually pretty even when it comes to amount of players. It is only for participation in high-end activities that skews majorly to Horde.
    • Ion says "never say never" in regards to the option of letting Horde and Alliance play together eventually.
    • There is still faction identity when selecting which faction you identify with and not having to worry about cutting yourself off from your friends.
  • Server Connections in Modern WoW
    • The team paused the process when Shadowlands launched because the expansion had a huge effect on server populations.
    • The team will continue to use server connections once server populations become a notable issue.
  • Anima
    • There will be new sources of anima added in Chains of Domination.
    • The anima system cosmetic rewards are designed to be an expansion-wide reward system.
    • The team will always address reward amounts if they feel it needs to be altered.
  • Auction House
    • There won't be a return of the entire mobile auction house app, but they are thinking of creating a way to get resources for raiding and such prior to raid from mobile.
  • Flying in Shadowlands
    • You cannot fly directly from zone to zone. You will still need to use the a flight path to enter a zone.
    • Pathfinder is account-wide and your alts will be able to fly at level 50 once unlocked.
  • Torghast
    • The team will continue to add Anima Powers and new content to Torghast.
    • They also plan to address any classes that still struggle with Torghast.
  • 10-Man Content
    • 10-player raiding exists outside of mythic difficulty.
    • Megadungeons are supposed to fill the roll of challenging small group content.
  • Wandering Ancient Mount
    • The Wandering Ancient will be available with Patch 9.0.5.
    • You will receive the mount simply for owning Shadowlands.
This article was originally published in forum thread: BlizzConline 2021 - World of Warcraft Q&A Panel started by Stoy View original post
Published on 2021-02-20 07:56 PM
69 Comments
Comments 69 Comments
  1. Raugnaut's Avatar
    Can't fly between zones, so I'm guessing they will implement some sorta debuff that kills you, considering that you CAN glide between zones atm.
  1. eNjoirobbin's Avatar
    Whoever was doing the lip smacking ruined this Q&A for me.
  1. crusadernero's Avatar
    So when is 9.1 coming?
  1. Nobleshield's Avatar
    Am I the only one who gets the impression they are trying to "innovate" encounters where they don't need to? Like we already saw it with the design of fights in Nathria, and now they talk about how Sylvanas is going to be have unique mechanics. Do they not understand that the game doesn't need to innovate like that? They should have kept what worked IMHO.
  1. Doffen's Avatar
    Ion says "never say never" in regards to the option of letting Horde and Alliance play together eventually

    Its coming :>
  1. bowlink's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Doffen View Post
    Ion says "never say never" in regards to the option of letting Horde and Alliance play together eventually

    Its coming :>
    hell it's about time - Tychus Findlay
  1. Toby451's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nobleshield View Post
    Am I the only one who gets the impression they are trying to "innovate" encounters where they don't need to? Like we already saw it with the design of fights in Nathria, and now they talk about how Sylvanas is going to be have unique mechanics. Do they not understand that the game doesn't need to innovate like that? They should have kept what worked IMHO.
    Do you understand that your opinion is not shared by everyone?


    Go play on classic if you want to play the same shit forever.
  1. neik's Avatar
    She survived against all odds.
    This is the best news I've heard yet today!
  1. ashblond's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by bagina View Post
    What the fuck, Danuser just said that the Archon actually survived. What the hell? I'm so disappointed right now. Can't they do anything right? Come on!
    Did you really think one of the most important one in SL and covenant leader would die like that ???

    Dude, she is not Vol'jin....
  1. nekobaka's Avatar
    Not liking this idea that "small group content" is now being defined as a 10 player raid group.
  1. Mojo03's Avatar
    So much time wasting on all these panels.

    OW2 team, the only team that has their shit together apparently.
  1. Relapses's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nobleshield View Post
    Am I the only one who gets the impression they are trying to "innovate" encounters where they don't need to? Like we already saw it with the design of fights in Nathria, and now they talk about how Sylvanas is going to be have unique mechanics. Do they not understand that the game doesn't need to innovate like that? They should have kept what worked IMHO.
    Agreed. In fact, it's truly appalling that Blizzard continues to release expansions that aren't named "Wrath of the Lich King." Also, for some fucking reason this annoying thing called "the passage of time" refuses to allow it to remain the year 2010 for the rest of eternity. I'm writing my Senator a sternly worded letter addressing both of these incredible inconveniences as we speak!

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Doffen View Post
    Ion says "never say never" in regards to the option of letting Horde and Alliance play together eventually

    Its coming :>
    In the course from BlizzCon 2019 to BlizzConline, Ion's response to this question has gone from "no" to "we don't have a solution" to "never say never." Personally, I think cross-faction group content is the last thing this game needs right now but there is only one actual solution to this problem so I don't understand why they're trying to be coy about it.
  1. Doffen's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by otaXephon View Post
    In the course from BlizzCon 2019 to BlizzConline, Ion's response to this question has gone from "no" to "we don't have a solution" to "never say never." Personally, I think cross-faction group content is the last thing this game needs right now but there is only one actual solution to this problem so I don't understand why they're trying to be coy about it.
    I don't care that much anymore, as in I gave up, but him saying never say never is a choice of words that should not be ignored. It would be nice to have the other half of my roster with my guild, now they are in my own guild with 2 of my other guildies characters in it. Having a divided player base in 2021 is kinda weird, it's an outdated concept and I think personally that it would revitalize the game to remove the barriers.

    I understand people that likes the factions and want them to stay like it is. But cross faction PvE wouldn't change that at all. A total merger of faction is something else entirely.
  1. topitopi's Avatar
    for those who watched, did they give any sense of a release date for 9.1 or for the Classic TBC pre-patch??
  1. huth's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Doffen View Post
    I understand people that likes the factions and want them to stay like it is. But cross faction PvE wouldn't change that at all. A total merger of faction is something else entirely.
    Not like WoW would even be the first game to have that. Opposing factions with players being able to group together anyway existed in MMOs before WoW even released, including some of its direct influences.

    Frankly, the worst part is that we already have cross-faction PvP through merc mode but for some reason cross-faction PvE is a big no-no.
  1. Doffen's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by huth View Post
    Not like WoW would even be the first game to have that. Opposing factions with players being able to group together anyway existed in MMOs before WoW even released, including some of its direct influences.

    Frankly, the worst part is that we already have cross-faction PvP through merc mode but for some reason cross-faction PvE is a big no-no.
    Yes, its one of the mysteries in the game for me. Why allow that for PvP(as in HORDE VS ALLIANCE) to help out on faction imbalances for PvP but not have that for PvE when they are indeed, as last seen in BfA working together story wise :P

    Btw, on a very unrelated note. I couldn't hear all of the Q&A because someone in the panel did not have Push To Talk and I just couldnt endure the sniffing and heavy breathing :P
  1. Swnem's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dejiko View Post
    So they talk about the imbalance between the factions requiring a "social" solution,
    doesn`t that more or less only include removing factions?

    Taking away or changing racials is more of a game mechanic change, they`ve also created the solution
    to the faction imbalance last expansion.
    In the Dazar`alor raid you got changed to a member of the other faction, seems rather obvious that would be
    one way for both factions to group up or raid together as.

    Though losing the visual distinction of your chosen race would be offputting, at least it can be done as they`ve demonstrated it.
    There`s also mercenary queueing for PvP, so they have the means to.
    People just want the gameplay barriers factions bring removed. It doesn't require removing the factions in lore.

    Like, we can all still choose horde or alliance and everything works the same except we can talk to each other and group/join the same guild like we are mercenaries. Our characters should be free to hang out with whoever they want. The language barrier itself is silly. All NPC's understand each other perfectly.
  1. Argorwal's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by huth View Post
    Not like WoW would even be the first game to have that. Opposing factions with players being able to group together anyway existed in MMOs before WoW even released, including some of its direct influences.

    Frankly, the worst part is that we already have cross-faction PvP through merc mode but for some reason cross-faction PvE is a big no-no.
    I think the difference is cross-faction PvP is fine through automated grouping and instancing where the entire aspect of the cross faction gameplay is enclosed in the BG.

    That is way different than grouping up with the other faction at any point in the game world.
  1. Sorrowseer's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Raugnaut View Post
    Can't fly between zones, so I'm guessing they will implement some sorta debuff that kills you, considering that you CAN glide between zones atm.
    I cannot fathom even now how I am supposed to care at all about the 'Jailor' he is literally a random who popped up and is 'evil' and I just don't... care.
  1. Argorwal's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sorrowseer View Post
    I cannot fathom even now how I am supposed to care at all about the 'Jailor' he is literally a random who popped up and is 'evil' and I just don't... care.
    Every character starts as a “random” that pops up.
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