Shadowlands Patch 9.1 New Interviews Roundup

[Stoy]

Shadowlands Patch 9.1 New Interviews Roundup
Several WoW dev interviews have popped up as we near the release of Patch 9.1. Here are a few of the highlights:

AusGamers Interview with Ion Hazzikostas
AusGamers sat down with Ion Hazzikostas to discuss Chains of Domination and TBC Classic.

• Story
  
  • The Sylvanas encounter is on a scale that exceeds a vast majority of what has ever been tried in past raids.
  • Ion looks forward to seeing the community discuss and dissect what is next for Sylvanas after the events in Chains of Domination.
  • The specific details of the patch, such as twists and turns, raid bosses, and even some major narrative moments came together at the end of last year and the beginning of this year.
• Torghast
  
  • The problems with Torghast were not easily picked up in the beta because players on the beta were there to simply check out Torghast and didn't have the specific goals in mind that come in a live environment.
  • The team wanted to restore some of the challenge taken from Torghast with the nerfs, but also make it more accessible baseline.
• Korthia
  
  • Korthia holds the relics and mysteries that hint at the origins of the Shadowlands and everything we have seen.
  • Korthia will begin to unravel secrets such as the origins of the mysterious waystone used to escape the Maw, and where Oribos comes from.
• Transmog
  
  • Mixing and matching the transmogs of each individual shoulder piece was a much larger task to implement than just hiding one shoulder.
• Burning Crusade Classic
  
  • The closer look at the community in Classic informs some of their thinking about modern game design and how to recapture some of what may have been lost along the way, while retaining the upsides.
  • Internal conversations revolve around how the team can reinforce and reintroduce the mechanisms that lead to the formation of new friendships and connections and rely on the importance of those.

MGG Interview with Steve Danuser and Morgan Day
MGG sat down with Steve Danuser and Morgan Day to discuss Patch 9.1

• The team wanted to focus on the quality of this patch and made it to a top priority to release it with the quality players have come to expect from them, even with the few complications caused over the past year.
• It is purposeful that we have yet to see Nathanos in the Shadowlands, and a reference to this plotline will take place in one of the cutscenes that has yet to be seen.
• The team wanted to show that the power of the Night Warrior has been unleashed before by mortals, and that the magic of Elune is known on other worlds as well.
• The brokers and Ethereals have a lot in common, but are different entities. This doesn't mean that they can't have any connections in the future.
• A note in Tazavesh mentions a possible seventh cosmic force. Time will tell whether the scribe has lost their mind. or if it leads to something more substaintial!
• The book "Grimoire of the Shadowlands and Beyond" releasing July 14th will give context to the mysteries of the Warcraft universe through the eyes of a denizen of the Shadowlands.
• The team believes that the item level increase of conquest gear while engaged in PvP mixed with the weak potency of Shards of Dominance without their major bonus should still give PvP players a deinite advantage in PvP content.

GamerHubTV Interview - Unlocking Flying, Torghast Changes, and More
GamerHubTV interviewed Jeremy Feasel on many things coming in Patch 9.1

• Mega dungeons allow the team to dive into a different space separate from the main story of the expansion.
• Tazevesh offers a chance to give unique art models as rewards you wouldn't find in the rest of Shadowlands.
• If you have kept up with Shadowlands content so far, you will be able to unlock flying in week 2 of Chains of Domination simply by completing chapter 3 of the main story campaign.
• The new Torghast system is meant to feel meaningful, but also reward doing well in Torghast.
• We will actually smash Kel'thuzad's phylactery this time, so he is likely gone for good after his fight in the raid.
• You will find out the fate of Sylvanas at the end of the raid, but will also wonder what is coming next.
• The team is always looking for feedback on current Mythic + affixes and which ones the community would like to see cycled out.
• The new mythic + rating system was meant to make players aware of it without the use of an addon, and then create a positive experience around it such as giving incentives to run with low score players.

ForbiddenPlanetTV Interview - Folk and Fairy Tales of Azeroth
ForbiddenPlanetTV discusses Folk and Fairy Tales of Azeroth with the devs!

• The team fell in love with the idea of diving into the stories of people who inhabit Azeroth outside of the larger narrative.
• Steve wanted to explore how a dragon chooses their humanoid form with the short story involving Chromie and what it would mean for a male dragon to choose a female form. It is meant to show that the world of Azeroth has love and acceptance and an opportunity for people to see themselves represented in this world.

[Ealyssa]

You will find out the fate of Sylvanas at the end of the raid, but will also wonder what is coming next.

So she doesn't die (re-die ?). That's allready a nice spoiler...

[Varodoc]

Of course Sylvanas won't die, the character is hot and thus sells videogames. Having such a character around is always valuable for marketing purposes.

One thing is for certain, I don't want to hear any Sylvanas fanboy complaining ever again. The Night elves were literally exterminated just so that Sylvanas could have her redemption arc after 15 years of crimes and atrocities, so eat your redemption arc and be quiet

[classypancakes]

"The problems with Torghast were not easily picked up in the beta because players on the beta were there to simply check out Torghast and didn't have the specific goals in mind that come in a live environment."

Uh-huh...it's the player's fault...sure...

[McNeil]

Its so hard to get excited for this. At least they picked up some things that made Classic great.

[gcsmith]

"The problems with Torghast were not easily picked up in the beta because players on the beta were there to simply check out Torghast and didn't have the specific goals in mind that come in a live environment."

Uh-huh...it's the player's fault...sure...

They're not saying it's the players fault. They're simply saying there is feedback they didn't get because context changes feedback. People weren't playing it in live, and so that context wasn't there.

[Mouri Kogorou]

The problems with Torghast were not easily picked up in the beta because players on the beta were there to simply check out Torghast and didn't have the specific goals in mind that come in a live environment.

this is funny.

[Freedom]

Steve wanted to explore how a dragon chooses their humanoid form with the short story involving Chromie and what it would mean for a male dragon to choose a female form. It is meant to show that the world of Azeroth has love and acceptance and an opportunity for people to see themselves represented in this world.

Look, this whole thing is nice and all, but anyone pretending these moves made by most or just some companies are anything but modern pandering to drum up business is hopelessly naive. I don't think this is true of EVERY company, but I bet if you threw quite a few companies back in time where racism or discrimination against LGBTQ was in vogue, they'd be slavening to please the "past" consumer nonetheless.

[Hyrja]

"The team wanted to focus on the quality of this patch and made it to a top priority to release it with the quality players have come to expect from them, even with the few complications caused over the past year."

Yea.. Well see how this turned out in a couple days.

[Zig Zug]

Trying not be a cyncical asshole...but what a joke product this game has become - it's hard to find these interviews anything outright laughable.

"wanted to focus on the quality" ----- as opposed to what?

And slyvannas has been a mediocre presence in the game before WoW. I'm really glad to see them anchoring their franchise on a trash character, supported by trash fanbois.

[GR8GODZILLAGOD]

Look, this whole thing is nice and all, but anyone pretending these moves made by most or just some companies are anything but modern pandering to drum up business is hopelessly naive. I don't think this is true of EVERY company, but I bet if you threw quite a few companies back in time where racism or discrimination against LGBTQ was in vogue, they'd be slavening to please the "past" consumer nonetheless.

Compare their American twitter avatar and their middle east avatar right now and you'll get a pretty good idea where they lie

[caervek]

Ion looks forward to seeing the community discuss and dissect what is next for Sylvanas after the events in Chains of Domination.

Her funeral hopefully, please don't tell me Blizz are going to try and "fix" one of the most irredeemable characters in WoW history? >.>

Thinking they could get players to like Garrosh long after that ship had sailed was dumb, but this would be next level stupid.

Mixing and matching the transmogs of each individual shoulder piece was a much larger task to implement than just hiding one shoulder.

So, why didn't they just save time and give us a hide left/right shoulder option if that required much less effort and accomplishes pretty much the same thing lol.

[GR8GODZILLAGOD]

Her funeral hopefully, please don't tell me Blizz are going to try and "fix" one of the most irredeemable characters in WoW history? >.>

Thinking they could get players to like Garrosh long after that ship had sailed was dumb, but this would be next level stupid.



So, why didn't they just save time and give us a hide left/right shoulder option if that required much less effort and accomplishes pretty much the same thing lol.

It's not though? Having two separate shoulder transmogs is not accomplishing the same thing as just hiding one.

[Thelxi]

They're definitely not pandering to me that's for sure.

[SirFinlot]

"Ion looks forward to seeing the community discuss and dissect what is next for Sylvanas after the events in Chains of Domination."

If you dissect a turd, it's still a turd.

[luciano]

How does this clown still have his job? He should have been escorted off the premises within minutes of finishing this interview.

[Kralljin]

Look, this whole thing is nice and all, but anyone pretending these moves made by most or just some companies are anything but modern pandering to drum up business is hopelessly naive. I don't think this is true of EVERY company, but I bet if you threw quite a few companies back in time where racism or discrimination against LGBTQ was in vogue, they'd be slavening to please the "past" consumer nonetheless.

The funny thing about this whole Chromie thing is that there is a line in HotS where she explains that "Chronormu" isn't a male name but that mortals "clearly don't understand the intricacies of dragon culture".

[ilgynoth]

I think I should create a new "SHE WONT DIE - CONFIRMED" Thread

[Bee76]

The Night elves were literally exterminated

Last time i logged in, there were way to many of them soo uhm no. Nothing changed.

[Sorrowseer]

The funny thing about this whole Chromie thing is that there is a line in HotS where she explains that "Chronormu" isn't a male name but that mortals "clearly don't understand the intricacies of dragon culture".

Is chromie being a dude a new thing recently or?