Forum:BlizzCon 2017 questions

Hey Wowpedians,

I'll be representing Wowpedia at BlizzCon with a press badge again this year and I'll be trying to get some of YOUR questions answered.

What short and succinct questions would you like me to ask the dev team? I can't guarantee an answer to all questions, as that largely depends on what devs I can talk to.

I have some guaranteed Q&A time with the gameplay devs, so I can likely get one or two of those questions answered.

Leave your responses below! -- k_d3 20:46, 25 October 2017 (UTC)


 * "Why didn't you approve this question?"-- 20:52, 25 October 2017 (UTC)


 * "Will trolls finally get the paladin class, making them the best race... more so than they already are" 21:14, 25 October 2017 (UTC)


 * "Gameplay wise, who is officially leading the darkspears and please don't say its the player" 21:14, 25 October 2017 (UTC)


 * "Is it possible to get playable night elf paladins? Something like "Knights of Elune" seems a natural fit, and there's even precedent now with Delas and Nerus Moonfang." -- Dark T Zeratul (talk) 22:57, 25 October 2017 (UTC)


 * "Legacy servers when? If I want to experience the Second War I can still boot up Warcraft II, but there are no options for me if I want to meet Edwin Vancleef and Katrana Prestor again." Xporc (talk) 07:04, 26 October 2017 (UTC)


 * "Why wasn't Jaina present in the cinematic in which Varian died when she was fighting alongside him against the demons in front of the Tomb?
 * RE COOBRA: It's Rokhan, obviously. Mordecay (talk) 19:06, 27 October 2017 (UTC)


 * "Are there any plans to modify the two-hour refund timer so that when we buy a piece of gear purely for transmog - for instance, a tabard - it doesn't have to sit in our inventory for two hours before we can vendor it?" -- Dark T Zeratul (talk) 23:35, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
 * This was dealt with in Patch 7.2.5, under the Appearances section: "Favoriting an appearance in your Appearance Collection will now soulbind the item granting you the appearance." -- Alayea (talk / contrib) 16:23, 3 November 2017 (UTC)


 * "We've seen Thorim, Hodir, and Mimiron all active during the Legion's invasion, but Freya has been conspicuously absent. What is she up to?" -- Dark T Zeratul (talk) 20:26, 1 November 2017 (UTC)


 * "Who is the final boss of this expansion?" -Sirsouls (talk) 21:40, 3 November 2017 (UTC)


 * "Faction war storylines in the past have sometimes felt a bit stagnant because the game world necessitates the status quo of playable content being more or less maintained. Will we see this shaken up in a meaningful way in Battle for Azeroth?" -- Dark T Zeratul (talk) 22:06, 3 November 2017 (UTC)


 * "Do you plan to remove/overhaul any Eastern Kingdoms/Kalimdor zones like Cataclysm did, or will it all be handled through phasing and scenarios?" Xporc (talk) 23:46, 3 November 2017 (UTC)


 * "What's going on with the blood elves and the draenei? Will them standing alone on a continent now mostly controlled by the opposite faction play into the story at all?" Falsetti (talk) 00:00, 4 November 2017 (UTC)


 * "At the end of Warlords of Draenor, Yrel says they will be there if we need them. Are there any plans for her to make good on her promise?" -- Dark T Zeratul (talk) 03:30, 4 November 2017 (UTC)


 * "Antorus isn't even out yet, and I'm curious about what's about to happen in the zone Silithus. There's been no Old Gods (its many factions on top of that) in this upcoming expansion cinematic. Was that a red herring or is there something missing like Yogg-Saron taking control his pawn Sylvanas Windrunner?" -- Darksora110 (talk) 10:38, 3 November 2017 (UTC)

Interview overview
Hey folks. Here's my write-up of the interview. I and a few other community sites were interviewing with Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus).

This is a copy/paste from my notes during the writeup. I'll clean them up and fill out the few questions I missed when I have time. -- k_d3 18:10, 4 November 2017 (UTC)

Q&A

 * Do you plan to remove/overhaul any Eastern Kingdoms/Kalimdor zones like Cataclysm did, or will it all be handled through phasing and scenarios?
 * Traditional during level-up, but once you hit 110 they will change the world.


 * What's the source of Battle for Azeroth?
 * When you started, you were working for the tauren of Mulgore or saving Princess in Elwynn. Right now, in Legion, they turned it up to 11, then 12, and 13. Here were are fighting leaders of the Burning Legion and Titans and at some point we need to go back to remembering who we're actually fighting for. When we're being all high and mighty, when loss occurs, we may not actually be all that empathetic about it.


 * Kul Tiras, Zandalar. What can players expect ot find when they get there
 * People, cultural stories. How do you tell a story about big naval, sea-fearing countries? How do you build a city? Show the seedy underbelly?
 * Also, how is a completely pristine troll hub city going to look? They bury their gods in a city of full gold.


 * Legion content pacing has generally been good. What's the time-gap going to be between Antorus and BfA?
 * Devs finally happy with the pacing of content. Intend to continue that
 * No exact date yet, but in 2018.
 * Old world WoW bosses coming during WoW's 13th anniversary, dropping old transmog, tokens
 * Non-zero story content in 7.3.5


 * Artifact weapons?
 * Azerite armor is supposed to kinda take the place of the choice system, mini-talents, new abilities, etc. So it'll be on there instead of the weapon


 * Reward systems, all about the loot? Islands and warfronts? Where do they slot in? LFR? Heroic?
 * Dunno yet. But in Legion, they give a reason to do emissaries and WQs and mythics. Same intent for Islands and Warfronts. Don't want you to level past it


 * Professions?
 * Not ready to say yet. But expect a continuation of progressive profession world quests and similar


 * Role-agnostic gameplay? Expansions?
 * World as a toy, consumables to change gameplay. Things have changed since scenarios in Mists… What if you find a cool vendor on the docks that gives different awesome buffs each day. What would make a cool mechanic for three tanks?

Vendor consumables will be usable in islands, warfronts, and the open world


 * Difficulty levels for islands? Just health? AI? What about PvP? How difficult will the NPCs be in PvP difficulty?
 * Lot of knobs to turn. Can make the AI much more mean. One example in testing, poly the healer, stun the tank, kite the dps. During that, the other two members are off getting resources and rewards.
 * So harder hitting, but also significantly harder and better tactics.
 * Some events may possibly only show up on higher difficulties. Maybe mythic+-style replayability?
 * For PvP, there will be a right value. Depending on how much resources there are, it's mostly going to be on how much you're fighting the other players. The NPCs will likely be less effective.


 * PvP templating?
 * Undecided yet. Considered having all PvP talents active in a PvE scenario, but that dramatically affects player balance, so probably not going that far


 * WQs in BfA. Lessons from legion?
 * We like WQs, think it's cool. Sort of a unique challenge this time, two continents. Want WQs up on both. Need to be able to either do remixes of the other faction's quests and also big faction stuff. Tweaks with the scheduler to make sure they don't repeat Nazak the Fiend's respawn timer.

Some changes to the overall style. Warden Towers, Kirin Tor not going to happen again, but similar concepts


 * Legion Companion App in BfA?
 * We like it. Don't have any set plans for things coming yet, but we like it.


 * Class halls?
 * Getting left behind in Legion. Taking on your faction stuff instead. No replacement in BFA, you'll be focused in the new capital city


 * Going to be quests explaining the story about leaving the class hall and the artifact?
 * Yes. Don't want to spoil, but there will be a capstone quest series.


 * Professions and Islands?
 * Yah, but nothing to tie down just yet


 * Azerite caps? How to prevent spamming islands for 48 hours straight?
 * Dunno yet. Emissaries were a great way to take a bite out of WQs.
 * Island expeditions are not necessarily about winning, but gaining resources. If you get 5k out of 6k, that's a big enough win. Maybe a bonus if you do win


 * Emissaries in BfA?
 * Yes


 * Catch-up if you're a few expansions behind?
 * New continents fun and playable. WoW is much more accessible than it ever was. Boosts with expansion purchases, Warfronts, Islands, all that makes it easy to catch up


 * Legion - once you get Concordance, you're basically done.
 * Azerite armor trying to avoid that. As you get pieces, you can find abilities to change how you play.


 * Once you get enough Azerite, and you unlock all the rings, what's the purpose to keep progressing?
 * For instance, heroic helm unlocks at 100, 120, 140. Mythic helm may unlock at 120, 140, 160


 * Raid buffs are back in the demo.
 * Nothing in the demo may make it to the game. However, group buffs/utility are something they want to bring back. What's the opposite? Pruning? Growing?


 * Difficulty settings in Warfronts?
 * Purely PvE, not PvPvE. Difficulty levels not quite nailed down just yet. Try to avoid the feeling of being frustrated by your fellow players' choices?
 * Group queueing? Not decided, but that'd be cool


 * Number of Warfront scenarios?
 * Right now, just Stromgarde, eventually want to expand. But in that Warfront, different tech trees that the enemy commander can choose, different tactics. What if a goblin vendor shows up with new consumables that lets you attack in a different way? Or maybe Saurfang shows up and just cleaves a path through the opposition


 * Legendaries were a bit contentious in Legion. Azerite equivalents?
 * Felt bad needing to have a Legendary with a buff for your class that you couldn't play your class without that piece. Azerite armor is intended to be that source of class-changing item, though.


 * Communites/bnet social. Seems like less emphasis to be in guilds, communities seems to be a replacement now
 * Def don't want to replace guilds. That sense of community is important. But things are different now, Discord, voice chats, etc. Nice to make that much easier if that can all be done in game.
 * Goal is that you can be in as many communities that you want to be in


 * What are you (Muffinus) most excited for?
 * Islands. This is almost a roguelike with the procedurally generated storytelling. So much cool tech there.


 * Lifespan of WoW?
 * We'll keep making content for WoW as long as there are still players playing


 * Pet Battle?
 * Yes, going to keep expanding dungeons. No ideas yet, but it's definitely coming
 * Pet battle WQs are cool, that may keep going on too
 * Plenty of uprez'd pet models, including a new big fat fluffy cat gorging itself on fish


 * Artifact fishing rod?
 * No news yet


 * End-game raiding changes?
 * Nothing too nailed down, but what's going on is largely expected to continue


 * Stat squish?
 * Numbers are pretty significantly smaller this point. Second time now, but way less concerned.


 * Flying?
 * Pathfinder worked out. Likely going to continue that system


 * Legion really focused on class identity. Seeing that going forward?
 * Legion gave them the ability to focus on you being the leader of your class. Now, you're a leader of the faction.


 * Tortollans came from Hearthstone, how much of that are we going to see in BfA?
 * They're there, no spoilers


 * What's going on with the blood elves and the draenei? Will them standing alone on a continent now mostly controlled by the opposite faction play into the story at all?
 * Though the big fortifcations have fallen, it's not like the Horde are completely landless. They still hold Silverpine, Southshore/Hillsbrad, and Quel'Thalas. The whole point of the warfront in Arathi is to keep the bloodelves from taking Undercity back.


 * What about old world WQs?
 * Not really. Right now focused on the two new continents, giving you a reason to visit the other faction's continent


 * Legion Invasion style invasions in the old world?
 * That'd be cool, but nothing planned. Warfronts are supposed to give that feel for now


 * More player customization?
 * Somewhat. Allied races are the source of most of the customization this time around. It's always a function of how much time the devs have

Looking forward to other cool things like different body shapes, like a bigger, bulkier human that can take on an orc


 * Holiday events/micro-holidays? Tweaking holidays for factional combat?
 * No definitive plans


 * How are allied races introduced?
 * Some of that unlocking can be done right now. For instance, maybe start getting rep with Highmountain tauren now. Eventually, you'll go through a specialized story on how you bring them into the hold


 * The fluffy cat?
 * Both big fluffy cat with a big body and big face, and also a big fluffy face with a regular cat body