Blizzard Interview - Allied Races Available with Pre-Purchase of Battle for Azeroth

Posted 2018/01/30 at 1:10 PM by Serrinn

Battle for Azeroth's Pre-Order Has Started! Pre-ordering Battle for Azeroth unlocks access to the Allied Races!

Interview Highlights

Void Elves, Nightborne, Lightforged Draenei, Highmountain Tauren are available to play with Battle for Azeroth pre-purchase.

You get a mount for completing each Allied Race recruitment scenario. This mount can be used on any character of that faction. This also requires Battle for Azeroth pre-purchase to access.

One of the controversial customization options was Highmountain Tauren moose horns!

The extra Heritage Armor tints and matching Void Elf weapons are for NPCs, but they could be added for players in the future.

There will be more quests coming to Silithus to wrap up the Legion story in the future.

Dark Iron Dwarves and Zandalari are coming later in Battle for Azeroth and will have different types of recruitment requirements.

The order of creating an Allied Race goes: Complete Unlock Requirements > pre-purchase Battle for Azeroth > complete recruitment scenario from city Embassy > roll an Allied Race on a server with an existing 110.

Venturebeat

Blizzard Entertainment will open orders for World of Warcraft’s next expansion, Battle for Azeroth, later today.

The standard digital version of Battle for Azeroth will cost $50. A deluxe edition will cost $70 and include in-game items for World of Warcraft and other Blizzard games: Hearthstone, Overwatch, StarCraft II, and Heroes of the Storm. A boxed collector’s edition is also coming, and Blizzard will details on it at a later date.

We're also datamining all the Collector's Edition rewards, check them out here!Allied Races AppearancesAny customization options that weren't planned or added later based on feedback?

Moose horns were controversial - some designers didn't like this idea. Someone linked the blue and yellow Troll Bear Form Druid and said: "this is okay but the Moose horns aren't??" We thought that was kind of funny.

What about Nightborne hair colors, some black/grey ones were added later during the PTR?

Those were planned ahead, just not implemented at first.

Any special tech or programs needed for customization of Allied Races like glowing hair tips?

Ya, we had to get a special tech for how the full body tattoos shine on the Nightborne. Same with the Entropic Embrace - it's different from Shadow Priest's Voidform, since it's Just their skin color and not mounts, or armor so that required new tech as well.

Confirmation - do they have hair tendrils with the animations all the time or just in Entropic Embrace?

That's always on. When Entropic Embrace procs, hair and skin changes.

What was the hardest Allied Race to design from an art angle?

Nightborne was the most difficult - mostly because we had to up the fidelity of the facial animations when they became player characters. Had to move some bones around! The data perspective also was difficult - lots of back-end data converting NPCs to PCs.

When the heritage armor was datamined there were different tints for the armor, will those be seen in the future? Any matching weapons planned?

Possible we may open them up to players but for now, they are NPC only. The artists were super into them and just made those extra colors. We did make matching weapons for Void Elves but they are currently NPC only. We'll probably find a way to award them to players in the future.

Any discussion about more customization for the base races?

We're always looking at updating the base races but for Battle for Azeroth all the art effort was put into allied races and making them as cool as they can be.

Does the Druid class mount have new color options for Highmountain Tauren and Zandalari?

I don't think we updated that because the Highmountain Tauren has it's own class mount, same with Zandalari.

Any other info on customization?

Zandalari Flight Form is a pterodactyl!

What is your favourite customization option for Allied Races?

Void Elf hair styles - quite detailed - purple/pinkish with void tendrils!

Leveling in Patch 7.3.51-60 Enchanting profession reagents were simplified, will something similar happen for other professions?

No plans yet but Enchanting was very cluttered and needed cleaning up. We're keeping a close eye on the others. Lots of exciting stuff coming for professions for 8.0! Leveling related.

Do you think that the rewards and incentives for leveling are good right now?

We've looked a lot into this - we think they are pretty good right now. We do want people to play through storylines - which wasn't happening when zones were a 5 level band. We then tried to make one big reward at the end of the zone as an incentive but that didn't really work, so how they are now is pretty good.

Do you have any data on which zones are become repopularized after the changes?

It's a little early for data but I know for sure anecdotally that people are doing zones they haven't played through in the past i.e. Eastern Plaguelands which was difficult to play through in the past. People discovering the awesome questlines like in Stranglethorn Vale!

Would heroic dungeons be part of the leveling scaling later on? Some dungeons are heroic-only.

Potentially - we made the decision not to scale them for now but yes it's a bit of a shame they don't scale since they are heroic only (like Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub).

If leveling feels too slow, are there any plans to tweak leveling after the RAF announcement?

We're keeping an eye on it - can't talk about the plans yet but we see and hear your feedback on the issue.

Has your philosophy on heirlooms changed - more or toned down?

No plans to tone them down - they were recently expanded to get to 110. But we're always looking at them.

Can you share any timeline on the 7.3.5 quest schedule? Silithus's story is still unfinished - when will we be getting Seething Shore?

There are parts to be revealed, yes - "where it makes sense to do so" is when we'll get Seething Shore. Beyond that, we still need to finish artifact storyline. Not the exactly weekly structure we had in 7.2 but there's still quests coming to wrap up Legion "in the next several weeks".

What was the decision to unlock Silithus via defeating Argus? After ToS, the world changed for everyone.

Made sense to do so from a lore perspective because of how drastic the change was and we wanted to continue it from the boss killing cutscene.

What is your favorite zone to level in after the changes?

Definitely Eastern Plaguelands - the storyline there is BIG - Argent Dawn, fall of the Lich King and the post-LK story - told through 2 junior paladins who want to join the crusade so it has a personal perspective.

General Allied Race InfoWill Allied Races be introduced in a staggered manner?

No - you complete a recruitment scenario, then they are unlocked (Lightforged, Highmountain, Void Elf, Nightborne). You've been introduced through Legion, that was the "staggered" intro.

How were the unlock requirements decided?

Thematically - we wanted them to feel special - achieve something to earn their trust! That drove our decisions. We do recognize that it takes effort so that's why we wanted to release them early with pre-purchase of Battle for Azeroth.

How did it feel to make the Allied Race scenarios and quests where there are new faction lines and conflicts, etc, after a whole expansion of everyone working together against the Legion?

It's cathartic after all the hand holding and working together! Nice to be reminded of why we're proud of our factions and that means inter-faction fighting!

Lots of discussion about Nightborne joining the Horde. Thoughts on that and Thalyssra's grudge?

From far away you'd think they'd join the Alliance because of how close they are to the Night Elves (same with Void Elves and Horde) but that's not how it turns out. That's what's cool about the unlock scenarios, you'll find out the specific reasons WHY these factions and faction leaders make those decisions - a cool story twist!

4 Allied Races are available with the pre-order - what about the Dark Iron Dwarves and Zandalari? What's the release schedule? Recruitment requirements?

They will definitely have different recruitment requirements but definitely in the Battle for Azeroth time frame just not at launch.

Any further comments?

Even if you don't want to play an Allied Race, it's still worth doing the recruitment quests to unlock the MOUNTS for those races - they can be used on any character of the same faction.

Timeline: Unlock requirements - your max level character does the recruiting scenario - that opens the mount - then if you have BFA pre-purchased then you can create the level 20 Allied race?

No - you must purchase BFA to do the recruitment scenario but correct, you must have the requirements done as well before you can do that.

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Comment by theRealGankeddAllied races!~

that's why we wanted to release them early with pre-purchase of Battle for Azeroth.Comment by ThralljrYES! It's about TIME!Comment by aquatiaristocratPRE-ORDER TODAY PLEASE!Comment by linkhyruleGuess if you want access to the allied races early you're out of luck if you pre-order the physical collectors editions =(Comment by Kainserplease let me preorder today, need my new nightborne wifeComment by offspinnerSo the non-troll/dwarf allied race recruitment scenario goes live with the BfA pre-order?Comment by Stige91I don't understand one thing, i can have my allied once i pre purchase BFA or after some weeks i pre purchase bFA?Comment by perculiaI don't understand one thing, i can have my allied once i pre purchase BFA or after some weeks i pre purchase bFA?Comment by GaronjaSo Zandalari and Dark Iron not at launch? Wow...Comment by Tilrathe sad part is I haven't gotten to exalted on the argus rep due to taking my time (also I hate the place) and only doing the emissary for them when they are up XD. So the only ones that are going to be unlocked for me are highmountain and nightborne. Man, I s*ck!Comment by Stige91ok clear, so if the pre order launch today or tomorrow ill be able to play allied from today or tomorrow? ok awesome :DComment by jaq1010So Zandalari and Dark Iron not at launch? Wow...Comment by ZulGazargIt's funny to see how many people keep being wrong as I read this site over time.

I told a guy that allied races would be playable in 7.3.5 on these very forums, and he argued with me.

"Allied races will not be until a later patch!"

Wrong.

"They won't be doing preorders on Tuesday!"

Wrong.

"They won't let us play allied races yet"

Wrong.

"BfA is hardly finished! It won't be for 8 months or more before it is released!"

Just waiting for these folks to be wrong too...Comment by omedon666How did it feel to make the Allied Race scenarios and quests where there are new faction lines and conflicts, etc, after a whole expansion of everyone working together against the Legion?

It's cathartic after all the hand holding and working together! Nice to be reminded of why we're proud of our factions and that means inter-faction fighting!

Oh Piss off, Blizz, your mature and legitimately worthwhile players don't actually hate each other. :P

Still, though, happy about Void elves sooner than later! :)Comment by Obsidious707the sad part is I haven't gotten to exalted on the argus rep due to taking my time (also I hate the place) and only doing the emissary for them when they are up XD. So the only ones that are going to be unlocked for me are highmountain and nightborne. Man, I s*ck!Comment by GaronjaSo Zandalari and Dark Iron not at launch? Wow...Comment by NyarlothNot really excited for the horde allied race mounts, already have two mana sabers and a moose mount, the void hawkstrider is definitely my favorite but I don't play ally so there goes thatComment by scopelif the brazilian price for the expansion is what i think it is(200BRL) it will cost us 1.7M gold to buy it :(

EDIT: Prices out 139,90BRL yayComment by TurtleBluewell okay then next BIG question for Blizz : How do I do to unlock the allied race before launch and get a collector edition? Because so far people purchasing collector edition have been punished ! (I.E. Sesam for WoD before the release, same with Legion and DH access)Comment by omedon666well okay then next BIG question for Blizz : How do I do to unlock the allied race before launch and get a collector edition? Because so far people purchasing collector edition have been punished ! (I.E. Sesam for WoD before the release, same with Legion and DH access)

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