BlizzCon 2016: Legion Interview with Chris Robinson and John Hight

Posted 2016/11/05 at 2:02 PM by perculia

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Interview SummaryWhat is the ideal schedule with mini-patches/big patches? Is the plan to deliver these mini patches consistently while developing a new expansion?

7.1 is a medium-sized patch - wanted that right on the heels of Legion.

7.2 is huge. but Blizzard wanted the medium patch for small goodies. We realized we didn’t have to save everything. We want to continue doing those little patches. We are no longer holding on to patches due to delay.

With mini-patches coming with more regularity, is there any chance we will see more mini-raids on the way like ToV?

Blizzard doubled down on dungeons and loves that format, it’s easy to get into and more dungeons will definitely be on the way.

In terms of raids - Tomb of Sargeras is a very large raid but we’ll keep an eye on user reception.

Given the tease about Argus in a future patch, can you say that Tomb of Sargeras will not be the final raid of Legion?

7.2 is NOT the final patch for Legion.

Details on Tomb of Sargeras specifically were not given.

Legion launch saw updated animations for melee classes - will casters be getting one an in upcoming patch?

Blizzard is working on it right now. They couldn’t revamp everything all at the same time - big scope.

Some amount of new animations for launch was good but they figured out how to separate out different parts of the revamp.

Can’t say “when” but the caster animations will be coming. Blizzard learned a lot from the combat animation revamp and is using those lessons for caster revamp.

Blizzard is using the class fantasy idea to inform the animation revamp. Eg - updated Elemental animations will draw upon the fantasy of pulling things out of the earth.

What is your favorite new model/asset to design What was the most fun artifact weapon model to design for 7.2?

Bear forms for Druids are exciting - they really wanted to help druids out. Using artifacts to help druid fantasy was huge.

The most fun Legion models to design were demons like Moarg and Ganarg. The machinery aspect from Burning Crusade was big but Blizzard wanted to get away from that into more of a magical elemental caster element. Redesigning how the Legion was envisioned was very rewarding, and high impact when you discover the Legion on the Broken Shore.

Artifacts - focusing on fewer weapons for every class, instead of having to design all those leveling/quest weapons was great and rewarding.

What about an artifact that changes boomkin form?What was the most challenging class mount to design for? What visual influences did you draw on for the mounts?

The rogue one was challenging (Chris plays a rogue!) - they got picky.

Blizzard wanted to make sure the artists had a connection to the mounts - each character team member helped design the mount for their class.

The rogue crow mount was originally on the Anzu model rig but they didn’t want it to feel like a reskin, so kept re-doing it until they got something they loved.

Ion said on Twitter that some mounts will change tints based on spec - like Shadow and Arcane. Any others you can tell us about? Can players further change the color of their class mounts?

There may be other ways to change the appearance.

When Blizzard creates new models, there are always other color variations that are unused; the design team likes finding ways to use these other colors.

They sounded enthusiastic about more tints!

Worgen and goblin model updates?

No specific date or that we’re definitively going to do it but it’s on the big list of stuff Blizzard thinks about.

Blizzard originally started out with those models as the bar but as usual they progressed beyond that with future models.

Blizzard didn't want to dumb future high-resolution models down so they progressed forward on the model revamp for other races.

Blizzard knows they have to address worgens and goblins but it's a balancing act.

What about new hairstyles?Are there upcoming plans to improve the process of acquiring legendary weapons?

7.1 adjusted the probability - players should have noticed that the drop rate improved.

No further plans to share yet; acquiring the legendary should be special.

Targeting farming is not coming quite yet. Blizzard likes the idea that you currently have a story behind where you found the drop.

What sort of rewards are from mini-holidays? How frequently should players expect holidays in game?

Not all will have rewards, some have none.

It’s a fun way for the team to express themselves, didn’t want to invest too much development time.

There is no meta achievement for completing all of the mini-holidays.

Will world bosses get scaled up like dungeons to remain relevant as the expansion progresses?Any cool rewards or loot coming from Brawler's Guild you can tellus about? Any particularly awesome shirts? What is the most fun boss?

For the art team, it's their "worst nightmare" when designers get the shackles off and create wacky bosses that might jar with the overall visual tone of the game.

Brawler's Guild is a lighthearted area that's a pressure release valve; put in goofy areas and see what people come up with.

Anything for other types of collectors, like battle pets?Why do some belt models cut off the bottom of the tabard while others do not?Will there be an option to show full tabard or cut off tabards?How do you draw the line on transmog? Eg why are the Hallow's End hats not transmoggable?

If you can mog everything then holidays wouldn't feel as special; you should look forward to equipping something at a certain time.

Professions weren’t discussed at the panel - are there any updates in store? What is the deal with Nomi.

New recipes are coming for sure.

More details will be discussed in a panel later today.

Do you work with the teams from other franchises to coordinate content updates? Eg Karazhan for Hearthstone, Varian for Heroes.

Blizzard often discuss things across teams, collectively.

Sometiems one team will bring it up and coincidentally they were just re-doing it in WoW. Karazhan was a coincidence.

There was lots of coordination with Heroes for the recent additions; specifically Blizzard wanted Varian's Broken Shore cinematic look used in Heroes.

Any chance of Gadgetzan getting a revamp in WoW with the Hearthstone adventure?

Blizzard likes having creativity and different ideas happen in other games; it's ok if Gadgetzan is different in Hearthstone and WoW.

They were pretty enthusiastic about our ideas that a Gadgetzan revamp could tie in with a Goblin model revamp!

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Comment by DrJeanGreyThe Mage mount is absolutely lame as hell. Not even an elemenal type thing like Shaman, not even a manasaber or something animal? I'd ride a gd broom before a disc for a class mount. It's additionally ridic because I already got a disc mount from a Pandaria faction grind. Pretty unhappy about it for real.Comment by jjanchanI got my first (and thus far only) legendary in a regular Mythic. I'll probably remember where I got it for a long time, because of how exciting it was when it dropped! I'm guessing that was what they were aiming for with this RNG system.

That being said, I can't say there is much of a story to tell...Comment by puglifei cant believe they added tomb of sargeras as a raid! i cant wait for it to be out so me and my buds could do a really cool raid where we might fight a fallen titan!Comment by LiukkariI'm only hunter who think almost every new bow and gun look garbage? Don't get even started with the Xbows... -.-"Comment by LibertIt would be good, if updated Silvermoon and Exodar and their locations.Comment by ShadowofRavensI'd love to see a model update for hyenasComment by TosuroWoW(...) they really wanted to help druids out. Using artifacts to help druid fantasy was huge.Comment by EZ3JamesThis is a lot of good information. I like it all.Comment by AddyReally excited to see what kind of different casting animations will be added in the future. Should spice up the look of combat for ranged a lot.Comment by UmershvlyatelThe scaling difficulty, gear etc. feels kinda nice and in-place on one hand. On the other it's quite shaggy at times, with rewards being underwhelming and most world mobs getting one-shot in 860+ gearComment by JuggeroneSo far 7.2 looks promising. Plenty of new stuff and I kinda like that they're looking into talents and artifacts and such, trying to keep it balanced while bringing up new stuff (traits, talents) and FLYING! <3 Also I think the idea of having small patches (e.g 7.1.5) with little content here and there is great.Comment by Geckoogreat interviewComment by Aralndai find it interesting that both hearthstone karazan and wow karazan came out as a coincidence rather than planned! I would love to see the gadgetzstan revamp like they did for hearthstone!Comment by jimaras5690we want 7.4Comment by jjanchan
Will world bosses get scaled up like dungeons to remain relevant as the expansion progresses?
World bosses and dungeons, yes.
Comment by nikispainNew hairstyles yeah :DComment by busterbob42Tag BlizzCon 2016Comment by npekrovic89great work blizzard great things are comeing soon :)Comment by JummiI can't wait to see when and which specific WoW services will be purchasable using WoW tokens. I'm glad they will be integrating it into the game. I already like being able to purchase subscription time with in-game gold.Comment by PwncessI am interested in seeing what fights come with Brawler's guild. They've always been very challenging so I never got to finish the last rank I needed for the pervious season so I'm determined to get better this time around.

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