BlizzCon 2018 Interview with Ion Hazzikostas and Chris Robinson - Azshara Raises Nazjatar?

PTR Posted 2018/11/05 at 7:08 PM by perculia

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Wowhead's DiscordNews WebhookHeritage Armor

Tauren were chosen for the next Horde Heritage Armor as it made sense thematically—we just completed the storyline for the Highmountain Tauren Allied Race.

Yes, the Tauren Heritage Armor cloak slot is a totem. Blizzard can get creative when designing Heritage Armor for a specific race, across armor types.

With Heritage Armor now being created for both Allied Races and older races, we could see more Heritage sets in the future. No timeline, but armor could be added when it feels appropriate.

No specific plans to use the original Night Elf armor, now worn by many elven NPCs in Darkshore, for Heritage Armor—but if people respond well to a piece of armor, then Blizzard can take that as a starting point for later designs reminiscent of it.

Night ElvesTerror of Darkshore

Definitely. This is an opportunity to dive deep into Night Elf culture and their champions. As seen in the Terror of Darkshore cinematic, they are feared by the Horde for a reason. They are in touch with nature—but don’t mess with them if you mess with their people or their homes. Exciting to see Tyrande move into a new chapter of her story as she moves into a new role as a Night Warrior. We’re building foundations for future stories.

Sentinel's Moonglaive

Blizzard understands the desire to have a weapon of that look, maybe something Blizzard can do down the line is add a weapon with that silhouette for other classes.

Artifacts

To some extent, the transmog in Legion was a solution to “how do we give a player one weapon for the entire expansion? How do you customize your look with one weapon?” In BFA, we have a wide variety of weapons from many sources, as well as looks to acquire. Cosmetic rewards as a form of recognition and progression for different play styles is one that makes sense to continue with. Being able to look at someone and go “oh wow! They must be great to earn that look” is valuable.

No real specifics on how the Heart of Azeroth could get “beefier.” Something they are working through, several potential design options. They’ll get into more details as Rise of Azshara gets closer.

Blizzard is always looking to raise the bar. They agree that the CM sets had cool visual procs and animations—they want to use that visual “wow” effect to make an impact, and putting it on every set would feel overkill.

Rise of Azshara

Being underwater for long periods of time is not very fun. However, Blizzard wanted to capture the vibe. There will be lots of clever travel opportunities for moving players in and out of water.

Blizzard hasn’t fully fleshed out the travel specifics of how you move from area to area, like waterfall slides, but they think it’s a cool idea. There are also fast-moving bodies of water that could possibly transport people around.

Ion made a special note that “The term, the name…Rise of Azshara…not just a turn of phrase. Which may have some hints as to what we’re seeing here …”

The following section is our speculation based on Ion's hints, not details Ion shared in the interview:

So based on Ion’s hint…it looks like Azshara is trying to raise up N’Zoth’s empire. Nazjatar isn’t simply just a pretty place that happens to have landmasses above water—she made that happen. We’ve seen N’Zoth’s sunken empire before in Warbringers: Azshara, where she made a deal with N’Zoth to restore his empire to his former glory—if she would be a queen, not a slave. This could be the first step of her rising up his empire--taking advantage of the rift in the sea.

Ogmot's Dream Journal: Last night, Ogmot dreams of great battle. Two fleets bashin on ocean of blood. Shadows twistin beneath da ships, risin. Risin. Ogmot so happy watchin da carnage!
Xal'atath whispers: It appears the prison of N’zoth is not as strong as it once was. What you see is a tiny growth of the behemoth that may yet consume your world.
Xal'atath whispers: The God of the Deep writhes in his prison, breaking free ever so slowly. You should hurry and defeat the fallen titan... there are greater battles yet to fight.
Xal'atath whispers: Almost completely gone, as if it never existed. But the rift is deep and vast, and somewhere down there it stirs. Something has changed, the last prison weakens. We must prepare.

Chronicle

Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron: In the sunken city, he lays dreaming.
Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron: The drowned god's heart is black ice.
Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron: In the land of Ny'alotha there is only sleep.
Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron: In the sleeping city of Ny'alotha walk only mad things.
Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron: Ny'alotha is a city of old, terrible, unnumbered crimes.

Darkmoon Rollercoaster

It’s a motion sickness simulator. First-person POV. Enjoy. Or don’t.

The rollercoaster was a labor of love from an artist on the team, when he first started at Blizzard as a passion project. It sat to the side for a while, until some lull time during the “Hackathon” week when he had more time to work on it. Then it was so far along, they decided to finish it off!

As always—can’t name them off the top of their head, but there are always new things to chase from evergreen content, so they try to add rewards where it makes sense. For example, the Brawler’s Guild will get a new cool mount, transmog, and questline.

Model Updates

This option is planned, it just wasn’t shown in the presentation.

They would like to interate models even further. They’re happy the permanent scowl on Worgen Females are gone, but the models still have a chihuahua look, and they want more facial customization options.

Hunter Pets

Nothing specific to announce, but when we visit new areas with new wildlife, we know that hunters look forward to it as a collection mini game.

Character Customization

They are not actively working on straight-backed undead, but joked it was a slippery slope. They may tackle that sort of stuff in the future. (Note: Wowhead has interviewed Chris Robinson a bunch, each interview we tend to slip in a few light-hearted requests for customization options, hence the jokes.)

As for Undead skins, it’s a cool space to explore, and we have seen risen humans before. This is a mix of where the story goes in BFA. If these types of characters do exist, then are they standard members of the Horde, are they player characters?

Battlegrounds

No plans at the current time. Maybe something to get around to later on. WSG and AB are more compact so you see more at once. They are also two popular battlegrounds and part of the Rated Battleground rotation.

What about Ashenvale getting an update now that Warsong Gulch has one? Slippery slope!

Legendaries

No current plans, but it could make sense in the future. The Antorus trinket was a good example of a Legion legendary that worked differently from the rest in the expansion.

Original legendaries worked in a different era on the game—you could get Warglaives from Black Temple, and it was ok back then for a Rogue to be 20% better back then because they were lucky.

Legendaries could be added where it makes sense—it feels cool to deliver iconic weapons.

Allied Races

Blizzard will increase character slots per server as Allied Races are added.

No plans to increase the character account limit. 50 is still quite a bit in practice.

Blizzard is able to add a lot of flavor and customization to major NPC characters—it makes the world feel alive. It opens up the ability for designers to do cool, custom things.

For Allied Races in general, it comes down to timing. Is a particular Allied Race endearing enough to players? Does it make sense in the story to add them as player characters.

Goblins vs Gnomes

Less jealous, more eyes glinting with opportunity. This is the vault of Mimiron that holds treasures of technology and titans. The Goblins can take these plans and of course make much better things, more lucrative things, than the Gnomes ever could.

Can Horde characters ever really be jealous of an Alliance character?

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Comment by dstaltzCan't wait for the upcoming patches! I'm excited for some more rare Hunter pets...lets just hope Blizzard adds a few more stable slots to compensate. ;)Comment by JuKez"The Antorus trinket was a good example of a Legion legendary that worked differently from the rest in the expansion."

Yeah, we finished our Antorus mythic progression and not a single person was able to drop that trinket.Comment by IronekkI'm so curious if we'll get soon something familiar to Mage Tower in Legion, hard and very satisfacting.
And gimme this rollercoaster! Can't wait.Comment by SmiteypantzSo many good things! Both new zones/themes in 8.2 are thrilling.Comment by Sindorein1124Can't wait for the Tauren heritage armor. That totem-cloak is amazing.Comment by Aralndawonder if we will get other items like the totem that will be labeled as a cloak but is not a cloak.Comment by Joshmaulwonder if we will get other items like the totem that will be labeled as a cloak but is not a cloak.Comment by BarhahThe "We have plans to increase the server limits but not the account limits" has been going on for a long time. I've been waiting for that since the FIRST time we got the increase, for DKs. Always having to delete an old character I care the least about kind of bites, but I mean, I get it. I'd love to have the option to pay double for 100 characters on my account. I'd have loved to have had this option eons ago :TComment by NurutikiDoes it make sense in the story to add them as player characters.Comment by Zylo101082Ouch that very last statement must sting for alliance players.Comment by MattizillaI'm so happy we're getting heritage armour for non-Allied races. Gnomes and Tauren (in my experience) have always been some of the hardest to make decent looking transmog sets for. Followed closely by Goblin, Worgen and Pandaren. There's so many options and seeing how good all of the heritage sets look right now makes me so, so excited.Comment by 1717213This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by orleadanThe patches that are to come look amazing in terms of zones, lore and fun stuff, can't wait to play them.Comment by SkaratonI love how the tauren totem is the back slot and not the chest piece like the highmountain tauren heritage armor. This means my tauren can use any of my existing sets with the new totem :)Comment by DarkhayI WANT SAN'LAYN U.UComment by DaigunBEARComment by MusedMooseInteresting stuff all around. ^_^ I'm really hoping we get to delve into some Old God stuff in 8.2, as we got so many hints about it in Legion and have heard very little since.Comment by TehLucarioOuch that very last statement must sting for alliance players.Comment by TehLucario"The Antorus trinket was a good example of a Legion legendary that worked differently from the rest in the expansion."

Yeah because it had an absolutely nonexistent droprate and next to no one had it so it basically didn't exist for 99% of the playerbase.Comment by aurabeeditWith that answer, I am not sure how to feel about Moonglaives being restricted to Demon Hunters...

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