Liquid Maximum Interview with Dragonflight Associate Game Director Morgan Day

Posted 2022/11/17 at 5:03 PM by Archimtiros

MaximumHighlights

Early on in development, the team had a conversation about what they wanted to get out of the alpha/beta process, and as a result they made a focused effort to test one thing at a time, and ensure each were in a focused state.

Shadowlands had a major philosophical shift of "what if there were a really cool thing to chase?" Korthia sockets were supposed to be a long-term stretch goal to maximize your character, but they came to realize there's a difference between power options and exclusive power that can't be gotten anywhere else. The latter very quickly become perceived as requirements rather than options.

As a result, they're trying to be more cognizant of what they're asking players to do with their time. The Dragonflight version of the Catalyst is a part of that, no longer requiring flux and generating account-wide charges instead of character specific ones. Another idea they're kicking around is a catch up mechanic to the vault - potentially allowing players to loot multiple items if they miss a week, or making it easier for players with multiple characters to fill out their vault each week.

The Mythic+ and Raid vault slots have parallels, but PvP is odd due to being based on rating, which can be awkward if you come in late to a season. They want to incentivize players to do the highest content they can, rather than a situation where you do one +20 key followed by a bunch of +2 keys.

Season 1 of Dragonflight won't have uncapped valor, but they could tweak the initial week to week numbers.

Once upon a time, Raids were the only way to earn sets, and the Catalyst has reduced that restriction, but they should still be the primary way of earning them. For most groups, the catalyst unlocking should help groups get over the hump of whatever boss they're working on.

They don't feel the Creation Catalyst coming a few weeks into the season is a major disadvantage for non-raiders. They want raiding to be initially advantaged because competitiveness in raiding is very frontloaded, especially in progression races, while Mythic+ and PvP is very backloaded as players push higher levels over the course of the tier - a time by which everyone should have full access to those sets.

Talents will be iterated on a lot at launch and post launch. They want to make frequent changes, and even without borrowed power, they have an opportunity to affect class/spec balance through adjusting talents.

As far as adding more talents in a patch, they're not sure. It's something that's been discussed, but a potential problem is "future us" in the next expansion.

Philosophically, giving up a huge percentage of damage for a utility effect isn't fun and it's why they made separate class and spec talent trees. In the few very specific cases where it happens, it isn't always able to be hotfixed and could require a major tree overhaul to address, but it is something they want to address at least every major patch, if not more frequently.

Talent loadouts need to be limited from a technical perspective and 10 felt like an appropriate number, and the base value was decided on based on the general user who doesn't often play more than one spec in the first place. A power user who engages with several forms of content on several specs probably has the knowhow to use addons and other solutions to help alleviate the limitation.

The previous goal of seasonal affixes was to change routing - forcing players to make new pulls and try different strategies. With each Dragonflight introducing new dungeons, that isn't necessary anymore, so Thundering is being designed to instead allow players to show coordination and mastery - it's not something you have to engage with, since it can just be auto-cleared, but it also gives players room to min-max it.

The team fully recognizes that the patch cadence in Shadowlands left a lot to be desired, and they have a lot of plans to help address that. Dragonflight is also an opportunity to further refine core class concepts and capabilities without barrowed power getting in the way or impacting design.

Putting offensive cooldowns on the GCD in Battle for Azeroth was an attempt to reduce the "macro everything together" solution, but failed in that several cooldowns didn't do anything immediate on their own, resulting in a "nuclear launch sequence" where several abilities had to be used before you could actually do anything. Arcane Surge was created in response to that as an experiment to see if an offensive cooldown could still feel good on the GCD and appears to have been well received because it combines the upfront effect with an important buff.

Classes are designed as a whole package balanced against one another, as opposed to individual buttons being compared against each other. Generally speaking, this is why Divine Shield allows a Paladin to continue running around, while Ice Block sticks Mages in place. They want each class to feel different and have different capabilities, rather than doing the exact same thing.

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Comment by YuckiesValor cap = LComment by ZcondarEver since that interview with Ghostcrawler, every streamer want to interview with someone now.Comment by SeniaaTier sets being "locked behind raid" early wouldn't be that bad if some set bonuses didn't absurdly skew AoE profiles. Affliction/SPriest are "meh" in M+ on Beta WITH a tier that increases their #1 damaging ability by 40%. SURELY those specs won't be absolutely garbage waiting 2 months to get to that "meh" spot right?Comment by QwagsoirValor cap = LComment by DeuilEver since that interview with Ghostcrawler, every streamer want to interview with someone now.Comment by GuidanceEver since that interview with Ghostcrawler, every streamer want to interview with someone now.Comment by SeniaaValor cap = LComment by ACooolerShouldn't they disable tier-set bonuses in m+, at least until the catalyst unlocks, to ease competition for spots for people who do it exclusively? Raiders are getting an obvious advantage in performance early on in the m+ scene.Comment by NotYetRatedMorgan had some seriously good answers!

I'm really liking this trend they're setting with all of these interviews - not even because of the communication and all that, it's also just refreshing to see them in laid back interviews and see how passionate they actually are.

Another W.Comment by st1flerShouldn't they disable tier-set bonuses in m+, at least until the catalyst unlocks, to ease competition for spots for people who do it exclusively? Raiders are getting an obvious advantage in performance early on in the m+ scene.Comment by AlikoliShouldn't they disable tier-set bonuses in m+, at least until the catalyst unlocks, to ease competition for spots for people who do it exclusively? Raiders are getting an obvious advantage in performance early on in the m+ scene.Comment by Mikelol1Shouldn't they disable tier-set bonuses in m+, at least until the catalyst unlocks, to ease competition for spots for people who do it exclusively? Raiders are getting an obvious advantage in performance early on in the m+ scene.Comment by KolplerFerriShouldn't they disable tier-set bonuses in m+, at least until the catalyst unlocks, to ease competition for spots for people who do it exclusively? Raiders are getting an obvious advantage in performance early on in the m+ scene.Comment by Mikelol1Shouldn't they disable tier-set bonuses in m+, at least until the catalyst unlocks, to ease competition for spots for people who do it exclusively? Raiders are getting an obvious advantage in performance early on in the m+ scene.Comment by SeniaaShouldn't they disable tier-set bonuses in m+, at least until the catalyst unlocks, to ease competition for spots for people who do it exclusively? Raiders are getting an obvious advantage in performance early on in the m+ scene.Comment by Mikelol1"competitiveness in raiding is very frontloaded, especially in progression races, while Mythic+ and PvP is very backloaded"

Such a terrible view, the game is not only competitive around the top end. Many of us are competitive all season.Comment by st1flerShouldn't they disable tier-set bonuses in m+, at least until the catalyst unlocks, to ease competition for spots for people who do it exclusively? Raiders are getting an obvious advantage in performance early on in the m+ scene.Comment by LautnerWell they nailed it. Couldn't have worked any harder nor did a better job, love it! <3Comment by TOMRUSTimegated catalyst tier sets is VERY BAD idea.

Adding vault catchup and making it easier to fill on alts is good idea.

Valor cap is VERY BAD idea.

Capped talent loadouts makes no sense, they should at least increase it to 10 per spec.

Thundering affix still sucks and should be removed along with tyrannical/fortified.Comment by SouledkShouldn't they disable tier-set bonuses in m+, at least until the catalyst unlocks, to ease competition for spots for people who do it exclusively? Raiders are getting an obvious advantage in performance early on in the m+ scene.

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