Nobbel Gamescom Interview on the War Within - Storytelling, Story Mode Raid & Xal'atath

Posted 2024/08/28 at 10:59 AM by Jaydaa

Be sure to check out Nobbel on Twitter, Twitch and YouTube.Storytelling & Narrative

Blizzard is aware that it can be difficult to get into 20+ years of lore, but they're making strides to make the War Within and the beginning of the Worldsoul Saga a great place to start. Players may have noticed the story catchup video starting with Sargeras stabbing Azeroth so that newer players can follow the major story beats.

Delves are a new toolkit for the entire team, especially in terms of creating special places for narrative that were typically reserved for dungeons and raids. How they'll be utilized is certainly still evolving, but are a part of the level-up and max level story campaigns.

It's hard to balance the need to test content versus wanting to save the storytelling details and surprises for launch. They'll continue to utilize encryption for major story spoilers while still offering glimpses to hype up the playerbase.

Developers occasionally take part in a hackathon, where they're allowed to prototype things they're interested in with many projects inspired by roleplaying. They have nothing to announce right now, but they're continually looking at creating opportunities and fit them in when they can.

Story Mode Raiding

Story Mode Raid is currently planned for 1 week after Heroic/Normal launch to allow the community's first look at the raid finale to not feel "weird" with it being done by a solo player. Want the finale to still feel epic for raid teams, but still allow a part of that experience for solo players after a week.

Story Mode raiding is still a brand new feature. Wanting to gauge interest and engagement before investing more resources into something like a full follower-mode raid, but there's potential to evolve.

Worldsoul Saga & Xal'atath

Blizzard knows what the story arc is for the whole 3-part saga as well as each individual expansion, but they've given themselves room to make adjustments or pivot if necessary. Larger adjustments will be less likely, but they want to be able to respond to player feedback or understanding.

Narrative has shifted slightly on factions to allow for a reason for cross-faction gameplay. Want players to have the freedom to play with their friends.

Xal'atath is a complex antagonist with perhaps not the clearest of motivations even appearing as an ally on occasion. Don't expect her to be going anywhere soon. Definitely will explore her backstory further.

Comment by 2526009Warcrafts story died at the end of Cataclysm, everything after that is garbage, alliance fanfiction, and I say that as an Alliance player.

Only play this game if you enjoy pvp, raid mechanics or are able to play out your own narrative separate from the puke that makes up the main story.Comment by mybelovedchaosThe tiny mics crack me up.Comment by DeVeteranWarcrafts story died at the end of Cataclysm, everything after that is garbage, alliance fanfiction, and I say that as an Alliance player.

Only play this game if you enjoy pvp, raid mechanics or are able to play out your own narrative separate from the puke that makes up the main story.Comment by EuAmoPinguinsThe problem with faction-neutral storytelling is that we don't have anything from the Horde. Playing with players from another faction is cool, but they shouldn't wipe out the Horde for that to happen.Comment by HangsoonThe tiny mics crack me up.Comment by Rainy89Isnt ion like vice president of blizzard now or somethingComment by Rainy89The problem with faction-neutral storytelling is that we don't have anything from the Horde. Playing with players from another faction is cool, but they shouldn't wipe out the Horde for that to happen.Comment by ExtremelyCrustyStory mode raiding......LOL. LFR is already Story Mode.Comment by ambioWarcrafts story died at the end of Cataclysm, everything after that is garbage, alliance fanfiction, and I say that as an Alliance player.

Only play this game if you enjoy pvp, raid mechanics or are able to play out your own narrative separate from the puke that makes up the main story.Comment by OthoDPSStory mode raiding......LOL. LFR is already Story Mode.Comment by MitsurugiWarcrafts story died at the end of Cataclysm, everything after that is garbage, alliance fanfiction, and I say that as an Alliance player.

Only play this game if you enjoy pvp, raid mechanics or are able to play out your own narrative separate from the puke that makes up the main story.Comment by Soeroah"Wanting to gauge interest and engagement before investing more resources into something like a full follower-mode raid"

No, please do this, go full force ahead with itComment by 2538291I remember seeing Nobbel at the Darkmoon Faire, cool dude.Comment by SoeroahLove the Xal'atath comment tooComment by PeacemoonStory mode raiding......LOL. LFR is already Story Mode.Comment by SoeroahStory mode raiding......LOL. LFR is already Story Mode.Comment by LautnerWarcrafts story died at the end of Cataclysm, everything after that is garbage, alliance fanfiction, and I say that as an Alliance player.

Only play this game if you enjoy pvp, raid mechanics or are able to play out your own narrative separate from the puke that makes up the main story.Comment by LautnerWarcrafts story died at the end of Cataclysm, everything after that is garbage, alliance fanfiction, and I say that as an Alliance player.

Only play this game if you enjoy pvp, raid mechanics or are able to play out your own narrative separate from the puke that makes up the main story.Comment by QuaaidNice cargo shortsComment by CaeruleCross-faction play for roleplayers would benefit a lot, if /e became enabled for cross-faction groups like /s is. Seems like an oversight that it isn't.

As for the war stuff itself, I'm down with peace, as long as the Horde and Alliance still get to do good stuff. People love these factions, but they've suffered from being defined largely through their conflict with each other, as of late. But that wasn't even their main theme in Warcraft 3. I want the Horde and Alliance involved in the story. Not just Thrall and Jaina.