WoW Deep Dive Panel Liveblog at BlizzCon 2023

Live Posted 20 days ago by Archimtiros

Delves

Game Director Ion Hazzikostas is here, giving a deep dive into all things War Within!

Delves represent a capstone to the outdoor world experience, analogous to dungeons, raids, and PvP - we've had stuff for outdoor players, but this is a deeper more structured experience

If you're an outdoor world focused player, you spend a lot of time completing events, but not a lot of reasons to get excited, and not a lot of upgrades - delves are meant to address that.

The team has learned a lot from other scenarios like Horrific Visions and Torghast, but they've also learned what not to do in terms of how they're structured and presented. Saying it's an endgame parralel means it works alongside dungeons and raids - if this is your kind of gameplay, it should go as deep as you want it to be. Unlike Torghast, a M+ player shouldn't feel like they have to do Delves too; it's being offered alongside as an option.

Delves are about exploring, unraveling mysteries, and a seamless extension of the open world content. They aren't dungeons moving from one boss to another; it's true open world style content, but they will end with a giant pile of treasure. There might be a boss there too, but there won't always be. Delves have the opportunity to do a whole lot more.

As part of an endgame pillar, they're tied into seasons. Increasing difficulty and rewards, as well as a change of pace from season to season. Part of that will be the NPC companion - Brann Bronzebeard in Season One. They serve as a narrative hook, as well as a way to work with mechanics. Brann can gear up, spec tank/dps/healer/control to complement you or your group, and help solve puzzles!

Chests found within Delves might require keys that are found from outside the delves themselves too - discovered from other activities outside - this again differentiates them from dungeons, as they complement the rest of the open world content, rather than just chain running Delves like dungeons.

There are twelve delves currently planned, each themed around the ecology and zones you're going to find. There also might be a secret delve you'll have to explore a little bit to discover.

Open world players will also get to enjoy the disappointment of the Great Vault every week through a new World row within the Great Vault. It has replaced the PvP row, based on feedback that PvP and random loot aren't a great combination - instead, PvP players will get a lot more conquest, giving them complete control to buy the items they actually want.

Delve also gives silly hats. Like mushrooms and candles, because why not. There'll be a lot of cosmetic rewards.

A customizable flying machine mount will also be available exclusively through Delves. Modular and customized just like Dragonriding mounts are in Dragonflight!

Warbands

Basically account wide everything. Most players are playing multiple characters per week, and while WoW 20 years ago was built with very different assumptions of engineering and design, in a time where it took hundreds of hours to level and gear characters. The systems were never designed for easily transferring currency between alts without clunky solutions like vendors.

At its core, Warbands is rebuilding the foundations of WoW, with a focus on convenience - removing awkwardness and barriers when playing alts. Pone thing the system is not going to to is award power or making your main characters more powerful through playing more alts.

Its an account-wide bank! You shouldn't have to mail anything to yourself anymore. There's even a giant reagent tab, from which you can craft using any of your characters.

Warbound Until Equipped items are a new type that can't be sold on the AH or traded, but can be taken by other characters for their use. Kind of like account-bound, except they become soulbound to that character once used. They should drop as personal loot at a slightly lower item level than other stuff, just to make it easier to gear up your alts without funneling power to your mains.

Transmog is now acquired warband-wide, Mages can unlock Plate items in their collection and your Warrior can transmog them without having to refarm the armor type.

Reputations and Renowns will also be account-wide. They'd like to make this retroactive to past Reps/Renowns, but that might take some time - they'll start with Dragonflight content and work back from there.

Flight Paths will also be unlocked across your Warband.

Brann, as the Season One Delve companion, will also have shared progress throughout your warband - you shouldn't have to gear him up twice.

Achievements should also work across your warband, similar to how many are already account wide.

There's also a cool new character select screen featuring all your characters, even those across different servers.

Hero Talents

Hero talents are inspired by class fantasies and heroes across WoW's history. Its a completely flexible system like current Dragonflight talents - not restrictive Shadowlands covenants; they're just talents.

War Within raises the level cap by 10, which means 10 new talent points, but they didn't want to just add a couple more rows to each tree - we've been down that path before and know where it leads; destroying carefully constructed combinations. This approach of hero talents allows them to explore deeper power customization and complexity, using a separate talent tree instead of messing with the main ones.

You'll have the Hero Talent tree fully unlocked by level 80, but there are still some choices between which hero spec you want active, and which choice node you want to use (like current choice nodes in the regular talent trees).

Using a Balance Druid as a more complicated example, they can choose between Keeper of the Grove (focused on treants) or Elune's Chosen (lunar abilities, moon themed for both specs).

Not every talent in the Keeper of the Grove tree will focus on treants, some passives can just augment your abilities directly - and don't worry, their auto-taunt can still be turned off. The idea is to nudge your gameplay in one direction or another.

Elune's Chosen calls out signature abilities like Lunar Beam and Full Moon, improving them, modifying them, and giving you more ways to trigger their effects, even if you don't already have those talents learned.

This tree also has some passive abilities, doubling down on increasing arcane power throughput.

Everything is still a work in progress though! No part of the game is more essential or subject to iteration than class design. They want everything testable from the start of the Alpha coming this Spring though, to give everyone as much time as possible to get to test and know these new systems.

Allied Race Earthen

Earthen will be unlocked just by playing the campaign, no extra reps to grind or anything. You meet them, learn about them, win their trust, and they'll lend their aid to the Alliance or Horde in return. Yeah, Horde Dwarves, who knew.

They'll have access to every class, except Druid, Demon Hunter, and Evoker.

Dragonriding

It was obvious pretty early in Dragonflight that they'd never be able to go back. It's going to become the default, now just called dynamic flight.

The only downside of Dragonriding today is not being able to use most of your collection, so that is a priority going forward. Not every mount is going to be dynamic flight enabled due to animation issues, but most should be - it's a three digit number.

This is the new standard, not just in the War Within, but Patch 10.2.5 will bring dynamic flying to the old world as well.

While it is the new standard, it isn't required though. "Regular" flying will still be toggleable as well - you will have to finish the campaign in the War Within, though there won't be any other requirements like rep.

You won't have to collect old dragonriding glyphs again either, most of the better bonuses gained today will just become default in the future. It should feel seamless - this is what flight it now.

PvP

New 10v10 map fighting over resources in the Ringing Deeps. Unlike the radial Silvershard Mines, this is more mirrored, reflecting two sides pushing mine carts for resources, while fighting over a central control point that will affect the momentum of the match. They don't have much visual to show right now, as getting the paths just right is still a WIP.

It may have an 8v8 version as well, depending on how 10.2 goes.

Gameplay/Interface Updates

Update and modernize the spellbook, ideally no more flipping through pages. It should also combine with talents.

The quest log and window will also have new filters for showing/hiding objectives, filtering for things you want to see most, an update to iconography and more focus on colorblind support. This is a project that will never be "done" but they want to continue to improve and update as they go.

Cross-Realm Guilds are also coming with The War Within. Server shouldn't matter, faction shouldn't matter, and neither will stop you from Day 1 Mythic raiding either. It should be as easy as possible to simply play with who you want to play with.

BlizzCon 2023

Other Games

The World Soul Saga

The War Within

Comment by PeacemoonThe Hero talents worry me the most. Not just because we're likely going to have clear min/max wins and losses, but also because of how they might change your class thematically. Imagine if the Shadow Priest's best Hero Class is thematically not something you'd to do with your character.

The Warband stuff is great. It reminds me of the SWtoR legacy feature - and in that you could even organise how your characters were related (family, spouse, friend, etc.). I really hope we can choose where our characters sit on the screen. As stupid as it sounds, I'd want my main characters at the front!Comment by SOSAv1dopeComment by warlocktankblizz really is pulling out all the stops! #goodchanges!Comment by NerdelbaumThe Hero talents worry me the most. Not just because we're likely going to have clear min/max wins and losses, but also because of how they might change your class thematically. Imagine if the Shadow Priest's best Hero Class is thematically not something you'd to do with your character.Comment by PeacemoonThe Hero talents worry me the most. Not just because we're likely going to have clear min/max wins and losses, but also because of how they might change your class thematically. Imagine if the Shadow Priest's best Hero Class is thematically not something you'd to do with your character.Comment by dabone1337The Hero talents worry me the most. Not just because we're likely going to have clear min/max wins and losses, but also because of how they might change your class thematically. Imagine if the Shadow Priest's best Hero Class is thematically not something you'd to do with your character.Comment by zamasusThe Hero talents worry me the most. Not just because we're likely going to have clear min/max wins and losses, but also because of how they might change your class thematically. Imagine if the Shadow Priest's best Hero Class is thematically not something you'd to do with your character.Comment by RhampantFyreis it just me or did they post two pictures of the spellbook? I think the one under Hero Talents is supposed to be the slide that showed all of their preliminary hero specs.Comment by dabone1337The Hero talents worry me the most. Not just because we're likely going to have clear min/max wins and losses, but also because of how they might change your class thematically. Imagine if the Shadow Priest's best Hero Class is thematically not something you'd to do with your character.
Comment by DekardcaiinPretty great news. Little salty about the Great Vault losing a pvp item row and potential for tier pvp gear from it gone, so the Conquest acquisition must be good.Comment by ZulandraWhyyyy is static flying locked behind the campaign? There's no reason, except to keep people who can't deal with dynamic flying out of the game 😭 why don't they want ALL people to enjoy their game the way they choose to?Comment by StrungengDragonriding minute 1 but classic fly timelocked behind campaing... another pass on this xpac and its not even on alpha xddComment by JinokunThe Hero talents worry me the most. Not just because we're likely going to have clear min/max wins and losses, but also because of how they might change your class thematically. Imagine if the Shadow Priest's best Hero Class is thematically not something you'd to do with your character.Comment by JinokunThe Hero talents worry me the most. Not just because we're likely going to have clear min/max wins and losses, but also because of how they might change your class thematically. Imagine if the Shadow Priest's best Hero Class is thematically not something you'd to do with your character.
Comment by DreggrodThe Hero talents worry me the most. Not just because we're likely going to have clear min/max wins and losses, but also because of how they might change your class thematically. Imagine if the Shadow Priest's best Hero Class is thematically not something you'd to do with your character.Comment by DreggrodPretty great news. Little salty about the Great Vault losing a pvp item row and potential for tier pvp gear from it gone, so the Conquest acquisition must be good.Comment by DreggrodThe Hero talents worry me the most. Not just because we're likely going to have clear min/max wins and losses, but also because of how they might change your class thematically. Imagine if the Shadow Priest's best Hero Class is thematically not something you'd to do with your character.Comment by Dreggrodis it just me or did they post two pictures of the spellbook? I think the one under Hero Talents is supposed to be the slide that showed all of their preliminary hero specs.Comment by selkie47I wonder if flight form and dracthyr are going to be dynamic. Really really hope so. I miss being a bird...

Also, please make it so we can invite our alts to a guild cross realm! Love that i can finally add my allies, and warbands will totally help, but I'd like them to rep, ya know?Comment by ScaryfoxFirst off, I'm really excited to read about the Warbands since I've gotten better at playing both sides. That and I read once in chat you can now mail things to any character on your account.

I also think it's really cool that the Earthen just require you to play through the campaign. That and they only have a few classes restrictions. I just hope they keep expanding that since they made some progress during this expac.

As much as I would say the same thing with dragonriding, I really hope the devs remember as to why a lot of people find it inaccessible. I'm glad they added accessibility options, though.