WoW Developer Interview with MrGM - 8 Week Dragonflight Content Cycle, Renown in The War Within

Live Posted 15 days ago by Archimtiros

Dragonflight

The developers know that players love getting content and Dragonflight's heightened patch cadence is working towards that goal. Despite the announcement that there will be no Patch 10.3, they aren't going to leave players without anything to do between now and next expansion.

The intent is to have content updates happening around every 8 weeks, and to keep doing that until the expansion releases. They're not ready to talk about them in detail, but they are very exciting and include a lot of things that players have been asking for... as well as some surprises that nobody has any idea are coming.

Not ready to talk about Season 4, but they know many players loved the Fated Season in Shadowlands, and they've discussed bringing it back internally (note: Game Director Ion Hazzikostas separately confirmed a Fated Season for Dragonflight in another interview).

Static and Dynamic Flying

As Dragonriding becomes a core game-wide feature, Dragonriding glyphs and talent trees will be removed - their effects and abilities will simply be baked into the baseline experience, without any need to discover or unlock anything.

Dragonriding, called Dynamic Flying in 11.0, is being extended to most mounts, although there are a few exceptions. There are a lot of considerations, but the team is getting really creative with more than just dragons or mounts with wings.

There's some tech needed to enable dynamic flying within older zones, particularly with how things render and how much players can see while flying, but they're slowly working through it.

Not ready to talk about dynamic flying for Druid Flight Form, though this was also separately confirmed over the weekend.

In 11.0, Dragonflight will become the default leveling experience after Exile's Reach for new characters, while Battle for Azeroth joins other expansions in Chromie Time, and so players will be able to unlock dragonriding/dynamic flying at a much earlier level than before.

They're still working on whether Chromie Time will go up to 60 and then lead into Dragonflight or all the way to 70.

The Earthen Allied Race

No word on what level the Earthen allied race will start at, or how that will tie into Dragonflight leveling content. Tacit confirmation that the Earthen unlock quest will happen at max level in The War Within.

There are several developers who love allied races and would love to see the system continue, since it's a cool way to introduce new races. When it feels right to use, they will.

Racials are still being worked on, and we'll eventually see it on some kind of test realm, but it won't be an ability that destroys Dark Iron mole machines!

11.0: The War Within

The War Within Alpha/Beta timing is still being worked out, but because they're releasing so much content across different versions of the game, they've had to setup new processes for how they handle releases. At least it's a great problem to have.

They'd like to expand available race/class combos, but they don't have anything specific in mind right now. New combinations need to have dev support for animations and visuals, while also needing to make sense from a story perspective - as we've seen with the recent Lightforged Draenei Warlocks.

Again, no specifics regarding future customization options, but they acknowledge that the team wants to make sure there are a ton of options for players to express themselves and make cool characters, so they'll continue to push boundaries and add new things as able.

The renown system for faction reputation is planned to return in The War Within, and there will be a "decent number" of new factions to gain renown with.

Regarding the new account-wide Warbands system, they want to find the proper balance between allowing account-wide progression without making it gameable - there shouldn't be an advantage to running 20 alts. They're still working out the details, but they're keen to ensure that the best way to do renown isn't the worst way to play by grinding the same activity a dozen times in one day with different alts.

The Warband system will eventually enable account-wide reputation for older factions, though it will take time to roll out to previous expansions. Initial focus is on getting everything right with The War Within, addressing any issues, and then spreading it out to the rest.

Currencies aren't currently a part of the Warband system, but it would be cool if they were. They're committed to making more of the game friendly for playing alts, while still ensuring you don't have to - you shouldn't need to play alts to get ahead or keep up.

No direct answer as to whether cross-class transmog will be retroactively added to collections once The War Within launches, though collecting it all ahead of time "may not be the right play."

Outdoor Content & Delves

The goal is to create an endgame activity for players that don't do high level dungeons and raids, allowing players to go in solo or with groups in any combination of roles.

They're shorter than dungeons, planned for 10-15 minutes game time, without speed running mechanics like timers or things that may prevent you from going afk in-between combat.

The seasonal NPC (Brann in S1) will join the team even if you have a full 5-person group. He operates a bit like NPC companions from the Exile's Reach dungeon and Island Expedition NPCs, but better.

Not sure if reputation/renown will also come from Delves yet or not. They'll have to talk to the rewards designers about it, but they don't want to make them required - if you're already doing dungeons and/or raids, you shouldn't feel forced to do Delves as well.

The Outdoor Row for the Great Vault is more than just Delves, but what activities will contribute to it is still being figured out, simply because there's so much open world content in the game. They don't want to alienate certain pieces of content that don't contribute, but don't want it to be so spread out that players don't know what to do either.

They'd love to add cross-faction Timewalking and other queued content that currently doesn't support it, but it's all a matter of effort and timing. They're still figuring out whether Delves will be.

The team knows players love having reasons to go back and revisit previous content, which isn't restricted to just dungeons and raids, so the team is thinking about how they could make other (world) content work.

Professions

The current plan is for The War Within to have its own version of the existing Profession talents system, so players who really love professions will be able to learn talents, spec into specialized things, and use the Work Order system in the next expansion.

The Work Order system is confirmed to carry forward, though they've heard a lot of player feedback and so they're looking for ways to make them better.

Archaeology is a profession that needs a lot of love. Nothing to say right now, but stay tuned - there's stuff in the works.

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Comment by AraihhThey'd like to expand available race/class combos, but they don't have anything specific in mind right now. New combinations need to have dev support for animations and visuals, while also needing to make sense from a story perspective - as we've seen with the recent Lightforged Draenei Warlocks.Comment by Alecco"Regarding the new account-wide Warbands system, they want to find the proper balance between allowing account-wide progression without making it gameable - there shouldn't be an advantage to running 20 alts. They're still working out the details, but they're keen to ensure that the best way to do renown isn't the worst way to play by grinding the same activity a dozen times in one day with different alts."

I smell daily/weekly reputation cap incoming.
and tbh, what else could they do? I have 50 chars, I would totally game the rep grind with my alts. just doing easy WQ all day.

"Currencies aren't currently a part of the Warband system, but it would be cool if they were. They're committed to making more of the game friendly for playing alts, while still ensuring you don't have to - you shouldn't need to play alts to get ahead or keep up."

a little bit miffed about this, but we also have the new warband gear dropping. so lets see how that plays out.Comment by DrakknfyreWhat happened to "All race/class combos eventually being possible"? I'm still waiting for Shaman and Paladin to be open to Worgen.Comment by SoeroahSome interesting stuff here. Glad to know there's no real point pre-farming mogs now, but at the same time it's a bit disappointing to know some of the things I've had in my banks for years won't be learnable after all.

Kinda expected them to figure out some kind of system to prevent running alts to cheese reputation, so not too upset about that. I do think maybe a good compromise would be diminishing returns or something. First alt gets 100% rep, second alt gets 50% from the same content, third alt gets 25%, and then every alt after that gets 10%. That way people can still no-life it if they choose - because some people will always choose to do that - but if you don't really mind taking longer in real-world terms for less in-game time you can just do two or three characters and have the rest of the time to yourself. The main thing will be making sure alts can still get their own gear from stuff like world quests, which have also rewarded rep.

New profession talents was obvious enough, but I hope there's a better way to manage knowledge points this time around. It'd be nice if at least profession knowledge was account-wide too, for alts of the same profession.

Loving the stuff on the outdoor content and the great vault, but still a little iffy about seasonal content in Delves.. kinda sounds like it'll be currency-based instead of RNG though, so maybe it's fine.

I'm very interested in this part:

They're not ready to talk about them in detail, but they are very exciting and include a lot of things that players have been asking for... as well as some surprises that nobody has any idea are coming.Comment by Brimz"8 Week Dragonflight Content Cycle"

My calendar must be wrong then. We had new raid and "new" dungeons every 6 months (which were/are can be done within 1-2months thanks to the fast gearing system), how is it 8 weeks cycle?

"but they know many players loved the Fated Season in Shadowlands"
Dont know where did they get this from, reprogging the same content with bigger numbers just to hide that there arent any new content for 10 months isnt exactly what I would call "loved". Maaaybe, just maybe, release the next ~~major patch~~ expac sooner and let fated go for 2-3 months?Comment by FlanellWhats so hard to put archaeology in as it was. It was my favorite activity. Nothing wrong with it despite stupid prestine droprate. But if Ion doesn't like something, it gets deleted. What a jerk.

"No direct answer as to whether cross-class transmog will be retroactively added to collections once The War Within launches, though collecting it all ahead of time "may not be the right play.""

But having Mannoroths Tusks drop on cloth wearers is ok or what? Proof these devs doesnt play their own game. How far out of touch can they be.Comment by Soeroah"8 Week Dragonflight Content Cycle"

My calendar must be wrong then. We had new raid and "new" dungeons every 6 months (which were/are can be done within 1-2months thanks to the fast gearing system), how is it 8 weeks cycle?
Comment by LandaiI'm okay with them moving forward with the DF Profession System in WW, however, they need to make the currency an actual currency, and for us to buy profession skill points with it, especially for alts. I have THOUSANDS of the currency and no reason to use it.Comment by Nemo2342Just kill Archeology already, it really shouldn't have gone past Cataclysm.Comment by Gamemage"8 Week Dragonflight Content Cycle"

My calendar must be wrong then. We had new raid and "new" dungeons every 6 months (which were/are can be done within 1-2months thanks to the fast gearing system), how is it 8 weeks cycle?

"but they know many players loved the Fated Season in Shadowlands"
Dont know where did they get this from, reprogging the same content with bigger numbers just to hide that there arent any new content for 10 months isnt exactly what I would call "loved". Maaaybe, just maybe, release the next ~~major patch~~ expac sooner and let fated go for 2-3 months?Comment by kdash1Not ready to talk about Season 4, but they know many players loved the Fated Season in Shadowlands,Comment by TastierTastyThe current plan is for The War Within to have its own version of the existing Profession talents system, so players who really love professions will be able to learn talents, spec into specialized things, and use the Work Order system in the next expansion.Comment by agentrock"8 Week Dragonflight Content Cycle"

My calendar must be wrong then. We had new raid and "new" dungeons every 6 months (which were/are can be done within 1-2months thanks to the fast gearing system), how is it 8 weeks cycle?
"8 Week Dragonflight Content Cycle"

My calendar must be wrong then. We had new raid and "new" dungeons every 6 months (which were/are can be done within 1-2months thanks to the fast gearing system), how is it 8 weeks cycle?

"but they know many players loved the Fated Season in Shadowlands"
Dont know where did they get this from, reprogging the same content with bigger numbers just to hide that there arent any new content for 10 months isnt exactly what I would call "loved". Maaaybe, just maybe, release the next ~~major patch~~ expac sooner and let fated go for 2-3 months?Comment by Chrino"8 Week Dragonflight Content Cycle"

My calendar must be wrong then. We had new raid and "new" dungeons every 6 months (which were/are can be done within 1-2months thanks to the fast gearing system), how is it 8 weeks cycle?

"but they know many players loved the Fated Season in Shadowlands"
Dont know where did they get this from, reprogging the same content with bigger numbers just to hide that there arent any new content for 10 months isnt exactly what I would call "loved". Maaaybe, just maybe, release the next ~~major patch~~ expac sooner and let fated go for 2-3 months?Comment by agentrockSo many exciting things coming to 11.0! I am very much looking forward to it. And I'm glad that they are continuing to make sure that professions are relevant.Comment by agentrockJust kill Archeology already, it really shouldn't have gone past Cataclysm.Comment by lovelywazNot ready to talk about Season 4, but they know many players loved the Fated Season in Shadowlands, and they've discussed bringing it back internally (note: Game Director Ion Hazzikostas separately confirmed a Fated Season for Dragonflight in another interview).Comment by MuppetshowI smell daily/weekly reputation cap incoming.
and tbh, what else could they do? I have 50 chars, I would totally game the rep grind with my alts. just doing easy WQ all day.
Comment by LautnerAmazing article, thank you wowhead for posting! <3Comment by PokasquantasMake the work orders what they used to be. So sick of seeing nothing but scammers on the Crafting orders page.

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