It’s the tail end of BlizzCon, and World of Warcraft players have Legion questions. Players probably had questions at the start of the convention, too, but now were’ to the point that those questions can actually get answered. Yes, tonight we’ll get the final panel for the game during the convention, and once again, we’re bringing you the results live and unfiltered.
Like our previous liveblogs, the live updates will be down in the comments, with the main body of the post updated as we go. Join us down in the comments while the panel is running to take part in the back-and-forth, or just catch up on all of the big revelations. What will they be about? We don’t know; they’re questions and answers. It’s hard to be sure yet.
Here we go! Note this is not a direct transcription, just paraphrasing, except where quotes are used.
Q: Alleria and Turalyon. Returning in Legion – did they never see the orcs redeeming themselves?
A: When we find them in Legion, the way you view WoW will change, it’ll up the game. So they’re not tied to the Alliance/Horde conflict.
Q: Any hopes of sub-races like Taunka or Dark Iron Dwarves being playable?
A: It’s important to sell the fantasy behind the races; yes, we’re going to do that, we love the idea, the more difficult answer is how, and we’re working on it.
Q: Can we have affiliated guilds?
A: Something we’d like to work towards, cross-realm connectivity has reshaped server boundaries. It’s not something for Legion at launch, but it’s a goal.
Q: Will the achievement to unlock Legion flying will be fully completable at launch?
A: It’ll exist from the start, but can’t be cleared fully at launch.
Q: What do you plan to do with Bolvar Fordragon?
A: That’s a great question – this expansion, in Legion, will feature a cameo. Somewhere. In the future, we’ve been talking about him.
Q: Will there be more cosmetic class quests like green fire for Warlocks?
A: Expansion already has a wider array of class quests; we’re interested in class content, but as for cosmetics, we’ll have to see.
Q: Shared tap system – will that be implemented for older-world rares/bosses.
A: Looking to take things a step further. We want to change how tapping works in the open world overall – if instead of just one person locking it, several people can get credit just by dealing damage. Don’t need to form a group just for one thing and cooperation can happen organically. Major targets will still have open tapping.
Q: Will you release one expansion each year, one every two years.
A: We’re trying to launch expansions faster.
Q: Is Sargeras’ Tomb where Sargeras’ remains are?
A: Right now, it’s just a monument.
Q: Any plans for guild improvements like guild housing/quests?
A: “We call raid bosses guild quests.” Guilds are very important, more a social structure than anything else; we want to let people be in multiple guilds. Functionality is still in development.
Q: Will there be a new battleground in Legion?
A: No. We’re putting our focus on the new Honor system. Battlegrounds are important.
Q: Will zones change with the invasion of the legion?
A: No plans to update those; legion invasions are going to crop up worldwide.
Q: What protects Dalaran from being invaded/destroyed?
A: It’s been upgraded, and there’s something big beneath it. It Is A Secret.
Q: Any plans to address the damage done with Cataclysm’s launch? WE’VE HAD FIVE YEARS.
A: “Yeah, yeah. I’ll say yeah, sure.”
Q: Won’t people running challenge modes only take optimal keystones?
A: All keystones have the same affixes randomly generated for a given week. Sort of like Hearthstone tavern brawls.
Q: When will the inventory be updated? Like bags for banks?
A: Transmog is the biggest offender, so all of those items are being taken care of so you don’t have to hold on to things you don’t want.
Q: Is Titan’s Grip dead for Warriors?
A: No, the artifact is just too small; we’re going to size them up. Alive and well. A very distinctive thing for fury warriors.
Q: Can we get a clear lore answer on the Legion transcending all realities?
A: “We’ve got this expansion coming out called Legion, it’s going to answer those questions.”
Q: More character slots per server?
A: One more slot for legion.
Q: Will Legion have new scenarios?
A: Scenarios as they existed in Mists? No. But we’ve taken what we’ve learned and integrated it elsewhere. Scenario-style content is more integrated out in the world.
Q: If you want early access via digital preorder and a physical item, what do?
A: Order the digital version, buy the other one, contact customer service.
Q: How will multi-role classes be balanced with artifacts.
A: You can claim, upgrade, and use multiple artifacts. You don’t want to feel that you have to grind more. We have a lot of catchup mechanisms to ensure that your second or third weapon can be powered up; the big differentiation will be relics. You WILL have to choose whether you’re socketing a relic in a healing or DPS weapon, for example.
Q: Can we please have three specs?
A: Yes, definitely. You don’t have to pay to unlock another slot. There will be a default spec too.
Q: Why are you removing Multistrike and not Versatility?
A: It’s just a different form of crit, and a lot of classes don’t really have a fantasy for it. We didn’t see it advantageous. Versatility doesn’t have that same problem, and it has a defensive component.
Q: More catchup mechanisms for alts like rep grinds?
A: We talk about alts quite a bit; philosophically, we avoid some account-wide things to make sure that your alt can still actually do things.
Q: Will we see anything like the AQ gates in legion?
A: “As the person who implemented like 90% of that: god, I hope not.” Will be thinking about those moving forward.
Q: Will Karazhan be relevant?
A: Yes. Source of a lot of secrets and lore. “Would you like to see Karazhan as a five-person dungeon?” Smirking.
Q: Hints about what’s beneath Tirisfal Glades?
A: Yes, one of the artifact lines even goes into it.
Q: Where is Wrathion in Legion?
A: He’s definitely there, and he may have some interest in Highmountain.
Q: Will there be any more raid mechanisms like the Karazhan chess event?
A: “In the spirit of dumbing things down, we’ll make it a checkers event.”
Q: Anything like the Battle for Undercity again?
A: Basically a long form of scenario; we’ll see things like that in Legion and beyond, as long as people keep want to make stuff like that.
Q: Is there any way to make old-world materials relevant for professions?
A: We’d love to do that, but in some cases it’s hard to do due to existing resources. Whether you really WANT that is a different question.
Q: More lore on Forsaken, WOrgen, Tauren, or Gnomes?
A: Yes; it’s coming, here and there, especially for Forsaken and Tauren.
Q: Will Old Gods feature?
A: Yes. “That’s probably what’s under Tirisfal.”
Q: More than one raid per tier?
A: “Clearly we have two for the start.” Some of the big ones might be better served by splitting things up.
Q: Smaller raid dungeons?
A: It’s not so much about size as much with layout; tried to do a lot with non-linear layouts.
Q: Bringing back reforging?
A: No. We have customization in secondary stats.
Q: What will happen to artifacts post-Legion?
A: Details TBD; we need to think about what the future means to big systems. Confining systems to one expansion allows us to go into more depth into the expansion. Not committing to anything.
Q: Will there be some kind of bad luck protection for items that never drop?
A: We take a look at them every so often, but part of the coolness of drops is their rarity and chance. Big difference between power items vs. mounts/pets/etc.
Q: Where is the dance studio?
A: Under Tirisfal Glades.
Q: Any plans for classic realms?
A: No. Lots of complexities involved, and the emotional resonance doesn’t always hold up.
Q: Will Artifacts lock people into using one type of weapon?
A: Yes, sort of. Unique fleshed-out weapons with deep backstories, which meant committing to a specific kind of weapon. In terms of pure aesthetics – you can’t transmog other things to look like your artifacts, but you can transmog your artifact.
Q: How will racial variations of classes be represented in class halls.
A: Fantasy is that you’re bringing all sub-groups together in one place, more than sub-groups.
Q: Alliance development that doesn’t result in someone dying or being lost?
A: Well, everything dies eventually. It’s just a matter of time.
Q: In class halls, can you chat with the other faction?
A: No, language barrier still exists. Weak. Demon Hunters can speak demonic to each other though.
Q: Pre-made groups – easier to plan events with strangers?
A: Yes, open raid is great, premade group finder has taken off, want to develop.
Q: Any alt-Draenor heroes in Legion?
A: Not on the outset.
Q: More Gilneas?
A: Yes.
Q: PvP gear?
A: Dropping in strongboxes, based on your battleground/arena rating.
Q: Will we see the final boss during the earlier stages of the expansion?
A: Yes, it’s part of building things up.
Q: Raid finder/Mythic flex size?
A: In part, Raid finder already is flex; ratio is the main element of keeping balance. Mythic is a whole separate question, concerns vis-a-vis fielding a 20-person roster consistently. Flex would be tremendously problematic, there are size inconsistencies as it stands. (This raid answer is the most in-depth answer thus far.)
Q: Is there any chance of seeing classes getting new roles?
A: No, right now we’re focused on the fantasy of each existing class.
Q: How will you find groups for challenge dungeons?
A: Will not be via LFG; Group Finder is the way to do this, but one of the goals is having a keystone be a valuable commodity.
Q: Can you address split raiding in Legion?
A: Hate split raiding, no one likes pressure to play multiple characters, but there might not be a good way to stop it other than making personal loot universal and absolute.
Q: Will the old Nefarian encounter gain a Demon Hunter class call?
A: Yes.
Q: In Legion, what do the panelists think is a good feature people might not notice?
- Hunting down new legendary items; identifying which ones are desired and run the content to make them work.
- A: A couple of people are starting to pick up on all the basic UI improvements, which will make the game more readable out of the box.
- Made some improvements to effects and animations, especially for melee.
- People won’t notice the scaling levels, but it’ll be cool in practice.
- Class accessories – a blog came out a long time back talking about those items. Some of those were built and concepted, and when Legion got started, that got sort of replaced with Artifacts.
- New tech for storytelling; we want you to pay attention. Legion is the expansion has more VO than any previous expansion. Practically every world group has its own lines.
The goal of the team is to get back into dungeons and have the five-player dungeon be cool again. Not in the sense that you could actually queue up for the progression stuff, but…
Q: Favorite class/spec artifact weapon?
A: Blood Death Knight, Retribution Paladin, Fire Mage, Holy Priest, Havoc Demon Hunter, Frost Death Knight, Survival Hunter. “Melee hunter is amazing.”
Q: Final question: is Jaina a Dreadlord?
A: “Yeah, sure, she is. No, she isn’t.”
