World of Warcraft devs address Dragonflight’s dragon flying limitations, Classic Wrath’s missing LFD

    
69
Birb?

Yesterday’s World of Warcraft reveal stream was kind of a big deal, announcing the next expansion for the retail game in the form of Dragonflight as well as the next expansion for the Classic side of the game with Wrath of the Lich King. As is tradition for Blizzard, the development team followed the big reveal with a set of interviews, with both IGN and AusGamers interviewing the staff; IGN got director Ion Hazzikostas and narrative lead Steve Danuser, while AusGamers got lead game designer Jeremy Feasel.

As is also tradition, these interviews restate some of what was in the reveal but also include some new tidbits, such as how dragonflight as a movement system is meant to recapture the feeling of vastness and isolated points of interest from the days of Stranglethorn Vale. The interviews also confirm that Renown is coming back, although it will work differently than how the system functioned in Shadowlands. Check out the full rundown for more details of the expansion, but if you’re mostly waiting for testing news or release dates, you’ll have to keep waiting. You are going to have to stick to the Isle for dragonriding, though:

We made these giant expansive zones so that it would work as a gameplay mechanic and for people on a variety of different hardware. We don’t want to have you fly into a bunch of creatures and then have them pop up around you. We’re designing the whole outdoor game world with dragonriding in mind. Also, we don’t want to invalidate all of the many hundreds of mounts that our players have collected up until now.

Meanwhile, the WoW Classic community is in the midst of an ongoing fissure over the expansion announcement for Wrath of the Lich King stating that the dungeon finder tool from Wrath of the Lich King will not be present in the Classic version. It has not been well-received news, to put it lightly; we’ll have more on that change as it develops. (Hashtag no changes?)

Source: IGN, AusGamers
Activision-Blizzard is considered a controversial gaming company owing to a long string of scandals over the last few years, including the Blitzchung boycott, mass layoffs, labor disputes, and executive pay fiasco. In 2021, the company was sued by California for fostering a work environment rife with sexual harassment and discrimination, the disastrous corporate response to which compounded Blizzard’s ongoing pipeline issues and the widespread perception that its online games are in decline. Multiple state and federal agencies are investigating the company as employees strike and call for Bobby Kotick’s resignation. As of 2022, the company is being acquired by no less than Microsoft.
Advertisement
Previous articleLord of the Rings Online just won at anniversary presents with today’s update
Next articleLost Ark deep-dives the Glaivier, addresses lost bonuses and content lockout issues

No posts to display

69 Comments
newest
oldest most liked
Inline Feedback
View all comments