Este sitio hace uso intenso de JavaScript.
Por favor habilita JavaScript en tu navegador.
Tema Clásico
Tema Thottbot
Taliesin & Evitel Narrative Interview with Maria Hamilton - Dalaran, Xal'atath, and Azeroth
The War Within
Publicado
18/04/2024 a las 22:59
por
Archimtiros
In an interview with Associate Design Director Maria Hamilton, Taliesin & Evitel discuss the challenges of planning a narrative over three expansions in the World Soul Saga, where each expansion is at in terms of development, who Xal'atath really serves, and whether or not Azeroth is really a Titan!
A Story in Several Parts
The
world soul saga
is a very large story to tell, with a lot of pieces from previous expansions. Telling it as a trilogy allows each expansion to have a satisfying individual story, while progressing through the overall story arc.
It's new for them, but creates an opportunity for better pacing and foreshadowing, since they know what story is coming ahead of time... though they're very busy working on three expansions at one time!
They'll still have an engaging and entertaining story in each expansion, but it will also set up elements to resolve later over a longer period of time. They're planning to provide the expansions faster than in the past, so it
might not necessarily take six years
to get through all of them, but the hope is that building it as a trilogy causes players to look forward to what comes next. They want to get the pacing right.
The biggest challenge is continuity, which is to be expected. Coordinating such a large team means a lot of meetings to make sure everyone is communicating and on the same page.
The art team is already going nuts on the third expansion, The Last Titan, creating phenomenal creature and environmental concept art. Meanwhile, the world builders are very hard at work on Midnight, building maps for other designers to start building quests and spawning creatures. The narrative designers want to make sure they're building spaces that can be used to tell the stories they have planned, and sometimes they all have to adapt if plans change.
Maria does know the ending of the World Soul Saga already, but she's not telling us! They know where they're starting, they know what stakes they're setting up, and they know where they're ending. They already have a story backbone established to introduce players to new enemies and friends, and it's all been plotted out.
Raising the Stakes
The World Soul Saga starts off with the
Fate of Dalaran
to ensure players understand the risk, who the enemies are, and why we're pursuing them. The full introduction available at launch (not prepatch) will provide a lot more detail than the more obvious parts we've figured out so far.
There were lengthy conversations about how this narrative compares to other controversies such as the Burning of Teldrassil or Battle for Lordaeron, and how players would react. They don't want to repeat those feelings, but think the risk is worth it, since the hit isn't on any one faction or race - we all lose when Dalaran goes down.
We should expect more of the same from the rest of the World Soul Saga - anything could happen!
Xal'atath, Player Choice, and Ambiguity
While Season of Discovery has been
teasing a secret shadowy figure
Maria is
not
sure how much overlap there is with The War Within. Shadow Priests are already familiar with her, but the team will be making sure that other players also understand who she is in the upcoming expansion. She's up to something, and it's very definite, but players aren't going to have a clear idea of
what
for a little while - that's part of the mystery of her involvement.
Blizzard is trying to follow a philosophy of not needing to play other games or read supplementary material to understand what's going on.
Throughout the course of The War Within, you might get some foreshadowing and learn a little bit about her motives, but Maria cryptically states that she isn't sure giving players a choice whether to support Xal'atath or not would actually matter.
They like player agency and choice that has impact on the game world. It's obviously a little hard to do in a shared world rather than a single player RPG, and there's always a risk that the playerbase could diverge in a way that makes it difficult to bring everyone back to the same page. It's something they think about a lot.
The Earthen are more different from regular Dwarves than most people realize. There's an surge ability that's really cool and the story between their three different sub-groups offers an interesting difference in perspectives.
Some ambiguity in the Amirdrassil ending cinematic, in which the dragonflights are re-empowered, has raised speculation that Azeroth may not actually be a Titan... but Maria cannot comment on that.
The War Within Alpha Coverage
The War Within Alpha
Alpha Dev Notes
TWW Alpha Begins
WoWCast Dev Chat
Warbands Preview Video
Warbands Preview
Delves Preview Video
TWW Gear Store
Collectors Edition Preorder
Talent Calculator Live
Talent Tree Updates
Content Features
Radiant Cry Storyline
Isle of Dorn Storyline
Dornogal City
Earthen Lore Convos
The Fate of Dalaran
New Spellbook UI
Warbank Preview
Warband Rewards
Arachnophobia Toggle
464 Dragonriding Mounts
Loading Screens
Dracthyr Steady Flight
Winter Veil Gifts
New Toys
Mythic+ Role Achievements
Pre-Patch Event
Event Rewards
Heirloom Ring
Classes, Dungeons, & Raids
Major Class & Talent Changes
Diplomacy Racial Removed
Druid Flight Form Dragonriding
Earthen Racials & Heritage Armor
More Dracthyr Classes Soon™
Faster Leveling Curve
Heroic Raid Week Returns
S1 Mythic+ Dungeon Rotation
Dungeon Encounters & Abilities
Nerubar Palace S1 Raid Zone
First Look at Delves
Brann Companion Abilities
Revival Catalyst
Deephaul Ravine Battleground
Battleground Blitz Rewards
Legendary Companion Trinket
DK Dev Feedback
Druid Dev Feedback
Hunter Blue Post
Evoker Dev Feedback
Mage Dev Feedback
Monk Dev Feedback
Paladin Dev Feedback
Shadow Priest Feedback
Shaman Hero Talent Updates
Warlock Dev Feedback
Warrior Dev Feedback
Professions
Inspiration Crafting Rework
New Embellishments
Gems & Sockets
Herbalism Refresh
Profession Knowledge
Alchemy Flasks
Raid Consumables
NPC Work Orders
Crafted Epics
Gear Enchants
Darkmoon Decks
Models
Crypt Fiend, Lynx, Moles, Firefly Pet Models
TWW Battle Pet Models
Airship Mount Customizations
Fireflies, Unicorns, & Bee Mounts
TWW Creature Models
Gladiator Mount Model
Alleria, Anduin, Moria, Magni NPCs
Arathor Armor & Weapon Sets
Earthen Dungeon Armor & Weapon Sets
Questing Armor & Weapon Sets
Fancy Cosmetics
Civilian Transmog Sets
Earthen Civilian Armor
Harvester Armor
Artisan Ensemble
Night Elf Heritage Weapons
Nerub'ar Palace Weapons
Dalaran Defender Weapons
Pointed and Round Ear Customizations
Harronir Race Customizations
Earthen Allied Race Customizations
Demon Hunter Tier
Death Knight Tier
Druid Tier
Evoker Tier
Hunter Tier
Monk Tier
Paladin Tier
Rogue Tier
Warrior Tier
Interviews
T&E Developer Interview
GameSpot Hands On TWW
MrGM Dev Interview
Hirumaredx Dev Interview
Gamerant Dev Interview
Naguura Dev Interview
Obtiene Wowhead
Premium
USD $2
Un mes
Disfruta de una experiencia libre de publicidad, desbloquea características premium y dale tu soporte al sitio!
Mostrar 0 comentarios
Ocultar 0 comentarios
Inicia sesión para publicar un comentario
Comentarios en Inglés (24)
Escribir un Comentario
No has iniciado sesión. Por favor
entra a tu cuenta
o
registra una cuenta
para añadir tu comentario.
Publicación anterior
Publicación siguiente