Legendaries, Professions, Torghast, and Heritage Armor - WowChakra Shadowlands Interview with Ion Hazzikostas

Shadowlands Posted 2020/05/14 at 12:54 PM by Squishei

Watch !Regalos Especial 1º Aniversario como streamer + 20:00h Entrevista a Ion Hazzikostas !Cartas !Sorteo from WowChakra on www.twitch.tvShadowlands System GuidesLiveblogTorghast Time Commitment

The long term goal for Torghast is not multiple hour runs.

Torghast is still in early development as they wanted to get it up early for feedback.

They haven't put much time into the meta progression just yet. They don't mind having a build come together in the middle and make that portion easy, but it shouldn't continue infinitely.

They're looking to condense the runs where you get your build together, you get to crush some floors but the runs don't take a long time.

Torghast Achievements

There will definitely be a full suite of achievements for Torghast.

Achievements are generally one of the last things to develop as they want to understand the system.

Milestones, Beating different bosses, personal challenges and more!

Torghast Two-Week Events

Torghast is being built with events in mind.

A certain event might take over a section of the tower, but that's more of a long term goal to keep Torghast feeling fresh.

Legendary Item Crafting

It's not available in alpha just yet, but it will hopefully be up in a few weeks.

It'll hopefully be unlocked early in Torghast.

There will likely be an extra room that you can enter in the lobby of Torghast where you can head into where you find the Runesmith who originally crafted Frostmourne.

As you explore Torghast, you can find scraps that you can turn in to the Runesmith to add the Legendary effect.

Unlocking and learning the legendaries as well as the crafting materials will last the entire expansion.

Time Passing in the Shadowlands

It's complicated.

There isn't a fixed amount of time like 3x or 10x faster like in a sci-fi movie. It's more chaotic.

What does that mean for the player? We'll have to see when we come out the other end.

Covenants Ability Choice

It's a design challenge.

It's essential for the RPG aspect of the game to have choices with consequences and choices that shape the strengths and weaknesses of your characters.

They understand the community in the current World of Warcraft climate and don't want players to feel like they're letting their guildmates or group down.

Covenants are a full package deal, which includes Soulbinds, and they're planning on continuing to balance and update Covenant abilities on the Alpha in order to try to make sure that there's no wrong choice.

Class Trainers

Class Trainers are at the end of the new player experience where it teaches you about choosing a spec.

Players no longer start with a spec in Shadowlands which leads to the focus on class identity rather than spec identity.

No plans to make players go back to Class Trainers, but they would love to find a way to make Class Trainer relevant again.

Lordaeron and Teldrassil

There are big unresolved elements there.

There's a piece of the story with Tyrande in Ardenweald.

We may encounter many who fell in Battle for Azeroth in Shadowlands.

Finding a new home for the Night Elves and Forsaken isn't a great fit for the Shadowlands but they know that it's unresolved and it will be addressed in the future and they are already thinking of ideas.

Heritage Armor

Heritage Armor will continue until all races have them.

They want to continue doing them in Shadowlands patches, usually in X.5 patches.

Adventure System - New Mission Table

Should be on alpha next month.

They want to have a system that represents the fantasy of WoW's combat.

They want to evolve the mission table system to add more depth.

Legendaries and Professions

Current plan is only special items can be turned into Legendaries.

They need to made with certain items so they have the latent power that can be turned into Legendaries.

This means that you'll need items made from the crafting professions Tailors, Blacksmiths and Leatherworkers.

This should give the item-crafting professions sustained importance throughout the entire expansion.

Legendary Catch Up and Alts

It's likely that there will be some catch up eventually.

But unlike Legion, you can immediately work towards the Legendary that you want.

Whereever possible, make the recipes that you earn account-wide.

Crafting an Item

They want to introduce the Shadowlands system to previous profession levels but it's not a top priority.

You can craft without the optional components and it'll roll with random stats, but you can craft with additional components and guarantee a specific stat.

Graphics and Raytracing

No plans to drastically raise minimum requirements.

Class Armor Sets and Tier

Set bonuses are the piece that they're still trying to figure out.

Bonuses is why they pulled back class sets -- raiding isn't the only end game system and there's more loot in the game and they don't want players to feel locked into a set of 4 armor pieces.

They're currently focused on covenant armor when Shadowlands launches.

PvP

No plans on PvP only stats so the system will be like BFA.

Imagine when you fill your conquest bar, instead of getting a specific piece you get a token which you can turn in for a choice from a long list.

Covenant Transmog Restrictions

Current thought is in order to use the Covenant transmogs, your character must be a member of that Covenant.

If you have multiple characters in the same Covenant, those transmog should be account-wide.

Pre-Expansion Patch Duration

They're still working on the pre-expansion event and that event can only go out when Shadowlands is complete.

They know that players are excited for Shadowlands and are looking for new things to do in Visions of N'Zoth but they don't want to sacrifice quality of the expansion to release it earlier.

War Mode

They've learned a lot from BFA on War Mode.

Battle for Nazjatar had a lot of factional imbalance but factional assaults created a lot of natural World PvP.

There will probably be some FFA areas similar to Legion.

They're also thinking about potentially some Covenant vs Covenant action. Covenants are not naturally enemies but there's probably some spaces where there can be some challenges between the factions.

Reputation Buff on Live

The experience buff was open ended and you can never have too many alts.

The reputation buff has allowed players to unlock allied races or new rewards and will not be extended

There's another buff coming out after the reputation buff that will help players with alts catch up.

"How do I get the corruption I want" and Legendary Cloak getting caught up was mentioned.

Hopefully news in a few days.

CGI Cinematics

There's a range of storytelling options -- from the Warbringers pieces to the ingame cinematics to the pre-rendered movie quality cinematics.

They use each of them when it makes sense for the story to tell.

They will continue to see all of those types of videos to support the Shadowlands story.

Faction Leaders in the Shadowlands

Can't say much more due to spoilers.

Important Names in the Shadowlands

Arthas is somewhere in the Shadowlands right?

They want to be careful with that character and you'll be learning about the power that shaped the Lich King but they also want to be respectful about one of the great characters of Warcraft Lore.

You probably won't be running around with him, but you will be learning some things about him.

Oribos and Covenant Sanctum Features

Oribos should be on the alpha within the next week.

Oribos and the Covenant Sanctums have a lot of parallels to the way Dalaran and the Class Halls worked.

Loading Screens in Torghast

It's an unfortunate tech limitation due to the dynamic nature of Torghast.

They agree it's a little immersion breaking.

They may explore a different loading screen effect instead of the blue bar.

Traveling Between Shadowlands

Bolvar will serve as a bridge between Azeroth and Shadowlands, providing valuable insights as we quest.

Bolvar Pre-Expansion

Chances are high. He survived the confrontation with Sylvanas.

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Comment by sprendineaSo many interviews! Holy crapComment by wallrochaI really hope somebody asks about shadow priests now that we know they are aware of the issue I'd love to hear what is their plan :)Comment by GhostiseI really hope somebody asks about shadow priests now that we know they are aware of the issue I'd love to hear what is their plan :)Comment by OlkardI really hope somebody asks about shadow priests now that we know they are aware of the issue I'd love to hear what is their plan :)Comment by MilesCWSo many interviews! Holy crapComment by FrozenRain7Because there are better and more relevant things to ask about. I'm glad these interviews have been getting some proper questions answered for once.Comment by MilesCWBecause there are better and more relevant things to ask about. I'm glad these interviews have been getting some proper questions answered for once.Comment by VewtyCan we please just do away with mission tables already?

It's just the worst. It sucked in WoD using a stupid interface to send minions out to do stuff they couldn't be arsed to add you the game (I still yearn for Farahlon). It sucked in Legion where you got time gated by nonsense to progress the story. It sucks in BfA because he's borderline irrelevant and held back by RNG troops.

Please just stop.Comment by HughWattmateI really don't get the whole need for this Covenants Ability stuff. Its still a choice picking what you like aesthetically and tailoring end game and story around it.

If its about making the class feel and play a little different they could just use the systems we have already that are neglected.. Class Talents perhaps? This would solve the "borrowed power" and sense of loss every expan also. Could also chuck in Tier sets / Gear effects / Gem Effects to spice it up some more from patch to patch.

Why even bother with class talents at this point if they don't want to build upon them? So many class's have had dead spec and choices for a while now its easily something they could be working on instead of more systems on systems on system and borrowed power. No need to keep adding more systems and then taking them away. We have stuff that could be worked on already but just isn't.Comment by BlueOctopusGraphics and Raytracing
No plans to drastically raise minimum requirements.Comment by WowheadCommenterIf its about making the class feel and play a little different they could just use the systems we have already that are neglected.. Class Talents perhaps? This would solve the "borrowed power" and sense of loss every expan also. Could also chuck in Tier sets / Gear effects / Gem Effects to spice it up some more from patch to patch. Comment by TOMRUSWhy even bother with class talents at this point if they don't want to build upon them? So many class's have had dead spec and choices for a while now its easily something they could be working on instead of more systems on systems on system and borrowed power. No need to keep adding more systems and then taking them away. We have stuff that could be worked on already but just isn't.Comment by IamPhenomenalThe factions aren't imbalanced though.Comment by Lis25Really pls, Mission Tables in BfA are the worst. Plus war resources are useless.Comment by ExtrabuffWhy even bother with class talents at this point if they don't want to build upon them? So many class's have had dead spec and choices for a while now its easily something they could be working on instead of more systems on systems on system and borrowed power. No need to keep adding more systems and then taking them away. We have stuff that could be worked on already but just isn't.Comment by MoiraleyCovenant Transmog Restrictions
Current thought is in order to use the Covenant transmogs, your character must be a member of that Covenant.
If you have multiple characters in the same Covenant, those transmog should be account-wide.

Ehm i do hope that this does only count for the time Shadowlands is the live expansion. I would reaally hate it if after shadowlands i had to go back to shadowlands, change covenant, go back to live JUST to change my transmog.

I know a lot of people (me Included) that want to play alts in different covenants only to unlock all the Transmog.Comment by SaispaiRemovedComment by DonhornI'd personally rather see the mission table scrapped, but if they are going to insist on sticking to it then here's my compromise suggestion.
Don't give loot directly, give quests instead. Make these scouting missions, things like scoping out an unusual number of weapons being routed to a specific instance with the reward being the info on what boss in the instance is hoarding all the loot. Then you get a quest to go kill that specific boss for a specific item. Have the 100% reward be the tier you killed the boss at, and the 200% reward change it to one tier higher or something like that. Making the player go find their reward in the world allows you to give real compelling rewards without replacing those activities like what happened in WoD.

Personally though, I'd rather just go back to Wrath where an NPC in Dalaran had a weekly quest to go kill specific bosses for extra rewards. It made for a fun incentive to go back and do a boss or two of the previous raid tiers.Comment by Darkhayno offense but... why these interviews do not ask something like NEW, its the same questions, i was fearing i was just gonna see questions about the same question all over again.
and it happenedComment by NathasilThe factions aren't imbalanced though.It's essential for the RPG aspect of the game to have choices (...)

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