wow BlizzConline World of Warcraft Q&A Recap

[Staff 1,488]

World of Warcraft developers answered community-submitted questions. We learned more about Anduin, bits about Sylvanas' confrontation in the new raid, and faction imbalance.

• Anduin is horrified at what he's done because he had no control over his actions in Bastion.
• Uther touched the wound on his chest when he saw Anduin. There's a ton of these little nuances put into the cinematics, and the cinematic team is doing a terrific job in Shadowlands.
• The Archon's hand has moved in the cinematic. She survived Anduin's attack. When you start playing 9.1, the story picks up after the cinematic.
• Sylvanas' confrontation in the Sanctum of Domination will be the most epic moment in raiding history. There are a lot of stories wrapped into that.
• Burning Crusade zones will support a high population of players. They want to make targeted changes to problematic areas just like they did with Black Lotus in Classic.
• When it comes to pure aesthetic expression, they want to give players more options. If you are a Plate wearer, they have gameplay reasons not to allow you to wear robes, but they want to lift those restrictions for cosmetics, so the new 9.1 Covenant sets can be used for transmogrification regardless of class.
• Blizzard feels extremely grateful for the opportunity to connect people through games during the ongoing health crisis.
• In Castle Nathria, the Alliance had an advantage over the Horde. It would take something tremendous for players to switch factions, like completely make racials overpowered or rewards. It is a social issue that needs a social solution. It is a top priority for the team.
• The Alliance and the Horde are a pillar of Warcraft.
• Alliance and Horde are relatively even when it comes to the entire Warcraft population. If you look at specifics, like the Mythic raiding community, there you'll notice some imbalance.
• If you decide on Burning Crusade Classic launch day that you will pay for the clone, you will have your name reserved in both places, but obviously, they won't be reserving names for a long time.
• Sire Denathrius is inside the sword, and we might hear more from him in the future.
• There are no plans to bring back WoW's AH to the mobile app. It has become a place of automation, so they removed it, although there was a convenience factor for many players.
• No new customization options are planned in Shadowlands. They think the breadth of new options they added in Shadowlands is sufficient for now.
• Shadowlands Pathfinder only requires completing the Campaign. You won't be able to fly directly from zone to zone. The zones are not next to each other. 
• The devastation of Teldrassil was permanent, and they won't be reversing anything.
• There are no plans to launch new Classic realms.
• Layering might return in Burning Crusade Classic because they want to serve as many players as possible.
• Summoning stones in Burning Crusade Classic will be available from the start.
• The Wandering Ancient will be released with Patch 9.0.5 next month. The only requirement for it is to have Shadowlands.

[FireLordJohn 91]

I may be stating an unpopular opinion, but I hope that Sylvanas doesn't get killed off. 😞

[Guz 24]

Who picks these trash questions?

[Calysia 229]

44 minutes ago, FireLordJohn said:

I may be stating an unpopular opinion, but I hope that Sylvanas doesn't get killed off. 😞

Not sure what else can happen...she's beyond redemption in my way of thinking.

[Ragingwolf 310]

22 minutes ago, Guz said:

Who picks these trash questions?

They were most likely cherry picked so dodgy Ion can do his best to beat around the bush like he always does in a Q&A.

I was more keen on the following.

-Renown Catchup-is the progress going to increase more alternatives for a faster way of catching up than the standard that is in place now?

-the testing of Valor for upgrading in the Beta; what they are looking forward when a player gears a character when it comes to choice: PvP, Raid, or Mythic+

-a sneak peak to how the new Mythic Affix would work

-any new thoughts or progress on bringing Class specific tier sets in this expansion or if we have to wait till a different expansion

-new crafting materials any changes to the professions?

-Soul Ash catchup?

And many more but at this rate I'll just wait on blue posts instead.

[Shredlamorte 0]

Such a disappointment that there is not going to be fresh TBC realms (without boosts/transfers). And i'm not sure i want to be waiting 4+ months after TBC Classic's launch to play, if they decide to add them later on.

Edited February 20, 2021 by Shredlamorte

[Migol 433]

Except that the Ardenwield bounce up and glide thing has proven that the "not connected" thing is a total farce?    /sigh.

I for one hope we can finally put Sylvannas down "all the way dead".      Tired of her in every storyline, tired of her somehow yeeting away like team rocket every time, tired of the "oh but maybe, DEEP, DEEP @&*%ing DOWN, she's still good?"

She's a genocidal traitor who sacrificed her own people and killed civilians to fill the jailer's soul count.     That some people find a blue grey zombie corpse somehow hot and attractive shouldn't be a part of the storyline.

[Arcling 898]

Disagree about imbalance being an issue only at highest level of activity. There are less groups on LFG on Alliance side, even for some baseline activities, which indicates lower overall population. Or did they take whole statistic into account, counting all low-level alts and inactive characters, because this doesn't matter at max level (you aren't going to play with these people anyway). Also them saying factions are the pillars of this game sounds pretty silly, when one faction can go mercenary mode in pvp, and in other instances (arenas, rated bg, pvp wq) you can even fight your own faction. 

19 hours ago, Ragingwolf said:

They were most likely cherry picked so dodgy Ion can do his best to beat around the bush like he always does in a Q&A.

Yes, they've been screening all questions for some time already. Afaik, it was a case even back when "is it out of season April Fool's joke" asked his question (he simply asked a different one instead of what was selected). Without live audience they were safe now.

Edited February 21, 2021 by Arcling

[shanghaied 55]

On 2/20/2021 at 2:49 PM, FireLordJohn said:

I may be stating an unpopular opinion, but I hope that Sylvanas doesn't get killed off. 😞

I agree with you.  Sylvanas is my favorite WoW NPC and I love her presence.

Anecdote aside, she's one of the most important characters in WoW and has been a major part of the lore for the past 3 expansions and really dominating the last 2.

If they do kill her off then I hope they have a plan to fill that void.  And it will be huge. 

[Znifler 58]

On 2/20/2021 at 10:35 PM, Calysia said:

Not sure what else can happen...she's beyond redemption in my way of thinking.

Well yes, and no. This can be looked at from a death penalty point of veiw. Some agree that it's the correct punishment for those really bad, but who are we to judge who are to die and not? Honestly Sylvanas shouldn't be killed off, since that makes us no better. What we can do, is punish her in other ways, that is more correct ethically. 

[Calysia 229]

1 hour ago, Znifler said:

Well yes, and no. This can be looked at from a death penalty point of veiw. Some agree that it's the correct punishment for those really bad, but who are we to judge who are to die and not? Honestly Sylvanas shouldn't be killed off, since that makes us no better. What we can do, is punish her in other ways, that is more correct ethically. 

But to use that reasoning would imply that every boss we fight should be punished "in other ways"...