Shadowlands Developer Interview - Ion Hazzikostas

Feedbot · Apr 29, 2020

Shadowlands Developer Interview - Ion Hazzikostas
Zoltan sat down with Ion Hazzikostas to talk about Shadowlands!

Lore

This is the real Jailer. What we saw at Blizzcon was a silhouette that isn't final.
We'll learn some about the history of the Arbiter and Jailer, the rulers, and what forces shaped the Shadowlands.
There are parallels between the Titans that rule Azeroth and the Pantheon of death that rules the Shadowlands.

Pre-Expansion Patch

The current plan is to tell the story of what happened to all of the Undead after the Helm of the Lich King. Main experience will be in Northrend and Icecrown.
Fight the way to the center of what happened to save our world. Bolvar and Death Knights will mobilize alongside the Horde and Alliance.
There will be a few one time story moments, time to resolve some of the threads, such as Nathanos.
There will be some re-playable outdoor content to help people coming back to gear up and get ready for Shadowlands.

More Lore

The team is generally planning two expansions in advance. Not a super detailed plan, but a higher level plan.
Bwonsamdi was really loved by players, so the team is happy to incorporate him into Shadowlands.
The Tyrande scenario is a piece of an endgame quest line, not the introduction.
Tyrande will be important in Shadowlands, has a connection to Ardenweald, her story is far from over.

Shadowlands Launch

The window given for launch at BlizzCon was just 2020, nothing has changed there.
Everyone can see development moving along.
The team will announce an exact release date when they are confident the expansion quality will be where it needs to be.

Covenants

Covenant Abilities will be a gameplay choice. It's part of playing a RPG.
As you go through each zone, you'll get to sample each Covenant's ability and aesthetic.
The team is going to use all of the aspects of Covenants to create packages with no one best choice.
The team has heard the feedback on the cost of changing Azerite armor. It was supposed to be expensive to discourage people from doing it often.
Soulbinds can be used everywhere.
Upon joining, you'll have access to two Soulbinds that you'll know from questing. You'll unlock a third by doing your Covenant campaign questline.
You can swap Soulbinds when you go back to your Covenant's sanctum.

Torghast

The team is still tuning things. You might get one legendary item every 2-3 weeks. Probably similar to the rate you could acquire Legendary items in Legion, but not as random.
The team can't let you do 20 Torghast runs a day and get rewards from all of them, but they want to let players have the ability to experience Torghast whenever you want.