WoW WotLK Classic: Blizzard about generated bosses, OG Arena and more

The beta phase of WoW: Wrath of the Lich King Classic should start in a few weeks or months. Until then, there are still a lot of questions that WotLK fans want answered. Some of these questions came up in a recent interview with Lead Software Engineer Brian Birmingham (via WoWHead). We've summarized the most important findings for you.

Birmingham on Dungeon Finder cancellation

• The developers want to create an alternative for the dungeon finder that came with patch 3.3 back in the day that doesn't sacrifice the human-to-human interaction from Classic. In doing so, they want to combine the best of modern group search, as well as the TBC Classic version of the LFG tool.
• WoW: Blizzard's Brian Birmingham talked about generated bosses, raid lockouts, the Dungeon Finder, the OG Arena, and more from WotLK Classic. Source: Blizzard What Birmingham likes about the modern group search is the structure of the interface, but also the possibility to clearly define the role for players who have already been found and are still wanted. With the cross-server system, on the other hand, the developers fear the old problem: you never meet again, which could encourage certain negative behaviors.
• With the TBC Classic tool, again, what's great is that you can sign up as "Available" without having to lead the group right away. The weak point is that this group search is underused even now, in TBC Classic. This is where the developers need to start.
• Of course, if there's no automated group search, players won't get a daily emblem bonus when they sign up. But no problem: Before patch 3.3, there were daily quests that took care of this task first. Those quests are supposed to be coming back.
• As for the spam in the Group Search channel on the very crowded servers, Blizzard already has ideas on how to get that under control. Birmingham takes this opportunity to emphasize that the ban on boost ads also applies to the Classic versions of WoW.
• Even without the dungeon browser, there should be the Pug Stray as a reward. It is not yet clear in which way we will be able to earn it.

WoW: Zoom out further than normal? New console command makes it possible!

WoW: Final raid of the championship season lands soon on the PTR

Adjustments to raid lockouts and bosses of WotLK Classic.

• In WotLK Classic, the developers want to prevent players from feeling forced to complete the Crusader's trial four times with one character - in order to take all four possible raid IDs (and thus Epics) (for Progress players, it's even more runs, assuming they also equip Twinks).
• An unintended effect at the time was that players left Ulduar too early. There was already better loot in the normal version of PdK than in almost any part of Ulduar.
• The blatant increase in character power due to better and better equipment then caused further problems and attempted solutions such as the coldness of the throne. The developers are therefore thinking about cautious adjustments.
• One solution could be to include activatable hard modes in PDK and Icecrown Citadel as well, so that Normal and Heroic share a raid ID - similar to Ulduar.
• Over the course of the WotLK era, there were far fewer nerfs for raid bosses than there were in Burning Crusade. Only a few outliers needed to be caught, and Blizzard will decide on a case-by-case basis whether they end up on the live servers with or without nerfs. There won't be extra "pre-nerf/post-nerf" phases like in TBC Classic though, that doesn't make sense.
• However, there could be adjustments for the Icecrown Citadel nerf aura, such as guilds deciding how strong the aura should be.

Factions, races and classes in WotLK ClassicThe

• developers have identified a large role-playing fan base within the Classic community

• It is important to this fan base that the world in which their characters move is coherent. However, there is no reason within World of Warcraft (buy now )
why a Taurean can suddenly transform into a Gnome. This argues against the implementation of race and faction switching.
• PvP players, on the other hand, who are primarily interested in playing the best possible race/class combination, won't care about such things. Argument for the services.
• You could, of course, make all race skills available to all races in PvP. But that would take one aspect out of the fights, namely the deduction from the race to the associated skill and anticipating when the opponent will pull out his ace in the sleeve.
• Whether the restriction that prohibits having characters on both faction sides on PvP servers will be overturned is something the developers are currently discussing.
• At that time, the battles in Thousand Winters increased the desire of many players to switch factions. The developers are currently thinking about ways to let the loser challenge the bosses in Archavon's Chamber as well - for some kind of entrance fee, for example. It could also be that the developers will let the tenacity
buff for the outnumbered faction stack much higher, so that the "underdogs" also have a chance.
• Dual talent distribution will be available in WotLK Classic after all, with no additional restrictions. So you only have to live with the old rules: The switch only goes outside of combat, arenas and battlegrounds, and the switch takes some time and consumes all your resources.

Arena of Orgrimmar and Nitro BoostsThe

• Arena of Orgrimmar (Ring of Valor) is different from the Nagrand Arena, for which Blizzard brought back Tornadoes in TBC Classic

• The OG arena was buggy, didn't feel good. In such a mixed form, you don't want to bring the arena back.
• In WotLK's arenas, you could use the nitro boosts from the engineers for a while. Whether such things will return at least for the first season of WotLK Classic is currently being discussed. Actually, the idea is to avoid players constantly changing their professions so that they can enjoy a small advantage in raids or PvP.

See also

WoW: Great Invincible cover by Jay the Bard and Sharm of Stormsong

March 10, 2023

WoW Classic: Get to level 60 with pig kills - South Park says hello

March 10, 2023

WoW: Admire 25 years of Warcraft in high-resolution 8K

March 10, 2023