Interview with Ion Hazzikostas: The Dragonflight Expansion
Buffed’s authors covered many topics in the WoW Developer Interview with Game Director Ion Hazzikostas. From the game system, dungeons, and raids, to the Evoker Class and whether the Dracthyr might be the door opener for other races like Naga or Sethrak. We have summarized the most significant highlights from the conversation for you here.
GAMING SYSTEMS
In this Dragonflight developer interview, they also shared their point of view about the gaming systems.
- The new Talent Trees are not as complicated as it appears to be. They are also more rewarding and helpful when leveling characters. They offer advantages over the previous system and enhance different playstyles’ individuality. The developers have also included the standard build. This lifts the burdens off of those who don’t want or don’t have time to test and tweak their talents to fit their playstyle.
- The developers are trying to get rid of Borrowed Power Systems. They plan to gradually expand and improve existing gaming systems instead.
- Zereth Mortis was a blueprint for Dragonflight gameplay ideas.
- When you reach the max level, there will be much more to do than just daily farming and grinding. You can collect or craft items, develop alt characters, and more.
- The developers have yet to decide what will happen to Dragonriding once Dragonflight ends. They already have ideas about how it should be. But for the time being, they want to focus on making this system fun to play in the current expansion.
- The work on the new interface was also mentioned in Ion Hazzikostas’s interview. They shall continue to perfect it, and they want to focus on making the functionality as good as possible. They will take a look at not only the main player interface but also other aspects.
DUNGEONS AND RAIDS
- In Dragonflight, the progression system in Mythic+ dungeons shall be expanded. The highest item-level players can receive from Mythic+ in Shadowlands is +15. However, in Dragonflight, +20 is the new height. This helps equalize dungeon, Heroic and Mythic raids in terms of reward quality and difficulty. Dungeon lovers can now stay caught up with their fellow raiders in every sense.
- The rotation of 4 old and 4 new Mythic+ dungeons in each season will solve the problem of difficulty with new players. They can always choose to run the old dungeons if they find the new ones are too complicated.
- Christmas is the main reason for the simultaneous opening of the Heroic and Mythic modes of the Vault of Incarnations. The developers want players to be able to relax with family and friends instead of spending time in an intense game. They also want to avoid dealing with round-the-clock support for raiders during the holiday season. In any case, this change shall only affect a small number of the strongest guilds. In theory, the Race to World First will be even more enjoyable. The guilds can pursue different tactics that were previously impossible.
- The possibility of visiting the Vault of Incarnations by cross-server groups will appear once the Hall of Fame is filled. If this does not happen by the middle of the update, the developers shall manually unlock it.
OTHER
- The latest dev interview also mentioned that Dragonflight is the expansion of exploration. It is intentional that the main story is not enough to haul you to the max level. You should explore and pay more attention to side quest chains, treasures, and secrets. Especially when developing alt characters in Adventure Mode. This is a Dragonflight version of Shadowland’s Threads of Fate.
- Evoker remains exclusive for Dracthyrs. After all, other races don’t have wings to perform many class abilities. But in the future, Dracthyrs may be able to choose different classes besides Evoker.
- The developers planned different body types for Dracthyrs before they were shown to the public for the first time. However, they were not ready for display.
- There are no plans to introduce playable Nagas and Sethraks. New races should have a thematic connection with the expansion. They shouldn’t just appear out of nowhere because technology allows it.
- The developers are open to introducing cross-server guilds. But so far, this is not technically possible.
- The developers are still determining if the Command Table should return. It’s not in Dragonflight because there are no suitable conditions to introduce it in this expansion.
- Evokers are the most mobile casters in the game. The developers reduced the class’s skill range to balance them. During class testing, the range was relatively small, only 25 meters. This led to many problems and did not appeal to the players. So, it was increased for the “Preservation” specialization.
- As the Dragonflight story progresses, players shall learn more about Neltharion and the fate of the Dracthyrs.
Comments