![]() When designing what we wanted to do for Chains of Domination, we knew there were story beats we needed to hit. How did you go about deciding on the scope of what 9.1 would be given the work from home situation? Did you have to manage the scope because of that? Or did it not make much of a difference?įrank Kowalkowski: It really doesn't because players have expectations for what a content update looks like in World of Warcraft, and we have to meet those expectations. It's been a different environment where we have learnt to take advantage of the strengths of work from home, and do our best to work around or develop new practises to get at the same successes we had when in the office. ![]() And people have the ability to work independently. We have a lot of different tactics for trying to recreate those environments. So it really requires us to think differently about how we do that. We do have a full suite of collaboration tools. Certainly there are fewer opportunities for that. You mentioned being able to go over to somebody's desk. How have you managed it?įrank Kowalkowski: It's different for sure. ![]() Would you say it's harder to make this kind of update under those conditions? I can only imagine it slows things down? You can't just go over to someone's desk and discuss what they're working on. We did want to make sure this was a content update that's going to appeal to a broad swath of players. We put a lot of content in there - there's a little bit of something for everybody. We wanted to make sure we hit the quality bar we wanted to. One of the things we really liked for Chains of Domination is we did take our time. And you can learn from the things that went well, and the things that didn't. For a developer, you like to learn new ways of doing things because you can take some of that going forward. This was the first one where we did everything in work from home. With Shadowlands we had a lot of the concepts and a lot of the work had been done and then transitioned to work from home, where we finalised and shipped. Chains of Domination was the first content update we've ever done for World of Warcraft that was conceived, designed and implemented, and developed and iterated on all from a work from home environment. With everything that's going on in the world, how has production of 9.1 gone? What sort of challenges have you faced?įrank Kowalkowski: Yes, it's certainly been a unique year throughout the world and for the team. 9.1 comes out over half a year since Shadowlands launched. It's a remarkable time to be making games. But, I'll be honest up front dear reader, what's coming to Sylvanas, the overarching Shadowlands story and the payoff fans have been waiting for - in my case since the high elf ranger-general of Silvermoon became the Banshee Queen at the dastardly hands of Arthas Menethil in Warcraft 3 - forms the bulk of the chat. Cash, alongside technical director Frank Kowalkowski, gave me the rundown on 9.1 in a Zoom call that delved into everything from datamined cutscenes to Infinite Pirate Dragons. "Regardless of how you feel about Sylvanas, you're going to get some answers," was how lead quest designer Johnny Cash put it to me. But, Blizzard has promised in a recent interview with Eurogamer, answers are coming. Killing Sylvanas off with the Shadowlands still in play and future stories yet to be told seems unlikely. Sylvanas is a controversial figure, but she is also immensely popular. Sylvanas, let's remember, murdered loads of innocent Night Elves, shacked up with the mysterious Jailer, and helped to imprison King Anduin in the depths of the Maw.Ĭould true defeat come for Sylvanas at the end of the new raid? I doubt it. Sylvanas has been the subject of much debate for some time now, with players wondering whether she's set for a redemption arc. ![]() This week, Blizzard launches World of Warcraft Shadowlands update 9.1, dubbed Chains of Domination, and with it adds a brand new raid that ends with a boss fight against Warcraft's most divisive character: the Banshee Queen herself. Finally, it seems, Warcraft fans who have wondered just what Blizzard is doing with supervillain Sylvanas Windrunner will get some answers. ![]()
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