The long-awaited "Nightfall" is finally here. Whether it's the highly free-form housing system or the map reset that revitalizes the entire Quel'Thalas region and Silvermoon City, both new and old players are very excited. But besides these harmless parts, the "Nightfall" version also includes drastic gameplay changes such as modifications to addon functionality and simplification of all class abilities. Given that these changes involve the most fundamental aspects of World of Warcraft, we can completely say that in the early stages of Season 1, this is mixed news.
Thank you to NetEase LeiHuo for the invitation. On the eve of the "Nightfall" version launch, we contacted the core creators of the current version of World of Warcraft. They are: Game Associate Director Paul Kubit, Lead Dungeon/Encounter Designer Dylan Barker, Senior Game Designer Kim Flak, and Game Designer Jake Shillan—this lineup is quite luxurious, and the important questions players care about will be answered by them one by one.
Due to the length, this interview is divided into two parts. Below is the interview content with Game Associate Director Paul Kubit and Lead Dungeon/Encounter Designer Dylan Barker.
Q: The current raid loot distribution method, which uses rolling dice to determine equipment ownership, results in many players participating in raids but not receiving corresponding rewards and improvements, severely dampening the enthusiasm of some players to participate in raids. Could you consider allowing both the personal loot from version 7.0 and master looter to coexist, with the raid leader deciding?
Paul:This is a very good question, thank you for asking. Simply put, the design of the loot distribution system has always been a focus of our work. Currently, we have no plans to make major adjustments to the loot system at the initial launch of "Nightfall" and announce them, but the possibility of adjustment remains in the future. It should be noted that we are well aware of the cultural differences in looting methods among different player groups and regions. We have discussed this many times in the past while creating quality gaming experiences for North American and Chinese players. We will fully understand the needs of different players and strive to create a high-quality game in everyone's hearts—this is also an important consideration for all our related decisions.
Q: Previous interviews mentioned that one of the reasons for restructuring game addons in 12.0 was to avoid an "arms race" with players regarding addons. Do you think this phenomenon has been alleviated now? Can players directly feel some changes in design philosophy in the first season?
Paul:The addon rule adjustments for "Nightfall" have basically met our expectations. Long ago, we intended to change the current situation where players rely on addons to solve boss puzzle mechanics, and we also hoped to ensure a fair gaming environment for all players, regardless of whether they use addons. Conveying this design philosophy to all players is crucial for us.
A year ago, we mentioned this idea, and since then, we have continued to update everyone on the progress. During this period, our engineers and designers have invested a lot of effort. On one hand, we improved the game's built-in systems, hoping to achieve functions that were previously done by addons but now need to be implemented without them under the new rules; on the other hand, we also collaborated with addon authors to adjust and develop the game API, allowing developers to still create feature-rich, practical addons that also align with our design goals. We will continue to exert effort in this area. After the launch of "Nightfall," addon rules will continue to be optimized based on actual conditions. You can look forward to continuous updates to the base UI and the launch of more new features. Overall, the effect of this addon rule adjustment meets expectations. As for the changes in design philosophy that players can feel, I'll leave that to Dylan to explain.
Dylan:As developers, we need to show players in more detail the correct ways to deal with or avoid skills in the game. We plan to extend the presentation time of some mechanics through visual effects and animations compared to before, which also forces us to streamline some mechanical elements when designing boss fights. However, the importance, ritual sense, visual presentation, and danger level of the retained elements will be enhanced. Our core design philosophy is to collaborate with the class design team to create more space for players, allowing them to better utilize class characteristics through coordination and cooperation in raids. Because in the past, the automation functions of addons helped players avoid many requirements that originally needed manual handling. Now that these automation functions have been removed, boss fight designs can once again require players to coordinate within the team. Of course, we must also adjust the structural design of boss fights to alleviate the increased mental burden on players.
Q: As built-in addons continue to improve and can implement more and more functions, will this实质上 (substantially) create a burden for new players again, similar to the era of third-party addons?
Paul:This is a good question, and we are clearly aware of it, always taking it into consideration during the development of new features. Before adding any information to the overall UI, we repeatedly ask three questions: Is this information players must know? Is this information players expect to know? Or does it require players to spend too much time to master this content? Often, the answer is the latter. Therefore, when evaluating initial proposals for some UI additions, we ultimately chose to shelve them because the content was too complex and placed too high demands on players. Such content might suit hardcore players or specific groups, but they are ultimately a minority. Indiscriminately adding this content for the vast majority of players would only increase the difficulty of understanding the game. In short, this issue has always been a focus of our attention, and thank you again for this excellent question.
Q: Will the housing system continue to evolve in the future? Many players look forward to seeing their other warband characters or NPCs inside, making empty houses more lively.
Paul:This is a fantastic suggestion. One of the highlights of the housing system is that it encourages players to participate in building design alongside us. Two and a half months after the housing system entered early access, we saw many players create aesthetically pleasing home decorations and received numerous excellent ideas, such as your suggestion to allow alts to enter homes, display pets, or enable flipping of decorative items. We do have a large amount of planned updates for the housing system in the future, as it is our continuous core project—because for many World of Warcraft players, the core gameplay they want to experience is collection and home decoration.
In the near future, we will continue to increase the number of housing exterior decorations. This is currently the biggest request from players, even exceeding our expectations—we didn't anticipate such high enthusiasm for courtyard and yard decorations. As this demand grows, we are investing more effort to ensure game stability while increasing the number of exterior decorations. At the same time, we will add lighting features to building exteriors, which is also a common player request.
In addition, we also plan to allow players to place their pets in their homes. Whether they are combat or non-combat pets, 99% of them can be displayed indoors or outdoors. On the home editing page, players can freely set their pets' movement behaviors to make their homes more lively. We will continue to optimize the home building tools, allowing players to build their homes more efficiently and beautifully, and making it easier to borrow excellent designs from friends or online and apply them to their own homes.
All the above plans come from player feedback. We are very much looking forward to the launch of these updates, and we hope everyone will continue to provide us with ideas. We believe you will enjoy the subsequent updates.
Q: With the simplification of abilities in version 12.0, I found that in the current Mythic+ dungeon beta test, the pressure on tanks and healers is much higher than on DPS. The most obvious feeling is that the frequency of AOE or spike damage appearances is similar to previous versions, but the available counter-skills for players have been greatly reduced. For example, after healers use all their important skills, subsequent AOE damage can only be dealt with by constantly casting regular healing spells, or simply hoping that this damage mechanism won't target squishy players. This has not achieved the burden-reduction effect sought by ability simplification. What considerations do designers have for the current numerical settings?
Paul:From the perspective of the game's development history, the gameplay pressure on tanks and healers has indeed always been higher than on DPS, which is partly determined by class roles. After all, a party usually has only one tank and one healer, so these two roles naturally bear more pressure. We are always aware of this issue and will try our best to improve this situation in "Nightfall." We have now specifically formulated multi-faceted solutions.
First, for tank classes, we have added the "Lindormi's Guidance" affix for novice tank players, providing guidance for Mythic+ dungeon gameplay, such as which monsters to pull and how many, helping novice tanks get started quickly.
Secondly, for healer classes, we are also vigorously promoting burden reduction. One important adjustment is the removal of interrupt skills for healer classes in "Nightfall," and we will continue to pay close attention to relevant player feedback. This adjustment reduces one task requirement for healer classes, and as a compensatory measure, the total number of interrupts required by the entire party will also be reduced accordingly. In this way, the core task of healer classes will return to healing itself. In the past, especially in high-level Mythic+ dungeons, healer classes often had to bear the dual tasks of group healing and interrupting. Now they can finally focus on their core gameplay.
Finally, during the first CD of the new version's launch, we will unlock Normal difficulty dungeons. At that time, we can observe players' initial play data, evaluate key metrics, and understand the actual gameplay experience for tanks, healers, and damage dealers. This gives us ample time to make necessary adjustments based on player feedback. For example, we might find that healing in a certain dungeon suffers from mana shortages or long cooldown gaps, and we will optimize this issue before the season begins.
Q: In Mythic+ dungeons, optimal compositions often emerge. The final optimal lineup is usually determined not just by numbers, but more by dungeon mechanics. To what extent does the team deliberately avoid making certain tank or healer specs the optimal solution, thereby forming a fixed best composition, when designing boss and mob mechanics for the new season?
Dylan:We will be very cautious in ensuring the mechanical diversity of the 8 dungeons in "Nightfall" Season 1. For example, during initial planning, if we found that multiple selected dungeons required healers to focus on dealing with burst damage, we would timely adjust the existing dungeon selection. Additionally, the existing dungeon selection includes some dungeons from previous versions. We will conduct in-depth research on these dungeons, not only focusing on their current mechanics and numbers but also planning their adjusted state in combination with version design goals.
It should be noted that the mainstream compositions in the game are not solely determined by developer design; a large part also comes from players' deep interpretation and flexible application of dungeon mechanics and class characteristics. Therefore, even if we provide players with sufficient mechanical diversity, a strictly defined "version optimal composition" may still emerge. The key is whether this optimal composition changes with updates to game content and adjustments to class experiences. Based on the current design situation, I am generally satisfied. Of course, hardcore player groups will always find the most efficient composition to pursue victory, and I think this is also part of the fun of the game. Thank you again for your question.
Q: The housing system is interesting, but some players say that when AFK in the capital city, it's hard for others to know they are experienced home decorators. Are there plans to introduce related features that allow home decoration experts to showcase their decoration achievements to others in the capital city?
Paul:We are indeed considering this request and will promote the development of related features in the future. Currently, we cannot share more details as development is still ongoing, and the release date has not been determined. However, enabling players to share their home design ideas more efficiently is very important to us, especially as the number of expert home decorators in the game increases, making this need more urgent. Please look forward to future announcements; we will share more details about these features at the appropriate time.
Q: How do you view the impact of ability simplification on the game? For instance, the initial pick rate of certain classes and the strength of specific specializations are affected by this change. Also, some players believe that simplifying abilities lowers the skill ceiling for classes with originally high complexity, such as Rogues. How will you balance this issue going forward?
Paul:This is a fantastic question. Regarding this point, we have not only discussed it repeatedly internally but are also exploring the best balance solution together with players. A major advantage of developing content for a game like World of Warcraft is that we have the PTR Public Test Realm and Beta Test Realm. Moreover, during the development of new versions, we have ample time to synchronize design progress with players, listen to their actual gameplay experiences, and make targeted adjustments accordingly.
If you have been closely following version updates since the "Nightfall" Beta test phase, you would have noticed that we have made extensive adjustments in class design: we first announce the initial design plans, which the class design team considers a good starting point for class changes. Ultimately, some of these changes are implemented as initially planned, but more undergo multiple rounds of iterative optimization, all thanks to player feedback.
From Beta testing to PTR testing, participating players have continuously tested class changes and provided a large number of valuable suggestions. The entire adjustment process is more like an in-depth dialogue between us and players. After the launch of "Nightfall," new class content will be unlocked. Currently, the pre-patch version of 12.0 that players are experiencing (Editor's Note: This question was answered on February 25) has not yet opened level 90, which is the level for unlocking ultimate class talents. For many classes, ultimate talents will supplement the previously missing operational complexity, allowing players to feel the complete gameplay form of the class.
Additionally, we will continue to collect player feedback during the experience of the "Nightfall" Season 1, monitor various game data, pay attention to class performance in dungeons and raids, and look for suitable opportunities to add interesting content to classes—whether it's class mechanic changes in version updates or auxiliary content like set bonuses that can adjust class gameplay. After ability simplification, there will be some adjustment space for class gameplay, and we will supplement rich and interesting designs where players feel a lack of experience. You can look forward to subsequent class-related updates.
Q: Why choose to launch three raids sequentially in Season 1? What is the core purpose of the production team's arrangement?
Dylan:The core reason is to align with the version's narrative. When planning the raid content for the early part of the version, we were generally satisfied with the total number of bosses and saw an opportunity to tell a complete story spanning multiple scenes and a timeline through multiple raids. Therefore, after the first raid experience, we will release related narrative campaign content. Once players complete the challenges of "The Spire of Shadows" and "Dream Rift," we will launch a new raid shortly after, with the specific timing adjusted based on dungeon difficulty. During the interval between these two raids, we will advance the subsequent development of the version's story. We hope this approach allows players to experience changes in the game world and grand plot events in a novel and interesting way.
Q: Many new gameplay features in World of Warcraft are derived from niche gameplay or quests in previous versions. Does the new Hunting system in 12.0 also have such inspirational sources? Why choose to launch the Hunting system in this version? Is this gameplay version-limited content, or will it be continuously updated?
Paul:These are all very good questions. When developing new features, we do draw inspiration from many places. The inspiration for the Hunting system comes from existing game content, especially the Nemesis gameplay in Delves from "The War Within." Nemeses randomly appear in players' Delves to launch attacks. We saw that many players were interested in this random gameplay, finding the experience of sudden unexpected encounters requiring careful response very fresh. This is the core inspiration for creating the Hunting system.
The source of this inspiration actually comes from another Blizzard game series, "Diablo," where the Butcher's random ambush gameplay not only makes players feel tense and excited at the moment of encounter but also keeps a certain level of tension throughout the entire gameplay process. This unpredictability is precisely the charm of the gameplay.
The main reason for launching the Hunting system in the "Nightfall" version is that its gameplay theme highly aligns with the version's setting. Whether it's the racial traits of Blood Elves, the NPC "Astalor Bloodsworn" who leads the gameplay, or the mysterious setting of the Underbelly—a hidden area beneath the bustling city filled with shady characters—all match the core experience of the Hunting system. Additionally, there are many unique factions in the version that can be integrated into the Hunting system to enrich the gameplay: ambushers could be Blood Elves, Trolls, Hara'nir, or strange creatures from the Void Storm, providing us with rich creative space for gameplay design.
As for subsequent update plans, as the "Nightfall" story progresses, we have some ideas for continuously optimizing the Hunting system, but how we proceed ultimately depends on player feedback to see how everyone feels about the Season 1 Hunting system. This gameplay will launch first in Season 1, and two to three weeks later, we will clarify subsequent development plans based on player feedback.
Q: In the Arator questline on the test server, the quest text describes Turalyon as Lothar's squire. However, according to the lore, Turalyon was already a senior priest before becoming a paladin. Is the description of "squire" a text error, or does it have another meaning?
Paul:Describing Turalyon as a "squire" is not 100% accurate, but it's not entirely wrong either. In some quests in "Nightfall," players will learn more about the deeper relationship between the former Alliance commander Anduin Lothar and Turalyon, and I look forward to players seeing this story. Defining Turalyon as a "guardian" is more precise: he is loyal to Lothar, always staying by his side, holding his shield, and like all good paladins, swearing to protect his lord with his life. When the two fought together on the battlefield, Turalyon's primary goal was to ensure Lothar's safety. As we all know, Lothar ultimately met an unfortunate end, an event that occurred in the early timeline of Warcraft I or Warcraft II. In "Nightfall," we will show you more details of this history. I am very much looking forward to players experiencing this questline and witnessing the unfolding of this story.