2016 PAX West – World of Warcraft: Legion – The Invasion Continues Panel Transcript

 

Patch 7.1: Return to Karazhan

Moderator: So everything we have talked about so far is already in Legion. Aside from the App, of course, which is coming out on Tuesday. If you are not already playing, you can pick up the expansion and get right to it; and we have actually done some pretty cool updates to how the level 100 Boost works, as well. Would you like to talk about those for a second?

Barriga: Yea, absolutely. We really liked how the level 90 Boost worked in Warlords of Draenor, where players that hadn’t played for a while, or maybe new players could just jump in, get a max level character and join their friends. For Legion, we got it a little bit of an update, and one of the things that we got a little bit of feedback was that we didn’t do quite enough to teach you how to play your class, so now we have put you in a little bit of a tutorial experience, where you learn the basics of your rotation, your utility spells, and so on.

One of the things that we really really think needed some love was the Class Trials. Before, maybe you thought you wanted a monk. Maybe you thought you wanted a Hunter, and then once you logged in maybe the class had changed in a certain direction that you didn’t like, or maybe you misunderstood what the class fantasy was, or something a little bit different than what you thought. Or maybe you want to try all the classes and pick your favorite one.

One of the things that we let you to do now is — without using up your level 100 Boost Token — we just let you try all the classes, and then once you commit to one, at that point we take the Token away. One of the things that we think would work really well is that you might be not just really happy with your final choice, but maybe you get to try a class that you thought was not good for you.

Moderator: I don’t know about you, guys. Or [you] guys. I’m ready to talk about some new stuff.

Barriga: Yeah!

Maloof: Yeah!

Moderator: We just announced at GamesCom, a couple of weeks ago, Patch 7.1: Return to Karazhan. Sounds like we have some Karazhan fans in the audience. I absolutely love Karazhan. It is probably one of the most iconic raids in World of Warcraft history. What’s going on with it in Patch 7.1?

 

Maloof: Sure! First off, Karazhan is absolutely hands-down my favorite raid. When last we were there, during the pre-expansion content, we were in there with Khadgar. We were going in there to retrieve some information that was critical to us in the Broken Isles, and as we were in there the Burning Legion started knocking on the door. So Khadgar hurried in trying to bolster up the defenses, and then we were drawn away to the Broken Isles and the war there; and so when we come back in 7.1, the demons have busted in.

We have got an all-new setup 5-man dungeon, and we have got a great amount of content outside where you can (if you want) quest with Khadgar to rid the surrounding area of their influence.

 

Barriga: One of the things that mechanically we are to fit is basically slightly higher than 5-man Mythic+ difficulty, and it will be on a weekly lockout which allow us to be really generous with the loot. So you will definitely want to do it, and then a little bit more aesthetically, it feels like a love letter to 5-man dungeons. It is something that I think our fans will really really going to love. There is like an upside-down section, there is a Chess encounter, there is a really really cool Alice in Wonderland section, we can’t wait for you guys to try it.

 

Maloof: All new place.

Barriga: Yeah! That place in the Opera House… so great. One of the things that we want to just emphasize is that with Legion we are not just saying: “Hey, raiding is your end-game, or PvP is your end-game.” We want to make sure — we heard your feedback — we are going to provide you with multiple-ways to keep advancing your characters, and keep you engaged with the game.

Moderator: You talked about this a little bit, but I just want to expand on it. We have gone back in the past to Old Raids like Upper Blackrock, Zul’Aman, Zul’Gurub, and we turned those into 5-man before. Karazhan is extra special. There are some really cool stuff going on there. What is it we are doing differently with Karazhan?

Stockton: I think it is a matter of how we approached it. We have definitely gone back to dungeons before and we have changed the art, or maybe we added a few new mechanics to a boss, but it really felt like with Karazhan… that’s just not enough. Karazhan deserves way more. So when we attacked this, we came at it like: “Let’s add entire new areas to the dungeon. Like Luis was mentioning earlier, let’s open it up and have new bosses — that haven’t even been there before; because you really want this mix of that nostalgia that makes Karazhan feel so awesome, but it also has to be a fresh new experience if we are going to put it in a patch like this and offer it as content; and I think the team has really all come together around it to really deliver an experience that feels fresh, but also has all those hooks that make Karazhan: Karazhan.

Moderator: It really is a Return to Karazhan in that sense. It’s not going back and just bringing up all the old characters, it is actually like a new encounter, a new experience in Karazhan. So that is really super cool.

Stockton: Speaking of new bosses, I think this clown over here Medivh, he is just like perfect. I mean, I am kinda freaked out just looking at his gear. Kinda looks like it could be fitting.

 

Barriga: Cory has clown issues.

Stockton: I do now! After [this].

(Everyone laughs)

Moderator: I will be honest. We can probably keep talking about Karazhan all day, but there is actually even more coming in Patch 7.1. By the way, Oh yes, the Chess Event. You said there was a Chess Event.

 

Stockton: It is a [little] bit different.

(Everyone laughs)

Maloof: Checkmate!

Moderator: But yea, there is actually even more coming in 7.1 that we want to talk about? — and we have a real quick video that we can show that goes over several of 7.1 key features. Let’s take a look!

Panel Pages	Intro	Story	Demon Hunter	Artifacts	Class Halls
	World Quests	Mobile App	Karazhan	New Raid	Suramar Update
	Q&A

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