The upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, Warlords of Draenor, will be a massive hit--especially with new players--says creative director Alex Afrasiabi.
“If you’re a former [World of Warcraft] player, you’re going to get hit with some crazy nostalgia,” Afrasiabi told ABC.
The expansion, which is set for a release date sometime this year, starts off with orcs charging through the Dark Portal to invade the current day Azeroth, with all the modern World or Warcraft aspects but without the blood curses and other demon legacies.
“What you see is a scene of just fifty thousands, ten thousand orcs, just orcs everywhere, war machines,” Afrasiabi explained. This will all be part of a major pre-launch event for players.
“We’re going to put you into this experience, where its 40 to 45 minutes and we really amp up the action, the suspense, the drama, we show you those guys, we really make you see the face of your enemy... [it’s] a Death Knight-like experience,” he added.
He also emphasized how crucial the free boost to level 90 that all players will get along with purchasing the game.
“It’s integral at this point,” Afrasiabi said. “One of the problems we’ve seen over the years is that as the game gets older and better, but older and bigger... it becomes more and more difficult to get back into the game if you lapse.”
“It happens all the time, but you might be, ”Hey, this new expansion looks awesome, I wanna come back“. Then you log in, your bags are full of [expletive] that you don’t know what to do with, you don’t know how to play your class, because things have changed, and you gotta get like 15 levels. That’s actually a problem. Turns out that’s actually a problem, that people just look at that and go, you know what, I’m just not gonna play.”
For existing fans, the aspect of garrisons covers the desire for player housing.
“Player housing is one thing, but we’re integrating this into the whole of the game. You’re building this garrison, you’re fortifying it, you’re upgrading it, you’re building more buildings and armaments and so on and so forth,” he said.
A number of other tweaks and upgrades are being made. Check out some of them in detail here.
Friends Read Free