Naguura Interview with Lead Encounter Designer Matt Villers - Mythic+ Design, Thundering Affix

Live Posted 2023/01/16 at 9:29 AM by Squishei

interviewed Lead Encounter Designer Matt VillersMythic+ Design Philosophy

One of the things that they're designing for now is planning ahead for longer bosses. An example of this is having the containers on High Adjudicator Aleez respawn.

They're also designing for player choice. What are ways that players can make decisions about route and express mastery.

They'vee heard a lot of feedback on RP. Things like Ring of Booty in Freehold they left in as there's some strategic decisions that can be made, but removed some from the start of Tazavesh. The Halls of Valor ones are classic and they couldn't bear to do it.

Randomness in Mythic+. They aim to make things not completely random, like Fenryr always being on one side in Halls of Valor.

Thundering Seasonal Affix

Overall happy with Thundering overall.

The goal was an affix Isn't completely taking over the dungeon and isn't the primary focus. Lighter, but still flavorful.

For the future, they're still thinking about Seasonal affixes and there's lots of ways they can go. They might try something completely new, they might not do a seasonal affix at all, they're still discussing.

They're watching the feedback on Tanks with Thundering. The hope is that with the amount of time you have, you can find downtime in between frontals or other mechanics to make the clear happen, and they're open to potential adjustments, but they've also noticed that players are getting better at Thundering, so they don't want to react just yet.

Affixes

They have discussions on affixes a lot. How do they keep dungeons feeling fresh, and one of the ways is by changing affix layout. There's concerns that with fewer affixes or if only one bucket was changing it wouldn't feel as fresh, but they're open to experimentation.

They have done some updates to affixes with some changes in Shadowlands with a focus on finding places where classes can shine such as making Bursting dispellable. Affixes that are working well could even take a vacation and they could try a brand new experiment.

Bosses tend to be the most intense challenges that they provide and adding more affixes on them can be super dangerous. It's nice to vary up boss gameplay though, and they tried that in Fated Raids. They want to keep exploring that space and Thundering is the first affix that you have to deal with alongside the boss and watching that play out and how players deal with it has given them info on how they deal with it for future affixes that may interact with bosses.

Class Balance

In general, they want players to be able to play what they want to play. There's a gear and skill component, but all specs should have the potential to do a Mythic+ 20, to clear Mythic Raid and they're watching to make sure that is the case. But they also want to make sure that there's ways that classes can shine outside of just DPS/HPS, such as Mass Grip on the Intermission of Balakar Khan.

A big problem that they face is perception. Every class right now is able to do a Mythic+ 20. There are leaderboards, high-end players, streamers who are very good at the game and will seek any advantage they can get to be competitive. People watch that and see it as a path to success and that perception can trickle down.

One of the ways they can try to overcome perception is through non-throughput solutions, like wanting an Enrage dispel for Raging weeks.

Unique buffs like Bloodlust have been a part of class identity for pretty much the entire history of the game and they might be a reason to bring someone that might not otherwise be brought, but if the Meta class already has it, that can be a challenge. They're trying to be mindful of that, and make sure that group compositions don't feel overly restrictive and that's part of while Evokers have Bloodlust and Paladins have battle rez.

Dungeon Balance

They try really hard to avoid making dungeons more difficult during a season. If they have to, they'll try to do it early in the season and make very targeted changes.

They have a baseline for dungeon difficulty and then they try to make the dungeons as close to that as possible. If a dungeon is below that, they feel okay with that, but something like Junkyard where you get +3/4 key levels is a little too extreme. If a dungeon is above that difficulty, they'll look to make adjustments.

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Comment by morgath99warrior BL needs to happen the only class that makes sense to have BLComment by toljarMost the people I M+ with to not like the Thundering Affix. Everything else has been solid with the dungeon buffs/nerfs and other additional adjustments, but thundering just does not feel or play well. I think the big thing is the randomness of who gets what charge, and sometimes you get lucky as melee and are next to another melee or the tank who has your opposite charge. You then can just DPS until the very last second and have nothing to worry about. What sucks is when ranged get all the other charges or even the healer and now time must be spent from DPSing, or even going out of position just to clear the stack.

I think if the affix did not stun but instead rooted you in place and did 50% of your current health in damage it would be different. The stun to me is what makes the affix much too punishing. Looking back at all other Affix, I don’t think any of them where a make or break like this? Honestly my favorite one was the final season of BFA with the skip beacons. You could choose to kill them or not, and if you did not youdealt with an additional add at the boss. That felt impactful but also less punishing.

Just my 2 cents.Comment by EladiaYe bro having an enrage dispel on a 10 second cooldown that dispels enrage effects on 1 mob. That is so big with how your team have continued to overdesign trash in every dungeon. Yawn.Comment by zugzugzuugwarrior BL needs to happen the only class that makes sense to have BLComment by SoapsThundering is utter utter garbage - some overlaps with dungeon mechanics are complete mechanic vomit. The rest is enjoyableComment by Priscilla519Thundering is terrible. Most pugs I run with automatically clear the debuff just to get rid of it. It’s more of a nuisance than benefit. Worst affix for sure.Comment by Fooysarithey've also noticed that players are getting better at Thundering, so they don't want to react just yet.Comment by FrawtariusThe fact that they're happy with Thundering really just says it all.

Absolutely depressing.Comment by hamhelth213warrior BL needs to happen the only class that makes sense to have BLComment by ramajukoThundering is not good. It either: kicks in at the worst possible time, kicks in once everything is dead, kicks in and is immediately cleared by some jamoke. Playing around the affix feels bad. The best affixes ever were in BFA with the Old God realm/invis making routing interesting and SL S4 picking a buff to do mongo damage for a short period of time.Comment by barrindSomeone needs to really challenge this designer specifically. This M+ season is entirely crap. Thundering is not even remotely close to being a benefit much less fun. There are way too many overlapping interrupts, hard casts that can't be interrupted, 40% buff, 10% gradient, etc etc. That's not even to get into the absolutely abysmal dungeon balance.

You may think you did a good job, but I think there's many many more people in this game that think you should be put back into a developer role and get a sensible person to take your place.

Oh - and if I hear voiceovers from someone that sounds like Raz again I'm just going to puke.

Signed: M+ is no longer funComment by mwayThe Halls of Valor ones are classic and they couldn't bear to do it.Comment by iettloppSomeone needs to really challenge this designer specifically. This M+ season is entirely crap. Thundering is not even remotely close to being a benefit much less fun. There are way too many overlapping interrupts, hard casts that can't be interrupted, 40% buff, 10% gradient, etc etc. That's not even to get into the absolutely abysmal dungeon balance.

You may think you did a good job, but I think there's many many more people in this game that think you should be put back into a developer role and get a sensible person to take your place.

Oh - and if I hear voiceovers from someone that sounds like Raz again I'm just going to puke.

Signed: M+ is no longer funComment by AnckOverall happy with Thundering overall.Comment by TOMRUSThundering affix is garbage, how can they be happy about it? These devs are so out of touch and clueless...

Class balance is garbage and doesn't exist. Dungeon balance... same...

If a dungeon is above that difficulty, they'll look to make adjustments.Comment by SkyreiRemove RP from any and all dungeons while running it in M+. Full stop, no exceptions.Comment by ljlevendThey think this, want that, try really hard, bla, bla, bla ... year after year it is always the same talk with no results.Comment by MrXtrmwarrior BL needs to happen the only class that makes sense to have BLComment by barrindSomeone needs to really challenge this designer specifically. This M+ season is entirely crap. Thundering is not even remotely close to being a benefit much less fun. There are way too many overlapping interrupts, hard casts that can't be interrupted, 40% buff, 10% gradient, etc etc. That's not even to get into the absolutely abysmal dungeon balance.

You may think you did a good job, but I think there's many many more people in this game that think you should be put back into a developer role and get a sensible person to take your place.

Oh - and if I hear voiceovers from someone that sounds like Raz again I'm just going to puke.

Signed: M+ is no longer funComment by pawpurrwarrior BL needs to happen the only class that makes sense to have BL

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