PCGamesN Interview with Production Director John Hight - Allied Races and BFA Story

BFA Posted 2018/05/03 at 11:29 PM by perculia

PCGamesNexpansion overviewdatamining

Battle for Azeroth Story

Expansion plots are usually developed two to three expansions in advance.

Battle for Azeroth following Legion is interesting because we're exploring what happens in the absence of a large threat like the Burning Legion. We are our worst enemy.

Battle for Azeroth will have two distinctive stories, tailored to each faction. Legion more-or-less told the same story for both factions.

The battle between the factions is reminiscent of the plots from the early storytelling days of WoW.

Blizzard has two members of the storytelling team responsible for each faction's story. The Alliance and Horde teams meet regularly to communicate the plot development with each other. They've started developing content like this earlier than ever before, so they can play through the game and catch issues like pacing concerns quickly.

While different factions may win and lose various battles in BFA, Blizzard doesn't want the end of the expansion plot to make players feel like they've definitely chosen the wrong faction.

Allied Races

Blizzard initially thought it would be interesting to have the Zandalari Troll Allied Race available before the launch of Battle for Azeroth, but later decided that the race should unlock later as we haven't experienced the storylines yet to gain their trust.

One factor of choosing the faction for each Allied Races is visuals. Blizzard doesn't want one faction to end up with all the cute or tough-looking characters.

Wildhammer Dwarves are possible as an Allied Race, but no immediate plans.

Blizzard decided to combine several Orc Clans into the Mag'har Orc Allied Race because they realized all the orcs can eventually look very similar when armored up, so it would be hard to make distinct clans as separate Allied Races.

many customization options

People are already discussing the potential for races that haven't even been announced. What's the long-term plan?

We have it all planned out. It's certainly possible come year-end that we might make some changes based on what we've learned and what we've seen, but we definitely have a plan.

But y'know, for some of this stuff it's hard to keep it from our players once we've uploaded the data. They're pretty good at trying to datamine what's out there. What's funny though is that sometimes we'll put some of this data out, but without the intention of immediately unlocking it. Sometimes we get in trouble for that - when fans see it, they see it in some kind of encrypted form. They're positive that it's going to go live really soon, and can get a bit disappointed when it doesn't. In our case, it was just a case of it being convenient and smart to upload the data at that point in time as groundwork. So we're usually pretty careful about saying in the patch notes what players will actually see in the patch, so they know it’s intentional and not an accident or some hidden quest.

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Comment by NulgarSoooo... Vulpera AR confirmed? :)Comment by omedon666"Battle for Azeroth will have two distinctive stories, tailored to each faction. Legion more-or-less told the same story for both factions."

Ok, but we're still going full on old gods by 8.2. If they try to tell us otherwise that's when they're flat out lying. If the alliance and the horde keep fighting each other when Queen Azshara shows up they are officially braindead. There are enough elves on both sides now, indeed enough "nightelves" on both sides now that there should be a strong "hey, you, Warchief/King, yeah this is bigger than your race war" message ringing out in both factions. They can keep their warfronts and their island expeditions going on as expansion-evergreen faction war themed content offerings, but the story after 8.2 will be Azshara/Old Gods. The faction war will be the "suramar" of BFA, and how relevant was Suramar by the time we were on Argus? Yeah.Comment by omedon666It's definitely clear after reading this interview, and this is a theory I've held for a while that's supported by every allied race coming with a character slot, that we as players are kinda sorta intended to play both sides to see all of the story. They can't come out and say that really, and I mean, I'm fine with that, and I'd intended to have "factional mains" anyway, but... "declare your allegiance," my ass. :PComment by JoyreymWhat are the names of people who are working on the development of each faction? So I can know who to blame or create an altar of exaltation hahahaha. I've heard that the leveling of the horde is more interesting than the alliance in the sense of immersion in the scenario and interesting things to do.
They join several orcish clans in a single race, but dwarves do everything separately for us to have multiple characters to up, both technically, Wildhamer and Iron already in the alliance.
I do not know if it's to get hyped.Comment by AsturinahI'm excited for the possibilities of Wildhammer Dwarves and Vulpera being an allied race!Comment by Dracold"While different factions may win and lose various battles in BFA, Blizzard doesn't want the end of the expansion plot to make players feel like they've definitely chosen the wrong faction."

Aaaah. So it's only at the very end of the expansion that we will not feel we chose the wrong faction. But until that point, we will feel nothing else.Comment by TehLucarioHe does have a point. Data Mining does make us go insane at times.Comment by angeleyedAfter reading this I guess if the vulpera/sethrak scenario comes true, horde will get vulpera 100%. Mixed feelings, I like sethrak a lot.Comment by GrumarSo far blizzard has done a terrible job making up feel as if we chose wrong faction, they keep saying both factions will do terrible stuff, but we have no examples of allis doing so and in fact the horde going so bad that Saurfang one of the most beloved characters and the pinnacle of honor within the horde if no all of azeroth fricking leaving the horde....Comment by Slee90After reading this I guess if the vulpera/sethrak scenario comes true, horde will get vulpera 100%. Mixed feelings, I like sethrak a lot.Comment by omedon666Wildhammer dwarves could literally be as easy as the golden eyes were for bloodelves: Add some customization for tattoos to the bronzebeard/standard dwarves, maybe some hairstyles, done.Comment by Nickname404Wildhammer dwarves? Y E S. Want them since Cataclysm. One of the most fun and less peacocky races.

We are our worst enemy.
While different factions may win and lose various battles in BFA, Blizzard doesn't want the end of the expansion plot to make players feel like they've definitely chosen the wrong faction.Comment by cparle87So far blizzard has done a terrible job making up feel as if we chose wrong faction, they keep saying both factions will do terrible stuff, but we have no examples of allis doing so and in fact the horde going so bad that Saurfang one of the most beloved characters and the pinnacle of honor within the horde if no all of azeroth fricking leaving the horde....wasn'tComment by GrumarSo far blizzard has done a terrible job making up feel as if we chose wrong faction, they keep saying both factions will do terrible stuff, but we have no examples of allis doing so and in fact the horde going so bad that Saurfang one of the most beloved characters and the pinnacle of honor within the horde if no all of azeroth fricking leaving the horde....wasn'tComment by SardosDigging up Cata stuff to find the one genuinely bad thing Alliance did exposes the problem of Blizzards writing. The Alliance today doesn't face any of the issues it used to in early Warcrafts and parts of Vanilla.

Where are the members whose hatred for the Orcs blind them to all reason? Or the members like Perenolde/Blackmoore who had no interest in the Alliance, but used it for personal gain?

Horde are getting shafted with Sylvanas, but even the Alliance players should be worried that there is no real depth to their own faction. Even Rogers/Genn are so tame in their 'hatreds'.Comment by WillbladeWhile different factions may win and lose various battles in BFA, Blizzard doesn't want the end of the expansion plot to make players feel like they've definitely chosen the wrong faction.
Comment by MaXiiczekSo far blizzard has done a terrible job making up feel as if we chose wrong faction, they keep saying both factions will do terrible stuff, but we have no examples of allis doing so and in fact the horde going so bad that Saurfang one of the most beloved characters and the pinnacle of honor within the horde if no all of azeroth fricking leaving the horde....wasn'tComment by omedon666While different factions may win and lose various battles in BFA, Blizzard doesn't want the end of the expansion plot to make players feel like they've definitely chosen the wrong faction.
Comment by DracoldDigging up Cata stuff to find the one genuinely bad thing Alliance did exposes the problem of Blizzards writing. The Alliance today doesn't face any of the issues it used to in early Warcrafts and parts of Vanilla.

Where are the members whose hatred for the Orcs blind them to all reason? Or the members like Perenolde/Blackmoore who had no interest in the Alliance, but used it for personal gain?

Horde are getting shafted with Sylvanas, but even the Alliance players should be worried that there is no real depth to their own faction. Even Rogers/Genn are so tame in their 'hatreds'.Comment by QuadramSo far blizzard has done a terrible job making up feel as if we chose wrong faction, they keep saying both factions will do terrible stuff, but we have no examples of allis doing so and in fact the horde going so bad that Saurfang one of the most beloved characters and the pinnacle of honor within the horde if no all of azeroth fricking leaving the horde....

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