Game Rant Interview with Josh Augustine and Allison Steele

PTR Опубликовано 14.09.2023 в 04:22 Archimtiros

Experience the Dream

The Emerald Dream has been a fun space to design in, with one of the developers brainstorming a mechanic where emoting /sleep in the dream causes a spectral green "dream" version of the player to rise out of their character's body - fully controllable, the spectral form can run around and explore while the body remains asleep.

Lead Quest Designer Josh Augustine

This has been something the team has wanted to do for a long time, so it’s really great. One of the things that’s cool about it is this focus on the World Tree that’s growing there. The Emerald Dream is so big, I remember the rumors way back in the day was like, “the next expansion would always be the Emerald Dream!” So I love that we’re focusing on a slice of it. This isn’t the entire Emerald Dream. The zone is about the size of the Ohn’ahran Plains, and it’s really focused on Amirdrassil, growing this tree, what that means. We have Tyrande coming back, obviously a Night Elf and has feelings about a new World Tree. A lot of our public events in the zone are centered around helping this World Tree grow and bloom.

The Green Dragon storyline unlocked through Maruuk Renown progression in 10.0 briefly sent players into a part of the Emerald Dream, which included looting minor treasures from little fragments of the Dream scattered about. While not a major mechanic, the mechanic is returning in Patch 10.2, helping establish continuity while providing a fun and immersive way to earn zone drops and gray vendor trash, reminding players that we've been there before.

While most of the Emerald Dream is lush overgrown plant life, it features several different areas and groups inhabiting them: from the defenders of the dream and their vibrant capital city, to burned out areas controlled by Fyrakk and the Druids of the Flame, who are joined by the Djaradin. What they're doing to the landscape hints at their vision for Azeroth.

Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope

The PTR will feature the first four chapters of the campaign, building up to the raid and a story revolving around Fyrakk trying to break into Amirdrassil, as well as the stakes if we fail to stop them inside the raid.

The raid features two distinct types of bosses: Defenders of the Dream will test players, while Fyrakk's Druids of the Flame seek to destroy them.

Senior Game Designer Allison Steele

My favorite little bit of the raid bosses, there’s a boss that will plant down some roots, and those roots break up out of the ground and form barriers you have to get some fire and burn down to allow you to cross between different parts of the arena. Kind of like adding walls sort of like Echo of Neltharion did, though players are going to be dealing with them in a different way.

There’s also a giant lava serpent boss you’re fighting in, if you imagine a donut, the lava serpent is in the middle! It’s this cool fight where the lava serpent is throwing lots of fire and polluting the ground with tons of magma you should probably not stand in, and there are tentacles that come down and thwack players for standing in the wrong spot. It’s this huge, frenetic fight to down the serpent before the whole area is unlivable. That’s going to be a cool fight too. There are obviously various fights, but we can’t cover all of them now.Dragonriding

Dragonriding was a huge success in Dragonflight, and one of the encounters will involve it during the actual encounter! If you aren't a huge fan or interested in Dragonriding though, you'll still be able to ride-along with someone else without getting left behind.

There will be new manuscripts to let players customize the Дракон Крыльев Пустоты из грота Dragonriding mount, though no statement on new Faerie Dragon customizations.

There will be new Dragonriding abilities to acquire in the Dream: Быстрый бреющий полет is building on Бреющий полет to regain even more vigor while skimming across the ground, and Подъем ветра will make Остановка в воздухе a lot easier to use and find soft landings.

Story

There will be a lot of cameos for various characters in story content that isn't tied directly to the campaign, including the Tyr saga, which will have its big, epic conclusion.

Lead Quest Designer Josh Augustine

For example, we’ve had the Tyr saga going alongside the campaign. That has its big, epic conclusion in this patch, so there’s going to be a lot of cool characters involved there. Chromie is going to be helping out over there with Eternus, and all the people who have been a part of that so far. Inside the story itself, 10.1.7 just went live, so the first prologue chapter is going to be out, and it’s going to introduce some of those characters. Vyranoth, Fyrakk, Shandris Feathermoon, another Night Elf who will be in the patch as well.

Not every character is hugely central to driving the story, but provide reactions and input. There are a lot of Druids and other characters with an interest in protecting the new world tree, so we're going to see a lot of familiar faces out there.

Lead Quest Designer Josh Augustine

That’s really how we try and decide what characters appear. There are two big things we look at. The meta-level characters, like Fyrakk. He has had something going on, he’s definitely going to be in this content update because we want to tell his long-term story, and also, from our side on the quest team, whenever we enter a new zone like this, we think “Okay, who would care about this? Who would race across the planet because they wouldn’t miss this moment?”

While the Aspects are awesome and incredible archetypes of their different flights, but they aren’t the only types of dragons. What about the smaller dragonflights that weren’t ever imbued by the Titans? Patch 10.2 will fold the Netherwing and Storm Dragons into the narrative, exploring the goals and future of these different groups of "Misfit Dragoflights."

Events and Rewards

The new Dream Wardens Renown track will offer similar rewards to previous Dragonflight factions, including drake manuscripts, flightstones, crests, and lots of cosmetics. Players will also get some items that will help with activities, like seeds that can be planted around the zone.

Superbloom is a new core public event involving a treant growing a tree, alongside a funny little dyrad poking to keep him from falling asleep. It's more mobile public event than others, moving with the treant through the zone while fighting off primalist forces, gaining mini-Torghast powers like baby moonkins to bombard enemies with moonbeams.

Following the end of the event will be an Emerald Frenzy, short-term farm event with rampant growth of beautiful nature and deadly lashers. Players will be able to roll right into the farm event, gaining things like seeds and currency to use in the Emerald Bounty - a public garden where players can collaboratively grow a tree through multiple levels of potential, awarding treasure in return.

Lead Quest Designer Josh Augustine

We’ve been iterating on public events throughout Dragonflight. That was our new experiment in the outdoor world this expansion. Tuskarr feasts, centaur hunts, Obsidian Citadel, that sort of stuff. We tried different things throughout the patches – Researchers Under Fire, Time Rifts – so we’re trying a new version here in the Emerald Dream. It’s actually a three-part super event. We did some experiments with this with the Siege of Dragonbane Keep where after the public event ended, it would spawn a rare nearby so the ball could form and move over. We’re pushing that and cranking it to 11 here.

So, that’s our fun loop we’re trying to use to get the ball moving, and if you just want to do the core event and move on, you totally can. But if you want to hang around the zone and participate in the longer activity, we want to make sure there’s lots of content for you.
What's Next?

Patch 10.2 is not the end of Dragonflight, but an awesome turning point in the sotry, with lots of cool activities and stories ahead, though no word on what that might encompass or entail.

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