Emerald Dream and Grim Batol are on the wish list
Blizzard wants to take World of Warcraft: Forever to the Emerald Dream and to Grim Batol. Principal Game Designer Kris Zierhut and Lead Classic Designer Tim Jones said so in an interview with IGN. Player housing is not planned for now.
Three kinds of places
Future content falls into three groups, according to the developers. First the path players know: Molten Core, Blackwing Lair and Ahn’Qiraj. Forever goes there too, but stretches the timeline. Then new places that feel as if they always belonged, such as the Riverglades. Some future dungeons and raids fit in that group. And finally something very different, such as the Skyborne and Zephras Isle.
The wish list
| Place | What Blizzard says |
|---|---|
| Emerald Dream | The team wants to go there. |
| Grim Batol | Not as a dungeon, but as a place to explore, like Blackrock Mountain. |
| Caverns of Time | There are parts nobody has explored yet. |
| Gilneas | On the map but closed. A whole story waits there, before the Cataclysm destroys it. |
| Silvermoon | Eventually. The modern game focuses on it now, so Forever looks elsewhere first. |
Gilneas already caught the eye on the beta, where hidden instance portals and elite sharks guard the coast. When any of these places arrive, Blizzard does not say.
Beyond the Dark Portal
The Dark Portal, Northrend and Pandaria exist in Forever as well. Blizzard could make small adventures there, such as a dungeon or a quest that takes players across and then back. That will not happen soon, and players always come home to the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor.
Housing, raids and talents
Player housing is not planned for Forever. The developers know that one day there will be too many raids and dungeons. How to solve that is not decided yet: the focus now is on the launch.
Dual spec is in the game at launch, and a third spec is not ruled out. Changing talents freely at any moment will not come. That would create the expectation to change talents for every boss, according to the developers. They do talk about making a respec easier when a player needs one.
More from the interview
- Rhythm. A major update about every four months, with content that unlocks in between.
- Hyjal. Without flying, players see Mount Hyjal from the ground, with references to the Hyjal Summit raid along the way.
- Griefing. Blizzard calls the camping system, elite quests and four group sizes (5, 10, 20 and 40) pro-social design: good group experiences make players invite each other again.
- Skyborne. Elves are the most popular races in WoW. Many players do not want to play “a monster”, which tips the balance between the factions.
Source: Wowhead