wowcrendor Interview: Zone Design and Exploration in World of Warcraft

Live Posted 16 days ago by iMX3

Zone Design Framework

Many different divisions and teams compare ideas/concepts to one another.

There are many different aspects that can be used to help build a zone (mentions of biomes, story quests, zone "cultures" etc.). Once ideas are established, the teams mentioned the creation of these zones feels much more fluid and complete.

It's all about tying things together. Developers like to consider how things like quests interact and use the zones that they are in! This helps build characters or scenarios that are memorable to the playerbase!

How Zones "Tell the Story"

Besides quests, there are certain aspects of the game that can be used to tell a story to the player.

These teams are always looking to build certain scene that allow the player to decide what is happening. This brings joy to the exploration of a zone.

When building secrets or puzzles for a zone, there is always a storytelling aspect that is considered in the design process. Players should feel immersed in the zones that they are in.

Old Zones and Their Impacts on the Future

There aren't many plans to "revamp" older zones at this time, however, there were mentions of how old zones serve an essential part in the creative process!

Feedback from previous zones have helped these teams build new approaches to the future zones they want to create! There were specific mentions to how a zone like Grizzly Hills was used to shape the zone we know as The Azure Span in Dragonflight!

For The War Within specifically, there were mentions of how they wanted the underground zones to not feel "too oppressive or claustrophobic". It was largely thanks to previous zones like Zaralek Caverns for example that helped the developers have these points in mind when building the zones for The War Within!

Comment by Exon12So pleople can't comment on your a specific youtubers video, but on this they can? Hm...Comment by TernelSo pleople can't comment on your a specific youtubers video, but on this they can? Hm...Comment by VivianneThere aren't many plans to "revamp" older zones at this time"tectonic plates lolz""< sigh > I miss the towers of Valdrakken...""Uh? Valdrakken you say? Interesting!""Oh wait, so THIS is Valdrakken!"Comment by cawaker@Vivianne that was epic, and I loved it.Comment by Zegtry@Vivianne

Frankly, it's a really interesting rant and I share your opinion. It's such a shame to see the universe on pause if the proposed expansion doesn't send us there for various reasons. We so need to see the world evolve, even if it's just for a few fun quests.Comment by ArchieAngelSeriously though they could at least revamp the cities to look nicer if they didn't want to do entire zones... why do we have high polygon buildings and the newer section of Lions Rest in SW co.psred to these nix matched shaped ones? Would a little touch up be out of place?

Hell they don't even need to "revamp" entire zones, just give them a new coat of paint or somethingComment by Nulgar Other content creators might be more... politically active which can lead to flame wars in comments. Comment by Korijenkins@Vivianne

Frankly, it's a really interesting rant and I share your opinion. It's such a shame to see the universe on pause if the proposed expansion doesn't send us there for various reasons. We so need to see the world evolve, even if it's just for a few fun quests.Comment by Exon12 Other content creators might be more... politically active which can lead to flame wars in comments. Comment by undeadfroggySo pleople can't comment on your a specific youtubers video, but on this they can? Hm...Comment by smoere
Ah yes, blame it on the content creators who don't even voice their political opinion in the shared YouTube videos, instead of the trolls coming to every news article about them to start up flame wars.Comment by LuntiX@Vivianne

Undercity and Darn are "gone" according to the lore,Comment by mazzic518

Also, I want tomatoes in WoW. Think about it : Warcraft people never got to experience tomatoes. What sort of monster would allow ducks to exist in a world without tomatoes?

THERE. Sorry for the rant.Comment by VivianneThe world building of WoW took an absolute nosedive after WoD. The Broken Isles were unrecognizable to RPG players and watching them try to meet the biome quota in BFA with Zandalar was hilarious. A desert, a swamp, and a tropical jungle all on one island? Really? That's one other thing no one talks about. They've given up on any kind of logical geography. Older expansions did a good job with it, Outland had a distinctly alien feel, Northrend was frigid (it should be).

As it is now, if they placed a continent north of Northrend, it would probably have a jungle, a swamp, a desert, and maybe 2 cold zones. "uh, that's weird, there's a HUUUUUGE purple shield around what used to be Suramar, maybe we should investigate?"utterly"this is the biggest continent we've ever done!"NEVER"I hope the next continent is bigger or crazier than the last""I wish we could go back to old zones like in Cataclysm, but with a focus on quality instead of quantity"ONLY"oh yeah, the previous player did kill Yowler, so you're gonna have to kill Yowler, son of Yowler. Looks the same, hangs out in the same place. Update DONE."As for zone revamps, they absolutely need to do it, and they need to stop putting that stupid NPC in the zones that lets you "go back."OBVIOUSLYHAVE TOONLYWHY?Comment by ThrizarEssay.Comment by Vivianneare you okay dude? did blizzard hurt you?Comment by wuchykoThere aren't many plans to "revamp" older zones at this time"tectonic plates lolz""< sigh > I miss the towers of Valdrakken...""Uh? Valdrakken you say? Interesting!""Oh wait, so THIS is Valdrakken!"Comment by Vivianneits just a game.... loljust"lol""its just a game.... lol"Comment by johntravolta342I'm very much against wasting resources on old zone revamps unless they are rebuilding the zones from the ground up and making them barely recognizable with modern gameplay mechanics in mind. I played WoW for a long time and I have nostalgia for old zones but I want to see new stuff every expansion. Blizzard is still creating amazing looking zones, all of SL zones were very thematic and in DF Waking Shores and Azure Span are some of my all times favorites. I have a good feeling about Midnight and Last Titan, I feel like when we enter new Quel'thalas made with dragonriding and current day philosophies in mind it will feel like a genuinely new thing while still technically being a revamp.Comment by Vivianneunless they are rebuilding the zones from the ground up and making them barely recognizable with modern gameplay mechanics in mind.