WoW Raids & Dungeons Panel Recap

We just got out of the Raids and Dungeons panel where three key designers at Blizzard discussed the future of dungeon content with Wrath of the Lich King.  They also took some questions from the eager crowd.  Below you'll find the key points of the presentation and the entire Q&A.

Halls of Lightning

• Five player dungeon located in The Storm Peaks

• Discover the secrets of the Titans

• Epic lore + Epic gameplay = Awesome

  • Instance feels huge but gameplay space is small to give the feel of epicness while not making you feel like you need a mount.

  • First boss is a roamer on the platforms near the entrance so you can choose where to fight him.

  • Third boss is a custom air elemental model.

  • Final boss, Loken, is a messenger of the titans. A cinematic sequence plays out before and after the battle to explain the story.

Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom

• Considered the “Lower City” of Azjol-nerub. The deeper you go the more influenced by an Old God you are.

• Five player dungeon deep in the heart of Azjol-nerub

• Features both indoor and outdoor terrain.

• What horrors lie underneath Northrend?

  • Azjol-nerub is having an effect on Northrend as a whole.

  • Fights in The Old Kingdom will explain what's going on.

  • Nerubians were the originators of the architecture style of Naxxramas, etc.

  • First boss hatches eggs that spawn adds. Sometimes a guardian spawns and protects the eggs so you can't kill them.

  • Second boss is a Blood Prince vampire; periodically stuns someone in the party and begins feeding on them. Party must beat prince off target to free them.

  • Third boss has followers she calls out and sacrifices. If you don't kill the sacrifice before her, she gains a buff that causes her to hit hard.

  • Final fight

    • As you're fighting him, he stops you and phases you. You're each placed in your own little world and you attack images of your party mates.

    • As you finish your phase you'll enter another party member's phase and can help them.

Chamber of the Aspects

• Raid zone located inside Wyrmrest Temple

• Expandable

• Choose your difficulty and reward!

  • Main boss is Sartharion

  • Three sub-bosses: twilight drakes

    • Drakes open portals; send party members in to defeat portal monsters to kill drakes.

    • Drakes drop badges.

  • Leaving drakes up improves loot rewards. Leaving all three drakes up gives you a twilight drake mount.

Eye of Eternity

• Home of Malygos, Aspect of Magic

• Showcases new features of expansion

• Epic multiple phase fight

  • Vehicles and buildings used in encounter.

  • During the fight you get help from the Red Dragonflight.

Itemization

• Higher quality loot from heroic dungeons

  • The loot is escalated up one tier from normal to heroic difficulty.

• Different Currencies per raid tier

  • Emblem of heroism and emblem of valor

    • Different tiers of badge gear.

    • Lending set bonuses to both tiers of gear.

Q&A

• Is there any way that a raid leader can hearth an AFK raider out of the instance?

  • This is a great suggestion--Raid uptime is something we're for. We're definitely working on this.

• Will legendaries be distributed in the 10 vs. 25 man equally?

  • This hasn't ironed out yet.

• Will legendaries be random?

  • We're leaning towards quest based legendaries.

• Are you designing raid encounters that lend to the dual-spec feature?

  • NO. They are designed towards roles.

• Are you going to implement Uldum ever?

  • It's a question about how it fits into the storyline of the current expansion. We will pick the ones that fit best when the time is right.

• Will healer / dps caster weapons be balanced in terms of droprate?

  • The ratio of caster weapons to melee weapons should be

• Will raid specific tier tokens drop?

  • The Valor and Heroism badges may be used to purchase a few of the set pieces.

• Attunements in WOTLK? 

  • The prerequisite for raids will be level 80.

• Will Hunter Pets be able to offtank?

  • That is certainly the goal.

• Will the raids become more difficult over time? On the level of Sunwell?

  • We want to keep it fun and challenging.

• Will we see fights that incorporate non-class specific roles in new boss encounters?

  • Yes.

• Are there going to be interoperability between dungeon wings in the WOTLK dungeons?

  • We want to create dungeon experiences that feel more epic. This is definitely something we are looking into for the future?

• Will it be implemented a “one-each” drop rate for the tier tokens?

  • No, but certain set token slots will be bought by the emblems of heroism and valor, specifically shoulders and chest slot pieces.

• What is the estimated time frame for completion for top guilds?

  • For Naxx, probably less than two weeks. For Arthas, it can't be said.

• Will there be a Sunwell version in Wrath, accessible only to top guilds?

  • I think not. I want the final raid to be more accessible.

• Will Ashbringer and Atiesh be available in WOTLK?

  • The old versions will be unavailable for 3.0.

• Is there a way we can mix and match our set piece bonuses?

  • We'd like to see this, but if you're carrying around tier loot that is 5 tiers old we might be doing something wrong.

Don't forget to visit our BlizzCon 2008 page where we have coverage from across the Curse Network!