World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, interview with the technical director
Face to face with Frank Kowalkowski
Hi Frank, nice to meet you. You will be very busy, so let's get down to business. You worked with Obsidian Entertainment on games like Fallout and Neverwinter Nights 2. Did these experiences influence your approach to World of Warcraft?I really believe that everything I have done in my career has flowed into my current job, whether it was collaborating with my colleagues or changing methods from one company to another. I have been working at Blizzard for seven years and every lesson I have learned has helped me grow as a developer and become what I am today.
We have been playing World of Warcraft since the 2005 European launch but in recent times we have to admit that we are there move away from Battle for Azeroth, not finding the growth and endgame as passionate as it once was. Can you tell us how Shadowlands could be different from the previous expansion?
good question. As you know, we just announced that the Beta will start next week and that will allow players to try out the various game mechanics. In this way, we receive many feedback and suggestions that we will be able to evaluate and possibly implement in the next few weeks. I think this is the main difference between the two expansions: we are working hard because the game and especially the endgame, is much more finished from the beginning.
Shadowlands should be out in the autumn, but this means that the last update is relevant to World of Warcraft, dating back almost a year ago. What will you do to fill this gap?
One of the things that we did after we published the last update was to review some of the systems of the game, as the mechanics of catch-up, and the values of the Corruption . We have also changed some parameters to help the players to grow the alt and in the coming weeks we will publish an update that will change many aspects of the game, for example we will reduce the levels and change classes. With this update we will also implement some of the content that will be useful to introduce the expansion a few weeks before the official launch.
According to us, the World of Warcraft is beginning to suffer from a certain obsolescence in the dynamics of the narrative , especially now that his strongest competitors are cinematic spectacular to tell the story. Do you not believe that your MMORPG would benefit from this approach, most of the cinema?
Excellent observation. In recent years we have used more and more cinematic in engine to immerse players in the story, because in a game like World of Warcraft is the player the hero of his own story. We, however, consider also the world as a character in and of itself, and for this we want players to establish a bond with the NPCS around them. We will continue to improve our technology to tell us through the cutscenes, but not only.
So we can expect you will most often this way in the future?
Yes, but we don't want the cinematic to become the backbone of our narrative, because we prefer to give space to the surrounding world through the NPCS that speak and that players can feel involved: for example, the loyalists of Sylvanas that have remained in Orgrimmar. The idea that the world is a kind of character we like, and we will insist on this perspective.
Let's move on to some questions more technical. We have noticed that the client Alpha ran better than the Battle for Azeroth: it is possible that the engine's 9.0 takes advantage of multiple CPU cores?
we Dedicate so much time to the improvement of performance, especially with regard to the client. One of my tasks is to make sure that World of Warcraft turns on the computers of as many players as possible, then it is always been one of the winning features of the game. However, yes, World of Warcraft has evolved a lot in these sixteen years, and already with Battle for Azeroth we have begun to take advantage of multiple CPU cores just to keep up with the times.
And what can you say about ray tracing ? Have you implemented in the Shadowlands?
it Is just a case in point: the ray tracing is one of those evolutions in the technology that we have decided to implement, but first, we wondered how the sense could have seen that World of Warcraft is a game very graphically stylized. So we thought immediately of the shadows. The shadows that we map in the game can sometimes seem a little phony, especially if you frame the models close up, but with ray tracing, we can define them better, especially those at the waterfall.
So no ray-tracing for the reflections and the lighting in general?
it Is something we are discussing internally, but that we will implement in the immediate future.
let's Talk a bit of gameplay , now. As revealed by Ion Hazzikostas in the Developer's Update, choosing a Coven we will learn new skills and spells, but we can always change the Congregation at a later time. Have you considered the possibility that players can switch from one Congregation to another if the balances will change the related bonus? Not to ruin the sense of player involvement in the story?
One aspect of Shadowlands that we emphasize is the ability to choose. The player's choices will be important, including that of the Congregation. We do not want the Congregations to become simple trees of talents to change, if necessary, for example when doing a raid or Legendary+. Players will invest their time on the Coven's choice, completing a long campaign and reconstruct the Sanctuary, then it is important to understand that the Congregation helps to define the character.
about to define the character... let's talk about equipment . We really liked the jewelry, but we are a bit disappointed about the fact that the presence of the stones for the jewelry was practically entrusted to the case in the Battle for Azeroth. In retrospect, some professions have been resized. What's going to happen in the Shadowlands?
You are quite right, in fact we are studying a way to give the professions more weight in the development of the characters. Surely we'll take advantage of the feedback of the Alpha and the Beta to work better at this aspect of the game.
The fact is that in recent times we had the impression that there is always less choice at the level of the equipment, and that players would be forced to focus on a handful of specific objects. In this sense, you have to take into consideration the idea of restoring the riforgiatura?
we get a lot of suggestions from players and the riforgiatura is one of the topics discussed. In the end it is a matter of choices and in the Shadowlands, players will have many options to fine-tune their characters, for example, the same Congregations, and the Constraints of the soul with their specific bonuses.
One of the contents that interest us most is definitely Torgast, the Tower of the Damned. It will be a challenge for every type of player, and then completable by even the most casual, or in the long run will be reserved only to the players more involved in the endgame of the Shadowlands?
Torgast is a flexible content, open to all, and the way you go depends on the player. You can tackle yourself or in a group, you can choose to wait for it to reload skills before each battle, or try to climb it all in one breath, someone may decide to explore it, to discover every secret, or merely to collect the necessary materials to manufacture the legendary equipment. And so on, depends solely on the player.
it Seems that you will be inspired by the roguelite .
Absolutely yes, it has been our main source of inspiration.
A last question that will probably be really trivial: we will review the armor class ? There are those who prefer to far to go hunting for armor class in the old raids to set the generic category that you have drawn for Battle for Azeroth. We will review the so-called "class fantasy" in the Shadowlands?
At the moment I cannot say anything about it, but... is something that players have asked in a loud voice, and we are discussing it.
