The new patch 9.1 “Chains of Domination” in WoW: Shadowlands is on the horizon. We at MeinMMO had the opportunity to speak with Game Director Ion Hazzikostas about the update and WoW in general.

What will you learn here? We talked with Ion Hazzikostas about the following topics:

• The delay of patch 9.1
• The contents of the update
• Sylvanas’ role in the story
• A look at upcoming content
• Whether WoW is still a social game for groups or more of a solo game

You can also find more about patch 9.1 in our extensive overview of the update.

First update fully implemented from home office

MeinMMO: The release of patch 9.1 has taken longer than many players expected. Can you tell us a bit about what the biggest hurdles and issues were in development? 

Ion Hazzikostas: Yes, I think it’s really undeniable. It was certainly a longer wait than what is ideal for the game and for our community. We’ve heard that from our community, and we agree. I want to thank everyone for their patience. But finally, Chains of Domination is here and will be released this week.  

As for the reasons: I think, as everyone knows, it’s been a unique and challenging one and a half years. We sat together, and the team was incredibly resilient to finish Shadowlands at the end of 2020 from home. But Chains of Domination was a different challenge because it was the first content that was developed completely from start to finish at home.  

Shadowlands itself was already on the way to alpha servers and complete completion. The creative process of ideation, storytelling, and building this world was already finished. For the new patch, new challenges arose regarding collaboration, the creative work that goes into the process, and also managing the unique challenges of team health, balancing work and life, and consciously dealing with the problems everyone is currently facing.  

But we feel that we learned an enormous amount over the past year. And we are optimistic about the journey ahead regarding more content for Shadowlands. And once again, we thank our players for their patience, and we sincerely believe that what is coming next week will be worth the wait. 

“What players will discover in a few weeks will be controversial”

MeinMMO: In the new raid Sanctum of Domination, players finally get their big confrontation with Sylvanas. She is one of the most iconic Warcraft characters and has been one of the most controversial characters in recent years. Some love her, but many also hate her. Are you happy with the development of Sylvanas and the reactions of the players, or do you sometimes wish for a different plot for her? 

Ion Hazzikostas: Overall, I think we are very proud of the story we have told with her, and she is a character that many people have literally grown up with. They did quests for Sylvanas and Varimathras as children and teenagers in Undercity.

There is an enormous emotional attachment for many, and I think we know that when we address this, especially with the rivalries between Alliance and Horde and what their presence means for the Horde, there will be some strong feelings involved.  

There will be people who wish that her character would take a different path. But at the end of the day, we feel that it is essential to be true to the essence of her character, what she stands for, who she is, and what she has done. Also, to ensure that we do not forget or overlook the actions she took during the Battle for Azeroth.

We knew that when we created a raid, it would end with her. The final boss. There are very, very high expectations about what this encounter will look like, and I think what the team has put together is among the most epic raid finales that World of Warcraft has ever seen. So I can’t wait for players to see it.

The events that will follow are, of course, not yet published or spoiled on the PTR, and they will change the course of the Shadowlands forever. And we will see where we go next.

MeinMMO: Does the importance of Sylvanas influence or limit your team in decisions about what should happen to her? For example, that she is not truly killed because she is so important to the franchise? 

Ion Hazzikostas: I think to a certain extent, whenever we deal with a character of this magnitude, we are particularly cautious with all decisions we make regarding them. Also, regarding whether they live or die.

But yes, because we know that you know the main characters, whether it be Sylvanas, Thrall, Anduin, or others that you can name. These are the iconic characters that carry more weight, have greater significance in the overall story, and people are more invested in them. So we must ensure that we are careful to please the players and the community.

I’m sure what players discover in a few weeks will be controversial, but I think that was inevitable. And so we are very proud of the work of the team and look forward to the community’s reaction and the conversation that will begin.  

MeinMMO: Another highlight of the upcoming update is the mega-dungeon Tazavesh. What was the idea behind it and what makes the mega-dungeon special?  

Ion Hazzikostas: Yes, that’s one of my favorite parts of the whole update. Tazavesh is a mega-dungeon that is so much larger than, you know, our regular dungeon experiences. It will fit within the experiences we made with Karazhan in Legion and aims to provide an old-school experience similar to the Blackrock Depths back in the day.

That’s where you would gather as a 5-player group, and it was almost like a raid where you could spend a few hours exploring it and defeating the bosses.  

Tazavesh is a new and fascinating look at the afterlife and the entire cosmos. There is this group, the Brokers, who are a sort of shady cartel of traders dealing in artifacts and things of mysterious power. The dungeon resembles a quirky heist.

There is the chief of a post office where all the mail from the planes of existence comes through and gets sorted. However, there is also a significant threat, an artifact that could change the fate of the Shadowlands if it falls into the wrong hands. Our team had an incredible amount of fun creating this dungeon.

Additionally, there are secrets that have not yet been discovered on the public test realm. There is also a hardmode for players seeking greater challenges and rewards.  

The best Mythic Raiders will have an advantage in PvP, but “that’s just healthy”

MeinMMO: In patch 9.1, Shards of Domination play an important role. From what has been seen on the PTR, they function like gems, but can only be obtained from the new raid, which is also the only place where items can drop that hold these shards. This leads to two questions. Will PvP players not feel “forced” to do raids to obtain these shards, or will they be disabled in PvP or obtainable through PvP? 

Ion Hazzikostas: No, our hope is that they will not feel compelled to do raids. So the shards work as follows: 

There are a handful of equipment items that can be obtained in the Sanctum of Domination, as well as through questing with Orphea herself. And these shards are relatively weak at the beginning and can be leveled up through the raid. It’s a reward for long-term dedication and progression through the Sanctum. 

We wanted to use this system to give players the feeling of old-school set bonuses, but it also gives players the opportunity to make some choices and customize. There are 3 different sets of Shards of Domination with different set bonuses. They only work in the Maw areas, meaning in the Maw itself, Torghast, and [the new area] Korthia and the raid. So they will not affect PvP or mythic dungeons. The shards themselves, however, have small passive bonuses that work everywhere.

However, one thing we are doing this season for PvP is scaling the PvP gear that players earn up to a full tier, meaning up to 13 item levels higher.

There may be a few items that provide a slight advantage in PvP. If you are a Mythic Raider, even one of the best in the world, and you can defeat Sylvanas or Kel’Thuzad on mythic, which only very few people can do, and earn items at item level 259 with mastery sockets, then that’s honestly not a bad thing in our eyes.

We want raids, dungeons, and PvP to all lead to their goal in their own way. But they are still parts of a cohesive game, and so if people who are successfully excelling at the highest level across multiple of these paths have a slight advantage over others, we think that’s healthy for the game overall. 

MeinMMO: The second question regarding this topic revolves around Legendaries. What do you say to players who feel they need to craft new legendary items to avoid blocking a potential upgrade slot for the shards? 

Ion Hazzikostas: We have definitely heard a lot of this feedback. We have been closely following the community discussion. One of the reasons why Legendaries are available in different slots was the realization that players might want to avoid collisions with other pieces. That’s why they were in Shadowlands in more than one slot.

When Chains of Domination comes out, soul ash will be much more prevalent. If you want to obtain the soul ash for the new Legendaries in Torghast, you should have more than enough soul ash to craft the first four ranks of the Legendary. In the end, players won’t have much more trouble crafting a new Legendary or upgrading an existing Legendary.

We understand that it feels a bit uncomfortable, and that’s something we are still exploring possible solutions for. We may still make some other quality of life changes. But we believe it’s a small issue that will persist for the first few weeks of the expansion and then stabilize for the rest of the expansion.

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MeinMMO: Since we’ve already talked about Torghast: With patch 9.1 come some interesting revisions, including the “Box of Many Things” and new cosmetics. However, quite a few players would like to see more to have further incentives to visit Torghast. Why don’t you just bring things like the Island Crates from BfA or the Garrison Crates from WoD?

Ion Hazzikostas: These are indeed interesting suggestions. When it comes to Torghast, we always wanted to focus on earning and upgrading legendary items. In addition, some cosmetics, achievement progression, and such things.

Basically, everything in World of Warcraft gives you items in some form, and in the end, these things compete with each other, and gear is something that has quickly ceased to be relevant for many players unless it comes from a mythic dungeon or a heroic raid or from the highest tier sources.

To keep it from becoming cluttered or having the same things everywhere, we wanted to focus Torghast on legendary progression and cosmetics, and we’ve brought back more of both.

A new feature is the mentioned Mysterious Box, which allows players to effectively customize and build an entire talent tree for Torghast while earning Tower Knowledge through their runs. This type of meta-progression is one of our favorite elements we’ve seen in our favorite “Rogue Likes”.

This feature is meant to help players have a new set of goals but also a new set of abilities they can tap into to help them through Torghast while trying to overcome the higher challenges.

New dungeon rating system is “better for the whole community”

MeinMMO: With patch 9.1, players receive a dungeon rating based on their ability to complete Mythic+ dungeons. This rating will be needed to improve gear from these dungeons. But unlike the previous season, where you only had to complete each dungeon once at +15, players now have to do so twice – once in a Tyrannical week and once in a Fortified week. Why did you decide to make the rating dependent on both affixes?

Ion Hazzikostas: I think it simplifies things too much to say: “OK, previously you only had to do one. Now you have to do both.” What we did in “Chains of Domination” is completely change the system and the way it is measured, so it’s no longer required to complete every single dungeon at a certain level. Now we have a better and smoother system that also has many benefits. 

If you previously ran a 15 and missed the timer by a second, there was no progress for the achievement. If you now miss the timer by a second, you will essentially receive 99% of the rating. Similarly, if you complete a 16 or 17, there is a bonus rating that compensates for the fact that you didn’t complete the 15 in the perfect time.  

Our goal is that the keystone master and the associated rewards shouldn’t be more challenging to earn and should be accessible to the same number of players. We are confident that the people who were able to earn them in the first season will be able to do so in practice as well.

But the new system offers much more flexibility when it comes to obtaining this rating and achieving these goals in different ways. If you feel that you are better in one dungeon or particularly pushing a dungeon because there is a trinket there that you absolutely want, you can compensate for deficits elsewhere through greater performance there.

Regarding Tyrannical and Fortified, we continue to make adjustments to the affix balance to try to ensure there will be some variation from week to week. But we want to move away from the feeling that some weeks are simply not worth playing at all, while others are the only ones that are worth pushing. We are curious about the feedback on these changes, and we will continue to refine them.

But the reality is that there are tons of people who play Mythic+ every single week because they want the rewards from their Great Vault – and because they want to enjoy the content. We believe that the new system is better for the community as a whole, knowing that there are people who want to do these dungeons together every week and not just in certain weeks.

MeinMMO: That sounds like a significant improvement for essentially all players? 

Ion Hazzikostas: We think so too. But you know, I understand the community’s initial reaction that at first glance, it may seem like we are asking you to do more. We are only asking you to do different things, which we believe will balance out in the long run. 

“Chains of Domination will open further doors and raise questions”

MeinMMO: With patch 9.1, a lot of new content awaits players. What do you think, will the content keep players occupied long enough until another update comes? 

Ion Hazzikostas: We definitely think so. With the new raid, the mega-dungeon Tazavesh, new loot, and new stories, there is more than enough to keep players engaged for a long time.  

And in the meantime, we are working hard on what is coming next, and, as I said at the beginning of this conversation, the gap between the launch of Shadowlands was longer than we all would ideally like. We are doing everything in our power to ensure that does not happen again.

MeinMMO: The upcoming update is a good point. Is Shadowlands still on track with the usual 3 updates, or will you change the structure?  

Ion Hazzikostas: To be honest, our patch structure has changed from expansion to expansion. I think it fits the story we want to tell, to the places we want to visit. We have also released smaller patches, like the 9.0.5 patch, which we didn’t have in Battle for Azeroth or Legion.

We are still working out what will develop over the course of the story. I think what we definitely aspire to is a satisfying conclusion to all the stories we have built up.

And Chains of Domination is just opening more doors and will raise a lot of questions. We will learn much more about the nature of the Jailer, but we still have a long way to go before we can truly put an end to the Jailer’s plans. And the end threatens the Shadowlands.

WoW is still a social game at its core, but more accessible than before

MeinMMO: WoW is now available in several versions: Retail and Classic. Some players criticize that in Retail, you have to cooperate less and can play better alone. What do you think of this accusation and do you see it as a problem? 

Ion Hazzikostas: I think everything has two sides; there are pros and cons. WoW has become a much more accessible game over the past 15 years. It is still a game that is incredibly social at its core. 

In Retail, there are still tasks that need to be done together, whether players are running high Mythic+ raids with friends or players are playing together in arenas. Close collaboration is still necessary. 

What we’ve changed is giving players the ability to enjoy the game on their own terms and at their own pace. There are pros and cons to this: 

If you look back at Burning Crusade and had only 45 minutes or an hour to play, then you needed 20 to 30 minutes to find a dungeon group by spamming “LFG” in the trade chat. If you didn’t have enough time, you could end up not playing at all.

In the modern version, you can queue for heroic dungeons during your lunch break, gain some experience, and show progress. But if you want to do a Mythic dungeon, you still have to play with fixed groups, but overall have a greater selection.  

Back then in Classic and Burning Crusade, there were definitely the advantages of a close-knit community of players on the servers who knew each other, and enemies who had a good reputation. Or you knew who the best crafter was. Or the one who always ninjalooted.

But the downside is that when you found out in Classic that a friend you knew in real life was playing Burning Crusade, you could almost guarantee that you would never be able to play WoW with him because you were on different servers. Whereas if you meet someone today and you’re both playing Shadowlands, then they’re playing in the same Shadowlands. You can play together, and that’s a huge advantage. 

That’s actually, when you think about it, a modern version of togetherness and social bonding. The modern World of Warcraft is conducive to social bonds that transfer from the real world to the game world.  

Each version has its pros and cons, right? And one of the biggest challenges our team faces is: How do we get the best of both worlds? How can we continue to make World of Warcraft more social? How can we make it a place where it’s more likely to find new friends and people to rely on and have connections, without losing the accessibility that has made the game so inviting for millions over the years?

We have been working on WoW for many years, and spoiler alert, we are also working on the next expansion. I know nobody expected that.  

We are thinking about what our next expansion will be and what comes next. And we come to the conclusion: We will keep making World of Warcraft as long as people want to play it. And there are no signs that this will stop anytime soon. But we also want to continue.

We want to evolve the game; we want to introduce new game modes. We want to update fundamental foundations of the game, as we did with things like the level squish or the improved experience for new players. In Shadowlands, we want to maintain the “World of Warcraft” feel.

It should be accessible to a new generation experiencing it for the first time, but also appealing to those who have been around for a decade and want something new. And it is an honor to work with a fantastic team that is passionate about it, and we can’t wait for you to see it. We can’t wait for everyone to see what we still have in store.

Thank you very much for the answers, Ion Hazzikostas!

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