Beta testers complain about few quests in World of Warcraft: The War Within. We asked Blizzard what that means – and received an answer.
The beta of The War Within is accessible to many people because you can buy into the test of the latest WoW expansion. Leveling through the new areas has repeatedly raised one point of criticism: there are few quests. We confronted Blizzard with this accusation and received a response about what this is all about.
We had the opportunity to talk to Blizzard and during an interview, we asked some pressing questions regarding the upcoming addon “The War Within”.
Maria Hamilton, Lead Game Designer of World of Warcraft, answered our questions.
We asked: The areas in The War Within seem to have fewer quests than usual and some players are not happy about that. Why did you decide to reduce the quests?
Maria Hamilton explained:
The campaign is shorter than it has been in the past. But the amount of quests is quite comparable, in terms of local stories. So it could be that players have not found these stories or that they were not available during the beta.
We made the campaign a bit shorter this time because we know that there are some players who do not enjoy the story aspects as much and do not want to play that much. That’s totally fine.
What we have done with part of the campaign is what we deem necessary for you to understand the basics of what is happening. And then we shifted our other stories about the places and characters into our local stories. They are not marked with a campaign sign but are regular quests.
That was a conscious decision. We want people to understand what they need to understand, but then they can level in a way that they enjoy.
We do not want to force anyone to play a long campaign if they don’t enjoy it at all.
Previously, in World of Warcraft, it was often the case that the campaign had to be completed to unlock important features. Often this had to be done with every character. In The War Within, this is not the case. If you have completed a quest line once, it is considered “done by your war team”.
Additionally, parts of the quests were not playable at all. A large part of the quest line that actually leads to the new expansion was not available. Instead, the journey begins after the end of a catastrophic incident – and how that unfolds, we will find out in a few days.
What does that mean? In plain language, that means that The War Within has about the same amount of quests as was the case with Dragonflight or other expansions. Only the main campaign is a little shorter. So if you only follow the main missions, you will complete the areas relatively quickly. The “mandatory part” is therefore significantly shorter.
However, in other expansions there have always been many camps spread over the areas that do not lead to any quest but still offer interesting missions.
How long it takes to complete all the quests, we will probably experience ourselves in a few weeks. Because the launch of World of Warcraft: The War Within is already in about 5 weeks. Then we can finally level to level 80 and see what Xal’atath is planning for Azeroth.
Your twinks can then enjoy all the benefits as if they had already completed these quests and can even completely hide the corresponding quests. Those who want, of course, can play the quests multiple times.
Optional dialogues and questions for all story fans
But that does not mean that there is less story, as Hamilton further explains:
We have built in a lot of optional stuff for people who [are interested in the story]. You can ask many of the characters many questions and listen to longer “Stay a while and listen” dialogues to learn more about the characters or the world. That is always optional. We do not want to force players to stop and listen to a dialogue if they are not interested at all.
Additionally, parts of the quests were not playable at all. A large part of the quest line that actually leads to the new expansion was not available. Instead, the journey begins after the end of a catastrophic incident – and how that unfolds, we will find out in a few days.
What does that mean? In plain language, that means that The War Within has about the same amount of quests as was the case with Dragonflight or other expansions. Only the main campaign is a little shorter. So if you only follow the main missions, you will complete the areas relatively quickly. The “mandatory part” is therefore significantly shorter.
However, in other expansions there have always been many camps spread over the areas that do not lead to any quest but still offer interesting missions.
How long it takes to complete all the quests, we will probably experience ourselves in a few weeks. Because the launch of World of Warcraft: The War Within is already in about 5 weeks. Then we can finally level to level 80 and see what Xal’atath is planning for Azeroth.
