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The public Q&A was also restreamed by MrGM, so feel free to tune in there as well.
Where we're going
The Worldsoul Saga was the result of a discussion with Chris Metzen on what to do for the 20th anniversary. The storyline he came back with couldn't be done justice in one or even two expansions, so this arc is the culmination of 20 years of WoW.
As for what comes next, the team generally knows where they're going, but seeing as this was a special 20-year capstone for WoW, they may move on to something different for following expansions.
Futureproofing the game is a matter of modernizing and adding new dazzling features, but they'll always stay true to their players. They're also looking at how gamers are changing - the world is a lot different than it was in 2004, so it's important to deliver the kind of value that's expected in the modern day. They've always seen WoW as a sort of third place, which they're continuing to build on with housing for relaxed players just as much as competitive elements. They want to give players a way to roleplay, live, and impact the world in a meaningful way.
The Life of Ibelin documentary really drove home the simple impact of allowing two players to interact with each other, hug, or high five, giving the developers a newfound respect for allowing players to express themselves. Ultimately though, they want to continue building out features for every player type: the casual players, the mid-core who dabbles in everything, and the hardcore competitive ones.
Social Systems
Holly is a diehard believer in creating connections with the community, firmly believing those connections between players are the reason World of Warcraft has lasted as long as it has. Everything the team makes is in service to the community, and the team does their best to try to understand how different groups of players approach the game, but everyone is unique - initiatives like the ambassador program helps them get more firsthand feedback from different perspectives.
The goal is for the Ambassador program to get bigger too, which is something they'll talk about again at BlizzCon.
In-game social systems need to be better as well, and players can expect to see some future changes.
Holly's dog is named Gimli Weirdbeard, by the way.
Accessibility and Approachability
Accessibility and approachability are very important and they do have a team focused on it. UI is often one of the longest tasks in game development, and they try to balance it as best they can, but there's certainly more to do.
Holly posed her own question to the Discord chat - how many players would be interested in experiencing the game on a controller with a fully dedicated UI? It's a very big job, with thousands of unit frames to convert, but as a player of many different games, who likes to use her laptop or relax on the couch (and as a current Warlock player, which may or may not be the reason she wants to play on a controller), she proposes that there's room for more options.
Class and System Design
The team has learned a lot from the launch of Classic in particular. It's really hard to quantify how much research the team does, they collect a lot of data on player behavior, even within classes, and then they look at player sentiment; everything they learn from both Classic and Retail can have an impact on each other. The team wants to be transparent with what works and what doesn't, but that perception changes based on how you approach the game between more casual players and high end competitive ones.
The team recognizes how popular Order Halls were, and believes race and class identities are important. They're some of the earliest defining choices in the game, which are important in an RPG, and the team is thinking about ways to refocus on those identities. Things are going to get a little challenging in Azeroth for the next while, so those connections to who we are and why we fight will be pretty important.
We'll be moving into Northrend for The Last Titan, and while a lot of the old world revamps were something of an experiment, they're going to continue evaluating player reaction to these old-world updates. Azeroth is an staggeringly massive world, and they want to find reasons to return to old places and make them meaningful again.
Holly isn't going to get into revamping old progression systems for fear of making Ion go cross-eyed, but she will say that they want to make the world feel meaningful and alive, giving players agency to have an effect on the world. There's already been a lot of discussion about building up the world, rather than just continually expanding it, but it's important that they don't take anything away, just add onto it.
Collectors, they see you and understand how important those collections and achievement are to your characters. Some collections systems have been more successful than others, so they're still trying to figure out what players want, their achievement goals and dreams, so they'll be doing a few more rounds of feedback to try to get a better idea of long-term goals.
Community and Housing
The team absolutely wants to invest further into roleplay and immersion. Roleplaying is the original user generated content, and although many players do not see themselves as roleplayers, they still build meaningful story connections, such as identifying as part of the Alliance or the Horde. The team really wants to build more communal spaces as well, whether they're used for weddings, celebrations, or memorials, so players can expect to see more focus there in the future.
Housing is a brand new space for WoW, so the team is still learning as they go. Much like the combat and systems teams do though, there's constant iteration based on player feedback, as different players want different things.
Creating a public Housing Roadmap is a goal. They already talked about what players can expect in the State of Azeroth, but they'll take a crack at creating an actual roadmap as well.
Practical limitations aside, Holly would love for the game to have more personalization and interaction. Getting a Gnome and a Tauren to high-five is harder than you'd think, but she'd love more options for players to express themselves, from hair and beards, to transmog, and activities. Personalization and customization, making your character your own, is important to WoW's future and something the team will be digging into in the future.
Hair showing under hats is definitely one of the things on Holly's radar! Holly loves playing dress-up and wants it to go further, so she's always looking for more options.
The Q&A closed with Holly revealing that her favorite pizza toppings are ham and pineapple. She's quite embarrassed over how polarizing that is though; her family never wants it, so she has to sneak around to eat it. She equates the feeling to her past maining Vulpera.
