The WoW: Forever Podcast: Episode 5 - End of Beta Special

The end-of-beta special of the WoW Forever podcast looks back on the beta. Developers named the raids planned for launch and their sizes, explained how language and region decide who you play alongside, and described a few raid bosses.

Highlights

• Raids for launch: Barrow Deeps for 10 players, Hyjal Summit for 20, Onyxia's Lair for 40
• More than 20 new bosses across the two new raids
• Blizzard plans 10- and 20-player raid content in every content patch
• A preferred-language setting guides who you are placed with; regions are the only hard line
• No play across regions at launch
• The level cap stays at 60

The beta

Developers said on the podcast that the beta was limited on purpose: characters stopped at level 30, only four of the nine new dungeons were open, and the raids were left out. They called it one of the biggest betas Blizzard has run, with so many players arriving on the first day that the concurrency cap had to be raised more than once.

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The gap before launch

The beta runs on different hardware from the live game. Developers said the time between the beta's end and launch goes to setting up the live servers and the rulesets, and to working through beta feedback.

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Who you play alongside

A setting lets you choose a preferred language, and the game tries to place you with players who chose the same one. Developers said this is not a hard rule, and you can still group with friends who picked another language. Beyond the rulesets, the only hard boundary is the region. Physical servers still exist in different parts of the world, and where you connect from is taken into account, with players in Australia given as the example. Developers said the placement system will keep being adjusted after launch.

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Playing across regions

Asked whether players in North America and Europe could play together, a developer said it will not work that way at launch.

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Raids

Developers said on the podcast that three raids are planned for launch: the Barrow Deeps for 10 players, Hyjal Summit for 20 and Onyxia's Lair for 40. The two new raids hold more than 20 new bosses between them, and the older raids are being held back for now. Blizzard says it is committed to releasing 10- and 20-player content in each content patch, so that groups of those sizes can count on having a raid to do.

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Raid bosses

A developer described some encounters. In the Barrow Deeps, one fight gives a damage buff that comes at a cost players must manage, and another is against a pair of spiders. In Hyjal Summit, a possessed wild-god creature alternates between a phase on its husk and a phase on the spirit inside it, and there is also a body-horror boss. Some raid boss names already appear in the Legacy System.

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Talking in a raid

Developers named the ping system, text-to-speech and speech-to-text as ways to coordinate with a group without voice chat.

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Hidden content

Developers said some content was switched off during the beta, that items stay hidden until a player first finds them, and that dungeon and raid maps were held back so nobody could enter them. They added that much of what dataminers turn up is not meant for WoW Forever, because the versions of World of Warcraft share assets and code.

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The torch

The torch that players carry, from a quest in Duskwood, was switched off for the beta's first week and then turned on. Carrying it caused performance problems, which have been fixed.

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Quest drops in groups

Asked about letting every group member get quest drops, a developer said changes have already been made to hand them out to group members in turn.

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The level cap

Blizzard intends to keep the level cap at 60 and to keep adding content, both while leveling and at endgame, for the life of the game.

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