What Chris Metzen Actually Did On The War Within

We have a wealth of deep dive interviews to cover, including with Chris Metzen, who has talked about what things were like when he returned to Blizzard, and how they've changed.
➡️ Check our our next Lore video early: bellular.games...

[@BellularGaming]

➡ Check our our next Lore video early: bellular.games/beledar-the-arathi-of-hallowfall-explained/

[@oBCHANo]

Remember it's his job to praise things and hype up things, nothing he said really means anything.

[@heroicxidiot]

cross faction instance queuing shouldn't require a full group to queue. Just click a button to allow cross faction queuing.

[@brandonmalmgren3101]

THIS

[@HEEHEEBOII]

Im sure it's gonna come soon they probably just testing out cross faction stuff right now.

[@TheRealBeardedFetus]

@@HEEHEEBOII You would think they would have it down by now, they've done cross faction PVP queuing(mercenary mode) for a while now and that works just fine.

[@Silv3rDragon]

Or just make it a thing on normal servers and keep it same faction queueing on RP servers

[@heroicxidiot]

@@Silv3rDragon you don't need to do that for normal/rp servers.

[@Aaron-zl5gq]

As long as Xalatath sticks around for awhile I all for it , we need characters and villains to stick around a long time , I am absolutely loving her weaving in with her cute evil messing with you and moving on . Ion looks healthy too , the team is clearly moving in a great direction .

[@archvaldor]

Yeah they need to do that with villains in future-picking out pre-existing elements of lore which are popular with the playerbase rather than excessive reliance on older lore or making up entirely new villains like the Jailer with no depth that are untested.

[@quizkill]

Iridikron is still out there as well, which is pretty awesome. Cool character model with good motives.

[@Kytrion]

You mean her cute evit FEET

[@networknomad5600]

"We all missed this." No we didn't. You did. We heard "You are not prepared" from Metzen weeks ago and knew exactly what was up.

[@adamt4553]

Not only that, but other creators have called the last titan being sargares since last Nov. and if he comes back, well, probably someone else does too…

[@Lellianna]

needed some new video during pre season^^

[@scdph6251]

@@adamt4553 The last titan is actually Azeroth...

[@dirtnap9641]

@@scdph6251 Azeroth isnt a titan

[@adamt4553]

@@scdph6251 Azeroth isn’t confirmed to be a titan. When devs are asked in interviews they normally dodge the question of if she’s a titan, or what a world soul is compared to titans. And in the dragon aspects getting their powers back Nozdormu specifically states that Azeroth’s empowerment is not “titan magic”. She could still become a titan, BUT, what if she isn’t? Or even if she isn’t yet, that would make the last titan…. Sargares

[@Cifer77]

Man, he literally used Illidan's most famous tagline. It wasn't subtle... lol

[@OhNoTheFace]

When is metzen subtle? He wanted that to excite people

[@TaliesinMyrddin]

I was really happy to hear about Xal'atath being a longer term villain

[@thedamned93]

They made the game fun again i havent had this good of a time since legion

[@RoyDumaw]

What is it about this expansion that makes you say that? I'm genuinely curious. I'm playing it and I just don't see it.

[@danthecanadian]

@@RoyDumaw The interactive zones like hallowfall where you have an artificial sun? Delves, which are a mixture of torghast and other things? Getting flying from the start? Dwarven ancestors? Nerubian allies? Anduins story progression? Turalyon's and Alleria's relationship storyline? The Lothar bloodline (Faerin) finally being discovered again and another human empire (the Arathi)? References to teenage mutant ninja turtles, where you get donatello as a pet turtle? Multiple easter eggs in the game? Kobold allies and alternative druid allies, which may also result in a new allied race in the future? What are you talking about? Are you just sitting in town spamming heroic dungeons, waiting for m+ and raids? That's probably why "you don't see it"

[@cypherpunk6417]

Illidan is gonna figure out a way to consume Sargeras' essence just like he did with the Skull of Gul'dan and come back for the final fight against the Pantheon and the Void, pissed that he and the rest of us had been fooled by them the whole time.

[@taylemgames2652]

My eyes are already rolling at Illidan becoming Cosmic Superman.

[@GreenwoodTony7]

nailed it

[@joebenzz]

He will then become a Titan Hunter and create a Titan Hunter class 😛

[@baranekim3710]

Illidan's willingly gonna be one with Sargeras to fight agaisnt the Void

[@stylishskater92]

That would be cheesy and weird as hell. This isnt DBZ where you touch fingers and merge bodies.

[@Halfdrunkpadre]

@@stylishskater92Varian was two people for a bit

[@charliegentry2620]

@@stylishskater92What a terrible angle. DBZ is sick you’ve obviously watched a bit if you know about fusion. And you’re telling me you wouldn’t fuse together with another player to make a super class that’s OP? cap.

[@revleckbendon2745]

@@stylishskater92 And why not? DBZ rules and has ruled since literally 1995, and even continues to put out content, manga, movies, etc. If Longevity and content is the plan, then this sounds awesome. It would be insane, and surely it would end with Illidans demise. It would have to, otherwise we'd have an Ichigo problem. Illidan has always been the main character imo tho

[@ronibopshop]

If he is his scars and his will is his own, he won't be merging with anyone

[@sverdalfr]

0:24 don't touch me

[@MedusaCharms]

lol!

[@Lellianna]

If they can keep this up, Blizzard - WoW is gonna be a huge comeback in gaming history

[@wm1573]

it literally still is one of the bigget games and biggest mmo

[@Diopside.]

@@wm1573 hahaha u are coping too hard.

[@mung01re]

@@Diopside.You’re delusional. Only mobile games can rival WoWs numbers.

[@wm1573]

@@Diopside. Uhhh.. name one bigger MMO and 9 bigger games than wow. I'll wait

[@Lellianna]

@@wm1573 true, but the faith in wow and Blizzard went to shit after SL, you do remember even wow youtubers doing FFXIV stuff? It wasnt dead, but everyone knew it was heading in a very bad direction, noone expected this kind of turn around

[@Honixgg]

I believe this saga all comes together in one simple question. “What happens to us when Azeroth (the final titan) wakes up”. And how do the factions and hero’s react (especially illidan) when they learn how disposable we are in the eyes of the titans when it comes to securing Azeroth.

[@TheOriginalCameron]

...Will she wake up? 😊

[@Honixgg]

@@TheOriginalCameron maybe, but imagine it. The titans grand design, our protectors & creators, casting off the people of the planet for the titan within. Showing themselves to be no different than the enemies we faced before. Using and discarding us just to get the power of Azeroth to their side. Could see illidan striking another deal with sargeras & have us fighting along side demons to fight back the creations of the titans

[@dutchielander2478]

Dagran and Dr. Octopus (the earthen woman) told us explicitly that Azeroth is not a titan in one of the ending quests of the campaign.

[@LegendaryBrandon1]

With all this content coming out recently. Bobby had to be MILKING them all with how little content they WERE making.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

Bobby is Activision and Blizzard has been split from them since Microsoft bought them both.

[@kragronplaycemap]

Just Imagine WoW in WOD or MOP when u needed MONTHS FOR NEW CONTENT AND NOTHING HAPPEND....^^

[@capncrackfiend]

Why do you keep saying, "The campaign is ended?" There's no way the campaign is done in the launch patch.

[@nikolaosdimitrokallis6074]

If recall correctly there are a couple of instances, one specifically q chain in blasted lands where we can see that essentially a demon hunter becomes a demon jailer by somehow keepimg them inside their body. Illidan pumped by sargeras picking up the giant sword. No we are not prepared

[@Sorrior]

Que dude protecting azeroth as it's fel titan fueled guardian.

[@Kytrion]

This comment may be legendary in next couple years

[@dismaspickman773]

"Too many cooks spoil the broth." One of the major reasons while much of entertainment today is poorly received is due to this idea that a committee is somehow superior to the passionate vision of an undivided leadership (usually a single person, but sometimes a small group). Instead of this singular vision, we have multiple points of view, and various "must includes" because of X, Y, or Z. The truth is that a strong sense of purpose and direction is necessary art/entertainment to appeal to consumers, gamers or otherwise. Shadowlands and Dragonflight are good examples of games built by committee. The last very good (though not perfect) expansion was Legion (the jury is still out on TWW, however promising). Interesting that Metzen left right after the release of Legion, and about the time they would have been cranking up the work on BFA (which had some good story elements, Saurfang, etc). Perhaps not coincidentally, Legion really did feal like the actual end to the story of WoW and it could be that is one of the reasons Metzen left.

[@hobosnake1]

Senator armstrong agrees :p If you know, you know. If you don't, go play metal gear rising.

[@dismaspickman773]

​@@hobosnake1 I just watched a clip of Armstrong's political speech from the game--pretty entertaining ("Not by committee!" :) ). However, to drill down in that a bit, what that character is advocating for is ends justify the means--will to power--social Darwinism type rhetoric that, IMO, are all just shades of evil, and not at all what I meant by my comment. What I was trying to say is that a creative project needs a clear vision--a solid foundation--that is not up for debate or vote. Sure, in a large project like a video game, artists, writers, composers, animators, etc. are all going to bring in their own creativity, but theirs is subservient to the overall design as dictated by those in charge of creative direction. Otherwise, you end up with a confused product that lacks cohesion (to a greater or lesser extent). That type of product is going to be less appealing to most people (no matter what they tell you).

[@TheMetastasia]

Recent Disney movies showed that having several writers to force one idea is worse than following ones writers clear Vision.

[@hobosnake1]

@@TheMetastasia I wouldn't even say that's exclusive to Disney at all recently, but I know you just mean that's one of the best examples, and I agree. Hopefully Metzen really is steering the ship. I know TWW was in production before he came on, so right now it's not representative entirely of how WoW's story will feel. I like what I'm playing though. They did alright, even for this part where Metzen did very little. Maybe just changed a few things around in his words.

[@Zanerli]

Just finished the campaign and this has been the best I've seen in a long time. I can't wait to dive back into the game like old times

[@Desolaytore]

I need Metzen to toughen up the Horde, they are a fuckin joke right now. Make Thrall great again and bring back the Kor'kron elite guard.

[@cypherpunk6417]

@@Desolaytore Been saying that for a while. He needs to bring the masculinity and testosterone back to the franchise. Looks like he's working on that pretty well.

[@FNESSE]

Make Vol Jin great again

[@dcinsc]

Thrall...PFFT. Garrosh is my Warchief!

[@ds698]

Yup!

[@ds698]

@@dcinscno

[@longwildernesswalks]

Chris Metzen returning is the ONLY reason I would ever try WoW again. I feel like I can trust Chris. The rest of the leadership I have about 10% faith in. When it goes on sale, I'll likely pick it up, but I'm not paying full price for a game. I did that for years with Blizz, and they fu*ked me every time. Hope it's good. I hear it is.

[@johnarildramberg3132]

Holly Longdale has been great for wow since she became the leader. It's actually insane how much has been improved since she took over.

[@petermontgomery7323]

I got war within ONLY because Metzen is back. I have been in classic and hardcore since they released. The last toon that I got to max level in the live game was back in WOD. I loved that expansion! So far, I really like the war within expansion! The delves so far are my favorite part, but I only dinged 80 yesterday. I still have a TON to explore.

[@cypherpunk6417]

@@longwildernesswalks Chris is the only worthy steward of the franchise. I mean, after all, it's his story, his brain child.

[@andybanan1992]

​@@johnarildramberg3132chirs being back has gotten a lot of attention, and rightfully so. But Hollys contrubution has seemingly gone a bit unnoticed, and she truly deserves a lot of praise for gow she has managed to completely turn around the mentality of blizz towards improving Wow as a game.

[@Spartaprimez]

The Hero Class of the Shaman and Ret paladin suffered when Chris Metzen was away. His return gives me hope

[@ABD-pr4xm]

he was talking with the same ambitions during WOD expansion, ill never forget that xD

[@monkeysk8er33]

And then we got Legion, the best expansion ever made. Then he left. So don't forget that. WoD was just a setup for Legion. Like DF is a setup for TWW.

[@ChinnuWoW]

There should be checkpoints at EVERY boss.

[@DarkScreamGames]

no thanks. in a long linear tube raid, sure, lets get some more checkpoints. But most raids are multi-winged spawling out of a central point or points. That system works just fine.

[@lawless7859]

Lmfaoo check points? How about the bosses just fall over when you get near them

[@ChinnuWoW]

@@DarkScreamGames You should respawn right in front of which ever boss you died to. How about that?

[@ChinnuWoW]

@@lawless7859 Why? Do you enjoy running back to the boss after ever wipe? It doesn't affect the difficulty, it's just a needless waste of time.

[@lawless7859]

@@ChinnuWoW I play an mmo rpg, if I wanted to play something else I'd play that. Wiping and running back is part of it. You fail, you do the time. If you don't like that way of play, maybe try ffxiv and be a furry with all the other losers.

[@TheRealBeardedFetus]

I am predicting that Illidan turned Sargeras probably using questionable methods, and we will team up with them both to destroy the void. I want more BFA quality music though, that expansion did very very little right but the music was ON POINT.

[@smokeythagamer8521]

It’s actually the other way around, Sargeras will open illidans eyes(no pun intended) to the fact that the titans are lowkey dictators and have been keeping the true Azeroth locked up and suppressing her full potential all in the hopes that they can control her and make her a titan under their will. However Sargeras is secretly infatuated with Azeroth and illdan cares to much about his people and free will.

[@TheRealBeardedFetus]

@smokeythagamer8521 idk after seeing what Illidan did to Xe'ra without hesitation. I don't think he will be manipulated so easily.

[@umethemwhen1343]

Thank god, I thought something was bugging on my end in regard to the voice lines so thank you for explaining what was up.

[@babyeater350]

I have a feeling that when the arathi catch wind of illidian killing one of their "gods" of the light, stuff will hit the fan

[@UltimateGamerCC]

unless Turalyon squeals, they'll never find that out.

[@TastyScotch]

People were miffed but i sleepwalked through 70-80 after the “nerf” and still finished in a few hours 😂 and that was doing the campaign, watching all the cinematics AND clicking every “stay a while, and listen” i came across lol.

[@FlesHBoX]

Yeah, anyone complaining about what an awful thing the scaling fix was hadn't actually played the game. it was 200% broken before the nerf, and the nerf brought it down to only 80% broken, lol.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

it was the haters just spewing their shit as always, even when something is done for all the right reasons, they want to use it to screw over their Ex-Wife.

[@Arizonian312]

As someone who was there for SL and DF launch TWW clears both Metzen has definitely got them on the up and up

[@tylerjohnson9620]

Honestly, the Illidan novel is my favorite warcraft book. So I'm excited about this

[@azhder]

17 is not expansion 17, it's version 17, but expansion 16. The original game wasn't an expansion on itself

[@TheOriginalCameron]

Right. Patch 17.0

[@azhder]

@@TheOriginalCameron Yes, if you use it as a word for an activity or a deed. Technically, based on something called semantic versioning, used by many but not sure I'm fond of it, the X.Y.Z-B would mean Major.Minor.Patch-Build and that would make the second 0 in 17.0.0 (or 17.0.1) the patch. And I think that's basically why it's called a patch in WoW. It always has that third number.

[@TheOriginalCameron]

@@azhder True

[@lionvstuna4015]

Sargeras wasn't bad, he was being controlled by the jailer 😥

[@Music-AsLife]

Nah man, think Arya and the Hound, Sargeras and Illidan are going have to join forces, go through a "learning to deal with my enemies foibles as we grow to depend on one another" montage, they'll both save the day, then everyone will want to put Sargeras down and, with a sigh and a headshake in disbelief, Illidan grabs his blades yells "Sargy, back to back" or some other such thing referring back to their training montage and including some kind of term of endearment for his former enemy., from their they fight their way out of the wherever the hell it is, and both the alliance and the horde are just left like wtf and thus closes this saga, the next set of expansions will be the everyone joining together to hunt them down, in which the horde and alliance will go through a "learning to deal with my enemies foibles as we grow to depend on one another" montage (i know we've done this already but Blizzard keeps making us join forces. the list they could do is get kenny loggins to write a montage song.

[@wapix2440]

I am still very sure, Illidan didn't fight Sargeras. He just got clear of the fact, that Sargeras wasn't evil at all. Mark my words...

[@Roanoak]

Marking them

[@macchiotter2553]

Just cuz Sargeras had good reasons doesn't mean he isn't evil. He is evil.

[@albertgeorgy6827]

I hope not. God please no...

[@WadeAllen001]

Not sure how you can destroy and subjugate galaxies and not be evil.

[@fiklik]

They will find common ground as misunderstood betrayers of their people 😂 😂

[@Spongemonkey26]

I'm glad Chris Metzen returned, it's important to have that connection to the past at modern Blizz.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

Holly Longdale is also a better leader than J. Allen Brack, by leaps and bounds.

[@pallieterwow]

I find it astounding that they're working on so many expansions and patched that the same time. Really loving TWW atm and can't wait for the rest of the story. I stopped playing right before Legion launched and returned right before blizzcon last year and bought the TWW game with lvl 70 boost so didn't really do any story in DF but overall I liked the places and pace of it. Looking forword to rest of the games

[@CoversIncorporated]

Utgarde pinnacle M+ would go so hard

[@Warcraft_Wanderer]

I've been really excited to get on the game and play ATM. It's been drawing me in more than Shadowlands and DL did tbh

[@dragonsage3812]

I feel they should try to expand the story mode for raid to the entire instance if possible. If the purpose of it is to let players see the narrative, it would make sense to do it for the entire instance since raids nowadays have a narrative being told through the whole instance.

[@zerosiii]

On the War Within credits, Metzen is not listed anywhere. However, Steve Danuser is listed as the main narrative designer

[@andybanan1992]

Provably because metzen got in so late into the production. We will probavly see his name pop up either as the expansion moves on, or in the next one.

[@andrew1983]

Iridikon will be the final boss in this expansion, I already forgot about him. But, I still hope it's Xal'atath she's only the Harbinger of what to come which is Midnight, I super don't want her to be alive until The Last Titan. Because Midnight should be Azshara's expansion exclusively and she should be the final villain, she's literally the last known old villain we have left besides Sargeras, and she deserves an expansion to herself like Lich King, or Deathwing did.

[@CorlissGallows]

Great comparison with the LOTR and Hobbit. It's good to have Chris back, and the new xpac feels like the OLD world of warcraft.

[@bobbythefish4836]

Love that remix stuff is gonna come back. I really hope they figure out a way to let us use existing characters next time though.

[@RB-jf5ww]

One thing my time in the highest levels of the US dod has taught me is this. If you want speed of action, you need to consolidate authority in as small a group as possible. So I bet it’s not really democratic- but pockets of teams with authority. It’s not 250 people running in 250 directions. More like 250 people running in 10-15 directions.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

What about the severe guild bank bug that not many are talking about? ALL guild banks have lost ~70% of their items. It's been a month with nothing more than "we're working on it, honest". We're having to go to the EU forums for updates.

[@InsidiuthKhylau]

Remix returning eventually, to quote Wolverine: LETS FKN GO!!!!

[@Buckbuckbuck11]

Whoever is writing Alleria needs to be moved to a different task. She's awful.

[@jenaht]

Honestly it has been very weak

[@simonneil4268]

hello i just want to say this expansion is fantastic, so far anyway. even the music is incredible ☺️

[@ds698]

Sargaras will be pacified and come back as his actual self before corruption with illidan. Also, all the old favorites like Arthas for a marvel end game avengers assemble moment. It’s fitting because the OG art work of Warcraft was always that a giant massive melee war.

[@SweaggerRexxar]

Xal'atath will give Goblins the Location of a giant Kajamite mine so they repair her Dark Heart and we will try to interrupt that in Undermine.

[@evilmark443]

I think throughout TWW Xalatath is going to slowly corrupt Alleria, with either the final TWW raid encounter or an encounter in Midnight having the players save her somehow.

[@danthecanadian]

You do realize that the exact opposite has happened in the story and that Alleria overcame her anger already and she and Turalyon are a strong unbreakable team again? Additionally, Metzen has said that Xalatath is not a big endgame raid boss and that she reappears. This isn't Sylvanas 2.0 and you're completely wrong and have no idea how storytelling works.

[@Devonellah]

So glad Chris is back!!!

[@ColeHolio2294]

I actually really like the "cozy therapy time" vibes of DF, precisely because of that. Like, I personally felt like we needed a more grounded, Azeroth-based expansion after SL, without mind-boggling, Legiony, cosmic stakes. For much the same reasons, I love BFA too.

[@monkeysk8er33]

People like you are the reason WoD happened. Cosmic epicness is what Warcraft is about. Has been since WC3. I mean arguably since WC1, seeing as how Orcs came from another planet. That's pretty cosmic. Chronicles expanded on that even more. DF was boring af storywise. The only reason it's not a waste of time is because we got Skyriding from it. Iridikron has barely done a single thing, Vyranoth turned tail (which I actually liked), and the other two died for their beliefs. Iridikron really isn't all that interesting, at least he isn't yet. He's just imposing. Zovaal was a much scarier villain than Iridikron. He's literally Warcraft Satan. I hate that people hated on him and SL, SL was wild lore wise.

[@ColeHolio2294]

​@@monkeysk8er33 lol, WoD was great too, imo, for the same reasons. And I do like the cosmic stuff, but too much of it and it gets tiresome. Zovaal was alright.

[@monkeysk8er33]

@@ColeHolio2294 What about WoD was remotely "alright?" Other than the raids which have never been bad, WoD was garbage. Universally agreed upon.

[@ColeHolio2294]

@@monkeysk8er33 You have to admit, the garrison building in WoD is universally ageed upon to have been great fun (once it got patched lol). Anyway, let me save you some time here :D My favourite expansions have been Cata, WoD, BfA, DF, and now TWW. Lich King, Panda, and Legion were okay, and I could take or leave TBC and SL. My favourites are my favourites because, as I said, they're more grounded in Azerothian matters, and I like it when we're 'at home', dealing with stuff that's bubbled up whilst we've been off in space doing cosmic shiz. The cosmic shiz is great, don't get me wrong, but I just like being close to home. :D

[@monkeysk8er33]

@@ColeHolio2294 You lost me by calling Garrisons fun and Legion "just ok". Your opinions are irrelevant. Garrisons ruined hub cities for that expansion. No one ever left their garrison, nobody was out in the world. World PvP died. You're in a minority. Legion is universally agreed upon (unlike Garrisons) to be one of the greatest expansions of all time. I take it you didn't even play it. Or you're the typical hyper casual player that Blizzard keeps having to cater to, solely because this game has too many of you.

[@LizzieLeish]

as soon as we knew it was void stuff I knew he was coming back. There was no way all the outlands stuff around the light and void etc was going to be a thing without Illidaddy.

[@mihaimoldo]

What also changed is that wow has abysmal customer support especially bug reporting . So many bugs and issues. The lasted patch caused memory leak if you had view distance higher than 3-4 that made thousand of PCs unable to login .

[@Nexein90]

The Instance Podcast is a name I haven't heard in a looooong time

[@vincepiester2924]

Cool that you briefly talked about the AH being broken, but why is everyone being silent about the ongoing guild vault issue?

[@ekibus]

Got a silly question. Haven't really played in years. Do I need war within right away or can it wait?

[@Corfield81]

how could Illidan wield that sword? it's MASSIVE

[@chriskw4362]

My main issues with the game for now is the leveling,is too fast and forgetting the constant introduction of new zone far away from everything.

[@Zectifin]

the cozy vibes from DF were my favorite part of the expansion and many loved them. what are you talking about?

[@hazed5640]

What we change is that we will still drip feed the story using carot on the stick method

[@Grriabear]

CHRIS METZEN IS BACK AND SO AM I !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@TheYellowTuxedo]

The thumbnail looks like Tom Segura is about to land some wow knowledge on us

[@codygallagher8941]

It honestly feels like blizzard has reorganized into a militarized system and has made these smaller teams non commissioned officers instead of just being lead by a general and being a better system of leadership to accomplish the mission and the creatives intent.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

they got rid of the Old Dogs that were not team players and they are working with tons more people than in the past. and best of all, no Bobby involved.

[@Garr3tth]

Illidan and the Illidari Demon Hunters' "sacrifice EVERYTHING to save Azeroth" mentality could also mean he would be amenable to release and ally with Sargeras to fight the other titans should they pose a bigger threat to our very own baby titan-ish world soul. Wonder on which side of the cosmic spectrum she will end up when hatched.

[@7PlayingWithFire7]

Obviously none.

[@georgeindestructible]

The vexing fact they don't want to change the time for flight style switching shows that someone at Blizzard responsible for this doesn't actually understand what respecting the player's time is or, rather, exploits it.

[@alvingarden4486]

Should me instant and in flight

[@georgeindestructible]

@@alvingarden4486 It shouldn't be instant, for various reasons, but definitely it doesn't need to be that long as it currently is. Either 0.5 or 0.75 secs for both mounting and switching flights would be the best, and the ability to save flight styles per mount (since most flying mounts are now able to do both Skyring and Static flying/floating) would help with that issue as one could simply instantly change to a preconfigured non-Skyriding mount so they can later change it back and forth as/if they like and vice versa, They can increase the duration for PVP flagged players or areas as that's one of the various reasons, but PVE can have its own values separately, it's not hard to code this lol Blizz. Respect player's time.

[@OhNoTheFace]

Just don't switch. Sky riding is always faster. And lol at using "respect players time" to defend whining

[@daketh4572]

didn't mention that warbands broke the guild banks for a lot of players. Been a month now and a lot of people are still missing content of their gbanks

[@Niesrind]

"... now we know hoe the campaign has ended" And here I am at lvl 79 having just loremastered two of the regions and not set a foot into the third.

[@ap80shg]

The big problem for me is WoW hasn't been a story driven game in such a long time I just don't care about it. You never feel like actually part of the world or that you have any say in what is happening. Why the hell aren't there quests with multiple outcomes or endings depending on your choices? I would actively want to replay a zone and explore alternative endings based on different decisions. Ultimately, good guys win, bad guys lose. Dead good people are resurrected and everything is predictable.

[@monkeysk8er33]

Metzen returning is such a massive deal that people misunderstand. He IS Warcraft. He is the Warcraft everyone loved and wants back. He had very little influence on TWW, but bet your ass you'll see massive epic stories come Midnight and The Last Titan. These next two expacs are going to be phenomenal, story/lorewise. I cannot waittttttt to see how this saga goes. It's already starting great.

[@Cereal.Fidgeter]

Very exciting future we have

[@jameshunter6289]

He reinserted himself into the game with his Thrall avatar

[@mustafabrennpaste6521]

Murlocs are there aswell, so you are represented plenty.

[@waffles87]

I don't think the power scaling was broken. At the end of dragon flight I was able to solo normal level 70 dungeons on my geared out pally just fine. Why should I expect to get weaker just because it's a new expansion's level 70 dungeon?

[@markuslc1888]

there were some cutscenes without voices only sound and music... especially with the sidequests

[@iamDeej]

While some decentralization/democratization of creative decisions is good/useful, overall its bad to not have a strong autocratic approach for creative vision.

[@DewtehDew]

My cinematic didn’t even play lol

[@DaRainmane]

I'm coining the phrase "Chris Wetzen"

[@TauEnjoyer]

I was actually sad when he said he won't be fully taking over the direction for future expensions.. there's a reason why it was better before and that now it's a bit meh, too many lead cooks in a kichen is always bad

[@AndreasMnck]

It should be easier to tell a good story when you're not forced to keep the major theme of the next expansion a secret. A trilogy makes sense to make a good hero and villain arc.

[@MaleckinJinx]

The “Last Titan” isn’t going to be Aman’Thul, it is very clearly a red herring, and the actual last titan is going to be Sargeras or in reference to something that was once a titan but no longer. Aman’Thul is going to be a boss, not the final boss

[@MaleckinJinx]

Pretty obvious once you think about it. Metzen said the sword is coming back and also dropped the Illidan line, who has illidan been after this whole time, his main nemesis? Hasn’t been Aman’Thul. No one gives a shit about that battle, people want to see Illidan and Sargeras throw tf down.

[@richardbarnhurst5789]

Much better than that Dragon Flight rubbish they brought out, I did enjoy the new one but I thought it was far too easy to complete the War Within. I've gone back to hardcore classic as I'm lvl 80 and there's not much for me to do now

[@sydniusalminia5364]

I just wish blizzards writing te a m didn't hate men so much

[@jenaht]

Agreed. I like strong and solid female characters- but they have been hating on men for awhile now. Societies don’t get built by pussified men

[@UltimateGamerCC]

lol that's just in your head lad, Anduin's here, Thrall's here, Magni and so on. there's no wokeness going on, just more Daughters in the driver's seat than Sons atm. after all Genn only has a living Daughter left, having lost his Son in Cata, and Magni never had a Boy.

[@andrew2616]

@@UltimateGamerCCdefinitely not in his head. Every leader is a female, even the new factions, like the sacred light faction, all have female leaders… it’s a little ridiculous. We have had female led expansion since Shadowlands and all of them have failed. We need strong masculine leads back.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

@@andrew2616 Tyrande has been leading the Night Elves since after WC3, TF you mean? also, let's not forget who was leading the Undead after WC3... y'all trippin'.

[@MLM7827]

Personally, I’m not thinking about gender when I’m playing video games. Maybe I’m weird.

[@taylemgames2652]

IMO when you have too many chefs in the kitchen, you make crud food. Key leaders are the success for any endeavor. Be it war or films. LOTR was great because the buck stopped with Peter Jackson. The Hobbit was far worse because it changed hands and had too many executives trying to get involved. The best shows always had the same writers and the same handful of directors in rotation.

[@oskardanigsecher9906]

Holly Longdale might be the best thing to happen to Blizzard since Chris Metzen insisted on sweeping their floors! :P

[@KainsTorment]

Also do you know if I can upgrade my Dragonriding drakes look by doing the Dragonriding quests on the old style of flying? But when I realised I couldn’t physically do Dragonriding I quit WoW for a year. Basically can I get the fire xmog look or any look for my drake without doing Dragonriding quests?

[@robertb1633]

You're off your rocker if you think Xal'atath is going to be absent from the rest of this expansion. All the marketing is of her. The story is revolving around her. If she's gone at this point, this expansion will go down in flames in record time.

[@mooney3350]

Agreed. The story and her involment should not end here for the expansion, they should keep her popping up in various ways across the entirety of expansion!

[@marcmartino8518]

Story might improve a ton. Horrible villain.

[@FellishBeast]

1:58 Chris was almost certainly speaking diplomatically there. Do you really think he would share his honest thoughts in that interview? You can tell how sensitive the team he's working with is based on how he talks about them. Read between the lines.

[@taylemgames2652]

Like actors, you can never trust what they say about their projects nor the industry unless it is very blatantly approved to do so.

[@MyUsualComment]

I think you might be looking too much into it. I think we should take his comments at face value and leave the speculation for those with a collection of tin foil hats.

[@SevensBlade]

Seems like while he does like some of what the team does he probably realized they lack an overarching vision to make WoW feel compelling again. Shadowlands to Dragonflight felt like a lot of creative floundering in terms of the “big picture” with the world

[@FellishBeast]

@@MyUsualComment Not much speculation required. Ask yourself this: If he liked the direction they were going, why did he come out of retirement to change that direction? If he really wasn't pleased with their story, how do you think he could express that while preserving their feelings?

[@MyUsualComment]

@@FellishBeast What makes you think he wasn't asked to come in? Again, there's no point in speculating; he's here, War Within is great, and Dragonflight, which had minimal input from him, was already starting their redemption arc.

[@OhNoTheFace]

War Within definitely still had the old team's teeth in it, as seen by most of the main characters and who backed away, let's say. Or even pretending Moira was redeemable or had any kind of point with what happened years ago. Let's hope he is controlling the team more going forward. Lose more of the team, be more involved Metzen

[@DLMyth2]

My dialogue issue only happened with the last two cinematics.

[@shevilwow3396]

Inb4 illidan is actually working with sargeras and we see them join forces where we last saw them

[@MagCynic]

I think Xalatath will come back with a void infused Dalaran that will act as a raid. It should be the final raid of War Within and we win back Dalaran to take us into Midnight.

[@andybanan1992]

What? I mean half of dalaran lies on the shores of the isles, she didnt just occupy it. She litterally blew it out of the sky into thousands of tiny bits.

[@wynnefox]

Big leap here, but I bet Xal shows up with hints, using the 20th aniversery event as a cover to use the caverns of time to slip into Azeroth's path and what she does in the WoW Classic stuff.

[@ReelieBun]

The only reason I've come back to WoW is because of Metzen. The writers don't really know how to handle the Horde and sadly every time I tried to dip my toes back in, it always felt like "My" WoW was butchered and gone for quick sensational buzz. I'm hopeful, but I don't want to get too hopeful and end up burnt.

[@SticksAandstonesBozo]

War within is the best xpac since MOP. Period. But it’s just the start of this era and I couldn’t be happier.

[@KainsTorment]

Do you know if they have any plans to fix my boy Arthas and not making he’s last moments on screen a pathetic ball of light?

[@socklips7655]

I'm honestly shocked taliesin could pause his unhinged, frothing rage outbursts about Asmongold to speak to someone calmly.

[@ThatOneGuy15270]

Asmonfan boys can't help but bring Asmongold up everywhere, can they?

[@socklips7655]

@@ThatOneGuy15270 Comment got a little too close to your favorite sociopath eh? lol.

[@ThatOneGuy15270]

@@socklips7655 Asmongold? Gods no, he's the most toxic pos I've watched. Can't even stomach one of his videos

[@ThatOneGuy15270]

@@socklips7655 Asmongold? Gods no, he's the most toxic person in the WoW community. If he even is apart of the WoW community anymore

[@OhNoTheFace]

People still care about asmongold? lol

[@emerelle3535]

For me (EU) it was mostly voice acting but some lines missing. I thought it was when nearby npc "grunted", which they do very often... xD did not see the final one yet (I believe), not sure. xD

[@LoneRising]

Speaking of feedback, I hope they fix the fishing derby 😢

[@murilofreire4569]

17.0 is nuts

[@joeyferrell6102]

Bro fr

[@bershy8556]

that gives me some hope though. much better to have years ahead planned than to come up with it as it comes

[@murilofreire4569]

@@bershy8556 indeed. I'm really pleased with the saga so far

[@DagothDaddy]

I have a strong feeling instead of Anduin's light being renewed the preMetzen story was gonna be some cringe GoT inspired crap like Belshanar darkens and the people of Hallowfell embrace the void but don't turn Evil because light and Void are the same and no one is actually good."

[@7PlayingWithFire7]

That's what you got from GoT? Lol wtf did you smoke

[@OhNoTheFace]

@@7PlayingWithFire7 Missed the last season huh?

[@seanheisey8645]

When you write a story you start by writing the end and then building toward that. Everything, starts with the end.

[@NicholasGW]

That's one way to do it, but a lot of authors go the literal opposite way. Stephen King never starts a story beyond an initial "What If" question, and discovers the story along the way of answering that question.

[@jippyjip8366]

even something like breaking bad was written without the ending being figured out. sure they had ideas but it wasnt concrete. just to say that you dont NEED to have the end figured out beforehand in order for the story to be good

[@jippyjip8366]

heres a lil fun fact on the topic, breaking bad spoilers obv, but the big gun that walt put in the trunk of his car and used to kill jesse's captives in the final episode; when walt bought that gun the writers had no idea what he was going to do with it until much later

[@andybanan1992]

​@@jippyjip8366well that might explain why breaking bad was absolute dogshite then.

[@RB-jf5ww]

Xal is never gone, she is always messing with my delves

[@UltimateGamerCC]

nope, not gone at all, all we did was take that smug look off her face for once, she's far from done.