How War Within Raises The WoW Storytelling Bar...Interview with Maria Hamilton & Jordan Powers

[@toreole5831]

Goodbye to borrowed powers, hello to jordan powers

[@aireeysplace]

bruh i spat out my drink… fuck you 🤣🤣🤣

[@donbaudin7777]

💀

[@TemronTM]

I'm alright with that trade. He seems chill 🙂

[@ulkesh99]

As long as Jordan Powers is evergreen and isn't gone at the end of the expansion!

[@l0n3w0lfx]

Ahah we see what you did there 😂

[@JustinBania]

THIS is what Blizzard needs more of for PR stuff. No one is more excited about lore and art than writers and artists. Let them show that excitement because it is contagious. Well done T&E.

[@saloheimoi]

Glad to hear from Maria again! As a lorebuff, I’m so glad she is working on wow

[@jessicahampton4581]

Love maria!!! She's beautiful

[@Felsparx]

A lorebuff post DEI, you mean.

[@720vii]

Really love how you did their names

[@Splatoni]

I am always pleased to hear Maria ❤ such a passionate and light hearted dev

[@omedon666]

Man, every time I think I've found my favorite member of the current dev team at WoW, I meet a new one! I love Jordan Powers, and already loved Maria Hamilton! I love their passion and where it's aimed within the game itself!

[@jesserothhammer7378]

I really like Mariah. Some Blizz employees come off more business over innovation. While I understand that comes with certain positions, Mariah seems to be solely focus on making a good game, and I'm glad she's in her position to help shape the world(of warcraft) with care.

[@Morphzz]

Jordan strikes me as one of those individuals that are so goddamn passionate about their jobs while also being crazily brilliant and good at it. Thanks for the interview.

[@adamslosslessmusiccollection]

Naoki Yoshida is God-tier compared to Jordan 🤣

[@MysteriousPear802]

@@adamslosslessmusiccollectionwho

[@adamslosslessmusiccollection]

@@MysteriousPear802 you’re too busy playing a garbage Blizzard game to know.

[@MysteriousPear802]

@@adamslosslessmusiccollection ok damn adam

[@adamslosslessmusiccollection]

@@MysteriousPear802 yeah, if you don’t know who Naoki Yoshida is, you are living under a rock. Blizzard’s Ion cannot compare to him. Yoshi-P (his nickname) took the failure Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 and turned it into the behemoth it is now with great success AND a bigger player base than WoW. FFXIV not only boasts more players but has better graphics, gameplay, evergreen content, fun events, a way better story, and builds upon a 30+ history with callbacks to the franchise’s characters and settings. WoW still runs on spaghetti code based in 2004, lacks evergreen content, has FOMO events and items, has racist and stereotyping characters, lacks a compelling story with an inconsistent narrative and lore, has terrible UI and HUD, graphics haven’t changed since 2004, and it fails to even adapt to the current video game world settings with modernization and accessibility.

[@kaybee2801]

Hearing from Jordan and Maria has me so HYPED for the upcoming xpacs. I am so excited to read all these quest/lore tidbits and explore the new environments!

[@adamslosslessmusiccollection]

The expansions are literally paid DLC with a short campaign. You’re not going to get a lot of content to play with.

[@Valvad0ss]

Maria is great and her attention to detail and consistency is going to elevate this franchise. Love to see it.

[@wtff]

So happy to see more of Maria. She is such a joy to listen to. 💜 It has been great to meet more of the devs.

[@silver_crone]

I haven’t been this excited for an expac since WotLK. And adding in delves and follower dungeons and world content that I can keep playing is such a win for me (I’m one of those that cannot do groups and raids anymore). Great interview :)

[@UltimateGamerCC]

i get that, i am working on getting into Groups and Raids, so i can totally see how you would be experiencing frustration. it's rough to put it lightly.

[@jakubpelikan2393]

Yeah but Its not win fór thé game since it will turn game into single player game.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

@@jakubpelikan2393 the freedom to play Single Player is arguably what saved WoW during the Dark Times. you, Nixxiom, Asmongold and all the other classic andys need to get it through your thick skulls that FORCING people to play together is not how you form a community anymore. that stupid shit may have worked in 2004, but that aint gonna cut it nowadays when people have many better ways to socialize.

[@MrCarlWax]

​@@jakubpelikan2393 WoW literally got as big as it got because it was the MMO you could play solo. It killed the games that forced multiplayer

[@albertgeorgy6827]

You do them for nothing, the gear you get is pure garba

[@electricmayhem8147]

so glad Maria does these interviews. she is so dang cool.

[@BearSwipes]

I would have really liked to hear more answers from Jordan. He seems so passionate about the world he's helping to build!

[@havocadeez]

Always love a good Maria Hamilton interview, no shade to anyone else but she always exudes a sort of pragmatic passion that I really like

[@slytherben]

The off chance that Maria reads this: my family plays WoW. Some of us since BC. We like permanent rewards. We don't care about item level. A great example - spending a month to earn the water walking mount in Pandaria. It was a goal. It was a grind. And we got a permanent boost in WoW because we could walk on water. So neat! That's all I should probably say. We spent years farming mounts. Playing the AH and buying TCG mounts. We feel like years of work toward these goals have been canceled. But rather than focusing on that, which hurts immensely, I just want to ask for future grinds with permanent rewards. Like the water walking mount. Thanks!

[@rayc1602]

Hearing about a concise main story quest experience is extremely refreshing right now after struggling through dawntrail!

[@edcaelum]

The story won't be good anyways it's going to be DEI / ESG Slopfest. Look at Faerin Lothar! She's like a tick box character for Social Justice Points 😂. Disabled Black Half breed. I'm done with this slop. I'll just play games with root level anticheat spyware CCP games instead. Atleast the characters there won't be black or gay. AMEN.

[@claytonbroulik8575]

One Question I would like to hear from a story builder, if you get another chance to ask people like Maria in the future is. What kind of challenges or who and what teams go into mixing an old cavillation like the Arathi for example. Then bringing them into retail without making them the Silver Hand, Scarlets or More of the same, yet familiar enough to be interested.

[@Kirito0609]

love to see the people that make my favorite game be so passionate about it!

[@sebastian6843]

jordan seemed so hyped for his work - love it great interview

[@JeffSturges]

I hope you get more interviews. You always do a great job.

[@kalidornsteelhoof]

1. Please make holiday backgrounds for the character select screens. Winter veil and Hallows End are musts. 2. Maria read my mind. Baby is due 2 weeks before launch and I know there will be no M+ for me this expac. Delves are just in time.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

i can totally see Holiday Login Screens becoming a thing. hopefully Hallow's End will look like a combination of Duskwood and Sleepy Hollow.

[@pantonis1888]

Jordan Powers is such a cool name, dude could be a Marvel character :D

[@TheMetroidblade]

nah hed have to be dc or something, two different initials lol

[@johnathonramirez4190]

Jordan Danger Powers

[@highkergaymer8301]

@@johnathonramirez4190 as a fellow Jordan, this was my thought! 😏 *insert 60s intro music*

[@ChinnuWoW]

I thought he was Dratnos lol

[@kaylamisstress4774]

Great video! Loved seeing the folks who build a game I love be excited and invested in it's creation. Great interviewing Tali!

[@SgtPeppersLonelyArchClubBand]

Maria describing the baby waking up during M+ is the most relatable thing I’ve ever heard from the wow team. Great interview!

[@kevinmshields]

The rp moments are great. I found myself really enjoying those and the loremaster trivia guy. Once the campaign is over I hope they find ways to keep implementing those. Grizzly Hills warband screen is a great idea. Sign me up for Boralus docks, with ships coming in/out. Warband screens could go a step further and implement npc animations/activities. Imagine setting one alt to hit a training dummy, another fishing, another working on an anvil. Imagine a couple of your alts sitting at a Hearthstone table. A lot to explore there. Great interview, thank you to everyone involved!

[@baodagu]

I feel like they’re trotting out more and more different devs for interviews nowadays and I love it - always excited when I get to meet a fresh face like Jordan through one of these ^.^

[@leonardceres9061]

The old way of questing before was so chaotic. That’s why during the original Mists of Pandaria expansion I never even came close to finishing up the main story quest line. All I knew is we were helping some adventures in the jade forest then we were helping Chen Stormstout in the next area on some seemingly unimportant, unconnected quests, and then the story just kind of went all over the place do a few raids here and there, and then finally the siege raid seemed so out of place initially without the context of what led to that point in the first place. Even after playing M O P remix, I was still fairly lost until I took the time to do the landfall quest line on both factions only then did I get some idea of what was going on in the first place. And this is only because nowadays your quest log tells you where to pick up different chapters of a storyline to be able to continue

[@yavvivvay]

I miss those times, exploration and guessing instead of being led by hand through curated content like a toddler.

[@Brandon-yr3nj]

@@yavvivvay do you also read books out of order because you don’t like being guided through the story?

[@Trazynn]

Sounds like a lot of fun.

[@jshadowhunter]

I think you have attention problems...

[@yavvivvay]

​@@Brandon-yr3nj It's not out of order, it's not continoous. I do, indeed, read other books between my books. I also enjoy things to not be presented outright but hinted and clued at before final reveals. I do not need to do a continoous questline cause I can't remember what happened in the last zone for more than 5 minutes :P

[@OlgrimFastfang]

I think it would be really cool to put POI's out in the world that you can interact with by taking pictures of the area (like the picture quests in waking shores), and that unlocks different backgrounds for your warband. Adds variety without it just being a passive renown checklist item.

[@MrHiglon]

It's good to hear that they invest more into the world itself.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

we'll be seeing even more investment in Midnight and Last Titan, since those take place in TBC and Wrath Zones for the most part, meaning TBC and Wrath will be getting updated in graphic quality.

[@BarnabePaladaniel]

Finally showing us mastery over story telling. Massive W, give us lore & plot then turn us lose early is a goated design philosophy. Huge lesson from the Witcher 3 is to show & not tell and give humanity to the characters between rest & action. Story momentum between coasting to observe & hard focus on fast intense danger.

[@Spike-xv1ts]

having Maria in an Interview is alawys a win

[@VargThorsolf1114]

Thanks Maria...Older WoW parent here. Delves are the answer to being short of couples gaming time. Very cool :)

[@surin9030]

If anyone could clarify this for me, I’d be appreciative. With shared quest completion/progression being introduced with war bands, how will main campaign progress be accounted for? I believe it was stated that for every toon that completes the campaign there will be an do bonus. Does that mean campaign progress is allotted to the individual toon, or is there some aspect of shared progress? Thank you Kindly. ❤ P.S. More developer interviews please. Loved the world-building chat in the previous video🙏🏼

[@slytherben]

Tali this was really well done and really well edited

[@soullsmordor9584]

In my opinion, if you read the quest dialogue you should get a bit of a reward sometimes, like a hint at a treasure, or extra quests, or even secret spots or rares.

[@rasferrastfarian739]

Excellent questions Tali! Thank you. I have hope for WoW now even though I haven't forked out the ridiculous amount of money (AUD) they want for a 12 month sub + game!

[@Szan-40]

I really loved this interview. These two developers seemed completely genuine and passionate. Way better PR than Ion Hazzikostas (I can't believe a word he says anymore)

[@RainingMetal]

I know there will be an option to hide quests done on a different character when playing as alts, but what I'd really like is a means to skip story quests if they've been done on a character, so that I can speed through the main story elements without having to do them all over again. Being someone with OCD I've done the Dragonflight opening story quests several times over because I just couldn't stomach those shield quest icons being on the map and having a sense of emptiness if I didn't complete them. Something like the means of skipping the Obsidian Citadel arc would be absolutely perfect here.

[@jessicahampton4581]

The two activities I lived in dragonflight were the climbing mini games and the photographer mini game those were so much fun..I always did those

[@Trazynn]

Raising the bar off the floor might not be an impressive feat, but it's still a necessary one.

[@yavvivvay]

Shadowlands is chilling in the basement if the bar is on the floor rn. I hope they go back to characters doing cool shit (instead of being sad and needing frens).

[@Brandon-yr3nj]

Any value is infinitely greater than zero!

[@decwow]

@@yavvivvay Dragonflight storytelling wasn't much better than Shadowlands. ...and no, they won't. Read carefully in the stories all throughout Dragonflight and the "messaging" is laid on pretty thick. This expansion has been less of a demonstration of improving Warcraft, and more of an opportunity taken to undermine all lore-based cultural standards.

[@Lucas-gt8en]

⁠@@decwowwhat do you mean by ‘lore based cultural standards’? It comes across as trying to be racist without too many people noticing so I’m sure I’m misunderstanding

[@decwow]

@@Lucas-gt8en ....what the fuck are you talking about?

[@Graavigala85]

would be cool if there was someone asking more of the art and not the other stuff

[@CompoundProjects]

Ok but.. Maria said they know what’s going to happen AFTER the world soul saga.. dang!

[@alyssumn3884]

Poor Jordan lol got a question asked. We needed evi here to ask all about art!

[@GreenGoblin30]

So I have a very important question!! With Follower Dungeons and the new warband... will we be able to use OUR own characters to fill out the party of the follower dungeon? That would be INSANE fun. It would be great to assign your Tank, Healer and DPS from your character roster... and then what role you the player would fill. 👍👍👍

[@TaliesinEvitel]

That's not going to be possible YET but Holly Longdale very strongly hinted to us in London that it was something that will be coming

[@litebkt]

I love follower dungeons. I m somewhat new to the game and they are wonderful to learn new classes.

[@adamslosslessmusiccollection]

WoW stole the Follower Dungeons from Final Fantasy XIV with their Trust system.

[@pierrewhorley9603]

Hopefully story progression won't be tied to renown. I don't get much play time these days so I never did finish the story in DF due to this. luckily it was on youtube, but it would have been nice to experience it.

[@Velshin1986]

If you dont have time to play in an mmo game then this is your fault dont play mmo because these games require time investment. People like you who demands that games should bend to their real life circumstances are the reason why mmo games are in decline to begin with...fucking casual fuck.

[@demigreek8996]

I LOVE the shield quests being easy to follow. I struggle with ADD and always would get lost in all the different story lines as I was leveling. Now I can just go through do the main story in one sequence and then go back and understand now I am doing "B" plot quests to understand more about the specific zone I am in.

[@poisonbomb1]

I think that having a clear main questline which won't get you to max lvl will result in easier time for new players who would join later in the game as well. If it would already have been implemented one could go through all (or at least more expansions without getting to max lvl waaay before and feel like getting the story is just a waste of time since that would be the only reward).

[@4F0xSake]

I thought this as well, got to figure part of their thinking here is that once we get Midnight (and beyond) they will likely boost XP so that you do only need to do the concise campaign to catch up. Likely will be even more important this time, since the story will so directly follow on so more people joining late will want at least the cliff notes.

[@here_bedragons]

What a great interview! I’m really coming to like Maria

[@Finn3h]

We need more "stay awhile and listen" options like with Velen and the draenei heritage quest, offers lore for folks like me but completely skippable

[@penajuan46]

This interview wasn't nearly long enough, great questions though, thanks.

[@rpgking92]

can we upgrade from the text style based quest and make it more dialogue based? like in GW2. that would be the best thing thats ever happened to wow

[@Velshin1986]

It doesnt matter if its text style or dialogue based if the content is boring and about how the flowers feel and pussy shit then it remains uninteresting for me personally.

[@TheShawnMower]

Knowledge is Jordan Powers

[@Brandon-yr3nj]

realistically, if they made the story campaign noticeably shorter, it’s because they have internal data that says people didn’t complete the last one lol

[@nakenmil]

WoW's artificial split between leveling story and endgame story has always been a strange design philosophy, honestly.

[@Brandon-yr3nj]

@@nakenmilyeah, leveling in wow is weird and outdated. it’s basically impossible to experience a linear story that makes narrative sense from 1-70, and there’s always been a strong sense that the game doesn’t really ‘start’ until max level.

[@TheDecitron]

It was way to long anyway

[@nakenmil]

@@Brandon-yr3nj Leveling comes off as some kind of obligatory busywork to players, and then you get slapped with a bunch of "bigger number" treadmills at endgame, which honestly come off as "well, shit, the players finished leveling, we gotta give them SOMETHING to do!" It's weird that they're so disconnected and not integrated into a holistic progression in some fashion.

[@4F0xSake]

Not saying that isn't part of it but I think there are a number of reasons why you might make it a chunk shorter. For example, if they are building a trilogy it makes sense to curate a really streamlined main path for those that do want to catch up/experience the story at a later date. It also aligns with their philosophy about player choice and alt-friendlyness. But agree that no doubt they probably have numbers that say that a decent amount of players dipped on the main story and just levelled in dungeons etc.

[@prime23gaming65]

I don’t mind a shorter campaign, I had to skip side quests in dragonflight in the last two zones because I overleveled in the first two

[@Velshin1986]

WoW compaign never been long to begin with.. you talk as if they are FF14 long...

[@Kiwicrack]

Got it, make sure to run one character to 100% all quests on the first go to tick off the meta achievement now

[@user36003]

add housing to the World of world of warcraft thanks Maria Hamilton

[@guatfader]

Great video

[@KCrusher]

The question I've always had is are follower dungeons and Delves going to be in leveling content from DF backwards (previous expansions)

[@ourovermelho23]

Great interview

[@Gleamings]

Man, Blizz better treat these two well

[@jameschristophercirujano6650]

Jordan Powers is a great name.

[@bobofpwn]

If they added Grizzly Hills as a warband background it should include the zone music to go with it

[@Conclava]

Yeah, ideally from in-game store, so they can milk you even more.

[@ThomasdWell]

20:19 background are cool and all, but are we going to get more Favorite options? for those that have tons of alts I don't want to have to rotate them so much as flip through my multiple favorites and find the group I wanna work with.

[@stangundam01]

A ? for the dev's is what was the thinking behind many of the choices in shadowlands including giving sylvanes a redemption story but not really doing that for arthas, kael, uther & garrosh?

[@patrickelmasian1079]

Two questions: The Heronir trolls/Nelf race..how did they survive the Sundering? Also the "roots" we see in the new zones, are those the leftover roots of the first world tree, or something else more sinister like a remnant of an old god.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

from where the Island of Dorn is placed, it's nowhere near a world tree, so it could very well be the roots of the tree Eonar placed and was ripped out.

[@lokeman8492]

i LOVE that the story line is shorter. every other Xpac, I have dinged max lvl and only been halfway through story and never finished it. I have a macro that erases all of quest log and deletes all quest items just for max level ding. The story is always conveluted and stupid too.

[@RicksGolfHacks]

That was great!

[@Fred-ib1gj]

Great interview. What disappoints me the most is the answer about the main campaign story. I don't personally care if there are some players that want to level to 80 in different ways. Why cut the story short for those of use that DO and want a good long story? The vast majority of people don't mythic raid but it seems they put a heck of a lot of time and resources for it even tho most players don't want to do that

[@adamslosslessmusiccollection]

Because the Worldsoul Saga is mini DLC. You WoW players are having the wool pulled over your eyes and are blind to see it.

[@dkoykoala1488]

Damn it tali, you should have asked about a voice/text reading ai tool.

[@darrenzzz426]

I really hope they don’t stick to the metrics that they have (which I’m sure are real and valid) for how many people don’t enjoy the story. On one hand, I understand their goal of “play it your way”; but at some point a line in the sand has to be drawn to stop it from becoming a competitive seasonal game with a throwaway story and keeping it an MMO*RPG* with an awesome story. Most people dont enjoy the story, because the ball has been dropped in the past. If you write a good story, which I wholeheartedly believe they are doing with the Worldsoul saga, people *WILL* come, enjoy, and stay for more of it. Don’t toss the most important element of an RPG for sandbox elements and DIY “fun”!!

[@NiekVL]

Talie got to interview a real life super hero!

[@silo_olis]

I wonder if they read Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky as inspiration for building a spider/web city.

[@RascalandClog]

The story is the only reason I still play after more than 15 years. Just wish every quest was voiced so I didn't have to read it. And it becomes more engaging. At least for me.

[@BearB34R]

Weird comment. The grass in Hallowfall is the most PERFECT shade of green. I cannot image any other shade working tbh.

[@willythemailboy2]

One thing I hope Blizzard learned from community events in Dragonflight: Participation does not equal enjoyment. Especially the rare mob kill swarms.

[@JackGPT84]

Next time, try to interact with them as you would with your own viewers during a livestream.

[@TaliesinEvitel]

You want me to get subs from them?

[@kaelzus]

They should just voice quest texts

[@Dylonspitz93]

Solid stuff as usual thank you.

[@gregreich7238]

Let me just say this about follower dungeons: I am not intimidated by doing dungeons, but there came a time when it seemed like every PUG group I got was full of jerks, and it became even worse after my stroke. People expect you to know the dungeon, even if it's new and it's your first time there. People expect to run through them as quickly as possible, not looting a thing from the trash or taking the time to take in the aesthetic...my guildmates have all moved on to other things. Few of them play anymore. Follower dungeons will have me running dungeons again to avoid the PUGs.

[@crazysaxons]

That's a sick warrior transmog. Anyone know what it is?

[@luckfore]

In the first side quest i did in dragonflight, i had to help a guy find a ring for his husband. Yea, no thanks...

[@bwabadoe]

I feel a constant need to push their names.

[@barthcellos]

Lookig forward to TWW! By the way, anyone here knows the addon name in the b-roll that makes quest text look so nice?

[@4F0xSake]

It's called Dialogue UI, great mod.

[@bellous1]

0:59 what addon is this doing the quest? Or is that new ui in beta?

[@hanasong685]

iirc it's an addon made by the narcissus creator, it's not tww.

[@adamslosslessmusiccollection]

The new half-elf lady looks silly to me, and looks very woke. She’s basically an African half-elf, but not only that she’s partially blind and is missing an arm. This is just Blizzard trying to check off boxes on diversity. Plus they said the campaign is short? This also reeks of Blizzard selling you a half-baked DLC and calling it an expansion.

[@robertgrant7946]

This whole thing was great but please pardon my opinion, but I feel like those questions were on a list they provided you. Felt too rehearsed to me.

[@ChronoCryptic]

I just realized when we return to northrend there won’t be a Dalaran 😭

[@zenmindgamer]

My Ad Mech obsessed brain hearing "Awakened machine" content. 👀 🤖 📿

[@xsvrrx]

dumb question they said they want the workstation to feel like they are used for people that have multiple arms. I know the Drummers get used to having 4 tempos playing at the same time. but a normal person doesn't act like this. So i guess my question is would the narubians have the mental capacity to use all 8 arms for different things? simultaneously. the answer is not really important we will actually find out in game on how they fight.

[@MookChivalry]

Ohhh. So which animation will be in there with only 1% to play? 👀

[@EldenJim2210]

WoW The Avatar Within

[@Cookie0fPower]

❤

[@hdoddema]

Theatre is a style of soup. Weird how that makes total sense.

[@DavidCodyPeppers.]

instead of paying extra for a book why not gage player interest by adding an extra charge for storytelling in game? 🕊

[@skeliskull]

I’m really excited to see how they tell the story this time around. With the world soul saga it sounds like they are trying to copy ff14 by putting more effort into the story. But we will see.

[@perer005]

Nerubian zone feels Drow :D

[@jamminkeys]

what was that noise? xD 15:32

[@weatheredseeker]

I get it, but doesn't arachnophobia mode undermine the point of introducing a race that appears foreign and scary? I know it's silly fantasy, but it does feel a bit odd. "Yeah, this race is strange and misunderstood, so here's an option to not have to look at them."