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World of Warcraft previews Warlords of Draenor's Shadowmoon Valley
Blizzard's official World of Warcraft blog updated this week with a preview of Shadowmoon Valley. No, not Outland's Shadowmoon Valley from The Burning Crusade; this is the version of Shadowmoon Valley you'll be time-traveling to in Warlords of Draenor, or rather, you will if you're playing Alliance, since it's that faction's entry point for the expansion lands. Senior Designer Helen Cheng explains the zone's setting as "one of the most beautiful places on Draenor." She writes, "The valley is tranquil and serene. Rolling green hills give way to lush, violet forests. Draenei temples stand proudly beneath a star-studded sky. Here, the draenei have built wonders of their civilization-the town of Elodor with its majestic Altar of Sha'tar serves as the proud home of the great Exarchs, while the shining Temple of Karabor acts as the font of all holy learning. Under Prophet Velen and Exarch Akama's watch, all is well." Read more about the zone's backstory on the official site.
Warlords of Draenor: Your alts will still need Order of the Cloud Serpent rep
One change that isn't coming, at least for right now, is that your alts will still need to get the proper reputation to purchase Cloud Serpent Riding necessary to fly any and all Cloud Serpents you may have learned. According to Helen Cheng (@BlizzardKismet), the one who designed the content, it's staying as is for now. @TheCrafticus @tanjon Sorry, we don't have plans to change it currently. - Helen Cheng (@BlizzardKismet) February 26, 2014 Of course, the word currently means that plans could change, but for now, if your newly boosted level 90 wants to ride, say, your Heavenly Cloud Serpent, then you''ll need to have her or him do some dailies, and perhaps do some looking around on the Timeless Isle for some eggs to help out. If you're looking for help getting to exalted with the Order of the Cloud Serpent, we have a guide here - and always, if your main already is, remember to buy the Grand Commendation and cut the time in half for your alts.
BlizzPro interviews Helen Cheng and Marco Koegler
BlizzPro has posted their BlizzCon interview with World of Warcraft Quest Designer Helen Cheng and Technical Director Marco Koegler about Warlords of Draenor and the future of WoW. The interview covers a variety of topics about the coming expansion, including why the team decided to return to a ten level expansion curve instead of sticking to the five it has been more recently (it makes for smoother leveling progression, plus level 100 is cool!), how (or if!) the time-travel aspect of Warlords will affect Azeroth itself (it shouldn't, provide we heroes rise to the occassion), and why there aren't any new playable classes or races for this expansion (new character models are resource-intensive). But those are far from the only topics discussed during the interview. Cheng and Koegler also go into whether or not Garrisons will be character-based or account-wide, and what the different challenges are within either approach. Cheng also talks in depth about daily quests and their history in the game, the shortcomings of that particular design, and how Blizzard hopes to create a more balanced questing experience going forward so as to avoid some of the problems with quests in Mists of Pandaria.
