MMO-Champion Feed - Patch 7.3.5 Features, Stormwind and Orgrimmar in BfA, Dev Interviews, Contest Winners

**MMO-Champion** · November 8, 2017

Double Treasure Goblin Is Event Live!

Upcoming Visual Change to Legendary Cards

Patch 7.3.5 - New Features
While Patch 7.3.5 has yet to hit the PTR, we did find out some of the features it includes.

Old World Zone Scaling
- Racial Starting Zones - 1 to 10
- Classic Zones - 10 to 60
- Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King Zones - 60 to 80
- Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria Zones - 80 to 90
- Warlords of Draenor Zones - 90 to 100
- Legion Zones - 100 to 110
Ulduar Timewalking Raid
New Seething Shore Battleground
- Horde and Alliance will face off in Silithus for the Azerite bubbling to the surface.
- Fight for dynamically shifting points across the map.

Stormwind and Orgrimmar Updates in Battle for Azeroth
Ian Bates (Red Shirt Guy) has released a blog post on Blizzplanet detailing some interesting info from the BfA BlizzCon demo.

Each city will now have an embassy linked to the recruitment of Allied Races.
The Orgrimmar embassy resides in what was the Goblin Slums.
The Stormwind embassy is behind the Dwarven District.
Sylvanas Windrunner, Varok Saurfang, Baine Bloodhoof, Lady Liadrin, Rokhan, Lor’themar Theron, Trade Prince Gallywix, Ji Firepaw, Eitrigg, and Nathanos Blightcaller reside in the Orgrimmar Embassy.
Saurfang, Baine and Nathanos each have a brand new model.
The Stormwind Embassy contains Anduin Wrynn, Turalyon, Alleria Windrunner, Tyrande Whisperwind, Velen, Genn Greymane, High Tinker Mekkatorque, Muradin Bronzebeard, Aysa Cloudsinger, and Wrathion.
Wrathion isn't standing next to the others.
When visiting these locations, the faction leaders in both places discuss finding allies for the war and eventually ask you to pick a race to go after.
Currently Horde could only choose between Highmountain Tauren and the Nightborne.
Alliance could select Void Elves or Lightforged Draenei.

Developer Interviews
We're continuing to take a look at new information from the BlizzCon developer interviews.

PCGamesN Interview with Ion Hazzikostas
PCGamesN was able to sit down with Ion Hazzikostas.

The hard modes will be preserved for Ulduar timewalking in 7.3.5.
Vanilla content scales to 60.
Potential to add the old world zones as a Timewalking event.

Jessie Cox Interview
Jessie Cox sat down on the show floor with Ion Hazzikostas.

Vol’jin’s physical manifestation is dead, but we likely haven’t seen the last of his spirit.
Thrall may have Vol’jin’s urn.
Minute one of the new expansion takes place right after the cinematic.
Allied races fit with the theme of this expansion.
Warfronts are “raid vs army” instead of “raid vs giant boss.”
Heavily built up faction hubs in BfA
High Elves are pretty much Blood Elves and so it’s unlikely they will be a playable race.
No third faction is planned
Uldir is a traditional troll raid with slight Old God/Titan themes.
No plans for account bound item stash right now but it’s a good idea, especially for crafting materials.
Gear slots affected by the Heart of Azeroth (head, shoulder, chest) will not Warforge/Titanforge.
The patch cycle will be similar to Legion.
A separate team is doing World of Warcraft: Classic.
World of Wacraft: Classic will take a lot of community feedback.
Pacing and requirements to unlocking flying are subject to tweaks.
Kezan is not currently planned to be more than a dungeon.
There are no current plans for Gnome Paladins.

Rolling Stone Interview
Rolling Stones talked to the WoW Devs.

The team likes the story to flow from one expansion to the next instead of in previous ones where a completely different story popped up between each of them.
The team wants to give something to every playstyle in every expansion.
BfA is more about the story and improving systems rather than making major gameplay changes.

Polygon Interview with WoW Devs
Polygon sat down with the WoW Devs.

Void elves will have a short-range teleport as a racial.
The team is thinking about bringing the faction conflict into dungeons and raids.
BfA is also about the world dying beneath our feet.
Progression of the Heart of Azeroth is not spec specific like the artifact weapons.

DigitalTrends Interview with Muffinus
Digtaltrends interviewed Jeremy Feasel. (AKA Muffinus)

Warfronts let you contribute to victory in any way you want. You can focus on combat while someone else can go chop wood or mine ore.
Existing characters are now front and center to the story.

Blizzplanet Interview
Blizzplanet sat down with Muffinus as well.

You will have to finish Legion to figure out Illidan’s future.
Bwonsamdi (the Loa of death) plays a major role in Zandalar.
Blood Trolls are under the servitude of a powerful new creature that you will meet in the very first raid of this expansion.
Uldir only has one of its three seals remaining on it. During the course of the expansion, you are going to find out what happens to that last seal.
Drust people were a society wiped out in Drustvar that now exists as spirits trying to work their way back into the world.
Another random event in Warfronts could be major figures such as Jaina showing up and rallying the raid to help her fight to take over a point.

Vanion Interview with Muffinus
Vanion also interviewed Muffinus.

The ending cinematic to Antorus is epic and will answer a lot of lingering questions while raising new ones.

GameSpot Interviews John Height
GameSpot interviews John Height.

The burning of Teldrassil is the event that causes the Alliance to lay siege to the Undercity.
Anduin’s moment in the cinematic is him realizing what he is really about, healing over fighting.
BfA is a more personal story instead of a “big bad” one.
There will still be zones that are 1-20 to get new players acclimated.

Hotted & Asmongold Interview
Hotted and Asmongold also did an interview.

No plans for more solo challenge content like the mage tower in BfA but it’s definitely a possibility.
New World PVP systems should even out Horde and Alliance on PVP shards.
Small revamps to existing PVP talents to keep rotations similar between PVE and PVP.
Team is talking about adding Mythic + to old world dungeons, but not yet planned for BfA.
No current plans for Mythic + raids.
4 difficulty options for raids will continue in BfA.
No change to mythic raid size.
Not looking to add a ton of new abilities to classes, but this could change.

Jeff Kaplan Weighs in on World of Warcraft: Classic
Jeff Kaplan was asked about classic WoW servers by r/overwatch. Here is a quick recap:

Thinks it's a great idea.
It's the sense of community that made classic WoW great.
Lack of systems such as server transfer led to building a reputation, good or bad, on your server.
It was not the quests he designed that made the game great.
Game design isn't black and white. Players need to also look at what they are giving up when asking for things.

BlizzCon 2017 Contest Winners
BlizzCon 2017 had many amazing and talented contestants among their many contests. Here are the winners from each of the categories.

Costume