Hazzikostas and Scott Mercer, Chief Encounter Designers for World of Warcraft, share more about the game's new raid, the Mogu'shan Vaults, and the ancient secrets and challenges that lie within.
[blue author = »Blizzard» source = »http://us.battle.net//wow/en/blog/6859095 ″]
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria will be released on September 25, 2012, ushering in a new era of exploration and battles between the Alliance and the Horde. Very soon the lost continent of Pandaria will emerge from the dark mists with a host of exciting new features, such as challenges and rewards from new raid content.
The launch of Mists of Pandaria is getting closer and closer and Blizzard Insider sat down with Ion Hazzikostas and Scott Mercer, World of Warcraft's Chief Encounter Designers, to learn more about the game's newest raid, the Mogu Chambers. 'shan, and about the ancient secrets and challenges that lie within.
Before we dive into the details, could you give us a brief overview of the history of the Mogu'shan Halls? How does this raid fit into the larger context of Mists of Pandaria?
Scott Mercer:
The mogu are a race of malevolent sorcerers, physically similar to ogres, who once ruled Pandaria. At some point in the distant past, all the warring mogu factions rallied around a single, tyrannical warlord known as the Thunder King. The Thunder King attained power "the mogu way": eliminating all his rivals, one by one. According to legend, he was able to carry out his objectives thanks to the help of a mysterious artifact that he found deep within a mountain. Upon his rise to power, he built the Mogu'shan Chambers to preserve and protect their secret, and turned the surrounding structure into a kind of sanctuary dedicated to the mogu empire. The complex is home to many of the empire's lost artifacts, and is the resting place of the spirits of the old mogu kings.
Ion Hazzikostas:
By the time Mists of Pandaria begins, the Thunder King is long gone and the mogu empire has crumbled into isolated factions. Due to their enormous and powerful secret, the Chambers have attracted a large number of interested parties, including Zandalari trolls, who are trying to enter the Chambers to obtain the ancient source of mogu power; vital to the survival of your tribe. When the players arrive, they will join forces with a pandaren culture master who knows a way to enter the Halls. The Cultural Masters are a new faction dedicated to studying and passing on the oral history of Pandaria, so obviously the Chambers are of great interest to them.
What can we expect from the Chambers in terms of gaming experience?
Scott Mercer:
We're building a new epic raid with 10- and 25-player versions in Normal and Heroic modes, as well as another 25-player version available exclusively through the Raid Finder. The Chambers feature six encounters with a wide variety of mechanics.
What kinds of encounters are planned for the Mogu'shan Halls?
Ion Hazzikostas:
The characters that the players control will be the first living things to enter the Mogu'shan Vaults after several millennia, and the experience unfolds in a similar way to a 'tomb raiding' adventure, in which mystical defenders and guardians appear to protect the secrets that the place hides. In fact, the first encounter with a chief includes a group of giant quilen (magical stone structures resembling lions) that have remained immobile since the Chambers were sealed; once players enter their lair, they will awaken and act as relentless defenders. The four quilen statues have different abilities depending on the type of stone from which they were sculpted, so players will have to experiment to discover their weaknesses. As players enter the Halls, they will encounter other protectors, such as a celestial dragon and the spirits of mogu kings of bygone times.
Scott Mercer:
It is important to mention that the Thunder King does not appear directly in the Chambers, although his presence will be noticed. Their primal source of power lies hidden deep within the Halls, and the mogu have learned to use that power to create most of the guardians that players will fight. Astute players may even perceive a certain "titanic" influence on the lair's defenses.
Can you provide us with any details about the final boss encounter?
Ion Hazzikostas:
The central body of the Chambers houses an army of terracotta warriors built into the existing recesses of the walls. If players look up, they can see these statue-filled niches stretch into the distance. As players enter, the statues will come to life and attack in great waves, quickly turning the fight into a pitched battle. There will be a number of statues that will deliver formidable blows that require the participation of one or more tanks, plus many of the other statues will have special abilities that will keep characters whose specialty is not tank busy. It is going to be a mad fight that will demand a lot of crowd control.
Scott Mercer:
The encounter itself is known as "Will of the Emperor", and represents the last line of defense of the Chambers between the players and the mysterious source of power that allowed the King of Thunder to access power. When players complete the raid, they will understand how the mogu were able to control Pandaria for so long.
What design challenges have you encountered so far during the development of the raid?
Ion Hazzikostas:
In previous raids we worked with many well-known races from the Warcraft universe. For example, when we start to design a dungeon for trolls we have a pretty good idea of what it will look like and what types of creatures the players are going to encounter ... apart from trolls, of course. Pandaria offered us a blank sheet, since the continent has been referenced but until now we have not provided details about it.
Scott Mercer:
That means we had to spend a lot of time designing what we call the "kit" for each of the new races in the expansion. A kit includes all kinds of things, from the weaponry that each race uses to the architecture and the type of environment that goes with it. Part of the "kit" includes what types of monsters are found together; for example, mogu are comfortable using quilen statues as guardians, so these two types of monsters are often seen together. Our main goal was to make sure the mogu were aesthetically and thematically different from the rest of the races in Warcraft, but at the same time to ensure that they fit the wider world of Azeroth. Creating the kit for the mogu and the rest of the races of Pandaria has been a fun challenge.
Let's talk about the loot! What rewards await players brave enough to dare to raid?
Ion Hazzikostas:
The raid will reward players with powerful epic items, depending on the difficulty they play on: item level 476 for the raid seeker, 489 in normal mode, and 502 for heroic. There is also a new mount that can be obtained after defeating Elegon, a celestial dragon found deep within the Halls. The mount looks a bit like the Celestial Steed, but with the appearance of a serpentine dragon.
What place do the Mogu'shan Halls occupy in the grand raid scheme of mists of pandaria?
Scott Mercer:
At the launch of Mists of Pandaria there will be two world bosses and the raid instance of the Mogu'shan Chambers. Something we are considering is delaying the opening of the Mogu'shan Vaults until about a week after launch, similar to how we've always carried out the start of the PvP season; this way we can give players a little time to reach level 90 together with their friends and get used to Pandaria's new 5-player dungeons, daily missions and challenges. Either way, the Mogu'shan Vaults are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to raid content for Mists of Pandaria.
Ion Hazzikostas:
Mists of Pandaria It will also include two other raid zones, both of which we want to be available within weeks of the Mogu'shan Halls: Heart of Fear and Veranda of Eternal Spring. These two raids have a total of 10 bosses and are part of a story divided into two. In the first raid, Heart of Fear, players fight the Mantid Empress, who has been possessed by the Sha of Fear. The Sha, for those unaware, flood Pandaria as physical manifestations of negative emotions, such as fear, doubt or anger, and develop a corrupting influence wherever they take root. When players defeat the Possessed Empress, the Sha will leave her body and hide elsewhere. On the Veranda of Eternal Spring, the next raid instance, players will hunt down the runaway sha and eliminate it. Both instances are on a higher tier than the Mogu'shan Vaults, and are designed to be toured using gear obtained from the Vaults, which is why we plan to make them available a few weeks after the Vaults are available.
Scott Mercer:
Yes, and all of this is nothing more than raid content coming out before our first major content update. We'll announce even more details about raids later, when we start talking about patch 5.1.
Thank you for dedicating part of your time to us. Is there anything else you want to add?
Ion Hazzikostas:
I just wanted to thank everyone who has tested the beta. We are very proud of our dungeon and raid content and can't wait to show it off when it comes out. Mists of Pandaria.
Scott Mercer:
Yes, we have big plans for Pandaria encounters, and it's great to see it begin to take shape. Be sure to post your comments and let us know what you think!
[/blue]