FAZ 141 – “Multibox That Soul Ash”

This week Manny and Joce talk about the story direction of BFA and Shadowlands, zone flythroughs, the end of multiboxing as we know it, crafting legendary gear in Shadowlands, and their wish list for Chromie Time. All that and more on this week’s For Azeroth! 

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Steve Danuser Interview

The full Screen Rant interview has been released and we still have not figured out how to pronounce Danuser.

• Shadowlands introduces many deep concepts that provide players with nuanced themes to ponder.
• The Afterlives animated shorts are an opportunity to introduce those concepts through notable characters from Azeroth’s history.
• They opened with the iconic death of Uther the Lightbringer from Bastion. Through Draka’s ceaseless struggle, we see how the armies of Maldraxxus had been plunged into strife and division. Ardenweald tells a story of hard choices and painful sacrifice, and Revendreth shows how greed and avarice have twisted a once-noble society into a realm of selfishness and greed.
• Every frame is lovingly crafted in painstaking detail and nothing is there by accident.
• Players have already spotted a number of elements that hint at larger storylines or concepts.
• There are other details in the Afterlives series that will take on greater meaning when players can play through the full Shadowlands story.
• The themes introduced in Shadowlands should inspire conversation and debate. 
• The ecosystem of death functioned seemingly without incident for countless eons before it stopped working and the anima drought created a scarcity of resources. This rapid unraveling raises the question of how healthy that system was, to begin with.
• Visually, they deliberately played with perceptions and assumptions. For example, the gleaming spires of Bastion hide a growing darkness within the ranks of Kyrian.
• Nothing is exactly what it appears to be at first glance in the Shadowlands and you must always look deeper to understand things.
• They intend to tell a focused story with a satisfying conclusion in the Shadowlands. One of the most exciting aspects is the opportunity to not just explore established lore, but to build upon it and take it into tantalizing new directions.
• Steve possibly means that us visiting Shadowlands will directly impact the future of Azeroth and it gives them an opportunity to come up with concepts for future expansions.
• We will unravel the mysteries of the First Ones and learn more about their history.
• Steve Danuser Interview: WoW Shadowlands Narrative Design & Future Stories

Flying through the Shadowlands

Blizzard has been releasing videos on YouTube. These highlight different environments, flora and fauna within each realm of death that we will be exploring once the expansion goes live. There are no story elements within these videos and so can be viewed by people wishing to remain spoiler free. 

• Bastion
• Maldraxxus
• Ardenweald
• Revendreth
• The Maw

Multiboxing 

Earlier this week, Blizzard issued a Policy Update banning the use of ‘Input Broadcasting Software’ tied with Multiboxing in the World of Warcraft.

• They stated they have seen an increasingly negative impact from this.
• Will initially give out warnings to players detected using this type of software.
• After the grace period accounts can be suspended or banned for continued use.
• The number of multiboxers attempting to get a refund was enough to crash the online store.
• This will have a huge effect on the in-game economy
• Official Article

Forge Your Own Legendary

One of the big elements of Shadowlands is the ability to create tailor made legendary items. An Article has been posted on the official site giving an overview of the system.

• You will uncover the system early into your post leveling experience
• Resources will need to be gathered from multiple places to forge your first legendary
  • Base item from crafting professions
  • Stats determined by inscription Missives
  • Recipes which are gathered from play (different recipes from multiple different sources)
  • Soul Ash gathered uniquely from Torghast
• You can only equip one item at first
• Recently there have been changes to the acquisition rate and the required amount of soul ash to forge a legendary item
• Raw goods will likely not be as plentiful with the new situation with multiboxing.
• A player will only be able to get a maximum of 1,200 Soul Ash per week.
  • Rank 1 (iLvl 190) Requires 1250  Soul Ash
  • Rank 2 (iLvL 210) Requires 2000  Soul Ash
  • Rank 3 (iLvL 225) Requires 3200  Soul Ash
  • Rank 4 (iLvL 235): Requires 5150  Soul Ash
• This means when heroic opens up even players, who did not fully clear the highest layer, can have a Rank 2 and the fastest a player can have a rank 4 will be on week 5 (week starting Dec 22nd).
• You can craft higher ranks directly with higher base items and the appropriate amount of Soul Ash or you can upgrade the item with a higher base item and additional Soul Ash.
• Helms, Necks, Bracers, Belts or Rings can have gem sockets but can legendary items?
• Shadowlands Preview: Forge Your Own Legendary Items

Community Resources/Add-ons

Timewalking Campaigns +

Last week, we spoke on Timewalking Campaigns in the prerelease and this week we are brainstorming how to work our lofty visions of what we want out of timewalking into the game.

• Current things we wish from Chromie Time:
  • Main Storyline quests more clearly marked out with the new system implemented in Shadowlands
  • A way to turn off experience gains without traveling back to the faction capital
• Larger Ideas:
  • Revisiting Post leveling events (Broken Front, Constructing the Argent Tournament Grounds)
    • Grants upressed versions of sets of that patch, new colourations of mounts, etc
    • There would be a quest available during the TW week of that expansion that once you completed you turned into chromie and could activate the campaign on future alts.
    • Because of the nature of these events (daily quests, rep gates, these would not be the ideal way to level but many gates could be removed or greatly diminished)

 

Podcast (faz-pod): Download (Duration: 1:55:35 — 105.9MB)