China Electronics Wholesaler

Lead designer talks WoW's next big update, which includes new raid dungeon

Jan 11, 2008

Blizzard's next big update for World of Warcraft - 2.4 - will include major new raid instance Sunwell Plateau.

"The raid aspect of it is definitely a progression from Black Temple. We're tuning it for people in Tier 6 gear, however there's not an attunement on the front door. The first three bosses are accessible by everybody however they will be tuned for Tier 6," Lead designer Jeff Kaplan has explained in the developer's first ever podcast.

Obviously, if you don't play WoW, that will all sound like complete gibberish.

Kaplan went on to reveal that the update will also feature a new five-man instance, which in terms of difficulty level will be on a par with the game's existing instances Shadow Labyrinth or Shattered Halls.

"We realize because this dungeon is coming later in the sort of Burning Crusade cycle it's very important that the loot be relevant to people who are playing the game now," he said on the new five-man dungeon.

"...and for people who came into Burning Crusade late, this will give them the opportunity to have a little bit of a catch-up to all the players who have been doing the Arena or participating in our PvE content, so it's kind of win-win, or if people want to gear up an alt really quickly this will be a good place to do that."

On top of that, Blizzard will be making small tweaks in the 2.4 update, such as increasing the daily quest limit from 10 to 25, Kaplan revealed. He added that character changes can also be expected.

The full transcript of Blizzard's first podcast can be read here. In addition to the interview with Kaplan, it includes a chat with art director Sam Didier.

Courtesy of CVG.