ForeverDB

Developers on the Black Market, worldwide raid launch and storylines to watch: the MrGM interview

A sea turtle: a painting from the WoW Forever client's credits

· ForeverDB

MrGM interviewed developers Kris Zierhut and Josh Greenfield about WoW: Forever. As summarised by Wowhead and other sites, they talked about a Black Market Auction House for stubborn dungeon pieces, raids opening at the same time in every region on December 9, flying mounts never coming, and a set of storylines to watch. None of it is a Blizzard post, so treat every point as a report of what the developers said.

MrGM interviewed Kris Zierhut and Josh Greenfield about WoW: Forever, and Wowhead summarised the key points. The interview covered the Black Market Auction House, when the raids open, flying, quest help and a few storylines to keep an eye on. We've laid out what the summaries say below.

This comes from an interview on MrGM's channel, summarised by Wowhead and other sites. It is not a Blizzard post and not a change in the game files, so treat every point here as a report of what the developers said in conversation. Dates and plans like these can still change.

Black Market Auction House

The reports say the Black Market Auction House is meant to give you another way to get a stubborn dungeon piece. If you've killed a boss several times and the item you want still hasn't dropped, the Black Market can offer it for gold when it comes up in the rotation. According to the write-ups, the team is starting cautiously: a few mounts and pets, with selected dungeon drops making up most of what's on sale.

Those same reports say the dungeon set pieces matter twice over, because they're also tied to the Lord Valthalak questline, and that Rivendare's Deathcharger has been left off the Black Market, so there's no shortcut to the mount with gold. One stated aim is to pull built-up gold out of the economy while opening a second route to loot.

Player reports and site summaries of the interview, not a Blizzard post. The Black Market, its stock and the Deathcharger can't be checked in the client data.

Raids open at the same time everywhere

The interview's point on "global raid launch" is about timing: the raids open at the same moment in every region, rather than rolling out zone by zone. The date itself comes from Blizzard's own raid overview, posted on October 20:

On December 9, level 60 players can put their preparation, teamwork, and mastery of their classes to the test in three raids: Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit, and Onyxia’s Lair. Blizzard Entertainment, Blizzard News

That's the 10-player Barrow Deeps, the 20-player Hyjal Summit and the 40-player Onyxia's Lair, with Onyxia gated behind the Drakefire Amulet attunement. The full breakdown, including both attunement chains, is in our raid overview write-up.

On how hard the raids get, the summaries report a Naxxramas-level target: harder than Molten Core but short of the Four Horseman, with fights long enough to use your cooldowns more than once. Barrow Deeps is described as closer to the easier end, eventually clearable by pickup groups.

Maps, flying and lines they won't cross

The reports say the team builds the map as if you could fly over it, so there are no empty voids left to pad the world out. Flying itself isn't coming. According to the summaries, the developers said flying mounts, rated arenas and shared mob tagging are lines they won't cross.

Reported developer comments from the interview, not a Blizzard post or a game-file change.

Quest help, hidden loot and a test realm

On quest helpers, the summaries say the developers feel the quest text gives you enough to go on without modern quest markers pointing the way. On loot, they repeat that an item's stats stay hidden until a player actually finds the drop, which matches what we already track on our hidden items page. The reports also say a test realm is likely, but the raids won't show up on it ahead of time.

Storylines to watch

Wowhead's write-up lists the storylines the developers flagged as worth paying attention to:

  • The Riverglades has a dynamic that ties back into Warcraft II.
  • The Undead Paladin storyline is close to Aggrend's heart.
  • You can see Hyjal from almost anywhere now, which the team is pleased to finally show.
  • The Skyborne are more than an island in Skywall; there's a deeper history behind them, especially around Desolace and Dire Maul.
  • Watch who you're talking to when you reach Shen'dralas.

These storyline points are Wowhead's summary of the interview, not a Blizzard post. We've kept the names and places as given; they can be read in-game once you reach those zones.

Sources

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