World of Warcraft Interview: Taking stock after the Undermine(d) update

After a very successful launch, World of Warcraft: The War Within has now been expanded with a significant update with a lot of new content. This time the theme is crime... I mean... innovative Goblin cartels, and not least surrounding the overlord Gallywix and his attempts to control everything, combined with the primary antagonist in the Warcraft universe currently - Xal'atath.

This is done by introducing a new underground zone, Undermine, which suddenly appears out of nowhere, while this giant city, home to the various Goblin cartels, offers a number of new challenges, quests, a new vehicle system, and dungeons.

However, I'm struggling to understand why this zone is instanced - and especially why it's under Khaz Algar and not Kalimdor. But associate game director Morgan Day actually gave a good explanation, which is why we've included it in full:

"There is actually a lot of fun technical stuff going on behind the scenes. Because in WoW, you can't build two zones on top of each other - it's just the way our game has worked for 20 years. It's one of the things when you're working on a game that is 20 years old, there's some fun nuance to the engine and the tools. But we are constantly looking to evolve our capabilities, and being able to build this expansion where there are zones stacked allows for fun technological updates. And that's one of those things that not everyone notices.

"Some have definitely noticed that when you fly down there and you go really, really fast, and are really good at skyriding, you do get a loading screen. But it is very rare. So that's kind of a tool in the toolbelt that the team can use and draw from when moving forward. But like I said, we always try to use the right tool for the right job, and the fantasy of the underground expansion is something we wanted to lean into with this experience.

"I've always giggled and joked—when you have these big and epic zones when launching the expansion, you don't really have an opportunity to add space. That's not how the world works. It takes a long time to build new landmasses. But, as this is an underground expansion, we can just knock a hole in the wall, like we did with The Ringing Deeps. It's actually an expanded space within The Ringing Deeps.

"Not only do we have the Undermine to explore, but there is also quite a large space in The Ringing Deeps that has opened up, because the Goblins drilled a hole in the wall. And now there's all this extra space where the players can explore and enjoy.

"And while you're in there, you might notice there's a lot of Black Blood, and that the Goblins have set up a full-scale mining operation to farm a lot of Black Blood. We know Xal'atath has a keen interest in that, and there are going to be some fun story updates for that too.

"I can't speak to future updates, but that was something where we developed a lot of fun new technology to lean into this fantasy, and we'll see where that takes us."

Technically, it makes sense, but the mood doesn't always make sense. I don't quite understand why the background music in the zone is reminiscent of a 1930s film noir with a thick detective atmosphere - with deeply depressive jazz music and a great fondness for a saxophone player who has just lost his spouse, job, and dog. The theme is criminal cartels with a strong penchant for explosives and petrol, and the mood should reflect that a little better. However, the music is really good and the recording quality is amazingly high.

We had a chat with the team and asked why there hasn't been a goblin theme before, especially since it's such an integral part of the universe. On this, Day said:

"This is a fun question. Like you mentioned, the existence of Undermine has been known for quite some time. We talked about it quite a lot in Kezan, in the Cataclysm update. But ultimately, we're always looking to fulfil the fantasy and the story of the expansion. And from the onset, when talking about The War Within, we very much knew we wanted to go to Undermine. It was like, we have an expansion primarily set in an underground setting. If we don't go to Undermine this time, when are we gonna do it?

"So we were very excited to visit this location and see how the Goblin and Xal'atath are seeming together. And actually, if you look at some of our existing zones, like The Ringing Deeps, it's not a coincidence that there is this sporadic Goblin influence in that zone. We very much knew this was space we wanted to take the story to in future updates, which we finally get to do.

"Ultimately, it's about finding the fantasy and the right story to pursue these ideas. We are fortunate in the sense that, with the Warcraft universe, it's such a rich lore where we could visit. And finding the right opportunity so that it makes sense in the story is our first goal. And this was the right time."

With a new zone there is also the opportunity to earn more Valorstones, which are used to upgrade your equipment. If you have an alt-character, there are a huge number of great quests that send you on a fast track to new equipment. It goes pretty fast and it's nice not to have to spend a month updating weapons and armour. This can be achieved by finding various friendly mobs around the city or hoping that there is something good in one of the 16 treasure chests that are well hidden.

The cartels are there so that you can ingratiate yourself with some and reject others. Don't worry, there are mechanisms to reach them all, and some quests involve dodgy missions where you have to photograph and kill the minions of other cartels. World of Warcraft has a pretty extensive reputation system with each faction in the game, and it would have been nice if the 8,000 quests you did for various goblins in the game's first several years of existence and where you were exalted were carried over. It seems a bit strange to have to do "rep grind" again for the same cartel.

There are officially four cartels that you can access when you start your rotation in the city, but who knows - maybe there's another one hiding. Besides updates to the Delve system - small dungeons where you have an NPC helper and a set theme that can be played at many levels - which is quite fun, there is also an overall raid: Liberation of Undermine, with associated raid-tier sets. Especially for Death Knight, Shaman, and Rogue, there's a lot to enjoy, but the unique visual style won't be for everyone.

In addition, there are an impressive amount of new ways to earn different resources. If you remember the old days when you had to do the same five quests every day, this is a definite upgrade. My biggest fear, however, is having to sort rubbish - it sounds ridiculous. You can get bots to help you, but enemies will also spawn to distract you, which adds a little extra challenge.

Then, of course, there's what was kind of the whole point of the update, the D.R.I.V.E. system (Dynamic and Revolutionary Improvements to Vehicular Experiences). Here you are equipped with a hefty petrol-guzzling car with a big engine that can be tuned and optimised. However, it works more like your dragon - you unlock things and then choose between different alternatives depending on your preference. I would have expected it to be a bit like more Need for Speed: Underground. The fact that I can't increase the top speed without affecting the acceleration bothers me a bit. And yes, the car is faster than normal mounts, as flying mounts don't work here - which also feels a bit forced - but it's a fun feature for those who want to control their own transport.

All in all, we're left with a pretty solid update for the regular players and perhaps a more present and tangible focus for those who are not hardcore gamers. Personally, I randomly found some side quests with Afur and the Knights of the Round Table, and yes, they are Kobolds. And yes, Blizzard has gone all in - even with the sword in the stone - and that's the kind of thing that makes for solid world-building.