I log onto World of Warcraft to see a graying Thrall, our hero Anduin all grown up and disillusioned by the past, and a haunting villainess dancing in the shadows. Twenty years after its launch, Activision Blizzard’s massive role-playing game has spawned real-life babies and companies named after Anduin, brought together lovers, and made life-long friends. Now in its late game, celebrating its age as a proven live service, WoW is trying to retain lapsed gamers, though it won’t say how many have left or who still plays.
“We don't want to be known as the 20-year-old game,” Holly Longdale, World of Warcraft’s executive producer and vice president, tells Inverse. “We want to be known as the game of today, the game you want to play.”
“The War Within” launches on Aug. 26, and the studio says it’s taking note of the direction the industry is shifting, and what players are asking for. And so, WoW’s 10th expansion will add new features, new zones, and one new race. And that’s just the beginning.
“The next expansion is already well underway with development, and so is the one after that. The team has never worked this far ahead before,” Longdale says. “Blizzard’s not known for doing things quickly. So they’ve been firing on all cylinders. It’s been great.”
A.I. as a Tool
Last year, I reported on how Blizzard Entertainment trained an image generator on its own hit titles, feeding it assets from World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch. In an email I viewed, Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham told employees about a tool called Blizzard Diffusion.
Now, Longdale says machine learning tools are mainly used for things like having the same helmet fit different races and body types, or improving where characters spawn from and their travel routes.
“We’ve always been proud of this idea that we are hand-crafted, and we want to stay true to that,” Longdale says when asked about using AI to generate actual, in-game content. “Not saying we would never do it. None of us can imagine something at this point that would be something that we chase.”
World of Warbands
Players have asked developers for more content and more ways to experience it, including raids and solo play, and complained that the 2020s-era Shadowlands was too tonally dark and lacked the usual humor gamers expected from WoW. One feature that will address the request for more content is called Warbands, which is getting added in “War Within.” Warbands let characters share wardrobes, which is a nod to how many WoW players enjoy dressing up and customizing characters.
Testing out a beta version of “The War Within,” I was able to see Xal’atah for myself and try out Warbands, which was a convenient new addition. The unfinished version was crawling with playtesters who gave each other advice in friendly tones. The art and style of WoW screams 2004 in the characters’ hairstyles and in the skills’ graphics, but the world is also enriched by decades’ worth of mounts to fly on, countless regions, and variants of classes to try. It feels like almost a billion people have traveled these lands before and left footprints behind.
A Story for the Ages
“You can step back and think of the themes of the world, whether it’s climate change or whatever it may be, we find these themes get injected into these big, epic moments the team envisions,” Longdale says, “So we thought, this is a story for the ages. It’s something players can come back to and really participate in.”
Every great heroic story needs a Big Bad, and Blizzard devoted plenty of resources to ensuring “War Within” had a fitting villainess. Lapsed players who may not recount much of the Warcraft story will be able to catch up with recent events by watching a short cinematic that highlights the game’s emerging global threat, Xal'atath.
“She’s amazing. She’s purple. What more can you ask for?” Longdale asks.
I likened the character’s reception to what Diablo players have shared of Lilith — creating fan art for her or otherwise appreciating her role.
“These people are mind-blowing,” Longdale says of her teams’ ability to craft a villain that immediately reaches new heights of infamy. “The players are calling Xal’atath ‘mother,’ just like they do with Lilith.”
The State of Blizzard
While Xal’atath is getting weaved back into the story, Blizzard also hired back longtime veteran Chris Metzen, who spoke about WoW’s legacy in a company interview, adding, “You’ve lived these moments. You didn’t just passively watch. You didn’t just read a book or watch a movie.”
Personnel changes have widely shaken up the company. While World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and Call of Duty have been around for years or in some cases decades, 2024 marks the one-year anniversary of Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard.
When asked about the effect this has had on development, Longdale says bluntly, “Nothing has changed around how we create and support our games.”
“We’re also having conversations with teams at Xbox and Microsoft now and sharing information,” she continues, “I had conversations with Helen Chiang on Minecraft and Todd Howard was in a meeting one day, and we're sharing information.”
