World of Warcraft Interview: Taking stock after the Undermine(d) update – World of Warcraft: The War Within

After a very successful launch, World of Warcraft: The War Within has now been expanded with a hefty update with lots of new content. This time the theme is crime … I mean. innovative Goblin cartels, and not least around the overlord Gallywix and his attempts to control everything, combined with the primary antagonist in the Warcraft universe right now – Xal’atath.

This is done through the introduction of 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 have trouble understanding why this zone is mentioned – and especially why it falls under Khaz Algar and not Kalimdor. But associate game director Morgan Day actually gave a good explanation, which is why we included it in full:

“There are actually a lot of cool technical things going on behind the scenes. Because in WoW, you can’t build two zones on top of each other – that’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’s 20 years old, there’s a nice nuance to the engine and the tools. But we’re constantly looking for ways to evolve our capabilities, and the ability to build this expansion where zones are stacked makes for nice technological updates. And that’s one of those things that not everybody notices.

“Some have definitely noticed that if you fly there and you go very, very fast, and you’re very good at skyriding, you get a loading screen. But it’s very rare. So that’s kind of a tool in the toolbox that the team can use and draw from to move forward. But like I said, we always try to use the right tool for the right job, and the fantasy of underground expansion is something we wanted to lean on with this experience.

“I always giggled and joked: when you have these big and epic zones when you launch the expansion, you don’t really have the ability to add space. That’s not how the world works. It takes a long time to build new land masses. But because this is an underground expansion, we can just punch 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’s also a pretty big space in The Ringing Deeps that was freed up because the Goblins drilled a hole in the wall. And now there’s all this extra space for players to explore and enjoy.

“And while you’re there, you might notice that there’s a lot of Black Blood and that the Goblins have set up a large-scale mining operation to grow a lot of Black Blood. We know Xal’atath has a lot of interest in that, and there will be some nice story updates for that as well.

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

Technically it makes sense, but the atmosphere 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 strong fondness for a saxophonist who has just lost his spouse, job and dog. The theme is criminal cartels with a strong fondness for explosives and gasoline, and the atmosphere should reflect that a little better. However, the music is very good and the recording quality is amazingly high.

We had a conversation 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. As you mentioned, the existence of Undermine has been known for quite some time. We talked a lot about it in Kezan, in the Cataclysm update. But in the end, we are always looking for the fantasy and story of the expansion. And from the beginning, when we were talking about The War Within, we knew very well that we wanted to go to Undermine. It was like having an expansion that takes place primarily in an underground setting. If we don’t go to Undermine this time, when are we going to do it?

“So we were very excited to visit this location and see what the Goblin and Xal’atath look like together. And actually, if you look at some of our existing zones, like The Ringing Deeps, it’s no coincidence that there’s a sporadic Goblin influence in that zone. We knew very well that this was the space we wanted to take the story to in future updates, which we can finally do.

“Ultimately, it’s about finding the imagination and the right story to pursue these ideas. We’re lucky in the sense that the Warcraft universe is such a rich knowledge that we could go to. 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 lot of great missions that send you on a fast track to new gear. It goes pretty fast, and it’s nice not to have to spend a month updating weapons and armor. This can be accomplished by finding various friendly gangs around town or hoping there is something good in one of the 16 treasure chests that are well hidden.

The cartels are there so you can curry favor with some and reject others. Don’t worry, there are mechanisms to reach them all, and some missions include dodgy missions where you have to shoot and kill the minions of other cartels. World of Warcraft has a pretty extensive reputation system with every faction in the game, and it would have been nice if the 8,000 quests you did for various goblins in the first few years of the game’s existence and where you were exalted were carried over. It seems a little odd to have to do “rep grind” again for the same cartel.

There are officially four cartels you have access to when you start your rotation in the city, but who knows – maybe one more is hiding. In addition to updates to the Delve system – small dungeons where you have an NPC helper and a set theme that can be played on many levels – which is quite fun, there is also a general raid: Liberation of Undermine, with corresponding raid tier sets. Especially for Death Knight, Shaman and Rogue, there is a lot to enjoy, but the unique visual style will not suit everyone.

There are also an impressive number of new ways to earn various resources. If you remember back in the day when you had to do the same five missions every day, this is a definite upgrade. However, my biggest fear is having to sort trash – 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 pretty much 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 gas-guzzling car with a big engine that can be tuned and optimized. However, it works more like your dragon – you unlock things and then choose between different alternatives depending on your preference. I expected it to be a bit like more Need for Speed: Underground. The fact that I can’t increase the top speed without affecting acceleration bothers me a bit. And yes, the car is faster than normal mounts because flying mounts don’t work here – which also feels a bit forced – but it’s a nice feature for those who want to control their own transportation.

All in all, we are left with a pretty solid update for regular players and perhaps a more present and tangible focus for those who are not hardcore gamers. Personally, I randomly found some side missions 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.