Ensuring the Eternal Legacy of World of Warcraft: Blizzard’s Strategic Vision
Image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment/Microsoft.
How is World of Warcraft faring these days?
In an era where online multiplayer games can rise and fall within the same year, it’s a common inquiry. Its extensive legion of devoted fans remain committed despite its core gameplay remaining largely unchanged since 2004 (though it has undergone numerous updates and enhancements). Players select a race, class, and gender, then embark on adventures in the world to complete quests, raid dungeons, and compete against other players using unique spells and skills.
What once pushed against the technical limitations of online play is now considered outdated in a landscape dominated by battle royales and cooperative base-building games. Yet, it endures. Not only does it endure—millions of players still log in regularly to raid dungeons, generating incredible revenue for the studio and its current parent company, Microsoft.
This Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the beloved MMORPG. At Gamescom 2024, we spoke with production director Michael Bybee and game producer George Velev about the game’s enduring allure—and what its current custodians are doing to ensure it never fades away.
World of Warcraft players seek reasons to log in daily
The team at Blizzard is acutely aware that it doesn’t take much to divert someone away from World of Warcraft. “We’re ultimately vying for everyone’s attention and competing with everything, including options like Netflix,” Bybee noted. “If we’re not providing you with something engaging or captivating, [players] are likely to seek alternatives.”
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That was a challenge Blizzard faced with the expansion Shadowlands, which was met with positive reviews but soon experienced a decline in players. (It didn’t help that the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, a surprising rival to World of Warcraft, was enjoying significant word-of-mouth success).
With the next expansion, Dragonflight, Blizzard began releasing content at what Bybee referred to as a “quicker pace.” During this time, the company initiated overhauling its production structure to support two expansion teams and one “live service” team. The company had typically worked several expansions in advance, but the new aim was for Blizzard to plan expansions in a manner that allowed them to tease players about upcoming content sooner and to adjust that content based on player response.
Image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment/Microsoft.
This year’s expansion, The Battle Within, introduced a fresh storyline for World of Warcraft, which is the foundation of a narrative arc that will unfold over multiple annual releases. The initial phase is titled “The Worldsoul Saga,” and its announcement included the names of the subsequent two expansions: Twilight and The Final Titan. “Our aim was to ensure that players always felt like there was something just around the corner,” Bybee explained. Developing expansions that conclude with a metaphorical “next time on World of Warcraft…” certainly sets up the game’s future direction better than the dramatic finales of Shadowlands or Legion.
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However, altering the development of expansions wasn’t Blizzard’s only significant transition. Velev explained that beginning with a redesign of the talent tree in Dragonflight, the studio began crafting new “evergreen” features to be included in expansions that can remain fresh with the support of the live service team. Another example would be the “Delves” featured in The Battle Within—dungeons that can be undertaken quickly solo or with up to four companions on a daily basis.
This marks a departure from the approach seen in previous expansions, where large raid encounters were designed for teams of many players to tackle repeatedly. These expansions catered to players looking to experience such encounters multiple times—but Blizzard began to realize that not all of its subscribers found this appealing. Raids continue to be a top priority for Blizzard, but players will now also discover endgame options.suggestions that don’t require them and their organization all to be present at the same moment.
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Dungeons also provide casual players an opportunity to chase cinematic experiences that only appear after completing high-level scenarios—a significant benefit for the larger World of Warcraft community. Thus far, this has been enough to keep them returning repeatedly…
Repetition is enjoyable with companions
Developers of games like World of Warcraft face a constant challenge: how exactly do you ensure that content meant for repeated use on a daily or weekly basis does not become a tiresome grind?
The idea of replaying dungeons again and again in MMORPGs may sound “boring on paper,” Velev acknowledged, but it has been Blizzard’s strategy to introduce variety in these experiences to ensure they don’t feel like the same encounter every time (one of the tools is the decade-old “Mythic” dungeon system, which allows players to adjust the difficulty of encounters before entering). However, Bybee noted it is the game’s role as a social hub that has allowed these experiences to endure.
Velev highlighted that there are player-driven events like the “world first” races, where teams compete to be the first (or second, or third) to conquer a new dungeon on their server. External platforms that interact with the World of Warcraft API track player statistics for PvE and PvP contests, and it evolves from there with streamers, community-written guides, and more.
Of course, these elements are common to many online games. Bybee pointed out that World of Warcraft, unlike many other games, has served as a gathering place for friend groups, some of whom have been engaged for the last two decades. “You’re experiencing it alongside your friends—that’s the key point, that you’re sharing it with people [you know],” he stated.
It is certainly a notion worth pondering in an age of struggling online games. If your friends are committed to one game, even if it’s not as polished or innovative as a brand-new title, why would you want to leave them behind?
The duo refrained from informing Game Developer if any plans for an Xbox version of World of Warcraft were underway (“there’s nothing new to share on that,” said Bybee). For now, it’s primarily about concentrating on “the community [they] have” and all the guilds, friend groups, high school buddies, and families still enjoying the game together as it approaches its second decade.
About the Author
Senior Editor, GameDeveloper.com
Bryant Francis is a writer, journalist, and narrative designer based in Boston, MA. He currently contributes to Game Developer, a leading B2B publication in the video game industry. His credits include Proxy Studios’ upcoming 4X strategy game Zephon and Amplitude Studio’s 2017 title Endless Space 2.