You can expect some of WoW's big timers to bite it during the Worldsoul Saga trilogy: 'It’ll be a lot of death, I’m afraid'

5 days ago 7

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Having any big-name character bite it in a long-running game like an MMO is a toughie—obviously, you want your stories to have stakes, or else your players are going to tune out by the ninth fakeout. On the other hand, if you do it wrong, then everyone's going to be insufferably mad at you for the rest of the game's lifespan. Which, for a two-decade-plus game like WoW, is gonna be a while.

That doesn't mean World of Warcraft isn't going to keep trying, mind you. The Worldsoul Saga is one of Blizzard's most ambitious moves yet—committing to a three-expansion story arc where everything's been more-or-less planned out, giving them the chance to tell larger, bigger-reaching narratives.

Heather spoke to both game director Ion Hazzikostas and design director Maria Hamilton about Midnight, the midpoint of the Worldsoul Saga—and both WoW leads emphasised that the team is winding up for some big swings.

"There will be important characters that do not survive the trilogy. It’ll be a lot of death, I’m afraid," Hamilton explains. "Those are hard decisions. We have arguments about, ‘Is this the right time? What will we do with that person gone?’" Hamilton didn't spill on who might be getting merked by Xal'atath—which is fair enough.

Still, it's a big promise, given that The War Within opened with the fakeout death of Khadgar. Knowing that Blizzard isn't always going to be handling its cast with mittens is a relief. Hazzikostas also says the team's planning on getting around to some of those old plot points, like the giant bloody sword stabbed into Azeroth that hasn't really been touched on since Sargeras put it there in Legion.

"Sometimes Chekhov’s Gun, or Chekhov’s Sword as the case may be," says Hazzikostas, "Is going to lie there for a couple of expansions before something comes of it. Get used to that." When are we going to talk about the sword, Ion? I've been dying to talk about the sword.

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Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

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