Chris Metzen’s return to Blizzard, and to shipping games as a dev more generally, Was a big move. Just under one year ago, he was named Executive Creative Director of the Warcraft franchise. Now he’s talking The War Within and the goals for the overall Worldsoul Saga in a new interview with Scott Johnson of the World of Warcraft podcast.
All of this is happening around the same time Blizzard is marking the 20th anniversary of World of Warcraft. Metzen talks about the excitement of having a game about to come out again, and the anticipation that surrounds that, since he hadn't done that in some time.
“I can't really wrap my head around, like, all the history, all at once. I mean, there's kids graduating college right now named Jaina and Anduin.”
The decision to announce The Worldsoul Saga as a trilogy was to let them work on a longer term overarching story and tell a deeper and more cohesive narrative. Involving legacy characters like Anduin, Jaina, and Thrall alongside new characters was something they had to work to make sure that they were balanced and letting players have the agency they needed.
Having these characters age and mature and change over time adds to the possibilities and layers of depth that the team is working to include in the overall narrative. “But just the idea that these characters are moving through their own continuum, and progressing and moving through stuff like, what, a trip. Looking back from where we started, to the point where these are, you know, fairly fully realized characters, within this setting. And it's just incredibly satisfying that way to see that progression.”
As for the process of storytelling, the possibility is that major character deaths could happen, but Metzen assures that none of that is ever taken lightly. And, while we’ve already been seeing Xal'atath, she won't be a one and done antagonist. She’s not Deathwing, where you face her once as the final raid boss and you're done. You're going to have to confront her multiple times over the full saga. She “weaves in and out” over time.
