Episode #488: Talking 9.2 with Morgan Day!

Welcome to The Starting Zone Podcast, The World of Warcraft Podcast for New and Experienced Players! On this special episode, Spencer Downey and Jason Lucas discuss the upcoming 9.2 content release with Morgan Day! Episode #488: Talking 9.2 with Morgan Day! is ready for Download! The foundation of the questions we asked Morgan New Zone: Zereth Mortis How did working through the pandemic affect the plan for Shadowlands and getting a new zone added to each patch? This seems like a natural place for Shadowlands' story to resolve, but what went into actually getting it there? What is the plan for Legendary crafting in 9.2? We know we get the new materials from Zereth Mortis. How do we get them and about how long after patch would you expect players to have their first top-rank Legendary? Will we still need Rank 4 or Rank 6 base items to get started ? Will we still need Soul Ash/Soul Cinders to craft a new Legendary from scratch? Will there be Conduit upgrade items via Zereth Mortis? Are Conduits going up 2 more ranks, similar from S1 to S2? What kind of catchup mechanics are being planned to get characters to baseline relevance with the Conduit system at the outset of 9.2? New Feature: Cypher of the First Ones What can players expect from the Cypher in regards to progression? Is it gated weekly, similar to Renown? Is there player choice in which upgrades unlock when? Are unlocks account-wide to any degree? How do we advance our progress at the Cypher? Are there specific tasks/quests, fill-the-bar style activities, lootable items similar to Archivist's Codex, or something else entirely? Are we "speccing out" the Cypher, so to speak, choosing certain upgrades/perks at the expense of others, or does every character eventually get the full slate of benefits? New Raid: Sepulcher of the First Ones Can you talk a bit about the factors that went into the decision to time-gate the initial release? Can players expect a big shift in gameplay or the zone when they return the week after defeating the Anduin encounter? Are there plans for unlockable skips? What about fast-travel points around the raid zone, like Hellfire Citadel had? With tier pieces being available from other sources, is there an intent to put uniquely powerful items in the new raid? We saw probably not enough of that in Castle Nathria and maybe a bit too much in Sanctum of Domination. How is the team feeling about raid encounter length at the top end? Should we expect more 12-15 minute marathons? Did the team feel basing boss phase transitions on health, like on KT, was effective? It resulted in many teams having unwanted "hold dps" phases, is that something we might see in this raid? Great vault loot restricted behind bosses killed? New Loot: Class Sets Return Will the set bonuses be per class or per spec? Are there unique effects in Raid/M+/PvP or a set pair of bonuses per set? How many total pieces of each set are there? Is the goal with the class sets to shake up gameplay/rotations/priority or more to provide passive bonuses on top of what we're already doing? With set pieces dropping again, it would be nice to have tokens back. Has there been any thought about bringing Master Loot back? Shadowlands Season 3 Extrapolating high keystone versions of Tazavesh is a bit intimidating at the moment. Will we see changes to bring these dungeons in line with the rest of the pool? Operation: Mechagon was pretty on par with the rest of BFA, the additions to Legion were pretty big outliers. The Season 2 affix has been pretty fun, anything you can talk about regarding the plan for Season 3? We haven't seen anything in SL that affected dungeon routes the way Awakened did for example in BFA, is that a concept that might be revisited? How is the team feeling about the way Mythic + Rating/Valor have worked out in Season 2? Any notable updates coming in Season 3 or should we expect a similar path, just with 2 more dungeons in the pool? We know there are Torghast updates coming and new layers. Will Torghast still be a source for 9.2 Legendary mats or is that being 100% shifted to Zereth Mortis? Any updates to the Box of Many Things? What kind of new stuff will there be for Torghast players to chase? How does the team feel about the Great Vault this expansion? Any thoughts on adding some kind of duplicate logic to the system or a streak-protection/currency type of option? Looking ahead, what were the lessons the team learned over the course of Shadowlands and how are they informing future design? Trying to reach the show? You can find us on Discord at The Starting Zone or email us at TheStartingZone@Gmail.com Have you heard about our Patreon? It's a great way to support the show and goes towards making more content for you! Check it out here: https://www.patreon.com/thestartingzone Looking for to grab some great TSZ merch? Look no further than here! We've got the shirts, hoodies, mugs, pillows even stickers you want!