WoW Forever's summoning stones are off by design, and its dungeons will probably never get maps. On the third episodeWorld of Warcraft on YouTubeyoutube.com of Blizzard's Forever podcast, the game's encounter designers said the walk to a dungeon is part of the dungeon, and a map would let groups route around the surprises they built. They also gave the first real details of Blackmaw Hold and showed a glimpse of the Barrow Deeps raid.
The journey stays
Every summon or portal that shortens a trip cuts into the talking, grouping and fighting that happen on the way. The team also worries about "shrinking the world": portals and stones pull players into a few crowded spots, where it would rather world PvP stayed spread out. One of them put it flatly: "I stand on the side of no summoning."
Dungeon maps will probably stay out as well. Early WoW had no dungeon maps and no dungeon journal,
so groups explored and worked things out together, and the team wants that back. Forever's
dungeons are meant to be winding and uneven, with bosses you can miss on a first run, such as
The Abandoned in Ruins of LordaeronRuins of LordaeronDungeon · level 15 · 7 bossesWitherfang, The Abandoned, The Butcher, Rath'mael, Lordaeron Captain, Viktor the Vile, Bjork. "We're not building
theme park rides," one designer said. "We're building places that you're intruding upon."
Not every dungeon is meant for both factions, either.
The Hall of ThanesThe Hall of ThanesDungeon · level 13 · 4 bossesFaldrim Anvilmar, Infurnus, Plunder, Durgen Dirgehammer is reached through 
Ironforge,
so the Alliance walks in while a Horde group has to make its way through the city first, much as
Ragefire ChasmRagefire ChasmDungeon · level 13 · 4 bossesOggleflint, Taragaman the Hungerer, Jergosh the Invoker, Bazzalan has no Alliance entrance. The team chose the story over faction parity on
purpose. Asked about a Horde entrance, it would only say there may or may not be one.
Dungeon XP
The designers confirmed the October 8 build's
roughly 20% more XP from dungeon killsWoW Forever dungeons: 20% more kill XP and a bug fixNews · AnnouncementDungeon kills will give about 20% more XP, and a bug that tied your XP to the group's highest level is being fixed.. They want running a
dungeon to feel good without being the best way to level: no running the
Scarlet MonasteryScarlet MonasteryDungeon · level 30 · 7 bossesInterrogator Vishas, Bloodmage Thalnos, Houndmaster Loksey, Arcanist Doan, Herod, High Inquisitor Fairbanks, High Inquisitor Whitemane Cathedral 50 times from level 30 to 50. Old quests
that take several runs, such as 
Deviate Hides, are fine by them.
The new dungeons
Excavation Site
Excavation Site: WetlandsExcavation Site: WetlandsDungeon · level 26 · 4 bossesSaltspine, Shadetooth, Highland Horror, Relic Guardian is the work of encounter designer Jay Hartman, and small on purpose. Much of the dwarven ground it uses, up toward Dun Modr, was built for the original game and never opened. The tall grass is there to make you think of the raptors in Jurassic Park. Its disease was the one real outlier, an extra zero in its damage, and has been cut back, though it still hurts. The raptor's bleed stays as it is, on purpose.
City of Dalaran
City of DalaranCity of DalaranDungeon · level 28 · 9 bossesArcane Anomaly, Fel Ancient, Mana Devourer, Mana Elemental, Unstable Sentinel, Shade of the Archmage, Lyn the Ignored, Atrexis the Grave Knight, Mana Wraith packs about nine bosses into a small space, and the team doesn't count it as a mega dungeon: other Forever dungeons are at least four times its size. The Alliance and the Horde were once meant to enter by different routes. Now both come in through the sewers, which the designers found paced better and ended on a better view of the city, though each faction keeps quests of its own.
Much of Dalaran shrugs off Arcane. Arcane Mages testing it complained that they couldn't hit anything, and the team kept the immunities anyway. Creatures should act the way you'd expect, the designers said: an arcane elemental ignores Arcane, and a robot doesn't bleed. Every Mage has other spells to fall back on.
Blackmaw Hold
Blackmaw Hold, encounter designer Rowan Ryder's dungeon, is the old stone gate in Azshara that read Timbermaw Hold in the original game, finally opened. It was renamed after alpha players kept mixing it up with the Timbermaw Hold they already knew. Ryder thinks its footprint is bigger than Blackrock DepthsBlackrock DepthsDungeon · level 48 · 21 bossesHigh Interrogator Gerstahn, Lord Roccor, Houndmaster Grebmar, Ring of Law, Pyromancer Loregrain, Lord Incendius, Warder Stilgiss, Fineous Darkvire, Bael'Gar, General Angerforge, Golem Lord Argelmach, Hurley Blackbreath, Phalanx, Ribbly Screwspigot, Plugger Spazzring, The Vault, Ambassador Flamelash, The Seven, Magmus, Princess Moira Bronzebeard, Emperor Dagran Thaurissan, with a lot of climbing up and down, but it is meant to be cleared in one long session. Expect corrupted furbolgs and demons, and plan to be level 60, though a group can go in a little earlier.
Ryder's favorite Forever dungeon is Krol'dok Stronghold, which Blizzard has barely shown yet. Hartman's favorite to work on was Shaper's Terrace, because he likes dinosaurs.
Raids
Onyxia's LairOnyxia's LairRaid · level 60 · 1 bossesOnyxia keeps its attunement, and at launch every character does it for themselves. Nothing stops you walking into the new raids, but at least one has steps that will feel familiar to anyone who did the old attunements, and more attunements are likely later.
Every Classic consumable stays available, flasks and all. Aggrend wants the economy tuned so that stocking up for a three-hour raid never takes 40 hours of farming a week. Near the end, the episode showed footage from inside the Barrow Deeps, which is built after the barrow missions of Warcraft III. Three of the panel named it as what they're most looking forward to.
Also on the show
- Racials: the team is reviewing the active racials of Orcs and Trolls, which may be too strong, and whether the weapon-skill racials stay. Changes should start on the beta next week.
- Gold buyers: Blizzard has closed over 2,100 beta accounts that bought gold and almost 1,600 that sold it or botted. A warning about where gold comes from will appear when you accept a trade or a mail.
- Dual spec: it unlocks at level 40 for now, and the level is still being discussed.
- Quests: a thousand new quests is a conservative count. The new ones grow thicker past level 20 in the Wetlands and open up around level 40 in the Riverglades.
Objectives
Deviate Hide ×20
Rewards
As one of the last uncorrupted furbolg tribes, the Timbermaw seek to preserve their spiritual ways and end the suffering of their brethren.
