Thread by @MotleyGrue

Gonna talk a bit about non-linear #LevelDesign in #WorldOfWarcraft because I've obviously been thinking a lot about it recently. To catch people up, WoW has gone back to a linear progression through zones from a "go where you want" mentality during the levelling experience.

It's played with these concepts on and off for years. Once you hit max level obviously you go back to free roaming but levelling is where the majority of the story is experienced and its here that these concepts of worldbuilding matter most.

You'd think in an open world RPG/MMO, this would be a backwards step in design due to a loss of agency. However, WoW has a unique problem in being a massive (old) MMO where player's don't really have much agency over the world. It's a theme park.

Sure it would be great if the production value was there to make the world dynamic, to actually depose corrupt kings and kill monsters once and for all without them respawning, but that's not possible for a variety of hopefully obvious reasons.

So with the new xpac, we return to the best way this style of MMO has to invest players into the story and feel like they are growing: linear zone progress. Both very important (the most important?) concepts to an MMO. Even if you think you don't care about lore, you do.

Where the level design comes in is in the way that this static world now has a defined start middle and end. The end is vastly too difficult for low level players, and players have a flow of constant challenge and overcoming those challenges. This is in sync with storytelling

So players cannot affect the space of the world too much, but they can enjoy mastery over it. It's a similar concept to everyone's favourite Soulsborne games and one reason why I'm excited for the end-game of Shadowlands: The Maw, which is an oppressive, difficult, trudging zone.

Linear delivery also means story threads connect more fluidly. I can't really recall much of the story of the last expansion, because each zone was a contained vignette of sorts. The narrative in Shadowlands feels much more cohesive and stronger. It's the best it's been in years.

Each zone also has a macro-goal of unlocking fast travel, new events, secrets, unique bosses, new story threads and more. They're really densely packed puzzle boxes in a way and it's brilliant to see this beast of a game improve its level design like this to such a degree.

Not to mention the visuals. This is a 16 year old game but I can't believe how much each zone has been pushed by the artists. Bastion is one of the best zones I've seen in a game ever, I've barely left it.

It's really a team working at the top of their game in this space. Each zone delivers a great narrative then turns into a playground for repeated play. There's so much Dark Souls influence here, I've really been impressed with each unique zone and it's design.