WoW: The War Within devs on Nerub’ar Palace raid and bringing Khaz Algar to life

World of Warcraft: The War Within is finally here, and the general reception from the community has been positive, as the game tries to capitalize on the momentum it built up during Dragonflight.

From refocusing the story to new activities and systems, this latest expansion has, at the very least, given WoW a shiny new look. A big part of that is the new underground zones, which are remarkably varied in flora and fauna, delivering the story in a refreshing setting.

In addition, the new offering of eight dungeons has been consistently good, without much in the way of glaring issues. The next step in that journey is the release of the first raid tier for The War Within, as players journey into the Nerub-ar Palace to take on Queen Ansurek.

We spoke to Lead Encounter Designer Michael Nuthals and Associate Art Director Tina Wang about the upcoming raid tier and how they made Khaz Algar and its people a reality.

Going underground in The War Within

Blizzard Entertainment

Though players got a taste of the potential of underground zones when Zaralek Cavern was released in Dragonflight’s 10.1 patch, no expansion has taken on that concept more than The War Within. It also doesn’t take a degree in game design to know that this presents a series of problems to overcome, from lighting to overall variety.

Happily, the developer has managed to navigate the biggest potential pitfalls, seemingly with ease, as zones like Hallowfall quickly carve out a place as some of the most visually stunning that the community has seen. Tina Wang explained the process that went into their creation.

“Making sure that our underground zones still felt inviting and open was something that was important to us. We captured that traditional expectation of ‘underground’ in The Ringing Deeps. We knew that, in this progression, as we went underground, we wanted to create that breath of fresh air after the more traditional underground zone of The Ringing Deeps,” Wang said.

“So Hallowfall, that was a big part of the initial creation of it, just making sure that you had something really bright and open.

“We can achieve that in a number of ways. One of the most important things that helps give depth and a sense of airiness is the atmosphere. So that’s something we added by placing fog and cloud, or we change the color of the fog over distance. So, it may not be realistic to an actual cavern, but as you look into the horizon, you still get that sense of brightness.

“We also created these spaces where you have these layers of rock. As you look upwards, you see the light coming from those. There’s that sense of openness.”

Few would deny that, laws of physics complaints notwithstanding, Khaz Algar managed to bring light and joy to areas that could so easily have been dank and depressing. Cool Covenant themes aside, this was something that Shadowlands really suffered for, and the developer has managed to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Bringing The Earthen to life

Blizzard Entertainment

One of the significant new additions to the game is the new Allied Race, The Earthen. Taking visual cues from existing WoW Dwarves, these hulking figures are available for both Horde and Alliance players, with a design unlike anything previously on offer in the character creator.

The Earthen are a variation formed from the Subterranean Being Matrix, the product of an experiment undertaken by the Titans. Made from living stone, these hugely powerful beings are rich in lore, with Wang confirming exactly how they delivered on bringing that to life in the design.

“We were primarily looking at the Earthen, and then we really liked this idea that they’re Titanforged, so they have extra power. They’re not just a traditional Dwarf; they’re special. You saw that one cinematic where a single Earthen pulls a giant chain, so we asked how we can reflect that in their designs. We also liked the idea that the runes on them added to that strength. You’re not just a Dwarf that’s stone-colored.

“With the crystals, we really enjoyed that aspect where we could give that extra layer of player customization to them and really show that they are unique and special in their own way. You can even turn off different pieces of that in your character customization. You can add crystals to your body and have those exposed based on the gear you want to wear. So it was, ‘How can we take what was there and make them feel extra special and customizable if we are making it an allied race?'”

As the first neutral Allied Race in the entire game, it was always going to be challenging to please players on both sides of WoW’s oldest divide. At this early stage, it seems they have done so by delivering a new lore-appropriate faction that feels like it’s been there all along.

A new kind of raid encounter

Blizzard Entertainment

The War Within will also be the first expansion that allows players to conquer the entirety of the story solo. The developers have done this by designing a unique version of the final raid encounter in Nerub-ar Palace, as the player (accompanied by some friendly NPCs) takes on the might of Queen Ansurek.

This new story difficulty will allow a new portion of the community to participate in the endgame, those who would otherwise only see the opening salvo’s true conclusion via cinematics and other game footage. Obviously, this will come with significant changes to the existing raid formula, as Michael Nuthals explains.

“Similarly to the way that we want players to experience the stories in dungeons, through Follower Dungeons, we wanted to let players experience the capstone of the raid experience and allow all players to have the opportunity to be able to see the events unfold at the end of the raid. That’s where we came up with the idea to introduce a Story Mode, which is a version of the encounter.

“You’ve got some NPC buddies with you that’ll help you take on Queen Ansurek. It’s a version of the encounter that’s much more tailored for solo gameplay. You’re not going to see a lot of coordination checks in a story-mode version of the fight. It’s just a great way for folks to get in there and be able to experience what the raiders are seeing, even if they don’t have a group or aren’t feeling comfortable going into LFR.”

The Ansurek encounter itself also promises to be unlike any raid conclusion we’ve seen so far. Unrivalled verticality and an arena that plays heavily into our chances of success all play a big part, as Nuthals goes on to explain.

“The coolest part of the final encounter, in my opinion, is the arena itself and the way the space has been designed to reflect that they’re spiders by nature. Players will be encouraged to traverse the space in such a way that they’re going to have to go up to keep up after Queen Ansurek.

“Seeing how players are going to be able to navigate that space is something that I’m really excited for players to see in the Queen Ansurek encounter. It’s a really, really cool fight.”

Cleaning up visual cues in The War Within

Blizzard Entertainment

Over the years, raid encounters in World of Warcraft have become more and more difficult to keep track off. Increasingly complex mechanics and the need to continually challenge the player base have had the unfortunate knock-on effect of previously making some fights a mess of visual cues.

Nuthals went on to explain precisely how this relatively new effect has informed the design of the upcoming raid.

“One of the big things we do is that our team works really closely with the encounter team and with the art team to make sure that we are creating encounters where there is some contrast between the visual effects and the environment. We do this so that those things do at least pop out to the players and they can recognize where the dangerous spots are and avoid those things,” Nuthals said.

“We do a lot of internal playtesting. We do a lot of iteration on what the encounters are. When we think about that, we really are trying to create a fun experience for the players. We want to make sure that we’re encouraging them to use all the buttons they have.

“All the classes have so much utility beyond just doing damage or healing or tanking, and creating those gameplay moments where they can use those things often requires some sort of visual communication. The craft is to make sure that we’re doing that in such a way that we’re not overlooking the players.

“That’s also why we have the different difficulties as well, because we kind of expect different groups of players to have different levels of ability in parsing that information and being able to make informed decisions based on what’s happening in the game.”

Tina Wang then went on to expand on this from an artistic perspective, saying, “The raid language that we use for our effects is something that we have tried to keep consistent, depending on what something does.

“For instance, if it’s damage on the ground, it’s a swirl. If it’s something that you’re supposed to stand in, there’s this nice kind of protective-looking bubble. If there’s something where people are supposed to stack, it looks like this different swirl. And so hopefully people, once they are familiar with this language, when they enter a new fight, they’re generally like, ‘Okay, I think I know where I’m supposed to go with my character.'”

Nerub-ar Palace is set to release on September 10, along with the arrival of Season One of The War Within. This will see players taking on Normal and Heroic difficulty or making new friends on Raid Finder Wing 1. Raid Finder Wing 2 arrives a week later on September 17, along with Mythic and Story difficulties, before Raid Finder Wing 3 closes out the release schedule on September 24.

If you want to keep up with how things are going in The War Within so far, we have prepared a tier list for every DPS spec, as well as doing the same for Tanks and Healers.