Welcoming First Big Update, WoW: Shadowlands Interview With Ely Cannon & Ion Hazzikostas

After the release of Shadowlands, which is the most ambitious expansion project for World of Warcraft, the MMORPG game is still very much dominated by loyal players and active communities. This is certainly a joy, especially seeing how WoW will still get content support in the long term. Not long after the expansion was released, now Blizzard has prepared a major update for it, called Chains of Domination.

The update announced at BlizzConline 2021 brings a lot of new content from new cities to explore, new raid modes, new mega-dungeons, and much more. To get more complete details about the latest update, we have summarized the interview sessions with Art Director – Elly Cannon and Game Director – Ion Hazzikostas. Instead of being curious, just look at the summary of the interview below.

Art Director – Ely Cannon (left) and Game Director – Ion Hazzikostas (right)

Areas, Raid Challenges, Up to Expansive New Dungeons

The highlights of the main content that are present in the Chains of Domination update are indeed very diverse, and one of the main setting focuses of the story will take place in a new area called Kortia, City of Secrets. This new area for players to explore is a mysterious place inhabited by many unique creatures that have never existed in Shadowlands before.

Ely explains “Korthia is an old town that became the center of a group called the First Ones. This is the group that is responsible for the Orobos, and that’s why we see an almost identical Oribos creature in Korthia. We also see the expansion of Ve’Nari’s story that relates to Korthia and The Maw. It will be very interesting later for players to dive into the real motivations of The Jailer and reveal what actions he is trying to pursue in Korthia”.

In addition to new areas, there is also a raid mode that will bring the movement of the Shadowlands story in a more interesting direction through the Sanctum of Domination. This is a place where players will also be faced with many exciting challenges such as facing Tarragrue who is a giant Pet from The Jailer, until finally facing Sylvanas Windrunner as the final boss.

Ion added, “We’ll find out more secrets from The Jailer, fight with his subordinates and find the soul he’s been keeping for a long time, and maybe we’ll meet some familiar figures along the way.” With this it looks like Sanctum of Domination will be a raid mode that brings lots of surprises for players to look forward to.

There is also a new dungeon challenge called Tazavesh. When asked about the difference between dungeons and other raid modes, Ely explained “First, this is a Mythic dungeon. The expansive size is also different from most dungeons. We also put maximum effort into making it a spacious place to explore and have a strong background story. Like Mechagon, this is the latest Art Kit too, so we can explore a completely new area that players have never experienced in this game before.”

The Storyline Moves to a Darker Theme

With Anduin sinking into a new, darker destiny, many fans are certainly curious about whether he will return to his true character in this update. Ion replied “Of course the fate of Anduin and the development of the story will be the main focus of the whole story in Shadowlands. As to how fate will take him, or how this story will end in Chains of Domination or take longer, these certainly cannot be discussed without leaking spoilers. So this is something players have to witness for themselves while playing the game.”

One thing we do know is that Chains of Domination will push the WoW storyline in a darker and more questionable direction. Even the trailer for the announcement of this update shows a cutscene from the continuation of the story that shows a picture of Anduin’s fate and the plans that Sylvanas and The Jailer have prepared for him. All these mysteries may or may not be answered in the latest update later.

Regarding the Fate of Sylvanas Windrunner…

Not only Anduin, fans’ curiosity also leads to the figure of Sylvanas Windrunner who is a prominent character in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. We already know that Sylvanas will be the final boss in the Sanctum of Domination raid challenge, but will he really die at the hands of the players or will his fate be different?

Ion replied “All will be answered in due time. He is the final boss where they can disappear forever, but there is also a time when their story ends with a different conclusion. We’ll see how Sylvanas’ ending takes him at the end of the Sanctum of Domination challenge.”

Since Sylvanas is a boss that fans are eagerly waiting for to face, the expectation of a moment to fight him is certainly very high. And now through Chains of Domination the players finally get the opportunity. “We knew this wouldn’t disappoint and we also put our full focus on making the fight against Sylvanas able to show different sides of his identity, and how he could fight as the Dark Ranger we’ve known for years, to becoming a Banshee in the Battle for Trailer trailer. Azeroth and Lordaeron, as well as the new powers The Jailer gave him.”

What Changes Come With Patch 9.1?

Chains of Domination which is present in Patch 9.1 also brings a variety of new overhauls to enhance the playing experience. And for this update, the overhaul focuses more on the Covenant system and how players get more new ways to strengthen Soulbind.

“So Chains of Domination is the culmination of a story that has been built up to now. For this reason, we have focused on building the strengths of each Covenant in contributing as heroes and partners with them. In this position they have worked together to fight against The Jailer and the main story is how they move as a unit in the battle against The Jailer,” said Ely.

In this patch, players are again given the opportunity to access activities in the sky by riding a special mount. Players can access it after completing activities and Covenant campaign chapters, where each mount will be tied to each Covenant depending on its type. Like how Kyrian players can soar over dark lands with Centurian, to Necrolords who can penetrate the battlefield with Corpseflies.

“There are no reputational demands for flying skills but continuing the Covenant Campaign and the Chains of Domination story to completion will give players access to special mounts to fly through the worlds of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands.” said Ion. Good news, of course, because the rules for accessing this feature used to be more difficult.

Meanwhile, for new changes that players can look forward to in the next update, the developer has so far been planning to expand further on the Renown system. Chains of Domination will increase the Renown level cap to 80, which can be readjusted by adding more rewards including cosmetics, a new Soulbind tier and more. Ion added “We will evaluate if it is possible to expand further after this major update, but that will be a plan after Chains of Domination”.

When will the update be released?

Unfortunately Blizzard has not been able to share information about when this update will be present in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, but at least players have got a full picture of the content it has to offer. You can also see a summary and additional information about this latest update on the game’s official website HERE.

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