WoW devs break down Patch 11.1 Mythic+ changes, Undermine & planning The Worldsoul Saga

World of Warcraft is about to enter the second major phase of The War Within, as Patch 11.1 goes live, taking players to the Goblin hub of Undermine. Ahead of its release on February 25, we sat down with the developer to get the lowdown on everything players can expect now, and in the future.

11.1 is the first major content update since the launch of The War Within back in August 2024. The patch comes with a brand-new raid in the form of the Liberation of Undermine and a fresh dungeon experience in Operation: Floodgate. There are also two further Delves, now confirmed as Excavation Site 9 and Sidestreet Sluice, each with new and unique rewards to earn as you play.

As such, there’s a lot of upcoming content for players to jump into, alongside some interesting next steps for the story and some new friends to ally with (in the form of the Goblin Cartels).

So who better to tell us about all of that (and WoW’s future plans), than Game Director Ian Hazzikostas and Lead Game Designer Maria Hamilton.

Undermine the expansion? Absolutely not

Blizzard Entertainment

The War Within served as the only expansion in the game’s history to feature underground areas so heavily in its new zones. The development team did a remarkable job of keeping them varied, and Hallowfall is one of the most visually stunning WoW regions ever made.

Blizzard, therefore, had several choices with where to go next, but Undermine was a logical choice, as Hazzikostas explains.

“So when we knew that we were going to do an underground expansion as the main setting for The War Within, one of the first questions is ‘what are some known places that are underground that this could make sense to visit?’ And Undermine was basically at the top of that list.

“I think we knew that one way or another before The War Within was all done, we were going to have to at least spend some time in Undermine exploring the culture.

“[There are] a lot of unanswered questions around Gallywix; he’s been up here since we last saw him, and then as we crafted the overall narrative, the next step was figuring out exactly how to execute it.”

Equally, the connection to Undermine in The War Within goes far beyond just being an underground zone. As Hamilton explains, the Goblins are a key part of the overall narrative, both now and moving forward in the expansion.

“It was really a nice situation that we wanted to go to a place where the story was taking us anyway. With how the mainline story was moving in The War Within, We knew that repairs would be needed for the Dark Heart and the people that could make those repairs made sense to be Goblins.

“It was really great to then be able to sit down and think about what a Goblin City would be? As zone building goes, it was really a fun one.”

Undermine serving as the central focus of this patch is going to be key to the story in the short term, but it’s unclear how big of a role the Goblins will play as The Worldsoul Saga develops. With the narrative set to threaten all of Azeroth, it’s likely it will continue to serve a major role throughout the expansion.

Telling the story in more ways than ever

Blizzard Entertainment

WoW is in uncharted territory since confirming that The War Within is the first of three expansions forming The Worldsoul Saga. With the game’s future laid out for years to come, the development team has turned their attention to telling a bigger story than ever before.

As Hamilton explains, this gives the game’s designers the opportunity to plan very far ahead, and prepare for what’s to come more readily.

“We’re planned all the way out at this point. We’re actually in production on Midnight, and we’re in pre-production on The Last Titan. So, we are well underway.

“It is really exciting and nice to be able to plot out a story with a long arc and be able to see things in appropriate places as we go. Tell interesting stories with a beginning, middle, and end in those chunks, which is very satisfying, but at the same time be advancing our story and taking it to different places. It’s really a pleasure.”

“In the shorter term, the team is attempting to allow players to explore the narrative and broader world in more ways than ever before. While the main questline is still the biggest part of the tapestry, playing through WoW’s many activities will only add to the overall experience.

“I think the main quest line has about a dozen of what we call “local stories” which are stories that are primarily about the cultures or the people or the place to help flesh out the world. It’s important that the world feel alive. It is the world that we’re proud of. So it’s important to us to have those stories.

But we very carefully plan out how many chapters we believe we need to tell the story of the mainline campaign. Then, of course, the dungeons tell stories, the raids tell stories, even the Delves are contributing to the story.

“Traditionally, while some of that other content has told the story, we haven’t integrated quite as smoothly as we have with The War Within. That’s something that we’re doing much better with.”

Mythic+ changes are aimed at players of all levels

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Since its implementation during the Legion expansion, Mythic+ dungeons have become the prestige repeatable PvE activity. Players push their keys to new levels in the hope of earning rewards, achievements and Rating across the course of a season.

In the first season of The War Within, the Mythic+ scene saw relatively low player numbers, with the amount actively participating reducing with each passing week. Though some of this can be put down to the Keystone level squish, stopping some from pushing too high, that isn’t the full picture.

As Hazzikostas explains, the initial reduction isn’t something the development team is worried about, though there are some areas they are keen to address this season.

“We’ve made a lot of big changes to the system of going into War Within and now in Season Two, our focus is on making that the people who enjoy Dungeons as their primary playstyle are having a satisfying, fun experience. The fact that the community has observed that there seems to be fewer people doing Mythic Plus later in the season than there were in the past, isn’t a problem in and of itself.

“Delves exist. Delves didn’t exist in the past. By definition, the existence of a new endgame activity is going to pull some players away from a playstyle that maybe wasn’t their preferred way to spend their time in WoW, but was something they felt forced into as their only way of continuing to advance.

“So, it’s no surprise. But when we’re hearing from players, as we were over the course of Season 1, that they really love Dungeons and Mythic+ is the primary activity that they enjoy, but they were finding elements that they weren’t satisfied with, that’s really spurred action and become our primary focus as we move into Season 2.

“We’re really trying to improve the experience for all levels of play. As we laid out in the blog a few weeks ago, we want to make sure there’s an approachable on-ramp to the Mythic+ system and that the rewards from the lower end of the system are relevant, even to players who have come with some Delve experience and Delve gear.

“This sets them up for initial success so they can learn the dungeons and their mechanics at the introductory levels as opposed to feeling rushed into the advanced levels before having the basic knowledge.

As with many multiplayer games, Blizzard has a tough job balancing activities between the casual players and the truly hardcore. As Hazzikostas goes on to explain, the strides they have made aren’t just designed to bring less experienced players into the Mythic+ fold.

“On the other end of the spectrum, for people who are at the very high end, pushing past where the rewards stop getting stronger and are just trying to chase prestige and leaderboards and rankings, we want to improve quality of life.

“We’ve implemented changes like a new set of achievements that we’ve added that basically allow players to set a floor for their keystones below which they won’t de-level. Let players really push their skill at the high-end of the system, stay there instead of feeling like they have to constantly retread the same ground over and over again.”

Off-meta specs could be back on the Mythic+ menu

Blizzard Entertainment

One of the major areas to bear in mind when thinking about Mythic+ as an activity is that players control who is allowed into their next run. While this obviously makes sense, it has led to the exclusion of perfectly legitimate players who may be running off-meta specs or classes more generally.

The scale of this issue increases as the level of the key does, and players become very concerned that if they don’t get the very best specs in their group, then it might be doomed to fail.

Hazzikostas expanded on the teams approach to this issue in Season 2 of The War Within, with the measures going far beyond simple buffs or nerfs for classes and specs.

“At the end of the day, it’s our responsibility, and players are right to say that we should do more to make sure that they have options when it comes to finding groups. I think there’s two facets to that.

“One is, of course, ongoing class and spec balancing. We always make active changes to class balance over the course of the season, though I will say we usually prefer to buff lower end performers.

“We do much less to nerf high-end performers mid-season, because that can be very frustrating as a setback if a group or a player feels like they can’t accomplish something they could yesterday.

“Going into a new season it gives us a chance to fix some of those disparities. A big thing that we do control also is the overall accessibility and challenge posed by the experiences themselves.

“As we’ve discussed, looking at Season Two and Mythic+, one of the reflections from Season One was that because players felt like they needed to start at high difficulty levels to get relevant rewards, success rates were lower than usual, and that puts pressure on the perceived meta.

“It makes players pickier when it comes to forming their groups because they’re worried about not succeeding, and I think having a more welcoming experience there will allow all specs to have more of a chance to shine and get that experience.

“At the end of the day, when they’re applying for groups, they can demonstrate that yes, they have succeeded at this level. Regardless of what class they play or what spec they play, they’re much more likely to find a home.”

Season Two of The War Within is set to go live on March 4, with the Undermine(d) content update arriving a week before that on February 25.