WoW Forever: over 20 raid bosses, Europe and US kept apart

The fifth episode of the official WoW Forever podcast, an end-of-beta special of about 101 minutes with Josh Greenfield, Clay Stone, Ana Resendez and Michael Nuthals, put a new number on the first raids. The Barrow Deeps and Hyjal Summit will hold more than 20 new bosses between them; the figure of 20 was corrected upwards during the conversation.

Lead Encounter Designer Michael Nuthals gave a first look at the fights. The Barrow Deeps has an encounter built around a damage-boosting buff that can turn dangerous to use, and a pair of spiders. At Hyjal Summit one fight switches between an undead, crocolisk-like creature and the being that has taken over its body, and another was hinted at as body horror.

Blizzard wants 10-player and 20-player raid groups to keep getting content across future updates, so an existing group does not have to change its size. The reworked Molten Core is coming back as well. No encounters were shown, but Greenfield hinted that Golemagg will ask for more than tanking and damage.

Europe and North America stay separate at launch: dropping realm choice does not mean one worldwide game, and cross-region play is ruled out for now. Players are not grouped by language just because of where they live either. A setting picks your preferred language, and grouping with friends who speak another one still works. Some secrets below level 30 were switched off for the beta and are being kept for launch.