World of Warcraft: The War Within Patch 11.1 reveals 'commitment' to key mode say developers

The latest patch for World of Warcraft's The War Within expansion shows long-term "commitment" to a key mode in the game going forward, according to its director.

The War Within Patch 11.1 goes live on February 25 and continues the Undermined update, where players will now finally be able to venture into the goblin capital city Undermine.

It's a location that's been teased in World of Warcraft lore for years.

Delves are mini-dungeons that can be cleared by solo players or teams of up to five; they've been fairly recently introduced, including two brand new ones for Patch 11.1, and game director Ion Hazzikostas said there's going to be loads more of them going forward in future updates.

Patch 11.1 shows 'commitment' to a fairly recently new addition to World of Warcraft, according to its game director / Activision Blizzard

Speaking to indy100, he said: "The new delves are reflecting our commitment to really building upon delves as a new feature, not just in The War Within, but World of Warcraft going forward.

"You can expect when we release a new zone, just as when we release a new raid in that zone and new quests, there are going to be new delves.

"We're excited to see how players embrace the approachability and flexibility of this new bitesize adventure mode."

As well as new delvers, players can join a goblin cartel. There's also a new ground mount, dungeon, raid, role-based tier sets, PvP arena map and there are changes to dungeons after player feedback has been listened to.

Players will be able to visit the goblin capital of Undermined / Activision Blizzard

Maria Hamilton, lead game designer of World of Warcraft, said: "It's an opportunity for us to finally visit Undermined which is a place we've talked about and teased for a long time.

"We're going right into this goblin city and learn more about the goblin people, their culture and who they are. We themed this as a rough-and-tumble kind of place where there are neighbourhoods based on cartels, there's a mean streets vibe to it.

"It's very goblin in terms of its appearance, the zone has a lot of dangerous areas that you can stumble into but we're also trying to tell a story that lets you learn more about goblins as a people and they're not just a joke."

Hazzikostas said developing Undermined has been really "fun" to see "the team's execution and vision of this space come together over the last few months".

The new D.R.I.V.E. mount in Patch 11.1 / Activision Blizzard

"Some creative processes are smoother than others and I think when we first settled on the idea of going to Undermined and had those initial meetings, getting a bunch of quest designers, world builders, narrative designers together, ideas were flying quickly," he said.

"It's such a fun place to explore that the biggest challenge was finding room for all of these ideas. It's been a joy for us and the team as a whole to work on this.

"We can't wait to see our players jump in and experience the depth, joy, humour and explosions."

Hamilton teased: "There are many ideas that we perhaps might be able to use later around what might we do in a goblin place. People had a really great time with this and we can't wait to see what people's reactions are when they go live."

The new PvP arena in World of Warcraft: The War Within Patch 11.1 / Activision Blizzard

For more from indy100, check out our recent reviews of Monster Hunter Wilds and Avowed.

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