Blizzard's 'happy with' Delves after 2 months of tuning and'regrets' and 'lessons learned'

For most of World of Warcraft’s 20-year history, dungeons and raids were the core of its endgame progression. You level up, run dungeons and then do raids. Other ways to get loot were available, but grouping up was the best way to get the best loot.

The War Within introduced Delves - mini dungeons that are scattered around the world and designed for solo players. The War Within introduced Delves, mini dungeons scattered throughout the world that are designed for solo players. They increase in difficulty and reward gear that is on par with what you could find previously only in group activities. The Delves were supposed to be a game changer for WoW's progression in the endgame, but early bugs with enemy health and damage scaling had players wondering what they were all about.

Blizzard has now fixed the worst problems with Delves, and players are beginning to adapt to the idea that dungeons are harder when you are in a group. There are still issues with how punishing Delves can be compared to other classes and how difficult it is to manage Brann Bronzebeard, your mouthy NPC companion.

Ion Hazzikostas, the game director, did not mention whether Brann would be quieter in The War Within Season 2. However, he confirmed that he will finally be able tank for you, in addition to his current healer and damage-dealer roles. Hazzikostas stated that it will "help" solo healer players, who don't wish to switch their specialization in order to complete high-tier Delves. Brann will get a brand new set of curios in the two goblin-themed Delves that are coming with patch 11.1.

Delves will not be making any major changes, except for Brann's role. Hazzikostas stated that Blizzard was "happy" with the current state of things and will continue to expand as the expansion progresses.

"There are definitely regrets and lessons to be learned." He said that scaling bugs were tricky and, until we realized they were bugs, led to over-corrections. Once these bugs were fixed, the team concentrated on "tweaking some pain points here and then, specific encounters, bosses we were seeing frustrate our players," he said.

"But other than that, players are having tons of fun." We're excited to see Delves take root as a new feature in the WoW endgame alongside raids and dungeons. This is exactly what we hoped for when we created the feature."

I'm not certain you could introduce a new feature as unique as Delves, without pissing off a few people. We're talking a part of a game that hasn’t changed dramatically in over a decade, and where you'll find its most dedicated - and loudest - players.

Hazzikostas stated that while they are not for everyone, many players enjoy the feeling of progress, of becoming stronger, and of overcoming a difficult challenge. "I think that in the past this gameplay was really only available to those who played in groups. You couldn't find a challenge as a single player, except for one-off challenges like the Mage Tower in Legion. We're excited to give players of all styles a chance to achieve goals.
In the coming year, WoW will offer something for everyone. In patch 11.1, the MMO will provide you with keys to a goblin-powered hotrod that can drift. In the next expansion of WoW, players will finally be able to live in their own homes, something they have been asking for almost 20 years.