World of Warcraft’s next expansion, Midnight, takes one mechanic added in the last expansion and runs with it.
The MMORPG’s previous expansion, The War Within, added Delves, which are small, single-player dungeons to add some challenge and a feeling of progression to the game’s selection of solo content.
The next expansion will add a new system, known as Prey, that further expands on that idea of single-player challenge, and takes its inspiration from some of the strong enemies who hunt players during Delves, thanks to how excited players were for that concept.
Be Both The Hunter And The Hunted
If you’re unaware, Prey is a PvE system that allows players to add some more flavor to the overworld by picking a target creature to hunt. That creature will, in turn, also hunt the player, and will be able to ambush them into 1v1 fights as they explore, gather, and travel.
According to the expansion’s associate game director Paul Kubit and design director Maria Hamilton, speaking to PC Gamer, they’re interested to see how players respond to it.
We’re really looking to see how players respond to Prey. How many people are opting into that “I want my outdoor world to be difficult” versus “No, I like to have it nice and easy, because it’s easier to pick herbs when there aren’t things trying to murder me.” And we’ll go from there. – Paul Kubit
Hamilton, meanwhile, wasn’t sure about the idea of the player being hunted during Delves, but when she and the rest of the team saw how much of a hit it was with fans, there was a feeling of “oh, people really like this gameplay. This is cool. Let’s see if we can spread it to the outdoor world.”
Even then, she still had her doubts, but seeing the community’s excitement for it was enough to get her and the team committed to the system.
You might be looking at Prey and notice that it seems awfully similar to the Nemesis mechanic from Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel, which, despite the closure of those games’ developer, is still patented by Warner Bros., but the Prey system took inspiration from “lots of games,” including World of Warcraft’s own past.
According to Kubit, a big inspiration for Prey came from “the days of Burning Crusade up on the plateaus, where you were fighting against difficult monsters there, and other people would gather around to fight them.”
Hopefully, Prey will be able to recapture some of that feeling, and make traveling the overworld more dangerous and exciting for those who opt into the system.
Prey isn’t the only big new part of World of Warcraft: Midnight that players are getting hyped for, as the expansion is slated to finally add player housing as well.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
