Developer Log - November 2024

General State

When we last gave an update we stated we had 1,911 issues still open across a broad spectrum of the game. As of this post this now stands at 1,720. Meaning that the QA & Bug Triage team alongside our developers have been able to close 191 issues with a further 52 in the Testing state awaiting validation of fixes done by our developers.

Effort has been spent this month going through our High and Critical priority issues and assigning them a category of Launch Blocking. As the name suggests these are the issues that if they aren't resolved we don't go live, when this number reaches zero it's go time. As of right now this stands at 83 issues.

I once again want to express a deep thank you to our volunteer QA team who have sacrificed their personal time to confirming issues, testing fixes and finding new undocumented issues.

Onyxia's Lair Tweaks

Onyxia’s Lair is now considered content complete! The lair has been enhanced with new trash types, immersive RP dialogue from Onyxia herself as you progress, and a curious twist involving Atressian shipping dragon eggs... somewhere. Onyxia’s brood of drake children defending her has grown from four to six, with two of them now serving as patrolling micro-bosses after Ortorg and Atressian have been defeated. These drakes share the same mechanics as those that will join Onyxia during her fight, offering your team a chance to learn these crucial mechanics before the final showdown.

Interesting Fixes

Here’s a quick roundup of some notable fixes and reworks we've recently implemented that stood out to us as something we're happy about.

Maraudon Portal

The Scepter of Celebras, originally introduced in Vanilla WoW, provided players with a flavorful way to access the depths of Maraudon. In Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard made this portal permanently available and gave the Scepter some stats to maintain its relevance. We’ve opted for a balanced approach: the Scepter now retains meaningful stats while also serving as the key to open a portal into Maraudon, preserving both its utility and iconic flavor.

Rare Creature Stats

While investigating rare creature behavior, our QA team discovered that over 90 custom rares introduced in Epoch were significantly overpowered compared to their Blizzlike counterparts. This imbalance was consistent across the board, so we’ve retuned these creatures to align with their intended difficulty. Rare hunting should now feel fairer while still providing an exciting challenge.

Mining Nodes

Another sharp-eyed discovery from our QA team revealed an issue with missing mining nodes in the Eastern Plaguelands. Although we recently restored thousands of spawns, a single overlooked ID caused broken nodes to persist across multiple zones. This issue is now fully resolved, and we’ve also adjusted mining spawns around custom content to better integrate with the world. With this, mining updates are complete, and we’re shifting focus to refining herbalism and chest spawns in custom areas, which is slated for completion next month.

Glittermurk Quests Expansion

We’ve made some improvements to the Glittermurk Mines, our custom dungeon, based on your beta feedback. Many players felt it needed better outside guidance to hint at its existence and provide more reasons to explore it. Previously, there were only four connected quests, which we agree wasn’t enough to build intrigue or excitement. This month, Kes has been hard at work not only fixing issues with the original quests but also adding five brand-new ones, bringing the total to nine. These quests, scattered across the world, offer rich lore, valuable gear, and compelling reasons to venture inside and uncover the mysteries of the Glittermurk Mines.

Alongside the above Kes has been continuing to add quests to other dungeons and zones. We will get a final count of these for the community as we approach launch.

Under Map Detection

In our ongoing efforts to enhance your adventuring experience, we’ve addressed a peculiar issue where movement abilities like Charge could occasionally send you on an unexpected trip beneath the map. While solving the root cause remains a monumental task, we’ve implemented a practical safeguard: if you fall through the world, you’ll be swiftly returned to a last known “good” position. This safety net applies both to the open world and indoor maps, ensuring your journey stays on track.

As a bonus, it also helps catch sneaky bots that manage to somehow bypass our anti-cheat, by traveling under the map they’ll find themselves redirected back to solid ground too.

This fix is a lifesaver for players in the deathless Soul of Iron mode, where a single bug-induced death could end a hard-fought adventure. With this system in place, you can continue exploring with confidence, knowing your progress is safe from unintended mishaps.

Thanks For All The Fish

This month, we’ve made a number of changes to the fishing system to enhance the experience. The Sunscale Salmon and Nightfin Snapper now follow Project Epoch’s accelerated game speed, meaning their availability will be more dynamic, tied to Day and Night cycles. We’ve also added a new achievement, Plenty of Fish in the Sea, which challenges players to catch every non-rare, non-seasonal fish in the game—including the elusive lava fish.

To update the Accomplished Angler achievement, we've removed the requirement for Master Angler of Azeroth, as the Booty Bay fishing derby doesn’t exist at launch. Instead, it now requires Turtles All the Way Down, Blackmaw Angler, and Plenty of Fish in the Sea. Lastly, to reduce achievement clutter, we’ve removed the Catch 25 Fish achievement, cutting down on unnecessary spam.

Guard System

We’ve introduced a new guard system to the game, addressing a key missing feature for both PvE and PvP servers. This Blizzlike system includes invisible guard posts scattered throughout the world, each with 10 charges, which replenish every 60 seconds. When a Citizen NPC is attacked, they call for help from the nearest guard post, consuming one charge and summoning 1 to 3 guards to engage in combat. These guards will despawn after a period of inactivity. Developed as part of our bug bounty program, this feature handles complex tasks such as generating the correct text when calling for guards and ensuring smooth performance behind the scenes.

Initially, the guard system has been focused on towns that already had guards in the original game. However, we’re planning to expand this feature to towns that previously lacked guards, as well as custom locations like the Harborage.

Racial Rework: Diplomacy Gets a New Deal

One of the key concerns with the Human racial ability "Diplomacy" in our Racial Knowledge system was its potential for exploitation. In its Blizzlike state, Diplomacy increases reputation gains by 10%, and with the ability to swap and focus on a specific reputation for a couple of weeks, this could lead to unintended advantages.

To address this, we've reworked the Human racial "Diplomacy" as follows: "You now receive an additional 5% gold discount with any faction you are Friendly or above with."

For non-Human players, the gold discount starts at 10% with the Honored reputation level, capping at 20% for Exalted. For Human players, the discount starts at 10% with Friendly and increases to 25% for Exalted.

A Call To War

This month, we wanted to shine a spotlight on some of the key PvP-specific updates we've made, including new arenas, important system implementations, and various tweaks to enhance the competitive experience.

We’ve wrapped up the core setup for our PvP Seasons, laying the groundwork for an exciting competitive journey. The Pre-Season state at launch will let you earn Warsong Gulch Marks of Honor and track your honorable kills, with the full seasonal system kicking in once Call to War goes live. Season 1 will introduce Honor and Conquest rewards from both Arenas and Battlegrounds, complete with a gradually increasing Conquest cap—just like retail! This cap lets you take breaks without penalty while helping us fine-tune the acquisition rate for top-tier PvP gear. With this all in place, the only thing left to complete for Call to War is crafting the Conquest reward armor and weapons!

This month, we’re excited to announce a fantastic new addition to our arenas, thanks to community member Ashnagarr! After spotting our bounty for a Classic+ inspired arena, Ashnagarr took it upon themselves to create a stunning new design inspired by the Tol'viron Arena from Cataclysm, but with a unique silithid theme. Not only did they craft this arena, but they also provided all the relevant art files to our team. We’re thrilled to confirm that The Scarab Pit will be included in our Call to War patch post-launch. Huge thanks to Ashnagarr for their incredible contribution—this new arena is sure to bring even more excitement to our Call to War patch!

Closing Statement

We know everyone is eager to jump into Project Epoch, and trust us, we’re just as excited to get it into your hands. However, we feel that our efforts are best spent right now addressing the remaining launch-blocking issues to ensure everything is polished for a smooth, successful launch. To that end, we’ve recently started recruiting for our web content team, are planning launch trailers, and are generally moving full steam ahead. We’re on track for an early 2025 launch, and we can't wait to see you all in-game soon!