Blizzard Entertainment held at PAX West the World of Warcraft: Legion — The Invasion Continues panel (Sept 3) to discuss details of the Demon Hunter, and the upcoming Patch 7.1: Return to Karazhan.

It is a tradition here at Blizzplanet to provide our visitors with a panel transcript whenever Blizzard goes to convention events (see our past coverage and panel transcripts). I’m a disable, and as such I recognize the need for transcripts for those with hearing impairment, or those with english limitations to read-only; or to those who would love an archive to read or search keywords without having to browse through the video.

Below is the panel video (jump to 03:13:42).

Transcript

INTRO

Moderator: Welcome, everybody! My name is Josh Allen (Lore). I am a community manager for World of Warcraft. Today, we are going to be talking a little bit about the Legion expansion which just launched. A little bit later we are going to take a look at some of the upcoming content that we are working on right now, and then depending on how much time we have, do a little bit of a Q&A at the end of that. Before we move on, I have got several members of the WoW development team with me here today. Let’s go ahead and welcome them to the stage.

Moderator: Joining us here today are Cory Stockton (lead game designer), Luis Barriga (who is also a lead game designer), and Eric Maloof (who is a senior game designer). Guys, real quick before we start… could you give us a quick rundown on what your roles are on the team?

Stockton: Hey guys! My name is Cory Stockton, and I’m a lead game designer on WoW, and big focus on Legion for me was the World Quest System, bringing Dalaran back, and a lot of the Dungeon Design.

Barriga: Hey, guys! I am Luis Barriga, I’m a lead game designer on Legion, and I help guide the design of the Demon Hunter class, some of the level up zones, as well as the Class Order Hall campaigns.

Maloof: I’m Eric Maloof, senior game designer and quest designer on World of Warcraft, and I was in charge of the Demon Hunter Quest Intro, as well as a lot of the throughput on the Class Order Halls, and the zone of Azsuna.

Moderator: Legion just launched, anybody got a chance to play it yet? Anybody in here?

(Crowd responds)

Moderator: OK! GOOOoood! Guys, the expansion is doing really really well. Am I right?

Barriga: We knew Legion was really special, and during the Beta when everything was coming together, we knew this expansion was going to be something for the books; but reception has blown us away — like the early reviews were coming in, they were really positive, fan reception has been phenomenal, we aregetting messages from France that haven’t played in years and they are like: “OMG, this is amazing,” and there is just concurrency. We have had to check and triple-check our numbers because it’s the highest they have been in recent memory. Several years for sure.

Stockton: Yea, you can feel the excitement around the expansion and all of us have been here for these expansions, and it’s hard to remember just having this much of feeling around the launch. So it’s really awesome.

Moderator: I guess, to bring everybody who hasn’t played the game yet up to speed (and also because it is cool), we have a quick video that we can show you guys as sort to recap what is in the game right now.

Khadgar: Heroes of Azeroth! I have witnessed our end. Demonic armies spilling over the horizon, and on to our shores. Heed my warning! The Burning Legion has returned! Stronger. More determined than ever before. These demons seek to annihilate everything upon Azeroth. No single person can stand against the Legion alone. Illidan: And so you came to me. I will deal with these intruders. AUGUST 30TH Varian: No. She wouldn’t. Genn: I knew we couldn’t trust her. Sylvanas: In the end, death claims us all. HEROES WILL FALL Gul’dan: The Legion cannot be stopped. KINGDOMS WILL BURN Illidan: Our time is short. Now go! STAND AND FIGHT Illidan: … but remember… Should you fail, all worlds will burn!

Moderator: So, I guess bring us up to speed on what the storyline is going on in this expansion. What is going on, and how is the story progressed since Warlords of Draenor?

Maloof: Sure. Hey, how is it going, PAX? First off, I just want to say we couldn’t be more thrilled bringing you guys this content. This is our sixth expansion for World of Warcraft — from the bottom of the team’s heart. We wanted to thank all of our fans.