D&D: World of Warcraft designer James Wyatt on classes and raids

Dungeons & Dragons: World of Warcraft is meant to feel like a D&D campaign set in Azeroth, not a tabletop copy of the MMO’s combat rules. That is the picture James Wyatt, principal game designer at Wizards of the Coast, gave in a sit-down interview with IGN at New York Comic Con. IGN describes the book as the first Universes Beyond expansion for D&D.

According to Blizzard’s announcement, the book releases on November 17, and early access begins on November 3.

How WoW classes become D&D classes

Wyatt told IGN he went through each class’s abilities and talent trees and stopped at roughly level 60, then looked for existing D&D rules, new spells, feats or maneuvers that capture each specialization. He called the approach paraphrase instead of translation. “Evoking the flavor is more important to us than reproducing the mechanics in any way,” Wyatt said.

Each specialization gets its own set of recommended feats. Because D&D roles are less rigid than in WoW, he explained, a Paladin can heal and tank no matter which subclass is picked, and a Priest is not limited to cloth armor. For Midnight’s Devourer Demon Hunter, he said he built on the existing Havoc and Vengeance setup and added spells and guidance for that spec after playing it in the Midnight beta.

Dungeons, raids and the Lich King

The dungeons in the book were chosen to fit a chapter on the six major conflicts that drove most WoW expansions, Wyatt said, with popularity rankings on a fan wiki as a second factor. The team started from a longer list and trimmed it to fit the page count and the different character level ranges.

Icecrown Citadel gets its own product. Wyatt told IGN it comes as a separate map pack of five double-sided poster maps showing its boss fights, plus a code for a digital download adventure. The Lich King is a challenge rating 25 opponent, above the level 20 cap for D&D characters, and the fight is designed to capture the feel of the raid encounter in fewer rounds rather than replicate it move for move.

Wyatt said the dungeon write-ups mark the boss locations and leave the space between them to the Dungeon Master, with random encounter tables available for those who want extra fights. “It is a great big toolbox,” he said of the book.

Factions, renown and Chromie

The book borrows the optional renown rules from the Dungeon Master’s Guide so characters can build standing with the Alliance, the Horde and other factions. Wyatt said the system can be ignored, and that the Icecrown Citadel adventure tracks renown with the Ashen Verdict separately, at a faster pace than in the core book.

Chromie writes the book’s short introduction, and her notes are scattered through its pages. According to Wyatt, her framing gives each group its own timeline, which he described as explicit permission to set canon aside.

New players and what comes next

Wyatt said the book was not built as an entry point to D&D, but he thinks WoW players will find it easy to start with because they already know the species and classes. It includes a brief explanation of what D&D is and points newcomers to D&D Beyond. The team ran an early playtest at Blizzard last fall with employees who did not know what they had signed up for.

The book runs up to the start of Midnight and covers Xal’atath only lightly, Wyatt said. He told IGN he would like to write another World of Warcraft book, but said that depends on how the relationship with Blizzard develops. On World of Warcraft: Forever, which arrived too late to be included, he suggested its new content is easy to bring into a campaign and said a new elven lineage could be something to discuss with Blizzard as a possible D&D Beyond release.