Phased Zones in Wrath of the Lich King

13 Sep 2008 at 16:14:29 by Bill Vaughan

You may have heard about the new "phased zones" Blizzard have introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, and for those of you that may not know what that means, I'll go over it a little now.

The first example we saw of a phased zone in the beta was the new Death Knight starting area. As Death Knights go through their training, the surrounding areas change. For example, when Death Knights have just been created, the land below the necropolis is still occupied by Humans, and houses are nicely kept. Later on, that same area is filled with wandering ghouls, and the buildings have become run-down. This is a small example, I could also mention the town that Death Knights have to spy on first, then invade on foot, then bomb from the air - the town changes for each different mission. At first, it was thought that Blizzard accomplished this by making the various stages of the Death Knight training "instanced" (on a seperate server to other WoW players), but now we know that's not the case.

Blizzard revealed that the process was accomplished by using phased zones, which means that everything takes place in the same area, but the environment changes according to what a player has accomplished. Players may be fighting side by side, but they won't see each other unless they are on the same phase.

In the Death Knight starting area, players change zones when they return to their necropolis after handing in specific quests. The next time they return to the ground, the environment has changed. This means players do not see things changing before their eyes, and this maintains believability.

Blue poster Crygil talked about this earlier, after being asked what zone phasing was, and if it will be a big part of WoW in the future:
    
"In essence, making the game experience reflect accomplishments you have completed, by showing the impact you have on the world around you. Thus making the world more immersive and dynamic. It’s really… really cool.

It is actually accomplished so subtlety that the experience is seamless. "

The only negative thing that springs to mind immediately is that, in most cases, once players have completed quests and changed phases, other players who have not done so will not be able to interact with those who have. This means that Blizzard are unlikely to make wide use of phased zones. Players who have completed objectives in a phased zone may not be able to go back and assist friends later.

However, phased zones do sound really cool - imagine completing a quest in WoW and actually seeing a permanent change to the world environment after that point.

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