Dungeons & Dragons is starting to preview its World of Warcraft book

Several influencers have revealed some details about the upcoming World of Warcraft crossover book, which is due to be released later this year. Most of the previews appear to center on how dungeons will be used in the book, with the GameMasters YouTube channel confirming that dungeons will be split up into different tiers of play. GameMasters revealed 7 dungeons that will appear in the book, with the Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep set up for Levels 1-4 players, Blackfathom Deep and Scarlet Monastery for Levels 5-10 players, Scarlet Monastery (again) and Dire Maul set up for Levels 11-16 players, and Azjol Nerub and Anoxia’s Lair for Levels 17-20 players.

Crit Hit the Giant provided some additional flavor about dungeon setup, with his preview of Dire Maul containing a large map of the dungeon, plot hooks for the dungeon, and a list of NPCs and monsters that populate the dungeon. From the looks of the preview pages in this video, it seems that each dungeon will be broken out into some detail, although it will be left to the DM to decide how to use each dungeon within their own game.

As I’m not a World of Warcraft player, it’s hard to tell how closely these dungeons skew towards the video game, but it looks like the average D&D DM will be able to use these dungeons in their own games without much issue. I find it interesting that Wizards of the Coast is turning towards D&D influencers, several of whom expressed in their own videos having a general lack of knowledge of the World of Warcraft setting as well. One would think that they’d be leaning on World of Warcraft influencers or Blizzard instead, but it was interesting that BlizzCon (an annual event focusing on Blizzard video games) came and went with no mention of the World of Warcraft/D&D crossover.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Is EverQuest II still even a thing? I barely hear anything bout that compared to EverQuest 1.

I believe it died and exists only with fans setting up their own private servers.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This kind of hurts my soul.

Asking long-time players to be able to devote the same amount of time to play WoW as when they were 17 when they're 39 is not a sustainable model.

The old school raiding model, with normal, heroic and mythic difficulty raids, is still there, as are the hardcore PvP avenues.

But they've also created ways for other people to play alongside that. The gear isn't as good and they don't get the exclusive mounts, etc., that you get for playing through the harder content when it's new, but it lets people enjoy the game that, in many cases, they've spent more than half of their lives playing.

If you are one of those folks who's still managing the more hardcore play, you've got mythic gear and exclusive gladiator mounts, etc. What the more casual folks have isn't the same as what you have and doesn't hurt you in any way.

 

[overgeeked]

The old school raiding model, with normal, heroic and mythic difficulty raids, are still there, as are the hardcore PvP avenues.

Whippersnapper. Mythic is still a newfangled thing to me. Never been on a Mythic anything in WoW.

But yeah, quality of life improvements are an all-around good. They let more people play the game rather than restrict things to just the hardcore lifers. If they only catered to those people, the game would have died years ago. It's specifically the courting of casuals, and most hardcore players aging into casual status, that's kept it alive all these years. More people getting to see more of the game is always good.

 

[abazaba]

What is the most mind blowing thing to me - even though I never played WoW - is that over 20-ish years since the game launched, people are still playing it. The only other 'things' I can think of right now that lasted that long (or even longer), are: 'The Simpsons', 'South Park', and 'Dr Who.'. Regardless of what you might think of the game, I think that is quite an achievement.

 

[Weiley31]

You can even just do LFR (automated pick-up raids) if you want to raid (although the gear is worse and the people are a mix of randos). They also have added a Story Mode to raids so you can see the big story beats without being part of a raiding team. (My wife hates LFR and only sees the big story stuff doing Story Mode with me, which can be done solo or in a small group.)

This has had consequences for the community aspect of the game, but if you aren't worried about that, it's pretty nice.

This kind of hurts my soul.

While I get it kinda goes against the nature/heart of what a MMORPG is, I'm glad ones like FF14 and WoW are starting to introduce "some" aspect of a single player/Story Mode for its dungeons and raids. At this rate if I keep waiting, I'll have Endwalker(ff14) playable for free since we are up to Shadowbringers now trial wise.

Warcraft 3/Frozen Throne made me a Warcraft fan. Im only into WoW for that/armor look/storyish. I simply like Burning Legion, Wrath of The Lich King, and Legion expansion wise thematically(plus demon hunters were cool). If I could play a single player version of those with Death Knight/Demon Hunter, I'd be happy with that.

Im mostly a single player/couch co-op gamer.

 

[overgeeked]

While I get it kinda goes against the nature/heart of what a MMORPG is, I'm glad ones like FF14 and WoW are starting to introduce "some" aspect of a single player/Story Mode for its dungeons and raids. At this rate if I keep waiting, I'll have Endwalker(ff14) playable for free since we are up to Shadowbringers now trial wise.

Warcraft 3/Frozen Throne made me a Warcraft fan. Im only into WoW for that/armor look/storyish. I simply like Burning Legion, Wrath of The Lich King, and Legion expansion wise thematically(plus demon hunters were cool). If I could play a single player version of those with Death Knight/Demon Hunter, I'd be happy with that.

Im mostly a single player/couch co-op gamer.

Yep. WoW would make a fantastic single-player game. It's the MMO aspects that let it down. Mostly because, as always, people suck.

 

[Remathilis]

While I get it kinda goes against the nature/heart of what a MMORPG is, I'm glad ones like FF14 and WoW are starting to introduce "some" aspect of a single player/Story Mode for its dungeons and raids. At this rate if I keep waiting, I'll have Endwalker(ff14) playable for free since we are up to Shadowbringers now trial wise

Elder Scrolls Online (12 years old) just started introducing solo dungeons, and it's always had a strong questing scene. There is Endgame trial (raid) score pushing and PvP, but most ESO players are content playing "Skyrim with Friends"

 

[Scribe]

Asking long-time players to be able to devote the same amount of time to play WoW as when they were 17 when they're 39 is not a sustainable model.

The old school raiding model, with normal, heroic and mythic difficulty raids, is still there, as are the hardcore PvP avenues.

But they've also created ways for other people to play alongside that. The gear isn't as good and they don't get the exclusive mounts, etc., that you get for playing through the harder content when it's new, but it lets people enjoy the game that, in many cases, they've spent more than half of their lives playing.

If you are one of those folks who's still managing the more hardcore play, you've got mythic gear and exclusive gladiator mounts, etc. What the more casual folks have isn't the same as what you have and doesn't hurt you in any way.

Yeah, I get it, and Classic TBC was the end of any claims at Raiding for me, not only because Wrath had the patch in it that killed my desire to play at all, but I get it.

I just think that the community aspects, the NEED to raid/group/etc, to get the whole experience/story? I think thats important, but I get it, demographics change.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yep. WoW would make a fantastic single-player game. It's the MMO aspects that let it down.

I definitely see a ton of folks walking around nowadays guild-less, more than ever before. With the advent of war banks (a guild bank-style shared bank across all your alts -- so, like a guild bank but not full of random garbage), it's a very doable path, so long as you don't pine for the top gear, limited time achievement-based mounts, etc.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

What do you mean by “proper” orcs? It was Warcraft that really drove the cultural change in orcs away from Tolkien.

Hmm... gaucho latinx/traveler coded orcs vs. Fantasy barbarian warrior culture from another dimension wrestling with demonic corruption....from my perspective at least orcs of Azeroth are an interesting evolution on orcs and more reflective of what players who actually want to play orcs in 2026 are looking for. Their roots still show as coming from Tolkien, at least, but their range is much more dynamic and interesting in terms of a playable species without losing their penchant for violent conflict and villainy.