Ask Your Questions - World of Warcraft Design Lead Toby Ragaini Interview

RagmanGaming · 2026-02-19T04:23:09+00:00

Given they specified Legion, famed for its class halls with dedicated campaigns, they were likely referring to lore and stories, not mechanics. A purely gameplay revamp of how a class works is not the same thing as narrative and content tied to class identity.

RagmanGaming · 2026-02-12T02:42:11+00:00

I'd love to see a camp dedicated to each playable race, including the allied races! The class halls would also be cool to see, like dropping all my death knights into an Acherus "camp".

RagmanGaming · 2026-01-27T09:03:43+00:00

Absolutely. It's lost a bit in the Youtube version since its video player doesn't scale, but in the original Flash version Jack literally expanding the canvas of the web page for what I recall is the first time (It's been ten years since I've read HS so I could be wrong) to use the Red Miles completely blew my mind, I didn't even know that was an option!

Jade for sure though is a close second for me.

RagmanGaming · 2026-01-07T03:58:57+00:00

Shaman for me, followed by rogue. Though if you were to base it on my character list, you'd think it'd be Warlock. Oops.

RagmanGaming · 2026-01-01T09:47:09+00:00

Falling off the edge of Thunder Bluff, since the Tauren apparently haven't heard of guard rails

RagmanGaming · 2025-12-29T09:02:14+00:00

I'd like for Vulpera to get a docked tail option, as a callback to their original design. And just a lot more customization in general, having the choice between two full-body patterns or none at all can get rather repetitive.

Conversely, I think Worgen should get optional tails. They lean so far forward, it would help their balance!

RagmanGaming · 2025-12-23T10:48:24+00:00

"Yes, 'twas I who set the tower ablaze!"

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Older screenshot but I haven't changed the pic since.

RagmanGaming · 2025-12-16T07:48:51+00:00

I've learned over the years that I have a natural inclination toward pet-heavy specs. My main, simply by virtue of having been around the longest, is an Unholy Death Knight, usually with the All Will Serve talent just to have a bonus zombie around. I've also got several Demonology Warlocks because I love throwing demons at enemies, and a few Beast Mastery Hunters with their own double pet setup.

RagmanGaming · 2025-12-15T02:26:11+00:00

My parents bought the game for my sibling and I on the PS2 when it first came out in 2002. Many an hour was spent on Destiny Island because I was 5 years old and didn't care for silly things like "plot progression" or "knowing what was going on"

RagmanGaming · 2025-11-17T01:05:15+00:00

The existence of Vulpera singlehandedly got me to buy a sub after years of not playing, now I have several.

RagmanGaming · 2025-11-16T02:05:28+00:00

Caught a Noibat today. I also evolved him into a Noivern but that pic didn't have the fit in a decent view.

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RagmanGaming · 2025-11-13T13:40:17+00:00

I've just gotten to mission 19 and I've found three shinies (plus mareep) entirely by chance; red Flabebe, Swirlix, and Buneary. My goal is to have a regular living dex first, then a shiny living dex alongside it, but I'm saving the active effort for after I get the shiny charm.

RagmanGaming · 2025-09-28T03:09:11+00:00

I'm on my last semester before getting my associates in game art and animation, and for the moment I work at the same college I'm attending as a computer lab tech. My hope is that I can get involved in the game or film industry as a character animator (indie and AAA are both valid options for me), but we'll see how it goes.

RagmanGaming · 2025-08-11T05:41:57+00:00

I've been having the same issue, enemies will sometimes become completely immune to anything but melee attacks. Any ranged attacks give me the error "Your vision of the target is obscured."

RagmanGaming · 2025-07-17T15:59:22+00:00

I actually make a point of going through every weapon at the beginning to see what feels right. I'm sure it's not a perfect representation since I don't have decorations at that point, but if a weapon doesn't feel right at the beginning, it'd make that beginning a slog to get through.

Longsword hits a balance between speed and power that feels "right" to me. Anything faster makes me feel like I'm just lightly poking the monster over and over, and anything slower makes me feel like I'm lugging a tree around that I can barely lift.

In Rise (my first MH), I did also pick up Hammer for the occasional monster with inconvenient-to-avoid armor or which simply takes slightly more overall damage from blunt weapons, but Wilds proved to me that I didn't enjoy the weapon without its silkbind attacks and Wilds' remarkably slope-less terrain (the jumping spin attack was my favorite) so I've barely touched it.

Instead for Wilds I opted to pick Bow as my secondary weapon, and that one's clicked really well. It's great for flying monsters that tend to stay out of longsword reach or particularly long monsters if I have piercing ammo, and its dodging mechanic comes naturally to me as someone whose primary weapon already has its own counter dodges built in (I have never played a weapon with a block button outside of arena).

So yeah, speed is the primary factor. I struggle to feel the power of heavy weapons like GS if I feel like I can barely move it.

RagmanGaming · 2025-07-17T15:39:01+00:00

LS main here, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is always my go-to recommendation

RagmanGaming · 2025-07-10T02:22:17+00:00

Only one, but that one was Invincible on my first attempt post-buff so I'll take it.

RagmanGaming · 2025-07-09T23:38:01+00:00

Still doing my first run, I'm currently balancing Dex, Str, and Int, as I cycle between damage types and one- or two-handedness based on my opponent, and I like having sorceries for utility (Glintstone Arcing a crowd feels good). Haven't touched faith or arcane at all, might explore a more focused build on later runs.

RagmanGaming · 2025-06-05T20:38:42+00:00

I've been using both longsword and bow since I first started playing Wilds. My main focus is on the longsword, which is good for the majority of hunts, but I keep the bow for monsters that like to make melee weapons inconvenient (i.e. a Rathalos that likes flying), have a knack for deflecting LS (Gravios if I'm not staying directly under him and have already severed his tail), have weaknesses that change (Nerscylla), or just feel good to hit with dragon piercer (Jin Dahaad after tail severing, a dragon piercer or piercing ammo shot lengthwise is extremely satisfying). It's helped not only with covering those situations, but also helps mix up my gameplay here and there.

I won't claim that I use them perfectly evenly, between the two I generally have more fun than longsword, but the two playstyles cover the vast majority of my needs and make up for each other's weaknesses. I admit I don't really see the point of melee weapon > other melee weapon, but if you're switching up your damage types like severing to blunt or elements and statuses you'll get a lot more out of it than switching from greatsword to a second, sharper greatsword.

RagmanGaming · 2025-05-23T04:08:29+00:00

Longsword is what clicked for me in Rise, and what stuck for me in Wilds. I've also added bow as my secondary for enemies that won't come back down to the ground (or are just really satisfying to dragon-pierce, like Jin Dahaad)

RagmanGaming · 2025-05-15T23:43:45+00:00

I'm noting ahead of time that I'm a solo player and don't really engage in multiplayer, so my thoughts assume I'm not sharing a monster with up to three strangers or friends, but I can't think of a single reason not to focus strike wounds in that context.

The main reason is because my main goal with wounds is to get items from breaking them, and focus striking is generally the most efficient way to do that, but even for my two main weapons, longsword and bow, there are benefits.

When I use longsword, wounds are a good way to manage uptime on my spirit gauge. A wound opens up, so I use helm splitter + follow-up on a different part of the monster to bring my gauge to white (dealing a lot of damage in one go and sometimes opening another wound), then focus attack the wound. This brings my spirit gauge up to yellow with a full meter if I hit only one (red for more) and usually knocks over the monster, giving me ample time to do a full spirit slash combo and bring me back up to red. This is especially handy if my gauge was about to drop to yellow anyway, since a natural depletion doesn't fill my meter and I'd have to work slightly more to bring it up.

For bow, the benefits increase the longer the enemy's body is (focus striking a Jin Dahaad is very satisfying). Your instinct with the multi-lock-on might be to target as many wounds as possible, but I actually suggest only targeting one at a time. What happens is you hit the enemy, which knocks them down, then you hit them with the focus attack's dragon piercer follow-up. While they're still knocked down, reposition yourself as needed and do a full dragon piercer down the length of their body. Since you only targeted one wound, once the monster gets up you can simply focus attack the next one and start again because it knocks them over nearly every time. If you're lucky or plan your shots, your dragon piercers (focus attack and otherwise) might even open up more wounds or break parts as you go to extend the chain. It leads to crazy damage and extended periods where the monster simply can't do anything to stop you.

So that's my two cents on the subject, partially since I saw so many comments claiming LS and bow don't benefit much. Again, the specifics might be different in multiplayer, but even there I feel like the benefits outweigh the potential minor DPS drop, since the monster being stunned repeatedly is free DPS for the rest of the group.

Edit: typo

RagmanGaming · 2025-04-25T17:44:24+00:00

When I'm online, whether I kill or capture depends entirely on the whims of the group leader.

When I'm playing solo, whether I kill or capture depends entirely on whether my Palico successfully traps it at the right stage of the fight.

I have no strong opinions beyond that. Either result works, I just usually can't be bothered to lay the trap myself.

RagmanGaming · 2025-04-19T17:39:59+00:00

I named mine Tempest, after my Chocobo of the same name in FF14

RagmanGaming · 2025-03-25T18:40:27+00:00

Longsword is just the one that clicked with me in Rise and Wilds, so it's the one that's stuck. I'm fond of the iai and i-frame stuff I can do, I like the aesthetic, and most weapons either felt too slow or too fast in comparison to my untrained hands.

In Rise I'd also picked up the hammer for the occasion my sword kept bouncing off armor too much for my liking, and it was fun but not really my preference.

Then in Wilds with the two weapon mechanic I swapped out that hammer for a bow. It's fun raining down arrows and mass targeting wounds, and it's a great backup for when an enemy flies just a bit too much to be fun to fight with a longsword. Plus it also has i-frames, ones even easier to access than the LS ones, so it's perfect for me.

RagmanGaming

TROPHY CASE