Warcraft Rumble Season 7 team talks Cenarion family: “So much of Warcraft Rumble is about the humor of the characters, and our version of epic is on a tinier scale.”

Warcraft Rumble Season 7 is now live! This season features five additions to the Cenarion family, the Cenarion Festival event, plus Moonglade's new campaign maps and bosses. Ahead of all of the key features launching on July 24, we sat down with Warcraft Rumble senior designer Brendan Farrell and art director Jeremy Collins for an exclusive interview!

In Warcraft Rumble, Cenarius is a leader unit with a flexible kit. For example, his crowd control (CC), area of effect (AoE), Treant summons, and healing makes him all about sustain, building pushes, and lane control. This demigod from the World of Warcraft universe also has a rich history and iconic appearance. In his interview with esports.gg, Collins shared how the Warcraft Rumble team encapsulated all of that into a single unit for mobile devices.

"From a visual standpoint, there's a lot of years of lore of Cenarius and Cenarion throughout all of the World of Warcraft," Collins said. "So we wanted to make sure when we were designing Cenarius that we hit the main key features of him. He's half horse, half Night Elf. He's got a giant tree branch arm that was a really big part of his design. And anytime we "rumblefy" anything — because we're on a mobile — we have to think about the device that it's being played on."

Collins continued, noting how screen real estate is at a premium in mobile games. Therefore, players should be able to instantly recognize new Cenarion units on the battlefield thanks to their nature-themed aesthetic and Night Elf-style kit.

The Warcraft Rumble team did the same for Onu, who is the other new Cenarion leader unit. In terms of Onu's kit, he has the Safe Arbor leader ability that makes him a mobile deploy zone.

"He's this big tree guy. He's got this warm, friendly vibe," Farrell continued. "And so it makes sense that if he's out on the field, he would help you play your minis near him."

The zone, which was originally a circular shape but now a more rectangular one, also blocks enemy deploys near Onu to create strategic depth. "So if you're playing against an Onu, you have to think, 'Oh, I have to deal with him before he gets to my base because my opponent is going to drop a Gargoyle or some [Goblin] Sappers or something right there. And they're gonna hit my base right away,'" Farrell said.

He then provided an example of how Onu can synergize well with Faerie Dragon.

"Onu [has the] Vulnerable [trait], so he takes extra Elemental damage much like Spiderlings do. And we realized early on like, 'Oh, you can play Faerie Dragon with him. Faerie Dragon has the talent in which she grants Resist to one nearby ally.' We found ourselves doing that a lot to shore up his vulnerability at the expense of not being able to use [Faerie Dragon's] blessing on anyone else." This combination lets players use Onu's mobile deploy zone while increasing his survivability.

In addition to the leaders, Warcraft Rumble Season 7 introduces Ancient of War, Moonkin, and Bog Beast as new troops. All of these are additions to the Cenarion family, and Collins detailed the art and design work that went into them.

For example, once the Warcraft Rumble team identified Bog Beast as a new unit, they realized he needed a visual update. The Bog Beast had been a boss in Un'Goro and went well with that map's color palette. However, as a playable unit, some shapes were not as clear from different angles. Since players view the character from behind as it marches toward a boss, the team made visual updates to fix him up.

Collins noted that he's a fan of the Moonkin unit as well. He recalled how Moonkin are beloved in the World of Warcraft universe and revealed that the team wanted to have as much fun as possible when creating the unit's design. In Warcraft Rumble, Moonkin even has an adorable dance!

"We just tried to have as much fun as possible," Collins said. "So much of Warcraft Rumble is about the humor of the characters, and our version of epic is on a tinier scale. We wanted to make sure that humor shines through, and I can't think of a better character to do that with than the Moonkin."

As the Cenarion Festival draws near, Warcraft Rumble players can look forward to testing out the aforementioned units. Week 1 of the event will let players add Cenarion minis to their army. Meanwhile, Week 2's Cenarion Surge event will allow players to test out different families working alongside Cenarion units. Then, in Week 3, Cenarion-themed quest modifiers will mean trees everywhere! Farrell went into why this Cenarion Festival is significant.

"In past seasons, we've come out with one new mini at a time, and that mini is available in War Chests and in PvP," he said. "In Season 7, we're coming out with five new minis. They can't all fit in War Chests and PvP, so this event is going to be a great place to unlock those minis and unlock copies of those minis so you can upgrade them."

To tie everything up into a neat bow, Warcraft Rumble Season 7 also introduces Moonglade. This new zone has bosses such as Cenarius himself, Ysera, Starblaze plus Omnuron, Brumeran, and Brightwing.

In terms of highlights, Farrell revealed that environmental-wise, Brumeran's map is gorgeous. He described how Brumeran is up on this peak that adds a lot of background depth. It's easy to focus solely on the action, but when a player pauses or zooms out, they may realize how cool it is to be fighting on a clifftop. This setting adds an extra sense of danger and risk, making it feel like they've truly climbed to the mountaintop to battle the boss.

Collins agreed, adding how there's an emphasis on environmental storytelling in the game overall. Brightwing's map, for example, resembles a secret garden that's filled with flowers. Additionally, its overgrown and nature-filled design perfectly encapsulates the Cenarion family's vibe.

As for parting words, Collins revealed how the Blizzard museum was recently remade around Warcraft Rumble, chronicling the project's journey from its prototype to the live game. As someone who has been on the project since the very beginning, seeing this is always incredibly rewarding.

Meanwhile, Farrell emphasized how the Warcraft Rumble team is passionate and dedicated to listening to player feedback. The team wants to improve the game and provide fun yet challenging content across its different modes.

That's all for now. The Cenarion Festival kicks off on July 24! Stick around on esports.gg for more news and updates.