Gamescom Interviews
Now that Gamescom is over the last few interviews are popping up with a few interesting details. (via Digitalspy, GameInformer, Allvatar, and JudgeHype)

Patch 4.3+
  • The new 5 man dungeons will help to introduce the Deathwing Raid.
  • The current plan with the Deathwing raid is to have it all available immediately upon release.
  • The Deathwing raid will be smaller than Ulduar with many phases or encounters with Deathwing.
  • Patch 4.4 will bring a world event before the next expansion.
  • The next expansion should be released with a "meaningful difference" in the release timeline compared to previous expansions.

Future Changes and Features
  • Paid Guild Transfers are still in the works.
  • Battle.net account wide achievements are still in the works.
  • Armor dyes are unlikely to be included in the game, but mount customization is a possibility.
  • Class Quests are unlikely to return due to the amount of time it takes to design and implement them.
  • No gold sinks are coming soon because of the large variance in the amount of gold players have.
  • A real money Auction House is not planned for WoW.

Other Notes
  • RealID LFD grouping was originally going to be paid because of the similarity to Paid Character Transfers, but they decided it was the right thing for the game to offer it for free.
  • Cross realm RealID grouping is going to be expanded to cover Battlegrounds as well. Depending on how well that works it could be expanded to raids and rated battlegrounds.
  • There has been a drop in gold farming because phishing and hacking accounts is more profitable.
  • New players are still having trouble with the first 30 minutes and five levels of the game, more hand holding is coming for very basic concepts like moving, questing, fighting, and looting.
  • Blizzard did a lot to save time while getting Cataclysm finished, but ended up happy with the final result.
  • The shared 10 and 25 man lockout has had both positive and negative effects, it solved the need to do both every week but removed some extra content that could be done every week. Some changes will be made in the future to make everyone happier with the solution.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Transmogrification of Heirlooms
I'd like to provide an update on this statement I made. It turns out that Heirlooms will be eligible targets for Transmogrification. Also (and this applies to all Transmogrified items), trading, mailing, auctioning or depositing an item in a guild bank will remove the Transmogrified art, returning the item in question to its original artwork. So, while you won't have to stare at the same old Heirlooms the whole time you're leveling, you won't be able to send a set of Heirlooms that have been Transmogrified with tier 13 art to your level 10 alt.

[...] Mainhand can only be applied to mainhand, and offhand can only be applied to offhand. This is partially due to the restrictions on certain types of weapon art.

Again, these are our first tentative steps with Transmogrification, and there's room for modifying the rules later on after the system is introduced, and we see how things shake out. Heck, the rules aren't even quite set in stone right now, and might change further before the system is introduced. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Transmogrification as a Gold Sink
The gold cost for Transmogrification hasn't been set in stone, but it's likely to be very similar to Reforging, meaning it'd scale with item level (probably the level of the item actually equipped). (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Transmogrification Options
The gear also still has to have stats aside from armor on it. That means that there are a lot of white or grey items that might not be available initially when Transmogrification goes live.

As an aside, a lot of people have been asking about hiding shoulders, belts, etc. For now, it's looking pretty unlikely that we'll offer the option to hide anything aside from helm and cloak. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Fan Art Update
The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with five new pieces of fan artwork set within the Warcraft universe.




Comics
Dark Legacy Comics #302 and Teh Gladiators #264 + #265 are available!

This article was originally published in forum thread: Gamescom Patch 4.3 Interviews, Blue Posts, Fan Art, Comics started by chaud View original post
Comments 244 Comments
  1. pilch's Avatar
    New players are still having trouble with the first 30 minutes and five levels of the game, more hand holding is coming
    what.
    Blizzard did a lot to save time while getting Cataclysm finished
    What for, exactly?
  1. Aberration's Avatar
    'meaningful difference" is the enigma of the week. I need more!
  1. Darkguyver2020's Avatar
    "New players are still having trouble with the first 30 minutes and five levels of the game, more hand holding is coming."
    Geez. Might as well have the game play by itself.
  1. Durandro's Avatar
    I knew it! Deathwing is going to be a multi-encounter boss! And you're going to be fighting on his back at one stage! I predicted these things before Cata launch. And I'm very pleased with it too. Still a shame we're not getting a nice big raid, but ah well. I still enjoyed this expansion a lot, and let's hope the next expansion is just as good (or better).
  1. ognomad's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by shootyadead View Post
    Wasn't Ulduar like the largest raid in wow though? I mean the place is massive. I remember when it launched it took us 20-30 minutes to get to Flame Leviathan. I can't imagine a raid being bigger, but yeah, hopefully as epic!
    Sarcasm noted.
  1. Dblbaconator's Avatar
    Gonna chime in on that timeline thing.

    I wouldn't be surprised if said "meaningful difference" allowed them to go through and fix up some of the still-broken parts of Cata. Most notable I can think of off the top of my head are finishing construction of Orgrimmar and putting out that damn fire on top of Stormwind's gate from Deathwing (that is some fire, lemme tell ya). Or maybe they'll just leave it like that for the hell of it, I dunno.

    Each expansion has pushed the timeline in WoW forward about one year or so (there's not a very concrete timeline out there, but pieced together, Classic took place 4 years after WCIII, BC 5, WotLK 6, Cata 7). A "meaningful difference" would have to be quite a bit longer than that. I doubt it'll mean a revamped Outland (especially since they just revamped a major portion of the game in Cata), but it wouldn't hurt. Still, we'd need a new storyline reason for going to Outland, and by extension Northrend, to justify a remake.

    As for the rest, sweet. Sad to see no class quests are planned. I feel like those would allow you greater connection to your character, giving you a bit of understanding as to why a shaman is a shaman, or a paladin a paladin, or a rogue a jerkface (I keed). And I hope mount customization becomes a reality. I'm already curious as to how creative people are going to be with their transmogrification; doing the same to mounts would let you get even more so!

    Blizzcon, why are you so far awaaay. D:
  1. Vengfulr3ap3r's Avatar
    Bloodelf art is amazing. I wish I had talent like that.
  1. Lancer's Avatar
    New players are still having trouble with the first 30 minutes and five levels of the game, more hand holding is coming.
    LOL. The first 30minutes of the game? I think Blizzard at this point should make each character have a "friend" that literally holds your hands and trains your spells AND walks you to your quest objective.
  1. miguelcrespo85's Avatar
    Bring back zombie invasion! the only world event in wow that ROCKED!
  1. lonedrifter's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Vengfulr3ap3r View Post
    Bloodelf art is amazing. I wish I had talent like that.
    I have to agree on that :) I love the fan art that comes up on MMO-Champ forums occasionally though, i usually end up changing my desktop background when a nice one like this one catches my eye <3~
  1. Arakkar's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dblbaconator View Post
    Gonna chime in on that timeline thing.

    I wouldn't be surprised if said "meaningful difference" allowed them to go through and fix up some of the still-broken parts of Cata. Most notable I can think of off the top of my head are finishing construction of Orgrimmar and putting out that damn fire on top of Stormwind's gate from Deathwing (that is some fire, lemme tell ya). Or maybe they'll just leave it like that for the hell of it, I dunno.

    Each expansion has pushed the timeline in WoW forward about one year or so (there's not a very concrete timeline out there, but pieced together, Classic took place 4 years after WCIII, BC 5, WotLK 6, Cata 7). A "meaningful difference" would have to be quite a bit longer than that. I doubt it'll mean a revamped Outland (especially since they just revamped a major portion of the game in Cata), but it wouldn't hurt. Still, we'd need a new storyline reason for going to Outland, and by extension Northrend, to justify a remake.

    As for the rest, sweet. Sad to see no class quests are planned. I feel like those would allow you greater connection to your character, giving you a bit of understanding as to why a shaman is a shaman, or a paladin a paladin, or a rogue a jerkface (I keed). And I hope mount customization becomes a reality. I'm already curious as to how creative people are going to be with their transmogrification; doing the same to mounts would let you get even more so!

    Blizzcon, why are you so far awaaay. D:
    A meaningful difference compared to other expansions doesn't necessarily mean a push forward. If the next expansion starts the moment Deathwing dies, I call that meaningful.
  1. Melilithia's Avatar
    "RealID LFD grouping was originally going to be paid because of the similarity to Paid Character Transfers, but they decided it was the right thing for the game to offer it for free." I LOVE YOU NOW BLIZZ.
  1. mmocfa3b6f5501's Avatar
    "Class Quests are unlikely to return due to the amount of time it takes to design and implement them."

    Lazy, IMO. Class quests would have been a good addition. So would the fabled Path of the Titans. It's a shame that Blizzard are making the game so linear.
  1. episode36's Avatar
    I was thinking that maybe as part of that "meaningful time difference" we will see updated pre-bc player models. After all, for many people, it has been years and years of their character growing (changing) in game. I hope that is part of the meaningful difference they are talking about, because it is way overdue.
  1. taheen74's Avatar
    I just hope we don't have to see 80 million MORE flight paths in the old areas next expansion. Bad enough that the second you level into the next zones the flight paths are there by default. How much hand holding do newer players need?
  1. chaud's Avatar
    I went ahead and clarified that they are talking about a release timeline, not in game timeline.
  1. Kwickslash's Avatar
    New players are still having trouble with the first 30 minutes and five levels of the game, more hand holding is coming.
    Really? I started playing 6 years ago when there was zero hand holding and I got by fine. Are new gamers really devolving into retards that much?
  1. Rokzum's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by episode36 View Post
    I was thinking that maybe as part of that "meaningful time difference" we will see updated pre-bc player models. After all, for many people, it has been years and years of their character growing (changing) in game. I hope that is part of the meaningful difference they are talking about, because it is way overdue.
    Wait what? You want us to look old?
  1. episode36's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Rokzum View Post
    Wait what? You want us to look old?
    No, lol. But I'm just saying all the time that has passed would be a good excuse to update the player models and that would definitely be a meaningful change. I mean I dunno if you were just joking or what though :P
  1. Duskmourne's Avatar
    Dryads are essentially naked in game too, but that art is really something else. At first I thought it was some weird superhero night elf, then I noticed the legs...

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