Buffed.de interview with Jeff Kaplan

[Boubouille]

buffed.de interviewed Jeff Kaplan (Tigole) during the Games Convention today. We learned a few more things about WotLK.

• The new Caverns of Time instance will be Stratholme (5 players, level 80 instance). You'll join the "old" (and good) Arthas to clean Stratholme and burn everything on your way !
• The prereq level for Death Knight probably won't be 80 to avoid any leveling rush just to unlock it. It could possibly be between 55 and 60. Once you reached the required level you create your Death Knight and face some challenges. If you have mastered them, you will get your Death Knight.
• Runes combination will unlock different abilities for the Death Knight. You can use up to 6 runes and there isn't any restriction (6 unholy, 2 unholy 2 frost 2 blood, 3 frost 3 blood, etc ...). For example you will need blood and unholy runes to use "Army of the Dead", and won't be able to use it if you've only got frost runes.
• Future hero classes could be Demon Hunter, Arch Mage, and Blademaster.
  

Full translation of the interview : (Thanks to Druidika for doing it so fast for not-so-much money. *cough*)

buffed.de is talking with Jeff Kaplan, Lead Designer World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)

On the first day of the Leipzig Games Convention 2007, the buffed.de team had the opportunity to talk about World of Warcraft's second expansion with Blizzard's Lead Designer. In this exciting interview Jeff gives away some details about the upcoming instance "The Caverns of Time: Stratholme", in which you, together with an old acquaintance, fight against the Scourge - and more.

Jeff: Your magazine cover looks really cool.
buffed: You have seen it already? We are very proud of it.
Jeff: Well, you can be!

buffed: Did you have the opportunity to read out magazine already?
Jeff: Unfortunately no. Someone was walking around with the magazine and I only read "buffed", saw the cover and thought "Sweet"!

buffed: We have a pretty comprehensive section about BlizzCon in our magazine.
Jeff: Yes, you also have a picture of Sammy (Sam Didier, Senior Creative Director, Blizzard Entertainment). Have you seen Sammy already? He is around here somewhere. He is the front man of the Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftains.

buffed: Ah, you mean the picture in which he is on stage, with Mike Morhaime playing the bass right next to him. A cool photo.
Jeff: Yeah, a really good photo!

buffed: Now, to the topic: We heard a lot of things about Wrath of the Lich King at BlizzCon. Have there been any news since?
Jeff: There are a few things that we did not talk about at BlizzCon. The most important thing is the new Caverns of Time instance Stratholme. We wanted to return to the Caverns of Time concept because it is one of the coolest things we released for World of Warcraft: and we wanted to persue what the Bronze Dragon is up to. We want to show you some of the coolest moments of Warcraft. And now we chose Stratholme. Players of World of Warcraft already know Stratholme and many hardcore players are great fans of the old Stratholme instance. Warcraft 3 players however know Stratholme from a single player mission, in which Arthas travels to the city and sets all buildings on fire, kills the citizens and fights Mal'Ganis. In Wrath of the Lich King you fight at Prince Arthas' side, by travelling through the Caverns of Time. We are giving you the opportunity of meeting Arthas at a time at which he was not a great villain yet. You are "cleaning" Stratholme and igniting buildings!

buffed: Awesome! For how many players is this instance designed?
Jeff: It will be a five player instance, but for level 80 characters. We think that players will not enter the Caverns of Time while they are levelling, but return to them at level 80.

buffed: Have you already decided which race the Death Knight will be based on? If one plays a Gnome, will the Death Knight be a Gnome too?
Jeff: Yes, we have already made a decision. But do not be surprised if we decide to change our minds. You know, game design is a very flexible job. Right now, every race can become a Death Knight, even Gnomes. We have thought about some things since BlizzCon. Characters most likely will not have to be level 80 to unlock the Death Knight, it will probably be earlier. Levelling to level 80 like a maniac to unlock the Death Knight is simply not fun. It makes people rush through the game. That is why we will make it differently. We have many ideas, but we have not decided on one yet. Maybe the Death Knight will be unlocked between level 55 and 60. Then you create your Death Knight and face some challenges. If you have mastered them, you will get your Death Knight.

buffed: But the newly created level 55 to 60 character will not become a Death Knight, or will it?
Jeff: No, the old character stays. You just get an additional one. You know, many players give their characters names related to their class. There are many names specific to Druids...

buffed: You mean names like "ilove2spooch" in the World of Warcraft Southpark episode?
Jeff: (laughs) Yes, exactly. There are many names like that. And many just would not fit and that is why we are giving the players the chance to give their Death Knights a new, suitable name.

buffed: Can you give us some details about the Death Knight's abilities?
Jeff: Sure. The resourcing system is completely different and based on runes. At Blizzard we are concentrating on making the characters differ from each other as much as possible. The best example are Rogue and Warrior. The Rogue uses combo points and the Warrior uses rage - quite a difference. When we started developing the Death Knight, we wanted it to feel distinct. That is why we gave him runes, which can be ingraved to his weapon, an axe or sword. There are three different types of runes: blood, unholy and frost. Depending on how you combine them, you get different abilities. The maximum you can have is six, and you can combine them in any way you want. For example: you could use two of each type of rune, or you could use four unholy runes and two blood runes, because you want to tank with your Death Knight. Or you could change your rune configuration for PvP battles. If you use your abilities, you consume those runes, however. We have one skill called "Army of the Dead", which summons Ghouls. Right now you need unholy and blood runes for that ability, I believe. If you only had frost runes ingraved on your weapon, you could not use that ability. We have developed a pretty cool system that makes the runes on your weapon glow if you change the combination.

buffed: Last question: the Death Knight is only the first of many hero classes. Which hero class would you like to introduce next?
Jeff: My favorite? That is hard to say. I think the Demon Hunter would be extremely cool. The Arch Mage would be cool too...
buffed: (whispers) Blade Master!
Jeff: (laughs) There are many options, among them, of course, the fantastic Blade Master. We did a lot of brain storming and also thought about classes that were not present in Warcraft 3. But we wanted to advance slowly and introduce the Death Knight first in Wrath of the Lich King. And then we will see what is next.

[Druidika]

It's me, I'm the poor translator in the OP. I am.

[Boubouille]

And you're even flooding my forum, go back to your crappy spaceship game !

[Shadowclaimer]

I really really don't like the "all races can be death knights" that makes me mad actually...

Orcs and Humans? Possibly.. but all races is just retarded.. I mean flat out..

GG Blizz

[Skulver]

Woot, Gnome Death Knight ftw. Why does nobody ask if the opening cinematic includes a gnome this time round?

[Nekomusume]

*sigh* why did I spend the last 45 minutes translating the interview if it's already been done?
Oh well, it was a good training >_<

EDIT: I'll post my translation anyway! Nyaha!

buffed: We already heard a lot of things about Wrath of the Lich King at BlizzCon. Any news since then?
Jeff: There are a couple of things we haven't talked about at BlizzCon, such as the new "Caverns of Time"-Instance Stratholme. We wanted to get back to the CoT-concept as it was one of the coolest things added to WoW recently. We also want to pursue what the Bronce Dragonflight is up to. We seek to show you the greatest moments of Warcraft history, and now we picked Stratholme. Many hardcore WoW players are fans of the old Stratholme-instance, while Warcraft 3 players know Stratholme from the single player mission, in which the player controls Arthas, burning buildings, killing the residents and fighting the Dreadlord Mal'Ganis. In WotLK you will have the opportunity to battle alongside Arthas before he turned into what he is now. You will "cleanse" Stratholme und burn it down!

[...]

Jeff: Stratholme is going to be designed for a group of 5 level 80 characters. We don't want players to visit CoT - Stratholme during leveling, but to return when they hit 80.

buffed: A question regarding the new hero class, the Death Knight: players will encounter Arthas during levelling more than once, for example in the Caverns of Time. Where else?
Jeff: CoT - Stratholme will not be part of unlocking the DK. The Death Knight is going to be a complete new gaming experience. They start with a level much higher than regular characters, supposedly level 55-60. This has yet to be determined. We are going to explain exactly how your Death Knight will be able to elude the influence of the Lich King, this development will be completely independent from the new Caverns of Time.

buffed: Did you already decide which race the playable Death Knight is going to be once a player unlocks it? For example, if your original character is a gnome, will the DK be one, too?
Jeff: Yes, we already have decided on that. But don't be surprised if we change our mind. You know, game designing is a very flexible matter. At the moment, any class can be a Death Knight, including gnomes. We reconsidered a couple of things since BlizzCon. Players probably don't have to be level 80 to unlock the Death Knight, the class will be accessible earlier. Powerleveling to level 80 in order to get to play the Death Knight as soon as possible is no fun and makes people rush through the game. We do have a lot of ideas regarding this topic. We haven't decided yet, but maybe the DK will be unlockable between level 55 and 60. Players can then create their Death Knights and have to go through a trial in order to be able to play their DKs.

[...]

buffed: The original character will not become a Death Knight. Many characters are named according to their class

[...]

buffed: Can you give us a bit of detail of the Death Knight's abilities?
Jeff: Of course. The Death Knight's resource is based on runes. We at Blizzard concentrate our efforts on making every single class as unique as possible. Best examples for this are the Rogue- and Warrior-classes. The Rogue uses energy and combo points while the Warrior generates rage - two things that differ greatly. When we designed the Death Knight we wanted it to be considerably different from the other classes. The DK will be able to carve runes into his weapon, which can either be a sword or an axe. There will be three different kind of runes: Unholy, Blood and Frost. Different combinations of a total of 6 runes yield different results. You can combine 2 of every rune type or, for example 4 Unholy and 2 Blood type runes. By using his abilities the Death Knight uses up the runes. For example, the Death Knight has a skill called "Army of the Dead", which summons Ghouls. This skill requires Blood and Unholy rune types. Thus, you would not be able to use this ability with only Frost runes carved into your weapon. We also designed a pretty cool system that makes the runes on your weapon flash up when changing your combination of runes.

buffed: The final question: The Death Knight is but the first of the new hero classes. Which other heroes would you like to see introduced to the game?
Jeff: My favorite? That's gard to say, I guess the Demon Hunter would be pretty cool, as would the Archmage be...
buffed: (whispering) Blademaster!
Jeff: (laughs) There's plenty of options, the fantastic Blademaster being one of them. We did a lot of brainstorming and also thought about classes that weren't present in Warcraft 3. However, we will go step by step and first of all introduce the Death Knight with Wrath of the Lich King. Then we'll see what's up next.

[Boubouille]

No flood, you know who you are !

[wuhihi]

new COT sounds cool. i wonder will it works like the event in warcraft 3 where player try to beat mal'ganis to be the first who burn 100 houses. or perhaps it works like old hillsbrad -_-'' (i hope not)

[Boubouille]

@Nekomusume : At least you had the chance to see your translation copy pasted without link to your post here on other sites. ^^

[Edoras]

I really really don't like the "all races can be death knights" that makes me mad actually...

Orcs and Humans? Possibly.. but all races is just retarded.. I mean flat out..

GG Blizz

Must disagree with you....
or is it that you are scared from a gnome/ tauren death knight :P
seriously now
Tel me somethign why should you have the chance as a human/Orc to unlock death knight and not many other players who play as you play this game?
as for me ...gief gnome Archmage

[Juju]

It absolutely ALL sounds good to me (especially the Srtatholme part, I always loved that part of the campain, sick of me.. i know).

As for all races being deathknights, I don't see why not... granted a gnome deathknight will lok as scary as a pink bunny on Easter, but w/e... still sounds cool to play it, and I'm glad we get to try their metel before lvl 80 too (deathknight vs deathknight world pvp in WPL all around ^^)

[HellMuT]

The only thing I wonder is: will more hero classes be released as patches or expansions, or maybe both, in the near future.

[Shadowclaimer]

I really really don't like the "all races can be death knights" that makes me mad actually...

Orcs and Humans? Possibly.. but all races is just retarded.. I mean flat out..

GG Blizz

Must disagree with you....
or is it that you are scared from a gnome/ tauren death knight :P
seriously now
Tel me somethign why should you have the chance as a human/Orc to unlock death knight and not many other players who play as you play this game?
as for me ...gief gnome Archmage

All races should be able ot unlock it, but when made it should be only human, Dwarf, Orc, or Undead..

Gnome, Tauren, Troll, and Night Elf is just plain stupid..

[valeea]

its me who hinted this, meeee

[Legionn]

I'd have to agree with shadow on this one as well. Being able to unlock it should be available to each race/class but when rolling the Deathknight, it just doen't look right with certain races.

[Juju]

I really really don't like the "all races can be death knights" that makes me mad actually...

Orcs and Humans? Possibly.. but all races is just retarded.. I mean flat out..

GG Blizz

Must disagree with you....
or is it that you are scared from a gnome/ tauren death knight :P
seriously now
Tel me somethign why should you have the chance as a human/Orc to unlock death knight and not many other players who play as you play this game?
as for me ...gief gnome Archmage

All races should be able ot unlock it, but when made it should be only human, Dwarf, Orc, or Undead..

Gnome, Tauren, Troll, and Night Elf is just plain stupid..

I could do with that, although then you might as well not put dwarves in rly...
it would make sense as I doubt that you should ever have a Tauren archmage... that would just be plain ridiculous

[Nekomusume]

@Nekomusume : At least you had the chance to see your translation copy pasted without link to your post here on other sites. ^^

Hooray! :

[Stunnashades]

It makes plenty of sense that any race can be a death knight..

Think of it this way:

A death knight is supposed to be a hero enveloped by evil (like in the blizzcon video). It could have been any character race walking through the woods and getting jumped by a bunch of mobs of undead.

[overneathe]

It makes plenty of sense that any race can be a death knight..

Think of it this way:

A death knight is supposed to be a hero enveloped by evil (like in the blizzcon video). It could have been any character race walking through the woods and getting jumped by a bunch of mobs of undead.

True.
What's all the QQ about? I don't care if I get attacked by a gnome death knight as long as he's got some huge aura around me so I can see him coming...
Death Knight means - you die, you get rezed as undead, you kill. Doesn't really say anything about 'you shapeshift into a beatiful orc...'

[Skulver]

All races should be able ot unlock it, but when made it should be only human, Dwarf, Orc, or Undead..

Gnome, Tauren, Troll, and Night Elf is just plain stupid..

And what is the basis for this list? Nothing more than personal preference.

If you wanted to argue that only races who can be Paladins can become Death Knights it might make some sense to have only Human, Dwarf, Draenai and Blood Elf Death Knights but a random list plucked out of your arse makes no more sense than just allowing everyone to be a Death Knight. How can Orc or Undead become a fallen Paladin anymore than a Gnome can?

If on the other hand you look at Death Knight as something that comes from the power of Lich channelled through a living host there is no reason not to prevent anyone from becoming one. So other than totally unfounded personal bias have you any reason why Orcs should but Gnomes shouldn't become Death Knights?