Keywords and Card Relations
Patch 5.3 Dev Interview
Today we are taking a look at an interview over on WoWInsider with Ghostcrawler.
Future
- The unannounced feature is on schedule for patch 5.4.
- The new event in the Barrens is an experiment and another way to get players back out into the world, which we will see more of in Patch 5.4.
- Appearing offline on Battle.net is still in the works.
- Eventually all of the professions will have some sort of catch up mechanism.
- The game could use some sort of reward for leveling now that the new talent system doesn't provide a talent point as often.
Dungeons and Raids
- 25 player raiding feels more epic than 10 player raiding, as well as allowing you to bring in friends or newer players without as big of an impact on the raid.
- 25 player raids can fall back to a 10 player raid size if they begin to fall apart, while 10 player raids will just disband if they start losing people.
- Back during Molten Core there wasn't much going on in raids, making fights simpler and character optimization wasn't as big as it is now. Now fights have more mechanics to go with the new tools and more sophisticated players.
- LFR has to make some of the mechanics more forgiving, otherwise most groups would not be able to progress or the failures would fall onto the backs of the healers. Reducing player damage through debuffs from standing in the fire can be done to punish players, rather than applying damage to them and punishing the healers.
Dungeons
- Raids have a longer lifespan than dungeons because you can only run them once per week. Dungeons can be run multiple times per day, so players get tired of them much faster.
- The team is growing to the point where in the future it may be possible to offer both a nice raid like Throne of Thunder and a dungeon or two in the same patch.
- Players generally expect new architecture, art, and mechanics in dungeons, which makes them much more time consuming to create than scenarios.
Patch 5.3 Changes
- The XP requirement reduction in Patch 5.3 was done to make alt leveling faster, as it felt like it slowed down when you hit Jade Forest.
- Losing battlegrounds or arenas repeatedly to get gear so that you could be competitive in PvP wasn't fun.
Misc
- Adding caps to things like Valor Points or Charms is a challenge, because you have to strike a balance between stopping people from playing ridiculous amounts to earn them and other players that would never be able to compete. Players see a cap and feel that it is mandatory to reach it, even though that is not what was intended. WoW is a game, not a job, so players should not have to feel like they have to be constantly playing to stay competitive.
- Patch 5.3 isn't expected to increase subscriber levels very much, as that is generally what expansions and larger patches do.
Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Fan Art Creation
We often post different WoW fan art, but this time we are taking a look at how a nice piece of fan art was created.
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