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Weekly News Recap, 5,000 Beta Key Giveaway Reminder

Blizzcon Dev Interview
BlizzPro had a chance to talk to Technical Director Marco Koegler and Quest Designer Helen Cheng at Blizzcon.

  • The goal is to have all of the Vanilla race character models updated for release, but that isn't set in stone.
  • There might be some clipping with the new cloak animation, so the team is looking at adding some more physics to the cloak rather than just using pure animations. This isn't ready to show off and uses even more CPU, so it may not be the correct solution.
  • After being boosted to 90 you will have a set of gear that is level appropriate, similar to how the level 80 Scroll of Resurrection boost works.
  • Time travel is just a means to get players back to Draenor and bring back the classic Warcraft feeling and characters.
  • As long as players prevent Garrosh from building the Dark Portal for the Iron Horde to invade, there won't be any permanent changes to the current timeline. This will let the story have some fun elements that involve characters from the present without changing the timeline.
  • The current classes are somewhat balanced, so adding a new class would upset that balance.
  • There were too many daily quests at the start of Mists of Pandaria, especially after taking into account alts. Warlords will still offer a wide variety of things to do, but it will be more exploring, dynamic events, and story through quests.
  • If garrisons end up being per character, there will likely be a way to make garrison leveling and improvements faster on an alt.


Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
New Character Models
Will the new player models will also have new melee attack animations as well? The ones for the older races are rather stale.
All animations have to be redone to work with the new models. We are trying not to make them radically different but will improve. (Source)

Remember promising us to update moonkin form since WotlK and saying the glyph won't affect the update? We do.
I try to never promise. This is why. We will do the moonkin at some point, but it is lower priority than the races. (Source)

Garrisons
Please give options in the Garrison that don't require a daily login. Don't want to be forced to login every day.
The plan is for longer missions for those times when you know you won't be logging in frequently. (Source)

Can we please have the followers in our Garrisons not be limited to player races? think Ogres, Tuskarr, etc
Having some non-traditional races would be a lot of fun. (Source)

Will you consider race-based garrison design or just faction-based?
Just faction for now. Dividing things by race meant we would have had far less new art per building. (Source)

garrisons look awesome, But please dont make them mandatory for professions. Garrisons should be optional & fun. Not a grind.
The intent is to make them fun but they are not optional the way pet battles or brawlers guild was. (Source)

Warlords of Draenor Flying
What was wrong with the Wrath model of grounded leveling for main, BoA tome for alts?
If leveling is supposed to be trivial for alts, why not just make them all jump to max level? (Source)
Holy grasping at straws, Batman!
I disagree. It feels like the argument is "questing should be super fast and easy on alts." (Source)
But alts are meant to be played. If you just want more max level dudes, there are better solutions. (Source)

It IS a difference because then there's a lore reason, which is what people are asking for. Inability to mount is more boring.
I don't think many of the pro flight crowd would be swayed with a lore explanation alone. (Source)
Is there a good reason NOT to back up the gameplay decision with a plausible lore explanation and story?
Not at all. If there is a good lore reason, that's better. But lack of good lore should not bad gameplay go through. (Source)

Did you ever think about something like a 10 second cast time for flying mount summons? Or a 30 sec cooldown?
Yeah, we've tried those and also things like slow turning radii, etc. Haven't found a solution we think feels good yet. (Source)

Stand your ground GC. There are those of us who know flying was worst thing to happen to game.
That's not our stance though. Flying feels awesome, is convenient, fast and a great reward. The problem is one of timing. (Source)

Maybe because people want faster, but not instant, Mr. False Dichotomy.
Speeding up XP per quest would make it faster. Flying lets you ignore most of it. Faster is fine. Hollow, less so. (Source)

It seems like you're getting less good at giving reasons and better at excuses.
Imagine we let you fly in dungeons and raids. Do you think they would be as fun as they are today? That's really our reason. (Source)

So, do you also hate the way Rogues play the game? Sneak in, unlock prison cage, sneak away...?
I don't think you can really compare the benefits of stealth to flying. Besides it's a bonus to only 2 classes. (Source)
I understand. Just don't get what you mean by "trivial" then. I always thought flying made questing more fun.
Twitter shorthand to some extent, but you probably fight 4x fewer creatures when you can fly to avoid them. (Source)

It would be nice if flying was a risk vs reward decision. Swarms of Monstrous Kaliri? No fel canons yet tho D:
It would have to be very dangerous to overcome the benefits of flight. Kaliri didn't keep me grounded. (Source)

About no-flying stuff in Warlods, do you guys ever though about gatherers? I cannot imagine myself running for plants on foot
That's one reason why we wouldn't outlaw flying forever. But at one point you did all your gathering on the ground. It can be done. (Source)

Classes
not just that, but even 1 makes healing less fun. Spamming aoe heals is another problem.
Spamming AEs, especially smart heals, does make healing less fun in our minds. (Source)

That sounds pretty awesome to me, honestly. Prot might be sad to lose a dps CD though.
It might be fine for Prot to have an offensive and defensive CD. Depends on the whole package. (Source)

Most important stat? I cant get rid of ENOUGH Spirit as a healer ;P
To be fair, some healer specs (esp. Mistweaver) don't value Spirit enough. We intend to fix for 6.0. (Source)

1 burst cd is enough per spec
I don't know that it would be a hard and fast rule, but if you always macro your CDs together, why have different CDs? (Source)

will changes to vengeance in dreanor protection more viable in trial of gladiator arenas but less annoying without high ap?
Maybe. It's more important to have a fun and balanced trial than to have Gladiator tanks. (Source)

Actually everything we call 'skill' on the game is about responding to a visual/sound stimulus. Just like snapshotting
It's about degrees. A mod can't reliably tell you when to use a speed boost to survive. It can solve when to redot very easily. (Source)

Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
I was curious if you were happy with the Druid split into Feral and Guardian this xpac. Did it live up to your expectations?
Overall yes. It's tricky for us to determine how often a Guardian or even Balance Druid should use cat form. (Source)

Guardian Druid often feels boring compared to other tanks. Are there any plans to address it?
They need stronger active mitigation. (Source)

Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Please bring back the truly rare hunter pets, some of us like camping for them... effort worth the reward.
What was the last truly rare one by your definition? (Source)

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
While you're talking about healer stuff, when is the really bad priest T90 going away?
We like tier 90 for priests. We can split out healing from DPS / Shadow versions in 6.0 though. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
wasn't root break on intervene intended to give a choice for that tier? Back to safeguard being required.
The value of balanced PvP has to trump the value of every talent being a fun choice. (Source)
You keep using this word "balanced" I don't think it means what you think it means.
"Balance" is when other players can't crush me. When I crush them, it's "skill." (Source)
small war. nerf needed but this is boring. Was nice to have small utility with MSR. Wars very one dimensional and
What would you have liked to see instead that would have solved the problem? (Source)
Disrupting Shout gone (Warriors don't need 2 interrupts), AoE reflect replaces reflect.
To be fair, they would need a new talent to replace Disrupting Shout that presumably is something useful. (Source)

Blizzard Art Update
Blizzard has added more pieces to the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Art gallery.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Blizzcon Dev Interview, Blue Tweets, Blizzard Art Update started by chaud View original post
Comments 62 Comments
  1. Theendgamelv3's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Mormolyce View Post
    God I would love a cloak that actually billows.



    Why not give it a chance before QQing?



    Yeeeeeeeeeeep.

    - - - Updated - - -



    Or if you like things like the rope-bound treasure chest in Timeless Isle. That's why we won't be able to fly. So they can put cool rewards on ledges and other hard to reach places. Makes the world more interesting to explore.
    Those things you said, you honestly believe Blizzard can't find a way to make that possible without taking away flying? Blizzard should reward players who WANT to be on the ground, should reward those who WANT to explore. I am in total agreement that no flying while leveling makes sense. What about level 100? How would they make ALL the leveling zones epic and awsome for max level characters AND leveling characters. Timeless Isle works because it is small AND all the mobs are elites and can be difficult for a lot of players. You can't do that with every zone. They said flying trivializes content. So does being able to kill 4-5 normal mobs at a time without too much problem. Not once have I died leveling in MoP. If they want to make ground more interesting, have all the mobs elite with 20-30 giants in each zone. That will certainly spice things up and won't make ground content trivial even at max for awhile. What they should do is allow flying in the leveling up areas when you reach 100 and have the max level areas no flying.
  1. Aesahaettr's Avatar
    The intent is to make them fun but they are not optional the way pet battles or brawlers guild was.
    Boo. Looks I'll have to play a crappy management game \o/

    As for the earlier comment about Hellfire Peninsula being less beautiful than Storm Peaks:

    Firstly, you chose a shots that showed the best and worse of each zone. Secondly, go and do the same with say, Howling Fjord (ground zone) and Deepholm (flying zone) and tell me which you think looks more beautiful. Then again, maybe you have wierd taste and prefer Deepholm.
  1. Laylriana's Avatar
    I can understand the stance on no flying while leveling, but it would be nice if our ghost could fly to our corpse when we die. I hate having to go around a mountain, for example, to get back to my corpse.
  1. Sarevokcz's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Harmzuay View Post

    Did you play Storm Peaks when it was current content? They gave you ways of getting around when you needed to without having a flying mount. They can do things like that instead of just enabling flying in every zone from the word go.
    Dude, WHAT? If you didnt have your flying skill bought, they gave you FREE FLYING MOUNT in the goblin city to use in storm peaks because the zone was supposed to be explored with gryphon. the mount is still there and still uses the old 3s cast. Looks like you didnt actually do peaks when it was current or ANY content...
  1. Zokten's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Aesahaettr View Post
    Boo. Looks I'll have to play a crappy management game \o/

    As for the earlier comment about Hellfire Peninsula being less beautiful than Storm Peaks:

    Firstly, you chose a shots that showed the best and worse of each zone. Secondly, go and do the same with say, Howling Fjord (ground zone) and Deepholm (flying zone) and tell me which you think looks more beautiful. Then again, maybe you have wierd taste and prefer Deepholm.
    Deepholm overall is better then Fjord
  1. F-Minus's Avatar
    Such an uproar over the no flight thing it amazes me, who cares, 3 weeks after the game is released we'll get the flying mounts back and all will be back to standard which is (stand in the major hub, waiting for dungeon/scenario/pvp/LFR queues to pop, and the occasional flight to the newest zone where high level stuff is happening or a raid). The game offers exactly nothing in the leveling zones when you hit max level, if you are a gatherer you might have to go out, but if you're not, there's exactly 0 reasons to go there, may it be on foot, ground mount or flying - so stop bitching, I'm on one of the most populated realms in Europe and all of the zones in Pandaria were dead 3 weeks after the release, because people moved through them and there's nothing to do anymore, sans the occasional daily quests.
  1. Tython's Avatar
    All the flying mount excuses in the world by Blizzard still doesn't get me back all the gold I invested on something I can't use...
  1. Axxy's Avatar
    It seems like you're getting less good at giving reasons and better at excuses.
    Imagine we let you fly in dungeons and raids. Do you think they would be as fun as they are today? That's really our reason. (Source)
    Talk about lame excuses to give for an answer. Completely went off on a tangent with some nonsensical bullshit answer. WTF is flying in dungeons/raids got to do with flying in WoD.

    I really wonder if they actually thought about removing flying completely from the game?
  1. mmocee9d117667's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Spotnick View Post
    It's obvious why we won't have flying mounts, and they will never say the right answer.. if we had them at level 100, all the level 100 would flight through the air killing all the rare spawning when people are leveling around and can't do the same because there will be 15 mobs between them and the rare.

    Look no further, it's timeless island.. imagine if you could fly to a rare while some others couldn't. That content will be obsolete at 6.1 when level 100 will have a new dynamic zone which probably won't allow flying either.

    I think it's a stupid idea personalty, but we'll see how it goes.
    I bet they will even spice things up with another elite charging your sorry ass till you're dead.

    Then you'll run to your corpse, up a mountain, on ground, as a ghost.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Also, i think there's a funny thing regarding this whole no flying discussion that people seem oblivious to.
    You could go 100% just ground mount as is right now.

    If it's so bloody awesome, you'd do it. But you don't, do you. You sit on a throne of hipocrisy talking about how awesome shit would be
    yet you fly yourselves because it's convinient.

    It's sorta like Vanilla discussion. But stuff was so awesome back then! We could do X/Y/Z.

    Then in a single fel swoop, akin to one hell of a hangover, all the bad comes back to you.
    And then ya'll go silent as the grave or become the whiners - cuz guess what, ya wrong.
  1. Aesahaettr's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zokten View Post
    Deepholm overall is better then Fjord
    Lies.

    Howling Fjord is the best looking zone in game.

    Deepholm is just a dank pit with few glowing bits.

    But it's all subject I guess.
  1. Tomana's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Shudder View Post
    "The current classes are somewhat balanced"

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    Compared to BC, they are much more balanced.
  1. Ryme's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by willowe View Post
    Actually, it's more along the point that flying from mob to mob is 100x less epic/fun than being the badass who raised a whole town of Scruffy Clan Orcs looking for 15 [Scruffy Orc Ears] instead of skipping past every mob and/or pet that doesn't drop one.

    Also, they take loads of time making the 'Worlds' we play in: flying above the trees makes things look boring - it's just a carpet of trees and a hill here and there. Down in the forest, is everything that makes the world beautiful. Skipping that is what makes most Cata zones so forgettable.
    Yeah, which is cool the first time you do it. Is it still cool the third? The fourth? The eighth?
  1. Ganksinatra's Avatar
    I love the guy whining about no moonkin form......."Why haven't you taken development time for one of three specs on 10.7% of the population overall?!?! Screw letting EVERYONE have new models! I want MINE!"......
  1. Aesahaettr's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ryme View Post
    Yeah, which is cool the first time you do it. Is it still cool the third? The fourth? The eighth?
    Exactly. I'd even go so far as to say I'm finding playing through zones dull by the 2nd time.

    I take my time when I level my main. Never rush it, I follow the storylines and enjoy it. After that I couldn't care less and want to get through it as quickly as possible. Which is why I would love a Wrath style flying-tome.

    I may not even bother with alts in WoD anyway, if they continue with the grindy "catch up" systems.
  1. Cyrops's Avatar
    After being boosted to 90 you will have a set of gear that is level appropriate, similar to how the level 80 Scroll of Resurrection boost works.

    Where do I get the lvl 80 stuff? Oo
  1. tgrhwke's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Cyrops View Post
    After being boosted to 90 you will have a set of gear that is level appropriate, similar to how the level 80 Scroll of Resurrection boost works.

    Where do I get the lvl 80 stuff? Oo
    As of patch 5.3 you can buy the Scroll of Resurrection gear sets from Iris Moondreamer <Quartermaster> in Mount Hyjal and Erunak Stonespeaker <The Earthen Ring> in Vashj'ir.
  1. Sarasen's Avatar
    I'm actually kinda glad blizzard isn't letting us fly from 90-100 on our mains or alts until the next patch. Only reason I feel this was is because I notice I enjoy leveling more when on the ground vs. flying, I just speed through every quest.
  1. lavafoxx's Avatar
    Ya know, I had a girlfriend with a very similar body shape as that pandaren female. <3
  1. Dracyr's Avatar
    Not having flight at the get-go is awesome, imo. You won't be seeing people flying a day or 2 after the xpac comes out, going for the nodes you're fighting for. People may actually feel compelled to look around and enjoy the scenery, besides the fools that go for realm firsts.
  1. ihyln's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by F-Minus View Post
    Such an uproar over the no flight thing it amazes me, who cares, 3 weeks after the game is released we'll get the flying mounts back and all will be back to standard which is (stand in the major hub, waiting for dungeon/scenario/pvp/LFR queues to pop, and the occasional flight to the newest zone where high level stuff is happening or a raid). The game offers exactly nothing in the leveling zones when you hit max level, if you are a gatherer you might have to go out, but if you're not, there's exactly 0 reasons to go there, may it be on foot, ground mount or flying - so stop bitching, I'm on one of the most populated realms in Europe and all of the zones in Pandaria were dead 3 weeks after the release, because people moved through them and there's nothing to do anymore, sans the occasional daily quests.
    try 2-3 months. then have "fun" trying to level alts.

    prediction: ghostcrawler will backtrack on this once the quarterly report comes out and they see sub numbers tank for a new expansion. This sort of thing already happened with MOP dailies.

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