Venturebeat Interview with J. Allen Brack - Wow's 15th Anniversary and Future

[chaud]

Venturebeat Interview with J. Allen Brack - Wow's 15th Anniversary and Future
Venturebeat sat down with J. Allen Brack to discuss Blizzard, WoW over the past 15 years, and the future. Here is a summary, and be sure to read the full interview here

• J. Allen Brack has played all Blizzard franchises and is a true fan of everything the company does, and Warcraft is close to his heart because it is the franchise he has worked the longest on and played the most.
• When World of Warcraft launched, the company had 300 employees. Today they have 4,300.
• World of Warcraft's success allowed the company to do many different and amazing things and it's hard to imagine the size and scope and scale of some of their games without World of Warcraft.
• The team started discussing what to do for the 15th anniversary about 2 yeard ago and wanted to do something broader than the 10th anniversary statue.
• Brack sees classic as part of the World of Warcraft pillar and not its own new pillar.
• J. Allen Brack's transition into president of Blizzard has been challenging, but the most important piece is what the teams are working on and the future of the franchises. The company currently has more games being worked on now than at any other time in Blizzard's history, and they believe in the future of their franchises.
• There isn't a requirement that every game created by Blizzard work and speak to every single player. Their goal is to get you to try new things and give them a chance while still providing a good, authentic Blizzard experience.
• Blizzard loved working on Diablo III for the switch and think both Nintendo and the console are great.
• It's not ridiculous to assume that Blizzard could work with Nintendo on other projects.
• Some of Brack's best WoW experiences are beating Ragnaros and Kael'thas as a guild for the first time, or completing the Undying achievement from Naxxramas 10-man.
• Creating the Legion expansion was one of his favorite highlights working on WoW. Bringing back Illidan and having diffrent artifact weapons and the world quest system and playing it after it was done is an awesome memory.
• Brack agrees that Mists of Pandaria was one of the most misunderstood expansions that now is looked back on fondly.
• The team for a long time wanted to have a class or a race where you chose whether you went Horde or Alliance, and it was cool to be able to do that in Mists of Pandaria.
• Brack believes people will have their favorite expansion depending on when they joined, who their friends were at the time, and what different content they experienced.
• The team believes the two-year expansion cycle with three major content patches is the right thing right now.
• The big inflection this year is going to be Classic. It's a huge piece that's going to be midway through the cycle.
• The team is always open to thinking about different things that they could have done or could do, and what is the right thing from a development standpoint.
• The team did think about making Argus its own expansion, but think the way that they ended up doing it turned out pretty good.

Dark Legacy Comics #680
DLC #680 has been released!

[Grimalkin of Old]

Oh no no no, turning Argus into a silly patch instead of a separate expansion was outright travesty.

[RobertoCarlos]

Oh look its mr "you think you want it but you dont" sprouting more corporate bullshit.

Hes more hateable than Ion and lore combined and thats saying something.

You know someone cares when they keep having to tell you. "I care! Im passionate about these games! honestly! trust me!"

[Yaladriel]

Whats wrong with that DLC? You can makro two on use trinkets together.

[Onikaroshi]

Whats wrong with that DLC? You can makro two on use trinkets together.

It's probably trying, poorly, to point out you can't stack on use trinkets anymore because of pvp

[Jowany]

*The team* - I hate this

[Yaladriel]

It's probably trying, poorly, to point out you can't stack on use trinkets anymore because of pvp

Yeah well, this doesn't work anymore since more than 10 years does it?

[Onikaroshi]

Yeah well, this doesn't work anymore since more than 10 years does it?

Yes, don't know why it's coming up now, still annoyed it does that though

[morph4037]

The team did think about making Argus its own expansion, but think the way that they ended up doing it turned out pretty good.

They think their shit doesn't stink, of course they'll think Patchgus was "pretty good". Hell they thought WoD was "pretty good".

[letssee]

hahah, that interview was such a load of bs

[Kaver]

Whats wrong with that DLC? You can makro two on use trinkets together.

But you cant use them both at the same time?

[schwarzkopf]

Hint - the DLC isn't about the trinket, it is about the overreaction by players to minor things that happen in game.

Can't have a pink weapon - deleting toon.
Can't fly - deleting toon.
Can't use two trinkets together - deleting toon.
Can't delete toon - deleting toon.

etc
etc

[Voidwielder]

I did not understand the shit MoP got when it was current. Never have, never will. It was a good expansion.

[Isilarya]

I did not understand the shit MoP got when it was current. Never have, never will. It was a good expansion.

The amount and necessity of the launch daily quests was obscene. That was my only gripe.

[RobertoCarlos]

I did not understand the shit MoP got when it was current. Never have, never will. It was a good expansion.

people hate on it because of pandas and dailies.

And ignore the fact class design was the best its been

[vevox]

Brack believes people will have their favorite expansion depending on when they joined, who their friends were at the time, and what different content they experienced.

..... such pointless information. I wonder if he realizes none of these factors matter if the game isn't enjoyable.

[Azerox]

You cant do use 2x in one macro.
Just bind it to another frequently used spell.

[Soimu]

people hate on it because of pandas and dailies.

And ignore the fact class design was the best its been

actually doing the daily i didn't mind because after 1 month it was all over but i hated the fact that they nerfed it and made it easier later in the expansion and all my work/grind was for nothing.

[RobertoCarlos]

actually doing the daily i didn't mind because after 1 month it was all over but i hated the fact that they nerfed it and made it easier later in the expansion and all my work/grind was for nothing.

Yeah I didnt mind the dailies either. The shado-pan stuff with an ally you could choose was more interesting than looting nuts for the 15th time with a world quest and the end goal was more clear rather than endless RNG with the paragon cache

[Psygon]

-insert random MoP comment-