he is I think alongside metzen one of the first artists ever at blizzard
at least metzen is back
and something positive: even though I don't really have interest in the story of DF, emerald dream looks and sounds amazing
I hope they keep this standard of artwort in the next xpac
Damn shame about Sam. He was responsible for, for example, a lot of the designs of what I'd call the best all-around tier, 2, before he moved onto SC2 and HOTS. A lot more than that, obviously, but I have a soft spot for Ten Storms, Judgment, and Bloodfang to this day.
He had his issues - huge orc and dwarf bias, pretty caster-dismissive, really seems like he'd struggle a lot of the time to get into the same mentality and spirit of a lot of the things outside of his interests, but that's pretty much all artists and the creative process for ya.
This is such a dumb answer.
Literally not improving LFG so that the 5 people who are left to give a single fuck about faction division can feel special.
Premade groups already have the option to lock out opposite faction players, just add a similar option to the group finder if that is such an issue.
Formerly known as Arafal
No wonder you anti-faction people get so upset. You actually think your opinion is the overwhelming majority and it's just 5 people holding you up.
I think they are the overwhelming majority here, but this is a fansite. It's hard to gauge how split this opinion is though. I personally don't want anything cross-faction. But I also am going to admit that I don't really care that much about gameplay mechanics unless they're the immersive kind.
I don't know if people expect more, but I really want Azerothian Archives to just be a collection tab for all the books, notes and other lore (story recaps, dungeon journal lore, etc.) in the game.
I mean some kind of Bestiary that you unlock as you slaughter your way through Azeroth would be neat, but I'd be happy with "just" a library for lore books.
I was wondering if getting so much news all at once with the saga announcement would soften the edge of my hunger for knowledge and news but every hour Im not playing 10.2 I have spent excited for the 10.2.5 PTR or this Q&A and so forth. I admit to being an optimist about WoW generally but I feel like we really do have a lot to be excited and hopeful for!
As for Samwise retiring, the guy is a legend and has touched all our lives. Dude kinda helped disrupt the whole industry of video games in a way. At one point Warcraft was a global phenomenon and one of the biggest media properties on Earth and even now it has had a ton of games, merch, movies, and so on all drawn in some way from art he did or contributed to. Even if he hasn't been at the helm of WoW art in practice for awhile (and it does show!) his fingerprints are indelible. What a great legacy for an artist to have. His artbook is fantastic by the way!
I think for me, this Q&A marked the end of BlizzCon season a bit. I had hoped for a Roadmap today, but looks like that's a few weeks away, still. I'll probably linger until the 10.2.5 PTR, before taking a break from the conversation until at least 11.0 Alpha datamining.
It's been intense these past few months.
Although no roadmap, we get confirmation there will be 3 patches. Imo 10.2 will last until middle January (I don't think any patch was released before 15th January), then 2.5 month long 10.2.5 with timewalking, 2.5 month long 10.2.7 with some story wrap up and 3 month long Season 4. This (together with info they want keep regular 2-3 month patches until 11.0) and Alpha plans for Spring make me think release is planned rather for late September/early October than usual late November.
It's 8 weeks per patch give a week or two for holidays. My rough guess is still each patch is about 9 weeks and prepatch will be 8-10 weeks for an October release. That also gets levelling out of the way and not interfere with the 20th anniversary