To commemorate the release of World of Warcraft Classic, we assembled some members of the original World of Warcraft team for an epic play session with the game that launched or propelled many of their careers. Watch original WoW game designers Alex Afrasiabi, Tom Chilton, Jeff Kaplan, Pat Nagle, and Aaron Keller group up and discuss their fondest memories developing the game.
Original WoW Game Designers Discuss Vanilla and Classic WoW
Original WoW game designers Alex Afrasiabi, Tom Chilton, Jeff Kaplan, Pat Nagle, and Aaron Keller discuss Vanilla and Classic WoW. – Source: Wowhead
A lot of the first things developed and designed were in the Human Starting Zone, Elwynn Forest and Westfall, Quests, Artwork, and Characters. During early development, the Game Designers claim they were quite naive, without taking much consideration in the things they were designing and creating. It wasn’t until many years later did they realize how much of an impact those design choices ended up being.
The Developers are very excited for WoW Classic, they are all working together to coordinate their Class and Build choices, as they prepare. Jeff Kaplan is considering playing as the Main Tank for his group. (Even though he got lost in Deadmines!)
Blizzard employees are hoping WoW Classic will re-spark that drive in the community for the adventure, authentic to the original World of Warcraft launch. The “Magic” of the game is definitely still there, even 15 years later. In general, they don’t think it will just be a nostalgia trip, they are hoping the community will have a whole new experience with WoW Classic.
The Original World of Warcraft Developers are ecstatic for the potential for a large number of people who have never played WoW at all, to come and see what this game is all about. While many veteran players will be returning, and what Blizzard calls “going home again”, they recognize how rare of an opportunity WoW Classic is.
