A LOOK INSIDE:[nggallery id=22] RUIN GAMING COMMUNITY QUESTIONS FOR BLIZZARD:BLIZZARD ANSWERS DISCLAIMER: Any and all information provided as part of the answers to the questions below was provided by a lead engineer at Blizzard. This individual is not directly on the World of Warcraft team. While many of the teams DO interact, the topics covered in the answers below are based on a combination of options formulated after a number of years working on or around World of Warcraft, however – are limited due to the individual’s current role with the company. Q1: Will World of Warcraft have its auction system changed to support real life currency in line with the announced Diablo III system. A: Fundamentally, the concepts of loot in WoW and Diablo are 100% different. Loot in the Diablo system is a 100% random drop. Loot is also dropped PER player killing the boss, so there is no concept of ninja loot since by design, each player will receive loot specific to their role. While there is always the possibility that at some point in the future, if and only when WoW were to become more of a casual gaming experience then it is in its current iteration, the real life currency auction house could be re-evaluated. As of now, there are no known plans or discussions surrounding ever attempting to make the WoW loot methods or auction system different than it is today. Q2: Achievement Points as currency? For vanity pets, mounts etc. A: While this is a certainly an idea that has been discussed, there are active plans to change the current Achievement Points system. Q3: Plans for updating world PvP zones for level 85 including rewards? Ex: Halaa, Wintergrasp, Hellfire Towers, Spirit Towers, Venture Bay etc. A: This HAS been discussed in the past and is not out of the realm of possibility for the future. The first thing to take into consideration when discussing this type of “update” is the world PvP locations as they pertain to the cannon or story line of the leveling experience that the current quests in those areas are built for vs. generic world PvP locations. Understanding that many of these areas feel “abandoned” or “wasted” – any current plans to update these zones are not known at this time. Q4: Plans for updating world PvP rewards, (For The Alliance, For The Horde) A: Any plans specific to updating these rewards are not known at this time. Q5: Improving server stability during large scale PvP, (Servers crash during Garrosh raids due to his placement in trade district) A: This appears to be an unintended result of the move of Garrosh. As groups of individuals progress in the gear “race” and as guilds continue to grow, it may cause this to be of more concern to the infrastructure team and will certainly be reviewed. At this time it doesn’t appear to be a large enough reoccurring issue across the entire server landscape to draw much concern. P.S. – Your guild crashes your server every Tuesday as part of your raid on Org? LOL. Q6: Any Blizzard plans to provide additional content prior to the release of SWTOR to keep players interested. A: There is not currently an internal Blizzard movement or initiative to “combat” the release of any new MMO games in the MMO marketplace. Blizzard is excited to see the MMO genre grow and will focus on continuing to create content and games that the dev team loves to play, and thinks others will as well. History has shown the cyclical consistency of players coming and going from the World of Warcraft as well as the MMO genre in general. One thing the World of Warcraft team feels it is important to understand as well as represent in its game, is that the World of Warcraft is purely fantasy. It is not bound by any type of franchise licensing, or inhibited by required expectations based on pop culture to deliver something “specific”. P.S. – Oh…and additional content? Did you know that the WoW team is in lockdown right now? THRIIUS SIDE NOTE: That was a back-handed way of saying…we are currently working on the next expansion… http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/world-of-warcraft-expansion-3/1185884p1.html Q7: Plans for Better communication with large guild communities, such as EvE onlines Board of Intersellar management. A: Currently, in game tickets and forum posts are probably the best way to “communicate” with Blizzard GM types. Blizzard is always contemplating new ways/concepts it may implement to create a better path for communication with its larger, consistent, and organized player bases. As of right now, there are no known plans to implement something like the EvE model. This would be a great topic for a Q&A on the forums or at Blizconn. |
