WoW Insider at the Comic-Con WoW panel
by Dan O'Halloran 
Jul 25th 2008 at 8:00PM
Blizzard, as well as reps from companies that make Blizzard products (TokyoPop, Upper Deck, Wildstorm) were on hand at Comic-Con in San Diego today to talk about their plans for the rest of the year. Comics, books, sculptures, miniatures, and the trading card game were all discussed and WoW Insider was there to bring you back this report.
Wildstorm Comics, makers of the WoW comics
Wildstorm kicked off the session by polling the audience on who would like to see a comic title that focus solely on Horde, then solely on Alliance and then pitting the two against each other. As you can imagine, the audience was very happy to hear this. No details were given, but clearly something along these lines is already in the works.
Wildstorm Comics, makers of the WoW comics
Wildstorm kicked off the session by polling the audience on who would like to see a comic title that focus solely on Horde, then solely on Alliance and then pitting the two against each other. As you can imagine, the audience was very happy to hear this. No details were given, but clearly something along these lines is already in the works.
DC Unlimited, makers of WoW action figures and collectibles
DC Unlimited showed their new series of figurines they are debuting at ComicCon. Sketches of Succubus, Murlocs and other Azerothian creatures were shown. They are also showing many of the finished sculpts on the exhibit floor. Check the gallery at the end of this article.Upper Deck, makers of the WoW TCG and the upcoming WoW Miniatures game
Upper Deck was next. The trading card game developers were excited to talk about the premiering location cards into the game. Many of these will be drawn by recognizable talent like Gabe from Penny Arcade and Jim Lee. These will be debuting in the Darkmoons Faire expansion, coming out in September 2008. This set will also introduce new loot cards such as the bear mount from Zul'aman. A Black Temple Raid pack will also come out in the same month.
The Drums of War expansion will arrive in October 2008 and come with two themes: PvP and Arena themes. This will have new starter deck for 2 players, everything you need to start. This is to get more players to try out he game.
Next they showed slides of the WoW Miniatures they are debuting later this year. They talked a lot about the level of quality they are striving for by executing a faithful translation of the NPCs. They also spoke of legendary sculpts, finely detailed sculptures of well-known names in the Warcraft universe, including Onyxia coming out next year. The Core Set will be out in November with booster packs including a random figure.
Q&A
A question and answer session followed. Most of the questions were fishing for information about the future of the game which, of course, the panel refused to answer. Here are the more useful (and amusing) exchanges all answered by the single Blizzard rep there:
Q: Is there an update for the WoW movie?
A: No, but it's going to be really cool. There is boldness inbound.
Q: Where are legendaries for classes that change roles often?
Q: I'm going to answer this clearly so there is no ambiguity....um. (laughter) I'm positive someone is working on it.
Q: Will Murlocs become a playable race?
A: The danger of that is blowing out the balance of the game. The power for the fin will decimate the game.
Q: Will engineers see love in the expansion?
A: We have items that will make engineers the coolest players in the game.
(The dev tried to give a clue, but was afraid he would get ganked in the office come Monday morning, but he did promise "big love" for the Engineering class soon.)
Q: Why did you change the mechanic of sacrificing a character to gain a Death Knight?
A: That would go over like a fart in church. (They compared it to extreme sports: sounds good on paper, but not a good idea when implemented.)
[EDIT: Noted that Blizzard presence was a rep and not a dev.]
Filed under: News items, Galleries, Events
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Christian Jul 25th 2008 8:47PM
motorcycle = "coolest players in the game"?
Taytayflan Jul 25th 2008 10:21PM
Man, i hope that's not what they mean.
Sometimes, I even try to sell stuff as an engineer. I usually log off depressed.
Charlie Jul 26th 2008 4:29AM
Possibly, there is a motorcyle animation in the beta files, but no item for it yet.
p3ng Jul 25th 2008 11:03PM
Hells yes engineers.
zrob Jul 25th 2008 11:13PM
If you got into engineering to make money, you got into it for the wrong reasons.
You're free to drop it at any time and pick a less exciting but more financially rewarding skill.
Spritetoggle Jul 25th 2008 11:35PM
It's probably just the wording and my bad memory, but I'm a bit confused by the final question listed. "Why did you change of the mechanic of sacrificing a character to gain a Death Knight?"
I take it at one point there were plans to force players to change one of their current characters into a Death Knight? Or did something else happen that I missed?
Ametrine Jul 26th 2008 12:06AM
Very early on, the plans were, to get a DK, you would have to sacrifice a 70 on that realm to get "transformed" into a 55 DK.
theghost Jul 26th 2008 12:15AM
yes at one point that was there plan , you were going have to sac a 70 to play one but they nixed it like they said
G Jul 26th 2008 1:14AM
They talked about it at Blizzcon last year, and it already seemed like they were putting the idea away. I'm glad I don't have to sacrifice a toon. But I find myself wishing we had to do a quest or something to unlock the Death Knight. Even a simple, solo quest line would be fine. Reaching level 55 isn't an achievement any more than breathing is now. I guess Blizzard wants everyone to roll DKs, and maybe tracking this kind of unlock mechanism would be difficult across realms, but it almost feels too easy.
mirilene Jul 26th 2008 12:35AM
@5: Yes they were. they then decided they didnt want people either losing a character or specifically grinding up a new one and racing to get to level 80 so they could sacrifice THAT character to get one. Wisely, i might add.
Also, im really dissapointed that people chose to waste the Q&A portion of the panel with nonsense about world of warcraft instead of asking cool questions about the games that are out. the Card game is pretty fun, the raid decks are well put together, they all have amazing art and the miniatures game looks fantastic.
Why did all the mouth breathers feel the need to come out in full force and turn it into a greatest hits of the wow general forums?
Jessierockeron Jul 26th 2008 1:54AM
What's the harm in "transforming" one of your 70's into a dk?
Jessierockeron Jul 26th 2008 1:55AM
And I mean like actually turning your character into a dk, not sacrificing.
Jessierockeron Jul 26th 2008 1:56AM
and I also mean like turn him into a 70(insert any class here) into a 70 dk
Jamie Jul 26th 2008 3:41AM
One of? You talk like everyone has piles of level 70s. I have one and would have no intention of destroying him for a class I might absolutley hate and that every other bugger will be playing as.
Charlie Jul 26th 2008 4:31AM
Um... theres a femail human holy priest now.
buying. now.
(lyila, 70 human female holy priest)
Dunwich Jul 26th 2008 5:11AM
To be honest, I think the only way the WoW comic could interest me is if they stopped trying to do what every other comic going these days seems to do - Earth-shattering arcs full of drama and how things will Never Be The Same Again.
Bah. Give me one, two-issue storylines of more low-key things. That's one of the things I like about WoW, it isn't all about slaying dragons and battling the Demon Earwig King, with a plethora of rather interesting tales to be told.
What about a tribe of Murlocs being the centre of a dispute between the Steamwheedle Cartel (Who want to slaughter them and sell their remains) and the DEHTA (Who want them to run free and frolic and so forth) that eventually erupts into violence, only for the Murlocs to summon a collosal Water Elemental at the end and butcher both sides.
Or just one comic devoted to Shizzle trying to get out of the Un'Goro Crater? Or the two Shattrath investigators trying to finally put Grifftah away? Or if you fancy something rather darker, what about the Firewing Point Project, before the player becomes involved?
It's a world of stories. I just hope they don't just focus on the big-name heroes, because it'd be a real waste of an oppurtunity.
Michel Jul 26th 2008 7:04AM
I totally agree
Dessux Jul 26th 2008 7:25AM
Completely agree with you there WoW gives you the sense of "peonism" that you are one person and not some all powerful hero, even those who go to hunt down the big bosses etc. need 24 of their friends.
Matthew Rossi Jul 26th 2008 5:42PM
I like that they're finally answering the Varian Wrynn question in the comic, but I wouldn't mind seeing a smaller scale story after that. Like you said, it's a world of stories.
Spritetoggle Jul 26th 2008 4:23PM
I suppose I should add, though it's probably a bit late, that this is a huge relief to me. I've been playing for several years now and only have a single 70 on my main server. I'd prefer not to have to kill it to make a 55, or any new character for that matter.
I'm excited to see the additions to engineering though! Despite all the complaints out there I've been a huge fan of it all along. But we do need all the love we can get.