Breakfast topic: Burning questions
by Amanda Dean 
Jul 28th 2008 at 8:00AM
Wrath of the Lich King news started off as a trickle. First it was the development of the expansion than the addition of the Death Knight class. Then we had a lot of speculation and evasive answers from Blizzard. Now that the Beta test has been opened up there has been a flood of information. Most of this comes from the observations and mining of players, more so than Blizzard itself. Perhaps the most frustrating part of the WoW experience is waiting for Blizzard to give us information.
There are some tidbits that we're all excited to hear. When will we see Wrath go live? Will there be another expansion? Where does Kalgan live, and does he have decent body guards? I'd like to know if there are any plans for additional server types in the future.
We always do our best here to get as much information about WoW as possible as quickly as we can. If you had the opportunity to ask your three most burning questions of the game developers, what would you ask?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics, Rumors
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Elmo Jul 28th 2008 8:16AM
What have you done with Anub'Arak?? :
Witty Jul 28th 2008 8:17AM
Pandaren. When?
dAnixx Jul 28th 2008 11:44AM
I demand an wanser!
Geo Lara Jul 28th 2008 8:18AM
I would ask:
1) When will you upgrade the graphics engine? I know WoW was meant to be played on the most hardware out there - but its been a couple of years and the hardware out in the market has improved. Also with the entire Mac line on Intel chips, a port shouldn't be to difficult for them either.
2) When can we get a Armory iPhone app?
3) Looking at BC, what did players do in terms of game progression (both from leveling to raiding) that you did not expect them to do, and how did that impact your designing of Wrath?
Badger Jul 28th 2008 9:34AM
Lara,
I doubt I could answer your other two questions accurately, but here's what I know for sure:
"1) When will you upgrade the graphics engine? I know WoW was meant to be played on the most hardware out there - but its been a couple of years and the hardware out in the market has improved. Also with the entire Mac line on Intel chips, a port shouldn't be to difficult for them either."
I wouldn't call it a "dramatic overhaul," but several new features have been introduced into the latest version(s) of the Beta Client, including Dynamic Lighting and Dynamic Shadows. (I might not be using the right terms for these.) The game looks far, far prettier and more realistic - trust me, this is an understatement! - with a simple console command. Currently there are 4 levels of Shadow and Lighting Detail that can be set in this manner, with a 5th and 6th currently being worked on by the Development Team (though admittedly these may just be "Debug" modes reserved for the Team). The only issue that's arisen so far - that I've experienced, at least - is a frequent unintentional "flickering" on some surfaces, where it seems my graphics card is trying to figure out the exact angle of a nearby light source.
Eh? Jul 28th 2008 9:55AM
"Also with the entire Mac line on Intel chips, a port shouldn't be to difficult for them either."
Is this something in addition to the native Mac OSX client of WoW that Blizzard currently offers on every WoW disc?
Blayed Jul 28th 2008 8:20AM
Will wrath include any "enhanced" outlands content? Will I have wasted 10k gold on 2 epic flying mounts for 2 toons? Heroic Deadmines??
Bulgr Jul 28th 2008 10:28AM
""wasted", huh?
You do realize, I hope, that EVERYTHING you do in a gme is "wasted", except for the temporary pleasure it brings.
I do not see why spending hours and hours getting the gold for an epic mount that you are not guaranteed to be able to use in every possible future situation, is in any way different from spending hours and hours grinding for an arena sword or a T5 hat or a spectacular 4 course dinner at your local restaurant.
If you enjoy it, enjoy it. Don't whine about the fact that no pleasure is forever.
Blayed Jul 28th 2008 10:30AM
Wow, way to a put an "I'm better than all of you, and you're all losers for playing a video game" spin on it. If you don't like people being concerned about the time they've spent in game being wasted, you're on the wrong website. Gtfo.
Zakk Jul 28th 2008 1:59PM
Blayed, he has a point. If you had an ounce of fun with that mount, it's no more wasted than the effort you put into getting to 70 or winning a BG. There's always something more to be done in this game, and that's what makes it great. You can't be the best and have the best things in this game without playing continually. It's more effective to enjoy making progress in WoW than it is to enjoy being done with making progress.
jbodar Jul 28th 2008 9:11PM
Also, they've been saying forever that flying mounts will eventually work in Northrend, so stop being so emo and put on some Preparation H or something. They're not going to take your epic flyers out behind the barn and give them the Old Yeller treatment.
http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/07/27/how-to-fly-through-the-cold-winds-of-northrend/
Rastley Jul 28th 2008 8:21AM
Why? What have we done to you? Will it ever stop? ;_;
Mortalwombat Jul 28th 2008 8:22AM
Lol @ "Where does Kalgan live, and does he have decent body guards?"
The three questions I would ask are;
When is the expansion dropping?
When is Malfurion coming back?
Why they have such a fascination with killing off storyline characters?
Reinard Jul 28th 2008 8:30AM
"When it's ready."
"In the Emerald Dream expansion/raid, likely."
"It lets you, the players, actually feel like you're *doing* something in the World (of Warcraft), rather than have the game's story carry itself and have you be a completely insignificant part of the entire experience."
Next?
I'm not trying to come off as an ass, but your last question irked me.
machieldejager Jul 28th 2008 8:48AM
I would ask them to tell us what their idea is behind every class´s 3 talent tree´s. What is the purpose of the different roles classes can play in the eyes of Blizzard.
poPixel Jul 28th 2008 8:56AM
New heroic classes?
Are we going to see a super-healer class the way Death Knights are being pushed as a super-tank class?
Badger Jul 28th 2008 9:37AM
"Are we going to see a super-healer class the way Death Knights are being pushed as a super-tank class?"
Po,
I don't know where you're getting that the Death Knight is a "super-tanking" class. Honestly, my experience with the class so far as been that they're comparable in survivability to Protection Warriors, but probably not nearly as heavily armored. They're definitely designed for heavier DPS, though, and have several abilities available to them that dramatically increase their threat generation.
Dinnerbone Jul 28th 2008 8:56AM
1. Will you ever give addons the support to store information on the server, even just a few kb?
2. Why won't you give SendAddonMessage() support for custom channels, making us use SendChatMessage() and hope the players aren't drunk?
3. Make the above two alterations. This is not a question, therefore you cannot say 'no'.
Badger Jul 28th 2008 9:39AM
"1. Will you ever give addons the support to store information on the server, even just a few kb?"
I love your statement at the end of your post, haha. Awesome.
Anyway, in response to your question above: Blizzard has begun hosting a great deal of their own "mechanical" data on the servers, including Macros and a few other things (which escape my memory at the moment - I'll check the site when I can and add to that list).
VSUReaper Jul 28th 2008 9:04AM
Why no Holy form for priests?
Why isnt Divine Spirit trainable yet?
Why no escape abilities for priests? (so tired of in PVP having to just heal thru any and all attacks - psychic scream is resisted the first 3-4 times. WTB blink or COS!)
Why not special flying mounts for all classes? (i.e. druids got forms, Locks would summons a demon, paladins would have an armored winged horse, etc...)
Why no Emerald Dream expansion? Those portals have been there for ages!