Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsTom Chilton talks about 3.2 and the future of World of Warcraft
by Mike Schramm 
Jul 6th 2009 at 8:00PM
Videogamer.com has a nice long interview with World of Warcraft Producer Tom Chilton about everything from patch 3.2 and the Argent Tournament to the future of the game at large. They caught up with him at the Warcraft Regional Finals 2009 tournament in Germany this past week, and in part one, he talks about the upcoming patch and what Blizzard is expecting to get out of it. He says the Isle of Conquest battleground is their most "epic-feeling" instanced PvP setting since Alterac Valley, and that they want it to feel nuts, with players fighting each other via air and land. He also mentions Arena, and says that it was originally designed to be "a fun side PvP activity" that they went a little overboard with during Burning Crusade. Finally, he talks about twinks, and says that neither Blizzard nor twinks, apparently, want to see other players crushed by those who have the time or money to max out their low level characters. Even twinks, says Chilton, want to see competition against each other, and the option to turn XP off will let them do that. I'm not sure I agree with that last one -- many twinks seem to beef their characters up just for the chance to lay waste to "normal" players, but Chilton says Blizzard believes otherwise.The second part of the interview is more general -- he talks a little bit about the next expansion (with the same speculation we've already heard: Gilneas, the Maelstrom, the Emerald Dream), and says that designing a race is tougher on artists, but designing a class is tougher on designers. He admits that because we had a new class in Wrath, it's unlikely we'll see another class so soon in the next expansion, but "not impossible" of course. And he does note that Blizzard tries to "pre-seed" the races before they use them as playable races, so if they are adding in races, chances are we've already seen them (which, you may note, wasn't strictly true with the Draenei in BC). Finally, he talks about the future of Blizzard's MMO in general, and says it's still wide open to them: they plan for the game to last for years, and what they do between now and then, whether that be more expansions, microtransactions, or even a free-to-play model, will have to depend on what they want to do at the time.
Very interesting interview. Chilton doesn't really reveal anything, but you do get the sense that save for a very skeleton plan of one or two years in the future, Blizzard is really playing it fast and loose with World of Warcraft. Even he admits that the game may look very different, depending on how things go, in another four years from now.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Events, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items, Instances, Expansions, Raiding, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Battlegrounds
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 5)
Scott Jul 6th 2009 11:32PM
"I'm not sure I agree with that last one -- many twinks seem to beef their characters up just for the chance to lay waste to "normal" players, but Chilton says Blizzard believes otherwise."
Geez Schramm, you always seem to rain on the fringe elements of WoW - twinks and multiboxing, to name two lately, and generalise heavily about them. Fine, if you don't like something, you just don't, other people do enjoy them and Blizz allows both to happen, so complaining will change nothing.
There are ways to deal with both and for the most part they're fine. There ARE exceptions, where people will run a twink straight at the weakest player in a BG, but generally, they're tangling it with the other twinks. As for multiboxers, they have added strengths but they also have added weaknesses.
Anyway, I didn't roll a twink to cause levelling players to QQ about twinks, I made one for the same reasons that you sharpen a knife. The same reasons L80's take up blacksmithing AND jewelcrafting and so on - because I want my character to be the absolute best it can be within the constraits I stipulate - not to make people QQ (although I will admit that twink QQ'ers tears probably taste delicious)
We all pay the same amount to play (except the multiboxers) so everyone is entitled to play the game the way they want, but no matter what, there will be negatives: a twink mashes you, a multiboxer wipes your team out, someone outbids you on the AH, someone rolls higher than you on the loot you've been waiting for, a griefer camps your corpse whilst you're simply levelling, your guild passes over you for the Ulduar run. If you want a completely level and fair playing field, mayber checkers is a better fit.
megamogx Jul 7th 2009 12:02AM
He says the Isle of Conquest battleground is their most "epic-feeling"
So i guess that means it will be nerfed to the point of casual fail fest a month after it is out?
Let me guess he also thott strands of the ancients was better then all other BGs even tho it is pretty much pointless because arena castrated PVP?
As for his stance on twinks, omg has this guy played wow ever? I mean really at many points in the game wow hit a dead end and people were left with should i roll countless maxx level alts or try to enjoy pvp in a game that has done all it could to kill it.... They rolled twinks to try to keep the forever widing gap between end game pvpers and the constant new patches that make everything they have done worthless. Twinking is prob the most time consverative option compared to the crap that is reacquiring end game pvp gear each BS arena season.
As for QQ by them about dranie, i dont wanna hear it since wow's site said they had powerful warlocks and then said nah we can't have dranie being warlocks they have a heal spell and that would mean free mana....
SaintStryfe Jul 7th 2009 12:31AM
You're confused. Draenei are are an offshoot of a race called the Eredar, who lived on Planet Argus 250k years ago. The Eredar were lead by a council of 3 wise men: Archimond, Kil-jaden and Valen. Sargaras, the Burning Legion's founder, offered the three power for obedience. Archie and Killie took the offer, Valen was troubled by visions. So he took a small group of Eredar off the planet with the help of the Naaru. These Eredar exiles became Draenei - which in Eredar language means "Exiled Ones". The Eredar became demonically corrupted, and thus warlocks. Draenei were formed with the ideal of rejecting demonic corruption, so they have never, and will hopefully never, have warlocks.
Read Christie Golden's "Rise of the Horde" For more info.
megamogx Jul 7th 2009 12:49AM
Yes yes i know the fail lore that brought the dranei off shoot from the erwutever that race the orc butched on their home world that came from their magic space ship....
SaintStryfe Jul 7th 2009 4:54PM
no, apparently you don't understand. The land we know as Outland, the former planet Draenor (Exiles Refuge in the Draenei language) is the home world of the Orcs, and where the Draenei settled after many thousands of years of searching. Kiljaden, Sargaras' attendant in charge of finding the Draenei, found where they might be, and rather then just going in guns a blazing, he played a more subtle game: Posing as an ancestor spirit to the head Orc Shaman, Nur'zul and then slowly corrupting the orcs, ultimately leading to Gul'dan, Nurzul's apprentice, breaking the world apart.
You call it fail lore but you don't even know the story. You're rightfully voted down.
klint Jul 9th 2009 10:50PM
I don't think I can stay in this game for another 4 years.
Aubrecia Jul 7th 2009 12:33AM
If the next expansion is Emerald Dream, the new race will be furbolgs for Alliance, that's an obvious one. Horde? I don't know, but personally, I'm holding out for dryads.
FeverRay Jul 7th 2009 1:05AM
Dryads for Horde seem a bit out of place, as in most of the game they are mostly related to NIght Elves and/or linked to Cenarion Expedition. http://www.wowwiki.com/Dryad
Aubrecia Jul 7th 2009 1:47AM
Oh, I know they're unlikely. I can still hope :)
FeverRay Jul 7th 2009 1:02AM
"An example I could throw out there would be, in Blackwing Lair we had the drakonid race. We always looked at those and said, oh that would be a pretty cool player race - it would be cool to play as one of those guys. There's not a lot there as far as, where did they come from and what are they? But they are in the world and it wouldn't be completely inconceivable that a player would end up being able to play that, and we could continue to expand on the depth of that race and that sort of race."
Example or not, there, I think he just gave some hint on what sort of races we may be seeing on next xpac. Yay for playing as (sort of) drakes! \o/
Seraph Jul 7th 2009 1:14AM
There were Draenei in the game before BC. An NPC in Astranaar, and NPCs in Forest Song.
Amaxe Jul 7th 2009 1:35AM
The races I see proposed for the Horde don't work. Remember after Retcon 3 er... I mean Warcraft 3, the Orcs and the Horde are now "good." Meanwhile the Vrykul, Worgen and the like are races which are evil.
So unless you want a "Varian Wrynn was right" I don't see it.
I'm guessing Goblin for the Horde (it does fit), and not sure for the Alliance. I doubt High Elf, as we already have an elf race. Furbolg is possible, but what do they bring to the game?
Guyledouche Jul 7th 2009 1:37AM
Goblin for Horde
Worgen for Alliance
Yttarion Jul 7th 2009 3:00AM
Never have I seen an interview go for so long and say so little. Did anyone else read the second interview and think "what a waste of time that was"?
I dont actually understand the appeal of adding new races to the game. Is levelling/gearing an alt from scratch really that appealing to that many people? Just for the sake of a different appearance and slightly different racials?
WoW needs another healer class. In particular, we need an OP hero class healer who gets people into healing for the first time. That, in my opinion, would be more beneficial to the game than adding more arbitrary models to look at all day.
ash Jul 7th 2009 2:51AM
I'm kind of leaning toward wanting a new class as opposed to a new race, just cause whats the point of a new race with all the homogenization they have been doing? While, there are a few cool options as far as lore go, I am not sure blizz would go with what I think is interesting. Adding a new class definitely changes up the mix, though, and I kinda hope they get a class that does an overhaul for healing like what dk's did for tanking.
Keleron Jul 7th 2009 3:04AM
I'm really shocked to see so many people want to play as a goblin. To each his/her own I guess. Personally I like "cooler" races. Gnomes and other cute races irk me. Lots of cool ideas though. Wonder what Blizzard will do.
SarahTheGnome Jul 7th 2009 3:19AM
"I'm not sure I agree with that last one -- many twinks seem to beef their characters up just for the chance to lay waste to "normal" players, but Chilton says Blizzard believes otherwise."
Assumptions make an ass...
Do I have to continue? Or can you guess the rest?
This was a bit disappointing to read from the author, as I would expect him to maybe do a bit of research (other than OH NOES I GOT ONE SHOTTED IN BG AT LV23) before judging.
Bossy Jul 7th 2009 5:16AM
I found this a very FASCINATING interview. Lessons learned.
1. They will bring new races. So the beginning/medium levels will be highly populated Great.
2. They 'll C H A N G E wow mechanics over time as long as needed. They are indeed aware that this game IS an incredible money making machine. Seriously folks in patch 3.1 and 3.2 some VERY fundamental changes already came. Exp through pure PVP and the stop of EXP gains, but also dual specs and portable banks to put your extra gear in.
Unless you have your eyes closed, this game already changed tremendously since WotLK.
Just one example: where could you find in the past 100vs100 battles each night on about every server?
FACT is ... we are spoiled children. The first time you enter something ... it is awe. Then 3 months later everyone says nah.
We take all these new things for granted, but with each new added step, blizzard widens the gap ... with the competition and ... they know it.
As long as this game has multimillion subs, Blizzard will let this beast change to the latest requirements, THAT is the lesson I've learned from this interview.
Levelling through PVE Experience gains was one of the CORE things inside WOW, expect even the wildest changes in future years just to keep the game going.
I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped leveling or no longer see gear as sole mechanics. As for graphics: with this money making I am sure they already have it in stock and just tune up when they know the client machines can handle it.
This game will go on and on as long as WOW makes 10 times more money as any other game, year after year after year. Why should they stop adding new options anyway.
There won't be any WOW2. If necessary they'll just partly reset things and jump 50 years in Azeroth evolution. I pretty much have a feeling within 5 years WOW will even change its core mechanics (level/gear based MMO) or will be divided among specialized branches, like console based instances or huge open world playing options with "scaled dungeons".
I expect them to touch upon the core design of realm servers even (clustered realms) with phasing the ultimate weapon to handle the constantly changing worlds.
If Blizzard plays its cards right, WOW could be the main Fantasy PC game for the next 20 years.
The others simply don't have the money stream.
SC2 and D3 are simply little drops in a sea of WOW money making.
Sarabande Jul 7th 2009 9:07AM
I hope we won't see a slew of new microtransactions. I actually love that all of us just pay a monthly subscription fee, and outside of a few vanity items, everyone starts out and plays pretty much equally no matter your real financial circumstances (with the exception of RAF and multiboxing which could give you some lvling advantages). So, you don't have a bunch of rich kids strutting around in their purples with the fastest mounts while people worried about their RL bills sit in greens and no mount.
I like WoW the way it is, and the way things are ADDED rather than just changed. While things are made easier, for the most part, people starting out now get a similar experience to those who started out years ago (though with a few new starting areas). Plus it's nice to be able to revisit some of the areas we've gotten to know. It's become a part of our world . . . and to know that, if we were to start an alt, we have the choice to take the same path (but with a different class) or start in a whole new area.
Greg Jul 7th 2009 8:14AM
"Even twinks, says Chilton, want to see competition against each other"
I'd believe this, if there weren't so many twinks sitting in Goldshire and Sentinel Hill challenging every level 1-19 player to a duel.