I've seen a lot of these sorts of overstatements or oversimplifications of the work that we're doing on our end of things and I have to honestly say that it can get a bit tiring to see repeated as fact when it's opinion. While we greatly appreciate constructive feedback and opinion, we also want to make sure to encourage people to pause and make sure that what they're sharing with us and the rest of the community is constructive to begin with.

Let's start off first by clarifying that Transmogrification is a feature we felt would benefit the community in many ways. It should open up the opportunity for people to feel as if they have the ability to customize how their character looks while still retaining the stats they really like, want, or need. It is as of yet, untested on the PTR, but it will be. The "rules" of what can and can't be used are still in development, and even after the rules are set at the live release, we may well add additional options into the system. This system should lend itself well to long term use and enjoyment for many people.

That said though, (and yes we did have to spend time on the technical end of things to make sure it is going to work well), we are also working on other things including the Void Storage, but more importantly, are working on some pretty amazing content for patch 4.3 which includes new dungeons and the Raid on Deathwing. We're not quite ready to give you all the details on these as of yet, but I can tell you that we're looking at some pretty great storylines and events to be played out. I can assure you that despite what your perception may be, Firelands was not designed by simply plopping down bosses in a field of fire, nor is anything we design quite so simple. If it was, we'd probably all get more sleep and spend more time on the company yacht. Right? ;)

I'm sure your perception is that our only focus is Transmogrification because you've only seen us really getting into the details on it recently and it's been a hot topic for the community overall. But don't be fooled into thinking that the content to come is going to be a simple paper cut out puppet show in a cardboard box.

Again, please don't take this as me disregarding your opinion or thoughts. Just be reassured though that we're not "just" doing anything in regard to the upcoming content. There has been many many hours of work put into what is coming: many meetings, many strategy sessions, much design work, coding, artwork, music, animation, etc. If we make it look "easy" then I guess there's not much we can do about that. ;) We have some truly talented and amazing people working on these things, so I guess we just can't help making it look that way.

*As always, I'd like to remind everyone that if you choose to take part in these discussions, you should refrain from personal attacks or non-constructive posting so that the thread doesn't become derailed. Once that happens, we either have to try to get the train back on the track, or just lock it off and leave the wreckage where it lays.

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Unfortunately, we can't just put out foggers to kill bugs, but I can assure you that we don't choose to not fix bugs just for the heck of it. Some bugs are just harder to kill/fix than others or rely on even new technology to sort them out. Sometimes a bug is even darn near impossible to reproduce even if we've seen it ourselves. Thus why we're always very appreciative of the community taking time to report these to us (with as much detail as possible) so we can find and fix them.

That said though, that quest is never ending. World of Warcraft is a very complex game and what was fixed one moment could get glitched out again the next if a build changes or code changes. We do what we can do stay on top of it, but unfortunately, we have human limitations that get in the way despite the introduction of our new cyber-enhancement program. (It's fledgling yet so there may be bugs in that system too... (Ok, I'm kidding about cyber-enhancements)).

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I knew someone would pick up on that word of all words. ;)

I'll continue it and say, it's also tiring hearing that we're not addressing things in a 'satisfactory manner'. Not because we don't want to put in the effort or that we're giving up on trying, it's just that when the effort is put in, it's not enough for select people. Of course it's that way because we have such a diverse population (which is great) so we're never going to address everything to everyone's satisfaction.

That said though, I wanted to make sure you know that I appreciate you taking the time to write your post. I appreciate the constructive feedback and also wanted to acknowledge that we are well aware of the feeling that we're not delivering content fast enough. We are continuing to find ways to do just this. Just keep in mind that we do not want (nor are choosing to) deliver anything that isn't up to our standards. So, we still will hold to the idea that if we feel something isn't good enough or isn't working how we wanted it to, we will not put it out there just so we can say we did.


For the Call to Arms bug... I'll have to revisit that topic elsewhere. I know we had some things that were addressed or being looked into at one point.

For those who continue to support us and our efforts, we really do appreciate it. Just please remember that even those who may seem "negative" are supporting us in their own way by simply letting us know about the things that they are experiencing or feeling too.

Greetings All!
As we've done for past PTRs we're going to be hosting another Play With The Blues event.

Tomorrow, 8/26/2011, from 2pm-6:30pm PST me and many other Blizzard employees will be logging into the 4.2.2 PTRs and queuing as groups for random battlegrounds.

Test your strength against our mightiest warriors (and our mightiest mages, mightiest rogues, mightiest paladins, etc, etc)!

We'll be in either the [Blizzard Horde] or [Blizzard Alliance] guilds.

We haven't fully solidified the list of old items/sets that will make a return via the Darkmoon Faire carnies. We'll let you know once we've locked down what's for sale there in patch 4.3, but yes, we're likely to expand the vendor list in future updates.

"Replica" does mean that these items may very well just be art skins made available specifically for use with Transmogrification, devoid of their original stats. Once you copy those skins onto another item though, I don't know that one would be able to tell the difference between whether you earned the look back in the day, or from the Darkmoon Faire. Only the name of the item from which you're pulling art will be shown in the tooltip of the item you have equipped. So if the names of the items aren't changed when placed on Darkmoon Faire vendors, a player inspecting you wouldn't know the difference once you've mogged your look.

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We do understand that concern, which is why we're implementing this feature in a more conservative manner than some would even like. Ultimately, Transmogrification gives folks a wide array of new customization options, but we do want to have some restrictions in place to keep character looks from getting too ridiculous, and to make sure all previous sets in the game aren't absolutely free for all.

I'd still caution you to avoid drawing very distinct and speculative conclusions at this stage about all of the Transmogrification rule sets, features, and limitations. It's great to hear feedback on what players hope this system will (or will not) be, but it's not really worth it for anyone to spend too much time laying out concerns about details that haven't yet been provided in full.

We are in constant discussion with our developers in order that we compile a comprehensive article of the various item rules, features, and restrictions coming with Transmogrification in patch 4.3. ;)

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And one of the problems I personally have with anyone who might state this hypothetical, is that I did earn several cool sets back in the day which I'd love to sport once again. But as we didn't plan for this feature all along, I deleted sets I knew I'd never wear for stat benefits in order to save inventory space. I told myself, "yes, you look cool in this, but don't be a pack rat if you're not going to wander around towns in outmoded sets." I wager a lot of long-time WoW players are in the same boat. And a deleted/sold item is only kept in our database logs for so long before the record of one having owned that item is erased.

The majority of the gear sets in this game are still possible to obtain, so that's awesome. To me it's a cool side effect of this feature to encourage people to return to some old places, filled with nostalgia, to collect gear just for the look -- not the power.

There are, however, some sets or items which can no longer be found in the game. So we're keeping track of some of the items and sets players are really wanting to see make a return in some fashion. The Darkmoon Faire revamp in patch 4.3 provides but one new way players can slip into familiar looks from the past. :)

The Trading Card Game Art Gallery has been updated with 10 new pieces. Each image is taken directly from the official World of Warcraft Trading Card Game.