In just a few moments, Blizzard's second developer Q&A hosted via CoverItLive will begin. Last time around, players were invited to ask questions about
all things Mists of Pandaria, and it really went quite well. This afternoon, in a session timed to fit European players' schedules, the Q&A will sharpen its focus and
discuss class balance and design. The Q&A will be hosted and moderated by Blizzard Entertainment community managers Zarhym and Bashiok with developers Celestalon, Ghostcrawler, Koraa, Watcher, Wradyx, and Xelnath in attendance as panelists.
If you wish to attend the event, the CoverItLive client has been embedded behind the cut below. To participate, you can log into CoverItLive with your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or OpenID credentials. If you don't want to use any of those, you are allowed to sign in as a guest. If you're unable to attend to event at all, don't fret: we'll have a transcript for you right here on WoW Insider once the panel has concluded.
Update: The Q&A is now live!
Update #2: The Q&A has ended and our transcript will be available shortly.
Update #3: Here's our transcript!
Tags: bashiok, celestalon, class-design-and-balance, class-qanda, cover-it-live, coveritlive, ghostcrawler, koraa, watcher, wradyx, xelnath, zarhym
Filed under: News items
Nov 9th 2011 at 1:30PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Magma Nov 9th 2011 1:46PM
Someone needs to ask how they're going to buff all the other classes and specs, since feral druids are very clearly the superior class/spec.
SR Nov 9th 2011 2:15PM
Bad troll. Move on.
Magma Nov 9th 2011 2:22PM
Troll? Not quite. It was supposed to be a joke. I thought the "clearly" would be a dead give away, but apparently not.
(cutaia) Nov 9th 2011 2:46PM
"I thought the "clearly" would be a dead give away, but apparently not."
Clearly. :P
chuparex Nov 10th 2011 3:19PM
Clearly, I have all my brain Legos.
pinkduck2202 Nov 9th 2011 2:08PM
I've asked a few rogue questions, hope any one of them is addressed :)
Edymnion Nov 9th 2011 2:08PM
I did get a question in about rogue raid utility, here's hoping it actually gets answered.
Edymnion Nov 9th 2011 3:20PM
There's a shocker, every question I had at least about Rogue raid utility was ignored. All this talk about how Druids are super awesome and should be able to DPS as kitties and then switch over to backup heals at the drop of a hat, and us Rogues get nothing.
Whats the point of bringing a Rogue when a kitty Druid brings all the same stuff to the table, as well as raid buffs and backup heals?
jordan Nov 9th 2011 4:19PM
"The current 5.0 model is that there are 8 raid buffs: health, attack power, spell power, melee haste, spell haste, crit, mastery and stats"
I have the feeling that rogues will probably be getting the mastery raid buff or at least will be getting a class wide buff.
"Homogenization is one of *the* hardest challenges we face. Players become upset if they feel like they are losing what is uniquely theirs, but then they get just as frustrated when they lack e.g. self-healing or mobility or a cool toy that another class gets. With 11 classes and parties, (some) raids and PvP teams much smaller than that, we can't make every class mandatory and we don't think it's reasonable to have 11 (or even 34 if you include specs) spells, buffs and mechanics that are unique but completely equal. We just try to keep the pulse on the community and see when players think we have gone too far or not far enough. This next bit might start a firestorm of controversy, but we heard from a lot of 10-player raiders who asked "Why make a rogue legendary? We don't have a rogue." When we asked why, they said 'Rogues don't bring anything we need, so we don't want them." That's not cool. I'm not saying the legendary is the answer for why bring rogues, but you should feel like you have room for rogues without sacrificing something else and that rogues should bring something that makes you happy they are there."
This is encouraging because it shows that they are at least aware of the problem now.
jordan Nov 9th 2011 4:23PM
We have a very vague idea of what's going on but it's not all doom and gloom. Yes ferals will get the ability to heal and such but they will have to stop dpsing if they want to play their spec right if they are to be recognized as good players.
blancester Nov 9th 2011 4:29PM
And with monks coming up, sharing rogue dps gear and most likely for monk tanking as well, rogues are becoming extinct sadly.
Good thing they are still good for pvp.
Hopefully Blizz will do something with rogues. I liked the idea of a rogue tank, but obviously that will not happen as we now have 5 tank specs now.
RuzGofDI Nov 9th 2011 2:30PM
"All Monks (DPS, Tank and Healer) will use the "dual combo point" resource (Force). "
The Force will be strong with monks.
sharlatan Nov 9th 2011 3:19PM
But healers will still use mana.....fail. Massively missed opportunity by Bliz there to really give us something new.
ravyncat Nov 9th 2011 4:00PM
If healing monks did not use mana, then the entire "healers need to use smart heals or they go OOM mechanic" would be avoided. That would not be fair to every other healer class out there.
They aren't going to eliminate a key point of how they want the healing game to play just to do something new.
blancester Nov 9th 2011 4:42PM
Chi will probably be replaced with mana, but the dark and light orbs will most likely still be used. Just like how holy pallies also have to use holy power.
GhostWhoWalks Nov 9th 2011 2:54PM
"For example, Unholy, Survival and Subtlety have the capability to perform far better than most people realize."
As an Unholy Death Knight in mixed T12, Zul and Molten Front gear who has done DPS comparable to a Dual-Wield Frost DK decked out in full T12 and Firelands gear, I can attest to this fact. I'm also capable of doing far better AoE damage than practically any other spec that I've run with.
Charron Nov 9th 2011 2:59PM
I don't play any of those classes/specs, but I found that statement to be interesting. Kind of like, "haha they still haven't figured it out yet!"
Shinae Nov 9th 2011 3:09PM
I'd also like to add Frost mage to that list. I have one in my raid group, and he does good DPS because he knows how to line up his cooldowns, trinkets, and potions. (He also never PvPs.)
summonsays Nov 9th 2011 6:13PM
As a survival hunter, I agree. My main is a warlock and ive been playing around with the hunter for a while now. Its amazing the aoe dps (I know not the main point) that they can dish out. I can regularly pull 50-70k on large aoe packs (like zg types). And on boss fights I do not feel gimped next to the MM hunter. Its a spec I enjoy more than MM and the few dps people can claim I miss won't be making me change specs any time soon.
Greg Nov 9th 2011 3:01PM
My question was about new classes- or rather, 'flavor' classes.
How about adding sub-classes for each class that would allow players greater customization of their characters. For instance, hunters could become pistoliers-- mages could become wizards-- druids could use new forms-- warriors could become tacticians-- etc. Each 'flavor' class would have all the same abilities of the base class, but would perform them in unique ways. Basically, a 'flavor' class would add new animations and a few emotes to an already existing class.
This idea seems consistent with Blizzard's recent desire to allow players a more free hand in customization. While it would introduce 'homogenized' classes, I'd counter by adding that the classes wouldn't be any more homogenous. Only the 'flavors' within each class would be similar. The relative ratios between classes would remain unchanged- assuming that people don't outright change classes as a result.
And finally, my ultimate combo argument: dark retribution paladin versus feral honeybadger druid. IT'S OVER 9000!
*shatter