06-28-2008, 05:47 PM
I just sat and watched the Grab-Bag and (horribly) paraphrasingly typed down the discussion, I'll replace mine with a professional one as soon as I come across it.
Cheers,
~FragB)
Quote:Why has there never been a gnome on a warcraft cinematic?
Have been many, but the camera view is shot over their heads.
Are we going to have a Naxx to TBC type-wait, now that Sunwell is beginning to be farmed?
That's sounds suspiciously like you're asking for a WoltK release date.
What about the range bug for the feral druid?
We're in the process of re-evaluation the process by which the game determines your distance from your target and hopefully will have something for beta of WoltK.
Are you building specific PvP Trees with WotlK?
It's not intended for trees to be that way, but players min-max them into that. As much as we reasonably can, we try to make each tree viable for each part of the game.
So about the inscription profession, who will it affect and what will be it's gathering profession?
Either. The primary mechanic is being able to choose between major and minor types that affect your spells. ANd it currently looks as if we'll be using Herbalism as it's gathering.
Any Linux support? If not, what are the obstacles?
No plans. Early on we had a version internally used for compatibility testing, so it's possible, just not planned.
Why can Feral Druids and DK's DPS & Tank with a single talent set and not Warriors?
Yes we do actually have plans to improve the warrior in both respecs. To help the Prot do more dmg, via Heroic Strike, Revenge improvements and Free SS, and also thus increase the ability of non-Prot warriors to Tank.
Any plans to hybridize classes that still only have a single roll, such as Rogue or Hunter?
<Jab at Rob> We try to keep class identity while still overlapping roles. SO while we have a bunch of classes now that can tank, we all try to make them do it differently so it preserves the integrity of the play experience.
VOIP: Any plans to allow it to match your toons voice?
~NOOOO~
Appears to be some Technical hurdles in terms of how the tones match the alteration.
-DK's emotes will be voice moderated, thus your gnome will sound like Darth Vader
Cro Threadstrong: Will he ever get the cart?
The fruit vendor is a very important part of the Shattrath Story and Chris Metzen would be very upset were he here!
<Buffering...>
Will we able to fly in Outland and will there be any new mounts?
Yes. There might be an attunement to the Northrend continent for your mount so you can fly there. (De-ice the wings)
-Lvl 77 is the plan
-Lvl 80 will have new flying mounts, possibly including even taxiing other players.
<claps>
Ret Changes: You haven't inspired much confidence the last couple years, what's next?
Fix Itemization so it will be shared with Warriors & DK's and plan to continue enhance their group utility in terms of group dps increase as well as their own personal dmg.
Will be able visually change more than hair? (Skinning of armor/weapons)
Well one of our core philosophies is that your gear should be a visual indication of your advancements, so that you know what people have done. In WoltK we'll be seperating the appearance of PvP & PvE Sets. <cheers & claps>
Can druids get new skins for their forms?
We have talked about, and there's been a lot of druid community desire for, but we have be careful with what we change because it can alienate certain players. We have to balance the desire for change and the comfort of what players are used to. Rogue Stealth Change Lesson.
Will Feral (Druids) recieve gender based forms?
New Dire Bear form and also the new Dire Cat form will have a new graphic.
Any changes to Azeroth? Specifically empty zones (Hyjal/N.Plaguelands)
We're huge fans of the old world; I can give you a couple examples: Harbor to SW that's a new way to get transport to Northrend. Extending an area in the Plaguelands to give DK's a home. One of the new arenas might be the empty arena in the back of Orgrimmar. We want people to want to play through the old world.
Gnome Paladins? <boos>
well, I was going to say yes, but by popular vote... No.
How are you going to improve the class balance in S4/PvP-Woltk.
In patch 2.4.3 we should help tune PvP to favor casters a little bit, and in addition it's difficult to say about the expansion because of the major changes it's impossible to say how it will turn out. The idea is to have it at an acceptable level upon shipping.
<hard to understand>Line of Sight hurts PvP?
There's a lot of lessons we learned from our current arenas, including LoS. One of the NR mechanics will be dynamic LoS, as well movable LoS such as dragable objects. It's going to be a balance of randomness vs. player skill in arenas. We'll have a lot more info for you tommorow in the PvP Panel. Original testing was in a completely open battlefield, and they felt it needed some LoS.
Nihlium had issues with KJ, and KT was barely seen pre-TBC. Are you going to nerf Sunwell pre-Wotlk?
It's interesting you bring this up, because we feel the same way which is why Naxx is going to be the first tier Northrend raid. And that's an example of content that was really great but players may not have had a change to experience due to it's difficulty level pre-TBC.
As far as the difficulty of KJ goes, he's designed to be the endboss of TBC. And so he's meant to be the unobtainable goal of the expansion, and we no have current plans to nerf him, but he's under examination. <cheers>
For the moment, PvE players & PvP players have to do both to optimize their gear, what are you going to do?
It's a fine line, we don't want people to feel that they have to do both to do well, but also have enough in both areas that it rewards those who do both. We'll continue to try to work on that balance in WoltK, and with our itemization changes it should smooth some bumps out.
Can warriors look forward to Retaliation becoming less useless in WotlK?
We will have swarms of mobs that attack you!
Do you think, that will all the patches the game is getting easier and easier and it's increasing the amount of noobs<cheers, hoots, hollers, laughs>
Really we're just trying to get it to where Frank can get through the game!
One of the things we value very much here is that it's easy to learn and hard to master, the question about nerfing the KJ fight earlier is a good example. Over time I think you're going to find more noobs as we have low system requirements and those that upgrade their systems slowly will find there way here.
Any party buffs becoming raid buffs in WoltK?
Shaman Totems affecting nearby raid members, as well as Battle Shout & Unleash Rage <claps>
character Selection screen: A way to sort how the characters show up on it(time played, etc..)?
Good idea, just depends on when we can prioritize it and get it in.
Rogues: Sword Spec is the only viable raid dps atm, any change to that, specifically about claws? <one clap>
We do intend to, Daggers fell behind and we expect to make daggers very strong as they fit the rogue kit.
Any chance of druids gaining an epic ground form?
No plans. Just epic arena wins with their current ground form...
Any plans to make it possible to transfer EU to US or vica versa?
That's definately something we've talked about and presents certain unique technical challenges, we have no time period.
Crowd Control in PvP: It can make a match lopside. Also in MgT, no crowd control makes the final bosses impossible.
Crowd Control is a very difficult question. W/o it, matches turn into dmg competitions, and with it it makes interesting interplay. With Wrath we're adding more, and also adding more crowd control breaks, so that the balance doesn't get too far out of whack.
Uldum: wotlK content or patched in? (ala BT)
Uldum was on the forefront of the list of the instances we want to get to players in Woltk, there is still a lot of areas in the old world we want to open up, but not all at once. Caverns of Time, Uldum, Grim Batol, etc...
The Demon Form of the Warlock increases armor, do you intend to make them viable tanks.
Certainly have had opportunity in the past to do so, and we don't expect that they'll do it any more than now. DF is an aoe/dd form rather than tanking.
Armor for Northrend, will we look like an explosion in the paintyard when we're leveling through WotlK? <cheers>
So, yeah, lots of clown action with TBC, we're going to try. Can't say you'll be 100% happy, but it should be better than it was. Now, Frank did say we could solve this by making everything grey...
<Level Advantage in PvP> And will there be gear matching?
Gear matching is in, but currently if we are too aggressive in how we enforce that, you end up with long queue times, so it's a balance.
Soulshards: Any change to mechanics? And Missing Diplomat, are you going to finish it or anything?
I don't have an answer for the Missing Diplomat. But we're trying to figure out how to allow you to get a soul shard in an emergency, but it's a defining mechanic of the class and expect it to remain.
Saved Two Talent Specs. Why not?
We actually are working on a plan to give players easier access to two talent specs and will give you more info later.
Why does the animal boss in Kara, why crap loot and no badge?
(Appears to be some confusion over what the animal(spider) boss is)
That was a very specific idea we have, to give a raid that had less than 10 people the chance to get some rep & loot while waiting.
Last question, Make it good!
Improving the world enviroment for Role-Play, any plans to make cities or whatnot that have functionality specifically for RP?
Well, I'm not sure what you mean, as you can RP anywhere. What fuctionality means to one player could be different than another. We certainly try to give the world a lot of lore in all it's areas.
One of the teams for WoW is the world Event Team, and their job is to add fun that doesn't involve purple loot, such as marriages. Currently, that team is very small, and as such, hasn't been able to do a lot, but you can see some of it, such as with the Darkmoon Faire.
Cheers,
~FragB)
Hardcore Diablo 1/2/3/4 & Retail/Classic WoW adventurer.
