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5.4.7 Hotfixes, Transcript of Wowhead's Interview, WoD Press Images, PAX Beta Keys
5.4.7 Hotfixes
Blizzard
Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
Siege of Orgrimmar
:
Blackfuse Bombling
should no longer be incorrectly awarded from the Spoils of Pandaria encounter.
Icecrown Citadel
: Resolved an issue that could prevent players from being able to loot
The Lich King
if NPCs dealt fatal damage to him.
The Eye
: Added additional safeguards to the
Kael'thas Sunstrider
encounter to address issues that could cause him to sometimes not grant loot if he's defeated too quickly.
Achievements
Insane in the Membrane
: Resolved an issue where Exalted status with the various Steamwheedle Cartel factions, as well as Honored status with the
Bloodsail Buccaneers
faction, were not properly being credited if those reputations subsequently decreased. Players should now be able to earn this achievement if they have ever brought those five reputations to the required levels.
PAX East News
We've rounded up several of the interviews that took place at PAX East, as well as our own with a brand new transcript. As we find more news from the weekend, we'll add that in, so do keep checking back!
Transcript of Wowhead's PAX East Inte
Live
Warlords of Draenor: Wowhead interviews Blizzard developers
Wowhead's
Perculia
interviewed Lead Class Designer Kris Zierhut and Game Designer Steve Burke on Warlords of Draenor.
Topics discussed include:
Void Storage
Bad Luck Protection and the prevention of looting duplicate items
Engineering tinkers as sellable items and the impact on raidint
Garrisons and how they're tied to overall gameplay - your Garrison can be attacked by NPCs, and you get rewards for defending it
Followers—interesting ways to recruit them, specialize in different types of rewards.
Raid cooldowns
Incentivizing Proving Grounds
Challenge Modes Strengths and weaknesses of Timeless Isle
You can listen to the audio below. Obviously, as it's a convention, there is some background noise for which we apologise.
Edit: transcript is now up too! We have tried to be as exact as possible, but due to the poor audio quality at points, there are a few summarized bits.
Hit the break for the Transcript!
Live
Technical Game Designer Chadd "Celestalon" Nervig Talks Warlords of Draenor
Update! 3:30 EST, the
Warlords of Draenor talent calculator
is now updated with datamined talent changes.
I was fortunate enough to be invited to Blizzard Campus to interview Technical Game Designer Chadd "Celestalon" Nervig on Warlords of Draenor. You can
read the full interview over at WoW Insider
, but I've created a summary for Wowhead which you can read below. Please note that while the WoW Insider transcript is just that, I have used my own phrasing here.
Timeline and the "Alpha" term
Celestalon wanted to be very clear that this was not the final set of patch notes. There's already another 5,000+ word set being created by Rygarius, as well as blogs. It's definitely not the case that these are set in stone.
Players shouldn't take the "Alpha" as meaning that Blizzard is not that far along in content, and not assume that there's a certain time period of Beta to follow.
"Alpha" more relates to how many people are being invited. Mists had a lot of people, thanks to the Annu
Live
Hearthstone Interview with Eric Dodds and Jason Chayes
Along with Hearthstone's
significant beta patch
and card wipe this past week, we interviewed Lead Designer Eric Dodds and Production Director Jason Chayes today! We touched on some of their favorite changes in the beta, the success of , possible features in the future like alternate Warcraft hero options or co-op mode, how successful players are who haven't spent money on packs, and the fate of
Hearthsteed
.
If you're curious about this week's beta patch, check out the
closed beta patch notes
and browse our
updated database
!
What's your favorite change in this week's patch? Any particular hero or card you think players will really enjoy a lot more after the changes?
Jason Chayes
: One of the changes that we're pretty excited about on the team was getting in some new music during the matchmaking as you're waiting to get a match in Play mode. For players who have played Warcraft 2 in the past, it's a reference back to
Live
Wowhead's Patch 5.4 Interview with Lead Game Designer Tom Chilton
Patch 5.4 is coming very soon
, bringing with it a variety of innovative content from Flex Raiding to the daily-free Timeless Isle. This past week, we got to sit down with Lead Game Designer Tom Chilton and ask him about popular upcoming content--the unique nature of the Timeless Isle, legendary questline development, Proving Grounds, and more.
Read on to find out more about the most-anticipated features coming in Patch 5.4!
I've had a lot of fun with the
Timeless Isle
on the PTR--finding all the hidden events, getting the vanity loot, participating in the Pet Tournament, etc. What were the inspirations in designing a hub that's so radically different from past ones, where the emphasis is on participating in fun vanity content instead of daily hubs for reputation epics?
One of the resounding things that we
Live
5.3 PTR: Hidden Brawler's Guild Items, Tom Chilton Interview
In addition to the new Brawler's Guild bosses coming with Ranks 9 and 10 in Patch 5.3, there are twelve special bosses which each require players doing something creative to unlock.
First, players must find a special item, such as
The Bear and the Lady Fair
. Each item has a unique source.
These items start quests asking the player to return these item to the Brawler's Guild, like
A Tale of Romance and Chivalry
.
Once at the Brawler's Guild, you will then fight the boss associated with the item, in quests like
The Bear and the Lady Fair
.
Beating the boss for the first time will reward you with a significant amount of gold like
Overflowing Sack of Coins
,
Valor Points
, and a themed vanity shirt like
Gorgeous Blouse
.
You can now purchase that boss' Challenge Card and fight them again as much as you like.
Challenge Cards are a new addition to the Brawler's Guild--players can purchase them to fight any boss they've already faced.
Item Sources
Here are some of the interesting quest sources recently brought to our attention:
Users participating in Battlefield: Barrens can purchase
Raptorhide Boxing Gloves
for
Radical Mojo
. Users can get one a week from
Live
Diablo III for Console: Press Kit and PAX East Interview
Last weekend at PAX East, we checked out the Diablo III console demo in addition to covering
Hearthstone, Blizzard's new game
!
While Diablo III may seem easy to adapt for console play, there are a lot of quality-of-life changes:
In multiplayer mode, you'll be able to play side-by-side, as well as via the network. The camera will zoom out to accommodate players separated.
Fewer items drop from mobs, but they tend to be high quality. Items you wish to vendor can also be tagged as junk while fighting.
Higher-quality items drop from the console version because there is no Auction House as a means of obtaining gear.
Console monsters have a staggered combat rhythm, as being surprised by a cluster of mobs is exciting and fun on a PC, but less so with console mechanics.
A new event queue shows recent buffs and items looted. Symbols will pop up for all recent items showing how much of an upgrade or downgrade it is, for easy reference.
The achie
Live
Hearthstone Interview and PAX Demo Gameplay
Over the weekend, I interviewed Hamilton Chu, Executive Producer, and Ben Brode, Game Designer, about Blizzard's newest game, Hearthstone, which was just revealed at PAX East! I also got to try out a few rounds of this fast-paced lighthearted demo as my favorite classes--Rogue and Warlock.
We've also covered the artwork, videos, and the Official Press Release and Gameplay FAQ from Blizzard in
Friday's post
. Also check out
Blizzard's Roundup
for more fansite interviews and resources.
Gameplay
Hearthstone is designed to be an accessible and fast-paced online strategy card game using popular figures from World of Warcraft:
Classes
: There are nine classes total. All WoW classes are represented except for Death Knights and Monks. Each class has a unique low-cost ability that's meant to be an option if you get unlucky with card draws. For example, Warlocks can draw a card at the cost of life, while Rogues can summ
Live
Wowhead's Patch 5.2 Interview with Lead Game Designer Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas
Patch 5.2 is right on the horizon, bringing with it a new raid full of exciting bosses and powerful epic loot! Yesterday I had the opportunity to interview Lead Encounter Developer Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas, who shared insights on
Throne of Thunder
's design as well as on raid-related topics such as Item Upgrades and Thunderforged gear.
Topics covered include:
The decision to implement Ra-den, a limited-attempt heroic-only boss, in Throne of Thunder.
Thoughts on the staggered release of Tier 14 content.
Progression paths for raiders in 5.2 who have yet to complete Tier 14 content.
The multiple purposes behind Thunderforged items and how they can benefit 25-player raids.
Strengths, weaknesses, and possible modifications to the item upgrade system.
The purpose behind the new Feats of Strength (Ahead of the Curve, Cutting Edge) for killing Tier 14 bosses before 5.2's release.[
Live
News Round Up: Developer Q & As, Fast Patch 5.1.0A Notes
Today we have a list of all the other recent fansite interviews with Blizzard Lead Developers. They cover a variety of topics including Mists endgame, dailies, pet battles, and the Brawler's Guild, and include transcripts, podcasts, and video interviews--so there's bound to be some topic and format that suits your tastes!
In addition, there are some "Fast Patch" notes for 5.1.0A that mainly cover some bug fixes for pet battles and Macs.
We also want to highlight
OpenRaid's
recent redesign
, which has a brand-new layout as well as a news section, event roster pages, enhanced friends lists, and user profiles with tooltips.
OpenRaid makes finding a group for any raid or dungeon easy, whether you want to run an old raid for achievements or need a group for Challenge Modes. To learn more about OpenRaid, listen to the
Hearthcast Interview
and check out their
tutorial
.
World of Warcraft Fast Patch 5.1.0A Notes
[quote="Blizzard Entertainment" blizzard=true url=
http://us
Live
Wowhead's Exclusive Interview with Lead Quest Designer Dave Kosak
Yesterday, we sat down with Lead Quest Designer Dave Kosak and asked him about some experimental content choices in 5.1, as well as contested topics such as Mists of Pandaria's daily quest system. We previously
interviewed him right before MoP's launch
and it was cool to follow up on many of those topics!
Many fansites will be conducting interviews with Blizzard staff this week, which we'll be rounding up, but for now, all raiders and PvPers will want to check out Ghostcrawler's interviews at
Gamebreaker
and
All Things Azeroth
.
[h3
Live
Interviews with Lead Quest Designer Dave Kosak, Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas
With Mists of Pandaria a week away, we're excited to bring you some interviews covering the expansion!
Wowhead interviewed Dave Kosak, Lead Quest Designer, this past week. Mists of Pandaria has a lot of exciting
lore developments
, not to mention quirky exploration details like
rare spawns dropping vanity loot
and treasure chests hidden around the world. Plus the new
legendary questline
is innovative--it will spawn several content patches and has rewards for
every
class. Read on to learn about how these features were developed!
Our friends at
TankSpot
also interviewed Ion Hazzikostas, Lead Encounter Designer. Lore spoke with Ion about Tier 14 raids, Blizzard's plans for Legendaries in future patches, Challenge Modes, Scenarios, Proving Grounds, and more!
Wowhead's Interview with Dave Kosak
What sorts of things inspired Pand
Live
Wowhead's Exclusive Interview with John Lagrave and Ion Hazzikostas
Today we have a special interview from Gamescom to share with everyone! Gazimoff from
ZAM
was kind enough to conduct an interview in our stead. He spoke with both John Lagrave (lead game producer) and Ion Hazzikostas (lead encounter designer) about Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's future, and more.
Read on to find out what feature has been the most challenging for these developers, where they're drawing their inspiration from, and other exciting tidbits to tide you over until Mists of Pandaria's launch!
In your opinion, what was the hardest part of developing Mists of Pandaria as an expansion?
Ion Hazzikostas
: I think overall, just meeting the challenge that we set for ourselves when we set out to create this, we set out to offer more content than ever before, in terms of breadth and depth. We have eighteen raid bosses this patch. We have well over a thousand new qu
Live
Mists of Pandaria Interviews and News Round Up
Blue Posts
Blue posters were hard at work yesterday, covering a variety of topics: LFR's new loot system, item squish, female pandaren, DotA-style battlegrounds, new models, and as a bonus--a creative blog covering Mists' content features. Here's what's new since yesterday's coverage:
Female Pandaren:
There will be many more options for her hairstyle, face, and features. There will also be options to have a long tail, or a more traditional pandaren stub tail.
Archaeology:
Can teleport to dig sites after finding an artifact, and can dig more times at a single digsite.
Inscription:
Players can level by making staves and wands now.
Factions:
Craftsman tokens from new faction currencies allow you to buy items like fun toys or pets.
Elder Tokens:
Allow players to purchase new items, convert to Valor, or buy Charms of Good Fortune--allowing players to buy another go at a boss' loot table
Proving Grounds:
A solo instance that allows players to try out their new rotations while getting achievements.
Live
Interviews with Greg Street, Cory Stockton, Tom Chilton, and J Allen Brack
We had a chance to sit down with Cory Stockton and Tom Chilton for exclusive interviews about Mists of Pandaria. Lore from
Tankspot
got to sit down with Greg Street (Ghostcrawler) and J Allen Brack. Their answers are great and we've transcribed all of them down below.
However, in case you just aren't
that
into reading, we've also uploaded videos of all four interviews as well!
Make sure you also read our huge guide
and
the Mists of Pandaria official FAQ
for even more information!
Cory Stockton
Tom Chilton
J. Allen Brack
[url=
http://www.wowheadnew
Live
Cataclysm Post Mortem -- Quest Design with Dave Kosak
To kick-off our World of Warcraft: Cataclysm post mortem series, we sat down with World of Warcraft Lead Quest Designer Dave “Fargo” Kosak to discuss his thoughts on questing in Cataclysm.
Q: What were your main goals going into Cataclysm?
Certainly from a quest design standpoint our primary goal with Cataclysm was to remake the old world, specifically the 1-60 questing experience. World of Warcraft was released in 2004, and we've learned so much in the years since about what constitutes good MMO gameplay. We wanted to make sure that the game was relevant to new players coming in, and walking up and down the length of the Barrens on foot over and over just didn’t do it for us anymore.
Remaking the entire old world -- 46 zones! -- was ambitious. Actually, it was ludicrous. It was like re-releasing a whole game in the course of an expansion cycle. Then we added a couple new races and their starting zones on top of that. I’m not sure how we convinced ourselves we could make it happen, but somehow we pulled it together.
Q: Are you happy with how the old world re-vamp turned out?
I am. Leveling up a new character to 60 nowadays is a gr
Live
Patch 4.3.2 Will be Cataclysm's Last According to Dave Kosak
Dave Kosak, Blizzard's lead quest designer, gave a
solid interview with Videogamer.com
late last week. He highlighted 4.3's successes, failures, and also confirmed that there will be no extra content in the wings for Cataclysm--meaning anyone betting on a Ruby Sanctum styled encounter should stop while they're ahead.
In the interview, Kosak also touched on World of Warcraft's recent subscriber losses as well as Blizzard's overall feelings towards Cataclysm as an expansion. Although many have been disappointed with Cataclysm, he was quick to note the sheer level of content it brought to the world and how much of an epic undertaking that truly was for the World of Warcraft development team. Overhauling all those low level quests took massive amounts of time--and were desperately needed, whether players realize it or not.
While Cataclysm may not have been the highlight of WoW's timeline, it was a necessary one to prolong the life of Azeroth.
Hit the break for a transcript of the full interview and let us know your thoughts on both the interview and the expansion. Was Cataclysm a good expansion? Should there have been anot
Live
News Round Up: WoW Loses 800k More Subscribers, Mists of Pandaria Interview, and More
Blizzard had their third quarterly call for the year that reported losses. World of Warcraft lost
800,000 subscribers
for this quarter--following a
600k loss this May
and
300k subscriber loss in August
over the past two quarters.
In the call, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said the majority of subscriptions lost came from China and other countries in the East. They also declined to provide a forecast for future numbers. However, though this may seem like a shocking number, you have to remember that this is during a lull in the expansion. Without major content patches, WoW tends to lose subscribers only to regain them during an expansion's launch. Here's to hoping Mists of Pandaria brings players back!
Without further ado, here's the news round up.
Wired.com Interview with J.Allen Brack on Mists of Pandaria
Definitely worth reading this interview, thanks to our friends at [url=
http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/08/j-allen-brack-talks-to-wired-about-pandaren-and-pet-battles/
Live
BlizzCon 2011: Exclusive Interview with Dave Kosak, WoW Lead Quest Designer
Saturday afternoon, I was fortunate enough to get a one-on-one interview with Dave Kosak, WoW Lead Quest Designer, before his Lore and Story Q&A. Ashelia and I brainstormed some questions together before I sat down with Dave. During the interview, I made sure to ask him about some of our favorite--and least favorite--questing experiences, as well as how they were handling phasing and truly epic questlines in Mists of Pandaria. I hope you enjoy reading the summarizes of his responses--he shared details unreleased at BlizzCon such as a potential new MoP faction, the Lorewalkers!
We were also able to attend a group Q+A with J. Allen Brack and Jay Wilson about World of Warcraft and Diablo III. We've got the all the answers under the break--some of the information was already covered in other panels, so be sure to check our full coverage for details.
Exclusive Interview with Dave Kosak
Q: It's always been a struggle to make players feel like they truly impact the world. How are you showcasing this in MoP? Do the zones progress and change depending on questlines? What about phasing?
A:One thing we always struggle with--is we have this tool, phasing, but a large problem is that it separates players easily. Phasing, as I
Live
Interview with NFL Player Chris "Warcraft" Kluwe of the Minnesota Vikings
Everyone was shocked to learn Mila Kunis dabbled in Azeroth in her downtime a couple years back. After all, how could a celebrity manage World of Warcraft and being famous?
We seem to forget that celebrities are just like everyone else--and that means a lot of "famous" people play WoW. From sports professionals to famous actors, WoW's digital world is home to a lot of different characters both in-game and out. It's part of the allure.
So that's where this feature comes in. We're looking behind the curtains of characters and seeing who actually plays them, hopefully with some interesting results. For our first interview, I tracked down Chris Kluwe right before the NFL season starts and asked him about his gaming habits, particularly the one that earned him his very own WoW TCG card after his character.
Watch out though, if you're alliance--he seems a little bit of a troll. A Troll rogue, that is!
Q: Can you give a little background on yourself, who you are and what you do?
I am
Chris Kluwe
, and I play video games. A LOT of video games. I also play tabletop miniatures (Warmachine) and bass in a band called Tripping Icarus. O
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