WOW Insider

MTV interviews Blizzard execs

Natalie Mootz — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:00:00 EST

At the Worldwide Invitational, MTV interviewed two Blizzard executives: Paul Sams, Chief Operating Officer, and Frank Pearce, Executive Vice President of Product Development. It's an interesting read -- if not the best interview I've ever read -- which includes more info on Diablo 3, mobile apps, and thoughts about MMOs in general. The duo leaves the door open for Blizzard to create an MMO that might "cannibalize" the WoW player base, although for some reason they are not convinced that Diablo 3 will impact that base. (I, for one, disagree. The huge response we got to the Diablo news on WoW Insider tells us that there is a huge amount of crossover between the franchises.) They also don't believe that there's much overlap between Starcraft and WoW. Frank stressed that, regardless of what the marketing research might say, "those aren't necessarily the data points that we use for decision-making when it comes to the games that we want to make."

Read on to see what Blizzard says about time between game releases and new MMOs.

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15 Minutes of Fame: WoW from the Ivory Tower

Lisa Poisso — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: WoW Social Conventions, Virtual selves, Features, Interviews, 15 Minutes of Fame

15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes - from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about at 15minutesoffame (AT) wowinsider (DOT) com.

Academic types will find a way to analyze just about every aspect of life - life in Azeroth included. Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader, published in May by The MIT Press, explores what it calls "the cultural and social implications of the proliferation of ever more complex digital game worlds." Whew.

Props to the authors of this anthology for not only playing the game they're pontificating about - they actually created their own guild, where they play with other Digital Culture contributors. 15 Minutes of Fame talked with Jessica Langer, author of a chapter on the ways in which narratives of colonialism and otherness functioned in different ways throughout the game, about what she plays, what she writes, and how it all comes together in the World of Warcraft.

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[1.Local]: Comment fireworks and fizzles

Lisa Poisso — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Druid, Analysis / Opinion, Expansions, Features, Humor, Factions, Talents, Interviews, Wrath of the Lich King, Hardware, [1.Local]

[1.Local] serves up a smattering of reader comments from the past week, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

The big news of the week, of course, was the flurry of news about the Wrath of the Lich King expansion let loose at the Worldwide Invitational. Readers dogpiled dozens of news posts with speculation, QQs and cheering alike.

But there was plenty of talk on other topics this week, as well. Readers debated the drawbacks of spec-flopping with theorycrafter Lhivera and weighed whether or not upcoming changes such as easing the process of faction grinding is in fact "dumbing down" the game. Linux fans discussed technical matters, while readers battled over druids' getting a regular res and whether multiboxing in PvP constitutes unsportsmanlike behavior.

And finally, we close our look back at this week with an in-character comment exchange over -- of all things -- this month's regular Consortium gem disbursement.

Join us after the break for this week's meatiest reader comments here at WoW Insider. Be sure to dive into the comments area of each thread (not this one!) and add your own thoughts - unlike your mama, we like us some hot, fresh backtalk.

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Dive right into recruiting with WoW Lemmings

Marcie Knox — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Horde, Alliance, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Guilds, Raiding, Classes, Interviews

Recruiting isn't what I'd call a fun past time. Ever since server transfers exploded on the scene, it's not unusual for our guild's officers to spend 30 min to an hour per day scanning the WoW Guild Recruitment forums (Alliance and Horde flavors). With summer hitting, no major content in the immediate future, and what I'd like to call the 3rd Year Burnout affecting players, recruitment is more important than ever to keep a guild's progress going.

There are a lot of options out there to find people LFG, but the WoW Guild Recruitment forums continue to be the largest source of potential class replacements. They're not perfect, though. For one, you'll spend more time trying to find the class you're looking for than actually posting replies to viable recruits. And with the speed at which new posts are made (20 minutes after you post, you're on page 5), it can be extremely daunting trying to keep up with them all.

Join me after the jump to learn how WoW Lemmings has changed all that.

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WWI '08 notes from WoW Insider's chat with Xfire

Natalie Mootz — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Blizzard, PvP, Expansions, Bosses, Mounts, Interviews, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King, Battlegrounds, Worldwide Invitational

Our very own Mark "Turpster" Turpin and Jennie Lees were invited to sit down with Xfire users and chat about their thoughts from the Worldwide Invitational. You can read the entire transcript, but we've encapsulated most of the goodies for you in this post.

Mounts and battlegrounds

Answering a question about water mounts, Jennie said that they don't seem to be in the works. Still, you can get your H2O kicks with the non-player-controllable boats in Lake Wintergrasp. Another questioner asked whether the flying combat mounts will take damage. Some of these combat mounts will have shielding to protect the player from damage, but the mount will take damage instead.

Killing Arthas

Consensus in the chat was that there is a lot of excitement around the idea of being able to kill Arthas, the Lich King, even if it takes up the same progression as Kil'Jaeden currently does in TBC. The hope is that Frostmourne will drop, but the consequences of getting the sword are not yet known. Will it corrupt the player and take away stats? Will players become the new Lich King if they pick it up? We'll have to wait and see.

That's just one of the questions awaiting an answer for us in the post-Wrath world. Another came from a chat question about whether there would be any future for the Warcraft franchise after Arthas is dead. From what our bloggers have heard, there's no standing still for the franchise. Turpster says, "I think a favourite King of mine might be making a return to a Stormy City!"

Continue reading WWI '08 notes from WoW Insider's chat with Xfire

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15 Minutes of Fame: Mage(ic) with numbers, part II

Lisa Poisso — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Mage, Analysis / Opinion, Features, Talents, Interviews, 15 Minutes of Fame

15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes - from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about at 15minutesoffame (AT) wowinsider (DOT) com.

Last week, we met master of mage theorycrafting Lhivera of US Aggramar-A. Lhivera's love of theorycrafting landed him in hot water with Blizzard recently, after he posted speculative analyses of Mage performance based on leaked Wrath of the Lich King alpha information. Blizzard didn't like the discussion appearing on their forums, and Lhivera ended up perma-banned from posting there again.

This week, 15 Minutes of Fame brings you part II of our interview with Lhivera. Last week, we talked about Blizzard's ban-hammer and the appeal of theorycrafting; this week, we'll dive into Magely mechanics, Lhivera's theory on the "right" spec for today's Mages and where Lhivera himself is heading as a character.

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Turpster at the World Wide Invitational: Meet and greet in the queue

Amanda Dean — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:10:00 EST

Filed under: Events, Fan stuff, WoW Social Conventions, Blizzard, Interviews, Worldwide Invitational

Click To Play

People are lining up out the door, down the street and around the corner at the Porte de Versailles Exposition Center in Paris, France. Our beloved Turpster visited with several of the Blizzard fans waiting in line to get into the convention in time for the opening event. This video captures the excitement in the air as WoW players and other Blizzard fans from around Europe and the United States gather in anticipation. The fans in attendance are making their own predictions for Blizzard's big announcement. Diablo 3? Lost Vikings? Wrath? All of the above?

Stay tuned, Turpster and the rest of the WoW Insider staff are devoted to keeping you posted on the latest breaking news.

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The rise, fall, and rise again of the WotLK Information Wiki

Natalie Mootz — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Expansions, Interviews, Wrath of the Lich King

This past Monday, June 23, The WotLK Information Wiki relaunched on a new web host after having been pulled down by a Cease and Desist order from Blizzard. Darkside, one of the admins for the WotLK Information Wiki, gave an interview to Medros over at All Things Azeroth to explain what happened. The interview was conducted as part of Medros' podcast Episode 53. Some highlights from the interview include:

Most of the information that the alpha wiki provides is a result of file and image extraction from Blizzard's publically-available alpha client.
The alpha client files contain all the information on the spells, creatures and environments to be tested and new things are added or subtracted each time the alpha is patched.
The alpha wiki folks set up a "sandbox" where they could fly through the new locations and spawn creatures for screenshots.
A small portion of the WotLK info -- some screenshots, for example -- has come from Blizzard employees under non-disclosure agreements the identities of whom the alpha wiki admins protect.
Blizzard, Vivendi, and Activision IP addresses had visited the wiki frequently since it began.
The Cease and Desist order from Blizzard arrived last Friday, June 20. Over the weekend the WotLK wiki admins tried several ways to appease the lawyers and eventually settled on moving to a new web host.
The wiki's readership is approximately 200,000 page views per day.

Go to All Things Azeroth to hear the rest of the interview. Make sure you listen to the first few minutes of the podcast to hear a very humorous and well-sung parody of Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues called Pugging Kara Blues.

[Thanks, Matticus and uber.]

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Rob Pardo talks about free WoW, Starcraft, Activision

Natalie Mootz — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Interviews

Rob Pardo, SVP of game design at Blizzard, gave the keynote speech at the Game Developer's Conference held in Paris this week. Here are some WoW-related tidbits from his talk and the Q&A session held afterward.

About WoW

WoW was first conceived as free to play, being supported by advertising. However, the non-subscription business model couldn't support Blizzard's goals for the game.
Pardo suggested that Blizzard approached the MMO genre "very naively, or else we might not have done it."
He once hired a WoW player who sent him a 16-page diatribe about the game because, even though the guy was wrong, "he was passionate" about improving the game.

About Starcraft 2

Blizzard has no problem putting intellectual properties on hold for a while, hence the wait for a Starcraft game. Pardo says that they wanted to make a real-time strategy game but were "tired of green-skinned orcs" so they moved away from Warcraft to Starcraft.
Starcraft 2 is at a playable stage in its development and he's having a lot of fun with it.

Read more about Rob Pardo's keynote speech.

Continue reading Rob Pardo talks about free WoW, Starcraft, Activision

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15 Minutes of Fame: Mage(ic) with numbers

Lisa Poisso — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Mage, Analysis / Opinion, Features, Raiding, Interviews, Wrath of the Lich King, 15 Minutes of Fame

Mages come in two general flavors: the kind who love to blow things up willy-nilly, and the kind who love to blow things up based on a precise mathematical model delineating optimal throughput and efficiency. Lhivera of US Aggramar-A is the second kind. His love of theorycrafting landed him in hot water with Blizzard recently, after he posted speculative analyses of Mage performance based on leaked Wrath of the Lich King alpha information. Blizzard didn't like the discussion appearing on their forums, and Lhivera ended up perma-banned from posting there again.

But Lhivera is alive and well and still crunching numbers, both in game and over at the Elitist Jerks forums, where he's made a new home among fellow theorycrafters. 15 Minutes of Fame spent a few days in e-mails with Lhivera to bring you a closer look at the numbers behind magecrafting. This week, we talk with Lhivera about Blizzard's ban-hammer and the appeal of theorycrafting; be sure to tune in for Part II of our interview, next week.

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Richard Bartle grudgingly plays World of Warcraft

Mike Schramm — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Instances, Interviews

Richard Bartle hasn't necessarily been super kind to Blizzard's game in the past, but our sister site Massively recently sat down with the legendary MMO developer to set the record straight. In an interview from the Indie GDC from earlier this year, Mr. Bartle speaks candidly about his job as a consultant to MMO companies, and while he says that he has leveled three characters to 70 to see what all the fuss was about, he's not that interested in playing World of Warcraft -- he'd rather make his own games.

He does have good recommendations for what he'd tell Blizzard to change, though: first things first, he wants to see an official "WTB" mechanism for the Auction House, where you can offer a price not only for what you want to sell, but for what you want to buy as well. He'd also fix the LFG system (and who wouldn't, really? has it ever worked?), and he says that Karazhan was a great example of a mistake -- by putting such a rough, guild-killing instance first in line for progression, Blizzard really put the hurt on players (especially solo players -- he says Karazhan is impossible to PuG) heading into the endgame.

Finally, he's excited for "Lich Kingdom" as he calls it, but not really happy about it: "The only reason that I played up to level 70 was credentials," he says, "and when Lich Kingdom comes out, I shall have to requalify myself." We can't say he doesn't have a point -- as popular as WoW is, competition always makes a marketplace better, and up to this point, WoW hasn't had any competition at all, leaving its faults glaring to an expert developer like Bartle.

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15 Minutes of Fame: WoW's new wave of new gamers

Lisa Poisso — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Features, Interviews, 15 Minutes of Fame

15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes - from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about at 15minutesoffame (at) wowinsider (dot) com.

When I received a news tip from from Rainnajax of US Uldaman-H about being an "older female gamer," I admit that I rolled my eyes. Please, not another one who thinks having two X chromosomes makes her the most special snowflake ... Not another one who thinks being over 30 years old qualifies her as one of the Ancients ... When I read her entire email, though, I realized Rainnajax's experience was actually intriguing - but not for the reasons she thought.

While Rainnajax may perceive herself as something still a little unusual among WoW players, I see her as the type of player who's becoming the new norm. She's less remarkable for being female or "older" - or even for belonging to a well known gay and bi-friendly guild -- than she is for being among the new wave of players who'd never imagined themselves playing a video game ... until they tried WoW. MMORPGs are no longer the province of a single type of player anymore. Rainnajax is here as an example of today's new-to-gaming, non-gender- or age-specific player.

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[1.Local]: Readers dig into this week's stories

Lisa Poisso — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Guides, Interviews, [1.Local]

[1.Local] serves up a smattering of reader comments from the past week, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Nostalgia threads are among our reader favorites, so quite a few commenters this week chimed in on what Old World instances they'd most like to see made heroic (if such a thing were ever to happen). Readers chimed in on not one but two posts examining whether players should be embarrassed (or even ashamed) of their WoW playing. We chatted about whether or not the story behind WoW really matters and about cool things to do while we're fishing.

This was also a week about preparations. We discussed shaping up smaller guilds for 10-man raiding in Wrath, and we talked about gearing up for PvP from scratch in the face of Season 4's debut. And finally, we had a rather hilarious take on hunter strategy - fuzzy logic, or no?

Be sure to dive into the comments area of each thread (not this one!) and add your own thoughts - unlike your mama, we like us some hot, fresh backtalk.

Continue reading [1.Local]: Readers dig into this week's stories

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Jennicide places in poker, poses for Playboy, and plays on Proudmoore

Michael Gray — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, News items, Interviews

Jennifer Leigh knows games -- she finished 5th at the Poker Royale: Battle of the Ages series. She's known as Jennicide on PokerStars, and finished "in the money" at the World Poker Tour in 2006. Other folks might know her from May's issue of Playboy magazine. In a recent interview with the RPG Vault on IGN, she talked a little about her history with games and World of Warcraft.

WoW's the only MMO she's played recently, but she's been known to play Everquest, Guild Wars, and others. She picked up World of Warcraft during a losing streak of poker, and figured paying Blizzard a monthly fee was would be less painful than continuing her streak. Of course, she runs into the same problem many people do: while she loves her WoW, she has trouble explaining to people who don't get it.

She's surprisingly open about her server information. (For the record, she plays a Night Elf Druid on Proudmoore, and helped found the guild Fate and Fury. Also, she's planning a Blood Elf Warlock.) Between this and the politicians coming out of the closet, I can't wait to see what other interviews crop up.

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WoW player more ashamed than porn addict

Michael Gray — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, News items, Interviews

It's not the first time WoW addiction has been addressed, and it won't be the last. This one, however, is a nice change from some more sensational pieces. In an interview with The Boston Globe, well-known psychiatrist Dr. Jerald Block discusses what he calls "pathological computer use." His clients, he says, can be "more ashamed of playing World of Warcraft than looking at porn."

These kind of interviews aren't uncommon, like the CNN editorial from a few months ago. However, a few things about Dr. Block's interview struck me as pretty well-balanced. First, Dr. Block has quibbles about the phrase addiction. He feels that word addresses the wrong issues and nuances. Dr. Block prefers "pathological computer use." In my opinion, that word indicates the game itself isn't the problem, but instead the manner in which the person uses the game.

Dr. Block also discusses a patient who was very successful at EVE Online. After a fairly disastrous event, he felt betrayed by everyone he knew in the game. Dr. Block spells out the problem isn't only how subject deals with that issue, but that the subject's (out-of-game) friends can't understand. What might be a legitimate, troublesome event is being related-to by people who don't have context to an individual issue. Of course, while it probably ended the player's addiction -- I don't know if I'd list this kind of disaster as a way to quit playing WoW.

It's a refreshing view on WoW addiction, and worth a bit more look at Dr. Block's web site.

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15 Minutes of Fame: Player settles in for Wrath with his friends

Lisa Poisso — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Guilds, Features, Interviews, Wrath of the Lich King, 15 Minutes of Fame

15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes - from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about at 15minutesoffame (at) wowinsider (dot) com.

What keeps you playing the game? Especially in light of Wrath's option of seeing all the upcoming new raid content in a 10-man version, friendship is proving to be the tie that binds many WoW players. Small guilds who've felt locked out of raiding content and players who don't care for the atmosphere in groups large enough to chew through 25-man content at a steady clip are reconsidering their options.

This week, 15 Minutes of Fame offers a view from a player who's making exactly that journey, all the way from June 2005 and onward into Wrath of the Lich King. Myrena of Mug'thol is one of those players who's tried to "do it right" for years, trying out different methods of cobbling together scattered friendships, real-life work schedules and end-game raiding goals. Today, Myrena is looking forward to the opportunity to chill with friends in Wrath, nibbling their way through the game in a more intimate group. Peek inside Myrena's WoW evolution and find out why Wrath appears to be such a plum to players like him.

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No pure +damage gear in Wrath, claims Kalgan

Eliah Hecht — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Interviews, Wrath of the Lich King

In an out-of-the-blue quote from an otherwise unremarkable PC Gamer interview, Tom "Kalgan" Chilton, WoW's lead class designer, was asked what might be changing in Wrath of the Lich King. He responded that they would be doing away with +damage-only gear, and adding talents that would convert +healing to +damage and vice versa, which would allow magic DPSers and healers to use "the exact same gear."

Hold on, what? If I'm reading this correctly, it means they basically want damage caster gear and healer gear to be identical.

Continue reading No pure +damage gear in Wrath, claims Kalgan

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[1.Local]: Readers speak their minds

Lisa Poisso — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Interviews, [1.Local]

[1.Local] serves up a smattering of reader comments from the past week, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Improving the gaming process seemed to be top of mind for many readers this week. A number of threads saw a flurry of suggestions about ways players handle current game mechanics and wish lists for improvements they'd like to see in the future. We touched on Armorying PuGgers, retooling old content versus adding more mid-level content, the state of bleeding-edge guild membership and the sometimes weighty demands of being a tank. We chewed the fat over just how serious matters of WoW are to us ... and never one to shirk matters of fashion, we considered footwear options for WoW players and Hello Kitty fans alike.

Be sure to dive into the comments area of each thread (not this one!) and add your own thoughts - unlike your mama, we like us some hot, fresh backtalk.

Continue reading [1.Local]: Readers speak their minds

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Blizzcast episode 3: Dungeons and raids edition

Eliah Hecht — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Podcasting, News items, Interviews, Wrath of the Lich King

The long-awaited third episode of Blizzcast, Blizzard's official podcast, has just gone live. Blizzard's US web sites are still down, but you can listen to it and read the transcript on the European site. As usual, since this is a Blizzard podcast and not a WoW-specific one, they spend some time covering the Starcraft universe as well, including an interview with Dustin Browder, SC2 lead designer, which I won't cover (good material on Zergs though). But later they brought in Jeff "Tigole" Kaplan, WoW lead designer for dungeons and raids, and here's what I found interesting in his segment:

The original WoW raids were too hardcore early on; in BC they eased up on that and they hope to continue this in Wrath.
Lessons learned in BC:
- Heroic loot needs to be definitely better than normal-mode loot
- Introductory raids need to be more friendly - he says "I don't want to say to casual players, but a little bit more accessible to people in general." Cites Maulgar and Mags as examples of less-than-friendly intro raids.
- How to itemize raid content vs. other content

Continue reading Blizzcast episode 3: Dungeons and raids edition

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15 Minutes of Fame: Tamzin on being a girl gamer, movies, music

Lisa Poisso — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Machinima, Features, Bosses, Guides, Interviews, 15 Minutes of Fame

15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes - from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about at 15minutesoffame (at) wowinsider (dot) com.

Last week, 15 Minutes of Fame introduced Tamzin, maker of the madly popular strat videos that have helped catapult so many guilds past some of the most intimidating battles in the game: Lady Vashj, Kael'thas Sunstrider and Illidan Stormrage. Our week-long correspondence with Tamzin meandered far beyond the actual videos - so this week, we bring you Tamzin's musings on her professional work in games and movies, being a girl gamer and her thoughts on the future of raiding.

Catch the first installment of our conversation with Tamzin, and then join us after the break for the second part of our exclusive interview. Be sure to click the screenshot here to visit her most recent video, Tamzin's guide to downing Illidan.

Continue reading 15 Minutes of Fame: Tamzin on being a girl gamer, movies, music

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