subject: Blizzard:should Have Done Much Differently [print this page] World of Warcraft changed the games market and showed the competition where the cabinet will stand. Now approaching the third expansion pack, and we have met two well-known leaders of Blizzard to chat.
Alex "Furore" Afrasiabi is responsible for the design of the game world, including missions, caves, history-related issues and the overall vision. Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street is responsible for system design, which runs on everything from classes, skills and artifacts of the graphical interface and player-versus player.
- You remove some bonuses in Cataclysm such as "Spell Damage". You are not afraid that the players feel that they have less room to customize their character?
- I do not think so, so we've put it up there should be plenty of properties to focus on for perfectionists. But we try to ensure that there is a single bonus that is superior to all others. There will probably always be such that players prefer a bonus over another, but we want the player to have greater freedom to choose the equipment itself, explains Afrasiabi.
- We try to give players more options, now we have certain properties that are not attractive at all. We will refine the system a bit so that the real options increases. Now some properties so good that everyone wants them, while others are so weak that no one is interested, continues Street.
New guild system
- Will you modify existing equipment, or it will just be phased out with new items?
- In some cases, we change existing objects, so they work well with the new system. If we do not, we can see sometimes that players adhere to the old things longer than they should. Or that they do not work so well with the new mechanisms, responds Street.
- If you should highlight one aspect, what do you think is most important to Cataclysm?
- Good question. I really believe that our new guild system will give us new opportunities. I think it's awesome, but the new raid system is just as raw. It's going to give players more flexibility. I know some have expressed the concern that it will kill the 25-man raiding, but I think certainly that there will be as we are designing the game, "says Afrasiabi.
However, there is renovation of the old world he thinks is most important:
- When we started the project we were not quite sure what we threw ourselves in. We agreed that it was time, the game felt aged and there is a lot of the old design that feels weak now. As we began to go through the zones, it turned out to be much more work than we had imagined. We thought not, of course it would be easy, but it ended up with probably 90% of the zones have been changed significantly or almost completely. In Wrath of the Lich King we had about 1000 new assignment, Cataclysm comes with over 3000 It's massive. So upgraded the world form a very good foundation for us in future. We feel reasonable confident that we will not have to do everything one more time, says Afrasiabi.
- When you say 3000's the mission on all levels of experience, you say that you have focused equally on the whole range from 1 to 85?
- The spread of 1 to 60 and 80 to 85 We have not changed much in The Burning Crusade, just a few little things here and there. Wrath of the Lich King is well on its own, with the exception of some trifles. Some adjustments have been, of course, the mission "Battle for the Undercity" to such changes, since Orgrimmar is not the same town as it was before and Undercity is changed. But mainly this is all about these experience levels, "he explains.
Greater focus on the phase content
- What is the most difficult task you are working on right now?
- It must surely be to revise and improve your game without messing up what people love about World of Warcraft today. We focus a lot on things that should not be unnecessarily complicated when we add new features, respond Street.
- It seems that the focus on the "phased" content (situations where the surroundings look different for the players, depending on the instance. How far you've come on a mission) is greater in the Cataclysm?
- Chamfering was something we introduced with Wrath of the Lich King, you saw a lot of it in the starting area to the "death knights". You saw it also in the Storm Peaks, Icecrown, and some other places. Cataclysm is a far better system for chamfering. Both in terms of performance and opportunities. It is far easier for designers to use chamfering now. Secondly, we have news, such as phased terrain, so we will definitely have a lot more of it in this expansion, "says Afrasiabi.
He elaborates:
- For example, you will see a temporary chamfering, such as transient stroke, permanent chamfering as with the "death knights" material and terrengfasing. Take the starting area worgen For example, here you will notice that when you come to Duskhaven, you will do a variety of assignments, and the area around you to change course. The portion of the zone actually decreases in the ocean, and we show it to you, as a player. So yes, it will definitely be much chamfering the Cataclysm, "says the designer.
- But you're not afraid to remove some of the feeling that the players live in a common, unified world?
- Absolutely. It is very important issue for us. I would not just saying we are afraid, but there is clearly a risk factor. And therefore we must be very careful chamfering. Placing the player in a permanent stage is a big decision. It is less problematic when the phase is temporary. But it's something we're cautious, and designers have clear rules to follow so that they do not do anything crazy that destroys the sense of a unified world.
Easier way to the great experiences
- Would you say that their goals are different now than when you started working with World of Warcraft? You've already achieved so much.
- It's an interesting question. These goals are hardly changed, we have always wanted to make the most awesome gaming experience ever. Entertainment value is the most important factor, we will ensure that the game is fun to play. What has changed is the more our means to achieve this. When I started working with World of Warcraft, for about six years ago, our tools are completely different. It is quite interesting, when we go back and change on Azeroth, we see how we used to do things earlier. We have almost forgotten how we did it before, "says Afrasiabi.
He says it is now much easier to do basic things, but that they also have the opportunity to make solid cases without requiring extreme amount of work:
- Take for example "The Great Masquerade", a mission where you came Marshal Windsor Stormwind through. Previously, it was a big challenge. I made the assignment, and remember it well. It was difficult. It took at least a couple of weeks, if not a month. Just such a thing. Now any designer do the same in a day. So the tools will help us really to get this out. And that's why you see so many more such incidents now. There have been far easier to create intense experiences, "he explains.
Street continues:
- World of Warcraft was originally designed to have a short life span of a few years, because most similar games at the time were. They lived a few years, then moved players on to something else. Now we're completely different decisions in the design process because the game will hold for many years. When we add a new feature, we have constantly in mind that a designer may have to build on this five years into the future. We are thinking much bigger now, not only in the next six or twelve months.
Regret design choices
- Did you regret some of the choices you made earlier?
- Yes, absolutely. We had done a lot different if we had known how long the game was going to live.
- Can you give us an example?
- How talent trees have grown. They are very big and confusing. When you throw a talenttre front of a new player, it is very much information to relate to. I think it would be better to give a talent point for every fourth or fifth level of experience, but in return give players more meaningful options instead of a number of small decisions. When I started playing World of Warcraft and saw a talent that gave one cent more damage, so I responded that it was such a small number.
- So that's why talent trees do not grow further in the Cataclysm?
- Yes, if we are to improve the system, we should either remove the talent. Sometimes it feels like the World of Warcraft has 30 classes, since we have ten classes, each with three different ways to play. In hindsight I think that it was a mistake. We should probably have had fewer opportunities, so it was easier to balance and give them the niches that felt unique. But it's hard to go in and remove a class now.
