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Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Jeff Kaplan interview in NY Times
There is an interview with Jeff Kaplan, the WoW lead designer, in the New York Times. Much of it is about the Burning Crusade expansion, confirming the Draenei as new playable race for the Alliance. Some interesting quotes:
Q. What classes will be available to the Draenei?
A. Warrior, Priest, Paladin, Mage and Hunter. We might change that, however, maybe add or remove a class.
Compared to Blood Elves that can be Warriors, Warlocks, Mages and Priests, there seems to be a Paladin class too much in the Draenei list. Or Bloodelves should be able to be shamans to balance it out.
Q. Overall, what percentage of level 60 players do you think have killed Ragnaros?
A. I don’t have firm statistics, but my gut feeling is around 25 percent.
Q. And what about Nefarian?
A. From the gut, I’d say maybe 15 percent.
Yeah, if you don't have data, just make them up. 15% of level 60 players already having killed Nefarian? I don't think so. Even the 25 percent number on Ragnaros seems rather high.
Q. In terms of how Burning Crusade players will be able to handle older content, how many level 70 characters, for example, do you think it will take to kill Ragnaros?
A. I’m not sure because we’re actually about to start testing on that, but I would guess 10 to 15.
Please, please, don't use another made up data to justify lowering the cap for MC raids to 10 or 15 players. Because then you might as well delete the place, who would go there on an ultra-tough 10-man raid with level 70 characters to get level 60 gear?
But the one comment that will get Jeff the most angry comments is probably:
Q. Why not add any new low-level instances like Deadmines?
A. Stuff like the Deadmines and Wailing Caverns is extremely popular and gets a lot of use. But at the same time people skip over and pass that content extremely fast and they never go back. So there’s not a lot of bang for our buck in those dungeons. And Draenei and Blood Elves will be able to do those dungeons anyway. If we put the time into making another Deadmines, it would mean one less instance at level 60 or something when you need it to level up.
Casual players already have the impression that they don't get any more content added, like a new low level dungeon, because the developers are too busy making only high-end raid dungeons. The lead designers stating that this is totally true is *not* a good idea. What he says is that content that is extremely popular, but gets used a couple of times and then not any more with the same character, is going to be neglected in favor for end-game content which is less popular but the players going there will repeatedly grind it for a long time. Repetitive content gives more "bang for the buck". Does it? Well, if so then only for the minority of people that actually get to use it. Which even if you believe the outrageous estimate of Jeff means 15 percent of level 60 players being able to reach Naxxrimas, and 85 percent of level 60 players and all the players below 60 getting nothing. Again, we knew that before, but stating this as official policy in the New York Times is just going to fuel the casual vs. hardcore wars. Expect angry reactions from the WoW customer base, with some statement later promising more casual content from the developers.
- posted by Tobold @ 7:08 PM Permanent Link
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Well, I agree with him about low-level content. Adding instances at lower levels won't see a lot play. There's already a ton of content for the length of time you spend at those levels. You can play 2 or 3 horde and then 2 or 3 alliance chars up to 60 and repeat very little content (quests or instances) - that's a big world.
So I think he's right that the high end content is what needs to be beefed up, even for casual players. The thing is, adding raid content does nothing for the casual players. The problem is not that players need lower level content added, it's that they need high level casual content added. Raising the level cap is one great way to do that - but I also hope they have plenty of casual content at level 70 for when people hit that cap as well.
I would like to see several one-man instances that you can solo, and some 2, 3 and 4 man instances as well at level 70. Now that would give casual players something to do.
Sammy
So I think he's right that the high end content is what needs to be beefed up, even for casual players. The thing is, adding raid content does nothing for the casual players. The problem is not that players need lower level content added, it's that they need high level casual content added. Raising the level cap is one great way to do that - but I also hope they have plenty of casual content at level 70 for when people hit that cap as well.
I would like to see several one-man instances that you can solo, and some 2, 3 and 4 man instances as well at level 70. Now that would give casual players something to do.
Sammy
# posted by 
: 10/5/06 21:02
: 10/5/06 21:02
I always tried to defend Blizzards "lets push more 40 hardcore stuff into" tactics. Now seeing the Naxxramas loots and this interview im enlightened. This is truly awesome. Till the expansion launches, the majority of players, "e.g. the 75% bracket of non-Ragnaros killers", will not get any mentionable content update. The tier.5 quests was just cheap recycling.
We are talking about 9 months of zero new content at least, for the majority of the player base. I am just impressed, how this MMO with such a huge player base, gets away with this strategy of updates. I doubt we see any new content between 1.11 and the day the expansion goes live, wich will have a really tight deadline to hit the christmas holiday release window. A release in 07 is way more realistic, even this interview shows, how unfinished the addon still is.
I liked your entry, "what happens when Burning Crusade is live". I like to add one more sentence to this. When BC goes live, there already will be a tremendous gap between Naxxramas clearing guilds and the rest of the players, wich even 10 more levels wont bridge soon. To speak with your meta-levels, the Naxxramas guilds will be way beyond the new level cap, wich is not even in game yet.
We are talking about 9 months of zero new content at least, for the majority of the player base. I am just impressed, how this MMO with such a huge player base, gets away with this strategy of updates. I doubt we see any new content between 1.11 and the day the expansion goes live, wich will have a really tight deadline to hit the christmas holiday release window. A release in 07 is way more realistic, even this interview shows, how unfinished the addon still is.
I liked your entry, "what happens when Burning Crusade is live". I like to add one more sentence to this. When BC goes live, there already will be a tremendous gap between Naxxramas clearing guilds and the rest of the players, wich even 10 more levels wont bridge soon. To speak with your meta-levels, the Naxxramas guilds will be way beyond the new level cap, wich is not even in game yet.
# posted by : 11/5/06 10:43
: 11/5/06 10:43
When BC goes live, there already will be a tremendous gap between Naxxramas clearing guilds and the rest of the players, wich even 10 more levels wont bridge soon. To speak with your meta-levels, the Naxxramas guilds will be way beyond the new level cap, wich is not even in game yet.
I honestly don't know. It all very much depends on how much stronger a level 70 player is than a level 60 player. If the difference isn't all that big, you are right, and a tier 3 epic equipped player is already stronger than a casual level 70 player will be. But the comment in the interview on "how many level 70 does it take to kill Ragnaros" suggests that level 70 will add significantly to the power of a player. I don't think that 10 Naxxramas guildies can kill Ragnaros right now.
The other extreme would be that level 70 is so powerful that level 60 Naxxramas gear is worthless compared to what a level 70 gets easily from quests and 5-man dungeons. In that case the raiding guilds would basically be forced to restart from zero in the level 70 raid dungeons, getting wiped on the first boss for a couple of times before starting to get equipped with level 70 epics.
I honestly don't know. It all very much depends on how much stronger a level 70 player is than a level 60 player. If the difference isn't all that big, you are right, and a tier 3 epic equipped player is already stronger than a casual level 70 player will be. But the comment in the interview on "how many level 70 does it take to kill Ragnaros" suggests that level 70 will add significantly to the power of a player. I don't think that 10 Naxxramas guildies can kill Ragnaros right now.
The other extreme would be that level 70 is so powerful that level 60 Naxxramas gear is worthless compared to what a level 70 gets easily from quests and 5-man dungeons. In that case the raiding guilds would basically be forced to restart from zero in the level 70 raid dungeons, getting wiped on the first boss for a couple of times before starting to get equipped with level 70 epics.
Wow, is this for real? Your comments are mind-numbingly stupid.
Blood Elves can't be shamans because 1. it doesn't fit the lore at all, and 2. the Horde already have 3 races who can play shaman. Blizz just evened things out by giving the alliance another race which can play its faction-specific class.
While I agree that the 15% kill on Nefarian seems a bit high, you have to consider that on high pop servers, that might actually be the case. The Nefarian encounter is not really that hard, in fact, I would say that if you can make it past Vaelstrasz, there's not reason your guild shouldn't be able to topple Nefarian within the month. Whatever the case is, the reporter asked for a guess, and he gave it. Perhaps he'll publish real numbers later.
Just because a 15 level 70s can defeat Ragnaros, why would they lower the player cap? Did they lower Maraudon's level cap just 'cause a level 60 hunter can solo the place? No. They won't.
As for your comment about low level dungeous, I'm glad they're not putting any in. You went off about his comment as though he said that the only new thing added in the expansion is going to be raids. He specifically said it would mean one less "instance" at level 60. I dunno about you, but levelling up to 70 is gonna take me long enough without having to grind it out. Pull your head out of your ass and stop trying to find things to make you angry when in reality you have no reason to be angry at all.
Blood Elves can't be shamans because 1. it doesn't fit the lore at all, and 2. the Horde already have 3 races who can play shaman. Blizz just evened things out by giving the alliance another race which can play its faction-specific class.
While I agree that the 15% kill on Nefarian seems a bit high, you have to consider that on high pop servers, that might actually be the case. The Nefarian encounter is not really that hard, in fact, I would say that if you can make it past Vaelstrasz, there's not reason your guild shouldn't be able to topple Nefarian within the month. Whatever the case is, the reporter asked for a guess, and he gave it. Perhaps he'll publish real numbers later.
Just because a 15 level 70s can defeat Ragnaros, why would they lower the player cap? Did they lower Maraudon's level cap just 'cause a level 60 hunter can solo the place? No. They won't.
As for your comment about low level dungeous, I'm glad they're not putting any in. You went off about his comment as though he said that the only new thing added in the expansion is going to be raids. He specifically said it would mean one less "instance" at level 60. I dunno about you, but levelling up to 70 is gonna take me long enough without having to grind it out. Pull your head out of your ass and stop trying to find things to make you angry when in reality you have no reason to be angry at all.
# posted by : 18/5/06 19:44
: 18/5/06 19:44
Blood Elves can't be shamans because 1. it doesn't fit the lore at all, and 2. the Horde already have 3 races who can play shaman. Blizz just evened things out by giving the alliance another race which can play its faction-specific class.
While I agree that the 15% kill on Nefarian seems a bit high, you have to consider that on high pop servers, that might actually be the case. The Nefarian encounter is not really that hard, in fact, I would say that if you can make it past Vaelstrasz, there's not reason your guild shouldn't be able to topple Nefarian within the month. Whatever the case is, the reporter asked for a guess, and he gave it. Perhaps he'll publish real numbers later.
Just because a 15 level 70s can defeat Ragnaros, why would they lower the player cap? Did they lower Maraudon's level cap just 'cause a level 60 hunter can solo the place? No. They won't.
As for your comment about low level dungeous, I'm glad they're not putting any in. You went off about his comment as though he said that the only new thing added in the expansion is going to be raids. He specifically said it would mean one less "instance" at level 60. I dunno about you, but levelling up to 70 is gonna take me long enough without having to grind it out.
Lots of valid points in there.
But actually the most interesting point is that the author felt the need to open these comments with name-calling and close them with an even ruder insult. I can't help the feeling that these insults severely weaken the argument. Many readers will just see the swear words, and immediately classify the author as a troll, however good his arguments are.
I don't think my blog entry on the subject would have received half the attention and consideration if I had started it with "Jeff Kaplan is a fucking idiot". Attacking the person instead of the opinion is simply ineffective, because it is so overused. Everybody has developed "troll sensors" by now, and instead of getting more attention by using rude language, you end up getting less.
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While I agree that the 15% kill on Nefarian seems a bit high, you have to consider that on high pop servers, that might actually be the case. The Nefarian encounter is not really that hard, in fact, I would say that if you can make it past Vaelstrasz, there's not reason your guild shouldn't be able to topple Nefarian within the month. Whatever the case is, the reporter asked for a guess, and he gave it. Perhaps he'll publish real numbers later.
Just because a 15 level 70s can defeat Ragnaros, why would they lower the player cap? Did they lower Maraudon's level cap just 'cause a level 60 hunter can solo the place? No. They won't.
As for your comment about low level dungeous, I'm glad they're not putting any in. You went off about his comment as though he said that the only new thing added in the expansion is going to be raids. He specifically said it would mean one less "instance" at level 60. I dunno about you, but levelling up to 70 is gonna take me long enough without having to grind it out.
Lots of valid points in there.
But actually the most interesting point is that the author felt the need to open these comments with name-calling and close them with an even ruder insult. I can't help the feeling that these insults severely weaken the argument. Many readers will just see the swear words, and immediately classify the author as a troll, however good his arguments are.
I don't think my blog entry on the subject would have received half the attention and consideration if I had started it with "Jeff Kaplan is a fucking idiot". Attacking the person instead of the opinion is simply ineffective, because it is so overused. Everybody has developed "troll sensors" by now, and instead of getting more attention by using rude language, you end up getting less.
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