Comments on Tobold's MMORPG Blog: Interview with J. Allen Brack

Great interview.I recently re-activated my WOW sub...

2008-07-05T13:44:00.000+02:00

Great interview.
I recently re-activated my WOW sub and started on a PvE server.

Stopped playing a little after the BC release because I was so burned out from raiding and didn't want to start it all over again.

But lack of decent games made me come back. Enjoying it as a casual now. Rerolled on a PvE server and my character is almost ready to go into the outlands.

However, when WAR releases and it triggers my sub-interests I will cancel the WOW sub permanently.

WOW is by far on of the better mmo's I played, but it is my belief that TBC and WOTLK is just to much of the same.

A very good interview, Thanks Tobold.But very very...

2008-07-01T15:33:00.000+02:00

A very good interview, Thanks Tobold.

But very very sad to hear that blizzard has no idea of what is really wrong in the game as it is now. So many classes and builds have left the game, some for other classes and builds, many just giving up hope of any balancing of classes. Yes if you have the latest pvp uber gear, you play a balanced char, if not, well, a lvl 65 hunter in greens can cut down a warlock 70 in purples easy, shamans own most classes, basically if you can wear plate/mail, you are on the win. If not you are bumps on the road.
And now they are talking about making the game even easier to lvl in, cool even more players with out any clue whatsoever on how to play. And I thought we had enough already.
I likely see this happening :
Player1 buy's wow, spends 1 month begging for boosts, spends 1 month leeching for purple on bg, then he/she thinks : now Im ready for big dungeon. Spends 1 month getting kicked from every guild after pulling wrong mobgroups and so on.
Quits game after 3-4 months, blizzard then asks why : answer : the game was to hard and it takes to long to become uber.
Blizzard goes : hmm lets make it easier to lvl then.
result : more people quits faster.
I am Looking forward to war aor.

"we are not exactly yet happy with where [WotlK] i...

2008-06-30T23:52:00.000+02:00

"we are not exactly yet happy with where [WotlK] is"

Yikes! So how far into 2009 are we going to be waiting for WoTLK?

I really hope WAR and Spore happen soon. I'm bored with BC.

Looks like I need to polish my resume to target a ...

2008-06-30T19:45:00.000+02:00

Looks like I need to polish my resume to target a “Wanted: Long-term MMO designer” job ad from Blizzard.
:)

RE: Shortage of tanks

I tend to agree with Sam - there is no shortage of tank-capable classes. And the hope that Death Knight will result in more actual tanks is treating the symptom, but not the cause. Therefore IMO it is likely to result in lots of Death Knights - but not more tanks.

And I agree that PvP is a factor in the tank shortage problem. IMO Russell hit quite close. Tanks have essentially one gear upgrade path: PvE instances and raiding. And when one can get relatively easy gear upgrades through PvP, then one will probably PvP. Why pay a high repair bill, or shoulder pressure to hold aggro or pull a mob off the healer or take the blame for wipes - when instead you can play a dominant PvP class & spec on the way to some of the best itemized-for-PvP gear in the game?

So to fix the problem, Blizzard must address these issues.

First, in the expansion, the designers must consider strengthening the tanking capabilities of the paladin and druid classes, or weakening their healing capabilities, or both.

Second, the designers should consider making available PvP-purchased gear that is useful for PvE tanking. And they should make some crafted gear for tank-capable classes that is genuinely useful (think along the lines of the DPS Frozen Shadoweave set, Spellstrike set, etc). IMO Blacksmithing is currently a sad profession that needs a complete overhaul, especially for tanks (for example, the top Armorsmith chest seems to not be able to decide if its for PvE or PvP).

Finally, I would add that I have come to the conclusion that TBC real-time experiment with resilience resulted in a stat that did what was intended, but broke the game - or more correctly, split the game into PvE and PvP.

Resilience essentially made raiding gear inferior to resilience gear for PvP. The problem is that the stat created two battle environments, which is quite artificial. I don my PvE gear to raid, and my PvP gear to PvP - that is, IMO, a bad design. The more resilience I stack, the larger the divide between the PvP game and the PvE game. But I don’t see Blizzard undoing that error, especially since they seem to think they are birthing an e-sport.

@Graktar:It's possible Grak that they're thinking ...

2008-06-30T18:46:00.000+02:00

@Graktar:

It's possible Grak that they're thinking about a sequel more than another expansion... dun, dun, DUN!

Seriously, at the rate it's taking them to release expansions a sequel with all that they've learned might be a better option if we're talking another few years out.

But then again, it's Blizzard... a sequel if started today wouldn't be out until 2013.

Nice interview Tobold.I found Blizzard's admitted ...

2008-06-30T17:57:00.000+02:00

Nice interview Tobold.

I found Blizzard's admitted lack of foresight and planning quite disturbing. For a game like this, shouldn't they have a long-term development roadmap?!

It seems like they just don't get it. He keeps tal...

2008-06-30T15:05:00.000+02:00

It seems like they just don't get it. He keeps talking about contributing more dps to the group? What tank or healer is complaining they aren't doing MORE for the group?

When I play my priest I only like playing when I'm in a group and healing. I like overcoming challenges with groups. Nothing else in the game is fun for me on that character, except maybe social things.

That's why I haven't logged in on my priest for about 4 months now. I did not plan on it it just gradually happened.

The "we're not happy with WoTLK" comment isn't as ...

2008-06-30T12:29:00.000+02:00

The "we're not happy with WoTLK" comment isn't as significant as people make it. All he's saying is it's not at the point where it's good enough to release. Which is actually saying nothing, because obviously if it was good enough for release they'd have set a release date already.

Also, any one who thinks that they are somehow close to the end for WoW is delusional. Everquest is still going, Ultima Online is still going. WoW isn't going away any time soon, even IF it starts lose subscribers. The cost to maintain an MMO is tiny compared to the cost of developing a new one, so as long as a few hundred thousand people will pay for it, you'll see it live on and have expansions.

I'm going to have a deathknight banker alt!!!

2008-06-30T08:09:00.000+02:00

I'm going to have a deathknight banker alt!!!

I am someone who hasn't played WoW for a while and...

2008-06-29T20:01:00.000+02:00

I am someone who hasn't played WoW for a while and was considering giving it another try. I only every played a dwarf rogue (got to level55) and so there are many classes/regions/factions/races that I would like to try.

I liked hearing in the interview that the new player experience is still a priority for WoW, moving forward. I can play WoW ok on my computer but all the other new MMO's out there would require me to buy a new computer which I refuse to do.

My only reservation about WoW has been that I feared they had abandoned the new players but it seems like in the interview that that is not the case.

Cheers,
Zigabob

comon tobold. How is adding another tanking class ...

2008-06-29T17:25:00.000+02:00

comon tobold. How is adding another tanking class going to fix the tank shortage? There is no shortage of tank capable classes now. Just people willing to tank.
Add that to the fact you get to end game and there are a lot less tank slots than tanks wanting to tank. A new tanking class will fix none of the design problems that make being a tank undesirable for most. It sounds to me that they think that Deathknights will be so cool everyone will tank. You've predicted yourself most deathknights will be dps.

Yeah I"d have to agree i'm not seeing any attempt from blizzard to actually figure out whats really broken or to try to understand thier players. They just seem to be throwing darts at at the wall and trying to figure out what sticks.

Maybe not having a clue is harsh.
How about haven't understood thier casual playerbase at all since thier unexpected success?

As i posted before i think this "and we are not ex...

2008-06-29T16:19:00.000+02:00

As i posted before i think this "and we are not exactly yet happy with where [WotlK] is" was the most telling remark for me.

One could interprete this as 'we are nowhere near finished yet', like they are really struggling, despite the wagonload of money that comes rolling in each month. Guess you cant buy creativity.

The longer it takes though, the less enthousiastic i become about this expansion..to the point of considering giving up on wow altogether.

In that case i hope WAR can deliver on its promises; what ive seen sofar looks good. I kinda like the cartoony visuals (strangely enough i prefer these over the more realistic AoC graphics), and the few new twists on ancient mmo mechanics.

Nice interview, thanks. I'm not sure if I'll ever...

2008-06-29T15:52:00.000+02:00

Nice interview, thanks.

I'm not sure if I'll ever go back to WoW. The End game for me was great for a time, but easy to get burnt on. I have no desire to team up with 24 other mates to raid 4 nights a week just to have a slim chance at a purple.

I wouldn't mind going with a new class if the expansion would put in a new patch 1-60. I've done max with horde & alliance, now need something new. I'll most likely just casually play WAR.

I'm also hoping for a Starcraft MMO announcement in late 2009 for a 2011-12 release.

Nice job mate :)

2008-06-29T11:03:00.000+02:00

Nice job mate :)

The lead designer has no clue that the tank proble...

2008-06-29T09:14:00.000+02:00

The lead designer has no clue that the tank problem has more to do with the insane power of ms warriors in pvp than damage being done by the tank on a raid or in a group.

First of all, J. is lead producer, not lead designer. And I don't see what the PvP balance of MS warriors has to do with the tank problem. Except that dealing damage is more effective in PvP and solo, and then you need to respec and reequip to tank, which is exactly what was discussed in that interview. So how does he have "no clue"?

Well, after all - there must be some significant c...

2008-06-29T09:07:00.000+02:00

Well, after all - there must be some significant changes at class design to let make a prot warrior do some resaonable damage (just change the items will do nothing, because others can use them too and will put obvisously the prot tank at the very end of the "damage dealed list").

I think we can expect some trial and error to fix these kind of problems (which may be good or bad - as usual).

From this interview I would expect, that Blizzard will support WoW not more than 2 or 3 expansions - I do not see any serious effort to fix the basic problems.

There may be some hope for retnab pallys lol. I w...

2008-06-29T01:32:00.000+02:00

There may be some hope for retnab pallys lol. I will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume the new content will be worth buying the expansion.

But then again, this guy is who we can blame for the tainted taste of post WoW-vanilla. Fooled me once already lol.

~Tenmohican

This is exactly why I do not play WoW anymore. The...

2008-06-29T00:30:00.000+02:00

This is exactly why I do not play WoW anymore. The lead designer has no clue that the tank problem has more to do with the insane power of ms warriors in pvp than damage being done by the tank on a raid or in a group.

The answers also clearly illustrate that the game has become unmanageable from a design perspective and duct taping here and there isn't going to satisfy the hundreds of thousands of customers who have had their classes shafted in pvp.

Great interview, Tobold, and congratulations on co...

2008-06-28T23:56:00.000+02:00

Great interview, Tobold, and congratulations on completing your rite of passage as a bona-fide journalist.

Again, no great revelations from Blizzard -- hardly surprising considering their reputation for being extremely tight-lipped.

I'll just allow myself to speculate on future expansions: they haven't got any significant resources committed to anything beyond WotLK, and it may very well be the last major expansion to the aging game. The go-ahead for the next expansion is mainly contingent on how well WotLK sells. Beyond that, Blizzard will look at how WoW subscription numbers change in response to new MMOs entering the market and at how close to completion Blizzard's own next-gen MMO is in determining whether to develop any more expansions for WoW.

Definitely I think by adding another tanking class...

2008-06-28T23:03:00.000+02:00

Definitely I think by adding another tanking class there will be more tanks in the game

I just lost all hope that they ever pay attention to anything.

The interview does seem to explain where some of t...

2008-06-28T23:02:00.000+02:00

The interview does seem to explain where some of the mudflation, more of the same, etc. issues come from, with the "not planning very far ahead" responses.

nice one, reporter Tobold:) quote "and we are not ...

2008-06-28T22:58:00.000+02:00

nice one, reporter Tobold:)

quote "and we are not exactly yet happy with where [WotlK] is"

that doesnt bode well...