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Warlords of Draenor interview with Senior Game Producer Ray Cobo
Over the hectic BlizzCon weekend, I had the pleasure of sitting down with World of Warcraft Senior Game Producer Ray Cobo. Ray oversees various aspects of game design, with a specific focus on the art and design elements of WoW. WoW Insider: So, the character models we've seen so far look amazing, the dwarves, gnomes, the orcs and draenei, what else are we expecting to see at the launch of the expansion? Ray Cobo: Well, we're also going to have gnomes, we're also going to have undead, I think we're working on everything we can up to launch. Our hope is to be able to get them all out at the same time, and that includes trolls, that includes draenei. But it comes down to, you know, we only have so many hands in the fire, so we will just have to see what we can do. So are you able to say anything about the ones that are furthest from completion? The ones that we're least likely to see at launch? Well, of course the ones that we've seen at the con are the ones that are furthest along, we feel they're kind of representative of the kind of direction we want to go there, and we feel really good about them as a set.
BlizzCon 2013: Updates on the level 90-100 questing experience
Craig Amai, Lead Quest Designer, sat down with other developers on the WoW gameplay and systems panel to discuss the future of questing in Warlords of Draenor. We learned more about the level 90-100 experience as well as Blizzard's plans for max level PvE content outside of dungeons and raids. Level 90-100 questing There will be key story related quests in each zone involving major lore characters. The optional quests are entirely separate, so people who only want to progress through the zone's story have fewer quests to do and can instead get more of their XP in dungeons or elsewhere. There will be dynamic world events and treasures similar to the Timeless Isle while you are leveling. One example of a dynamic event: You encounter an Iron Horde caravan entrenched in the snow. It's being dug out by the escorts, and if you kill them you will be able to loot the chest on the caravan. All quests have a chance to grant rare or epic items as rewards.
BlizzCon 2013: Huge changes coming to itemization
In the gameplay and systems panel, Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street just revealed some massive changes to gear itemization in Warlords of Draenor. The fabled item squish is finally coming, stats are being removed, new stats are being added, and reforging is gone. There's a lot to cover so let's get right down to it. Enchanting, reforging, and gems They feel like there is too much modification needed to be done every time you get a new piece of gear: enchants, gemming, and reforging your caps. There will be fewer items which can accept enchants, but the items which can still be enchanted will have more powerful enchants and more choice. Fewer gem sockets, but gems will be much more powerful. No more socket bonuses or metagems. Sockets are a bonus which can appear on gear and do not count towards item budget. Reforging is gone!
