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Ghostcrawler, potentially, details the future of WoW at Chinajoy [UPDATED]
There are some eyebrow-raising bits in a foreign Ghostcrawler interview, and we caution everyone that none of this has been confirmed with Blizzard (we reached out earlier today), and we have a feeling that a good deal of nuance may have been lost in translation. That being said, if the interview is correct, it gives us some fascinating hints as to the directions that Blizzard may be exploring for future WoW content. Apparently Blizzard either was or has been considering the Naga as an addition to the playable races, though their lack of legs is a big hurdle to overcome for things like armor design. In terms of future plot, the interview seems to imply that following Mists of Pandaria we will be headed back into mainland Azeroth, and that further story lines involving the trolls, the Burning Legion, and the Emerald Dream are slated to "gradually develop". Now, we know that an Emerald Dream expansion is something that many fans have been hankering after for a good long time, so this kind of news would be very much welcome to hear. Here I feel compelled to state that again, there is no official confirmation for any of this. However, there is one bit about the lore that I feel relatively confident is accurate, and that's Ghostcrawler's assertion that the relationship and conflict between the mogu, the Old Gods, and the Titans will be revealed in patch 5.4. Happy speculations, everyone! Update 10:42 p.m. EDT: 2P, the Chinese gaming site, has updated their English translation of the article noting that Naga will not be the next playable race. They also modified the way in which the next areas of WoW's content were talked about; however the three big areas (Trolls, Burning Legion, and Emerald Dream) are still areas in which Ghostcrawler noted content can expand into.
What I want in patch 5.2 that isn't there yet, and that Rossi didn't mention
The eminent Matt Rossi recently wrote an article detailing what he wanted to see in patch 5.2 that isn't there yet, and while he and I share many of the same opinions, there were things that everyone's favorite warrior left out, in this writer's humble opinion at least. Given that variety is the spice of life, I thought I'd throw my thoughts into the ring for your consideration. 5-man content I heartily agree that more small group content would be fantastic. Scenarios, as someone who mostly enjoys healing and tanking in PvE, don't really do it for me. Yes, they're great for players who focus on DPS, but for those of us who don't, scenarios are less fun. There's no doubt that a healer or a tank is a handy thing to have along in a scenario, but you're not really putting your skills to the test in a situation that's designed for several DPS to complete without your assistance. While I understand Zarhym's assertion that 5-mans would be a bit "funky" at this point in the expansion, and that 5-mans haven't typically been added with every patch in WoW's long and storied history, and whether we really need them or not, I'd love some new 5-man content.
One gear set for PvE and PvP in Mists of Pandaria?
This has been coming up quite a lot following Ghostcrawler's recent Coffee with the Devs (where's my vanilla latte, devs?), and I thought it was something worthy of a moment's thought. I'm assuming here that all gear is equal in stats according to ilevel and it can all have PvP power/defense, or none of it can. EDIT: I want to make it clear that this is purely hypothetical, and imagined! Blizzard aren't doing this. I'm wondering what's stopping them. Now, I understand that back in the halcyon days before The Burning Crusade, resilience didn't exist in its current form. Please note, however, that this isn't meant to be a discussion on that period of WoW. So what would be the positive and negative aspects of such a system? One area where I see a bit of a struggle emerging is as follows: How do you get this gear? How does it scale? Where does the best gear come from? If I were a dev (with or without my coffee), I'd have to say that one's a tricky one. I suppose you could let people earn points from both PvE and PvP and have them spend those points, similar to valor or conquest now, except both are taken to the same vendor. You could still have lower tiers of gear available for honor or justice equivalents that are easier to reach.
