Jeff Kaplan
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Brack: Will Blizzard consider a graphical overhaul? "Yep, probably."
Chilton and Brack are just all kinds of talkative at the Leipzig Games Convention this year -- in addition to chatting with the buffed.de folks, they also sat down with Jeff Kaplan and Eurogamer, and the results of that conversation are now up on their site.They start out by talking about the changes with 10 and 25 man raiding, and Kaplan says plainly that the Burning Crusade endgame was just too plain hard: "We just had: 'OK, welcome to level 70, here's a brick wall. Maybe you can climb it.'" There will still be a hardcore endgame in Wrath, but it'll be later on, near the very end of the raiding ladder. They also describe Wrath as a "coming home" moment -- after an "exploratory" period in Outland, Wrath will be a return to Warcraft's tradition and lore. And perhaps most surprising, Brack actually lends a lot of credence to a question about a graphical overhaul "from the ground up." He says that by the next expansion they'll "probably" have to look at updating the graphics system completely.And finally, Blizzard believes that yes, even though it doesn't seem like it now, eventually there'll be something bigger than World of Warcraft. Brack's last word is an interesting look at the future: "Something will come along and WoW will be like EverQuest: a great game I played back in the day."[via WorldofWar.net]
New Blizzcast: Professions, progression and patches, oh my
Blizzcast episode 4 is out, and it's chock full of the interesting discussion you've come to enjoy from the Blizzard crew. This episode includes some fantastic interviews on a variety of wide-ranging topics from the music of World of Warcraft's Sunwell Plateau to designing the various in-game professions, and caps off with a bunch of reader-submitted dev-answered questions -- and some tasty Starcraft II information! If you're curious about the things going on behind the scenes at Blizzard (you know, beyond frantically trying to fix the online store so people can pick up Blizzcon tickets) then be sure to check out Blizzcast #4! Or for those of you who aren't into podcasts (or who just don't have the ability to listen in right now) be sure to check out their handy transcription of the podcast, available now for your lunch-hour reading pleasure. One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
Blizzcast Episode 4 reveals Warcraft information and insights
Blizzcast episode 4 is now live and available for listening, and with it, of course, has come a wealth of new World of Warcraft Information. Some of it is stuff we've gotten wind for before, but there's some interesting insights into the whole game. You can listen to it here and read the transcript here, or join us after the break for a breakdown of the juiciest information from the Interviews
World of Warcraft's Jeff Kaplan previews Lich King UI changes
Lead designer for World of Warcraft Jeff Kaplan is the man to talk to if you want the inside scoop on the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King. So MTV Multiplayer did, asking after some information on upcoming changes to the popular game's UI. Already well known for having one of the slickest interfaces in online gaming, it sounds as if there are going to be a lot of great improvements coming with the new expansion. Unsurprisingly, many of the upcoming improvements are going to be based on popular fan-made mods. Kaplan describes his own mod usage like 'candy', with stretches of gratuitous mod downloading interspersed with 'vanilla UI' cleansing.WoW Insider has been all over this stuff, noting plans for a token system that will replace badges and a set of tabs to allow easy access to mounts and vanity pets. They also reported on plans for a threat-meter style addition to the game, which Kaplan describes as more like an 'aura'. "We're going to display threat by a glowing unit frame. Like if you're glowing orange, you're really close to a 70% threat threshold, and then if you turn red it means you've pulled threat. Because that's really all people need in a raid is to be able to look and go, 'Hey the mage is orange.'" They also hope to put in some sort of coordinate system, and it even sounds like a form of QuestHelper-like functionality will find its way into the game. Kaplan notes that last will probably not see inclusion until the first post-expansion patch, but that's still some great news. One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
Kaplan on Achievements and how Blizzard is doing them differently
Jeff "Tigole" Kaplan must have finished his work on the expansion because he's talking a lot lately -- first he's all over the forums giving us tidbits about what's up with Wrath, and now he's had a chat with MTV Multiplayer about what Blizzard's planning to do the same and differently with their achievements system.He openly acknowledges the impact of the Xbox 360 and Steam platform's achievements systems, and says that Blizzard even found themselves calling the rewards "achievements," just because the idea was so well established. But they're trying to do things differently as well: whenever they can they'll offer a progress bar, and give players access to many of the stats they have, so it'll be easy to track just where you're at in the process of earning the points.Kaplan also says that the UI team is working on completely opening up the system to mods as well, so expect to see some wild achievement addons when the mod community gets their hands on it. We do still have one more question, though: just what kinds of rewards will all these achievement points be used for? Kaplan, if you're still up for talking, feel free to chat with us.[via WorldofWar.net]
Kaplan reveals a stinky achievement
It was just a quick sentence that went by almost completely unnoticed, flew totally under the radar. But in an interview which WoW lead designer Jeff Kaplan gave to WoW Vault, he mentioned a heretofore unknown achievement reward coming up in Wrath that will definitely pass the smell test.Current Wrath beta testers may have been able to peruse the approximately 500 achievements in the current build, but Kaplan has indicated that by the final release there will be 600-700 achievements for players to attempt. One of these achievements, Kaplan said, can be acquired by collecting pets. It seems that if you collect all the available pets in the game -- and I'm not sure if he meant tameable pets or collectible/vanity pets or both -- you will be granted a unique pet in the form of a skunk called Stinker. For my two "scents," I do love me some cute vanity pets, but I'm really glad that WoW doesn't come in a scratch-n-sniff version or with smell-o-vision.So now it's time for you to earn a WoW Insider achievement! Anyone under the age of thirty who can guess the name of the character in the picture will get this achievement: "Le kittee quel terriblay odeur!!"
World of Warcraft achievements will expand to other Blizzard titles
It's no secret that World of Warcraft will feature an achievement system that will roll out with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. The writing's been on the wall for a little while now. New details have emerged, revealing that the achievement system will not be limited to World of Warcraft alone. Ultimately, the achievements will connect WoW with Blizzard's other major titles, namely Starcraft II and Diablo III. MTV Multiplayer's Tracey John recently spoke with WoW Lead Designer Jeff Kaplan about the impending first incarnation of this system, which will be character-specific, as well as Blizzard's plans for account-level achievements that focus more on classes and professions. Hit MTV Multiplayer for more details on account-based achievements, WoW points, and the 'Blizzard Level' -- that all-important ranking which will soon command the attention of most Blizzard fans.
Kaplan announces Outlands leveling to be shortened
Jeff Kaplan, the lead game designer, posted in the forums under his username Tigole that Blizzard will be speeding up leveling in the 60 to 70 bracket just as they sped up the 20 to 60 bracket. This has long been rumored and it's great to see this get implemented.Initial reports tell us the amount of experience points necessary to progress to each level has been decreased by 30% (for the 60 to 70 range only). Additional posters are reporting that mobs which give 500xp on the live server are now giving 600xp on the beta server. There doesn't seem to be any increase in the XP rewarded by quests yet, but this might be a future change.Kaplan asks everyone to provide feedback on the change (if you're in the beta), and it looks like they've got his ear for the time being. So if you're in the beta and want to weigh in on the subject, now's the time.Many thanks to the various users who submitted this news tip.
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Wrath of the Lich King interview notes some big changes
Blizzard should have a reason to fret since two games, Age of Conan and Warhammer Online, are set to release this year and might rain on Blizzard's parade. However, Blizzard refuses to lower their shield and sword and bubble hearth. They are actually pretty confident in their upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, and they do not think that there is too much aggro from the new games. In an interview with Eurogamer, a few of the devs chatted about what spells will be cast to keep the accounts up and the game fresh.Content updates do not come as much of a surprise. Blizzard is raising the cap to level 80, but they do not want you to feel as if the bar has been set and there is no progression beyond it. Raids and dungeons are going to be more inviting since, in the words of Jeff Kaplan, "Burning Crusade was way too hardcore out of the gate." If raiding is still not for you, the Death Knight is going to add a little flavor to the game. Best of all, there are going to be evolved murlocs! With this exciting change, we may feel badly about killing the poor guys over and over again for their shiny, graphically enhanced, scales. Take a look at the interview and get a feel for what awaits us on the frozen grounds of Northrend.
WoW graphics engine to be overhauled someday
World of Warcraft producer J. Allen Brack and designers Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton were interviewed by Eurogamer today. Most of the interview dealt with Wrath of the Lich King content like the Death Knight, 10-person raids, and world PvP objectives. The most interesting bits of the interview were on the last page, though; the Blizzard reps talked about WoW's future.According to Kaplan, a major graphics engine overhaul is "probably" part of that future. While he himself is not convinced it's necessary (he cited players' lukewarm reception of similar moves by the developers of Ultima Online and EverQuest), he said: "That's actually something we talk about every expansion ... and I'm positive we'll talk about it next expansion."In the meantime, WotLK will allow "people with high-end machines some additional graphical effects." WoW Insider joked that future graphics engine updates might be dedicated entirely to producing even larger, more detailed shoulder pad armor. We wouldn't be surprised![Via WoW Insider]
All things Wrath of the Lich King
Over the past week, particularly in the last few days, the crisp Internet air has been abuzz with news from the upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Fear you're out of the loop? Here's a quick round-up of all the information being released, along with analysis and opinion. Don't forget to keep checking back, as this page will be updated as information becomes available:Dungeons and raids An analysis on Arthas as a ten-manned event, including its impact on the 25-man raiding structure, as well an exploration of its consistency with the lore. Did you know that all expansion raids will have a 10-man setting, as well as a 25-man? Read through some of our initial impressions on the 10-man raiding set-up. We also wrote up a concise overview of the ins and outs of dungeons post-expansion, including a new token system, similar to [Badge of Justice]. The Nexus has been announced on the official site as one of the new dungeons. The WoW Insider Show discusses 10-manning Arthas. Zones, factions, and relevant lore Alex has written an excellent overview of the Grizzly Hills, a soon-to-be zone for low to mid-seventies. With old factions reappearing, along with other surprises, it's definitely something to look forward to! If news of the Dragonblight has intrigued you, you'll be pleased to know that more information has been made available. While we're brushing up on our lore and learning about new areas and factions, Alex thought it fitting to illuminate the lore behind Azjol-Nerub, as the Nerubians will have their own role in the expansion. Alex asks us about lore figures we'd like to see in the expansion. %Gallery-20386%
More Wrath of the Lich King impressions and information coming out
WorldofWar.net also got an invitation to the Blizzard event this past week (our invitation must have been lost in the mail, maybe?), and they've got six full pages of text about what they saw. Six pages hard to read though, so we've got all the salient points right here: Both Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton presented, with Kaplan showing off the Death Knight class and Chilton showing off the work they've done on Northrend. The Forsaken-designed starting town Vengeance Landing was shown off -- this was the same area we got to play back at Blizzcon, as well as Utgarde Keep They also got to see Valliance Keep (the other Alliance starting area), and Warsong Hold, a huge gothic iron structure run by Garosh Hellscream that Kaplan apparently called the "new look " of the Horde Horde players will be taking a Zepplin up to Northrend The Nexus, in the Coldarra part of the Borean Tundra, is the first instance on the western side of Northrend from Utgarde Keep, and it's a three wing instance with a raid dungeon where players will meet Malygos. The Badge of Justice system will continue in Northrend, but there will be new tokens to act as Badges and be returned for loot. Lots more after the break.
GameSpy speaks with Jeff Kaplan about Wrath of the Lich King
In addition to all the other info dropping today (apparently Blizzard held an event this last week at their HQ to show off some new Wrath information), GameSpy got to chat with Jeff Kaplan, WoW's Lead Designer, about Death Knights and what they're going to be for in the next expansion. Apparently Kaplan says Blizzard has designed "zero" raid bosses for the next expansion yet, so he isn't sure where they'll fit among Pallies, Druids, and Warriors as tanks. DKs will have a disease-based DoT, as well as the creature and ghoul summons we've posted about previously As we heard before, Death Knights will serve as a "Fury Warrior" type of tank -- damage based rather than protection based. Blizzard hasn't determined exactly whether there will be faction differences in the epic class quests, but they won't be too different for races or factions, just because the stories, he says, should be the same Finally, Kaplan clarifies again that Death Knights will be available to all races, and that Arthas himself became not Undead, but Scourge In case, maybe, Arthas wants to come back? We'll let you read the rest into what Kaplan said -- he unfortunately didn't tell us too much new information, but he did clarify a few points we already knew about Death Knights. And the news about Blizzard's nonaction on raid bosses so far is interesting -- has Blizzard really not made any raid bosses yet, or are they just not ready to tell us about them?
Tigole talks attunement
Attunement is one of those subjects that divides WoW players. You either think people should have to work to get into high-end dungeons, or you think they should be open to anyone with the guts to try. Of course, you're more likely to fall into the first camp if you yourself had to do that work, hence the recent controversy over the attunements for the Black Temple and Mount Hyjal being removed.Well, it turns out that if WoW lead developer Jeff "Tigole" Kaplan had his way, attunement would be much less of a pain. He dropped the following information in a thread on "Attunement and Alts" in the general forums today: They would like to make it so getting a Karazhan key or a heroic key gave all your other max-level alts access as well. They're looking into guild and raid attunements, but "no promises." They're interested in doing server events to open up content, like the AQ war but, Tigole says, with more fun dailies and fewer boring collection grinds. Overall, he says the topic of attunement comes up often at Blizz HQ, and they want to do better moving forward and going into Wrath.
Fixing battlemaster blocking
I haven't had this happen to me specifically, but I know it's happening out there-- players are blocking battlemasters by flooding around them, and hiding them inside other models, leaving them unclickable. We've heard about this before, and apparently it's a growing problem.So Blizzard has come up with a fix-- in 2.4, says Tigole, all the battlemasters will be standing on platforms, which will be coded with collision, so player models can't invade them. It's not that big a change (imagine the auctioneers in Ironforge and Silvermoon), but it should make for a little different visual-- it'll be a crowded little pavilion where the battlemasters are in Shattrath.Of course, that doesn't solve the problem of blocking NPCs, only of blocking battlemasters. But there are probably enough repairers and questgivers around at this point that there's no reason to put all the NPCs on pedestals just to keep them away from the maddening crowd.
Tigole hits the forums
Tigole has been busy on the forums today, and that always tends to bring out interesting tidbits about the future of our favorite game. While it is certainly not earth-shattering, the most interesting thing that he mentions has to do with the future of the PVP battlemasters. In patch 2.4 these guys will be put on a pedestal, literally. Much like the auctioneers in many cities, the battlemasters will be placed on a raised platform that is inaccessible to players in order to keep people from blocking them with their character's model. He also hints that Wrath will see even better improvements. This is certainly a welcome change to remove a minor annoyance that is sometimes imposed upon us by our fellow players.Other posts hint at the future of guild banks, the title system, and a possible reward for Wrath's Lake Wintergrasp. First of all, he mentions that they're "exploring" the option to allow guild masters to set prices for items in the guild bank. I know in my guild this would be great for the guild leader, since it would probably save him a lot of time in the auction house and also provide an easy solution to those situations where he gets a valuable item and is not sure how to distribute it to the rest of the guild. I imagine that this could be exploited, to an extent, by guild leaders who might suddenly slap a price on everything in the bank rather than allowing free withdrawals, but that would probably fix itself over time as people leave the guild and/or stop donating to the bank.
BlizzCast hits the scene
Listen to BlizzCast or it may die, and go away forever. No, that's not a good thing. In the first segment, CM Kevin "Karune" Yui interviews Samwise Didier, Blizzard Entertainment's Art Director. The interview runs for 12 minutes; no ground-breaking information is disclosed, but there is some good shop-talk on Starcraft II art and his conceptual art process. You can also check out some featured artwork from Samwise throughout the transcript. The final segment focuses on World of Warcraft and clocks in at 8 minutes. CM Drysc interviews Jeffrey "Tigole" Kaplan. Kaplan mainly rehashes what the designers are doing with the upcoming Sunwell 2.4 patch. WoW Insider has been covering this ad nauseum, but here's what I gleaned: First 3 Sunwell Plateau bosses and their difficulty levels are tuned against Tier 6 players. No attunement to enter or for the first 3 bosses. Overall faction for Sunwell Isle is the Shattered Sun Offensive. Aldor and Scryer storyline continues as their forces combine to battle against the Burning Legion. NPC changes will be reflected in Shattrath. Sunwell Plateau loot rewards will be Tier 7; including, armor sets bonuses and class specific loot but no unique sets in terms of looks. Kaplan assures that the Tier 7 look will diversify better than the comparisons made with AQ 40 itemization. Magister's Terrace 5 man dungeon both heroic and normal modes, and it will have a similar difficulty as Shadow Labyrinth and Shattered Halls. Magister's Terrace is a 4 boss dungeon. The first 3 bosses drop one 1 in 15 blues, which are normal level 70 dungeon loot. The last boss will drop 1 in 10 epics on par with lower-end Karazhan epics. Magister's Terrace itemization is intended to play a deeper relevancy in WoW's itemization today by offering better rewards than older dungeons but not over doing it. Possible class balancing depending on the results from the 2.3 patch, but nothing concrete at this time. Daily quest allotment will be raised from 10 to 25. That's a wrap on my show notes. Be sure to check out the official BlizzCast page where you can view the transcript or download the audio. Chris Metzen will be joining the next episode. I'm definitely looking forward to that, and maybe we will get some information on the World of Warcraft movie. Blizzard is also giving away some sweet Logitech 5.1 speaker sets and Starcraft II garb to those who leave feedback about their first show. My thoughts about the production and format are after the break.
First BlizzCast not quite up to the hype
The hotly anticipated first Blizzard podcast -- creatively named BlizzCast -- has just gone live. Available as a manageable 24 MB MP3 download, Blizzard's first attempt at podcasting contains an interview with art director (and L70TC frontman) Samwise Didier and forum regular Drysc interviewing lead developer Jeff Kaplan. Blizzard's official BlizzCast page explains that this series of podcasts will be a behind the scenes peek behind Blizzard's game development process.Although most people have been looking forward to the information about Patch 2.4, as Eliah wrote earlier, the interview with Samwise turned out to be more entertaining. In order to fully appreciate the interview, however, listeners should visit the podcast's official page, which contains the transcript of the podcast as well as illustrations and screenshots (future BlizzCasts will be video podcasts). With all the hype surrounding the BlizzCast -- mostly caused by Blizzard hinting at more information on the forums -- Blizzard's first attempt at podcasting seems to fall far short of expectations. The interview with Tigole is a brief eight minutes (compared to Samwise's 12) and most of the information he mentions has already been revealed. In fact, one of the details Kaplan mentions -- the improvements to raid ready checks -- is already in the game from last Tuesday's Patch 2.3.2.
Blizzcast reveals Sunwell details
Episode 1 of Blizzard's new podcast, cunningly titled "Blizzcast," went live today. It's in two segments, one hosted by CM Karune and featuring Blizz artist extraordinaire (and, in fact, art director) Samwise Didier, and the second hosted by CM Drysc and featuring Jeff "Tigole" Kaplan. This installment is audio-only, but they promise that future episodes will include video as well. For now you can hear the podcast or read a transcript of it, and check out some Samwise art, at Blizzard's site. A more extensive overview is forthcoming, but for now, I imagine what you really care about is Jeff Kaplan's hints for the upcoming patch 2.4: The Sunwell raid is tuned for players in T6 gear, but there is no attunement. The Sunwell faction, called Shattered Sun Offensive, is a joint effort by Aldor and Scryer to drive the Burning Legion out from the Sunwell Plateau. Jeff calls it "the culmination of the Aldor and Scryer storyline." Many Aldor/Scryer NPCs in Shattrath will be changed to SSO NPCs. SW25 gear will be a Tier 7, but the looks will not be class-specific; the example he gives is that the Pally plate and the Warrior plate will be differently-colored versions of the same models -- but you can, apparently, rest assured that the itemization will be better than AQ40. The 5-man dungeon will be about as hard as Shadow Labyrinth or Shattered Halls. There are four bosses. On normal mode, the first three drop ilvl 110 blues (normal dungeon blues), but the last boss drops an ilvl 115 epic, on par with a lower-level Karazhan epic. In heroic, the first three bosses drop ilvl 115 epics, and the last boss drops an item on the level of Prince Malchezzar's drops. Buffing the loot like this means it will still be relevant for people that have been playing BC for a while now, and also it gives newcomers a chance to catch up. As one more bonus, Blizzard is giving away 12 Logitech 5.1 speaker sets and Starcraft II hats to lucky folks who write feedback emails about the podcast to them; details on this are at the Blizzcast home page. I for one really enjoyed hearing the voices behind some of the avatars I see every day, and of course hearing some new details about 2.4. Keep it up, Blizzcasters!%Gallery-12115%
CVG interviews Jeff Kaplan on Wrath of the Lich King
If you're itching to hear any kind of information on Wraith of the Lich King, then here's a great fix for you. CVG asks Jeff Kaplan what we can expect of the forthcoming expansion from Blizzard, including everyone's favorite fallen hero Arthas. Addressing the fear that everything in the expansion is going to be covered in ice and snow, Kaplan assures that Blizzard has plenty of variety in locales. One example he gives is the Howling Fjord, which is modeled after the Redwood Forest in the Pacific north-west.
