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WoW Insider's guide to Blizzard Twitter accounts
More and more Blizzard developers are joining Twitter every day. It's a great thing for us fans, because they often see fit to post interesting tidbits about their work, many of which we probably wouldn't otherwise see. Unfortunately, Blizzard doesn't announce when one of their own hops on the Twitter bandwagon. Though other Blizzard folks do usually tweet about their newly-added colleagues, thanks to Twitter's ephemeral nature, if you happen to be away from your computer when it happens, you may go days or weeks blissfully unaware of all the fun you're missing. In the spirit of prevention, WoW Insider has compiled a handy-dandy list of all the Blizzard Twitter folks we could find so that you don't have to miss any more of the good stuff. Check it out after the break, and make sure to update your Twitter lists!
The earliest beginnings of the death knight and other class abilities
Following Alex Afrasiabi's example, both Cory Stockton and Jonathan LeCraft have posted some of their earliest design brainstorming notes to Twitter. Stockton's notes focus on the death knight class and what you're looking at was originally penned back in 2006, before Burning Crusade was even launched. Now that's planning ahead! It's interesting to see what aspects of the class survived those initial thoughts scribbled down on paper, such as no shield for tanking and runes as a resource. LeCraft's notes (image after the break) date back even further to show the earliest workings of class abilities like Ice Lance, Snake Trap, and Spellsteal. Rogues and warlocks, you were once considered for that latter spell but it appears the mages won that round. The "jumpy heal" didn't end up in the druid's spellbook and instead went to priests as Prayer of Mending. It's a fascinating look into WoW's development process and makes one wonder what notes are being scribbled today for expansions we don't even know about.
Alex Afrasiabi's design framework for Benediction
Today on twitter Alex Afrasiabi is at it again with the pictures, this time with the above: a photo of his 10-year-old notes for the design framework of two classic priest weapons: Benediction and Anathema. Priests from World of Warcraft's days of yore probably have vivid memories of these coveted items, Benediction and its counterpart, Anathema. In order to obtain them, an eager priest would first have to get The Eye of Divinity from Majordomo Executus in Molten Core, then The Eye of Shadow from an elite demon in The Blasted Lands or Winterspring. With both trinkets equipped, the ghostly questgiver Eris Havenfire became visible in the Eastern Plaguelands. Eris would then task the player with healing and curing 50 peasants escaping the undead. If 15 of them died, you failed the quest. Once you had successfully completed the objective, Eris would give you the Splinter of Nordrassil, which together with the two trinkets created Benediction. Priests could then switch the two staves into each other as they wished. Afrasiabi's photo is a nice little glimpse into a world WoW has largely left behind, and a sure shot of nostalgia for those who were there. It's also nice to see how much of the work was done the old fashioned way, with pen and paper! What a nice, pre-Valentine's Day gift for the playerbase.
Warlords of Draenor: New Gorgrond screenshot
Hot on the heels of the Talador screenshot we got the other day, Creative Director Alex Afrasiabi has also tweeted the above picture of another Draenor zone: Gorgrond. Gorgrond is found in Draenor's north, a formerly lush oasis that has been reduced to Victorian levels of pollution (thanks Olivia!) by the Blackrock clan's industrial development. I'd say the picture, with an Iron Horde fortress looming ominously in the background, makes Gorgrond seem like a suitably hostile place. It's certainly far less inviting than Talador was. My poor druid is already feeling the distaste.
