[WoRBot]

Everyone was at the stage ready to answer questions. The two most important answers about content patches after 3.0 are highlighted in orange.

Question to Tom Chilton: Why do you think Perception is so much better?
We see it brought to fight so much and it's very hurtful when used against players unless they are also a human.

It's hard to heal with a paladin when a boss does AOE damage in heroics. What can you do to fix this?
Bacon of Light fills that role and there are a few talents that help with faster FoL.

Professions. Prot Warrior. Blacksmithing. I don't use anything I make. Why can't I repair my plate armor? There are only 3 professions that go endgame, enchanting, jewelcrafting and lw.
With LK there's going to be sockets for BP that will have constant demand.

Alleria, Turalyon and Deathwing. Are we ever going to see them?
We're working on it and yes [to Deathwing]!

Sunwell Plateau had daily quests for everyone, not just for raiders. Same for Arthas?
Arthas will be featured a lot, daily quests directed to him, maybe even in 5mans!

Why is the pandaren the only Warcraft race missing from World of Warcraft?
China is an important playerbase and there are issues with pandas there.

Any plans to add resilience to PVE gear to not get destroyed in battlegrounds?
There is the ability to get PVP gear for PVE tokens, the crossover is encouraged and we like the game better this way.

Spells started working indoors that never did. Can we have no dismounting in caves?
First content patch of WotLK will have ground mounts no longer dismount in water, they can swim!

What do you think about PVE arenas?
We had that idea for a long time now to encounter bosses in arenas. There are reward and technology issues involved.

Thanks for the achievement and titles. Any chance to extend championing to work with other reps?
We're looking at other outdated reputations that are really grindy to raise. For example fixing Ravenholdt rep.

Extend the dressing room to have moves like spells and abilities and emotes?
We're always looking into extending but no plans like that now.

Direct PVP loot from bosses is bad.
That's why we're using the tokens to turn in those, also trying to balance it not to feel compelled to do PVE to get weapons.

Bind on account items scale. Any chance to use this on Legendaries to scale?
Getting legendaries is a lot harder than heirloom items and we don't want to have to farm old raids to gear alts. Right now there's no plan but we plan to add special effects to legendaries.

Damaging siege weapons with a shadow priest sucks.
We're testing all the spells solo aoe and we are in the process of raising the shadow priest's dps on the beta.

10man tier loot to look different than 25man tier loot and PVP loot?
We'd love it if all the sets looked different but there's a lot to itemize for so we're using different colors to save time to balance the work.

Mage with 2-piece tier 5, arcane blast is really good now. With WotLK we don't want to touch it period.
Actually it's the primary damage source of arcane mages so we're trying to make more rotations with Arcane Barrage and other spells.

11 point talent of prot paladins isn't really a prot talent. Any changes there?
We're looking into it, trying not to copy from Warrior.

PVP as holy Paladin. Priests have mana burn, druids have cyclone... Paladins don't have big offensive ability with the judgements reworked.
We're working on it, it's a valid concern.

Warlock & Fel Domination. Lower cooldown perhaps?
We want warlocks to use more pets but because you're shifting from A to B with it and we don't want you to use it replace pets when they're about to die, we're not sure if we want Fel Domination the tool for that?

When are you going to make Omen not dispellable?
We're not happy with the dispel system. We're working on it with WotLK. If we say Omen can't be dispelled, then it invokes a lot of other spells to not be dispelled. If we go by categories it might be okay to remove offensive spells but there are exceptions and the same if true for defensive buffs.

Switching specs just to get a different weapon specialization with a Warrior is bad.
We haven't felt that you spec weapons too much only during levelup so we're happy with it right now.

Professions become obsolete. What are the plans to make professions keep their utility?
Tailoring gear was an exception. We want each profession to have a slot for which they make epic gear and we want to give them recipes in each tier to craft upgraded gear.

WoW movie!
We're working hard on it. Can't say more.

Holy Paladin takes the Paladin away from from the class' original melee niche.
Tanking changed a lot in WotLK. Next up heal will get a major rework.

Hammer of Justice's sound is very annoying. Maybe a single target taunt as a 11 point talent?
Glyph helps with taunting but there's an issue with how similar classes are. We hope we won't have to do it.

Why do I put 13 points into Discipline as a Priest?
Mana regen and cross specing might have gone too far. While we like some amount of it too much we don't. That's why we're changing mana regen alltogether. We don't want players to run out of mana too fast.

Dual spec and spell power. As it becomes easier to be a hybrid, how do you plan to protect the 4 pure classes?
Valid questions we hear a lot. We're trying to buff up their utility and they can never do less dps because they can't respec, we always make sure of it.

The second and next times Kael'thas' 5 minutes of speech is annoying. Any plans to fix this for future encounters?
Bronzebeard is cool, does the same so he has a fast forward button in the dialog.

Achievement points are easier to get than Sha'tar rep. Please don't give items for them.
They won't ever be used for ingame items, only for fun and cosmetic stuff.

Combat spec?
We've worked a lot on it, and we suspect it scales better than other trees, we're testing and we have our eye on it.

Dailies feel repetative.
We want to do more randomized daily quests, not just cooking. We have a better quest interface in the works. Not coming with WotLK, but it's in the works.

Hunter Aspects off the GCD, please please please please please!
Won't rule it out completely :)

Sacred Cleansing plans?
It's a recognized player concern but no big fix for that yet.

Any chance to shave off the drawbacks on Warrior abilities like Berserker Stance and Death Wish and now Titan's Grip?
For Titan's Grip the penalty had to be there, stances might be reworked seeing how Death Knight's presences work.

What's the next expansion?
Chris Metzen: Not what you'd expect!

Next hero class?
Bard!

DK tanks through damage, in damage where do they stand?
Not at the top of the DPS list when tanking, when not tanking they should be a lot like rogues and warriors.

How do you plan to keep players participating in encounters without recycling boss mechanics?
We don't have any shortage when it comes to ideas for awesome encounters, only time. Malygos and Chamber of Aspects is a great example, we have countless ideas to make fight. Hint: siege weapons coming in Ulduar raid!

Female druids turn in to male animals - proof is the bear dance. Could glyphs differentiate between genders?
The game is teen rated so the difference can't be seen.

More viability for holy priest and survivability in raids?
Circle of Healing should help with max healing. With beta tests there seems to be no problem with them disappearing from raids because of their HP or surv.

Create Death Knights with 3.0.2 as the rumors say?
The class comes with WotLK, not with 3.0.2.

Class' art styles really define them. Any chance to see relics on the characters?
It's a really good idea, we'll consider it.

[moetsukiru]

How come every time I come to world of raids I see this:

Bacon of Light.

EVERY POST. bEacon, for the love of god.

[Leviathonlx]

moetsukiru said:

How come every time I come to world of raids I see this:

Bacon of Light.

EVERY POST. bEacon, for the love of god.

It's a reference to what GC quoted a few days back.

[csulok]

and it's what they said. literally. it's more fun this way

[garan]

Quote

First content patch of WotLK will have ground mounts no longer dismount in water, they can swim!

The only thing I didn't like it from the report =/

[Comrade Suhov]

Ground mounts can't sweem. Horsemean (in real world in plate) weights atleast 160 kgs and mounts can't swim with such loads. Hmm, New engeniring bikes will swim aswell? Great...

[Theik]

Bikes aren't mounts but vehicles.

[Eclipze]

i like this panel. Actually had some shtuff i was interested in.

[Braxxis]

So Pandaren aren't in because China is having issues with Panda's? So they don't want us killing them?

Put the Pandaren in a Sanctuary city. No killing them then.

[vulmio]

I wish someone asked if inscription was intended to be for caster only (epic off hands) or if they planed something else than shoulder enchants for non caster inscribers...

It would be nice if they could say so early so I don't waste my time.

[Laibcoms]

moetsukiru said:

How come every time I come to world of raids I see this:

Bacon of Light.

EVERY POST. bEacon, for the love of god.

Ahh, you should read Blue Posts and the WoW Forums more often

A player was explaining something then mis-typed Beacon into Bacon. Then it created a hilarious trail of replies. A Blue Post was posted after that, calling is Bacon of Light as well, as a reference to the hilarious moment prior to it.

Since then, it's been known as "Bacon of Light", don't you want to eat it?

Quote

What's the next expansion?
Chris Metzen: Not what you'd expect!

Ok, that's Metzen. So now we can rule out "Emerald Dream", "Maelstrom", "Old gods", the Goblin Island, "Kul'tiras" (the last two are weird to become an expansion itself )

Now we can expect something like, an expansion about the other worlds the other Dark Portals lead to, or maybe the home world of the Exodars, or maybe the home world of the Titans or the Old gods (since we all know the Old gods are not from Azeroth).

Quote

Next hero class?
Bard!

I hope it's serious. LOLz. RP? haha... Most iconic Bard ever = Iolo Fitzowen, from the Ultima series.

Quote

Female druids turn in to male animals - proof is the bear dance. Could glyphs differentiate between genders?
The game is teen rated so the difference can't be seen.

Bwahahaha!!

Quote

Create Death Knights with 3.0.2 as the rumors say?
The class comes with WotLK, not with 3.0.2.

Sorry but, such a waste of question time. Obviously Death Knights come with 3.0.2 BUT, no one will be able to create a DK until WotLK. Same as BE. Just go to PTR, the DK class is there already, just can't click it.

[Tom Phoenix]

You know what would make for an interesting unexpected expansion? A revision of Azeroth. Perhaps not a complete overhaul, but an upgrade. It would actually fit in since they are considering a graphical overhaul for the third expansion.

And they were just kidding about the Bard as they are reffering to the April Fool`s joke. Also, no bards in Warcraft lore.

[Hojew]

"Switching specs just to get a different weapon specialization with a Warrior is bad.
We haven't felt that you spec weapons too much only during levelup so we're happy with it right now."

Swell, then give shamans three different weapon specialisations if that's your philosophy.

[Bearclaw]

Mounts have had swimming animations for a while, still, it seems like it would be silly.

For one, it would be ridiculous if you actually got a speed increase in the water. A person on horseback can't swim faster than a person alone. Giving a speed increase as if your Frostsaber was a speedboat would look stupid, and not giving a speed boost makes you wonder why they even allow this at all.

Plus, at least with some of the animations I've seen, the mount's head is underwater a lot and it looks like it's struggling not to drown with some cruel, abusive gnome on its back.

[Laibcoms]

Tom Phoenix said:

You know what would make for an interesting unexpected expansion? A revision of Azeroth. Perhaps not a complete overhaul, but an upgrade. It would actually fit in since they are considering a graphical overhaul for the third expansion.

And they were just kidding about the Bard as they are reffering to the April Fool`s joke. Also, no bards in Warcraft lore.

Yes, a revisit to Azeroth. Hmm, come to think of it, Varian Wrynn started the 4th War. COuld it be the 4th expansion is about the 4th War?

It will be awesome to play the 4th War as an MMORPG not as a player of an RTS

And about the Bard, I know... that's why I said "I hope they're serious"

[Deployed]

I think some people are jumping the gun with the swimming mounts comment. We don't know what speed they will operate at. I personally feel it's highly unlikely that they will move at the same speed they do on land.

As I see it, it's just a way to stop people having to stop and re-mount everytime they come to a body of water. Chances are, there will be water-based mounts with the Maelstrom expansion with will offer a 100% speed increase whilst in the water.

Who knows, I might be wrong, but some of you are condeming something you have very little information on.


Regarding the "Female Druid forms" comment, that's out of context. This is closer to what was actually said;
"Q: Female feral druids turn into male animal forms! Could there ever be customization for female animal forms? Maybe through glyphs?
A: Are you asking if we are adding genitalia to the forms? We're a teen rated game (Laughter.) We've had a lot of druid form questions, even in the Art Panel, and we'd love to do something with it. it's a matter of time, but all the Devs want to do something. "

[Searah]

Laibcoms said:

Ok, that's Metzen. So now we can rule out "Emerald Dream", "Maelstrom", "Old gods", the Goblin Island, "Kul'tiras" (the last two are weird to become an expansion itself )

Now we can expect something like, an expansion about the other worlds the other Dark Portals lead to, or maybe the home world of the Exodars, or maybe the home world of the Titans or the Old gods (since we all know the Old gods are not from Azeroth).

This is just PURE speculation, but I doubt there will be another "expansion."

At this point the skill trees are already huge, the world is huge, the leveling requirement for new players is daunting (even though they will make it a little faster to 70, it's still a huge burden to overcaome for the new players) and basically the *numbers* in the game have grown so far beyond the original conception i can not think what ANOTHER expansion would do.

It's about 2 years too soon, but I imagine there will be something else for us to do. I doubt it will be in the Warcraft world, but probably something that will allow blizz to keep the same basic layout of WoW, while giving people a completely different world to explore and to truly start fresh.

But, in all honesty, if blizz continues to make money with wow they will probably keep going with it, though I sincerely think sales and retention will seriously decline as people get tired of wow and even more next-generation mmo's come onto the playing field.

[elitenls]

Searah said:

This is just PURE speculation, but I doubt there will be another "expansion." ...

Yeah, one word: EverQuest. Started in 1998, still has 300k+ subscribers. Has like 20 expansions. Maxed at 3m.

WoW, started in 2004, still has 10m+ subscribers. Has like 2 expansions. Max hasn't been seen yet.

It's nowhere near peaking, let alone stopping dude.

[Deployed]

Laibcoms said:

Ok, that's Metzen. So now we can rule out "Emerald Dream", "Maelstrom", "Old gods", the Goblin Island, "Kul'tiras" (the last two are weird to become an expansion itself )

It doesn't rule them out, in fact, by "Not what we'd expect" and "Q: We're taking over Northrend this expansion. What's next!
A: Southrend! Something else! Starcraft 2! Something else that you don't expect. Chris: Unbelievable boldness is next. "

Could easily mean that we'll be getting the Emerald Dream, Maelstrom et al all in one (progressive) hit. It would be unexpected and certainly very bold.

If I was going to have a hope on the next expansion, then it would be on the "re-visit Azeroth" idea. Phasing would very easily keep Vanilla WoW and this idea workable.

[Kody]

Searah said:

This is just PURE speculation, but I doubt there will be another "expansion."

Hmm, I dunno about that.

Quote

We were also treated to a tour of the Blizzard campus, but unfortunately weren't allowed into any of the development area as the World of Warcraft team is already working on something new. Kaplan mentioned that they're always 3 patch cycles ahead of the live game in terms of content design, as well as typically working on the next expansion. Take that for what you will!

From: http://www.curse.com...ews/289958.aspx