Mists of Pandaria Interviews and News Round Up

Posted 2012/03/20 at 11:24 AM by perculia

Blue Posts

Female Pandaren: There will be many more options for her hairstyle, face, and features. There will also be options to have a long tail, or a more traditional pandaren stub tail.

Archaeology: Can teleport to dig sites after finding an artifact, and can dig more times at a single digsite.

Inscription: Players can level by making staves and wands now.

Factions: Craftsman tokens from new faction currencies allow you to buy items like fun toys or pets.

Elder Tokens: Allow players to purchase new items, convert to Valor, or buy Charms of Good Fortune--allowing players to buy another go at a boss' loot table

Proving Grounds: A solo instance that allows players to try out their new rotations while getting achievements.

Interviews from the Press Eventexclusive interviews with BlizzardAusGamers:

Developer Interview with Tom Chilton

Blizzplanet:

Developer Interview: Dave Kosak

Developer Interview: Chris Metzen

Developer Interview: Ray Cobo

Curse Network:

Cory Stockton Video Interview

Greg Street Video Interview

Tom Chilton Video Interview

Gameplanet NZ:

Blizzard's J. Allen Brack on Mists of Pandaria

WoW Insider:

Chris Metzen Interview

Ray Cobo Interview

Interview with Dave "Fargo" Kosak

The New LFR Loot System

Zarhym

A few salient points here:

First, other players will not affect your loot in any way. Another player winning will not cause you to lose. Another player winning a mace will not mean that she took your mace. If there are many rogues in the raid, your chance of winning a rogue item is not diminished. We may decide that each player has an X% chance to get loot, or we may decide that X number of players get loot, and then randomly determine who those lucky players are.

Second, the item you win will be “useful” in the sense that it’s potentially usable by your current spec. This does not mean that warriors will get leather because warriors can equip leather (at a huge stat loss). It also does not mean that the game will always give you an item you want or an upgrade for the items you have. It just looks and says “You are a Holy priest, so here is a random item chosen from the Holy priest-appropriate items that this boss can drop.”

This system is a different feature from the “bonus roll.” When choosing to cash in on your bonus roll, you will always win something, but it may only be gold. If you win an item, the game again looks at your spec and only awards you an item appropriate for your current spec (using the priest example above).

Finally, this loot system will only be used in Raid Finder, and possibly for world bosses. We might consider using it for Dungeon Finder depending on how it works out. However, we still like the basic design of organized groups of guilds or friends deciding who should get loot. We will also no doubt iterate and refine the system once players can try it out in beta.

This sounds far too complicated for the average player.

The main reason that they need to "fix" the way loot is gained is because people are too greedy/stupid and roll need on things they don't really need.

Sounds good so far.

On that note however, if the tech is being added to determine specs and rolls in raid to that detail though, can that system at least be used to have a boss not drop rogue items for a group that has no rogue, 8 weeks straight? WTB a system that doesn't drop holy plate when you hava resto shaman and resto druid, etc. You get the idea :) Something for guild/normal mode groups to at least filter so many wasted drops that are useful to no one.

It also does not mean that the game will always give you an item you want or an upgrade for the items you have.

so how does someone save up on gear to change spec?

I mean if an arms warrior wanted to respec prot, how can he get a decent shield before respecting? I mean if all shields are tank items and since he's not tank specced, does he have to respect to tank and then get run through an instance and contribute next to nothing as a prot warrior due to not being able to use alot of key abilities and doing less damage than with his arms spec?

Before this I would try and keep an eye out for good items for my off-spec assuming no one else needed the item in the group. When you do the same instance several times you're bound to get a tank that already has that item and so on

So you can win the same item over and over? Doesn't this seem like a waste of loot?

Will the items that we win be trade-able?

You have a personal slot machine to play, and so do each of the other 24 raid members, and no ones personal slot machine affects the outcome of anyone ELSE'S slot machine.

If you are in a 25-player group, can people "pass" and increase the chance that other players will win, by reducing the number of people rolling in the group?

What's going to happen with bows?

The way I understood it is:

Everyone rolls - after everyone rolls, the top rollers will be eligible for loot - the boss then releases its random loot and whoever the top rollers are (who are able to use the items) wins the item

Can't you guys just make the obvious: Make all the drop items unique?

This still doesn't really address the problem of people rolling when they really don't need anything. What if those top 4 or 5 rollers all don't need anything off the boss and just receive gold? Completely unfair to the other 20 people who could have made use of the boss drops.

This just seems like a waste of time and energy. There has to be a better way of making it fair.

I don't have a problem with someone winning a role if they can use the item even if it is offspec. I just don't like people being inconsiderate and rolling need when they don't need it or already have it.

Item Squish and New Models

Nethaera

Title says it all. Kind of sad about these two things.

previous blog postWoW Insider

Rather than compressing item levels and retuning seven years' worth of content, the developers appear to have opted to go with the concept of Mega Damage, replacing a bunch of spare 0s with a K or an M where appropriate. When killing mobs in Pandaria, my four-digit damage was not compressed. If I hit something for 3,000 damage, it displayed as 3,000 damage. However, five-digit numbers and higher were compressed. 30,000 became 30K. It's a very simple solution and should have very little impact on your gameplay overall.

Female Pandaren

Nethaera

I'm going to attempt to nip "complaints" in the bud a bit. First I'll link you to WoW Insider's write up about what they saw so that it's not just my word about how great this model looks- Go here to read.

Next, I'm going to simply say that what you are seeing is a small sample of what this character looks like. You have a choice of the red version (with long tail) or the more traditional pandaren style with the stub tail. She has many amazing new hairstyles you will get to see as well as many choices for her face and features. On top of this, this model looks amazing in motion.

I don't want to squash any discussions, because I think constructive feedback is always valuable, but we're pretty happy with how she came out and from what I've seen so far, a large portion of the community is as well. When you all get to see her within the game, we can talk some more if you still have some concerns. Again, I'm not trying to be dismissive, but seeing the character in motion with all of her options may well change this whole conversation you're trying to start up.

Lore Spoilers

Nethaera

I mean I know in BC, Wrath, Cata we knew what the end boss would be and such, but I was thinking its kinda...I dunno....anti climatic now that we know how MoP is going to end (with Garroshes death).

By Blizzard deciding to come out with this, this tells me that the writers(or Blizzard itself) has so little faith in their ability to tell the story that they would rather just spoil their own plot twist rather than rely on their story telling capabilities to tell it.

DotA-Style Battleground

Zarhym

Cory Stockton addressed this during the press event. We stated at BlizzCon we had three map ideas we were considering, but the plan was always to choose two for the initial launch of the expansion. The DotA-style map was the one we decided not to run with for launch. It's still a Battleground gameplay style we'd like to do during the Mists of Pandaria life cycle.

A Night in Mists of Pandaria

Bashiok

With all of the great coverage coming out today on the upcoming expansion, we thought it’d be fun to take some of the details we’ve been revealing and relate them in practical terms. One of our main goals in this expansion is making sure that no matter what day of the week it is, and regardless of your experience or progression, that when you log in you can make meaningful progress toward advancing or customizing your character.

To set the scene for this article: Mists of Pandaria has been released, and as a long-time player I’ve enjoyed exploring all the new high level zones and tackled countless quests. I’ve leveled my character up to 90 and I’m logging in to play for the night. What is there to do?

Acting All Professional-like

I haven’t hit max on my professions yet, and as an avid cook I’m interested in maxing out each of the new branching trees of cooking specialization. The changes to Archaeology are pretty great so maybe I can mix in some dig sites as I go. I actually got a chance to teleport to a different dig site last night after finding an artifact, which really helped, along with now being able to dig more times at a single site.

I haven’t worked on Inscription much, but I really love the looks of the staff or wand I can make with the profession. Being able to level my tradeskill all the way to 600 by just working on them doesn’t hurt, either. Of course, I could go hit the cooking, fishing, and archaeology faction dailies and level those professions that way too.

Factions Speak Louder Than Dungeon Finder

I should probably work on my factions some more. With the new factions and their currencies I can acquire Craftsman tokens to spend on vanity items like fun toys or pets, and with Elder tokens I can purchase new items, convert them to Valor, or purchase Charms of Good Fortune. The charms actually allow me to “buy” another go at a boss’s loot table (including LFR) once I’ve downed them. I’m really glad the bonus roll loot tables are class specific, so I don’t run the risk of getting an item I can’t use. I do have a chance of just getting gold or some consumables, but it’s not a bad deal since I’m still getting rewarded for working on my factions.

I’m only Honored with a few so far, and one of my friends hit Revered with Golden Lotus last night so I want to keep up. Exalted is pretty tough to hit and I want to try to be the first in my guild to get one of the new factions maxed out. I can complete dailies to get faction, and even earn more powerful items along the way.

Proving Myself

I have all of the dungeons and raids at my disposal, and now that all of the raids are supported by the Raid Finder I don’t need to wait for my guild’s raid night to get a shot at some upgrades; plus with some Charms I have a lower probability of experiencing “loot rage” with the option of a second roll. Speaking of loot rage, the change in Raid Finder to per-player loot has made running random raids so much nicer without people fighting over rolls. I really wouldn’t mind running another one tonight.

With the new Valor system, I can work toward upgrading my current gear by increasing its item level and adding on a few stats at a time. Raid Finder is an option for a little Valor from boss kills, or I could get some more from dungeons, challenges, or scenarios. Regardless of what else I have to do I could be earning Valor and improving my items, which makes scenarios, challenge modes, and dungeons a very appealing option for tonight. If I do make some gear improvements, I’ll probably want to hit the new Proving Grounds. They’re like lored-up solo instances that make trying out my rotations a lot more fun since I can chase achievements.

Oh, You Fancy, Huh?

So maybe I’ll work on getting some item upgrades from dungeons, raids, or faction rewards, or I can improve my current item levels with Valor earned from challenge modes, scenarios, dungeons, and Raid Finder. I’m not ashamed to say I’m kind of geeked up over the new Pet Battle system. I wasn’t a very avid pet collector before, but after battling some of my friends (and seeing how much some of the trained pets sell for on the auction house) my interest has definitely skyrocketed.

But you know, I’ve seen some people strutting around with new transmog items, and I’m thinking it’s time I start looking a bit fancier. I have a few friends on and we can use dungeon finder to fill out a challenge mode run, which is where the coolest looking transmogrification set (IMO) for my class comes from. I just need another medal in Gate of the Setting Sun and I’ll be able to get the boots, and then move on to the chest piece. It’s pretty easy to build a group too since none of us really need to be chasing the same medals, as long as we hit them we’ll be able to make progress toward some rewards. The ultimate prize for completing all the challenges is a mount, of course, and although I’m still a ways off from that it’s a good goal to shoot for.

Rogue Sappin' My Totem

Those are some ideas, but I’ve really been getting back into PvP lately. With some of the changes it’s pretty enticing to get out into the world and mix it up. By accomplishing some of the outdoor PvP quests and objectives I can actually raise my weekly Conquest cap, which means I can build my PvP set that much faster. I’ve flown over some pretty intense looking outdoor battles, and I can’t help myself as I jump in and work toward increasing my cap for the week. Plus, with the change from Resilience to two new stats and the accompanying item budget changes, the PvE gear I’m wearing isn’t totally awful if I do want to jump in (or get jumped while trying to work on my dailies). Once I start getting more PvP gear I also won’t be totally awful if I decide to hop into a dungeon.

I’m still working toward a set of PvP and PvE gear, but it’s nice to be able to work on what I want and not be completely underpowered if I change my mind or want to dip my toe into one or the other. The other two people from my 3v3 team are online, and we should probably group up and go see about increasing our caps. Once I increase my cap I definitely want to get back into one of the new objective-oriented Battlegrounds. Protecting and pushing a mine cart as you fight off attackers in Silvershard Mines is a ton of fun, and the Murderball-esque Temple of Kotmogu is super intense.

One More Thing…

Well, I clearly have a lot of options for tonight. I almost forgot about finding some of the new mounts that are hidden around Pandaria; cultivating my garden and earning faction with the Tillers; caring for, hatching, training and eventually riding my own cloud serpent mount; building my historical library with the Lorewalker faction; and advancing my progress in the persistent sacred Vale of Eternal Blossoms by driving the Mogu out. There’s clearly no shortage of things to do at the level cap.

So what should I do tonight?

Comment by HakunamatataLet's not forget that after a week or two you're maxed. Since the game is casual-friendly now, I don't see how it possible <could> take longer. ^^Comment by pewpewxCan't wait for this X-pac...Sounds WAY better than Cataclysm!Comment by InterestOkay I must have missed that other tidbit on Archaeology. Sweet!Comment by JurascoLet's not forget that after a week or two you're maxed. Since the game is casual-friendly now, I don't see how it possible <could> take longer. ^^Comment by InterestLet's not forget that after a week or two you're maxed. Since the game is casual-friendly now, I don't see how it possible <could> take longer. ^^Comment by 950456Anyway i saw plenty of people moaning after ANY change was made. But then they get used to it and are playing it. If this game would have no improvement , that would be terrible. And it is completly opposite. Things they came up with are innovative and will let you soak in WOW again . And finally although I am Horde fan I finally can woop some Hellscream ass! and conquest of ogrimarr? I would love to see that :DComment by 434395seeing how much some of the trained pets sell for on the auction houseallComment by Nathanyalseeing how much some of the trained pets sell for on the auction houseallComment by Hobojenim looking forward to better world pvp. an to the monk class. seems interestingComment by OrangutanLet's not forget that after a week or two you're maxed. Since the game is casual-friendly now, I don't see how it possible <could> take longer. ^^Comment by 471448This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by InterestPokemon-like (companion) battle system :D They've probably spent a lot of time on 9gag reading all the old-times-pokemon nintendo-related posts :P So why the heck not ? :P And of course new encounters :)Comment by NathanyalPokemon-like (companion) battle system :D They've probably spent a lot of time on 9gag reading all the old-times-pokemon nintendo-related posts :P So why the heck not ? :P And of course new encounters :)Comment by InterestPokemon-like (companion) battle system :D They've probably spent a lot of time on 9gag reading all the old-times-pokemon nintendo-related posts :P So why the heck not ? :P And of course new encounters :)