Interview With Cory Stockton, Luis Barriga, and Eric Maloof (Part 2)
by JR Cook - 8 years ago
In the second part of our Developer interview from PAX West we discuss Garrisions, Faction pride, Class specs and a whole lot more. If you missed part one of the interview you can find it here.
Legion’s updated Achievement Panel renamed the Garrison category to “Draenor Garrison”. What are the odds of a new Garrison in the future, taking the lessons learned from the original?
Cory: I don’t know that there was any big intention behind that, other than just to be clear to the player that that is referencing the Garrison that you build in Warlords of Draenor. That I s what that is. I don’t think there was any sort of intention behind it.
In Legion, Disc Priests are being positioned as more of a hybrid dps/healer in their core gameplay. Is that something that might be extended to other healing specs like fistweavers or shockadins?
Luis: It might be harder to do that for other classes because priests, if I remember right, they are the only class with two healing specs so we really need to differentiate those two healing specs. Similar to how we said that Rogue didn’t have quite enough differentiation so we kind of reimagined Combat as Outlaw. We pushed all those fantasies to kind of carve their own niche, and own space. With Priests having two healing specs they had that opportunity to say, “Hey, do I want to be a little bit of a hybrid”? It also feels really cool when your that flex raiding group where maybe three healers is too much, but two is too few. It lets them slot right in and have a really cool niche.
To touch on the upcoming Karazhan dungeon that a lot of players are so excited about. You mentioned in the panel taking a little bit of the old stuff but also putting a new twist on it. When it comes to drops are we going to see some of the old Kara gear with updated art assets?
Cory: I think it’s going to be similar to how we explained the whole raid will work. You want that nostalgia so that when something drops you remember the icon, and it would still drop off the same boss. I think the question for us many times comes down to do we need to update the art so that it feels appropriate with the current level versus Burning Crusade? How did an axe look back then versus something that we would make now? A lot of these decisions come down individually to the art team. Sometimes the nostalgia is actually worth keeping the older art, we just up-rez the texture but we don’t touch the model. I think you are going to see a blend of both. You will see new stuff, you see old stuff, and then you will see stuff kind of in the middle. It’s that same concept of let’s keep the nostalgia, but make sure that it feels fresh.
Luis: Cory had mentioned this earlier in a different interview, but a lot of that is still in play. Itemization art is kind of the last step, so some of that may change and fluctuate.
There is so much great story telling going on right now. A lot of it is inside the game with the voice overs and cinematics, but a lot of it is also outside of game with things like Harbingers, the Tomb of Sargeras, and the Illidan book. Are we going to see that level of storytelling continue in and out of game as Legion unfolds?
Luis: Hopefully we see a lot of doubling up because it’s a really shame when really cool events happen in a novel only and then only a tiny fraction of our players see it. Ideally, we have the in depth version outside of game for people who want that media, who are like I want to spend a week reading about this, and then we have the distilled, really key moments either thru a flashback or a quest in game. I think when we do that is when we get the best of both worlds.
Eric: We want the player base to really understand the stories that are unfolding without necessarily having to read a book, but we think it’s great when they do read the books and see the other types of media that are supporting the game.
Cory: I think that started really well with Warlords of Draenor. We had the series of shorts and the content there really gave you a look behind each of the individual Warlords and how they got into the position that they were in. If you wanted to know more about the story you could watch it and see it, but it didn’t mean that it took anything away from the game. It just meant that you knew more about how the Frostwolf Clan end up and how did this come to be. Kilrogg Deadeye, how did that all work? What was going on in Tanaan Jungle, but it didn’t take away. I think that creates a deeper sense of engagement for our players. In the end the World is the biggest character in World of Warcraft. That’s what matters the most, so when things like that can build a world and make it feel like a deeper place with more story, I think we’ll take those opportunities to do that whenever we can. But like we said, it’s a balance. You don’t want to do something in a reveal that you can’t play in the game, because that feels terrible.
You touched on this a bit in the panel as well. The Demon Hunter customization are much more expansive that what we have for the other races. Is that something that may filter down towards them, where they get more customization as well?
Luis: It’s the sort of thing that’s not necessarily quick to do. Honestly, that’s the sort of thing that has to be tied to a feature for it to be worth it for us to punch thru that level of time commitment and development. It all depends on what we do in future expansions and if there is a feature set that makes sense to shore up with that level of customization. It’s definitely not the sort of thing that we would do just for the sake of doing it in like 7.1 or 7.2.
Warcraft lore is full of examples of where the two Factions band together to fight a greater evil. I know this question has come up many times, but would you ever consider cross faction groups, even if it is just for Battlenet friends for the social connection that it might bring?
Luis: It’s interesting because at the core of it, Warcraft is Orcs versus Humans. While we do have moments where they do come together, it’s just part of IP (that they remain separate). When people come to Blizzcon and we say “For the Horde”, and people respond with “For the Horde!”, same with “For the Alliance!”, it’s almost like sports teams. People really feel a strong allegiance and attachment.
Eric: It’s really in our DNA. We’ve done things like Pandaria where you start out neutral and make a choice.
Luis: And that’s where the coolness is. When you make it a rule that red and blue are apart and they don’t cooperate, when we do break that rule it feels fun. Like Broken Shores. I think that is what you will see more is moments where we specifically break the rules. Like Demon Hunters can actually talk to each other in Demonic. That’s what makes that special. We’re Illidari, your Alliance, I’m Horde, but at the end of the day if the Master says we do something, we’re probably going to do it. There is something cool to that. That is more where that space lives. We’re not going to change the rules on players.
And the Broken Shores scenario definitely enforces that Faction pride, and that Faction loyalty. The emotions that that brought out.
Eric: They are totally taunting each other. It is funny to me the number of Horde Characters that I saw actually jump. When you’re at that big fight where you’re up on the cliff. You’ve got the scene down below where the Alliance is being confronted by Guldan summoning in all those units from Sargeras. The number of people that would just jump down to confront the demons. It’s like, well…
I’m guessing when you jump down, good things don’t happen right?
Eric: I’m sure it’s fine…(laughter)
Demon Hunters have two specs, Druids have four specs. Can we expect to see additional specs added for other classes, maybe in lieu of a new class in an expansion?
Luis: I think that is the sort of thing that we do where it makes sense. For the most part, I feel like we wish that some of the dps classes only had two specs like the Demon Hunter does. In a way, what that lets us do is really concentrate on what is cool with that class.
Cory: …and focus on the fantasy.
Eric: We were drilling down on a fantasy with the Demon Hunter. We didn’t really feel like a healing spec felt right for the class so we were able to concentrate more on dps and tanking and really make them shine.
Cory: With Druid, I remember we made that call because when Guardian was created it was obviously part of Feral, but everyone thought of Feral as cats, and then Guardian is kind of in there too. At the time when we talked about adding a fourth spec it seemed like a good call, it fits perfect because Druid is so unique overall. So it felt right, kind of similar to how the Demon Hunters have two like Eric was saying. I don’t think we look at it like we have to pull a spec or add a spec, but that as we continue to build the game and those situations come up if we want to pull that trigger or make that call we would do it if it felt right individually.
It’s been 12 years since Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne was released
I’ve been told to ask if you guys are ever going to bribe Team 1 into making Warcraft 4? I’ve seriously got a guy on my team who won’t shut up about it. Please tell me something. I’m begging you. (asked in the voice of Crow)
laughter…
Cory: If only we had the pull.
Eric: I would love to see that happen personally.
I just want to take a moment to thank the Developers for taking the time to sit down with me, and to thank the PR team for arranging the interview.
For Azeroth!
