Quote: Gameplanet: Are there any plans to make professions equally viable? Or will raiders always have to pick two which are always superior for their class? Blizzard's J. Allen Brack on Mists of Pandaria Brack: I feel like that's an interesting perspective. I like the word 'viable' in that question. I think there's always going to be the min/max type of player who is trying to figure out what is the min/max thing we want to do in order for my class to be the best it can possibly be. We definitely want to try to balance the professions so they feel like they are an add to the things you have, they are ways to make your character better, and try to make them as balanced as possible.

OMG THEY PICKED MY QUESTIONS

this is a very thorough review

meh, they avoided answering the questions. The 25 man raid is an example " We made this really awesome Sunwell raid which was difficult and chnallenging but only 1% of the playerbase was not a bunch of noobs and so, all this effort is wasted on this gameplay challenged button bashing monkeys , we will decided to just not bother anymore and just keep giving simple time grinds. And it worked! "

Bloody, I understand your viewpoint on that. I really do. I don't think I have ever found a raid hard (please note I haven't played Cataclysm, as I stopped), except for a couple of the Sunwell bosses. The game actually quite easy. However, the reason I also like the idea of dumbing it down a bit, is not so much so that every joe blogg can do it, but the people like myself who was unable to get into the top tier raiding guilds cause they already had their quota on %class% requirements, that I would still be able to experience it, even though I can still watch a movie at the same time as killing bosses...

Normal mode and LFR mode should be easy - so that everyone can see the content. Heroic mode should be super hard and take months for even the best guilds to clear.

Bloody wrote: meh, they avoided answering the questions. The 25 man raid is an example " We made this really awesome Sunwell raid which was difficult and chnallenging but only 1% of the playerbase was not a bunch of noobs and so, all this effort is wasted on this gameplay challenged button bashing monkeys , we will decided to just not bother anymore and just keep giving simple time grinds. And it worked! "

Because gaming companies should only make their games for 1% of their customers. Makes heaps of sense.

Gwarden wrote: Because gaming companies should only make their games for 1% of their customers. Makes heaps of sense.

fair enuf, they should always aim for the lowest denominator ie the 99% and then should not wonder why the game is a mediocre consolized button pushing grind fest. Hey lets celebrate mediocrity.. it PAYS more.. and one day you wake up, old and grey , and wonder gosh i cant take this cash with me but i accomplished nothing...

Gwarden wrote: Because gaming companies should only make their games for 1% of their customers. Makes heaps of sense.

Raids in general don't have to be hard, only the Heroic mode should.

The content between modes is the same.. you all get to see the same bosses, the same cutscenes. The complaint here I think is that guilds continue to clear Heroic modes with ease when it should be harder.

If they aren't going to make heroic mode harder in mist of pandaria, then at least go back to the stuttered boss release schedule like in ICC so that content still takes longer to finish or add a few bosses with tight gear restrictions so that enrage timers actually mean something.

This was my question. Who complained about resist fights? i enjoyed them :/ gearing up NR for AQ40, turning up to the raid and having my shit together.

Quote: Gameplanet: Have you considered bringing back resistance gear boss fights? Brack: Resistance gear boss fights are really kind of strange. I feel that it's one of those things that sucks, yet there's this nostalgia for it that's kind of weird, because every time we do a resist fight players hate it, and they think it's just a huge lock. And they complain and complain. We haven't done one in a while, I think the last one we did was Naxx Sapphiron maybe, Every time we've done one, there's been this huge outcry of irritation and anger [laughs] so it's a weird dichotomy, I think.

The Faction fight in ToC would have being fun if resitance gear was required IMO

Hodir in Ulduar?

I really liked resist fights as well. At least it gave you reason to get other gear

I also enjoyed getting Nat resist for AQ40. Spent time chillin' and talking shit on vent with guildies, farming all the mats.

players complain because anything that requires effort is against everything blizzard has already handed to them. The current playerbase wants to be led hand in hand by the devs from 1 shiny to the other.

I wish they'd ask Blizzard why we still get worse than 56k modem performance on their games despite years of loyal subscriptions, propelling them to be the dominant name in MMOs with a billion dollar income. It's just really crazy that we're still having to say things like this in 2012.

^ what?

Juan Diego wrote: I wish they'd ask Blizzard why we still get worse than 56k modem performance on their games despite years of loyal subscriptions, propelling them to be the dominant name in MMOs with a billion dollar income. It's just really crazy that we're still having to say things like this in 2012.

Haha..oh wow

Skorky wrote: ^ what?

this

Mmmmm. My question was asked "What restrictions are you going to apply to account-wide achievements?", but not answered. Typical Blizzard.

Why bother letting people ask questions if they're not willing to actually answer any of them.

teelo2 wrote: Mmmmm. My question was asked "What restrictions are you going to apply to account-wide achievements?", but not answered. Typical Blizzard. Why bother letting people ask questions if they're not willing to actually answer any of them.

Err what answer were you looking for?

teelo2 wrote: Mmmmm. My question was asked "What restrictions are you going to apply to account-wide achievements?", but not answered. Typical Blizzard. Why bother letting people ask questions if they're not willing to actually answer any of them.

They devoted a huge paragraph to answering this!

Gwarden wrote: They devoted a huge paragraph to answering this!

And never actually answered my question?

Lets look at the questions with whether they actually answered them.

Quote: The concept behind Mists of Pandaria hasn't perhaps been received as enthusiastically by the player base compared to previous expansions. While sentiment seems to be warming slowly, are you happy that what you've produced will be embraced by the community at launch?

Dumb question received a dumb answer.

Quote: So when do you think the beta is likely to begin?

Question not answered.

Quote: [blah blah blah] At what point will you decide that 25-man raids are unsustainable, and switch development to only focus on 10-man?

"We don't know."

Quote: [blah blah blah] Are there any plans to bring back elements that made the game feel special for the hardcore gamers?

Answer: blah blah blah about Sunwell, doesn't actually give a yes or no.

Quote: What lessons will you be taking from Cataclysm with respect to PvE development? There was some outstanding PvE content on the release of Cataclysm with Tier 11, can we expect the same in Mists of Pandaria, and will that quality of PvE content flow throughout the whole of the expansion?

Dumb first part of the question received a stupid answer. Second part of the answer is just Blizzard talking themselves up when prompted to talk themselves up by the question.

Quote: What restrictions are you going to apply to account-wide achievements?

Question not answered: "The decisions haven't been made yet"

Quote: Have you considered bringing back resistance gear boss fights?

Answer mentions that resistance fight suck and players complain about them, doesn't actually say "no we won't".

Quote: Any plans to allow tri-spec?

Answers no. Then he instantly changes his mind to a "maybe".

Quote: You've already discussed increasing character slots?

ONE question with an actual direct answer. Finally we are getting somewhere...

Quote: How are you going to handle respecs for the talent system?

I DON'T THINK THAT IS WHAT HE WAS ASKING ABOUT.

Quote: Are there any plans to make professions equally viable? Or will raiders always have to pick two which are always superior for their class?

"we want to try to" Okay I'll give them that one. Two questions directly answered.

Quote: Can you tell us more about the new Challenge Mode?

Gives two sentences of nonsense we already know. The question asked for MORE.

Quote: Are these challenges based on player feedback, or was the concept invented internally?

Answer: "We definitely hear a lot that the players loved the Amani Bears, and it was so hard to do the 45 minute Baron Run. It was really hard to get your Amani Bear. It felt really awesome, it felt really epic, it felt really rewarding when you actually did it, so that's really the basis of the system."
Wait... so... is it because you liked amani bear runs or because players liked it?

Quote: Can you tell us a bit more about the upcoming raid on Orgrimmar?

Answer tells us obvious stuff we already know.
"and who doesn't want Thrall to be the leader of the Horde?" I used to be the leader of the Horde... but then I took an arrow to the knee...

Quote: We saw the large new mountain in the game, has it been difficult to add this extra verticality into the game engine?

Convoluted "no" answer. Third question directly answered.

Quote: Has the lighter nature of the Pandaria subject matter afforded you the opportunity to just have a lot more fun creating this expansion?

"I think so"


So, out of 16 questions, only 3 of them actually had answers. As I said, why bother setting up these press releases when they don't know answers to what people want to know, or are not willing to dilvulge the information yet?

Welcome to PR

Unsure if you're srs teelo2.

In more than one of those yes, he answered no, with a "but who knows in future". That's fairly stock standard.

Today, no, because not enough people want it.

Tomorrow? Well if enough people want it, sure.

That's kind of how it works.