29.5.09

Zarhym on 3.2 Progression

Interesting post from Zarhym:

Zarhym
Blue Poster
Source
# 14 - Valor difficulty 5 mans - May 29, 2009, 5:35 pm
We have some new things in store for the badge system to help with the current end game progression curve that exists (as you noted: Heroics > Naxx > Ulduar > 3.2 > Icecrown ). We're looking to put together this information for you and will provide it as soon as it's ready to go.



Same stories have been played out for ages

I'm ready to be given the chance

For saying our side, our version or choice

Cameras capture numerous nights of romance...


What does this say about upcoming content? Well, firstly, it might be telling that Zarhym did not refer to the raid as the Argent Coliseum, which might lend credence to those who believe that there will be a 3.2 raid in addition to the Argent Coliseum. However, given that he borrowed the OP's language, this might be reading too much into things.

Secondly, it confirms that the 3.2 raid(s?) will offer Tier 9 gear, or at least gear in the Tier 9 ilvl range (240-253.) This probably shouldn't be a big surprise, but this wasn't confirmed previously.

28.5.09

On Trusting Blues

Before continuing onwards there's probably a requisite disclaimer to be made about using blue posts as serious sources of lore information. This thread on the Diablo III forums pretty much illustrates why: Because they tend to just kinda make stuff up. Upon being asked why the Diablo III Fallen have different hairstyles than the Diablo II Fallen, blue poster Bashiok replies that:

Bashiok
Blue Poster
Source
# 17 - Why the Fallen's hair is gone? - May 28, 2009, 12:21 pm
After the deaths of the Fallen champions Bishibosh, Rakanishu, and Colenzo, the Fallen ceremoniously removed their top knots in their honor. Over the years the remembrance of the old heroes waned, new hair styles emerged, and the majority of the Fallen imps now sport mohawks which symbolize undivided unity and strength.



The real reason for any sort of change is purely artistic.


I think it's reasonable to assume that blues make lore posts that aren't clearly announcements of some sort, they're not exactly speaking from on high, penning official canon. This doesn't mean that there aren't useful insights to be made from their pronouncements, however - while it might not be wise to take them too seriously, it's also probably true that the blues are careful not to insinuate things which will end up contradicting subsequent lore. For example, in Bornakk's post about Tyr, he probably does not mean that Tyr is literally on some kind of journey... just that he still exists and may or may not ever be used again. Likewise, due to Bashiok's post, I would infer that the changed Fallen hairstyles will not exactly be an important plot point in Diablo III. There are probably lots of examples of blue posts like this which would be unwise to take too seriously or too literally... but also unwise to dismiss completely.

This might be obvious, it probably should be. But requisite disclaimers are requisite.

Bornakk on Hyjal

I held off on posting this for a little while because I didn't want to make new posts every time Bornakk said something (or edit old ones), but since there hasn't been an update to the thread featured in the previous post in several hours, it might be prudent to discuss this now. So here are a few additional posts by Bornakk in that thread:

Bornakk
Blue Poster
Source
# 38 - Blizzard: Azeroth zones underdevelopment? - May 28, 2009, 11:04 am

Q u o t e:


Can you open up non-CoT Hyjal one of these days? It's sort of silly to have such a massive zone inaccessible. Hell, even if there's nothing added. Just allow the zone to be opened /shrug.




I've seen this brought up a few times, but we don't plan to implement things just for the sake of it. Anytime we develop something we hold it to a high quality standard and plan to do it right.


Bornakk
Blue Poster
Source
# 43 - Blizzard: Azeroth zones underdevelopment? - May 28, 2009, 11:12 am

Q u o t e:
Yeah i've played this game since Vanilla WoW, just the map has changed so much i can never remember much of how it used to be




It has changed numerous times over the 4.5 years the game has been out. Sometimes we get new ideas and just need to do some land shaping to make it fit, nothing big.


Bornakk
Blue Poster
Source
# 45 - Blizzard: Azeroth zones underdevelopment? - May 28, 2009, 11:15 am

Q u o t e:




That's the thing, though. Anybody that's used the WoW Map Viewer can tell you that Hyjal, as far as terrain and doodads go, is completely finished and bug-free. All you need is a little bit of time to drop in some buildings and NPCs (and I know it's not THAT difficult to do that, seeing how you guys use a beefed up version of the WCIII Map Editor for creating WoW zones).



In all honesty, current-day Hyjal sounds like a perfect candidate for a content patch.








How would it fit into the story? Why are you there? Why are the NPCs there? Who is there? What do you accomplish in the zone? Where are the flight paths? Where are the horde/alliance towns? Is it needed? What does it add to the game?



Figuring out the answers to these questions and then implementing these answers takes a lot more work than you are giving them credit for.

[ Post edited by Bornakk ]



Bornakk
Blue Poster
Source
# 70 - Blizzard: Azeroth zones underdevelopment? - May 28, 2009, 11:39 am

Q u o t e:
So if I were to answer all those questions for you, would you consider adding Hyjal then?






The key word here is "consider" - we consider a lot of things on a regular basis, they may just take years to actually be released. Obviously we worked on Hyjal back when World of Warcraft first came out, so technically you can probably say we've been considering it for over 5 years now. The years will keep adding up on this until we feel it is right.


So what does this tell us? Well, I see two implications:

a) Despite what some may have you believe, Blizzard is not simply enacting a Master Plan that they've had in mind since Vanilla WoW concerning what content they'll have in game - things like Azuremyst Island were not in the Vanilla WoW map because they had not been envisaged yet. To me this is obvious but it's a subject of reasonable discussion.

b) (Present) Hyjal is not being worked on at the moment. This might not be a surprise, but it's an interesting reconfirmation since arguably not working on Hyjal indicates that Blizzard isn't working on the whole cluster of content that would probably be associated with Hyjal... *cough*Emerald Dream*cough* But I'm not going to break my no-speculation resolution that easily, just throw that out there.

One thing I'd like to see on this blog at some point are a series of posts which attempt to piece together how various unimplemented areas such as Hyjal and Azshara Crater and Uldum and Grim Batol, etc. etc. have had their plans changed throughout the development process. But I'm not going to half-ass it off the top of my head... it'd require a fair amount of data-gathering and so it'll have to be saved for a later date.

Update for Argent Tournament Dailies

Context: After completing the Valiant dailies for all factions at the Argent Tournament, that set of quests becomes unavailable. Some players remarked that it cut into returns from dailies, and the Blues have stated that there is a fix/workaround in progress to remedy this. However, Bornakk stated:

"Since this change will require a fair amount of work it won't happen until patch 3.2. And yes, we have more changes planned than just letting you do the valiant quests, a lot more changes really."

This matches with other statements made since 3.1 that there would be expansions to the Argent Tournament in 3.2, including the Coliseum announcements.

Bornakk on Unfinished Content

Not related to any specific lore, but some insight into the content development process:

What this question is really relating to is something that happens during development of any content so I will try and give a quick example that hopefully makes sense.

Lets say we start out with 10 (arbitrary number for this example) things we want to implement. During the development we cut out 2 of them that we feel weren't as cool as we originally we wanted, then later on, we cut 2 other things because we don't have the time for them and prefer to focus on the other 6 items. Just because these 4 things were cut doesn't mean they aren't in the game files in some primitive form (e.g. blank spots of land), they are just things that players don't have access to.

Any content that gets cut is something we may end up taking a look at it again in the future, but only if we feel it is a good time and will be a be a really positive addition to the game. We are totally fine with putting it off for years/indefinitely (hi Ravasaur trainer!) if necessary too especially when there are new ideas that we feel are better and will add more to the game, even if it means going in an Outland-ish direction.

27.5.09

3.2 News Roundup

I'm sure you've seen this news already, but this is an archive after all, so here it is again.

From the Under Development Page:

  • The Argent Tournament Expands: With the help of Azeroth's heroes, the Argent Crusade will finish the Argent Coliseum just in time to call for all brave citizens to prepare for battle with the Lich King. New dailies, rewards, and more will be available at the Argent Tournament grounds to lure adventurers into the coliseum.

  • Crusaders' Coliseum: In order to prepare for a siege on Icecrown Citadel, players will be called by the Argent Crusade to test their mettle in the Coliseum. 5-player, 10-player, and 25-player challenges await inside.

  • New Battleground: Isle of Conquest, a new large-scale siege Battleground, will be open. The Horde and Alliance will battle head-to-head for control of strategic resources to lay siege to the keeps of their opponents.

Additionally, from various blue posts around the forums:



Finally, blue poster Kisirani confirms that a Thunder Bluff <-> Orgrimmar zeppelin will be added in an upcoming patch. Minor news, but worth a mention.

Bornakk on Tyr

Source:

Tyr went on a path he felt he must follow... whether or not we learn about this journey remains to be seen.
Just to refresh: Tyr was a Watcher referred to in the Storm Peaks quests who was mysteriously absent from anything related to Ulduar. Whether Blizzard just "forgot" about him is unknown, but at least Bornakk was nice enough to imply that he hasn't been retconned out of existence.

Welcome to CstA

Ahoy hoy. This is the requisite introductory post explaining this blog's purpose.

Coming Soon to Azeroth is meant to be an archive of knowledge concerning upcoming lore-related content in the Warcraft Universe. Initially, I foresee the posts here simply being concise summaries of lore news with links to primary sources, or as close to primary sources as one can reasonably expect. Most of this information will simply be pulled from well-known sources, but the advantage of this blog is that we'll try to keep things as concise and organized as possible... as opposed to what you'd find on, say, Wowwiki or other fansites.

I'm going to retroactively post the news related to patch 3.2, and then focus on all information released subsequently to that point in time. Other authors are free to follow this lead, or not do so, but the utility of this blog will largely be in that it consolidates and builds on available information without engaging in wild speculation. I hope we'll gain a following of sorts, but if not, I'd be content to just have a resource for occasional use. It's possible that we'll expand outwards into various sorts of commentary, but this will come at a later time.