Blizzcon 2011 - Day two reflections
The art panel was amazing as always. SO COOL to see the world editor in action, and they've made leaps and bounds in technology since we last got a peek at it. Drawing tilesets for terrain is much smoother and faster now. Pandaren models look great. The kung fu moves are really sharp. I just hope the female Pandaren fare better than the worgen ones.
We got no more info on the Jinyu koi people, but I was quite happy to see some carp-themed lanterns and kites. They showed a rejected concept for a Pandaren mount that was basically a seat on top of a globe of water, powered by the energy of goldfish swimming inside. XD Too funny!
The class and professions Q&A and the general Q&A were actually rather boring to me.
The talents and everything else are so much in flux right now with the changes in 5.0 that any questions about them are kind of irrelevant. General design directions are interesting to talk about (especially if it's a class you play) but more specific things are impossible to pin down yet.
There were very few mage questions, and they were pretty much all about the arcane spec. Screw arcane, give me fire news, dang it!
I'm sure questions about what class can use what weapon in what situation or spec are interesting to the people who theorycraft and play them, but it was boring to me.
Fortunately there weren't as many pointless questions about legendary weapons as last year, although it still came up several times. :P I hate it when they waste time on questions about items that such a small portion of the player base ever see.
The lore panel, however, more than made up the snooze-inducing questions about talent trees and spell rotations and such.
One of the first questions was about the location of Arthas, Illidan and Kael's bodies after their deaths. They reiterated that Kael'thas had already come back once, and they aren't going to do anything else with him in the future, but they didn't specify were his remains ended up after I farmed him daily for that blasted white hawkstrider mount Magister's Terrace.
The questioner suggested that perhaps Jaina had taken Arthas' body, to which Metzen and Co. said something like, "You mean, does she have his body on ice somewhere, casting Blizzard on it occasionally to keep it frozen?" After a giggle from the audience, Metzen burst out, "That's just sick, man!" ROFL! They acknowledged that Arthas' body could be used for nefarious purposes in the wrong hands, but said they have no immediate plans to pursue that line of thinking.
As for Illidan...in two separate Q&A sessions the topic of bringing Illidan back came up, and both times Metzen asked the crowd if that was something they'd like. Both times he got a lot of cheering in response, and after the second time he said it was "likely" they would do something with Illidan in the future, based on the fans' reactions. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but I certainly wouldn't turn it down! XD
Calia Menethil has been discussed but they have no current plans to do anything with her.
Lianne Menethil (Calia and Arthas' mother) does not have a fate cemented in canon yet, but Metzen said he really thinks it works better for the overall story if she had died long before the fall of Lordaeron. I agree. It's bad enough for Arthas to slaughter his father in cold blood (literally cold, considering...heh) and with Calia's fate up in the air it would be unnecessarily complicated to have Mama Menethil in the mix, too.
Oh, and earlier someone asked what happened to Terenas' crown after his assassination, and the Blizzard guys teased that they'd make it into legendary loot somewhere, if they could figure out who would logically drop it. When Lianne came up, they said, "or you can kill her and loot Terenas' legendary crown!" Yeah! That's it! Heehee...
They talked a bit about the RPG books again and said that they aren't canon, but they aren't necessarily wrong, either. They take ideas from them occasionally but they don't feel tied down by them if something doesn't jive with their current plans. Metzen pointed out Admiral Proudmoore's illegitimate half-elf daughter as an example of something from the RPG books that he considers total crap and non-canon.
One questioner expressed concern that "at this point Tyrande is Malfurion's arm candy" instead of the strong character she was in WC3. Metzen said, "We just haven't gotten to her yet" and "I love Tyrande," she is "one of the most badass, elegant creatures in the world." They just haven't done anything with her recently because there hasn't been a good place in the overall story to use her, and it's not just Tyrande--there are lots of other characters they'd like to do more with, but don't want to drag out into the spotlight just for the sake of using them. "Bear with us," Metzen said, "we have a plan; we love these characters; we want to be respectful to all of them."
(On the other hand, when asked about where Gallywix is and why he is still in power after the awful things he did in the goblin starting zones, they were like, "Oh yeah, that guy... Hmm, haven't thought about him lately. We should probably mention him somewhere.") /facepalm
Someone asked about the shards of Frostmourne, and their fate after Arthas' death. Metzen said "some smart people" took them somewhere for safekeeping, but "I imagine there will be shenanigans someday, some idiot trying to reforge the damn thing."
The plot with the Zandalari that began in the ZA/ZG heroics will be continued in Pandaria, and we'll learn more about how "something is driving" the Zandalari. Please, no more Old Gods...sigh.
Regarding major plot points that are revealed only in printed material and not in game, I was extremely pleased to hear them acknowledge that this was a problem, and they didn't want us to feel "ripped off" (Metzen's wording). They said they were very aware of this and were going to work harder to coordinate between the game development and the publishing departments to time the release of information better, and to make sure that important plot points are revealed somewhere in game as well. Again, we'll see how well they follow through with that promise, but I was really glad to at least hear them acknowledge the issue.
As for Varian's likability factor, Metzen said he very much wants to implement a quest line where you act as a squire for Varian as he does a sort of "Labors of Hercules" trial to prove his worth to each Alliance faction, doing some epic task that is important to them, and leaves them convinced of his worth as commander of the Alliance. I don't know if something like that really would help him be less of a snarling dickface, but we'll see... Metzen said, "The Alliance is gonna need a king who's got his shit together."
Before Christie Golden wrote "The Shattering" they had no plans to do anything significant with Anduin Wrynn, but she asked if she could do something more with his character and they were really happy with what she did. Now he's off training in the Light with Velen, and they have "big plans" for him someday down the road. Hmm...
There won't really be a single racial leader for the Pandaren. There will be a representative to the Horde and to the Alliance but they will only represent the player Pandaren. The larger population of Pandaria will still be neutral.
One fan took the "screenshot or it didn't happen" adage to heart and brought in a poster-sized print of a screenshot from inside Gun'drak so he could ask the devs about that enormous snake tail that you can see in the dungeon. It's never explained or even mentioned but it's rather intriguing and spawned some fun theories. Metzen and the others looked very intently at it for several long seconds before shrugging and explaining "It's cool?" No significance to lore, just something an artist thought looked cool, so they put it in. Kind of a disappointing answer to those who have been curious about that snake ever since WotLK came out, but I liked their honesty. ;)
Similarly, when asked about Ozumat and Nepulon, they just threw up their hands and said they really didn't want to talk about that, and that it was a big mess. Heh. (They also snickered about the implications of the tentacles, and Metzen said "What happens in Throne of the Tides stays in Throne of the Tides.")
When someone asked if Mists of Pandaria would have any serious moments, or if it would all be goofy, Chris Metzen gave an absolutely elegant smackdown of the critics who have been ranting about "lolpandas". I liked it so much I went back and replayed that part of the panel so I could transcribe it:
There's no way we're going to build an expansion set based on an April's Fool's joke. ... Our senior art director, Sam Didier, kind of started drawing these guys years ago and it was just a passion project for him, and he painted all sorts of pictures of these guys. No one really thought we'd really include them in Warcraft, it was just what he loved drawing. So we had like crazy panda shamans and just, his artwork was off the hook. ... We included Chen Stormstout in...the Frozen Throne, maybe, in the orc campaign? Was it after that? I can't remember anymore.
But these guys are not a joke. This is an idea that we've been thinking about for years. It's one of our favorite flavors of Warcraft. It's not ultimately silly; it's just a little lighter. But the context of what's going on where they live, what's going on in the history of the world at this time, it's serious as a heart attack. They're just really chill about it, right? But this is no joke. This is not a throwaway, silly silly ha-ha funny expansion set. It is absolutely the next vital chapter. As things ratchet up, they're going to get really gnarly. The idea is, as things get super-crazy in the world between red and blue, the Pandaren are going to be part, ultimately, of a solution because they just think differently than most of us do...a little more far-sighted. So they're really going to make a difference in the history of the world. But it's definitely not a light, throwaway expansion set in any way. Come on the ride with us. Be patient. But don't jump to any conclusions about how thin the idea is. It is not. It's about as rich a kit as anything we've put out so far, and it's definitely got its intrigues and its dangers and its drama. It ain't armies of the dead and it ain't demons falling out of the sky, but it's definitely going to have some flavor and some teeth.
Well said, and I have to admit that after listening to the panels today, and seeing the concept art and preliminary animations, I've warmed up a bit to the Pandaren and the rest of the upcoming changes. I'm still not totally sold on the awesomeness of every little thing, but I'm certainly not running to cancel my account like some forum trolls are claiming to do.