If this isn't even a content patch...

Q u o t e:
Is it going to affect the time of release for patch 2.3? I mean c'mon... we haven't seen the under development page updated for ages... we haven't see a meaningful patch for quite some time... yet you can't even throw us a bone? :S

The Under Development page will be updated soon, but I'm pretty sure people know what is in the works anyway.

First to answer your question, anytime one patch is delayed it has the potential to delay another one since there needs to generally be a testing period. That's pretty much a given.

I think adding the Voice Chat among other things such as giving people that use Macs the ability to record in-game footage could be deemed meaningful by many people. There are also many other changes and additions that are going in that patch. You can take a look at them in the test realm sticky of patch notes or on the webpage that has it.

Second, as far as what is under development goes, I'm pretty sure people know that Zul'Aman is in the works, Sunwell Plateau (25 player dungeon) was also talked about at Leipzig and in Games for Windows Magazine (we'll have more on that as well), and then of course the other big things are Guild Banks and of course Wrath of the Lich King. Those are just things that I've mentioned briefly.

We've also let people know there are more class changes coming up, some changes to Dustwallow Marsh, we are looking into experience gain rate and planning to change some of that for people and more.

Is that all a big enough bone to toss your way? We can talk about more if you like though there are some details that aren't ready to be shared yet.

Q u o t e:
Heeey thanks for the response Neth... kinda bored refreshing the page while at work... greatly appreciated... sorry if I sounded a little annoyed.

Get back to work!... I'm working. Why aren't you? ;p


For those asking for specifics on classes and items, there isn't anything I can really share on that end beyond the general responses we've given so far that we have more things in the works for various classes.

As far as the Mac/PC debate, please don't go there. I can, however, reassure you that the Mac capture seems to be doing very well and is not something that would hold up a patch. The Voice Chat, which we consider a major feature of the patch and the main focus of the patch is still undergoing testing. We'd like it to be a solid tool that people can use either as a supplement for their own third party programs or for those that don't have a third party program they can use. We're not attempting to replace anything so much as give another way of making it easier on people.

Wasting time on another 25 man? We don't feel we are. We can strike up the usual Casual vs. Hardcore debate, but that gets a bit tiring. We are always working to create content for people on many levels. There is a story that we are continuing to tell and the Sunwell Plateau gives us the venue by which to continue telling it. Not to mention while some people are concerned over a new 25 player dungeon being added, others have been asking for it and looking forward to more more more.

In the end, that's what it comes down to. We're all greedy players and want more more more out of the game and the Development team is working hard to give it to everyone. People are going to disagree and give their viewpoints on what is or isn't a waste of time, but we have plans, a schedule, and a lot of ideas that we still want to get in to the game.

Time goes slowly for you all on the player side. On our side it always seems like we want/need more time to get in everything we feel will continue to make WoW fun and interesting.

Q u o t e:
Actually, I would appreciate some kind of reasoning as to why Macs can get a recording program, and PCs can't, since PCs are the vast majority of your audience. I'd also like to know if anything new game-play wise was being added in this patch, cause lord knows it's been a long long long time since anything was added in this department. Starting to only log on for dailies/raids, aka the game's getting a little stale. I'd have figured you guys learned this lesson a bit ago when you broke up a patch into bits cause you realized it was taking too long to release, but here we are again apparently, and it's not even a content patch. :\

I've actually addressed this before, but I'll answer it again here.

For one, as Mac users will tell you, there is already groundwork for such an implementation resident as a part of Macs. So making a way for players to record in-game footage is relatively easy (in broad terms) thing for us to add in.

For another, Mac users don't have third party programs available to them for recording in-game footage. PC users do have that option.

That said, however, the idea of us perhaps adding a way for PC users to do the same as their Mac counterparts isn't so far out there. It's a possibility for the future if we feel we can implement it well enough.

So there you go in a nutshell. This isn't about one platform being better than the other, but about us giving access to in-game recording to another part of the community that just didn't have that option before.

Q u o t e:


I believe the Sunwell also includes a 5 man wing.

Yes, there is a 5 player and a 25 player in different wings. It's located on an island north of Silvermoon City. The Blood Elves want power and that means getting the Sunwell going again.

Q u o t e:
Something I've been curious about for awhile is the use of this forum as the primary means of pushing information to the end-user. This seems pretty ineffective however - changes to class abilities and mechanics go through in patches and there are *lots* of players that have no idea these things have ever been changed. (I can find quite a large number of shaman on a single server who have no idea windfury now has an internal cooldown for example)

What I see here is a large gap between the information and the end-user. Sure, the info is being posted, but its really only available if someone reads the forums pretty heavily, and I'm sure the CMs can perhaps provide us some figures on the percentage of player base that actively uses the official forums. Secondly, the information that does get posted is frequently difficult to find since there's no official summary of this information available. One could use the BlueTracker website, but we really can't expect everyone to be aware of a 3rd party website. See the poster above me - he didn't know that the Sunwell is going to have a 5man component as well. Where would he go to have learned this on the official WoW Board? Unless he was specifically searching for those key words or stumbled into the blue posts that it was mentioned, he may have missed it completely.

Summary: Information on the incredible range of changes that have gone on in Warcraft is excruciatingly difficult to find for the average player. What do you say to this Neth?

We include information on the Web Site, Fan sites gather it together and post it on their sites, we send out a newsletter with information, we post it here in the forums, we have interviews and information on other more traditional media outlets as well such as magazines like Games for Windows. We also work to put up an FAQ on things we feel need addressed both on the web site and on the forums (when feasible) and the patch notes are available on the PTR (prior to the release of a patch) when you start it, on the website and posted in the forums.

We try to give as many outlets as possible all the information that we can. That said though, I'll make sure to note that you feel that we could find a way to better organize information on these things for players.

Also, please note that the Sunwell Plateau was only just recently discussed live at Leipzig and is published in the September 2007 issue of Games for Windows with a big write up on World of Warcraft and also a bit on Starcraft II. I'm by no means expecting everyone to know this information already and it's why I included it. The "as you may already know" implies knowing about a lot of the information, such as Zul'Aman, for a bit now.

Q u o t e:
Blizzard does a great job communicating outside of the game, but some players only log in, play and log out. I suppose you could always have in-game newsletters with the same information, either mailed to each account's mailbox or posted on bulletin boards, or have NPC's that hand out newsletters. =)

We also have on the opening launcher links to current information up on the website. :)

For the person that thought I was being condescending, you're reading too much into it. I was just hoping to clear up what was in the works.

Q u o t e:

For the in game voice chat, is there a way to define WoW to utilize a separate sound card/sound device then the main one? For instance, when I use Mumble/Vent/Teamspeak I allow WoW to use my sound card's outputs for game sounds and the like, but define those applications to use a USB headset for voice input and output. That way, I have my game sounds coming from my speakers, and my voice coms from my headset.

Yes, this works. You can try it on PTR today.