Warlords of Garrisons

So...

Where did Wrathion go?

Why did you scrap the Burning Legion despite all of the chatter about their return?

Why did BlizzCon offer so little about actual content and instead focus mainly on Garrisons?

I gotta say, I am not really all that thrilled about another filler expansion that is more or less just a huge patch with new features.

I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Wrathion. Keep in mind (not saying this is related to Wrathion btw) that the story bits you've seen are just one part of the expansion's story. There will be plenty more that you'll get to experience. You are going to get to experience the Draenei's real culture, history, and heroes among many others.

There's a ton of new content as well. Garrisons is a new piece of content, as is the new PvP zone, Trial of the Gladiator is completely new and there are a ton of quality of life improvements. Not to mention all of the new (completely new from the ground up) zones, creatures, quests, story lines and much much more.

This next expansion is definitely not filler. It always makes me a bit sad when I see people who say things like this, but we'll do our best to help you see the light with more information releases as we go along.

This is part-and-parcel of a new expansion and certainly would expect nothing less. I've always found the expansions offer tons of new zones, quests, etc. The critique here is that the tone of the game seemed to be shifting in a very obvious direction, but it seems like it was scrapped last-second for Warlords. Based on the presentation--what are the raids, who are the bosses, what is the lore, what story does the cinematic tell--it almost seems like you were not prepared to reveal a new expansion at BlizzCon.

P.S. - I don't mean to make you sad. As you know, the game has a pretty passionate following.

Nothing was built and then "scrapped at the last second" in fact, from what I know, the developers have been working on a lot of this plus more (future more) very very hard. If you read this blog (if you didn't see the live stream) by Bashiok, you can read more of the dungeons and Raids that are planned. The "Warlords of Draenor: The Adventure continues" panel live stream also went more into the story and who you're going to see and meet there (the original warchiefs like Grommash, Durotan etc.)

The trailer shown for the announcement is more of a tease, but if you look at the main image, those are all orc warchiefs that those familiar with the original Warcraft RTS will readily recognize. This is a chance for the Alliance to take the initiative and go after the Iron Horde and it's a chance for the Horde as it is now to rediscover who they are and what they're about. The story is about YOU as a hero as well, facing down an incredibly powerful and dangerous foe in order to protect Azeroth as it is today.

It seems that there's still a lot of information that you're missing and if you didn't get the live-stream or don't plan to, might I also suggest spending some time reading the articles on our various fansites and listening to their podcasts? (We'll try to gather as many of them together for you as we can to help too.) I think that might help you understand a bit more about our plans.

As always, this is just the start of things and as development progresses, ideas, and implementation of those ideas may change, but we'll try to share as much as we can as we go along for you.

I must admit the whole garrison thing could have been cool but bliz just flat out got it wrong again... I would much rather see a GUILD garrison. Would it not be completely awesome if your garrison was attacked by random bosses/mobs and had to be defended by your guild. I picture huge armies of gnolls charging your gates or some random rock giant eating your walls... Make the events random and give some world loot for defeating it, or suffer thru massive costly rebuilds if you cant.

Much like the farm was a first step, consider this another step. People kept asking for player housing and we had to find a way to make it truly a part of Warcraft and not just a place to collect dust bunnies. This is what we've come up with. Could guild structures be something that comes about eventually? It just might. Not getting something now doesn't mean it's not possible some time in the future. It may just happen. We didn't just come up with Garrisons overnight. It took time, planning, thought, and technology to all come together. It's a great addition and you'll still be able to bring your friends and guildies into it to visit and maybe even show off your elite Garrison planning skills. ;)

Wait...we're actually getting Draenei Lore? I thought that didn't exist?

Getting some? We're going to their HOME. We get to get up close and intimate with who they are, what they're about, their lore, their, struggles, their triumphs, their defeats. We get to find out so much more about them (plus no one crashes a space ship.) Are you sure you're ready for it?

The trailer shown for the announcement is more of a tease, but if you look at the main image, those are all orc warchiefs that those familiar with the original Warcraft RTS will readily recognize. This is a chance for the Alliance to take the initiative and go after the Iron Horde and it's a chance for the Horde as it is now to rediscover who they are and what they're about.

It seems that there's still a lot of information that you're missing and if you didn't get the live-stream or don't plan to, might I also suggest spending some time reading the articles on our various fansites and listening to their podcasts?

The undertones of your post that I am uninformed and need to read up is not lost on me. I am very familiar with the orc warchiefs, their story, their lore in the books, their role in the RTS games, and how most of them died. I apologize in advance that I expected the game to move forward towards the lore that was hinted at ad nauseam in Mists instead of backwards in time--this time with Garrisons! Perhaps I need to read Rise of the Horde and Lord of the Clans literally for the ninth time?

I am not really missing out on a lot of information--Bashiok's blog post about D&R in WoD is not overly informative (it was mainly about the fact that Flex worked and it's coming back even more so, but we're renaming the difficulties).

We purposefully didn't recap all of the panels because we know how much coverage there would be from fansites etc. I certainly didn't want you to think I was saying you didn't know or understand the lore. I'm going off of all of the extra information that was shared within the panels that had a lot of extra nuance that may have been missed. We'll be doing what we can to fill in the gaps too over time. We just felt it was a good idea to get the basics out there, round up the fansite and media coverage and then as we move forward, start getting into more of the nitty gritty details as we define them more during development. Call it some breathing room if you will.

The story is being moved forward, just in another way. I understand if you might not have an interest in it or have expectations for a different story all together, but it's not directionless development being done. There's a plan in place and hopefully we'll be able to continue to express that plan to everyone in a clear way.

We really do appreciate all of the interest and discussion on it all already as well as the constructive feedback. Please don't think we don't.

Well... do we at least get a quest to crash an Elekk, Gryphon, Gyrocopter or something along those lines at least?

I've heard there's tanks. Will those do? ;)

11/11/2013 10:34 AMPosted by Mikoyan

You are going to get to experience the Draenei's real culture, history, and heroes among many others.

Wait... we're getting attention?

Who are you and what have you done with Nethaera?

Hey now!

We'd love to tell everyone's stories (I'm a big Forsaken fan myself), but there's only so much room in each expansion to do that and make those stories all fit like a puzzle. We get to the ones we can as we can. In this case, we get to shed more light on the Draenei. ;)

Hey now!

We'd love to tell everyone's stories (I'm a big Forsaken fan myself), but there's only so much room in each expansion to do that and make those stories all fit like a puzzle. We get to the ones we can as we can. In this case, we get to shed more light on the Draenei. ;)

Does this mean Tauren will have their day at last? :D

Edit: Yes, yes, I know. Finally paying attention to a neglected race and I go HEY WHAT ABOUT OTHER NEGLECTED RACE. Can't win. :P

I think I have a bruise now. Thanks for that. ;p

Getting some? We're going to their HOME. We get to get up close and intimate with who they are, what they're about, their lore, their, struggles, their triumphs, their defeats. We get to find out so much more about them (plus no one crashes a space ship.) Are you sure you're ready for it?

And here I thought that Draenor wasn't actually the homeworld of the Draenei, that Argus was their homeworld, and that they just landed on Draenor after escaping the Burning Legion.

Looks like another Draenei-influenced retcon.

Not a retcon and technically you're correct, it's not their original home, but it's a home that they made their own complete with culture and history. So, you're right on one level and not right on another. They've had several homes, this one though is a pretty big one for them.

Wrath of the Lich King was more than a story of the Forsaken, so I'll disagree (on a personal level) that they had theirs. ;)

Will the garrison be for that character only or will they be for all characters of that account on this server. Faction depending of course.

I believe at current, it's set up like the farm ( individual). Keep in mind, we're still in development so things could change in many ways in regard to how features work, but we'll do our best to keep you informed.

Just to touch on Wrathion briefly, it seems Dave Kosak did mention it in a panel that we like Wrathion and he may make an appearance but we have no plans to have him work on a Legendary quest line in Warlords of Draenor. (I checked with the team to see if I missed the answer somewhere and it seems I did. ;) )

Not a retcon and technically you're correct, it's not their original home, but it's a home that they made their own complete with culture and history. So, you're right on one level and not right on another. They've had several homes, this one though is a pretty big one for them.

Wrath of the Lich King was more than a story of the Forsaken, so I'll disagree (on a personal level) that they had theirs. ;)

While we're discussing the story of WoD, here's something my wife seriously asked me after watching many of the panels:

"Are they going to have a heroic scenario where we discover the secret location that Blizzard is stashing all their female leads for WoD and free them?"

Seriously though, watching them roll out 10 main characters and having them all be men is disappointing. Maybe that works for the testosterone filled 18-24 male age group, but please remember that many of your players are women and men who appreciate a diversified story with actual female characters.

Blizzard has always done a fair job of this, so the 10 main characters highlighted being all male felt very 2003 and out of touch for 2013.

And frankly it's just boring to have the whole expansion be a sausage-festival.

Valid concern and I can address that only a little right now, but it's worth noting that there are plans for some female characters as well. Historically the clan chiefs are all male, so I can see how with the announcement video that it looks very male heavy. But, there will be female characters that will have their time as well. I'm not going to say 50/50 or equal time since I'm not privy to the specifics right now and wouldn't want to spoil anything anyway, but I can say that the designers are working on it. I don't know how much was covered by Applecidermage when she spoke with quest designer Helen Cheng but from speaking to her (and she's someone that's been critical of this herself), she seemed pretty happy about what she's heard.

In all technicality, you're heading to a place they just happened to land on while running from the legion. Not really a home, just a location they're hiding until it's time to flee again.

Sooooo..

The Draenei considered it home. You don't have to live in a place your whole life for it to be your home and put down roots. ;)