Massively http://massively.joystiq.com Massively http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Massively http://massively.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[The MMO Report: Aztec pandas make no sense edition]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/22/the-mmo-report-aztec-pandas-make-no-sense-edition/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/22/the-mmo-report-aztec-pandas-make-no-sense-edition/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/22/the-mmo-report-aztec-pandas-make-no-sense-edition/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The MMO Report
Morgan Webb dethrones Casey this week on The MMO Report, having made the journey to Anaheim to interview Blizzard's reps about World of Warcraft's upcoming Mists of Pandaria expansion. J. Allen Brack and Tom Chilton focus on the philosophy of this expansion and its shift from previous expansions' ominous tone to a more playful theme of adventure, exploration, and oh yeah, the war between the Alliance and the Horde.

The pair also highlight changes to underdeveloped zones, pet battles, repurposed classic dungeons, phased farms (actual farms!), and solutions to the faction grind problem. Most interestingly, they tell Morgan that Pandaren came first... and the Asian motif followed. After all, they joke, it just wouldn't have made sense to put Pandaren in Aztec ruins.

Get your panda on in the full video behind the break!

Continue reading The MMO Report: Aztec pandas make no sense edition

MassivelyThe MMO Report: Aztec pandas make no sense edition originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 22 Mar 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some day we'll have images for Titan posts.
In and around the flurry of news swirling about >World of Warcraft's upcoming Mists of Pandaria expansion, a kind soul has been looking out for everyone waiting for news on the mystery-shrouded project Titan. Tom Chilton, a lead designer for WoW, told The OC Register about the "slow trickle of expertise" from the WoW team into the Titan team. Although he didn't confirm anything, Chilton said that it's possible that the movement of developer talent over to the Titan project may ramp up.

Despite laying off about 13 percent of its workforce, Blizzard is still hiring in order to fill the development teams for both WoW and the new project. Chilton says:
"I do believe there's room for us to have two highly successful MMO games. I don't feel like there's going to be a time where we just say 'OK, everybody on the WoW team, pack it up you're moving over to the Titan MMO.' I don't see that as being a realistic probability. I think we're going to try to staff up both teams and actually end up with two large, strong MMO teams."
Hopefully this sort of talk means that MoP is nearing readiness so the company can give a little more attention to the Titan MMO -- might we someday soon find ourselves with actual, hard facts about this mysterious project?

MassivelyBlizzard's project Titan still in the works originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Screenshot -- World of Warcraft
It may be hard to believe, but World of Warcraft's Cataclysm expansion has been out for the better part of a year now. All the while, players have been on a long and arduous adventure to defend the lands of Azeroth from the nefarious Deathwing and his minions. In an interview with Blizzard's Tom Chilton, Joystiq brings to light some details on the dragon's imminent demise as well as a few insights on what players can expect from WoW's patch 4.3: Dragon Soul.

Chilton details the upcoming Transmogrification system, which allows players to customize the appearance of their gear by transferring one item's graphic to another. He also discusses the new Void Storage system, which grants increased storage space, with the caveat that any item stored in the void will be stripped of all gems and enchantments.

The pièce de résistance of the whole affair is, of course, the final showdown with Deathwing himself. Players will have to traverse three separate five-man instances, which will culminate in a huge battle that doesn't just feature Deathwing as the opponent: He's the battlefield as well.

But we don't want to give it all away, so head on over to Joystiq for the full, juicy interview.

MassivelyBlizzard's Tom Chilton on World of Warcraft's patch 4.3 and beyond originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First things first, to really understand this week's intro to The MMO Report, you need to do a wee bit of homework, assuming you don't already get the reference in the title anyway. Pop over here and watch this user-created video about the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion. We'll wait.

OK, all caught up? Great. Off we go then!

This week, Casey is joined by the lovely (and World of Warcraft-addicted) Morgan Webb, who sits down with Game Designer Tom "Kalgan" Chilton for a chat about the myriad things that have come in Cataclysm. Sure, it's chock-full of the normal things one would expect, like talk about things players both old and new will be experiencing in the expansion. Morgan also gets Tom to tell us more about some of his favorite quests in the revamped areas, as well as a bit more insight into Blizzard's development cycles for this expansion -- certainly a hot topic this week. In all, this will definitely be a treat for any World of Warcraft loving gamer.

We've tucked the video behind the break for your enjoyment, or you can catch The MMO Report every Thursday on G4TV.

Continue reading The MMO Report: Catackalysm special

MassivelyThe MMO Report: Catackalysm special originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>BlizzardBlizzard-Entertainmentcasey-schreinercataclysmG4TVgame-designerKalganmmommorpgmorgan-webbthe-mmo-reporttom-chiltontom-chilton-interviewWorld-of-WarcraftwowFri, 10 Dec 2010 11:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Blizzard not yet ready to slaughter the cash cow and go F2P]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/30/blizzard-not-yet-ready-to-slaughter-the-cash-cow-and-go-f2p/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/30/blizzard-not-yet-ready-to-slaughter-the-cash-cow-and-go-f2p/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/30/blizzard-not-yet-ready-to-slaughter-the-cash-cow-and-go-f2p/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

It seems like the subscription-free bug has been catching on lately. Turbine experimented by rolling Dungeons and Dragons Online over to free-to-play, and saw their players (and revenue) jump appreciably. Now Turbine is taking the next step by rolling their triple-A MMO, Lord of the Rings Online, over to the same model. We've also recently seen Hi-Rez Studios take Global Agenda over to a somewhat similar model to Guild Wars -- buy it once, play it forever. What might we see go subscription-free next? Could it be World of Warcraft?

According to Tom Chilton, Lead Designer on Blizzard's current kong-sized-gorilla, World of Warcraft, the company has thought about free-to-play as a potential model for their flagship MMO. But we'd warn you against celebrating just yet: Those thoughts have been more along the lines of intellectual curiosity -- a "down the road when we're not on top" type of thing. While many companies are working hard to improve their portion of the market, there just haven't been any fabled "WoW killers" as yet, poised to bean the Blizzard-spawned giant in the head with the proverbial well-aimed rock. Until that time comes -- even if they wind up unseating WoW with another monster of their own creation -- we're unlikely to see Blizzard dropping those lucrative monthly subscription fees.

If you're curious as to the specific details, the article over on PC Gamer's site is worth a read. It gives you a glimpse into the current philosophy at Blizzard with regard to recent market trends, as well as how this may impact their game now and in the future.

[via WoW.com]

MassivelyBlizzard not yet ready to slaughter the cash cow and go F2P originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As the Wrath of the Lich King expansion gets closer to release, World of Warcraft players have a number of questions about how the game experience is going to change for them as the title moves forward. Co-lead designer Tom Chilton and producer J. Allen Brack spoke with Oli Welsh from Eurogamer at the Games Convention in Leipzig, about where the Blizzard title is now, and where it's heading.

The interview touched on how Blizzard will handle instances in the Death Knight starting zone in Wrath of the Lich King, with Brack stating that instances won't actually be used. Rather, a player's environment will shift between different world states dependent upon quest progression. Other highlights of their talk include the design aspects of the hero class, faster leveling, and whether new players can really have the same experience that drew so many gamers to World of Warcraft years ago. Be sure to check out the Eurogamer interview for the full story on Wrath of the Lich King, particularly the Achievement system and how Blizzard feels about its growing competition.
One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!

MassivelyBlizzard interview focuses on Wrath and the changing player experience originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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World of Warcraft producer J. Allen Brack and designers Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton were interviewed by Eurogamer today. Most of the interview dealt with Wrath of the Lich King content like the Death Knight, 10-person raids, and world PvP objectives. The most interesting bits of the interview were on the last page, though; the Blizzard reps talked about WoW's future.

According to Kaplan, a major graphics engine overhaul is "probably" part of that future. While he himself is not convinced it's necessary (he cited players' lukewarm reception of similar moves by the developers of Ultima Online and EverQuest), he said: "That's actually something we talk about every expansion ... and I'm positive we'll talk about it next expansion."

In the meantime, WotLK will allow "people with high-end machines some additional graphical effects." WoW Insider joked that future graphics engine updates might be dedicated entirely to producing even larger, more detailed shoulder pad armor. We wouldn't be surprised!

[Via WoW Insider]

MassivelyWoW graphics engine to be overhauled someday originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 16 May 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today on Massively's sister site Big Download, there's a featured article all about the World of Warcraft Arena Tourney. The BD team sat down with Tom Chilton, Paul Della Bitta (Senior Manager, Global Community and eSports) and Joong Kim (eSports Manager) to talk about that huge $200,000 prize purse, the future of World of Warcraft as an eSport, and the reaction players have had to the Arena.

We found especially interesting the news that eventually these online matches will transition to live events. They're still looking for a place to throw the Global Finals this year, probably sometime in October or November. Eventually, they'd like to look into televised matches; it may sound strange, but Guild Wars has definitely shown there's a market for that kind of event. Go check out the interview, and stay tuned for more details on the WoW Arena Tournament.

MassivelyBig Download's big interview with World of Warcraft's Arenamasters originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 13 May 2008 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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