In WoW Source Episode 3, Morgan Webb sits down with some Blizzard designers and talks PVP and Class Changes you can expect in Warlords of Draenor. Since the video is a little over 30 minutes long, I thought I would give you the highlights in a “Too Long; Didn’t Watch” post. Feel free to skip through and read what you care about. For more information, I put it in approximate times of when the subject is discussed. See the video below.
Alpha-servers
0:47 Alpha servers are coming up, those select few will get to test some of the super awesome features previewed at Blizzcon.
1:55 Even if you played it at Blizzcon, the experience may be completely different.
PvP
3:15 Diminishing returns. Crowd control effects will no longer dominate the battlegrounds as heavily as it does in Mists of Pandaria (MoP) right now.
3:55 Fear is being nerfed.
4:30 Crowd control not going away. Developers feel that it is a very dynamic part of the game for battlegrounds.
5:20 The reshuffling of categories for diminishing returns should not affect Arena play.
Gear
6:35 PvP Gear will have a secondary item level that activates for PvP combat. The goal is to be able to use your PvP Gear in PvE and not have to worry about changing gear around for casual PvP.
Ashran
7:33 PvP zone with persistent combat.
7:50 Island off the east coast of Tanaan Jungle.
7:55 Similar to Timeless Isle but PvP focused.
8:56 Map of Ashran
10:30 This should not feel like a structured battleground. Much more anything goes.
10:55 Will be available to Alpha players, but not initially.
11:53 Going to start using max level testing servers to test end game Raid content.
Skirmishes
12:58 Bringing back Skirmishes to allow players to get their feet wet with Arena battles.
13:13 Random award. Bag o’ goodies, Honor, Conquest… something.
Q & A
14:14 Did Blacklisting cause longer queue times for Random Battlegrounds? No. Faction balances are the cause.
15:26 Will DPS have to worry about Threat generation? No. They want a more fun, seamless experience.
17:31 Punishment for Random Raid/Dungeon players that don’t pull their weight? Hopefully it doesn’t come to that in WoD, thanks to new Proving Grounds system which will ensure you know how to play your class. Which is of course after passing ilvl gear check.
18:55 Proving Grounds system may not be available at game launch.
Class Changes
19:42 Too many abilities muddying up the action bars and too many redundant or situational abilities.
21:07 Making cuts to buttons and abilities to keep the player fantasy active.
24:30 Visual clutter being toned down so DPS players aren’t blinded by effects, but still looks cool to the caster.
Q & A about Classes
25:20 How do you decide about buffing a class? For PvE, how does the class perform. Otherwise, it’s cross team collaboration with the PvP developers as well. Overlap is very important to the developers.
That’s a wrap on WoW Source Episode 3. It feels a little dated since Warlords of Draenor is now in Beta testing with keys flying all over the web. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing a new episode very soon. Until then, buy some game time and start playing World of Warcraft again. It’s always refreshing to realize just how fun this game is after I’ve been on a hiatus.
