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How They Made World of Warcraft
SiliconJesus writes "Rob Pardo, VP of Design at Blizzard, gave an interesting keynote at the Austin Game Conference outlining the Blizzard philosophy on designing game content, core and casual players, and why story should always drive the game." From Raph's writeup: "If you extend the leveling curve too far, it becomes a barrier. You hit a leveling wall. Our walls are shorter and there are less of them. The short leveling curve also encourages people to reroll and start over. We had some hardcore testers who would level to 60 in a week. There was much concern within the company. But I would tell them that we cannot design to that guy. You have to let him go. He probably won't unsubscribe, he's going to hit your endgame content or he'll have multiple level 60s. In games with tough leveling curves, it discourages you from starting over." More is available from the conference, with Gamasutra having a rundown on Mark Terrano's writer's keynote, and Gamespot's piece on the MMOG Rant session. Paneled by the likes of Matt Firor, Lum, Rich Vogel, and Jessica Mulligan, that must have been entertaining to see live. One more thing - WoW has 7 Million subscribers now.
...how an MMORPG can have a "story." I mean, yes, there's a whole world background that hardcore WoW players can recite. There are always details and intrigue of relations between factions. But in all honestly, the game doesn't end. If there was an actual plotline (in terms of exposition, hook, rising action, climax,falling action, and resolution) then one would be able to "Beat Wow" and Blizzard would lose the fortune they're making in monthly fees,and that wouldn't happen. They probably should've said you have to build your game around the "premise." To even try to make us believe there's a story in WoW is ludicrous.
As a casual player I don't like getting pwnt by kids who play wow from the second they get home from school (3pm) to either until mom makes them sleep, or they pass out (2am).
In my opinion games should be designed around responsible play habits. More than 3 hours per day is bad for adults and kids alike. There are other games than WoW, people can play those when they run out of content. There will certainly be more content coming. Most people I know still have not even seen blackwing lair, and there are 2 raid instances above it. Don't be afraid to let that top 1% quit and play something like Vanguard.
Are you people serious ? It's already the 2nd article I see praising this incredibly lousy game I wasted my life on for almost 2 years. 3 months of Levelling to play grinding at Battlegrounds.. I thought PvP is great no matter.. but no, Ppl had better gear , They'd kicked my butt everytime. So I do PvE to get gear ? Oh yes farming spamming boring instances 10 times each, following what the raid bosses say, spoiling every corner, just playing damage bot "as They command" . And once I get the gear what do I do ? go PvP , I thought . But how can I have fun killing players with a way weaker armor ? is It fair ? Do i deserve those kills ? WoW is the worst "thing" ever inflicted to humanity along with Nazism.