Chris Sigaty InterviewFollow

Really good info for all to read ^^

http://wow.gamona.de/index.php?seite=pp&pid=123

Some sounds good, some doesn't. Let the discussion begin.

Edited, Wed Sep 15 15:14:05 2004 by StumpyWSF

Sorry, works for me.

By the way, not that anyone cares, but today is the stumpsters birthday.



Interview:

worldofwar.de: There is a rumor that players will only be able to play on the servers that are located next to them. For example European players would not be able to play on US servers. Can you confirm this?
Chris Sigaty:Yes, this is true. We will have the regions separated, for example US players on US servers and European players on European players. We will have regional support teams for online support, ingame support and offline support. This is because of language and time. We want to give the best support at primary playtime. If the European players play on US servers this cannot be granted. Another reason is that we want the Live Team to do regional events, let's say something like the Oktoberfest. Also the latency plays a certain role. However there will always be people who want to play on a server which is no located next to them because of their guild or something like that. At a certain point after release we will give those players the opportunity to play on those servers.

worldofwar.de: Can the EU play on US servers after the game hits the shelves in US until the game is released in EU?
Chris Sigaty:No. But if they have a opportunity to use a US billing method and have someone who lives in the US, we cannot stop them from buying an US account.

worldofwar.de: How many players will be able to play on one server?
Chris Sigaty: 2500 to 3000 players on each server.

worldofwar.de:How many characters are allowed for one account? Can the characters be distributed on different servers, e.g. 4 on FvF and 4 on PvE?
Chris Sigaty:10. You can have 10 characters on different realms or all on one server. However if you decide to play Horde with your character on a realm, you will not be able to play Alliance also on this realm. This will be done to prevent players to switch sides if one faction is stronger then the other on this realm.

worldofwar.de: Can characters be transfered between different servers?
Chris Sigaty: It is technically possible but not an easy task. But it is still undecided.

worldofwar.de: Will the servers be patched simultaneously after release everywhere in the world? If not, how long will the delay be?
Chris Sigaty: Yes, we will patch all servers around the world simultaneously. Content

worldofwar.de: Will the five aspects be in the game and what role do all the dragons play? For now there are only Drakes in the game.
Chris Sigaty: Right now they are not, but there are minions of them in the game. But it is planned as very very high level content.

worldofwar.de: Will the hero classes be tested in the beta? What do we have to expect? Any concerns about new imbalances through this classes?
Chris Sigaty:No, they will not be tested in beta, they will be patched into the game after it is shipped. The hero classes will be connected with the talents. You can achieve hero points and distribute them. There will probably be a forth tab in the talent menu for the hero class. The game is constantly under balancing issues so we will surely try to balance the hero classes out when they are available.

worldofwar.de: Will there be more classes later, e.g. Necromancer? Or new Races? Two-headed Ogres anyone?
Chris Sigaty: Yes, definitely.

worldofwar.de: What about the race specific advantages? Are those still planned?
Chris Sigaty:Yes. for example shadow meld for Nightelves and underwater breathing for undead. But we do not want to give the races things that ***** the other races. So people should not feel like they have chosen the wrong race because of the racial abilities. There will also be racial talents later.

worldofwar.de: Many users love the voice emotes. Can we expect more of them?
Chris Sigaty: Yes. There will be already many new ones in the next patch, for example a flirt voice emote and more good stuff like that.

worldofwar.de: What about graphic updates that were advertised like weather effects or models for the items on the characters?
Chris Sigaty:Weather effects will be in when the game is shipped. But they will not affect the environment for example your movement speed. There are already items with models that are not only textures like certain shoulders or armors.
Gameplay

worldofwar.de: Can you describe what expects us in the Battlegrounds? What can we do there? Where are they located and how do you get there?
Chris Sigaty:Battlegrounds will be recognized by a red portal that brings you to the battlegrounds. There will be environmental stuff where you can destroy things. You can use siege weapons and things like that. We have lots of plans but there will only be a simple version of the battlegrounds when the game ships. The first battlegrounds reach from player level 30-40, the next from 50-60.

worldofwar.de: Any examples for PvP rewards?
Chris Sigaty:The idea is to make it point based. Your actions will add good or bad points to your individual reputation or your faction. With enough points you can get certain titles like Horde Slayer or Defender of the Alliance or Hero of the Eastern Kingdom. People with those titles will get the opportunity to reach instances that are not open for people without a title. Those title will also give you the possibility to enter houses with special vendors who sell very rare and powerful stuff.

worldofwar.de: What will you do against ganking and griefing?
Chris Sigaty:The point based PvP system will help on this. If you gank and grief a lot you will get points subtracted and if you have a negative amount you will get a opposite titles to the ones mentioned above. Players of the other faction will be able to attack you no matter where you are, even in save home zones you will always be marked for PvP. So you are known as a bad guy.

worldofwar.de: Will you be able to unlearn talents?
Chris Sigaty:Right now you can unlearn them in the beta but this will not be possible in retail with one exception. Perhaps there will be a quest or something that give you one possibility to redistribute your talent points. The reason is, we do not want the players to ***** their character. For example as a Tauren warrior you have more hitpoints what is measurable in the early game but in late game this is only a very small percentage of your hitpoints.

worldofwar.de: What about playing with the opposite faction? Can you form guilds with members of both factions?
Chris Sigaty: No you will not be able to play with the opposite faction.

worldofwar.de:Will there be speech bubbles like in SW:Galaxies or any other improvements to the chat system? Right now everything takes place in the down left corner.
Chris Sigaty: Currently there is nothing planned like that but thanks for bringing this into consideration.

worldofwar.de: Can you explain the new way after no more skill points?
Chris Sigaty:Everything will be money based. So the rich people have an advantage like in your real life ;-) We wanted to create more money sinks.

worldofwar.de:What about role playing aspects like marriage (with real consequences on the servers). Will there be special role playing servers?
Chris Sigaty: There will at least one RP server or a few of them. They will have more restricted policies for naming and things like that.

worldofwar.de: Are you pleased with the speed of gaining levels and the exp curve?
Chris Sigaty:Currently we think it is fine. There will always be players that will play nonstop and get to level 60 very fast. But we want to give people who are not able to play all day long to take part in the World of Warcraft with only playing a few hours. So they have the feeling they can advance without putting a lot of time into the game. For them a slow advancement could be very frustrating.
Others

worldofwar.de: What purpose has the EU beta?
Chris Sigaty: It is for the localization of the game and to test the server stability.

worldofwar.de: Is there a synchronized release of all localized versions possible? If not how long will the other languages be delayed?
Chris Sigaty: We will release the US and Korean versions together. The european version will follow around 2-4 month later.

worldofwar.de: What are you plans against real money for virtual items or accounts?
Chris Sigaty:We can only discourage people from doing this but we have no real opportunity to prevent players from selling stuff for real money.

worldofwar.de: What can you tell us about the Collector Edition?
Chris Sigaty:There will be a Collector Edition for every region. You can chose between a Horde layout or an Alliance layout. As an extra there will be a special pet in it.

worldofwar.de: Thanks for your time and the informations.

Edited, Wed Sep 15 15:18:40 2004 by StumpyWSF

They appear to be giving alot more information about the game in Europe then in the states. It's understandable though. They are trying to peak interest there.

Hopefully that info will kill the "beta leveling is faster than retail will be" arguements.

Edited, Wed Sep 15 15:32:44 2004 by StumpyWSF

"However there will always be people who want to play on a server which is no located next to them because of their guild or something like that. At a certain point after release we will give those players the opportunity to play on those servers."

He addressed your concerns, you missed it.

... He said "...US Players on US Servers, and European PLAYERS on European PLAYERS...", How does, ""However there will always be people who want to play on a server which is no located next to them because of their guild or something like that. At a certain point after release we will give those players the opportunity to play on those servers," correct that he said "European PLAYERS on European PLAYERS," I just don't understand?...

Chris Sigaty: The point based PvP system will help on this. If you gank and grief a lot you will get points subtracted and if you have a negative amount you will get an opposite titles to the ones mentioned above. Players of the other faction will be able to attack you no matter where you are, even in safe home zones you will always be marked for PvP. So you are known as a bad guy.


More mistakes? ^^

Bah, anyways, I must say, this is a good read so far.

Edited, Wed Sep 15 16:00:26 2004 by Creamed

The most interesting thing sbout his interview, is Bliz won't respond to anyone on the WoW site asking questions about it. Surely they realize any statement made will be posted on the net for all people to see, regardless of where you live.

Anyway, in typical worldofwarcraft.com forum fashion, alot of the testers are already ranting and giving their "life is over" analysis.

It's nice to see confimation on the role playing server also, for the people that like to RP.



Edited, Wed Sep 15 16:06:58 2004 by StumpyWSF

(EDIT) Stumpy, lmao, thank you. However, I was not being sarcastic, I didn't care what the question said, I was pointing out the fact that he said "European players on European players," He meant "European players on European servers," I believe. (EDIT)

Q:

A:


Are they referring to the speed of leveling in the stress test/ closed beta? If so.. agh, that's wayy to fast IMO, I hit level 23 over a course of 1 week, and that's just about 4 - 5 hours a day, my guild leader hit level 42, just think about that, in 2 weeks, we'd have a character level 60? o.O?

Edited, Wed Sep 15 16:10:02 2004 by Creamed

YAY!!

No more "why do they schedule maintenance during our peak times!!"

Timezone based servers is the only way to do a MMO.


edit:

The one thing I didn't like that caught my eye. The no horde and alliance characters on same realm. The reasons given are more PvP related then PvE. Should make the restrictions on the PvP servers only.

Edited, Wed Sep 15 16:24:45 2004 by SeomanP

Hurray for 2 headed orges! Other races, hmmm, I wonder if Blood Elves will be in. Nagas can be counted out since they are mobs...Demons maybe? Maybe later on the Burning Legion will be a 3rd faction. Who knows...

*Reads from a book*

"Thou say not bring anything over from SWG to WoW or you shall be judged harshly! So Sayth Redmoon from the 7th level of Yar!"

*nods*

Pfft, I agree, buying items/ accounts is stupid. Why the hell buy a game if you're just going to buy the best equipment/ account? Find it yourself, that's part of the game, right? It's probably those same people (casual gamers -.-) who ruined, how you can get to level 60 in two weeks, they decided they didn't have enough time, so, as the retards they are, they went onto ebay.com, bought an account, maybe got a few bucks, and you're already a high level with some cash to spend,
Did you spend any time? NO.
Did you make friends? NO.
Did you have fun leveling, questing, doing everything, and/ or anything the game is all about? NO.
Will you have that account and money at the end of 2004? NO.


Pathetic.


Edited, Wed Sep 15 20:08:34 2004 by Creamed

Edit:


Horde, or Alliance layout, this is new to me... when I pre-ordered my collectors set, I never got an option of Horde or Alliance... o.O, Is it something where, when I go to pick it up, they give me the choice then? I hope, cause, I want Horde.. >; )

Edited, Wed Sep 15 20:16:47 2004 by Creamed

I usually don't have a problem with people buying/selling stuff, it depends on the game. Back when I joined UO, buying a house thru ebay was the ONLY way you could get a house.

You could make alot of money buying/selling stuff. I sold my old roommates UO account once. Sold a couple houses. Sold some other items.

That's UO. That game doesn't really matter if you spent the lower levels learning, or just hopped right in. And if someone wants to spend real money on a virtual game, that's their choice.

Now, in FFXI I was against it. That is a game where you need to start at level 1 and work your way up thru the levels to understand what you were doing. You can't just log into a lvl 60 character one day and knew how to do your job in a party. Because FFXI is so party dependant, each member needs to know what they are doing.