Mamytwink Tom Chilton Interview

Original Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_pbPWQDZ6w

Q: Wasn't it too early to bring out the cinematic?
A: Don't think it was too early. Not everyone will read all the lore, so long as it's cool and players like the idea then "mission accomplished."

Q: Will we see Garrosh's Trial in game?
A: There are references and the novel goes into it in detail. But that's something you'll see more outside the game than in it. Kairozdormu helps Garrosh escape because he feels the world needs a Garrosh Hellscream to take on the Burning Legion. But he's betrayed by Garrosh.

Q: WoD is the first expansion without a new class or race. Why?
A: We'd just released a class with MoP and we're intentionally not releasing one every expansion. We don't feel like the game can support it. On the race side, we wanted to focus on revamping the old races. Players seem excited about this.

Q: Will we get a free character recustomization?
A: We're talking about it. There's good reasons to want that. We're trying hard to keep the characters looking like you expect, but even then some people may want to change it. Nothing to announce yet.

Q: Can we expect to see new character customization options in the future?
A: At some point we'd like to do that. Right now we're focused on getting the ones we're doing right. New models do open new customization ideas for the future.

Q: Will the Iron Horde be our main enemy throughout the expansion?
A: The Iron Horde, yes. Although they change over the course of the expansion. There'll be an increasing Legion presence over the expansion, they aren't happy with how things turned out and they want to set it right.

Q: So the Burning Legion is the next big threat to Azeroth?
A: Wait and see. *laughter* Maybe it'll be deadly snowmen.

Q: Do you plan to explore the alternate timeline more in the future?
A: We want to use a light touch wherever we can. What we want is to give players a setting they wouldn't normally have in World of Warcraft. At some point in the future we may decide to flush out more of this timeframe. For example, the Ogre Continent. But it won't be a commonplace thing for expansions going forward, it'll be rarer.

Q: So no Alternate Azeroth?
A: No, and we certainly won't get it overly complicated in WoW. Maybe in a WoW2 or something.

Q: Cosmetic Class items still coming?
A: It's certainly still on track, but not for the launch of WoD. We never planned to do that. But we're still working on it and it's making progress. We'll probably launch them a few at a time over the course of this or even multiple expansions.

Q: Will you squish old raids for soloing?
A: No. Instead we're just going to scale your power up when you do old content. So you can still solo old content.

Q: Does Grom know Garrosh is his son?
A: You'll learn more over the course of the expansion.

Q: Do you plan to create more Timeless Isle-like places in the future?
A: Yeah. We took a lot of what we learned with the Timeless Isle and applied it to leveling and endgame content in Warlords. So as you're playing, you'll find rare bosses or treasures scattered about the world in out of the way places. At 100 we have different areas in every zone just for level 100 content, built in a style similar to Timeless Isle. In addition we have "chapter quests" that are story-oriented to go along with those areas. It's a mix of 5.1 and 5.4.

Q: Will there still be reputations in Warlords?
A: Not in terms of reputation for epics, but there are reputations for people that like that stuff. But it's not the way you get rewards. So there's nothing like the rep grind in MoP.

Q: Why did you move the capitals to Ashran? And will they change during the Expansion?
A: Interesting idea, we hadn't thought about that. A lot of the normal "city stuff" is in your Garrison. With that duplication of functionality, we didn't need the massive space of Bladespire/Karabor. So they didn't work out to be a good play experience as a city; cool idea but bad experience. Some of those things are now split between Garrisons and Ashran. Ashran has key vendors (Apexis Shards, Blueprints...) but not everything a capital has.

Q: In the past, you didn't want to introduce housing in WoW because you didn't want to empty the capitals. But now with Garrisons....
A: A lot of the concern with housing was with what you'd do in there. A lot of stuff natural to a house were things you'd do in the city. Most MMO houses are about decoration, not gameplay. Garrisons are more like the RTS, building a base, and appropriate to WoW.

Q: What will you do with Tanaan?
A: It's going to be in a content patch. It will contain the Grom Raid. Large areas of outdoor world content, and the final raid.

Q: Do you plan to add new Garrison features during the expansion?
A: We'll have to see how things play out. Depends on what players want to see more of. Ideas: increase the size (tier 4), move your garrison, new buildings, nothing.

Q: Back to MoP, did you once plan to kill Garrosh.
A: We talked about different outcomes. We knew for a while what WoD was going to be, even before MoP launched we had an idea. But there was discussions about the best way to do it. We want the continuity to flow better, and not seem so arbitrary anymore. To do that you need some characters to carry over, transition, and evolve. This was a good way to resolve Garrosh's storyline.

Q: New Pet Battle features?
A: Yeah there's new stuff. There's the building in your Garrison. New stuff to capture, new rewards, new trainers.