Vehicles in Uldar first boss

Q u o t e:
t's a curveball to say the least guys. Let's give Blizzard the benefit of the doubt and give it a try.

I'd just like to add one thing to this. I spoke with a few of the developers yesterday immediately after they got done with a play test of Ulduar, specifically testing the vehicle gauntlet and following boss. They've read a lot of the apprehensions players have noted since the announcement about vehicles in Ulduar was made. They're well aware of why these apprehensions exist.

I only say this because they are very committed to making sure it's fun. Those I spoke to talked about how fun it is already, and how they know how important it is to get vehicles in Ulduar working right from the start. We know some players are already considering Ulduar vehicles to be a wrong decision. That said, we do feel some of the opinions -- even those purely based on vehicle experiences already in the game -- are ultimately premature. It is our goal, then, to ensure your perception of the first boss encounter whenever you first set foot in Ulduar isn't at all diminished by a clunky interface, lack of unique vehicle scenarios, or buggy combat functionality. The goal when you set foot in Ulduar the second, third, or twentieth time, is to make sure the vehicle combat doesn't begin to feel like one might as well be shooting at Gnome feet in tonks.

The effort and creativity on the part of our developers is there. We only ask that players make a full effort to experience the content for what it is when they are able, because we think a lot of the apprehensions being expressed now will greatly dissipate; as I said before -- beyond making a fun and creative dungeon -- it is our goal to sway those who aren't looking forward to it.

Q u o t e:
Make it an optional boss and not the FIRST boss.

It will not be an optional fight, and the first boss will be the Flame Leviathan, fought with vehicles.

Q u o t e:
Learning how to use, in effect, an entire new character class on the FIRST boss of the new raid instance is stupid.

Q u o t e:
I'm not only hoping, but I'd insist Blizzard give us a chance to "test drive" these vehicles in quests (preferrably dailies) before expecting folks to hop in and go go go wipe wipe wipe.

Unlike phase 3 Malygos, there will be encounters prior to the first boss allowing players to get a feel for the vehicles. The role of each player in a vehicle will be fairly straight-forward as well.

Q u o t e:
Why do we have classes with all these specialized abilities, talents and buffs if we could level any toon and do a vehicle encounter? I agree scaling with gear is a step forward, but all that requires is time spent on a character, and time spent on a character =/= knowledge and skill at playing that class/spec.

You have classes with specialized abilities for the other 98% of the PvE and PvP content in the game. :)

Q u o t e:
Is it so bad.. some of us just don't like the vehicles? I want to play with my characters abilities, that's why i play.

Just don't like it is being forced in the future.

It's not so bad. I can empathize with your perception. It doesn't mean we're going to make sure all progression in the game ensures you only do what you want to do. We're going to continue varying things.

Q u o t e:
I'm curious of why Blizzard has become so adamant of doing things "our way or the highway" recently regardless of how apparent it is that so many people don't like the changes.

I'm curious why you see it this way. Every thread I've read about vehicles in Ulduar -- and I've read a lot -- have nearly as many supporters, or at least players willing to give it a try, as I see players who are adamant about not wanting vehicle encounters in Ulduar. So it's sort of fallacious to make the argument that we don't care what you think, when you have little to no means of truly representing the majority opinion.

Before it gets said again, no, we're not going to create a poll to determine how Ulduar should be changed before it's even been tried.

Q u o t e:
What would the downside be of making this an optional boss fight?

To reinforce my last point, this is also ultimately our game. Our design philosophy behind Ulduar includes a small fraction of vehicle encounters. It's the way we designed it. We don't expect everyone to like it, but we think most players will find Ulduar to be a fun dungeon.

One last point on the "my way or the highway" statement: you'd be surprised how many things get altered according to public response. You can take dual specialization as an example. We laid out our initial design intent behind this feature and received a lot of feedback based on this. Many details of the feature are undergoing changes which we'll be announcing soon.

So we do listen. It doesn't mean we're always going to cater to those with the strongest opinions about unreleased content, and how they envision this content should be.