We've been Blizzconned!

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A new expansion is announced all problems with balance, pvp etc are suddenly forgotten. Too wrapped up in whats "coming soon".

Remember last time an expansion came out and they had those pages that showed new talents and spells for each class? I do and i also remember all the complaining about overpowered or weak and then they test realmed it and wiped out what they had initially said were "final" talents and spells. Lets hope it goes a ltitle smoother this time and for the love of god why would you NOT put flying mounts in the expansion?

You've obviously missed a lot of the content that was discussed at BlizzCon aside from the expansion. We acknowledged a lot of issues that we are working to correct as well as talked about the things we've learned from prior issues that have been a part of the development process and what that means for our plans for the current content and future content. I've seen plenty of threads by people asking about current plans. We'll see plenty of discussion about the expansion now that we've announced it however, I have a feeling a lot of that will calm back down a bit after the glow of BlizzCon has worn off (sigh, it was fun though).

We still have a lot to add into the game at current including the Voice Chat system and Zul'Aman among a few other goodies. I think people are getting a bit too wrapped up on the idea that showing off what we've been working on for the expansion is equal to abandoning everything else. That's certainly not accurate nor true at all.

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I see said the blind man.

As he picked up his hammer and saw?

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So just how long before those 'acknowledged issues' go from 'we're working on them' to 'soon' to 'with the expansion' to 'upcoming expansion patch' to 'we are happy with priest racials though some adjustments are being looked into' again. At least thats how I remember things going.

Quit being so darn upbeat. Your optimism is shining through like a dust filled beam of light through a dirty window pane on a cloudy day.

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I have a gift and if I don't use it then I am denying the world. But thank you for answering my question, its this kind of helpfulness that makes you my favorite CM Paula.

"Baby seems we never ever agree
You like the movies
And I like T.V.
I take things serious
And you take 'em light
I go to bed early
And I party all night"- Paula Abdul

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Did you just quote Paula Abdul?

::shudder::

Stick with Gaiman please. :)

I know. I thought I'd try it out at least once. I won't be doing that again.

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Neth, In your own opinion, what do you think is the most important of all the 'issues' blizzard is currently working on and expecting to complete prior to the next expansion?

Also:

1. Are you able to pick a new icon whenever you want or are you stuck with that candle?
2. Will there ever be a blue post in the US shaman forums prior to the Northrend expansion or does that position simply not exist anymore?
3. DK's not starting at level 1 is absurd, please convey my utter digust to the proper individuals.

Honestly, I couldn't pick just one thing as far as it being 'THE' most important issue. I think there are a lot of important issues that are being addressed in various ways. I will say though that from what I'm aware, it's not all going to be done at once. Things are going to occur in stages which may test some people's patience, I'm sure.

1. I chose this icon. I like it. I'm sticking with it. I know it may not seem flashy or 'cool' to people, but it appeals to me for all the many implications a simple candle can have.
2. Sure there will be more blue posts on the Shaman forums prior to the expansion. We just don't have dedicated CMs to any one class. (Let's not turn this answer into another one of those that spawns one of "those" forum threads please.)
3. I will convey that some players feel that they would like to start at level 1, but this is something that isn't likely to be changed though it may be a part of the influence of exactly when the starting level of a Death Knight is set as.

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Blue posting in a thread from a mage, but of course Neth won't do anything but skim past mage issues.

Remember the thread you started in the mage forums Neth, asking for suggestions about bad talents? The one that went for like 25 pages without any further comment from you? So what was that post about, you asking for suggestions on things to fix in the expansion?

Do you now understand the point the OP was making, that the attitude of we'll fix current issues once the expansion comes is not good enough? When the expansion comes, it will create its OWN ISSUES.

Enjoy sig

Well seeing how I was out at Comic Con just shortly after (Weds- Fri) and then preparing for BlizzCon among other things, I'd hope that you'd be able to understand the time constraints that keep me from coming back to you all as of yet. We'll get more to people as we can. We're still playing a bit of catch-up as well.

I understand your perception that things have come to some sort of a screeching halt, but they haven't and work continues on many levels even now. Although I'm fortunate that I only have 7 windows open right now though have to open another three here in a few minutes. ;)

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I like how you Blizzed over the whole part where "jeff kaplan" has decided to screw those of us who worked hard for our flying mounts out of them by imposing a lvl limit in northred, to view all his nifty art work.. umm yeah. gg Jeff. how about a response if this is going to be the case or has the backlash from the community got jeff thinking twice?

There is still discussion about the use of flying mounts in Northrend and when that ability will be available. This isn't about making the experience unpleasant for anyone but instead, making it possible for the development team to be able to better create an experience for players so that content isn't just easily jumped over or skipped completely. There is a lot of work being put into quest lines, locations, events and more for the expansion. We want to make sure people can get the full benefit of all of that hard work.

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Oh my Science.

Well maybe if everyone closed 5 of those 7 windows and focused on the remaining 2 before adding more something might at least come close to getting taken care of.

I'm not a designer. ;) If I closed a couple of windows, how would I get to chat with you?

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Why are dev's concerned about people missing content in this way versus an expansion coming out before people can experience all the end game content (besides the more hardcore groups of raiders).

Please keep in mind, we have not said when we are going to be releasing the new expansion. We have a lot more we are working on for the Burning Crusade still. There is some artificial sense of urgency that is being perpetuated here and that urgency is not necessary.

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Neth, do you know or have you heard if there's going to be any content added to lvls 21-60, pre or post expansion? I've heard they're making waves to make leveling in that range easier/faster, but do you know if anything's planned for new content for those levels?

We're doing some work on Dustwallow Marsh that should help out. As far as other plans for making leveling go faster, I don't think we have anything that we can talk about as of yet since there are things still in planning stages as far as how, when, and do we have the time to fit it in. Believe me, we try to stuff as much as we can into the time we have to work on current and future content. The producers have their hands full with plotting out all the tasks and the time it's going to all take. We just don't want to reenact the "just one more thin mint" skit from Monty Python.

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that would be thread necromancy, which is highly frowned upon.

It's a newer thread so I don't mind giving it a bit more life.

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Neth, any word if they plan on fixing the druid feral range problem? theres videos, showing its not latency. i can recreate the problem easily.

Also can i be the Druid forums Cm? we dont have one. i dont think we ever did :(

Unfortunately, it's not an easy fix. We're still looking at it and working out what we can do to correct it. We'll keep everyone up to date if and when we get further information on what we can do.

As to the idea of some indication that we've read a thread, unfortunately that isn't quite as easy as it sounds either. Sometimes we are watching threads to make sure they don't get out of hand and we prefer to let the conversation to flow naturally. If an indicator was there, the temptation for trolls with their own agendas to derail a thread in the hope of having their own thoughts seen. We already see that occur in threads we've been active in. Imagine if there were further indicators of our presence that could be abused.