Your Developer Interview Druthers

I'm in the process of scheduling fansite interviews with our developers to cover patch 5.2 content and design, and I'm curious what formats and topics are most popular among the community. In addition to this simple poll on preferred format, please elaborate on what you think makes for a successful (or unsuccessful) interview. Some examples:

• What topics interest you most? (i.e. systems, encounters, lore, content, art, sound, etc.)
• Why do you prefer the format you voted on?
• What sites or podcasts are your primary sources of WoW news?
• What sites or podcasts have conducted the most compelling interviews in the past?
• In a single interview do you most prefer one-on-one, multiple people asking questions, or multiple developers answering questions?

Keep in mind this is specifically about press/fansite interviews with developers, and not public Q&As. The two aren't mutually exclusive and we'd like to host another developer Q&A in the near future.

Your feedback will help me assess our resources and determine a solid 5.2 interview strategy. Much appreciated!

02/06/2013 01:55 PMPosted by Oreooze

I don't think they really address the issues that are on the forums. Its more of a PR thang, really.

It's worth pointing out that I'm specifically asking for your feedback because I want to make the developer interviews as effective as possible, and not just about PR. Our PR department does setup interviews between developers and some of the larger press/media publications/sites, but I oversee the fansite interview process and treat it as a very different animal.

I recognize that the audience frequenting fansites is completely different, typically better informed about the latest gameplay news, and prefers more in-depth design discussions.

Why is yet another dev Q&A being held on a third party site? Do you despise your own venue so much?

I'm not talking about dev Q&As. I'm talking about journalists, podcasters, and news/editorial folks sitting down with developers to interview them about World of Warcraft design, and what you think the best interview format and topics are. :)

Thank you all for your feedback. We'll be conducting developer interviews for patch 5.2 in the days ahead. Hope you enjoy! :)