Interviews// World of Warcraft Designer, Jon LeCraft

-Q: Can you give us any more details on what exactly we'll be seeing in January 08 then? Have you thought much about it?

JL: Yeah we have! But it's so liquid right now that it changes day to day. We haven't really solidly decided on some things.

IBB: I think the main problem that we have is that we have this list of features that we want to get into the game and every time we need to choose a few of them which we want to put into the next expansion, so it's about using what features from this list we think we can make the coolest in the timeframe that we have.

Q: In terms of this phenomenal rate of growth - you mentioned you were surprised about the number of subscribers signing up last December - do you put this down to word of mouth marketing?

IBB: I think the key thing is it's a very social game, we put a lot of emphasis on… well, Jonathan can talk about the game design element of making it very social, but also - outside of the game - we try to make it very social on the forums, the web features, the community management and support in general. So I think the fact that it's a social game, then one friend brings the other - 'hey it's a cool game come on you should try it'… And what we see is that consistently, if people try the game they actually stick to it, they stay and play it. That basically says to me we are giving a good entertainment experience and that's what we are looking for. I don't know from a game design perspective.

JL: That's right, if we have X million and everybody tells a friend, then it's just going to grow exponentially at that point. Not sure it will continue growing exponentially, we'll see!


Q: Okay, if we could talk a little bit more about The Burning Crusade specifically now, what IS The Burning Crusade?

JL: Well, it's an expansion to WoW where you can travel through the dark portal and visit Outland. It has a list of new features including a new profession of jewel-crafting, the level cap's going to be raised from sixty to seventy… We have tons of new areas and quests, just a lot of new content. New end-level game content, basically. And not to forget we also have two new races.

Q: Can you tell us a little more about these, as they seem central to the expansion?

JL: The Blood Elves and the Draenei… the Blood Elves are on the hoard side, they were once a race comprised of former high elves who renamed themselves in honor of their people that were killed during the siege of Quel'Thalas by the Scourge during the Third War. The Draenei are like the opposite. They are the embodiment of good and they've joined the alliance.


Q: And you mentioned new lands, dungeons, battlegrounds - can you give us more details on those?

JL: Sure, I think we have eight or so… the whole world has been torn apart by these battles by the Burning Legion… there's huge gaping chasms, the sky is completely different, there are all new monsters there and so on. That's the outdoor areas and then, of course, there are the internal, liberating areas [that] are themed to those outdoor zones. Also, the PvP systems… we're introducing a new arena system, which is a skill-based PvP system with rewards and what-not to go with it. We also have some objectives based in outdoor PvP areas, where everybody can - as they are passing through the zone - take part in those.