uring his European press tour from the 24th to the 27th of July 2006, Frank Pearce, Senior Vice President of Blizzard Entertainment and Executive Producer of the Burning Crusade, took some time to sit down with the European Web team and talk about flying mounts, high-end instances and the future of fishing in the upcoming expansion!

Q: Frank, you are senior vice president of product development at Blizzard and you are also the executive producer for the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft, The Burning Crusade. Could you tell us what an executive producer actually does?

A: The executive producer role is very administrative in nature. Shane Dabiri, the lead producer of The Burning Crusade, reports to me, as do the lead software engineer and the art director. I have daily meetings with Shane to go over any challenges that we are facing. We try to identify areas of risk that could potentially endanger the completion of the project. Once those are identified, we try to eliminate those risks and remove any roadblocks.

I also have an involvement in any projects that are peripheral to World of Warcraft. One example here is a shared technology team called Core Technology. They work on the installer and are responsible for the downloader technology and for the patcher. Another project that is very important to me is the implementation of automated testing capabilities so that we can turn a World of Warcraft build around and test it much faster because the testers can focus their efforts on updated or changed functionality instead of going through the same checklist over and over again each time.

Q: What was the biggest obstacle you had to face while working on The Burning Crusade?

A: The fact is that when we launched World of Warcraft, we still had a lot of content backlog which we wanted to deliver to the players. So, we spent a lot of time after the launch of the game working on live content updates. If you look at the content updates all the way to the most recent patch, it's a lot of content. You could easily package that up and potentially argue that it is as much content as you would expect to see in a separate expansion set.

We had to tackle this content backlog first, and that's the reason why we could not focus all our energies on The Burning Crusade right away. Also, we have not really had a chance to take a step back and see where we could streamline our processes. Increasing our speed and efficiency in delivering high-quality content is one of our most challenging goals for the near future.

Q: You mentioned past content updates - will you be putting content patches live for people who are not planning to upgrade to the expansion? Can they expect the same kind of frequency to content patches as in the past or will this change?

A: We will probably see the frequency of content patches drop off a little bit as we go forward. Earlier, we had backlog of content that we wanted to deliver to our customers. Now that we have taken care of that, assuming that The Burning Crusade is well received, we want to evaluate the possibility of future expansion sets. At the same time, we still want to make sure that we make content updates that will be relevant for subscribers that have not upgraded.

Q: What's an expansion cycle that you would much rather prefer to see?

A: My preference would be once a year... but I can't guarantee anything! *laughs*

Seriously, our ideal scenario would be to release new expansions on a regular basis and it is something we will aim for, but given the nature of game development cycles, we may not be able to reach that goal right away.

Q: We have just recently released a trailer about the new flying mounts and especially the nether drakes that will be available in Outland. It's a feature many players are very excited about and already there are many hot discussions on our boards regarding the requirements players will need to meet to be able to obtain their mount. Can you give us a little spoiler? Will it be quest based? Reputation based? Will it require rare drops...?

A: There will be different ways to obtain flying mounts in The Burning Crusade. We're still finalizing the methods on which the mounts will be obtained, but they may include purchase, questing, boss drops, or even a combination of different things.

Q: Since reputation may possibly be involved in obtaining mounts, there was an official statement from one of the developers some time ago that the way reputation is being earned would receive an overhaul. Do you already have an update on how this will change?

A: We're looking to improve how faction works in The Burning Crusade, both in how it's earned and how much it figures into the gameplay. In general, reputation will be earned more quickly in the Burning Crusade, so it feels like less of a grind. You may find for example, that faction earned from killing trash mobs in an instance doesn't get capped off as quickly, or you'll get better faction jumps out of completing quests.

We also plan on including a number of linked-faction relationships, so that earning reputation with one faction may simultaneously decrease your faction with the opposing group. This is similar to how the Bloodsail Buccaneers and Steamwheedle Cartel in the current game act in opposition to one another, but the decision to do so with the factions in The Burning Crusade will create and close off more significant opportunities. Choosing to align with one over the other could open up new purchasable equipment or consumables, while closing off access to items with the other faction. Earning reputation in these linked faction relationships will be even faster than normal, as we expect players to want to try aligning with each of the opposing factions over the course of their play time.

Q: The priest community has long been wishing for some equipment that is a bit more geared towards being offensive. Right now, pretty much all priest-specific drops are plus healing. Do you have any plans to add some plus damage items to their future sets to give the class a little more variety?

A: We did a major priest talent revamp with the patch "Storms of Azeroth" to address some of the concerns. There are viable alternatives for priests to do other things now. In a raid, a priest's role is certainly going to be much more specific. But in PvP and whatnot, if the priest wants to deviate, I certainly think that there are viable options. The item designers don't want everyone to end up with the same gear all the time. I think they want to create different gear to accommodate different playing styles, and even now there's a good selection of cloth armor in the game that offers damage bonuses.

Q: Speaking of classes: it has just been announced that the Alliance will be able to play shamans while the Horde will have access to paladins. What made you change these former faction-specific classes to be available to both sides? Doesn't it remove from the 'unique' feel a little?

A: It certainly was a unique aspect to each faction, but the challenge was that in a lot of ways those two classes became homogenized with one another. The designers have to account for the absence of one or the other when designing raids and this was a key factor. From the designers' perspective, they are excited about the opportunity to make each class more unique and more distinct. It allows them to give the players alternate options in terms of the builds that they can create. From that perspective, the designers will hopefully be able to create a play experience for each of those classes that is a little more unique than it has been historically.

Q: How will the tier 1-3 sets that are currently available from the high-end instances scale to new items in the expansion? Will a level-70 blue item be superior to a current level-60 epic set item?

A: My understanding is that the tier 3 set items will remain useful for you well into the expansion, so that should give you some idea. Obviously, the higher tiered items are going to last you longer, but we aren't quite ready to get into specifics about how the itemization is going to work just yet.

Q: How do you think the expansion will affect the current high-end instances? What will be the future of the old instances like Blackwing Lair, Molten Core, Ahn'Qiraj...

A: There are a number of people who have not had the opportunity to experience Molten Core because they don't have a guild of 40 people, because they don't have the time to devote to it, or even because they don't have a guild at all. Those instances will be accessible to everyone at level 70 the same way that Scarlet Monastery is accessible to someone at level 60. Everyone who has been raiding at level 60 will probably be able to say goodbye to Molten Core. And that's ok, because it's just like when you said goodbye to Scarlet Monastery at some point. But hopefully some people who have not had an opportunity to experience some of that content as they leveled up will be able to go into Molten Core and experience that in the future.

Q: There is an eternal discussion going on within the community between hardcore raiders vs. more casual players, with the latter claiming that there is not enough high-end content available for them. Will there be encounters especially tailored to groups between 5-10 people in the expansion?

A: As far as five- to ten-person content, we'll have quite a number of instances in The Burning Crusade tailored for smaller groups, so there will be no shortage of raid experiences for five to ten players all the way from level 60 to the end game. In fact, let's say you're a level-60 player right now, wearing nothing but your blue dungeon armor -- you'll be able to travel through the Dark Portal as soon as you get the expansion, make your way over to Hellfire Citadel, and enjoy the Ramparts wing as a five-man instanced experience. There will be plenty of small-group, instanced action in the expansion.

Q: To a degree, the terms "casual" and "hardcore" are also tied to the amount of effort and time that you have to put into the preparation that a large guild needs in order to be able to mount a 40-man raid.

A: Yes, that's certainly a factor. Another factor is that some people don't have the time to devote to their game play in one session that is required for the current raid instances. A lot of people want to consume game content in chunks of time not much greater than one hour at a time. Dire Maul is a great example of a dungeon that allows you to consume its content in one-hour chunks, yet still experience all of its content. So, certainly the hotly contested debate is casual vs. raider/casual vs. hardcore/raider vs. non-raider...but I don't think you can categorize everyone into two buckets. I think there are a lot of buckets out there, and certainly we want to be able to provide a meaningful experience for players in whatever bucket they happen to be in. The dungeon difficulty settings, in addition to the 25-player raid cap, are something else that will hopefully cater to people that are interested a wider range of gameplay options.

Q: Dungeon difficulty setting?

A: The dungeon difficulty settings will allow you to replay dungeons at an increased level of challenge, meaning you'll also gain access to greater rewards. For example, you'll be able to replay that same level-63 wing you just mastered later on at level 70, with level-70 monsters and level-70 drops. If it's a level-70 wing and you play it at the harder difficulty level, the content will still be level 70, but the loot tables will reflect the higher challenge that comes as a result of the monsters having more hit points and dealing more damage. Or you might get more monsters per pull...that sort of thing. We are definitely trying to provide a great deal of content for players, regardless of the amount of time they have to devote to it or how many other people they like to play with.

Q: You mentioned Dire Maul. It is still one of the most popular dungeons among level 60s. It has good loot, it has an interesting layout, and it doesn't take too long to do just one wing. Can we expect dungeons like this in the expansion?

A: Yes, we are going to do a number of winged instances. One example is Hellfire Citadel. It'll have four wings, two of which will be level-up wings: the Ramparts wing will be level 60 to 62, the Demon wing will be level 61 to 63, and the Military wing will be a level-70 wing. There will be a raid wing, and then you can revisit the Ramparts, Demon, and Military wings on a higher difficulty setting. In terms of play experience and quantity of time it takes to consume that, hopefully it will be similar to Dire Maul. Another example, Auchindoun, will actually feature four wings for five-man groups.

Q: Much of the content in World of Warcraft is instanced. How do you feel about the instanced vs. non-instanced discussion? What direction can players expect Blizzard to take in the future?

A: There's actually quite a bit of non-instanced content we've added to World of Warcraft since its release. Outdoor raid bosses, the Darkmoon Faire, seasonal events, battlegrounds, the Honor System, and periodic talent reviews are just a few examples. We're also adding outdoor PvP objectives to Silithus and the Eastern Plaguelands with the "Drums of War" patch.

As for the expansion pack, it will offer a great deal of non-instanced content to enjoy, including new spells, skills, and talents, a wealth of new quests, two new races to play, and a new profession in jewelcrafting. PvP objectives will also be added to nearly every new zone in Outland. These aspects, along with the ability to quest from level 60 to 70, should give players of all types plenty of things to do in the game outside of the instances.

Q: What feature would you have most liked to implement into the Burning Crusade but ultimately had to drop?

A: None yet... but we've still got time! *laughs*

Q: We have some fanatical fishermen (and women!) on our team, and on their behalf I just need to ask: what cool new features can fisherpeople expect in the future?

A: We're still evaluating some ideas for fishing that we're not ready to share yet, but I can tell you that there will definitely be new high-level fish for our anglers to catch in the expansion.

Q: What can players expect of Blizzard in the future? Especially in regard to World of Warcraft?

A: MMORPGs have typically had life spans of 5-8 years or more, so certainly my hope is that we will see World of Warcraft live a long and healthy life. We'll continue to support the game and provide updates in order to help achieve that goal. That is one of our main focuses: making sure that World of Warcraft is something that people will still love several years from now. We also have products in development that I think people will be really excited about.

Generally, our focus is on making great games, making sure that they are accessible to a broad player base, and ensuring that the gameplay is fun and compelling. This is what Blizzard has been all about for as long as we've been a company. We have many employees who have been here for a long time, going back to the days of the original Warcraft RTS and Diablo and StarCraft, who have always made it their top priority to make the best games that they can possibly make. We've also gained many new employees over the years who share that commitment, so I'm confident that we're in a good position to continue achieving our design and development goals as we move forward.

Q: Thanks for your time!

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