Blizzard: aerial combat wasn’t polished enough for Wrath of the Lich King, Diablo III UI influenced by WoW
The reason why you’re not having fantastical dogfights in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King right now lies in the physics. As in, it wasn’t polished enough. That’s what WoW’s Tom Chilton revealed in the latest Blizzard podcast.
If you look at a lot of games that have done flight simulation, there is a lot of care that goes into giving you that sensation of flying by having the world tilt and stuff like that so it feels a little less mechanical, feels a little bit more alive or more natural.
So one of the things that we have kind of tasked ourselves with doing is figuring out how to polish that, how to improve on our vehicle physics, there s still a lot of vehicle physics tech that we want to get in that didn t make it into the first pass of Lich King.
Even though it may have been cut, aerial combat may still find its way into WoW someday, as Chilton also said that it’s currently on Blizzard’s to do list.
The same podcast also featured senior Diablo III artist Mike Nicholson, who admitted that the new UI for Diablo 3 drew a lot of inspiration from WoW’s UI. Oh really? I hadn’t noticed and am now so overcome with surprise at this unexpected revelation!
Seriously though, the UI still retains popular elements from the Diablo series while throwing in some WoW staples into the mix. One thing that will definitely catch fans’ eyes - for better or worse - is the inclusion of WoW’s colorful icons. Here’s Nicholson:
I love the WoW icons. And y know what we re trying to do is see, OK, what works about the WoW icons? They re illustrative; is there a way to try to maybe bridge the gap? You know what worked about the more symbolic DII icons, and what works with the WoW icons, and trying to find a way to put the two together.
Another new thing is the addition of expandable bags. This reminds me more of the D&D staple Bags of Holding which appeared in Neverwinter Nights than anything in WoW really. Nicholson again:
You’ll get bags and they will expand, you know kind of like in WoW, except you’re not going to open up separate windows. You’ll start off your inventory with say you know, eight slots, right, and then you’ll get a new bag and that has ten, so two more slots will open up within that tab, but you’ll never have multiple tabs. Like you won’t have two or three ‘large’ tabs.
It might sound like I’ve been taking a few jabs at Diablo III, but make no mistake - this is a day one purchase for me. Now if only I had some idea of when they’ll release it. Keep checking back for more updates.
Related articles:
- Blizzcon: Diablo 3 might get ported to consoles
- Battle.net rumors speak of pay-to-play, Diablo 3 is WoW-based
Realm maintenance for Tuesday March 31st
Filed under: Fan stuff, News items
The winds swept across the frozen plains making swirling geometric patterns in the snow laden prairie grass. This was a cold day in the northern land, both in weather and in heart. For it wasn’t only the snow, but the chilled waters which were causing the kingdom concern; up and up they went, rising over the rivers banks. The land’s people thought they could hold them at bay but none could be sure.
The engineers flew over the homesteads of their countrymen, working diligently in their flying machines to hold back the mighty waters. And while things were quiet now, it was predicted by those with foresight to not be quiet for much longer. More movement in the waters was coming, and it was something that no man wanted to see.
The kingdom was under the protection of the councilmen and councilwomen, yet they were impeded in their efforts at every turn by the maniacal Lich King, laughing and taunting them with his powers over the frozen wastes.
“Petty mortals, do you really think you can withstand the power of the mighty Scourge?” he chided the citizens who dared brave the cold north. Sitting atop his ice crowned citadel there was nothing he couldn’t see, nothing he couldn’t do. For the domain of the north was his and his alone.
Except upon this day the voice of the gods and the wizards of Dalaran opened up their mouths and spoke in unison.
Continue reading Realm maintenance for Tuesday March 31st
Realm maintenance for Tuesday March 31st originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Triple specs appear to be at least possible
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items
Many people have mentioned this before in conversation about Dual Specs - why not just allow triple specs? We’ve all speculated for a while that the technology is already there and is just a matter of further implementation.
Today Bornakk, a blue community poster, said that right now all Blizzard intentionally wants is to have two specs be available, but that they “…want to see how the system works out first,” before considering triple specs. I think it’s pretty safe to read between the lines here and take it to mean that it’s possible and has at least been discussed by Blizzard to some extent if community people (and not a developer like Ghostcrawler) are already talking about it. Remember here that community folks usually don’t talk about development related things without running it by or hearing it from a developer first.
Triple specs would offer even more flexibility to play the class in whatever way is possible. A druid would be able to switch between a healer, tank, and caster role in a single instance / raid. A paladin would have the same amazing flexibility. While each class right now has at least two specs that can really shine in specific situations, triple specs would allow three-role hybrids to become amazingly powerful characters.
Continue reading Triple specs appear to be at least possible
Triple specs appear to be at least possible originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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What Diablo III's Interface Got From World Of Warcraft - Kotaku.com
 guardian.co.uk |
What Diablo III's Interface Got From World Of Warcraft
Kotaku.com, NY By Mike Fahey , 3:00 PM on Mon Mar 30 2009, 22474 views In the latest episode of the Blizzard podcast, Diablo III senior artist Mike Nicholson discusses organizing the inventory system by size and giving skill buttons a World of Warcraft makeover. … Blizzard Working on Fifth Game Techtree.com Rumor Mill: Blizzard Is Working on a Brand New Title Softpedia New Diablo III shots show UI, looks comfy Fragland.net WorthPlaying.com - Spong all 8 news articles |
Blizzard Breaks Down World of WarCraft - Ve3d.com
 MMORPG News |
Blizzard Breaks Down World of WarCraft
Ve3d.com IGN has a nice 3-page recap of Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan who broke down World of WarCraft's questing system at the GDC last week and oh-so much more. Here's a litle taste: Quests are yet another form of directed content, and Kaplan's discussion of how … WoW: 16 million World of Warcraft quests completed every day ElectricPig.tv 16 Million WoW Quests Completed, Every Single Day Escapist Magazine Challenging the Sacred Cash Cow of Quest Based mmos MMORPG News USA Today - MMORPG News all 9 news articles |
WoW patch 3.1 - PTR Build 9742, spell changes, achievements, and a talent calculator update
Patch 3.1 for World of Warcraft details right here, and while it’s not as loaded as your patch, there some pretty interesting nerfs and upgrades that you might wanna read up about, including a very nifty upgrade to the Death Knight’s Anti-Magic Shell.
Changelog for patch 3.1:
- Talent Calculator: updated to the latest build
- Achievement Changes
- Raids and Dungeons
- Glory for the Raider no longer rewards the Plagued Proto Drake
- Heroic: Glory of the Raider no longer rewards the Black Proto Drake
- Raids and Dungeons - Ulduar
- Never Stand Near the Faceless Dude has been removed from the game
- Heroic: Never Stand Near the Faceless Dude has been removed from the game
- Observed now rewards a new title: Starcaller
- Herald of the Titans (new) - Defeat Algalon the Observer on Normal Difficulty without anyone in the raid wearing any equipment with an item level higher than 226. Title Reward: Herald of the Titans.
- Heroic: Observed now rewards a new title: The Astral Walker
- Cooking - Obtain a Chef’s Hat
- Feats of Strength - Achieved Deadly Gladiator
For the spell changes for the Death Knight, Druid, Priest, and Warlock, you may refer to the post at MMO-Champion through the source link below.
More WoW news:
- Wrath of the Lich King faces wrath of the Chinese government
- Blizzard announces fiction writing contest, win a Frostmourne replica
A VerySpatial Podcast - Episode 193
A VerySpatial Podcast
Shownotes - Episode 193
March 29, 2009
Main Topic: Our AAG Annual Meeting 2009 wrap-up
Click for the detailed shownotes
Music
News
- Intermap completes US data capture, available by 2010
- OpenStreetMap reaches 100,000 users
- UK researcher wins Royal Society of Literature’s £10,000 Jerwood Prize for upcoming historical biography of the Ordnance Survey
- ESRI Developer Summit roundup
- GIS User
- This week we give a wrap-up of this year’s AAG Annual Meeting in Vegas
- GeoChat
Web Corner
Main topic
Tip of the Week
Events
- Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference: 19-22 April, Tampa, FL
- Manifold North America: 1-2 May, Denver, CO
- Insights: 3-5 June, Orlando, FL
- Intergraph 09: 15-18 June, Washington, DC
This week A Very Spatial Podcast is sponsored by ESRI.
Join education professionals of all levels of GIS experience at the 2009 ESRI Education User Conference, July 11-14 in San Diego, California. Be part of this forum for collaboration between teachers, administrator, researchers, and library and museum professionals to learn everything you need to know to launch or grow GIS projects in your institution or community. The deadline to register is May 22. Register online at www.esri.com/educ.
World of Warcraft news and blogs - March 30, 2009
Below is today’s roundup
of news and blogs that haven’t yet hit top story status by our community. Visit
World of Warcraft news and blogs for even more
news and blogs converage.
• The Queue: Casinos? In my WoW? –
by Alex Ziebart from WoW Insider
• Microsoft discussing “Xbox 720″ next-gen console with publishers –
by Chris Davies from SlashGear
• The Daily Grind: Voice acting in MMOs? –
by Krystalle Voecks from Massively
• GDC09: Joystiq interviews Gazillion VP about Marvel MMOs, Lego Universe and where the publisher came from –
by Alexander Sliwinski from Joystiq
• The9 to invest $50 mln in game development over next three years - Interfax TMT China –
from subscription
• Ulduar 10-Man Achievements, Blue posts, Comics –
by boubouille@mmo-champion.com from MMO-Champion - World of Warcraft Guides and Raid Strategies - News
• Challenging the Sacred Cash Cow of Quest Based MMOs –
from MMORPG News
• Blizzard hints next Xbox may feature new “input device” –
from ElectricPig.tv
• Can there be other games after WoW? –
by Tobold(noreply@blogger.com) from Tobold's MMORPG Blog
• New Entreprenuers Make a Virtual Fortune –
by pettersunshine from game « WordPress.com Tag Feed
See complete World of Warcraft news, blog, video, and photo coverage at Boxxet.
World of Warcraft +20 Frost Resistance Zip-up Hoodie (Apparel) newly tagged "world of warcraft"
World of Warcraft +20 Frost Resistance Zip-up Hoodie (Apparel)
By JINX
Customer Rating:
First tagged “world of warcraft” by Jose Rodriguez Bernal “dash87″
Customer tags: blizzard(2), sweatshirts, wow, world of warcraft, jinx, warcraft, warcraft apparel, sweatshirt
GDC 09: Breaking Down World of Warcraft - IGN
 Gamespy.com |
GDC 09: Breaking Down World of Warcraft
IGN, CA Over the course of the crowded, hour-long session he kept the attendees laughing with a number of World of Warcraft inside jokes as he discussed the ins and outs of what he sees as proper quest design and how to forge the best possible relationship … GDC: Learning From World of Warcraft's Quest Design Mistakes Gamasutra World of Warcraft Quests: By The (Insane) Numbers Shacknews World Of Warcraft Players Racking Up 16 Million Quests A Day Kotaku.com Gamespy.com - Examiner.com all 31 news articles |
