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Saturday's Upcoming Panels:

• 10:30 AM PST: WoW PvP Panel
• 12 PM PST: WoW Dungeons & Raids Panel
• 1:30 PM PST: WoW Developer Q&A
• 3 PM PST: WoW Classes Panel
• 4:30 PM PST: Cinematics Show

Click here to see the full schedule for Saturday!
Click here for the WCRadio.com broadcast schedule!

• Blizzard's big secret project is a new MMO, set in an entirely new universe. However, more details than that will not be heard for quite a while yet. (src)
• Wrath has gone Gold Master! The game is now being manufactured for it's November 13th release date. (src)
• The World of Warcraft feature film is still in the works. A draft of the script has been completed. (src)
• Ozzy Osbourne will be doing the next WoW what do you play commercial (src)
• The big news about the upcoming Dual Talent Spec System is that the devs intend to allow players to respec at will mid-raid, thought likely not mid-fight. (IE, out of combat, but without needing to go back to a town or anything.)

• 3:06 PM: There are 4 people on the world design team, and another 7 artists that work creating the physical zones. They use mostly pressure-sensitive Wacom tablets to work interactively.
• 3:07 PM: The zone design process. First there is a big brainstorming meeting takes place where anyone can come and talk about every aspect of the zone. After that, an Illustrator map is made that determines the zone's size, its mobs, its basic details and how it interacts with the zones around it. The next step is an internal Zone Editor layout, which creates a very basic 3D version of the zone in which devs can run around. Only at this point does the detailed concept art produced. This art functions as a "road maps" for the colors and atmosphere of the zone. Tilesets come next. These tilesets make up the repeating textures of the world, mostly its ground and basic elements.
• 3:10 PM: Trees are very important. The redwoods in Grizzly Hills, for example, give the zone its basic look.
• 3:11 PM: Once everything to do with the "look" is finalized, then the designers get down to actually building and placing the assets. (An example of working with a basic World Editing programs is shown. It promptly crashes.)
• 3:12 PM: Everything in the exterior world is hand-painted and hand-placed by individual members of the team. Very little is done procedurally. (Credit screen for the game artists is shown.) Only recently have they split up the art teams and made a very specialized world art team.
• 3:14 PM: The character design team works on all character/armor/weapon art.
• 3:15 PM: The creature design process. The Character team does all the work from model to texture to animation and implementation. First the model mesh is created, and then the texture is mapped on and checked in a previewer. The textured model is previewed in-game with lighting before final approval.
• Concept art for creatures also serves as a "road map". However, it is often done first and everything from the model to the animations are based on it. (An example of a creature in each step of development is shown.)
• 3:17 PM: All creatures and items for them are made in a variety of color variations. Textures are often done with a lot of iterations to play up certain elements of light, shadow, and expression.
• 3:18 PM: Concepting is sped up greatly by work done in other departments. Cinematics, for example, really help establish how large certain mobs should be and how they should be lit and textured.
• 3:19 PM: Some examples of new Wrath models are shown. New wrath mounts, including siege weapons with multiple seats. "Dynamic anatomy." The anatomy of a creature and how it is put togetehr plays into the creature's personality.
• 3:20: Armor system. Armor is textured all the way around in 3D. Armor also has a lot of texture variation produced. Textures are often created with "themes" that are recognizable even if you are only wqearing a few different pieces.
• 3:21 PM: New weapon examples shown. Weapons often get a very quick paint job to start with and then are refined as they are seen with various player models and armor types. Using different painted materials (stone, metal, bone, etc) can lend weapons a totally different look, even if they use the same model.
• 3:23 PM: Creatures are textured in the very same way as player characters. They can wear all the same kinds of gear, thought they often have their own unique looks or color combinations. Taunka and Tuskarr NPC models are shown.
• 3:24 PM: Effects art. Death Knight spell effects will be highlighted. Effects art and animations are separate departments, but work closely together.
• For the Death Knight, they tried to create a brand new, eye-catching, epic visual style that had more "pop" but was still Warcraft. The graphics engine was upgraded a bit to accommodate it.
• 3:27 PM: The Effects team toolbox uses 3DS Max, Photoshop, and some internal particle system software.
• 3:28 PM: To start with, the class designers tell the effects team what the new spells are all about, and then the effects teams creates new visuals for each one. A feedback meeting is called, and tons of feedback from the class teams are collected. Does the look of each spell really fit with the Death Knight class? A video with all the versions of Blood Presence is shown, representing about 2 days worth of work from initial concept to final spell effect. The original one was much more complex, including glowing eyes. Also some random new spell effects and a few that are not yet implemented in the game. Army of the Dead involved pretty much every art department to get the final spell effect finished, including all the summoned ghouls.
• 3:32 PM: Prop design team. The prop team creates all the little interactive items in the game. Dungeon doors, quest items, holiday items, etc. The barber chair. A dungeon setting with and without props is shown. Dalaran is shown with and without props. Items are placed in the world by level designers.
• 3:34 PM: Hundreds of unique objects are created for any given area, like Dalaran for example. Props are built over concept sketches and placeholders inserted by level designers. Many visual cues are taken from the zone's character and world concept art. Props are the final bits of dressing that bring everything together. They "blend in" unless they are specifically meant not to. In dungeons, there is often a more specific theme or look, and so often the concept process is skipped entirely. Prop items in Dungeons are often interactive, and so they have to be eye-catching.
• 3:37 PM: Holiday items are often the final things to be creative Holiday item examples are shown, including a disco ball.
• 3:38 PM: Dungeon art. The dungeon team works on the dungeons and raids, but they also work on the outdoor cities and the pvp objectives in world zones.
• 3:39 PM: A preview clip of Dalaran is shown. Dalaran took many departments working togetehr to create. A time-lapse video of Dalaran's evolution is shown, representing about 6 monthes worth of work. One modeler named Andy was the "gatekeeper" for all of the work done on Dalaran. The Prison and Underbelly/Sewer areas were handled by seperate individuals.
• 3:41 PM: The basic design philosophy behind Dalaran was "What would Elf and Human mages make if their cultures came together?" The original blocking of the zone was done with Stormwind assets, though eventually they had to be abandoned because they began to influence the design process. The architecture was a bit too colorful ("Candyland"), so they went back in and based it more on polished stone and muted mosaics.
• 3:43: One the basic blocking is done, then concept art is fionalized. After all concepts are done, modelling and texturing xcomes directly from that palet. All textures are hand-painted and all items are hand-placed. Lighting and particles effects/fog finish everything off.
• 3:45 PM: The Q&A session is starting:

Q: Can you tell us about the artists who do the amazing wallpapers and production art? Does he work closely with your departments?
A: Wei Lang is a Chinese illustrator who does a lot of the patch art. He's contracted to the creative development department. He often works from model screenshots and works with Chris Metzen and the art departments to make sure the images are true ton the source material. Otherwise he works on his own.

Q: Can Shamans please have some more pants? (Laughter)
A: Well we hope you are wearing pants underneath the kilts! You could plya a Paladin, they seem to wear the pants in the melee family... (Laugher)

Q: Seeing the Dalaran art, will there be a Caverns of Time instacne for Dalaran?
A: Maybe! You'd have to ask the Dungeon and Raid guys.

Q: Taunka females have the exact same models as female Tauren. Will they have a unique one?

• A: Time was an issue. There are no unique female Taunka or Tuskarr because of time constraints. There actually are female Tuskarr, they just have beards. Hot...

Q: Troll females do not blink. It's creepy!
A: There's no plans for that right now, but maybe the next expansion... (Laughter.)

Q: Male Draenei /roar is awesome, but Human males look awful...
A: He looks like he's pinching a loaf, thanks, I was constipating while painting that texture. (Laughter)

Q: Any plans to revamp other Heroes or Faction Leader like Varian Wynn was?
A: A lot of designers would love to.

Q: There are a lot of cool new Dungeosn and Zone. What is your personal favorite.
A: One dev answers Grizzly Hills. Another loves Azjol-Nerub. Another loves the starting zones and Utgarde. Another loves the Vrykul buildings and Utgarde. They really set the tone for the expansion. He also loves Crystalsong and the Sewers in Dalaran (What does a sewer look like when Mages have been dumping magical goo in them for ages?). They love them all!

Q: Is there really a Caverns of Time Stratholme instance? (WTF?)
A: Yes.

Q: MedievalDragon from IncGamers Network: What happened to the external zone of Azjol-Nerub that wasn't instanced?
A: That's more of a design question. You might want to ask Dungeons & Raids panel.

Q: Where did you get the idea for the Rogue helms for all the new tiers.
A: Samurai Showdown (Laughter.) There is definitely some Japanese fighting game and anime influence.

Q: You can easily see where a player has been by their armor, except for Druids! Any plans for armor on Druid forms?
A: You mean like adding some attachments points for armor on forms? They discuss it from time to time. Should we do it? Let's do it! (Applause) Throw the shoulders on the Bear. And some pancakes on his head too!

Q: Helms and Shoulders have great effects. Wings, etc. Are there any plans to add some flash to the other pieces of armor? Flaming capes or frosty shoes?
A: There are some technical constraints. Helms and Shoulders are more speertae from the character model, so they are easier to add elements to. They'd like to do more with other pieces.

Q: Barber shops are amazing. Are their plans to add more styles?
A: We had to make sure the new styles were not so superior to the old styles that they looked like an entirely new game. There were also some texturing issues. They'd like to be able to do more with them,, including new facial hair, earrings, etc.

Q: Varian Wynn's redesign is great, but could his son please have a redesign instead of being like every other Stormwind orphan?
A: We may be able to throw a Burger King crown on him! (Laughter). Varian has the spotlight right now but he'll catch up, don't worry.

Q: Where do you come up with the inspiration for world design? Do you drive around the country or something?
A: Talking about Grizzly Hills specifically,m we always wanted to do a Redwood forest. So a dev did go up to the Redwoods in California and took some pictures to base the pallet on. For Dragonblight, it started out as one thing and was completely done. And then a designer came up with a brand new tree and the design team took some extra time on their own to add in the new trees and completely redefine the zone.

Q: Will Druids in tree form ever be able to change their leaves?
A: Never! (Laughter) One designer is always on their case. They'd love to add more color and options to forms (Cheers.)

See the WCRadio.com Schedule Page for upcoming broadcast information! Check the Blizzcon page for a link to the WoW Art Panel audio broadcast as soon as it is available.

• 1:34 PM: This pre-panel music is awesome. It makes me think of Dune...
• 1:40 PM: Tom Chilton and Greg Street (Ghostcrawler) introduced. Ghostcrawler is a guy!
• 1:41 PM: "Who thinks their class is overpowered? (Some applause.) Who thinks there are overpowered classes in the game? (Lots of applause.) OK now, who thinks their class is the worst? (Even more applause.) You've just learned all there is to know about class design... (Laughter.)"
• 1:42 PM: They are going to talk Death Knights, general game changes, the questions.
• 1:43 PM: One thing they wanted for Death Knights was to fill another tank roll, since there was a shortage. But they didn't want to have a Tank/DPS/Utility tree. They wanted all three trees to be able to tank with the use of Presences. Death Knights start at a higher level with a great starting zone and some of the coolest quests in the game. They wanted Death Knights to share itemization with existing plate classes.
• 1:44 PM: They wanted a different style of play for Death Knights. They came up with Runes as a resource as a new type of mechanic and a way to tie into the iconic Rune Weapon. You have the keep track of their cooldowns. They originally tried to bring the rune weapon into the UI, and they went through a lot of Rune setup iterations. Originally they wanted to have customizable amounts of each rune, but that ended up just sucking. It made gameplay imbalanced and made players ignore certain abilities. They added in Death Runes (which count as all types) to allow some variability in rotations. Runic Power also allows variability as you can unleash it to do cool things.
• 1:46 PM: They wanted diseases to be a big deal. Originally there were about 25 different diseases, but it was way too complex. Now the system is a bit more like combo points. You pout all your diseases on and then use abilities that play upon them to heal or do extra damage. There is a bit of a learning curve to the class but not too much.
• 1:47 PM: They wanted all the trees to have options for any playstyle, melee or tanking. This is something they are actually trying to do for all classes.
• 1:48 PM: Hunter: The pet systems is completely overhauled. This class attracts new players, so they didn't want the clunky old pet system to chase them away. The system of taming temporary pets to gain abilities was too confusing, so they did away with it. (Crowd applauds.) Hunters had a very complex DPS rotation, and people tended to use mods to make them all work togetehr. They tried to clean it up and make it more about player choice than timing. Hunters complained that they got shewed up by melee, so they changed Disengage to counter that. Freezing shot adds remote trap deployment to give Hunters a bit better long-distance CC, especially in 5-man groups.
• 1:50 PM: Priests. Overhauled the buff/debuff system. Shadow priests utility as a mana battery has been removed (audience boos), but in exchange they get to DPS! (Audience cheers.) They want Discipline to be a viable raid healer. They want Priests to have another viable DPS ability, so they gave them Mind Sear. Priest racial abilities were a cool thing, but it was a dated idea, so they revamped racials.
• 1:52 PM: Mage. Frostfire bolt is a new signature ability that matches Frost and Fire into an "Elementalist" build. Mirror Image is a cool new move as well. Devs feel pretty good about Mage DPS right now.
• 1:53 PM: Druids. Needed a lot of work. They are underrepresented in arenas, for example. Balance Druids had lowered DPS because they had so much utility (like running out of mana!). Druids were given indoor Entangling Roots for more 5-man CC ability. No more Oomkin. Their DPS is looking pretty good now. For Resto, the HoT healing niche was too limiting. Great for PvP but hard for 5-mans and raids. Nourish is a good new Flash Heal kind of spell. Wild Growth gives some AoE healing. Druids finally get an OOC rez. Feral druids were a hybrid tank/DPS spec, jack of all trades and master of none. They focused on making a tree that could be specced into tanking or melee DPS. Take all the Bear talents and you become a good main tank. Take Cat talents and you have higher, better DPS. You can also still hybridize.
• 1:55 PM: Shaman. Totems are such a great, unique gimmick. The functionality has never been quite were they want it to be. They are physical now, harder to dispel. They have a bit more life and last longer. They filled in wholes in the Shaman repetoire with Hex as CC, Riptide healing, and Lava Burst spell DPS.
• 1:56 PM: Rogue. Filled in certain tools they needed. AoE DPS was sorely needed. When you think Rogues you think Daggers and Poisons, but no one seemed to be using those things as often. Purchasable poisons and buffed dagger specs will help to fix that.
• 1:58 PM: Warrior. Warriors were the big main tanks. Without crushing blows, Port Warriors could have become less popular,l so a lot of talents were revamped. Mitigation talents were condensed to allow more points for other, cooler talents. Traditionally Arms was PvP and Fury was PvE. They want to vary that up. Battle Stance will be more desirable, as will Overpower and Rend. Bladestorm and Sudden Death are big, fun abilities. Fury Warriors have Titan's Grip (audience cheering). The Devs really love and are pushing this ability.
• 2:00 PM: Warlock. (Audience boos.) Warlock has a lot of pets that were considered useless in many situations. They want all pets to be useful. They want a more fun rotation than Shadowbolt spam. Chaos Bolt was added. Affliction may still be too complicated. Demonic Circle and Metamorphosis are the big new abilities.
• 2:02 PM: Paladins. (Big cheers.) Pallies are delicate snowflakes that can solo Onyxia! (Laughter.) Protection Pallies were great off-tanks but not great main tanks. They want to fix that. They want Paladins to focus on protection gear instead of spell power. Holy Paladins were great, but too many encounters required them to move around a lot. New heals should help that, though they do not want them to be a HoT class. Retribution needs to do good DPS without running out of mana. They were great with a ton of buffs, but without them they did not shine.
• 2:04 PM: Group flexibility. There are 30 specs, but only 25 spots now! Who gets to come? This should be very flexible. The buff/debuff system was too complex and had a lot of stacking issues. Bloodlust, for example, got a bit out a hand with moving Shamans around. Canceling raids because a certain buff was unavailable was not desirable. Most buffs now affect the whole raid, and you can get them multiple ways, but now none of them stack. You can get all the buffs with a pretty small number of players. Now you can make up raids by "bringing the player, not the class." Player skill should have more to do with the amount of damage a class does, not some inherent flaw of class design.
• 2:07 PM: Consumables were out of control. Potions are cool, but farming for them is not. So are drums. Drum rotations and consumable preparations were way to burdensome. Skill should always win out over buffs.
• 2:08 PM: A ton of itemization has been changed to allow flexibility. Spell power consolidated a lot of gear. It also allows healers to do more damage when needed.
• 2:09 PM: Tank classes overlap a lot more now, so you can bring whoever you want for most fights. Tank threat is alos much higher, making it easier and less worrisome to tank. Fights should be more about skills than wiping due to random lost agro.
• 2:10 PM: They are working on a dual spec system! It's going to be awesome. They want you to be able to switch specs in the middle or raids in a simple way. You will not be able to switch specs in the middle or an arena, per se, but it will make things much easier on the whole.
• 2:11 PM: The Class Q&A session is starting:

Q: Dual spec system: Will there be a fast way to switch gear without taking up a lot of bag space.
A: There has been discussion of a gear changing UI, like Wardrobe or similar mods. They want to make those improvements.

Q: Warlocks: Affliction is great in T4/T5, but in T6 is was lackluster DPS. Fix for that?
A: Yes, we definitely are trying to get Affliction back into a raiding spec.

Q: Warlocks: Will Infernals and Doomguards ever be more useful? Maybe Infernals as a Destruction pet?
A: Getting rid of the ability of those pets to break free and such is a big step in that direction. Also they have made Infernals usable indoors.

Q: Warlock pets: A lot of talents are geared to one pet or another. Pets are hard to switch. Fixes for this issue?
A: They do want to make pets easier to summon and use.

Q: Druids: Please respond to the forms forum thread! Feral mana and shifting is an issue. Fixes for that?
A: Feral mana is on the list to look at. They don't want intellect on feral gear. They are looking into it.

Q: Rogue poisons: Endgame bosses are mostly immune to poisons. Will this change?
A: They would like more bosses with less poison immunities. They would like to have rogues less reliant on Windfury.

Q: Mages: They are a food table and a teleport. Now cooks can make food tables, and Mage DPS isn't so amazing right now. Will Mages really be viable in Lich King?
A: Mages making food tables really should be a "niche" since it kind of sucks. Frost and fire DPS is actually pretty reasonable right now. They want to "massage" arcane a bit more. Running out of mana is their big issue, but recently mana costs for Mages were revamped and they still want to do more of that.

Q: Mages: 51-Point talents seem lackluster. Should be baseline.
A: They want to increase Living Bomb damage and maybe play with the mechanics a little bit. Any spell that does a lot of damage is fun! With Arcane Barrage they wanted to mix up the Arcane Mage's damage rotations. They also want Arcane to be more mobile and more about speed. They thing with 51-point talents is that most classes have a lot of buttons to push. They wanted the new major talents to be more situational.

Q: Druids: Are feral druids going to get abilities to differentiate them from Rogues in Arenas and PvP?
A: Ferals have been kind of a "B" PvP spec. They identified a few issues with them: The lack of a healing debuff, raw damage output, a few other things. They have given them some new tools, but they want to watch it. They have not seen a lot of Feral Arena play in the Beta, so they want to keep an eye on it in live.

Q: Mages: They are the only clothies that can't heal themselves. Maybe a new shield or some other function?
A: They want to keep classes unique. Mages are the "get out of jail" class. Very mobile. "Slippery glass cannons." For instance, a mana shield that doesn't expire, could be too good or horrible. it's a delicate balance.

Q: Shamans: Will Windfury and its cooldown be revisited to resolve the issues that have come up with Flametongue and slow weapons?
A: The new cooldown on Windfury has encouraged the use of Flametongue. They want to see how it plays out.

Q: Druids: As a Balance Druid it's hard to play in Moonkin form. Will there ever be a way to kill someone in Moonkin without running away so much?
A: Typhoon gives some knockback to counter melee. Balance Druid DPS has been increased. Devs feel really good about their DPS but they want to keep an eye on survivability.

Q: Paladins: Retribution burst DPS is pretty crazy on Beta. What do the devs have in mind to balance their burst damage to make it less massive in PvP and still good in PvE?
A: In Beta Paladins were really bugged. Things got ridiculous. Now devs have to figure out if their DPS is good or not, now that that bugs are fixed. ("Don't nerf me bro!") They want Ret Paladins to have more control of their damage. They don't want them to have to rely on lucky crits.

Q: Tanking: Tank homogenization is rampant with the changes recently, especially to AoE tanking abilities. Will there be more uniqueness added back in later?
A: A lot of classes feel they need all the same abilities to be similarly viable. Devs have to be very careful to give them all the abilities

Q: Dual spec system: Did you actually say you want people to be able to switch spec mid-raid?
A: Yes, that's the idea.

See the WCRadio.com Schedule Page for upcoming broadcast information! Check the Blizzcon page for a link to the WoW Class Panel audio broadcast as soon as it is available.

• 12:00 PM: WoW UI panel begins!
• 12:02 PM: Derek Sakamato (D-Sak), UI developer, on UI design philosophy and upcoming features. New UI elements for the expansion: Achievements, Death Knights, etc...
• 12:05 PM: Blizzard's game design philosophy: Gameplay first priority. "Minutes to learn but a lifetime to master." Polishing finished everything off. New players versus hardcore players, something to challenge people at all levels, while keeping learning easy. Lots of uber-geek code talk.
• 12:06 PM: Achievements UI took 9 months from start to finish. Started out on paper and then as a Photoshop mock-up before they even decided to implement it.
• 12:10 PM: Achievements interface early mockups. Early versions of the interface has a lot of features, but were very rough. The layout of the Achievement interface was hard to nail down. Too dark, and then too colorful. Too many Horde or Alliance colors. "Too Disney! Too ugly like your face!" Where do you put it on the screen? Finally settled on a parchment-like design. Summary page, sorting features, and Statistics were added late in the process.
• 12:14 PM: Jeff Kaplan wants a room in his house based on the Achievement UI parchment/"old library" motif... O.o
• 12:15 PM: Blizzard tries to stick to a certain process. Doesn't always work out.
• 12:16 PM: Death Knight UI development process: Started with "programmer art." Basic, junky, fast design. Redesigned into the runeblade-like graphic for Blizzcon 2007. Runic Power was taken out and put back in at various times during the process. Runes were continually being redesigned. The art had to be very specific, to show as much data as possible for the hardcore min-maxers. Had to take into account the localization to many different countries (for example, China can't have skulls in the UI). The Shaman Totem Timers UI display was hijacked to display the runes. Lots of experimentation at every step. Finally figured out what worked by trial and error.
• 12:21 PM: The Main Menu Bar: Very reactionary process. Designers needed space on the front page and so the devs all locked themselves in a room to has out a new version of the main menu.
• 12:23 PM: More bag space means design issues! Thought of putting sub-bags onto the bottom of the main bag panel.
• 12:24 PM: Designers wanted to get pets and such out of bags. Dev Serena proposed the Pet/Mount "bag" UI and a light bulb went off. Took a lot of work, including new code to have pet/mount items teach spells.
• 12:25 PM: New currency menu. Was going to use a fly-out type menu, but that idea was vetoes as "really weird." Changed it to a tab on the character page, but there were too many tabs, so they pulled out the PvP Menu and gave it its own screen. PvP and Achievements buttons were added by shaving off 2 pixels from around every bag button. Screen real estate is srs bznz!
• 12:26 PM: Blizzard has a set design process built around their core beliefs for how the game should work, which is very important. You have to follow a process, but be flexible, because every teams works togetehr differently. The Achievements UI was a long back and forth. Death Knight UI was iterative. Menu Bar was a bag way to design an interface. Too reactive, but it all worked out in the end.
• 12:28 PM: Blizzard has UI designer positions open! Apply now!
• 12:30 PM: Q&A session starts.

Q: Main backpack. Is it going to be made bigger/switching it out?
A: There were talks to expand it, but now with currency and pet changes, space has been freed up enough that it has been tabled for now. Possible for future.

Q: Pet UI. First time you log into Beta, you don't know how to get onto mount! Will new players get a tip on how to do this?
A: It's in the patch notes and on the website, but also in-0game the character and pet tabs flash when you gain a new pet or mount item. Hopefully there will also be new tips and hints for all the new features. They are trying to "bread crumb" you as best they can, but it's not rocket science.

Q: Why no skulls in China?
A: It's a sociological thing. In Germany you can't have red blood. Devs have no idea, that's just the way it seems to be.

Q: There is an addon for focus frame. Any official way to have a focus frame as well as a target?
A: There is a focus frame being added, yes.

Q: Confirmation boxes for talent trees. Misplaced talents mean you have to pay for a new respec! Can a system like on the website be added so that you can add/remove points and then confirm your selections? (Applause from the crowd.)
A: There is going to be a dual-speccing interface, hopefully a simple one, at some point after the expansion. They will be revisiting the speccing process at that point.

Q: Talked a lot about how UIs were made, but how do you discuss the details in the beginning? "Reactionary" designs don't sound pre-planned. Who comes to UI devs and says they need things done?
A: Usually there are not too many things going on at once. Game designers put togetehr basic designs, and then the UI team iterates it, making it even more functional and polished. Wrath has a lot of new UI features, so there were a lot of design feature "collisions" and craziness like never before.

Q: Will there be compatibility issues with addons? What sort of education should a UI designer have?
A: Compatibility should be OK. No huge LUA engine change this time. No keybinding resets. A lot of addons may just work the same as before with no issues. In terms of education/experience, data management and a focused interest in UI are common elements. One of the UI devs has a degree in architecture, but a lot of web design experience.

Q: Graphic user interfaces. Will there ever be more options? "Skins?"
A: They has been though about. They want to add the ability to move things about a bit. The problem is that in moving some things, it can interfere with elements that occur later in the game, are not available at low levels, etc. Issues with that can frustrate users. They are thinking about it. They want to do it in a "clean" way. The UI is some complex now that it's necessary. Devs prefer to let the amazing interface design community make all these options. Keep things customizable.

Q: As a raid leader, Pally Power is very useful. Is there a plan to integrate buff addon functionality into the game?
A: Not at this time. They try to stay away from class-specific UI elements. They don't want to tell players how to play or step on any toes. Sometimes they do take up concepts that work, but only when the addon targets a general need. They let addons target very specific needs so that every time they change gameplay they don't have to make huge changes to the UI. One example is Totem Timers. They added that functionality, despite its class-specific nature, because ALL shamans use totems.

Q: Minimaps are crowded with addon buttons. Any possibility for a separate button dock?
A: Blizzard doesn't want to impose that on the addon community. Thye minimap is a great place to put addon and other UI controls. They don't want to force people to use it or not. As another option, the new Options UI gives the addon community the ability to add to it and make new Blizzard-style controls.

Q: As player progress they get more skills and larger bags. Any plans to redo the bag UI? More action bars? One large bag?
A: More action bars may be added in the future, but they feel that if they need to do this, they are doing something wrong. Players shouldn't have a confusing choice of a hundred different things. It should be more streamlined. Class devs have been trying to consolidate some abilities and make that valuable action bar real estate really meaningful. There are no current plans to have one large bag. A lot of Blizzard devs really like the separate bags. They'll leave the one bag to OneBag (and similar mods).

Q: Will there be a /castrandom for Mounts/Minipets with the new UI system?
A: (Devs laugh.) Cool idea. We'll write that one down!

Q: Will mod authors have an easier way to add items to the minimap tracking menu or the minimap itself without having to do so much translation of server-side info and coordinates?
A: Not really. They want to keep that process a bit obtuse to help prevent botting.

Q: At last Blizzcon it was mentioned there might be a built-in boss timer or item rack...
A: There are a lot of things like that still on the plate. There are only so many features they can put in every time. Those two specifically they thought they would get to, and they want to put them in, but they do not know when it might happen. They want to make sure those features are properly implemented and that they "feel right."

Q: Can a terminator be added to castsequence to make certain codes easier?
A: There are some stop-casting issues that cause exploits. The castsequence system is tricky. Had to compromise to prevent ubermacros that do a whole fight with the press of a button. Changes like Auto Shot not clipping Steady Shot help streamline these issues.

Q: Would it be possible to have an instanced training area with dummies and free respecs that could give really accurate parsed info so that people can better test out talent specs?
A: The instanced testing area is an interesting idea, but more a gameplay thing. They will bring it up with devs.

Q: Will Hunters every have the quiver not use a bag slot?
A: They have been generally trying to free up bags, but there has been no specific talks about quivers or soul shard bags. The Hunter/Warlock devs feel your pain.

Q: Threat UI: IS the beta threat meter UI final? Right now you see threat as % of main tanks threat. Will there be an option to show hard threat numbers?
A: Yes, the beta version is final. Instead of hard "techy" numbers, they wanted an easier-to-read, polished gameplay experience. Organic version number crunching. The API, tho, gives all those numbers if you want to make your own more numbers-intensive version.

Q: Many UI additions seem to be based on mods that are popular. Does Blizzard give any credit to those original mod authors?
A: Putting it in is a great compliment right there! The UI devs talk to the big addon authors quite a lot. When Blizzard uses an idea similar to something from the addon community, it is rarely done in the very same was as addon devs implemented it. The devs go on to thank the addon community.

Q: The new threat meter is great,especially for 5-mans where everyone might not have had a threat meter once. In 10/25-man raids, tho, the larger packs with many mobs tend to clutter up the screen. Any fix for that?
A: Currently, when someone is about to pull threat off the tank, a text message come up over the mob that will lose aggro. This helps a lot in AoE threat. Originally they put a mark over the head of the raid member that was about to pull aggro, but it ended up being way too busy. The devs hope that this new threat meter and more accurate numbers will allow the addon community to get really creative with threat mods.

See the WCRadio.com Schedule Page for upcoming broadcast information! Check the Blizzcon page for a link to the WoW UI Panel audio broadcast as soon as it is available.

• 11:02 AM: Mike Morhaime, president and a co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment: Opening address and thanks to the fans.
• 11:07 AM: Fans are attending from 27 different countries. "If WoW was a country, it would be the 75th most populated country in the world."
• 11:10 AM: Highlights from WWI 2008.
• 11:12 AM: WoW as competitive gaming. 2008 season ends this weekend for WoW gaming. First ever Starcraft II tournament will be this weekend. $200,000 in prizes to be awarded in tournaments this weekend.
• 11:14 AM: Developers will be meeting players and signing game boxes on the day of the Wrath release in Anaheim, CA and NYC. More info in coming soon...
• 11:15 AM: Wrath beta is going well! It is continually being polished.
• 11:16 AM: Wrath cinematic screened.
• 11:19 AM: New Diablo 3 class announced: Wizard. Class cinematic shown.
• 11:23 AM: Blizzcon features this year: Jay Mohr is back. New contest: /silly. Attendees attmpt their best comedic one-liner. Comedian Patton Oswald hosts the closing ceremony later, including music from Video Games Live and Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain.
• 11:24 AM: Mike Morhaime says goodbye, thanks everyone.

See the WCRadio.com Schedule Page for upcoming broadcast information! Check the Blizzcon page for a link to the Opening Ceremony audio broadcast as soon as it is available.

Patches

• Ashbringer - This storyline will be finished in Patch 3.3 (a good while after release). (src)
• 3.1 - Ulduar 10/25 man raid, already done.
• 3.2 - A mystery raid which "players will find very cool."
• 3.3 - Likely Icecrown Citadel.
• Future Patches - They are always 3 patch cycles ahead of the live game in terms of content design, and usually working on next expansion.

Future Features

• More Guild Achievements - Achievements based on guild accomplishments a possibility. (src)
• Guild Ratings - Guilds could receive a rating based on their PvE and PvP performance. (src)
• Dance Studio - Likely won't be seen until a content patch, players can create a new dance and string together multiple moves.