World of Warcraft Dev Tracker

On November 3 at the World of Warcraft Q&A at BlizzCon 2018, players questioned panelists Alex Afrasiabi, Ion Hazzikostas, John Hight, and Chris Robinson. Many of the questions deserved a bit more time to fully answer than we originally anticipated, and in the end, eight attendees were left without the chance to ask their questions. Here are the questions that didn’t make it in time, along with our answers to each:

Over the course of the last 14 years, we've killed many Warcraft villains. What is your strategy for introducing new characters and threats to this universe?

While many of the iconic villains in WoW over the years were first established in the RTS games (Illidan, Arthas, etc.), WoW has been introducing new characters and threats since its earliest days (such as Onyxia or the Defias). We’re keenly aware of the need to begin building up future threats even as we confront existing ones. A major villain shouldn’t come out o...

Celebrate 14 years of World of Warcraft with us! Log in between now and November 30 to earn the WoW’s 14th Anniversary achievement, then check your mail for a special Anniversary Gift Package.

Inside the package you’ll find 200 Timewarped Badges, a Celebration Package item to increase experience and reputation gains by 14% for 1 hour, and a “Letter from the Timewalkers,” which will start a new quest leading you to either Orgrimmar or Stormwind.

In addition, questgivers Historian Llore and Historian Ju’pa will have two daily quests that give players a chance to earn additional Timewarped Badges either by answering World of Warcraft trivia or by defeating some familiar foes. Collectors will also have a chance to pick up a few pieces of classic loot from defeating them.

Players level 1–59 who didn’t get to complete last year’s letter from the Timewalker’s quest will still be able to receive and complete it.

Classic Bosses to Celebrate

It’s be...

This was a record-setting year for the World of Warcraft Arena World Championship (AWC), which saw the most LAN tournaments and largest prize pools to date. And at BlizzCon, scene veterans witnessed the resounding domination of North American teams, which culminated in the first-ever NA vs. NA finals match in AWC history, Method Orange against The Gosu Crew.

Dispelling the Curse

One member of Method Orange, Chuck “Cdew” Dewland, has flown close to the sun for years. As a long-term Arena healer for Method, Cdew’s teams have placed from fifth to second place at BlizzCons past. But this year Cdew and his team finally broke through, as Method Orange became the first NA team in five years to win a WoW championship at BlizzCon.

Rivals All the Way

In a post-match intervi...

BlizzCon 2018 is a wrap! Learn more about what’s ahead for World of Warcraft.

Restoring History: Creating WoW Classic

Learn more about the journey of World of Warcraft developers to recreating the classic WoW experience in our panel coverage.

World of Warcraft: What’s Next

Learn more about what’s in store for World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth in our ...

At BlizzCon 2018, the WoW community got their first chance to experience World of Warcraft Classic for themselves. To help players understand what goes into bringing a Blizzard-quality experience like this to life, software engineers Brian Birmingham and Omar Gonzalez along with Game Director Ion Hazzikostas took the stage Saturday afternoon to share their insights.

Finding the Pieces

Before we could begin our journey to faithfully recreate the original WoW experience, the WoW Classic team first had to take a close look at which elements of the original game we had to work with. Ultimately, it boiled down to three main pieces: database data, art assets, and source code.

• The database data includes aspects of the game like the hit points a creature has, the amount of stamina an item has, spawn locations around the word, and millions of other data points.
• Art assets include everything from how a night elf looks when it Shadowmelds, to the so...

Demetrious Johnson is for the Horde. He’s married with two kids, a Rogue main whose favorite pastime is ganking the Alliance in War Mode. He’s also known as Mighty Mouse, the inaugural and former UFC Flyweight Champion, now signed to ONE Championship, the prominent Singapore-based MMA league.

For Johnson—or DJ, as he’s known—the journey in World of Warcraft began with Burning Crusade. “I was at the gym training and a buddy of mine was in it. He was like, ‘Dude, you’ve got to try this game called World of Warcraft.’ I was like, ‘I’ve never heard of it!’” DJ said, laughing. “He was like, ‘Dude, they just came out with the Burning Crusade!’ So, I went and grabbed my first copy of WoW. I remember it had a Blood Elf and a Draenei, and you opened it and it had Illidan in it. That’s when it all started—I went straight to Horde, I made a Blood Elf.”

He was inst...

The war between the Horde and Alliance continues in Azeroth, but there are additional dark forces at work. To provide you with more insights for what lies ahead, Game Director Ion Hazzikostas was joined by designers Jeremy Feasel, and Ryan Shwayder.

The Road Ahead

The release of each expansion is its own chapter in the ongoing story of Azeroth. With Battle for Azeroth, we’re just at the beginning of our journey and much like the content release schedule for Legion, Battle for Azeroth will provide a series of both large and small content updates to take you on that journey while providing a steady stream of content and focusing on systems and rewards.

Here’s a quick recap of what’s in store for the next content update currently on the Public Test Realm.

Tides of Vengeance Content Update

• New Warfront: Battle for Darkshore: In the ashen shadow of Teldrassil, the night elves strike back against the Forsaken to reclai...

Introducing an adventurous new pet with an especially curious nature—Whomper the baby yeti! When you adopt him in-game or in his plushie form, you’ll be helping Code.org® boost its mission to expand computer science education around the world.

As a part of Blizzard Entertainment’s ongoing quest to empower youth through STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) education, we’re teaming up with Code.org for this year’s charity pet campaign.

When you purchase the in-game pet by December 31, 2018 either in the ...

The Arena World Championship (AWC) at BlizzCon kicked off Monday during Opening Week, with the first and second rounds of the upper bracket being played out in front of a live audience at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles. No teams were eliminated, though the results did fill out the first round of the lower bracket. Let’s break down the true lessons of the tournament’s opening day.

Dark Iron Dwarves Reinforce the Alliance

Latin American representatives always seem to enter BlizzCon brackets as underdogs, but Unitas shrugged off that descriptor in the first round of competition, sending North American third seed Super Frogs to the lower bracket.

Although this may have been a surprise to some, it definitely wasn’t to Unitas DPS player Francisco “Hozitojones” Toriello. “Our expe...

The winners of this year's pumpkin-carving contest have been chosen -- and they're monstrously spectacular. We'd like to thank everyone who participated this year, and we can't wait to see your mad scientist skills in action again next time around. Check out all of the creepy, incredible, and creative winning pumpkins:

Mummified Raptor Mount - "Tomb Stalker"

Raine Pye - Kemptville, ON. Canada

Do you have World of Warcraft questions you want to ask during BlizzCon? We’ve got you covered.

On Saturday, November 3 from 3:30 p.m. PDT to 4:30 p.m. PDT on the Main Hall (D) stage at BlizzCon 2018, several Lead World of Warcraft developers will answer questions both from attendees and those who submit questions online.

If you can’t attend BlizzCon in person, don’t worry. We’ve opened a forum thread for your questions, and we’ll collect your questions until 6:00 p.m. PDT on Friday, November 2.

If you’re attending BlizzCon 2018 in-person and would like to submit your question for the Q&A, head over to the Darkmoon Faire community area found on the second level of the North Hall on Friday, November 2 and look for the Warcraft mailbox. We’ll have everything on hand that y...

We’ve loved everyone’s enthusiasm around the World of Warcraft Mythic Dungeon Invitational (MDI) series, where some of the most skilled PvE teams from around the world race to complete Mythic+ Dungeons in the fastest, most efficient way possible.

At BlizzCon 2018, we want to bring you the most epic dungeon races yet with MDI All Stars. We’ve invited exceL's Angels, Method NA, Method PogChamp, and Free Marsy to show us what they’ve got in the dungeons of Kul Tiras and Zandalar. They’ll be racing live and in-person, on stage at BlizzCon, fighting for the bragging rights of being the first Battle for Azeroth MDI champions.

What You Need to Know

Format: Best-of-three, single elimination. Finals also will be a best of three.

Dungeons: This is the first Mythic Dungeon Invitational taking place in the Battle for Azeroth, and we want to celebrate it properly. We want to see some of the best guilds in the world play on as ...

Hello World of Warcraft community! With BlizzCon 2018 getting closer every day, we wanted to give you an update on what you’ll be experiencing at BlizzCon around WoW Classic. We’ve been hard at work on bringing the original Azeroth back to life, and we’re excited that you’ll be able to get your hands on the demo we’re creating for the show—both at BlizzCon and at home with the ...

The Halloween season has finally arrived, and we’re ready to cut straight to the heart of the holiday. If you're dying to pick up a knife and hack, slash, and jab at something, you’ll be excited to hear that Blizzard's 2018 Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contest officially begins October 15! Unleash your magical axes, psi blades, sharpened claws, and other creative cutlery to carve up Blizzard-themed jack-o-lantern of impressive splendor. 

We’ll choose five of the grandest autumnal squash to each receive $60.00 (USD) Blizzard Balance. 

Pumpkin Submission Tips

• The winning entries will display high levels of originality, craftsmanship, and possibly humor.
• Your pumpkin must be lit up by a candle or other light source in your photo entry. You should include another photo of the pumpkin unlit.
• Pumpkins must be related to the Blizzard game universes.
• Try to take the best picture possible, as picture quality helps make a ...

Blizzard Entertainment’s university relations and World of Warcraft development teams are proud to present the eighth annual World of Warcraft Student Art Contest! We’re calling on college and university students to submit original artwork or animations that would be a great fit for World of Warcraft.

Share with us your creative vision of something we’ve never seen before that still fits within the World of Warcraft universe. You can view previous winning submissions here.

Onli...

In its 11th year, the Arena World Championship (AWC) has once again arrived on the biggest World of Warcraft esports stage of the year—BlizzCon 2018. The top-tier competition in the AWC has been dynamic since the launch of Battle for Azeroth, and the collision of regions and metas in Anaheim is sure to result in an explosive tournament.

What You Need To Know

• Format: Each match will be a best of five until the grand finals, which will be a best of seven.
• Map Pool: All 10 current Arena maps will be playable, including the new maps introduced in BfA—Mugambala and Hook Point.
• Schedule:
  • Monday, October 29 from 11 a.m. PDT (7 p.m. CEST)
    The first day of competition will take place during BlizzCon Opening Week in front of a live audience at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles. ...