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...