From the Mount's Mouth - Blizzard's Alex Afrasiabi Talks Warlords of Draenor

Post by Steve Farrelly @ 02:06pm 12/03/14 | 3 Comments

It's an interesting concept, to take Warcraft back to Warcraft. The sentiment alone is proof that Blizzard is aware just how far they've run with World of Warcraft in the grand scheme of things and, well, you only need to look at the last expansion as an example of just how far.

Not that Mists was bad by any measure, but there's a certain hook to the original narrative that has felt somewhat lost in the MMO in more recent years, which is why Warlords of Draenor is garnering so much attention from fans and WoW-leavers alike. We spoke with Blizzard's Alex Afrasiabi about the new expansion and, well, even his excitement for the game is difficult to deny.

Read our interview with Alex Afrasiabi to see why, and learn more about the forthcoming expansion.

alex afrasiabi blizzard warcraft warlords of draenor world of warcraft ausgamers interview

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series6
Posted 09:08pm 16/3/14

Guess it makes it easier and cost effective to recycle Outland and call it an expansion. Bit piss poor in my opinion with so much other lore to choose from. Sounds like the decision was a cost one, and yet they still wont be releasing all new character models despite such massive profits. Oh ActiBli$$....

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Khel
Posted 10:01pm 16/3/14

Actually, they are releasing all new character models, thats part of this expansion. And its not recycled Outlands, its Draenor, its built entirely new from the ground up. Its not like Cata where they took existing zones and changed them or upgraded them, this is Draenor before it was ripped apart into Outlands, while it bears some general similarities as far as geography goes, its entirely new content and doesn't reuse or build on any Outlands stuff.

For a few examples, the zone that becomes Hellfire Peninsula is the Tanaan Jungle in WoD, a tropical rainforest. The Blades Edge Mountains don't exist, because they were formed by two areas of Draenor, a snowy place where the Ogres live and a rock desert type place that looks a bit reminiscent of original 1k needles, smashing into each other. Zangarmarsh is an ocean, the Sea of Zangar. Shadowmoon Valley is a tranquil, moonlit forest and the Black Temple is still the Temple of Karabor and hasn't been corrupted or destroyed and is still inhabited by the Draenai. Shattrath is still the capital city of the Draenai and hasn't been destroyed, and is actually a coastal city because it sits on the Sea of Zangar. The Bone Wastes don't exist because Auchindoun hasn't blown up yet and is still a massive Draenai mausoleum, and beyond it is an entirely new zone, the Spires of Arakk, which is the homeland of the Arakoa, which didn't even have any analogue in post-shattering Outlands because the entire homeland of the Arakoa was wiped off the map. Oh and what became Netherstorm is a chain of coastal islands.

Thats the cliff notes anyway, theres so many more changes its barely the same place, while if you look at an overhead map you can probably pick out geographical similarities, thats about where it starts and ends. If you want to hate on WoW though, by all means, hate on WoW, but at least come up with some legitimate reasons and don't just spew back someone else's opinion that you saw on Reddit in an attempt to make some kind of weird anti-corporate point. I mean, wtf even is ActiBliss anyway?

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Shay
Posted 10:52am 18/3/14

Thank you Khel for summing my thoughts up for me :P You guys at Ausgamers get some really cool interviews with the Blizzard team, they're a joy to read!

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