As Plunderstorm has ended and set sail for fairer seas, Lead Software Engineer Orlando Salvatore shared a short retrospective celebrating the heart and innovation that went into creating the standalone event! Plunderstorm AnnouncementPlunderstorm Mid-Point Statistics$50k Creator Royale Spanning just over a month, the 60v60 Battle Royale activity was an instant success! Serving as a team lead on the goblin workshop that is Blizzard's secretive experimental gameplay group, Lead Software Engineer Orlando Salvatore shared his thoughts on Twitter today, detailing innovation and experimentation that went into creating the limited-time event, making it as streamlined and user-friendly as possible for both veterans of the game and new players. An activity marked by several firsts for World of Warcraft, there are things they may try again and others they may never do again, but the clear passion and excitement that went into developing Plunderstorm was visible for all to see.
MrGM Interview with Holly Longdale - Plunderstorm, Experiments, Cross-Region
18.04.2024 - 04:43 / wowhead.com / Holly Longdale
MrGM interviewed Warcraft Vice-President Holly Longdale about lessons from Plunderstorm, experimental modes, and NA x EU cross-region play.
Highlight Topics
- Dragonflight target was an 8-week patch cadence.
- Dragonflight was a learning experience on how to make content sustainable for the team and the players.
- Plunderstorm outperformed Blizzard expectations.
- Blizzard is fortunate to have a healthy community to support all these different game versions.
- Warbands, Delves, and Follower dungeons are answers to what the community has asked over time.
- Blizzard feels like they have underserved «casuals» and «midcore» players and are working to address it with all different play modes and content being added.
- EU x NA crossplay? Blizzard would like it to happen. But there are many barriers like regulatory issues from different countries.
- Do release cycles hurt one another? i.e., with y being delayed because x is launching now? Yes. At BlizzCon, when talking about Cataclysm and SoD, it was a deliberate decision to announce them together since many players might not enjoy Classic going to Cataclysm, so SoD provides them a home. Blizzard plans on releases and tries to not have them cannibalize one another. But at the same time, they see that the crossover between some versions, like SoD and modern isn't too big.
- Did plunderstorm panned out like intended? No. It didn't go at all how Holly planned it. They admit they overplayed it way too long, maybe would be better to not said anything at all. Lesson learned. Blizzard is willing to take more risks now.
- Plunderstorm is limited time due to a design decision. Its design isn't one of long-lived game mode. Blizzard is now going back to take a look at lessons learned from it and how they can improve for the future
- Jeremy Feasel (Muffinus) is leading the experimental team and has much in store for the future.
- Will we see more stuff like Remix? Yes. As long as the community likes it, they will keep doing it.
- War Within was «made for Holly», it has so much «casual» content, content to keep players engaged from follower dungeons to delves, it allows players not looking to group up or only do content with a close-knit group of friends.
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A massive Spanish Pokemon tournament that starts out with a Stardew Valley-style Nuzlocke was won by an exploding "trash-bird"
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