BioShock 2 Live Chat - Transcript

Transcript for “BioShock 2 Developer Chat”, Tues Feb 2 2010 (Part I)
Aaron-GS: Good evening and welcome to our BioShock 2 developer chat! Tonight we have with us Jordan, Melissa and Zak from 2K Marin.
Aaron-GS: This chat is queued and moderated, so please allow the developers some time to review and respond to your questions.
Aaron-GS: Please also refrain from asking complex, multi-part questions to be fair to other participants.
Jordan-2kMarin: Hi. I'm Jordan, and I'll try to refrain from asking flattering questions to myself.
Zak-2kMarin: Hey everybody! Really cool to get the chance to talk to actual Bioshock fans -- looking forward to you questions. Fire away. Give Jordan the hard ones.
Melissa-2kMarin: Hey all - I'm Miller and I'm less funny than Jordan and Zak
Guest-12: To all three: What would you say is your favorite aspect of Bioshock 2?
Melissa-2kMarin: I think my favorite part of the game is watching players discover new combinations of Weapons and Plasmids in Multiplayer (MP). There are so many different ways you can use the Plasmids in the match to help you win like using Winter Blast on doorways to block players from escaping you.
Guest-66: Is there multiplayer?
Melissa-2kMarin: Yes
Guest-27: Hi guys! Thanks for this awesome opportunity. How will the matchmaking system in multiplayer work? ie. will it have a local search or pick whoever has the better connection, regardless of distance?
Jordan-2kMarin: For me it's probably the extension of the argument about player choice (particularly within shooters) that the original posed. In BioShock 2, not only do you have the freedom to make story-altering decisions, but that freedom defines you. So by Act 3, the broad strokes of the story are all about you.
Melissa-2kMarin: Matchmaking takes 3 things into account - ping, skill level and your Rank in game. The system tries to match you with other players with similar values for those 3 things. Additionally we have Private Matches so you can play with your friends regardless of differences in Rank but you won't earn ADAM to rank up.
Guest-59: Geez, idk what to ask. hmm. I know! Thanks for making a great game! Will there still be houdini splicers? :3
Zak-2kMarin: Yep, we brought the Houdini's back! Plus, we now have that Plasmid in MP, so you can use the same hit-and-run tactics yourself.
Guest-43: What was it like to develop the multiplayer? Was it a challenge considering it's the first time you have made a multiplayer section of a game? (I assume)
Guest-58: Was there more focus on the single player or multiplayer?
Guest-65: how much of a challenge was it to come up with a new creative way to add more in depth story line and game play this time around?
Zak-2kMarin: We actually had full teams working on each portion -- the 2k Marin studio on SP and Digital Extremes on the MP side. The big advantage for this is the BOTH were the main focus, just for different teams. Lot's of communication back and forth, but both sides were primarily concerned with making MP or SP as good as possible.
Guest-45: What was the most difficult part you found when going back to Rapture and creating BioShock 2?
Melissa-2kMarin: MP was a really interesting challenge but in a good way We had to look at all the things that were truly 'BioShock' and figure out which ones worked for MP and which didn't. For instance, you can't have 8 Weapons equipped at once in MP like you do Single Player - trying to choose between that many Weapons would get you **bleep**ed - so we gave the player 2 Weapons slots in each loadout so they can switch between Weapons faster. Also tech wise, MP wasn't even part of the engine when we started. The tech team at Digital Extremes did an amazing job of getting MP working and making it great.
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-65 ... a big fat drug-addled screaming one. We had sort of a two-audience challenge this time, building new unknown territory into the Rapture mythos for veterans of the original, while introducing the setting to people who were unfamiliar. So our best strategy is the sort of double-entendre, i.e. the introductory levels serve as a crash course in Rapture, but they're filled with references and layered meaning for people who know the first game intimately.
Zak-2kMarin: Trying to recapture that first feeling of discover and mystery that we all got from coming over that sea wall and seeing Rapture for the first time. It's a hard act to follow, but we really focused on trying to get that mix of wonder and foreboding back into Rapture, without totally rebooting it.
Guest-74: As Ayn Rand's objectivist philosophy clearly influenced and formed the basis of Rapture in the first game, can we expect to see any other philosphical viewpoints explored in the second iteration? Obviously without spoilers
Guest-12: Can we expect secret achievements besides the story specific ones?
Guest-14: Who gets to wear the Delta suit that was supposed to come in the Uber edition? Like is it the same person at the Splicer's Unite and the video of unboxing the collector edition, or is it shared? (As well as how fun is it to be wearing it)
Jordan-2kMarin: Dr. Sofia Lamb, our primary antagonist in BioShock 2, is sort of a union between philosophy and evolutionary psychology. To get an idea of how her mind works, check out the works of John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, and Richard Dawkins.
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-12... Yep, there are a ton of secret achievments and trophies! Some of them are focuses on totally mastering specific systems or gameplay, but there are some other ones that just reward clever or interesting behavior -- Like the famous "Irony" achievement from Bio1.
Jordan-2kMarin: (also, if you do so, congratulations, you're a nerd)
Guest-84: Is there one underwater section, or are there multiple ones throughout the game?
Jordan-2kMarin: There are several of varying lengths, which help break the pace.
Guest-35: What system should i get it for!Trick question lol! DLC will 360 get before ps3!
Jordan-2kMarin: I think Guest-35 may be a splicer.
Zak-2kMarin: We recomend you get them all.
Guest-39: Compared to the development of Bioshock 1, which was originally for Xbox 360 and PC before being ported to Playstation 3, this time around you've obviously developed the game from the beginning across all three consoles. Did this cause any issues/ limitations between versions?
bnogradi28: I am very well informed about BioShock 2 due to many previews. So my question is about beyond BioShock 2's release, the DLC. Can you give us info about this. Are you panning on having challenge rooms like the first or added story? And, will Digital Extremes be producing any DLC for the multiplayer like skins and maps? (PS loved the first, I be in line at midnight!)
Elizabeth-2k: There are a couple different people who have worn the Delta suit - and yes, it's very fun to wear it (although the drill is very heavy and quite intimidating as you can imagine.)
Guest-86: Did multiplayer have a story from the beginning, or was it a decision that was made much later in development?
Jordan-2kMarin: Story integration was always part of the design, but setting it in the 1959 Rapture Civil War sort of emerged over time.
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-39 ... It was actually pretty smooth. We had the experience from porting Bioshock 1 over to PS3 at the studio and nearly everybody has all three platforms sitting on their desks. We're constantly running the game on all three.
Melissa-2kMarin: bnogradi28 - Yes we will have DLC!!! But we unfortunately can't talk about the specific details right now.
Guest-82: One of my favourite parts of the game was the audio diaries and ghostly images that appeared in places will there still be the same quantity of diaries/strange events?
Guest-32: Who is responsible for the development of Something In The Sea?
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-82 - We have a similar density of those kinds of events in BioShock 2, if anything, there may be a few more audio diaries per level, and unlike the original, you meet several of our main characters face to face.
Melissa-2kMarin: Something in the Sea is the awesome brainchild of our community manager Elizabeth Tobey
Guest-85: Can we in Boston expect anything else for Splicers Unite? Do you guys have anything planned for PAXEast in March?
topdawg116: Hi, I'm a student studying at Rochester Institute of Technology majoring in Game Design & Development. I was wondering if you had any tips or secrets of being successful in the games industry. Thanks!
Elizabeth-2k: Splicers Unite has moved west - our last event is happening on February 8th in San Francisco.
Guest-59: Will you guys be watching TV for your launch trailer tonight?
Guest-89: can we see Delt's feet if we look down or can we see a refelction of ourself if we look in a mirror?
Guest-42: To all three: Would you say Bioshock 2 multiplayer is competitive enough to lead to tournaments, clan gaming, and even MLG?
Guest-43: For the multiplayer did you take inspiration from other multiplayer games while making it? What kind of ideas did you expand on or bring into the MP that we havent seen before?
Guest-23: Did you plan on meshing the Mark Meltzer plot into any portion of Bisoshock 2?
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-23 A - wait and see.
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-89... Feet / reflections for Delta is actually something we played around with for a while, but we ultimately made the decision that we wanted to focus on more of the stuff the player would see all the time. Delta does have a shadow at all times, though, which leads to some pretty cool freakouts when you come around a corner and see it looming ahead of you.
Guest-65: How conflicting was it to make a visual point to show andrew ryans side as opposed to sophia lambs side, since the civil war started 3 yrs prior to bs1?
Guest-45: How do you all feel about having worked on this project; it now being such a large influence in so many people's lives?
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-65 - well the Single Player component takes you to all-new locations, many of which were either where Lamb's followers were hiding out, or are one of her properties, et cetera. So while we made sure to showcase Ryan's ideas in the intro levels, we sort of circumvented that issue by taking you on a sort of "backstage tour" with the SP campaign.
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-45... It's pretty humbling. We've all been heads down on the project for a pretty long time, so coming up for air finally and seeing how big and how excited the response is has been fantastic. Knowing how much every loves the world of Rapture has kept us pretty honest throughout the whole project, though. We can wait to see how people really react to the final game!
Melissa-2kMarin: Guest-43 - Definitely. Multiplayer fans know what works and we didn't want players to quit the game before they've even started. We spent a lot of time looking at other successful MP games and pinpointing the aspects that worked (accessible and clear UI to get into matches quickly or connecting with friends easily). We tried to make sure that we provided those elements in BioShock 2 MP. In terms of new ideas, the BioShock gameplay is completely unique to our MP mode. There is nothing else like it out there
Guest-35: Is there going to be a underwater MP level!
Melissa-2kMarin: Guest-35 - Well technically they are all underwater But there is no MP underwater combat.
Jordan-2kMarin: She's sassy.
Guest-81: Seeing Heavy Water made an awesome looking Big Daddy costume, can we expect more Bioshock items for PlayStation Home?
Jordan-2kMarin: We haven't announced anything yet so no definitive answer on that one, but if we did, it'd be based on fan response to our fancy duds.
Guest-131: Who would win in a fight: Two Big daddies Vs. One Big Sister?
Guest-149: How much influence was taken from Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand? And what other influences added to the story arcs in Bioshock 1 and 2? Such as novels that would be interesting to read and connect to both games.
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-149 ... check out the 2k Forums, there's a thread in the BioShock General Discussion area all about reading material that may interest the arch-nerd audience.
Guest-86: I just wanted to say "thank you" to everyone for your hard work and dedication! You guys rock!
Melissa-2kMarin: Thank you and thanks to you guys for coming on and asking good questions
Guest-82: In regards to something in the sea will there be any way for us fans of it to play it offline or be able to go through it again to pick up pieces we may have missed or just to be able to run through again at our own pace?
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-131 ... This is actually something that you can try out for yourself in the game! (With the Hypnotize Plasmid) My money would probably be on a Big Sis, though. They can heal themselves back up by absorbing health from other Splicers, so Big Sisters can put up a heck of a fight. And she's fast! So, a Big Sis vs. 2 Bouncers would probably end up with the Big Sis standing at the end, but a Big Sis against 2 Rumblers might be a more even fight.
Guest-89: ahhh sad to see that was pulled how about when we use the scout plasmid will we be able to 360 check ourself out aka delta? does he have a 3D model to look at while in ghost/scout mode?
Elizabeth-2k: Something in the Sea will remain online after release - don't worry about that. Every part of it is still there. There's also a fan-run BioShock 2 wiki that has a fantastic timeline if you wanted to use that to catch up.
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-89, yes, you can see yourself in ghost form, and boy does he look confident. He looks like he's dating the entire Ryan's Raider's cheerleading squad ... and all the players.
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-89 ... Yep, there's a "Dealta Body" left behind when you go Scouting. It's a little ghostly though so that it isn't such a sitting duck for other Splicers to find. The Decoy Plasmid also uses a Delta model!
Nastadon: Did you guys want to get rid of backtracking? Or did it just sort of happen based on the level design?
bnogradi28: Will the desicions in BioShock 2 be more effective into the storyline instead of the harvest or rescue which led to different ending videos. Will there actually be different gameplay depending on descisions. And, would you kindly give me a free UBER edition?
Aaron|Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate
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Transcript for “BioShock 2 Developer Chat”, Tues Feb 2 2010 (Part III)
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-42 ... 2K Aus is basically Marin's sister studio. They did a ton over the course of the project ... tech, levels, animation, effects, the whole shebang. We were really lucky to work with them again, because they were so close to the first game. The Siren Alley and Fontaine Futuristics levels were primarily done out of Aus (including that awesome flooding sequence we showed in Siren Alley). We [heart] 2K Australia!
Melissa-2kMarin: BioshockBigdad - There are 7 modes in MP - 5 base modes plus 2 variations. The 5 base modes are Survivial of the Fittest (FFA), Civil War (TDM), Capture the Sister (variation of CTF), Turf War (Control territory points) and ADAM Grab (hold onto the Little Sister the longest). The 2 variations are Last Splicer Standing and Team ADAM Grab.
Guest-85: "Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?" Is Bioshock2 as quotable as the first? Answer quickly, "would you kindly." Thanks a lot for answering our questions!
Guest-212: Were there any specific other viral campaigns that Something in the Sea was inspired by?
Guest-45: Will there be any liquor/snacks lying around Rapture for Delta to consume this time around, and will they have the same effects?
Guest-71: Do you guys think you will do a "Game With the Developers" thing? I remember hearing that one was done for Left 4 Dead 2 and thought it would be neat to go head to head in multiplayer with the creators!
Melissa-2kMarin: Guest-71 - that would be cool to do though I would probably get my **bleep** kicked
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-85 - actually, only the Internet can answer that question. Wait a few months after release, and see if anyone's quoting Little Sisters in debate class, then posting on AngryJerk.com in triumph.
Elizabeth-2k: Guest 212: There were quite a few that inspired me - you can probably guess a few. I'm a pretty big nerd and love this kind of stuff, so I had a lot to draw on. With a world as rich as BioShock 2, though, you have so much material to work with to begin with.
Guest-175: Rapture, it's full of not only Art Deco but multiple art forms. To what lengths did the artists go to develop such beautiful areas?
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-45 ... Yep -- there's still a lot to eat and drink down in Rapture. All those Splicers have to live somehow. We actually added a bunch of new ones that the citizens had to resort to over ten years at the bottom of the sea -- distilled water, homemade medicine, and the like. These have some similar effects to Bioshock 1 -- restoring a bit of Eve or Health.
bnogradi28: Is there any minecarts in the game?
Zak-2kMarin: bnogradi28 ... Almost! We couldn't geta real minecart in, or a snowy level where you slip around and have to race a penguin, but Ryan Amusements does have little mini-bathyspheres that ride around on tracks for the Journey to the Surface ride in that area.
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-175 - we have a healthy balance of fine art snobs and bearded, shirtless Outsider Art nutjobs who paint exclusively with anger. For reference, they'd pull from the more fantastical hybrid tech of something like Brazil, to very detailed books about corporate logos of the 30s ... all the way to footage of the Titanic wreck.
Guest-149: Will all the weapons/plasmids from Bioshock be making a return?
Guest-192: Does BioShock 2 have many "jump" moments? Like in med pavilion where the thuggish Dr. Grossman appears behind you after you look at the painting?
BioshockBigdad: Im hearing alot about Lamb the main evil villian in Bioshock 2 but are there anymore lead villians that you can inform me about?
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-192... Heck, yes. That kind of "cat in the bushes" scare moment is a classic and something level designers love to pack into their levels when you're not looking. Rapture's still a dangerous place and they'll be plenty of surprises LIEK RIGHT BEHINGD YOU AGAEIDGSDN
Jordan-2kMarin: We've got to hold some back for Scooby Doo reveals.
Guest-202: can we chose conversation responses to ai characters? or is
Chronic_Alchemy: One more thing! What's the max amount of kits & Eve you can carry in Single Player? So far it only looks like 5... :[
Zak-2kMarin: Chronic_Alchemy ... Yep, the default number of First Aid and Eve Hypos you can carry was lowered to 5, but they restore more when you use them. We wanted to capture a bit of the "strength" of being a Big Daddy by having you be a bit more durable and not have to heal quite as often. You'll still be doing it plenty thought -- Brute Splicers and Big Sisters pack a punch. Oh, and there are Tonics you can find / purchase that raise this number.
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-202 - there are no dialogue trees in BioShock, we want to keep you immersed, and slowing you down to lock verbal horns with a guy like Andrew Ryan would really kind of ruin the intended pace & momentum of the piece. We're not by any means elitist about them in other games, they just don't fit the bill for BioShock.
Guest-87: How does a Big Daddy go about eating? Delta in particular.
Guest-127: Hey, will there be more upclose visits with characters in Bio 2 like meeting Andrew Ryan than in 1? Thanks.
Zak-2kMarin: It's really messy. You don't really want to know. Actually, we were really, REALLY close to having a audio diary in the game on this exact subject, but we decided it was too rich, too deep of a mystery to spoil.
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-127 - Yes, several more. We put a lot of effort into those, although they're not frequent enough to become annoying. They're kind of apex confrontation moments w/ key characters.
FrenchRapture: Hello! ( I'm a French fan ) In the collector, why did you choose a vynil? It's a very old support...
Guest-85: Last question for me: Is the launch trailer (debuting tonight) going to be the opening cinematic of the game?
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-85 - no.
Jordan-2kMarin: :0
Jordan-2kMarin: The intro is its own animal.
Zak-2kMarin: FrenchRapture ... There are record players all over Rapture and it seemed like the most fitting format to deliver the soundtrack on. So far, people have been pretty excited about it!
Guest-255: What is the main language Bioshock 1/2 were programmed in? What languges would you reccomend learning for a student heading to the games industry?
Guest-158: Will there be funny Easter Eggs like the Pacman "Wheel of Cheese" from BS1
Zak-2kMarin: The game is mostly written in C++. This is pretty standard accross the industry, so you can't go wrong with a solid foundation in it. Good luck!
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-158: The real question is, how many of them are genuinely intended, and how many do you guys just make up in your heads, allowing us to later say, "nudge wink oh yeah we're super clever"
Guest-149: Will all the weapons and plasmids from the first Bioshock be making a return?
Guest-123: Was there any one thing in BioShock that you thought, "Oh! I'd love to do more/learn more about that!" that you were able to add into BioShock 2?
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-123 - I was always interested in humanizing the warped father-bond between Big Daddies and Little Sisters. It became the player's core (initial,anyway) motive for crossing the city, his mission in life. Our themes touch pretty heavily on family in a broad way.
Guest-266: will you guys join the multiplayer with us to once the game is released?
Guest-175: Voice acting question! (I'm running out of ides >.<) From what I understand, Ken the clown's voice is actually Ken Levine. If anyone of you could have voice acted in BioShock 2, what would you have been? (Personally, I see Jordan as a book critique, Zak as a shoe shiner, Melissa as a artist and Liz as a scientist ^_^)
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-175 - this is only a partial answer, but I actually do have a single line in BioShock 2. It'll be interesting to see if the fans can figure out which.
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-149 ... Except for Sonic Boom, all the original Plasmids are returning in some form, though they all level up as you buy upgrades and some of them change pretty substantially in funcition. Basically, everyone who played Bio1 has ONE Plasmid that was their favorite and we knew we couldn't leave anyone out in the cold. Weapons are a bit trickier -- because you're a Big Daddy now, a lot of the more traditional weapons from Bioshock 1 didn't make a lot of sense. (Subject Delta would look a bit silly holding a pistol.) Beyond that, we really wanted to free up you left hand, so that you could use weapons and Plasmids at the same time, so all weapons had to be designed to work one handed and fit with a Big Daddy. That said, I think we've got a good enough spread of weapon types (and a bunch of great new Alternate Ammo types) that you won't be missing Jack's weapon set. And if you do, most of them are in multiplayer.
Melissa-2kMarin: Guest-266 - I don't know if we will have any official event but I definitely plan on playing at home when the game comes out to see what crazy combos people come up with
Guest-45: Going off of my previous question regarding liquor and snacks: does this mean we have the pleasure of seeing a drunken big daddy?
BioshockBigdad: Is there a person in side of the big daddy suit I always wondered about this. lol i guess a dumb question BUT I MUST KNOW.
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-45 ... Subject Delta's tolerance is a bit higher,but yeah, you can be a drunk Daddy.
Jordan-2kMarin: BioshockBigdad - yes, we can say definitively (now, as it's sort of central to our story) that Big Daddies were once human, and in BioShock 2, you're sort of a man trapped inside a monster, questing to recover your sole human connection.
Guest-192: If i remember right, there was a plane in one of the preveiw videos? Was that a referance or something else?
Guest-202: are there any ways i can get the tracks from the vinyl on my se in any other way? i really want to listen to them but have no way to play it. allthough i agree it fits the game.
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-192 ... Good catch! We kind of like to leave things like that for the fans to decide, but you can probably make some safe assumptions there.
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-202 - the original game's score is available in the Download section of the Cult of Rapture site. Those are the tracks on the vinyl. The BioShock 2 score is also in the SE, on a CD.
Guest-224: Hello again! Do you think a multilayer mode big daddy fight? For an example, big daddy fight or team big daddy fight? Thank you.And i didn't see my first question replied If i'm wrong sorry
Guest-71: Do the various vending machines still make music and the occasional comment?
Guest-87: Which character do each of you relate to the most?
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-71 ... For a while, the Ammo Bandito did not talk. And there was MUTINY on the team. Both he and the Circus of Values clown are back, but they're a little worse for wear after all that time.
Jordan-2kMarin: For me it'd probably be Sinclair. Lamb voices a lot of utilitarian ideas I'm interested in, but I'm way, way too selfish to live them the way she does. Sinclair is a moral relativist, like most of us... he's self-interested but not predatory ... has a soft spot for humanity and doesn't begrudge them their shortcomings. He's just, uh, willing to cross several lines I'd probably stop short of.
Melissa-2kMarin: Guest-224 - You are able to play as a Big Daddy (the Rosie model) in many of the modes and fight with the rest of Splicers. Playing as a Big Daddy is a very different experience - you are a lot slower and have less combat choices but you are much more powerful than the average Splicer. For balance reasons, its best to have 1 at time in the match
Guest-254: Will we get to see some sane people in Rapture? I heard there were rumors about the splicers having **bleep**ed all of them in the first Bioshock game and I'm assuming that ten years later, they're pretty much non-existant.
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-254 - Yep, several of our major characters are unspliced this time around.
Melissa-2kMarin: Guest-87 - I relate most to an MP character - Naledi. She's a total tomboy and swears a lot
Zak-2kMarin: Oh good one.
Guest-149: Now I have to ask specifically, will we see the Crossbow again? Or just in multiplayer? Thanks for the answer regarding weapons. And thanks to all of ya'll for asnwering questions.
Jordan-2kMarin: We're gonna have to coerce Melissa into dressing as Naledi at some Splicers Unite event.
Guest-192: Are there new vending machines or are they just the same?
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-192 and Guest-271 ... We did play around with adding new machines or changing the Ammo Bandito / Circus of Values for a while, but they were just such iconic parts of Rapture to everyone that we couldn't get them out of the game.
Guest-231: Are the invent machines returning for Bioshock 2?
Melissa-2kMarin: Guest-149 - The crossbow does return in MP. For SP it couldn't really work since its too small for Delta. Instead he gets this kick-**bleep** Speargun that is AWESOME. You can headshot Splicers into the wall and leave them their as a trophy to your skills. That's not to say the Crossbow in MP isn't awesome too
Guest-266: will the 2kmarin staff celebrate once the game is released? a big party ?
Jordan-2kMarin: More of an afterparty. First, the blood orgy.
Guest-254: Will we get some more background information on Tenenbaum and her life with the rest of the Little Sisters prior to the events of Bioshock 2?
H00n: When a player hits max level in multiplayer, what happens next? Will they be able to "prestige"?
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-231 ... The U-Invent and the crafting system that went along with it is one of the few things that we did cut from Bioshock 1. We had so many other improvements / changes (New Hacking / New Research / Plasmid Upgrades / New Weapons / Etc.) that there just wasn't room to give the U-Invent the time it needed to get into the game. It's not something we did lightly, but there is still plenty of good stuff to loot and find in Rapture. Just a lot fewer Steel Screws and Rubber Hoses.
Melissa-2kMarin: H00n - something really cool that is spoileriffic and can't be revealed
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-254 - A little bit, although Tenenbaum is very focused in her return to the city. She sees the creation of new Little Sisters as the ultimate traumatic echo, her own greatest sin, repeating again as if nothing was learned.
Guest-45: Is there any talk in BioShock 2 regarding a possible reversal of the Big Daddy-ification process?
Guest-12: A question for all three: Harvest, or save?
Zak-2kMarin: Guest-12... I always Save. I'm pretty sure these other two jerks harvest. I think.
Jordan-2kMarin: Guest-45 - Sinclair pitches the idea to the player as a hypothetical. But that's as much as we can say now.
Melissa-2kMarin: Guest-12 - Save - I like the gifts
Jordan-2kMarin: Harvest or Rescue? Bah. Try Adopt, then suicide, then coldly abandon as they cry outside the Vita-Chamber.
Guest-87: Is Fontaine truly, 100% dead?
Jordan-2kMarin: "BEHOLD MY TRUE FORM! SEE HERE AS I TRY TO TALK LIKE CAGNEY FROM MY SEVENTY MOUUUUUTHS"
Zak-2kMarin: Man, thanks everyone! This has been really cool. Lot's of great (and tough!) questions. Hope you enjoy the game and we'll see you on the forums! (When I get off my butt and start posting, which I TOTALLY will do this week.)
Jordan-2kMarin: Thanks for your questions, all. I dare you to start wearing blue butterflies to work, school, or the exercise yard in your correctional facility.
Melissa-2kMarin: Thanks for all the questions people (sorry we couldn't answer every one of them). Hope to see you all online in MP next week
Elizabeth-2k: Thanks guys! See you on the forums (and in Rapture!)
Aaron-GS: That's all the time we have for this evening! Thank you everyone for being here, and a big thank you to Jordan, Melissa, Zak AND Elizabeth!
Aaron-GS: A transcript of the chat will be posted in the Gaming board in the next 24 hours.
Aaron-GS: Happy gaming!
Aaron|Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate
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    9:21 PM Guest-27: What has been your favourite episodes to shoot and also to watch?
    9:21 PM YvetteNBrown: The Law and order is my fav to watch. Flashback favorite to shoot
    9:21 PM Guest-8: How did you first find out about Community (like how did you first find out about auditions for it?)! Aso you are the best...and so is Community!
    9:22 PM YvetteNBrown: My agent sent me an audition notice and I went in THREE times before I was cast!
    9:22 PM Guest-66: So... how about Joel in that rock magician costume...? ;D
    9:23 PM YvetteNBrown: I loved Joel in that mascara and eyeliner… I told him it was sexy! Apologies to his wife!
    9:23 PM Guest-89: You're my absolute favourite in the show! What were your first thoughts on the whole concept when you first heard/saw it?
    9:23 PM YvetteNBrown: Thank you! I thought it was really a great script and was hoping and praying I'd get to be a part!
    9:24 PM Guest-87: Yvette, do you know what the plan for next semester is?
    9:24 PM YvetteNBrown: We don't know yet. We won't find out until late July when we get that script!
    9:24 PM Guest-28: How much time did it take to film season 3?
    9:24 PM YvetteNBrown: We filmed season three from late July until late February. 80 hour weeks… yikers!
    9:24 PM Guest-105: Who's your favorite cast member?
    9:25 PM YvetteNBrown: No matter who you ask this question to in the cast the answer will undoubtedly be Danny Pudi! He's the BEST
    9:26 PM Guest-18: Totally loving the shows right now!!!!! Love hearing you sing. Do you guys ever randomly sing when waiting to shoot?
    9:25 PM YvetteNBrown: To Guest-18 We sing all the time! We make up songs that only make us laugh. If you heard them you would find us all very strange!
    9:26 PM Guest-127: i love you ms, Shirley u the best 
    9:26 PM YvetteNBrown: To Guest-127 I love you back! And you can call me Yvette. It's okay!
    9:26 PM Guest-42: If you could be any other character in the show, who would you be?
    9:26 PM YvetteNBrown: I think I would be Senor Chang or Dean Pelton. They seem to have the most fun!
    9:27 PM Guest-132: Since its community college and thats usually over in 2 years. Will you guys ever graduate?
    9:28 PM YvetteNBrown: I now folks who go to community college long after two years so we could be at Greendale FOREVER! Leonard and Pierce surely have been
    9:28 PM Guest-19: After watching the finale, it seems as if the finale was meant to act as a series finale if the show was not renewed. What were the emotions like on set while filming that episode? 
    9:28 PM YvetteNBrown: It was a bit bittersweet. We had faith we'd be back but we were gratified in knowing that even if we weren't Dan and the writers had given us a fitting finale.
    9:29 PM Guest-122: Hey Yvette, @GREENDALE_LOVE from Twitter here. Thank you so much for your amazingness to us fans. How the heck do you ever manage your Twitter account??? We're always bugging you
    9:29 PM YvetteNBrown: LOL! You guys are great! For all of your loveliness there's only one or two bad apples and as you now if you follow my feed, they're politely reprimanded and blocked and kindness is restored!
    9:29 PM Guest-112: I heard you once had a contract w/Motown. Do you ever think about going back to singing?
    9:30 PM YvetteNBrown: I think about it sometimes. But my motown/Biv 10 days were back when I was a teenager. If the right opportunity came about I'd sing a little ditty or two. Until then singing as SHirley is enough for me!
    9:30 PM Guest-69: How excited are you about the 13 episodes NBC ordered for the fall?? When I found it was like a really early Christmas gift! 
    9:31 PM YvetteNBrown: We were OVERJOYED! It was Christmas for us too! And we're really excited about the move to Friday's. It's a more relaxing time slot over there! LOL!
    9:31 PM Guest-79: Hi Yvette!! I own Season 1&2 on DVD and all the commentary and special features are hilarious. I love that you guys include that stuff. When does Season 3 come out??
    9:32 PM YvetteNBrown: Thanks! We have a great time doing the commentaries! Season 3 will be out later this summer! And you can pre-order it on BestBuy.com…the wording may be weird but the link works! Also seasons 1 & 2 are on sale right now! Gotta love Best Buy!!!
    9:33 PM Jason-BBY: You can preorder Season 3 now at http://bit.ly/CommunitySeason3
    9:33 PM Guest-149: I've always thought Shirley was just a great character, but in season 3 she has been especially awesome! Are there any Shirley moments or episodes that you would classify as your favorite? Lame question, I know, but it's what I thought of. Thanks for being so awesome and you and all the cast are definitely role models to me! Keep being great. 
    9:34 PM YvetteNBrown: Not lame at all! I love EVERY opportunity to work with Malcolm-Jamal Warner and also working with Joel McHale! I also enjoy delving into Shirley's darker side. She's fiesty… and SCARY!
    9:34 PM Guest-94: Thanks for taking the time to do this, Yvette! We're all really excited that Community has been renewed for a fourth season, but are you at all worried that it won't get a back 9 episodes?
    9:36 PM YvetteNBrown: Guest -94… stay in the moment! 13 episodes is great! let's rejoice in that. If the back 9 is meant to be, it will be. Lots of viewers and high ratings will assure it, though… so Communies/Human Beings… tell two friends about the move to Friday at 8:30 in the fall, will ya?
    9:35 PM Guest-42: I find that I keep saying "That's nice!" like Shirley -- have you picked up any of your character's mannerisms/sayings?
    9:35 PM YvetteNBrown: LOL! "That's Nice" is actually a Yvette saying. I ad-libbed it in the pilot as Shirley and it sorta stuck. So I'd say yes… sorta? To that question.
    9:36 PM Guest-30: Who's the wildest on set?
    9:37 PM YvetteNBrown: Donald Glover, HANDS DOWN!!!
    9:37 PM Guest-132: I love bestbuy! How often do you go to bestbuy & What's your favorite section to browse in Best Buy?
    9:37 PM YvetteNBrown: I go to Best Buy all the time! I just bought a fridge and TV there… on triple points weekend! SCORE!!!
    9:37 PM Guest-124: Community is now known worldwide. How do you feel about that? (kisses from Brazil, by the way)
    9:38 PM YvetteNBrown: Kisses TO Brazil! I think it's awesome! I hope to visit some of the other countries "Community" is playing in someday!  
    9:38 PM Guest-102: Hi Yvette, thanks so much for what you do! That finale was excellent. What other projects are you working on right now? Anything in the works for the future with Dan Harmon or the other cast members of Community?
    9:39 PM YvetteNBrown: Thanks so much! I just finished working on the "Percy Jackson" sequel! Which was Awesome! And I still do a voice on the "Pound Puppies" Cartoon on the Hub network! Listing everyone else's projects would be TOO lengthy! They're all even more busy than me! Talented folks!!
    9:39 PM Guest-63: Yvette, how do you get into character? Do you do anything in particular?
    9:40 PM YvetteNBrown: I think of my mom and Miss Piggy because those are the two folks I patterned Shirley's voice and/or mannerisms after. I think I owe them both money now!
    Guest-205: Hello, you were so amazing in tonight's episodes! The last one brought tears to my eyes! I was wondering, with which member of the cast do you have the most fun working in scenes?
    YvetteNBrown: I love them all for different reasons. Gillian (Stink) because she's SO present. She's a very generous actor. Ali because she's just so good at everything. Danny because he's pure love. Donald, Ken & Jim because they're pure fun and Joel because of our awesome sexual chemistry! LOL! Oh, and Chevy because he's a legend.
    Guest-146: Does the cast improv any lines? If so who's do you like the most? Great job this season! Season 3 is my favorite.
    YvetteNBrown: We all improv from time to time. But Donald's make it in the show most often… followed by maybe Jim's. 
    Guest-196: The show does many parodies of famous movies and TV shows. What favorite movie/TV would you like to parody next season? 
    YvetteNBrown: I'd LOVE a muppets parody! 
    Guest-180: Do you know when you start filming season 4? I love the show! And Shirley!
    YvetteNBrown: If things are the same as the previous three seasons, we should go back to begin season four the last week of July.
    Guest-122: What has been your favorite episode of Community so far?
    YvetteNBrown: Law and Order
    renanwho: Hey Yvette! You're doing an amazing job on Community. I also loved you on Drake & Josh! Do you listen to Childish Gambino? If you do, what's your favorite song? Love from Brazil.
    YvetteNBrown: Of course! Be Alone and any other song where Donald sings in falsetto. It's dreamy!
    Guest-13: I just want to say thanks for following a journey that led you to be part of such a brilliant piece of work Community brings so much laughter into my life. You are amazing. Shirley is such a great character, and you bring so much lovely spirit to her. (We chatted a tiny bit previously about the group I started on Facebook "Keep Community on NBC") LOVE you guys! You are Streets Ahead in my book. -Korrie
    YvetteNBrown: Thanks Korrie! xoxo
    Guest-87: Yvette, how do you feel about those Jeff/Shirey shippers?
    YvetteNBrown: I think it's hilarious and never going to happen! LOL!
    YvetteNBrown: Although that Joel is super cute and charming.
    Guest-70: Why do you think it was important to do a Musical for this season's Christmas episode? What was it like to work on it?
    YvetteNBrown: I think it was just something fun to do and Christmas was the best time. I think it was the goal of the writers to do "Glee" type episode at some point and season 3 was it! And we all had a ball filming it! everything was so festive
    Guest-205: If you could be on any other TV show, currently airing or long gone, which would you pick? 
    YvetteNBrown: That's easy… Cosby Show! 
    Guest-276: Hey Yvette you are a Christian woman like Shirley
    YvetteNBrown: Yes, i am! Hopefully a bit less judgmental, though.
    Guest-132: To piggyback off of Guest 42's question. Have you picked up on any of your costars mannerisms/sayings? If so who & what?
    YvetteNBrown: I've started using chapstick and that's Danny's FAVORITE thing in the world next to his family.
    Guest-146: I have to ask...do the ladies in the cast enjoy it when joel takes off his shirt? Or is it just me?
    YvetteNBrown: Yes, we ladies enjoy it. And some of the guys do too, I suspect!
    Guest-258: Do you have any awesome plans for the off season?
    YvetteNBrown: I'm an awesome sleeper! So I look forward to sleeping a LOT!
    Guest-253: I'm sorry for not joining the chat earlier, I've been crying a lot thanks to the finale. How was shooting it, Yvette? Was it as emotional to you as it was for us? Hugs from Venezuela!
    YvetteNBrown: Hello to Venezuela! I hope those were happy tears! Yes, the last day of every season has been emotional to some extent, but we always know that we'll see each other over hiatus…or when the show ultimately ends so it's not truly sad, sad. Just "See ya soon" sad.
    Guest-124: How was it being such a badass in the pillow fight? 
    YvetteNBrown: I love when Shirley gets to show her RAGE! I don't know what that says about me. LOL!
    Guest-312: who thought of the video game episode? that was GENIUS and so unlike anything else out there right now! love Community!!
    YvetteNBrown: Dan Harmon was the genius behind that!
    Guest-228: Any advice you could give to an aspiring actor such as myself? Garrett again.
    YvetteNBrown: I wrote a long blog about breaking into the business on my website www.yvettenicolebrown.com and on facebook. Hope it helps!
    Guest-27: If you could write an episode, what would you like to see the characters, especially Shirley, do?
    YvetteNBrown: I'd write an episode where the girls get the work together. I miss the capers we used to get into in the first season.
    Guest-307: I watch Community just because I want to see you acting, I love yoy since Drake & Josh! Helen (l) Hugs from Argentina!
    YvetteNBrown: Hugs TO Argentina! Thank you, Sweetie! I had a blast working on Drake & Josh. I'm so glad you enjoyed our silliness. Those guys (cast/crew/staff) are family to me just like the Community gang!
    Guest-102: Do know the tv show Twin Peaks from the 90s? I think Community could do a great parody/reference to that show. I'm sure Abed knows all about it. ;D
    YvetteNBrown: Great Idea! I've heard fans have started figuring out which of us should play who. That'd be great!
    Guest-82: As a Christian, I love how Community shows both the bad and good sides of learning to live out our faith. How do you think Shirley has grown as a Christian over the course of the show?
    YvetteNBrown: I like that too. Lord knows Christians aren't perfect. I'd hate to play one that thought she was. LOL! Shirley has softened these past few seasons and learned how to love unconditionally the way God encourages. 
    Guest-63: When I went to Paramount Studios for a tour, you were nice enough to say hi to me and my friends! I want to thank you for that, definitely made my day! Love you as Shirly, you are absolutely hilarious! 
    YvetteNBrown: Aww, pumpkin! Thanks for that kind message! It was my pleasure! Hope you enjoyed the tour!
    Guest-84: Yvette, I have to say, I always think you look great and snappy in your clothes, whether on the show or from your Twitter. It makes me feel better knowing larger ladies can rock the looks and that I shouldn't be afraid to either. The world needs more beautiful celebs like you. :'D
    YvetteNBrown: LOL! Larger lady for the WIN!!! I'm literally chuckling at that description. Thank you. Sincerely!
    xmen4ever8290: Do you know why the last episode of this season seemed like the series finale? It breaks my heart thinking that my favorite show is going to end! Would you ever do a Community movie?
    YvetteNBrown: Basically we didn't know what the future held for the show. Dan and the writers wanted to make sure you guys had a satisfying end if it was the end. But happily….blessedly… it wasn't the end! YAY! And sure I'd do a community movie!
    Guest-87: Yvette, who would be your ideal guest star for next season?
    YvetteNBrown: I've been hoping for Sandra Bullock. But after Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Betty White I don't wanna be greedy.
    Guest-269: Hey Yvette! Follow you on Twitter and you seem like a genuinely nice person. Love you in Community and loved you in Drake and Josh! Do you ever see either of them anymore?
    YvetteNBrown: I see the Drake & Josh gang all the time. A lot of them are working on iCarly and Victorious. And I visit those sets all the time.
    Guest-316: Greetings from the UK! What has been your favourite musical scene in the show thus far? I loved the "Finally Be Fine" number from the start of season 3. - Ash
    YvetteNBrown: I loved "Sensible Night" from season one! I thought the lyrics Dan Harmon wrote were hilarious!
    Guest-243: Hi Yvette, it's Taylah here! . You know I was a big defender of the Jeff and Shirley "evil friendship of awesome", and I was SO HAPPY to see it making a comeback this year! It feels like this season rather than being evil together they kinda bring the best out of each other and understand each other a lot (beautiful scene between the two of them in this season finale!) Have you liked this shift on their relationship or do you prefer when they're a bit meaner together?
    YvetteNBrown: Hey Taylah!!! I love the shift because it means we get to play together more often… it took this long for us to have more episodes together because we were so TOXIC before! LOL!
    YvetteNBrown: NEWSFLASH! Joel just tweeted taht "Six Seasons And A Movie" is trending worldwide! Thanks to those of you who made that happen!!!
    YvetteNBrown: Further newsflash… sorry for typos!
    Guest-122: Did you ever dream that Community would be such a big thing?
    YvetteNBrown: I hope that folks would love to watch our shenanigans but I never dreamed we would be blessed with so many folks that would don felt goatees, sing in country-wide flash mobs and vote in online polls until their fingers bled. That's a blessing I never could have imagined and I'm so grateful for each and every one of you guys! Communies ROCK!!! 
    Guest-374: Yvette, you are amazing. i truly love you and your character and you have an amazing voice. everything youve done for to show is truly inspiring. Community will be remebered as the greatest, most ambitious show in TV history. you wont believe the amount of fans the show have here in Israel. now, if i may ask, do you think the show appeal to a certain crowd? and besides, what is next for you? thank you for everything.
    YvetteNBrown: Thanks for all of that and HELLO to Israel! I don't think the show appeal to a certain crowd. I think every type of person and group is loved and made fun of on community. That makes it a show for EVERYONE! When everyone's a misfit, no one is!
    Guest-146: I love what the ladies wear on the show! Any chance at getting a clothing sponsor...who wouldn't run out and buy britta's leather jacket!...ok well I would, I'd run.
    YvetteNBrown: Be forewarned, Britta wears a lot of Prada! LOL! Most of my clothes are from anthropologie, Rachel Pally or Macy's. Alison wears a lot of Urban Outfitters on the show. Happy shopping!
    avadakedalek: Hey! I love your work, Yvette! You are so beautiful inside and out! I am so glad that I get this chance to talk to you! It is such an honor! I'm so glad to know that you still hang out with the Drake and Josh cast! I was wondering how your faith is affected with fame? 
    YvetteNBrown: Thanks! Nice to talk to you too! My faith guides my career. Every decision is filtered through that lens. I want to make good decisions and be a part of work that uplifts and makes folks happy.
    Guest-299: What's been your favorite of the deens crazy costumes?
    YvetteNBrown: I love the "Can-can-cancelled" outfit! He looked lovely!
    Guest-285: Any pranks you've pulled or been a victim of on set? I love you!!
    YvetteNBrown: Donald has been the biggest prankster. The season 2 DVD outtakes show him doing an entire take of a scene with his bum exposed. Everyone knew except me. And they were all waiting for me… Prudy McPrude…to notice.
    Guest-294: Yvette, you're awesome and I love you and everyone on Community! Who's your favorite couple pairing on the show?
    YvetteNBrown: The Dean and Jeff for sure!  
    Guest-149: As sort of an addition to the question on religion, I just wanna say Shirley as a character, and you (based on stuff I've seen on Twitter) are very inspirational to someone who struggles with faith and how to reconcile it to my personal beliefs and stuff like that. So thanks for that. Any advice to someone who struggles with the occasional crisis of faith? -Tyler
    YvetteNBrown: Just be still and know. That's biblical. I've known God to always be peace. Chase peace above all things and you will always find God.  
    YvetteNBrown: God bless you, Tyler!
    Guest-269: As a fellow former Midwesterner, do you get back to Ohio very often?
    YvetteNBrown: I do! I try to get back to Cleveland at least two times a year. I was just back last week speaking to the kids at my old high school, Warrensville Heights High! I had a blast!!!
    avadakedalek: Oh. my brother told me to ask you if you would marry him? He's loved you since Drake & Josh. Oh boy. 
    YvetteNBrown: Sure. As long as he's over 30.
    Guest-27: All the way from Australia, Were you surprised at the cult status Community has reached around the world? 
    YvetteNBrown: Hi TO Australia! Yes, I continue to be SHOCKED by it! Sidebar: I hope to visit Australia someday… it's one of my big dreams.
    Guest-358: What was your favorite part of these last three episodes of community?
    YvetteNBrown: I don't wanna be spoiler-rific… because some folks in the chat haven't seen all three episodes yet. But the 'heist" episode was a favorite to shoot.
    Guest-122: What are your favorite shows to watch other than the ones you've been on? Haha
    YvetteNBrown: I love Scandal, Revenge, Blue Bloods, Veep, Girls, Once Upon A Time, 30 Rock, Parks & Rec, Hot in Cleveland… I could go on and on...
    Guest-110: Hey Yvette. What has been your biggest moment since you've been in Hollywood? I'm sure there's many, but what comes to mind right away? <3 Mia M P.S. I'm loving all this love you're getting from all over the world! AWESOME 
    YvetteNBrown: I think going home to talk to the kids at my old school because it meant I had accomplished something big enough for them to have me back and for the kids to listen. Going back to speak was something I dreamed about when I was still in school. What an honor to be able to share your journey with the next generation. There's nothing like it. 
    Guest-30: Are you tired?
    YvetteNBrown: Right now? Or in general. Right now I'm good. Thanks for asking! When we're filming 16 hour days 5 days a week… YES!
    Guest-124: Okay, I need to know this: I know you all are amazing actors, but HOW can you keep a straight face when Donald/Troy is crying/freaking out? I wouldn't be able to do it, so congratulations on that lol (and on everything, really)
    YvetteNBrown: Who says we do? Often the take that makes it on the air isn't the best take, it's just the one they could use. And not just Donald. Jim Rash and Ken Jeong have been known to crack us up too. The tag where the dean is singing to Troy and Abed they had to cut away from each of us before we laughed when they edited it. I'm still almost lasting in my take. 
    Guest-13: Do agree with Gillian that it is almost impossible to keep a straight face when Jim Rash is delivering his lines??
    YvetteNBrown: Yep! Jim studied with the Groundlings he is comedy GENIUS! No telling what he will say or do. 
    Guest-294: Who is your favorite musical artist? And, on a random note, how do celebrities feel about dating fans?
    YvetteNBrown: Are you asking me out? Are you over 30? tee hee… favorite musical artist of all time? That's hard. SO many Gladys Knight, Ledisi, Switch, New Edition, The O'jays, Jason Mraz, Lauryn Hill, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Cece Winans, Donna Summer… who we just lost today (may she rest in peace). So many!
    Guest-269: I see from IMDB that you have had a lot of guest starring roles on television shows. Any role in particular your favorite or is there one that stands out to you?
    YvetteNBrown: The one I'm playing now: Shirley!
    Guest-146: what was it like on set after Jim won the oscar? And how do you feel about the show being shut out at the emmy's?
    YvetteNBrown: I was overjoyed for Jim! So well deserved. And I think everything happens for a reason. I'd love for the show to be recognized in some way by the awards system… but with the fans we have, asking for awards on top of that love seems a bit greedy. 
    Guest-335: will there be more andre?
    YvetteNBrown: I hope so! But Malcolm has his own show on BET, that's why we only had him for one episode this year. If possible, I hope we can have him back next season. I love when he's on set!
    Guest-412: Yvette, I remember hearing you say that everyone know's its "#sixseasonsandamovie" But you wanted it to be "Four Seasons & A Graduation" Why is that? 
    YvetteNBrown: I didn't say I wanted that, I said I'd be happy with that. Danny and I were filming a "please save our show" video for USA Today and that's just something silly we came up with as a consolation prize. Like "C'mon! At least let us graduate!" LOL! It was seriously said. Either way, whatever is meant to be, will be. 
    avadakedalek: Are you feeling any better? I know you had a crazy day with twitter today... I was worried! Don't let anyone bring you down! God bless you, beautiful You are such an inspiration, and I know I said this already but a great role model to women like me!
    YvetteNBrown: Aww, thanks! I am much better. And please know that no matter what I tweet I'm always okay. It's just twitter. I just don't understand rudeness… especially from strangers. It's just easier to be nice. My tweets are meant to just remind folks of that. And it's my goal to always be kind when I get them TOLD! Lol!
    Guest-180: I remember seeing you in "The Office". What was it like to work with Rainn Wilson? Sidebar: Community is the best TV show I've ever seen.
    YvetteNBrown: Rainn was such a generous actor. He's super funny but his gift is that he's not selfish. He wants everyone else to get as many laughs as he does. And that's not always the case with super funny folks. I loved working with him and Steve Carrell good folks! 
    Guest-405: Greetings from the Philippines! I love you. I love the show. We're still on season 1 and 2 here though. 1st season in the morning, and at night. Believe it or not, I find myself saying "Thats nice" almost everyday. What was the most difficult thing you did in the entire series and why? - @jasonreyes00
    YvetteNBrown: Hello TO the Philippines! Thank you! The most difficult thing to do is to keep a straight face when my cast mates are SO hilarious. I have ruined MANY takes with giggling!
    Guest-319: Your singing voice in the holiday episode a few years back was extraordinary. Any chance we will get to hear an album from you? 
    YvetteNBrown: Aww, Thanks! I really only sing now in the shower, in my car and in the pew at church unless an acting role calls for it. So though I'd never say never, it'd have to be a word from God that got me behind a mic professionally again. LOL!
    Guest-122: What is something random about you that not many people know?
    YvetteNBrown: I love puzzles. They are so relaxing! Whenever I get a few days of uninterrupted freem time I'm doing a puzzle. Corny, I know! LOL!
    Guest-349: Hey Yvette! love Shirley and the show. Malcolm-Jamal Warner was very cool in the episode he did for this season. Question. What is your all-time favorite episode of the Cosby Show?
    YvetteNBrown: The one with Gordon Gartrelle shirt! Denise tells Theo to tuck it in and he says thru clenched teeth "It's tucked into my SOCKS!" Comedy GOLD!
    Guest-400: Loved Shirley in facial hair. Again. Are you afraid the writers might find reasons to put Shirley in a beard the same way they put Jim Rash in bizarre costumes. And how about a Best Buy kiosk at Greendale.
    YvetteNBrown: I think I make a fine looking man just as Jim makes a pretty woman. That's the reasoning behind it… I think? LOL! And a Best Buy kiosk at Greendale would be awesome as long as I got to use all the goods they sold for free! LOL!
    bricatfree: Love you and love the show! (Side note: Could you tell Donald that I'm in love with him?! Hahaha) Do you think Annie and Jeff should be together (eventually)? 
    YvetteNBrown: Consider it done! LOL! And I think Greendale is more about the relationship of the whole study group with each other. Aside from that any pairing is in the hands and minds of Dan and the writers. I have no preference.
    Guest-14: First, thank you for representing the BBW out in the world. I'd marry you if I could. Second, any hopes on Malcolm Jamal Warner returning next season?
    YvetteNBrown: Are you over 30? Seriously, thanks! And I hope Malcolm will be back. We'll see!
    Guest-124: I would like to thank you for being so sweet to your fans! It's amazing that you're taking your time to answer our questions, I wish every celebrity were like you! Lots of sucess to you and the show, because you both deserve it. 
    YvetteNBrown: Aww, shucks! That was sweet! It's the least I can do for all you guys have given to us! It's not a small thing that you love and support us as you do! We're all so grateful. A Q&A is nothing compared to THAT! God Bless!
    Guest-334: Any hidden talents you have?
    YvetteNBrown: I can curl my tongue like 3 or 4 different ways. And my left wrist was broken so I can bend my left thumb in directions it really shouldn't go. How's that?
    Guest-233: What's your favorite costume you've had on? also what's your favorite that a castmate wore? Thanks for a wonderful season!
    YvetteNBrown: My favorite is "Sam Jackson/Jules" from Pulp Fiction. Of the others… Gillian's (Stink's) squirrel costume from halloween season one is pretty stinkin' cute… see what I did there? Stinkin' cute!
    Guest-79: If you had to go back to college and could only bring one member of the cast with you, who would it be?
    YvetteNBrown: Danny. Because he's cuddly. And he'd sing songs and dance for me when I was stressed out by classes. He's like a toy!
    Guest-319: What's one assumption people make about you that you wish they wouldn't?
    YvetteNBrown: That because I'm kind that I'm dumb, weak or foolish. I promise I'm NONE of those things.
    Guest-30: Did you have dinner yet? Anyway, love to you, the show, and every contributor to the show, and I hope you have a good night. 
    YvetteNBrown: Mom, is that you? tee hee. Yes, I had dinner before I started the chat. I was well fed and well rested before I started the chat. LOL! Thanks for the message and I hope you have a good night, too!
    Guest-269: When you mentioned puzzles earlier, did you mean like crosswords ones or jigsaw ones?
    YvetteNBrown: Jigsaw, baby! Thought Crosswords and Suduku are fun too. But Jigsaw puzzles are my thing!
    Guest-294: Yvette, I just want to thank you so much for doing this. You seem like such a genuinely nice person and the fact that you are taking time out of your day to talk to fans is awesome. Thank you <3
    YvetteNBrown: My pleasure, darlin!
    Guest-371: Love Community and You! Do you know what's going on the outtakes this season? i really love seening how you guys interacting and play with each other
    YvetteNBrown: Aww, love you back! And we never know what the cameras have caught until we see the bloopers on the DVD when you guys do… unless it's something that needs our approval…like Donald's bum being out. They sent that to me in advance to make sure I was okay with that being on DVD.
    Guest-79: Who messes up their lines the most while shooting?
    YvetteNBrown: we all are guilty of that. But Ken Jeong probably makes himself laugh the most, thus messing up his own lines. LOL!
    Guest-319: If Shirley was given her own spinoff, what would you want that to look like?
    YvetteNBrown: Shirley and Andre raising their kids. I bet that household is dysfunctional! LOL!
    Guest-16: Do you think you guys could pull off a live episode with all of the off-camera shenanigans from Ken, Donald, Jim, and the rest of the goofball cast?
    YvetteNBrown: We would never survive it! We all laugh TOO much at each other as it is. A live episode would be 22 minutes of all of going "Sorry. Okay. Pull it together. Here we go. We can DO this! Focus. And a one two three…" it would NEVER work! But that said, I'd be game to try and mess up LIVE repeatedly for all you guys to see! LOL!
    Guest-400: When I watch episodes for the 2nd or 3rd time I look for things the cast does in the background. There's usually a funny action or something bizarre going on. Is that written in the script or is it something the cast and the director work out on set.
    YvetteNBrown: It's usually something we're doing to make someone else who's on camera laugh. Like "Chang tongue" that Ken does. He does that in the background of numerous scenes just to see if we'll notice. It's on full display in the courtroom in the Law and Order episode. 
    Guest-363: Hi, Hey, what's up, who's you're favourite character on the show outside of the study group? I love Garrett & Vaughn was great as well.
    YvetteNBrown: I really like Vicki, played by my buddy Danielle. She's fiesty and unpredictable. And she's a perfect example of how our show works. If you're on once you're almost sure to return. Greendale is like that. Danielle had one line in the election episode and has done like 10 episodes since. I also love Leonard. That Richard Erdman is a national treasure! Charley Koontz who plays Fat Neil is a favorite too. We've been blessed with our guest stars and co-stars! Ooh and Luke Youngblood as Magnitude… i could go on and on! Wait, I did! LOL!
    Guest-334: Which place would you most want to go for a dream vacation, and who would you take with you?
    YvetteNBrown: I've always wanted to go to Hawaii, Paris or Australia. And I'd probably take my mom especially if it was out of the country because she has a passport that's stamp-less right now and that HAS to be fixed!
    Guest-418: Which is you favorite Halloween episode?
    YvetteNBrown: I really loved the ghost stories from this season. It was a lot of fun shooting all the vignettes and we got to hear "Daybreak" by Michael Haggis for the first time. And Heaven knows that's been the gift that keeps on giving!
    Guest-390: Hi Yvette! I love Community! What is a typical day on the set like?
    YvetteNBrown: Starts at 5;30am for the girls on Monday and goes for about 16 hours with lots of laughs and foolishness in between! That's the short version.
    Guest-196: If you could make a Shirley sandwich. What would be on it? Thanks again for doing this!!!! Six seasons and a movie!!!!
    YvetteNBrown: Pepper or Jerk turkey by boarshead. spicy hummus on potato bread. Simple.
    Guest-233: Thinking of doing a squirrel costume like Gillian's. Any advice?
    YvetteNBrown: Get a wonderful costume designer like our fabulous Sabrina to get it made for you!
    Guest-412: What's your favorite Shirley moment on the show. And what do you think is the best thing about Shirley's personality? 
    YvetteNBrown: Any moment with Andre. And I love that Shirley is so loving and forgiving. She's truly a good egg… flaws and all.
    Guest-426: Has being Shirley ruined "that's nice" for you?
    YvetteNBrown: Not at all. I actually just said it while I was driving the other day when someone let someone else merge
    Guest-319: Love you, Yvette! What's your favorite food?
    YvetteNBrown: Bacon!
    Guest-149: I know it's not a question, but I'm probably going to have to leave soon, so I just wanted to send my gratitude =) Jumping on the bandwagon here a little bit to thank you for everything. For your time here today, and for all the awesome stuff on the show, and just for being awesome! #sixseasonsandamovie
    YvetteNBrown: Thanks for chatting! 
    Guest-180: Are your fellow cast members still making fun of you during the DVD commentaries? Have you heard if there will be Blu-ray releases? Thanks so much for talking to us!
    YvetteNBrown: Always! And we don't know about a blu-ray release yet. Fingers crossed!
    Guest-269: The fact you said jigsaw puzzles makes me love you even more! Are you a 1000 piece gal, or more or less pieces?
    YvetteNBrown: I do 1000 pieces if I've really got time to focus. But 750 is my usual.
    Guest-416: Why do you call Gillian Jacobs stink?
    YvetteNBrown: I'll never tell!
    Guest-196: What is the one food you CANNOT live without?
    YvetteNBrown: potatoes
    Guest-370: If you could be another character on the show (man or woman), who would you want to play and why?
    YvetteNBrown: Probably Troy. He has a beautiful mind!
    avadakedalek: I love how Community is so relatable! I am a weird combination of Shirley and Annie for sure, but I know that everyone can find a little bit of themselves in all of the characters. I saw in a clip that you know about the fan art and fiction from the fans? Do you have a favorite piece that you have seen?
    YvetteNBrown: I know about the fan fic, but I don't read it. I'm saving all that for when the show ends and I miss the Greendale gang. As for the fan art, it is AMAZING! I see it all and I try to retweet as much of it as I can!
    Guest-319: What lasting legacy do you want to leave as a person?
    YvetteNBrown: Kindness, joy and faith. If folks thought of me as a person who did her best to embody those three things I would feel like my life was well spent.
    Guest-387: Howdy, it's Chels725 from Twitter. Just wanted so say the eps were great tonight & brought me to tears! Congrats on a wonderful season. 
    YvetteNBrown: Thanks, Chels!
    Guest-294: How did the whole "Daybreak" thing start?
    YvetteNBrown: I think they just looked for a smooth jazz kinda song for the scene and "Daybreak" won out. That it's been featured over and over is a testament to how much we, the cast, love it. Every other time you've heard it, I don't think it's been scripted. 
    Guest-82: Favorite animal?
    YvetteNBrown: I was born in August, so I've gotta go with lions.
    Guest-335: will you and troy have an arc together?
    YvetteNBrown: Gosh, I hope so. I've been begging for that for three seasons. The only time Troy and Shirley have spoken to each other away from the group is in the first season paintball battle. How crazy is that?! 
    Guest-244: Congratulations on another wonderful season Yvette. Any idea if we'll see a season 3 soundtrack? I'd love to hear full versions of the songs from the Christmas/Glee episode.
    YvetteNBrown: Good question. I don't actually know. But that would be great! I'm rooting for it!
    Guest-376: What's your ideal ending for Shirley? Love the show!
    YvetteNBrown: A degree she's proud of and a loving family life.
    Guest-334: What do you like to do in your free time? So cool chatting with you. Coolcoolcool!
    YvetteNBrown: Nap! And spend time with family and friends. The simple things!
    Guest-79: Who do you think was the funniest guest star this season?
    YvetteNBrown: Way too many to name. But John Hodgmand sticks out as a favorite!
    Guest-418: Loving your tweeter feeds. How was the dialogue like during you Dungeon & Dragons episode, did you make stuff up?
    YvetteNBrown: No, it was all scripted! But we did have fun acting out what they wrote!
    Guest-449: which character from the show could the world most use more people like?
    YvetteNBrown: I'd say Shirley, of course. She's very loving and wants what's fair for everybody. 
    YvetteNBrown: But I'm biased… lol!
    bricatfree: Thank you so much for doing this, Yvette!
    YvetteNBrown: No, thank YOU guys!
    Guest-435: my name is yvette brown
    YvetteNBrown: Hi, Yvette Brown!
    YvetteNBrown: Guys, this has been a blast! Thanks for taking time from finale night to hang out with me! Please remember that Best Buy has got some great deals on season one and season two of the show and you can pre-order season three and be the first to have it when it comes out later this summer! Thanks to Best Buy and Sony Pictures Entertainment for setting this up! Have a great night guys! I'm off to watch the THREE new episodes from tonight!!! Can't Wait! GOD BLESS! xoxo Yvette

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  • Live Chat with Yvette Nicole Brown (Shirley) from NBC's Community

    Check out the live chat transcript here!
    Attention fans of NBC's Community TV series.
    Join us for a Live Chat with Actor Yvette Nicole Brown who plays the part of Shirley on NBC's Community TV series!
    The Chat will take place this Thursday, May 17th from 9:30 - 10:30 CST, the same day the season 3 finale airs!  This is your chance to ask Yvette all about her role in the show and get one last taste of Community as the season closes out.
    All questions are moderated and answered in a queued format on a first-in, first-out basis so be ready when the chat starts!
    Bookmark this page as we will update it with info on how to join the chat when it goes live on Thursday!
    http://www.nbc.com/community/
    Buy Community Season 1 & Season 2 on BestBuy.com
    Pre-order Community Season 3 on BestBuy.com
    Community synopsis
    From Dan Harmon ("The Sarah Silverman Program") and Emmy Award winners Joe and Anthony Russo ("Arrested Development") comes "Community," a smart comedy series about a band of misfits who attend Greendale Community College. At the center of the group is Jeff Winger (Joel McHale, "The Soup"), a fast-talking lawyer whose degree has been revoked. With some help from his fellow classmates, Winger forms a study group that eventually learns more about themselves than their course work.
    Also among the series stars who comprise the group are comedy legend Chevy Chase ("Chuck") as Pierce, a man whose life experience has brought him infinite wisdom; Gillian Jacobs ("The Book of Daniel") as Britta, the 20-something dropout with something to prove; Yvette Nicole Brown ("Rules of Engagement") as Shirley, a sassy middle-aged divorcée; Danny Pudi ("Greek") as Abed, a pop culture junkie; Alison Brie ("Mad Men") as Annie, a high-strung perfectionist; Donald Glover ("30 Rock") as Troy, a former high school football star trying to find his way, and Ken Jeong ("The Hangover") as Señor Chang.
    YVETTE NICOLE BROWN
    One word best describes the unfolding of
    Yvette Nicole Brown's career, and it is:
    serendipity (noun)
    1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.
    2. good fortune; luck; blessing.
    Yvette landed her first television role - - a two-episode gig playing Toni Childs' sister, Sherri, on GIRLFRIENDS - - by chance. Casting director Robi Reed called her in to audition from a post card submission. Yvette had no credits and no agent. That stroke of serendipity at the beginning of her career, taught Yvette that you never know how God is going to move in your life and career. Booking a series regular role two months later, on the first pilot she auditioned for further proved the point. That show, ABC's THE BIG HOUSE, only lasted a few episodes; but that experience proved to be a blessing as well. Through it, Yvette learned the transient nature of the business and to always "travel light".
    Yvette has since appeared (and often recurred) on shows as varied as ENTOURAGE, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, THE OFFICE, THAT'S SO RAVEN, HALF & HALF, SLEEPER CELL, HOUSE, TWO AND A HALF MEN, THAT 70'S SHOW and BOSTON LEGAL - - where she got to perform "Big, Blonde & Beautiful" from Hairspray. It was a bit of a homecoming because Yvette is no stranger to singing. She was managed by Michael Bivins (of New Edition and BBD) and signed to Motown Records when she was just a teen.
    Younger viewers may know Yvette from her recurring role on Nickelodeon's "DRAKE & JOSH," where she played movie theater manager, Helen Ophelia Dubois.  Landing that role was another serendipitous experience. The role of Helen was to be a one-time role; one that Yvette auditioned for while on hiatus from THE BIG HOUSE. That one-time role turned into four years of employment and introduced Yvette and her silliness to the best group of fans in the world...kids!  The cast of DRAKE & JOSH recently reunited in 2008 for the holiday movie, "Merry Christmas: Drake & Josh," a film that broke Nickelodeon viewership records when it was seen by over 8 million viewers the night it debuted. It has since gone on to become an annual holiday favorite.
    Yvette is also the voice of the tough, sassy and smart Cookie on The HUB’s “Pound Puppies” which begins its second season in June, 2012.  The “Pound Puppies” are a team of fearless dogs whose sworn mission is to find homes for lonely puppies.  They only look like regular dogs.  In fact these pooches are dogs of action who match up pups with loving families while they keep the humans at Shelter 17 clueless.
    Yvette has also had a successful career in commercials. She's appeared in over 40 national spots. You may have seen her in ads for BIG LOTS, PINE SOL, CITIBANK, FIBER ONE YOGURT, DAIRY QUEEN, HAMBURGER HELPER, ARROWHEAD WATER, HOME DEPOT, COMCAST, LG and DiGIORNO'S PIZZA to name a few.  Yvette has also been immortalized in puppet form as "Mrs. Lewis, from downstairs" in a series of NIKE spots alongside puppet versions of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.
    In addition to her commercial and television work, Yvette also has a burgeoning film career. She made her film debut in the romantic comedy, "Little Black Book," working alongside Brittany Murphy and Oscar winners, Holly Hunter and Kathy Bates. Her next film, Michael Bay's futuristic thriller, "The Island" put her on the set with Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. Supporting roles in other films including "Dreamgirls" and "The Kid and I," - - where she first met and worked with one of her childhood heroes, Henry Winkler - - soon followed.  In 2008, she was in the box office hit, "Tropic Thunder" (directed by Ben Stiller) where she worked with Matthew McConaughey; as well as the family film, "Meet Dave" where she realized a childhood dream by sharing the screen with Eddie Murphy.
    In 2009 and 2010, Yvette could be seen on the big screen again in the family film, "Hotel for Dogs" starring Emma Roberts and Don Cheadle, the romantic comedy, "The Ugly Truth" starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler, the indie hit, "(500) Days of Summer" starring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt; as well as the action thriller, "Repo Men" where she played against type and shared the screen with Jude Law and Oscar winner, Forest Whitaker.
    Currently, you can catch Yvette every week on the single-camera comedy, COMMUNITY, which airs Thursdays at 8pm/7c on NBC. The same Thursday 8pm timeslot that was once home to the hit NBC comedies: FRIENDS and THE COSBY SHOW...how's that for blessed? 
    In addition to her work on Community, Yvette can also be heard as the voice of "Cookie" on the NEW animated series, POUND PUPPIES; which airs weekly on the HUB Network (formerly Discovery Kids).
    A proud native of East Cleveland Ohio, Yvette currently resides in Los Angeles California.

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  • World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Developer Chat Transcript

    Transcript for Chat: 'Live Chat: WoW Mists of Pandaria', Tue Sep 18 18:04:25 CDT 2012
    Zarhym: Hello, all, and welcome to the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Developer Chat, presented by Best Buy! Blizzard community manager Crithto and I will be helping facilitate the discussion today and filter as many of your questions as possible for our developers to answer.
    Crithto: That’s right! Thank you, Zarhym, and welcome everyone. On the panel to answer your questions today we have World of Warcraft lead designers Greg Street, Cory Stockton, Dave Kosak, and Ion Hazzikostas. Questions are pouring in and our developers are preparing their initial responses, so let’s get started!
    Guest-47: Is the second son of DeathWing going to be the Second Prince? The achitvment two Princs says that Wration and another 'Prince' will settle something important, is that true?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-47 "Two Princes" is a placeholder name that may or may not reflect the final achievements in later patches. Suffice it to say, Wrathion's story will continue!
    Guest-101: What was the idea with Monk healing? what mix of elements inspired it and defined it?
    GregStreet: To Guest-101 Mostly we wanted it to feel different from existing healers, so there is an emphasis on a channeled spell as the main heal. We also wanted to emphasize movement and damage-dealing to heal, because those were core to the monk class.
    Guest-51: Do you feel the way of nerfing Dragon Soul, by nerfing the bosses. Was more successful than the Icecrown Citadel version, by buffing the players health and damage?
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-51 Yes, one of the awkward things about the Icecrown Citadel buff was that, over time, it caused players to feel weaker when they were doing anything other than raiding Icecrown. It also had some potentially distorting effects, benefiting some specs and roles more than others. Weakening the enemies instead, as we've done in Dragon Soul, is more in keeping with how we've traditionally handled our tuning adjustments, going all the way back to Vanilla raids.
    Guest-43: Where is N'Zoth? He was mentioned at Blizzcon, then was talked about in Dragon Soul. What is going on with him?!
    DaveKosak: To Guest-43 N'zoth is still lurking. The Titans couldn't defeat it... maybe someday we'll get our chance? Don't expect to hear anything about him in Pandaria, though!
    drwuky: Hello. If someone from a CRZ hits Level 90 as first player on my realm, will he get the Realm First! Level 90 achievement for my realm or for his realm?
    IonHazzikostas: To drwuky His realm
    parrjj01: It seems like PVP never gets much attention from the devlopers during these type of events. As a hardcore lover of PVP and the many people that are in my guild, we have really gotten frustrated, bored, etc with how PVP is handled. Will you guys ever be implanting anything like how LFR system works. Were there will be healers on each side, for a better chance of your team succeeding? I don't know about anyone else but I really hate being on my side with 0 healers and the horde have 4 in E...
    GregStreet: To parrjj01 Our BG queueing system was built a long time ago. Since that time we've engineered the much more powerful system that we use for Dungeon Finder and Raid Finder. We'd now like to reengineer that system to work for BG queues as well, which would give us the ability to better balance healers, item levels, and perhaps even premade vs. PUG. No promises, but it's something we're working on.
    Guest-46: The Theramore event was a little... Underwhelming. Developers have previously stated they spent more time on the content in Pandaria than the Theramore event. Will we see more diversity and excitement in the scenarios in Pandaria?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-46 There's a LOT of diversity in the scenarios. For example. there's a monkey pirate island where you're running around fetching up brew and fighting randomized bosses, and other insanity. We really tried to experiement with some different mechanics, and we got bolder as development continued.
    Gehn: Any chance we will ever see attunements or rep based dungeons again or is that strictly a in-the-past type thing?
    IonHazzikostas: To Gehn There's something a bit like a traditional attunement in the 5.0 raids: Players must defeat Grand Empress Shek'zeer in the Heart of Fear raid before they may begin the Terrace of Endless Spring raid. It's definitely something we're open to exploring further in the future.
    Guest-30: Hi. I've had a lot of concerns regarding hit / expertise with tanks. Currently in MoP it seems tanks would reforge most their defensive stats into hit / expertise. It's extremely annoying design
    GregStreet: To Guest-30 We felt like previously tanks could just ignore even hitting targets because threat was easy to maintain and survivability was based entirely around cooldowns. Now you'll need to hit the target, but you'll gain resources for doing so, so we hope the experience is more engaging to tanks. More *fighting* less standing there.
    Guest-98: Will the ability to obtain legendary mats on LFR mode make it required for raiders, at least until they complete the quest?
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-98 "Required" is one of those tricky words. We understand that for many players anything that gives even an incremental power gain is seen as mandatory. Progress on one portion of the early steps of the legendary questline may be made in LFR mode, so players who want to obtain their gem from Wrathion as quickly as possible will likely benefit from doing LFR alongside their Normal or Heroic raiding. LFR wings will unlock incrementally, after Normal mode, so when someone in a top progression guild is defeating up to 16 bosses when Heart of Fear and Terrace open, doing LFR will only add 6 to that total (from Mogu'shan Vaults LFR). While in the long run, we'd like to minimize players' obligation to run LFR if they are part of progression raiding guilds, that's challenging at the start of an expansion when everyone is using the same dungeon blues. We hope it'll be different for future tiers. Finally, the true power of Wrathion's gem lies in the combined effect of the weapon and the gem itself; an LFR player's Sha-touched weapon will be significantly less powerful than a Heroic raider's.
    Guest-28: As the Cataclysm Expansion is now over. As a team what were your take aways both good and bad?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-28 From a quest perspective, we thought that the storytelling in Cataclysm was very strong, but that the zones were very linear. For Pandaria, we wanted to swing the pendulum the other way and open up the game more, rewarding exploration. I think we found a much better balance. Kun-lai Summit, for example, is pretty open-ended, even though it's got some great stories in there. That's just one example - we're always learning from expansions. The other big takeaway was that we wanted more things for players to do, depending on what sort of challenges they want. Challenge Modes, Pet battles, and the new Daily Quest structure all appeal to different people, hoepfully with the goal of giving everyone more content no matter what your playstyle!
    Guest-124: How much game time do you think will we get in exploration of the continent of pandaria?
    CoryStockton: To Guest-124 We really packed in the content with Mists, that being said the amount of time it takes you is really going to depend on your playstyle. We have so many different things for players to do. Quests, reputations, dailys, sceanrios, pet battles.... The idea is to let players make progress doing whatever kind of activity they like best.
    Amd11394: Prior to patch 5.0.4, When we still had the cataclysm 'revised' talent trees, Elemental shamans gained an addition to one of their talents entailing that when flame shock was dispelled we gained a temporary buff entitled 'Lave Flows' This most recent patch, with the new Mists 'revised' Talent trees highlighted the removal of the cataclysm talent system, and with it went Lava Flows, what is your reasoning for removing this valuable ability?
    IonHazzikostas: To Amd11394 Defensive dispels are significantly more limited in 5.0 than they were previously. Passives like Lava Flows were designed as an answer to an environment in which defensive dispel magic was spammed constantly, and it was nearly impossible to get a buffed Lava Burst off against an attentive dispeller who could remove your Flame Shock while you were casting the spell. With an 8-second cooldown on dispels now, a healer who dispels a Flame Shock may find that they are unable to dispel the Fear or Polymorph that targets another teammate immediately thereafter. We'll keep an eye on the evolving PvP metagame in light of the new dispel changes, and consider re-adding something like Lava Flows if it proves necessary.
    drwuky: Will the storyline of the Sha continue with Patch 5.1 or later patches?
    DaveKosak: To drwuky For the most part, the Sha issues will be tackled by players in 5.0. BUT... not everyone wants to let sleeping Sha lie. Someone might start stirring up trouble beginning with the patches...
    samich: Can we expect mailboxes on the wandering isle on release? was the removal of the one that was there for quest testing purposes?
    DaveKosak: To samich Pandaren Neutrality caused a lot of design issues we had to solve. Mail ended up being a headache. What was easiest -- for us AND for our users -- was to remove mail entirely until you choose a faction. That's nice and clean and prevents a lot of issues people saw on the beta. So, no mailboxes on the Wandering Isle - sorry!
    Guest-114: I know you guys recently changed the LFR loot (weapons) from the last boss in a LFR instance, are you guys going to do any other changes to LFR to make heroic raiders not feel as they have to raid 2 formats a week to be competitive?
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-114 As I mentioned in reply to an earlier question, it's a goal of ours but it's a tough one to realize in a world where everyone is starting out in dungeon blues and looking to get their hands on any and all epics. It's our expectation that by the time Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring LFR unlock, most heroic raiders will have replaced their dungeon gear and have less to gain from also running LFR mode. In future raid tiers, people who are already in Heroic gear from the prior raid zone should not find the next tier's LFR gear to be an improvement over what they have.
    Guest-260: Will there be an appearance of the Burning Legion in the end of MoP?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-260 The threat of the Burning Legion is still out there, and it's very much a threat to Azeroth. The mortal races are mostly focused on the current war, but not everyone has forgotten about what's out there and the challenges to come... Wrathion, in particular, is already trying to look ahead.
    Guest-271: Would say that the new challenge mode dungeon gold times are going to be the "Gladiator" equivalent of PVE?
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-271 That would be our hope. Seeing someone sporting a set of challenge mode armor in town should be akin to seeing someone on a Gladiator mount -- you know they did something extremely skillful to earn it, and it's not the sort of reward you can outgear and obtain later on.
    CoryStockton: To Guest-271 That's probably a pretty close comparison. Beyond gold times we will have server and guild leaderboards too. That's probably where the highest level of competition will be.
    Guest-160: Christie Golden mentioned in an interview that she worked closely with the quest team when she wrote Tides of War to make sure everything was very close. However, there are some notable differences between the book and the scenario during the Alliance side of it. Did the storyline of the scenario change late into the book's writing?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-160 We worked hard to sync with Golden during development. The Alliance side of the scenario went through LOTS of iterations, including when it happend (before the attack? During the attack? After the attack?) Ultimately we went with the one that gave us the greatest gameplay. We want the events of the book and game to match as closely as possible, but we want the best book possible and the best game possible, so they won't be word-for-word identical. This can create some fun arguments. "Well, according to this book..." "YEAH, but I WAS THERE, MAN!" We work hard to make sure the discrepancies are minor, but we definitely don't struggle for perfection.
    Guest-292: Will we ever see cross-server mail or non-boa cross faction mailing phiesibly within the 5.0 content?--Gorebane of Eonar (P.S. Wa
    CoryStockton: To Guest-292 It's on our list and something we really want to do. It's really just a matter of the engineering time it takes us to get it in.
    im_a_rockstar: WoW has always been a mostly raid or die game. The changes in MoP to Justice Points, the item level difference on gear obtained outside of raid, are kind of steps backwards away from alternatives, pushing us back to having our only choice to be a raid. Are there any plans to give the non-raiders / people with random avaiabilities any form of meaningful character progression in terms of player power, besides only raids?
    IonHazzikostas: To im_a_rockstar We have a number of gear acquisition routes that do not involve raiding. We've broadened the avenues for acquiring Valor Points, which can now be earned by doing dungeons, daily quests, scenarios, and so forth. That gear will be at least item level 489 (compared to 476 from LFR). There's also crafted gear. And of course future content updates will continue to provide upgrades outside of raiding. All of that said, I'd encourage you to check out the new raids as well -- the addition of the LFR system makes them more accessible than ever.
    NinjaFox: To Dave Kosak: The reddit AMA gave some teasers that Sylvanas, Vol'jin, and Thrall (specifically in 5.1) would be integral parts to the story. Rexxar and Koltira were also mentioned. On the Alliance side, other than Varian, Anduin and Jaina are there any notable leaders/lore figures we can expect to see active through the Pandaria storyline?
    DaveKosak: To NinjaFox Great question! Many of the Alliance leaders will come into play. Tyrande has a couple of moments in 5.1. We also want to do more with the dwarven storyline (we're still kicking around ideas of how best to do that.) The trick is making sure those characters have meaningful moments. We'll definitely spend a lot of time with Jaina and King Wrynn.
    DeathFish1: With the creation of the farms at Halfhill, the base structure for player and guild housing has subsequently been created as well. Is this the direction you have chosen to go with for player housing or was this even considered as an option. One very good point about this option is that multiple locations for housing can be placed thoughout the game world, preventing the issue of removing players from the world.
    CoryStockton: To DeathFish1 It's certainly a baby step in that direction. We are really excited to see how players react to it in Mists. We already have lots of ideas on how we can expand this kind of content in the future too!
    DaveKosak: Regarding DeathFish's question (Love the name, Deathfish!) when we think about things like player-housing, we really want to look at how this can contribute to gameplay. The farm is awesome because it ties into a lot of systems, it creates some fun crafting opportunities, it impacts the economy, etc. It's a great experiment for us because if it's popular, it gives us a lot of data into how to create this type of content in the future.
    Gosu: What is the design philosophy behind PvP balance and how satisfied are you with PvP balance in Mists of Pandaria?
    GhostCrawler: To Gosu One of the main ones was to allow more cross-over of gear at the lower end but not the upper end of content. (In 4.0 it was more of the opposite.) It's not fun to die in PvP over and over until you get decent gear.
    Guest-134: How come with this expansion you choose to go with Pandas and not something that was already in the game, such as The Emerald Dream, maybe going into the Dragonflights, or even something more with The Demonic legion.
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-134 The pandaren are a race we've been looking to introduce into the WoW universe for some time now, since their introduction as a neutral hero back in the Warcraft 3 expansion. They were originally a top contender for the Alliance race back in Burning Crusade, but we ended up going with the draenei at the time because they better fit the Outland-focused story we were trying to tell, and because it didn't feel right forcing a historically neutral race like the pandaren into one specific faction. When we were looking to make an expansion centered around themes of exploration and discovery against a backdrop of Alliance-Horde conflict, the pandaren just seemed like the right fit: Noble and enigmatic race caught in the middle of the war between the Alliance and Horde as it spirals out of control, forced to choose sides as the outside world descends upon their homeland.
    Guest-179: ogue's shadow blades visual effect is lacking, and needs more of a pop. Paladins get ashbringer; could rogues get something equally cool looking?
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-179 We agree that some rogue visuals (Shadow Blades, Shadow Walk, etc.) could use some more love. That's something we'd like to do in a future patch.
    bocasha: In Pandaria will we see another 9 month period where we will have no new stuff coming out?
    CoryStockton: To bocasha We are doing everything within our power to avoid this. We all feel that 9 months without content is pretty much unacceptable to our players. A glimmer of hope: we are already knee deep into both patch 5.1 and 5.2. Our plan is to deliver these much faster than anyone is expecting.
    Guest-432: When will we see Sargeras, it's one of the reasons I've stuck around for so long...
    DaveKosak: To Guest-432 Sargeras would be one monstrous raid boss! He's one of the most iconic, key villains of the franchise. Believe me, when he comes to Azeroth, you're going to feel it LONG before he even gets there.
    khalanil: Have you thought about implementing zones or battlegrounds where players are normalized by level, similar to the gear level normalization in the upcoming challenge mode dungeons? This could allow players to quest or PVP with lower-level friends, and it could be fun to see a trio of level 20s take down a level 90.
    DaveKosak: To khalanil This is a tremendous question, because it's something we've been talking about and exploring. With Challenge Modes, we now have tech to scale your item level, so that we can guarantee the right level of difficulty. Having this tech opens lots of doors for us down the line. We don't have anything to announce, but it's a step toward a lot of the features you're describing.
    parrjj01: I really love the real ID system, which has helped me communicate with my cousin who lives in Hawaii. The only downfall is, he's horde. Neither of us want to change fractions but we'd love to run toghther doing something. Will you guys ever considor letting us 'group' toghther and duke it out in battlegrounds, but disabling chat (even in real ID terms) so the no communcation rules still apply?
    GhostCrawler: To parrjj01 We don't have huge design problems with letting you play with friends from other factions. The biggest challenge is the game was never designed with the concept of letting you be allied with the opposing faction, so it would be a tremendous amount of work. I won't give up hope for it though! (We always joke about a tauren having the Hallow's End 2D gnome mask when you're grouped with him.)
    Guest-184: Can one stand anywhere in Orgrimmar(including right next to the questgiver that sends you to the gunship) when MoP is activated or do we have to be outside the Garrosh building? Good to know for us who are rushing as fast as we can!
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-184 If you are online, you should get the quest pushed to you no matter where you are. We don't want to over-promise though. This is technically challenging stuff and it might be the case that we need everyone to relog. /crosses fingers
    Guest-37: The story of Tides of War is really interesting. I don't think players can get engaged if they have no idea what's happening, the bomb dropping is really anticlimactic. I felt a bit disappointed so little got included in the scenario. Was this because of lack of time, of developers or because you rather keep all that info in the novels.
    DaveKosak: To Guest-37 I've been watching the Theramore feedback closely, and this comment seems pretty universal. We tried to keep everything all in the scenario, to make it really self-contained, but not burden it with lots of story that you have to slog through every time you played the scenario. It's pretty clear from the feedback that people wanted more story. We should've surrounded the scenarios with more quests or explanations to help round out the story for the people who wanted to know what exactly was happening. Lesson learned!
    Dude7198: Will there be a Realm First achievement that involves Pet Battles?
    CoryStockton: To Dude7198 We did not make any realm first achievements for pet battles. Our intention for the feature is that its more of a casual activity and a realm first just did not feel like a good fit.
    Guest-261: Nobody I know is impressed with the promise of an extra piece of loot for normal 25 mans. What we would be impressed with is separate realm first achievements for each raid format. Any chance of seeing something like this?
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-261 Possibly. On several servers that have one top 25-player guild that's far above the rest of the server in progression, that might turn into incentivizing them to split up the week after their 25-player Realm First to snag the 10-player one. Not sure that's great gameplay for anyone. That said, we recognize that there's interest in making it a bit easier to distinguish between 10-player and 25-player kills in statistics or achievements.
    Guest-257: Were the stained glass windows in Ulduar forshadowing of the Sha? They look very similar to the Sha.
    DaveKosak: To Guest-257 I'd like to say we planned that. [Long pause] But I would be lying. I think it's just a happy coincidence that fits wonderfully into our lore.
    Guest-174: When will transmog rules be loosened up a little. Main hand/one hand weapons, for instance.
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-174 If I had to guess, we will loosen them at some point. We would probably wait until some time after the MoP launch when players will appreciate it more. It's easy for smaller features to get lost when there is so much new content. The designers will discuss it soon (tm).
    Guest-88: We saw some of the animations on the challenge mode gear, will the druid set animations be visible when the druid is shapeshifted?
    CoryStockton: To Guest-88 The custom effects are based on the armor itself so they will only be visible when you are in caster form.
    Guest-306: Will content come at a faster rate in MoP? It seems that we might be pushing thought content at a much faster rate.
    DaveKosak: To Guest-306 That is definitely our goal! As we speak the quest team is simultaneously working on patches 5.1 and 5.2. Our hope is to keep the story and content rolling forward. It's definitely a focus for the team - I can't make any promises, but I guarantee we're trying and I hope you'll notice the results!
    CoryStockton: To Guest-306 I know we sound like a broken record on this but we are really pushing hard to deliver content to you guys faster than ever with the Mists patch cycle. As Dave mentioned, we are already making awesome progress on the first set of patches.
    Zawani: Hey, I had a question regarding arms warrior pve rotation. It feels like there is to much rng involved with the rotation very rarely do I get more than 2 stacks of taste for blood and sometimes I can use overpower 5 or 6 times without a single proc of it, which then will leave me rage starved and without buttons to press, I was wondering if you could lower the damage bonus of the buff or damage of OP while also increasing the proc chance as well.
    GhostCrawler: To Zawani Think of getting a high stack for Taste for Blood as a random bonus, much like getting enraged from a bunch of crits in a row. You shouldn't hold your whole rotation waiting for a 4 or 5 stack, because it won't happen that often. If you're at risk of rage capping, try to Slam. If you don't have the GCD to Slam then it's probably worth just using the Heroic Strike unless you think you'll be able to Colossus Smash really soon.
    Guest-43: Will we ever see Magni Bronzebeard return from being frozen under Ironforge?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-43 Magni is like the definition of BLING. If we continue his story, we'll make sure to handle it in-game. I wouldn't count on seeing him return during the Pandaren story arc, though.
    Guest-313: Greg just said on twitter that the 25s versus 10s situation was handled in the AMA a lot, but nothing came from that apart from an understanding that 25s do have it harder now and could use some more compensation, Don't you have concrete plans for that, more than the tiny bit of extra loot 25s will have? The issue will only get even more pronounced the next weeks during progression.
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-313 It's something we discuss frequently internally. We don't have anything final to announce just yet, but we love 25-player raiding and intend to do what we can to preserve it.
    Guest-6: Windwalkers have been very upset with a couple things in particular with their spec. The first is Fists of Fury, we don't like being rooted and channeling an attack when our kit is supposed to be mobile. Can we please get this mechanic revisited? As well, we don't have literally any useful raid utility. Zen meditation is very weak. Will this be addressed at all post-launch?
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-6 "Mobile" doesn't mean "never, ever stops moving." Like many specs, Windwalkers will do more damage when stationary but can still do some damage when moving. Deciding when you should FoF and when you can't is one of the decision points that separates good monks from great ones. We're not inclined to change it at this time. As far as raid utility goes, we're really reluctant to hand more "must have" buffs. We don't want Windwalkers to be mandatory, especially for smaller, 10-player raid groups. If they are never taken at all, we'll take some kind of action, but I'd be very surprised if that's the case.
    Guest-531: Are there plans on fixing the broken Engineering Flying Machine that has been broken since patch 4.1?
    CoryStockton: To Guest-531 We will look into this and make sure we get it fixed.
    Guest-413: Is there a chance we might see class specific factions developed more? Kirin Tor, Ebon Blade, Argent Bros, Ravenholdt...Could we see something similar arise for Warriors, Hunters etc?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-413 We're cooking up some cool Warlock stuff we can hopefully announce soon. In a more general sense, we LOVE class-specific content, but to do it right takes development time (believe me, I have to somehow schedule all this stuff.). When it came down to deciding between more zones of content and more faction content OR class-specific stuff, we opted to create more content for everyone. But, again, we love class-specific content, we'll try to squeeze in some cool challenges for the various challenges in the patches to come...
    Guest-74: Are we going to get more story-telling in scenarios? The Theramore scenario was lackluster compared to the book, key story elements haven't even been address in-game yet.(Kirin Tor leader)
    DaveKosak: To Guest-74 I addressed this earlier, but keep in mind that we want scenarios to be replayable. We definitely didn't want to burden them with tons of story that you have to wade through every time you play it. As I said for Theramore, people obviously wanted more context, which probably was best served by some one-time quests on either end of the scenario. That's a lesson we're pulling forward.
    Guest-335: Will Wintergrasp ever be added as a max level battleground?
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-335 Potentially, if there is enough demand for it. We would introduce it as you suggest as a true Battleground to avoid faction imbalance issues.
    Guest-28: Beside the lifting on the mist with the clock strikes midnight on the 25th. We have come to expect events to complement the expansion. They have been fascinating and very fun. Should we expect events over the next 6 days? Or was the Scenario it?
    CoryStockton: To Guest-28 The Theramore scenario is intended to be a preview of what players can expect from scenarios in Mists. It is by no means a launch event and thats intentional. We made a call early on to put that time into developing more content for Mists that will last and not be over in a week.
    Guest-33: I loved the "Visions of the Past" quest-line in Vashj'ir. Will we see anything similar in upcoming content?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-33 This is the "Battle-Maiden" questline, where you got to play as a naga badass for a while. I think these are a great break from the standard gameplay if they're well-designed, but we would want to use them sparingly. (After all, it's not WoW if you're not playing your class and kicking butt!) That said, there's a couple fun moments in Pandaria that have similar gameplay. In the Valley of Four Winds, you get to play as Chen Stormstout for a little bit. After kicking around a lot of ideas, we ultimately decided to give you a single 'Chen-Fu' button that makes him randomly do awesome kung-fu moves. It's a short sequence, but it's fun for storytelling and gives you a chance to Chen it up.
    Gehn: Any updates on future guild leveling past 25?
    CoryStockton: To Gehn We are totally open to increasing guild levels and the associated rewards but only when the game feels like it needs more of that content. A large number of guilds are still nowhere near level 25 so Mists did not feel like a good fit to add more guild levels.
    Guest-214: Mists of Pandaria features an ambitious number of 18 raid bosses and I'm very excited about that. Im curious though as to how many bosses we can expect to see in future tiers? Firelands and Dragon Soul felt like small tiers with only 7 or 8 encounters in the tier. 
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-214 We like big raid tiers too, and will do our best to continue delivering them. We're planning for the next tier after Heart of Fear/Terrace to be a fair bit larger than Firelands or Dragon Soul were.
    Guest-197: Whats would your answer be to the players who feel that by making multiple classes bring similar buffs and abilities, that the classes are losing their 'uniqueness'? Introducing combo points to ShadowPriests/Ret Paladins for example
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-197 Ultimately, there are only so many distinct resource mechanisms, and many of them are not great from a gameplay perspective. We'd rather differentiate our classes and specs on the basis of their overall feel and unique capabilities such as Death Grip for Death Knights or shaman' totems. I don't think many people are likely to mistake a shadow priest for a rogue just because they build up a resource and then consume it to deal damage.
    Guest-395: Will the gear in Theramore's Fall 85 version be available in the 90 version?
    CoryStockton: To Guest-395 The gear and the rewards for the 85 version are only available now. The 90 version has standard scenario rewards (Valor and a chance at a dungeon blue)
    Lansuer: Where do you see races that are neutral leaning like the Blood Elves going within the Horde? They seem rather separate from the Horde story since Cata's launch.
    DaveKosak: To Lansuer Stick around for patch 5.1 - we pick up the Blood Elves' story and propel it forward. Finally, a chance to interact with Lor'themar! Most players don't even know who he is.  
    Guest-121: What are your thoughts on healing classes in MoP? Are you seeing the type of balance you want in the new expansion between all classes/specs? I ask because we are seeing a lot of blending of healers into one unit, instead of variety. All healers can do everything now to state it plainly which is making certain classes stronger choices than others for non-healing reasons. Sure some do slightly better in certain situations, but the classic archetypes are no longer as valid. It removes the need fo...
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-121 We strive for harmony with the healer design. If healer niches are too well-defined, then you are encouraged to stack Resto druids for one fight and then Holy paladins for the next fight. We'd rather see a diversity of healers. As far as healer balance is currently, we're pretty happy with it at 90. We still need to see Disc priests really figure out all of the nuances of Spirit Shell and we want to make sure all of the healers are really strong for Challenge Mode gold runs.
    drwuky: Will you guys decrease the experience needed from 88-89 and 89-90 or increase the experience gained in Townlong Steppes and Dread Wastes before release? At the moment you can NOT hit Level 89 if you start with Level 88 and 0% experience in Townlong Steppes (~10% experience missing) and also Level 90 is impossible with Dread Wastes quests only (~5% experience missing). These are datas with the 10% experience guild perk and yes, I've got both zone completed achievements.
    CoryStockton: To drwuky We are still actively tuning the XP. We will look into it.
    Velenor1: Question for Dave Kosak. I have always wondered why the Alliance has continuously frowned upon the Scarlet Crusade. Their main purpose was to simply eradicate the undead. With their return in MoP, we are tasked with eliminating them -again- with the aid of Lillian Voss. Why is it that we have turned their organization down for so long when we more or less have the same goals in mind? 
    DaveKosak: To Velenor1 The complexities really aren't in the game, but the Scarlet Crusade was very much a rogue organization. Great priests and warriors who would've otherwise served the Alliance disappear into the crusade, who serves its own ends. (In Northrend, it was clear their leadership had succumbed to demonic influence. It's hard to make up for that.) To be honest, the main reason to revisit the Crusade in 5.1 was a gameplay reason and not a story reason - it was a favorite dungeon that we really wanted to revisit with new mechanics. We didn't think a lot of story was needed.
    Guest-553: Question from Munich, Germany. As the Octoberfest here and Brewfest in WoW are coming up, I wondered whether anyone at Blizzard did "field research" for designing Brewfest at the real Octoberfest ? The costumes and music are done really well.
    CoryStockton: To Guest-553 We do field research on Brewfest every Friday.
    DaveKosak: Sorry - meant to say 5.0 in that last question
    Guest-235: Why is the theramore event so boring? Its way too easy and if you didn't read the book then you have no idea what's going on, you also wouldn't know why jaina isn't dead and why azeroth isn't completely destroyed. Do you think it would've been smarter to put more lore in the scenario and would've made it more fun?
    Zarhym: To Guest-235 Dave already spoke to the story part of your question (if you missed it Best Buy will be providing a full transcript after the chat). To address your concern of difficulty, we agree it was too easy on release. We pushed a hotfix recently that increased the HP of all enemies in Theramore's Fall. The fact is that Scenarios in Mists will be more tailored for players in quest gear and dungeon blues. But players at level 85 were steamrolling through it in Dragon Soul gear, and the hotfix was to compensate for this a little.
    Guest-494: Do all designers use the same in-house editor? Or do you have different tools for different jobs? How do you handle collisions in your edits?
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-494 We all use a massive proprietary tool called WoWEdit, which has been showcased a couple of times at Blizzcons in the past. We all use this tool to create and edit everything from creatures to spells to quests, and our level designers use it to actually shape the terrain of the outdoor world. At the end of the day, there are countless columns and rows in tables that define the properties of the game world and the players and monsters that inhabit it. We're only able to do the work that we do because of our amazing Tools team, a dedicated group that is constantly refining and updating our editor to enable us to create content more quickly and with fewer bugs.
    Guest-186: On the World of Warcraft website, it lists tradeskill patterns, plans, etc. that the player is missing. Some of those items are no longer in game. Are there any plans to reincorporate those missing plans back into the game so the players have an opportunity to try to get all of their missing tradeskill plans?
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-186 I'd hate to add back plans with no real game purpose just for sake of completeness. To be honest, I'd rather get rid of more of the older recipes that don't have a strong purpose.
    Guest-160: Compared to designing dungeons, how difficult is it to design scenarios? Does it take more or less resources to make scenarios?
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-160 The biggest challenge for us was just figuring out what scenarios should be. How long should they last? Should they be hard? How much variability should they have from run to run? Now that we've gone through that process, they should take much less time to design than dungeons. The biggest time expenditure on dungeons is the amazing art that goes into them.
    Amd11394: Considering Dispels remove ALL magic effects, even if they dispelled Fear the Flame shock would go with it, regardless of if they intended to dispel it or not. Would this not constitute it's reinstatement?
    IonHazzikostas: To Amd11394 Guessing this is a follow-up to my earlier reply. I meant that if you dispel Flame Shock off yourself, or off Teammate A, maybe you can't dispel Teammate B's Fear or Polymorph a few seconds later, and now they're stuck in CC for its full duration. In general, we expect that players have to be much more careful about how and when they use their magic dispels.
    Guest-399: Rogues are famous for using daggers, and that's all that we seem to be able to use, but I like to play Combat Spec, and it's described as being a swashbuckler spec. As such, I'd like to use 1handed swords along with daggers, but there are next to no 1handed rogue compatible swords, will we ever get to use swords as part of a rogue's arsenal? Afterall, there is no longer a block on what weapons a rogue can use on their abilties. 
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-399 It's less of a design concern and more about how many different items we can drop. Things like e.g. Intellect axes don't have a lot of customers, so we just don't make them very often. This might be the kind of thing that transmog can eventually help address too.
    basketballer259: I assume I ask this question on behalf of thousands of vanilla WoW fans: Do you ever plan on bringing back "Server-wide" Events? An example would be the Opening of AQ, which allowed the entire server to collaborate their efforts. An event of the same theory would be an incredible experience for all players to witness. It was incredibly rewarding when the whole server gathered enough materials for the opening ceremony!
    DaveKosak: To basketballer259 From the standpoint of, "Everyone gather at the same place at the same time to see a big event and if you miss it its gone forever assuming you all don't crash the server," then no, no more events like that. BUT, we love the feeling of server progression, similar to the Isle of Quel'denas. Is there a way to build that progression into the game such that players who come in a couple months later don't miss out on all the fun? We think there is. And we're planning something that we'd like to try in the 5.0 patch cycle... so stay tuned! [No guarantees here, but we're actively tinkering with something.]
    Shnitzel: With the pet battle system, pets which you can acquire multiples of, have lost the 'Already Known' tag. This is pretty annoying when shopping for pets for example, as you constantly have to search through your journal ("Do I have the red tickbird or the white one?"). Will this be changed? perhaps add an 'Already Known' tag in a different color?
    CoryStockton: To Shnitzel Sorry for the inconvenience on that, we have already redesigned the tooltips to fix this in patch 5.1.0. Tooltips will display if you already own the pet in addition to how many.
    Guest-892: Have you thought of introducing titles to reward realm 1st times for the new challenge mode dungeons. Something similar to how the PvP titles work now. 
    CoryStockton: To Guest-892 We actually have! The idea was that you would only have the title for as long as you held the top time. Main issue we ran into was that the title could be changing hands so fast that you might only have it for a few seconds. It's an awesome idea though and we want to explore it more.
    Guest-489: Can we have a rough timeframe on when we can expect the Trials of the High King questline to be implimented? Are we taking around patch 5.1 or something closer to the Siege of Orgrimmar patch?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-489 Varian Wrynn's first trial will happen in 5.1. But to set expectations, the development of Varian's character happens across the entire patch cycle and beyond - it doesn't all happen in one event or one scenario. His trials are many. 
    Guest-776: Transmog has become a very important part of my gaming fun. Will we be able to farm Dragon Soul LFR recolor gear at level 90, since the LFR tool won't work for it at that level ? This goes for future expansions and MoP content, of course.
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-776 We aren't going to support Raid Finder for content that is much lower level than your character, but we are going to allow you to enter old raids solo without being in a raid in a future patch (ideally the next major one, but standard no promises). That should facilitiate a lot of transmog farming.
    Guest-727: The Reliquary is an interesting faction (at least in my opinion), but it hasn't been really visible in Cataclysm. Any chance we'll see them in Pandaria, as a counterpart to Brann ? Or at least some way to get their tabard ?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-727 No plan for a tabard, but starting in 5.1 they're going to start poking around Pandaria for relics...
    Guest-763: Were Orges ever thought of as a playalbe race, at one time? (Greg marry me /kiss) Irth
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-763 Yep. We considered them for Cataclysm instead of goblins. Figuring out the females and the two-headed mages would be (fun!) challenges. Maybe someday.
    Zarhym: Way to ignore that marriage proposal follow-up, GC. ;p
    Cueball: First: Hi guys, including Zarhym (didn't know you'd be here). Anyway, is there anything to Jaina's words that it is "time to bring Dalaran down" to the land and that she is still in support of fighting against the Horde?
    DaveKosak: To Cueball Jaina's story will continue starting in patch 5.1. We'll try to catch players up with where she is at the end of the book, and then move on from there. 
    Guest-571: With the introduction of Pet Battles, do you think we can see pets dropping in raids again? There hasn't been a pet drop in a raid since Karazhan IIRC so a prime example in today's standing could be Ragnaros dropping Mini Ragnaros instead of it being on the store.
    CoryStockton: To Guest-571 I don't see why not! We just need to make sure it's a good fit with the content.
    Guest-736: Is there any plans to allow players to have more then one Death Knight per server?
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-736 We agree that it feels like an antiquated rule at this point. We'll see how hard it is to remove that restriction.
    sdk: I am wondering about the incentives to 25 man. This game is a social game so why does it seem that 25 man guilds are dieing off and they are going to 10 mans. Paragon recently posted that they were going to 10 man. Is there any other way to fix it so that people are drawn to do 25 mans because they want to raid with friends and get the good gear?
    IonHazzikostas: To sdk In Paragon's specific case, I suspect they'd find no lack of capable people more than willing to raid with them, but maintaining a Finnish-speaking roster is a core part of their guild culture, and they've made what was no doubt a very difficult decision to scale down to 10-player raiding rather than compromise that culture. As I noted in the Reddit AMA, ultimately there are heavier logistical burdens, particularly placed on the officers and raid leaders, in sustaining a 25-player roster versus only needing 10 players. We're actively discussing ways of ensuring that 25-player raiders feel properly incentivized and rewarded without necessarily elevating one raid size over the other. We definitely welcome ongoing community discussion and feedback on that topic.
    Alablaster: As Developers, what was your biggest hurdle in building the new features we will see in Mists and how did you overcome them? Also I want to send kudos out to the art team - the beta was visually stunning!
    CoryStockton: To Alablaster Our biggest issue with new features is adding more complexity to the game. It's somethign we struggle with every expansion. I will pass your kind words on to the art team too!
    Wamogri: Will the baby shark pet ever get added back into the game?
    CoryStockton: To Wamogri Yes! That's what those sweet new water bubbles are for!
    Guest-525: Recently in Twitter Ghostcrawler mentioned the possibility of making subraces such as Maghar orcs and Wildhammer dwarfs available with the player character model updates, how high chance is there that this would also allow us to play as Broken or Taunka?
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-525 If we ever opened up more races, I suspect we'd be pretty liberal about it, but to be clear, that feature is no more than a twinkle in some designer's eye at this stage.
    artimadours: Are there any plans to allow for heirloom items to be sent cross realm?
    CoryStockton: To artimadours We want this as bad as you guys do. It's on the list and we are looking into it.
    Nize: You mentioned in a previous Q&A that legendary weapon components would be done in a manner to lessen drama within in a guild. One step was the implementation of components achievable through LFR. My question is how will components from normal and heroic raids be distributed. Will it be distributed similarly to how Deathwing's essences or new LFR are, or will the raid leaders still choose who to give those components to?
    GhostCrawler: To Nize In 5.0 it's not a competitive issue at all. In Raid Finder, it's a random drop for some players. In Normal and Heroic there is a chance of a drop, at which point it is multi-lootable and every player on the quest will get it.
    Guest-787: There has been some speculation as to whether Turalyon and Alleria might make a triumphant comeback in Mists of Pandaria. Any comments on this, or are they saved for a later expansion pack? The Alliance sure could use something to turn the tide of war.
    DaveKosak: To Guest-787 ...and also, I think the Alliance can take this! 
    DaveKosak: To Guest-787 There's no plan to continue their story in Pandaria. 
    DaveKosak: (Reverse the order of those replies.
    Guest-212: Are we going to have the ability to remove players who dc or log off from scenario groups and add in new players from the queue?
    CoryStockton: To Guest-212 Not at launch but we hope to have it in for the 5.1 patch. We understand the concern.
    lilm123: Do you guys plan on giving out title for challgenge modes, like how you do for PvP (0.0% - 0.5%: Gladiator 0.5% - 3%: Duelist 3% - 10%: Rival 10% - 35%: Challenger)
    IonHazzikostas: To lilm123 If and when we move on to future challenge mode "seasons", titles to recognize players' past accomplishments are definitely something we'll consider.
    Guest-913: With all these new changes to get players out into the world (great idea), is it a goal of the development team to possibly bring back World-PvP? Coming from someone who plays on a PvP Realm, I would love to relive the old days of huge scale open world PvP battles. I'm sure many others feel the same way.
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-913 We are trying to encourage it. Spots like the Black Market and the shrines (the faction "cities" in the Vale) will probably have a lot of PvP on PvP servers. Remember, guards are much weaker on PvP servers now and there are no sanctuaries in Pandaria.
    Guest-883: At the end of the Klaxxi questline, the mantid mentioned that at one point in time, they worshipped Y'shaarj, an old god. However, he was slain by the Titans and was split into "shadows of his former self". Is he, in some way, in relations with the Sha and will we see Y'shaarj in future content patches?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-883 Y'shaarj breathed love and exhaled hate, inhaled peace and breathed violence... Plus, his name was y'SHAarj. It's pretty safe to connect the dots. But Y'shaarj itself is very, very, very dead.
    Guest-728: WIll we see a Heroic Version of Ragefire Chasm?
    CoryStockton: To Guest-728 Certainly not out of the question. Heroic versions of classic dungeons have been some of our most popular content. We will keep doing them as long as people keem playing em'.
    Guest-508: What exaclty (If you can answer without spoiling the story line!) has turned Garrosh Hellscream into the monster we all hate now? 
    DaveKosak: To Guest-508 Garrosh is not a monster. He has a very clear vision of the Horde, and the future of the orcs, and he gives very little thought to anyone who stands between him and that future. As he gets more powerful, and gets away with more, his vision becomes clearer. This has put him in conflict in the Alliance, and ultimately will cause problems within the Horde.
    Ünseen: I love the little mana bomb received from the Theramoore scenario, but the cooldown is making it really hard to have fun with. Any chance this will be reduced to allow a bit more spammability? Maybe like a 30 second cd?
    CoryStockton: To Ünseen Glad you liked the reward! Unfortunately, that kind of mana power takes a long time to recharge!
    Guest-749: The new LFR system you have in WoW now seems like a great way for people who dont have alot of time to donate to raiding guild environments a chance to see content that was most of the time closed to them, however im not a big fan of 25man raids. Is there any plans to add a 10man choice to the LFR system?
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-749 We think 25 works better for Raid Finder. The ratios of DPS to non DPS more matches the player population and there is less risk of getting an unviable group. In 25s you can afford to have a few deaths and you can even pull if you're backfilling a few players. Both really make you stop in your tracks on 10s. In 25, it's easier to fade back into the group if you're still not 100% confident in what you're doing. In 10s, it's harder to be a wallflower.
    Guest-986: "Turalyon and Alleria" is it possible in anyway to know if there are any plans to continue their story? I had HUGE hopes to see them in game when BC came out and their SON poped out of nowhere saying they where alive. anything would do!... plz!?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-986 Oh, their story will continue!!
    Guest-51: How are group compositions gonna work into Challenge Modes? Surely every group would want to have a Bloodlust. And atleast a kings buff.
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-51 Realistically, if you're aiming for Gold, you're going to want a shaman or a mage or a hunter in your group, though Gold is absolutely possible without using Heroism/Bloodlust or equivalent effects. Realistically that probably saves you 15-20 seconds at best, and we've seen groups beat some Gold times by more than that. When constructing a 5-player dungeon group, you're inevitably going to have some strengths and some weaknesses in your composition, and players may find that the sorts of abilities they find invaluable are not the ones they're used to viewing in that light. (Pop quiz -- Which is likely to help you more in an 18-minute challenge mode run: Bloodlust, or an AoE stun that you can a couple of times a minute?)
    Vaengence: Ok, I am going to be the one to ask the dreaded question, mainly because my guild members know that I continue to fight for them and have asked me to still chase this question. 25 mans - GC you have said it would be a good topic for a Watercooler, which is good, and recent tweets say not enough is being done for them.The only change we know about is the loot change and that is onl 1 item different for Normals from the majority of Cata which, excuse the sentiment here, seems a little underwhelmin...
    GhostCrawler: To Vaengence Sadly, we don't have any details to announce yet, but we have a couple of ideas that should make the 25 players happy. We'll talk about them when we're confident that they are good ideas. Remember, the result can't be that all the 10 players stampede back to 25.
    DeathFish1: Any chance we will see the option to upgrade out current legendary to be maybe not the equal to the current ilvl but maybe raid finder ilvl or just a little below so that they are not just taking up space in out banks, or bags in the case of dragonwrath. 
    GhostCrawler: To DeathFish1 Not sure we would let you upgrade a legendary, but we could potentially allow you to transmog them. Our reluctance has always been that Thunderfuy feels less special when you see 30 of them running around AV.
    Guest-924: If some gamers are thinking about coming back to WoW to exp Mist of Pandaria content, is there any special program "come back" that will launch with the release?
     CoryStockton: To Guest-924 Scroll of Resurrection is awesome for returning players!
    Bolting: Have you changed your design philosophy of the quest flow in mists of pandaria? In previous expansions, moving to a new zone as soon as you are eligble left enough experience to cause no issues. Do you intend for all zones to be finished from beginning to end in order, and if so why did you feel the need to add breadcrumbs to the next zone prior to being able to go without issues further down the road?
    DaveKosak: To Bolting Pandaria is like a huge novel that you can read in any order. You can skip ahead to other chapters as soon as you're eligible. It's worth it to stick through a full zone to wrap up the storylines and maybe get some blue quest rewards, but you're welcome to play through however you want. We definitely put in the effort to make this expansion much more open and non-linear.
    Crithto: That about wraps things up, everyone. Thank you so much for joining the Best Buy Dev Chat, sending us really great questions, and for your patience. On behalf of Greg, Cory, Ion, Dave, and Zarhym, we truly appreciate your time and passion for World of Warcraft. Have a GREAT rest of the week, and we'll see you in Pandaria next Tuesday!
    DaveKosak: This was a lot of fun. Thank you everyone! Only days to go... Pandaria awaits!
    CoryStockton: Tons of great questions guys, that was a lot of fun! Can't wait to see everyone in Pandaria in just a few days!
    GhostCrawler: We can't wait for you guys to see all of the new Mists content. We are really proud of what we've been able to deliver with this expansion. It's going to be good. Hugs, GC.
    Dorothy-BBY: Thanks guys!
    Zarhym: Thank you, everyone! For those who got here late or weren't able to follow along for the whole chat, Best Buy will be providing a full transcript here momentarily: http://bbyurl.us/MistsofPandariaChat
    Kyle-BBY: Great chat everyone! Thank you everyone for joining us and Blizzard for totally rocking!
    Sean|Senior Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate
     Private Message

    Transcript for Chat: 'Live Chat: WoW Mists of Pandaria', Tue Sep 18 18:04:25 CDT 2012
    Zarhym: Hello, all, and welcome to the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Developer Chat, presented by Best Buy! Blizzard community manager Crithto and I will be helping facilitate the discussion today and filter as many of your questions as possible for our developers to answer.
    Crithto: That’s right! Thank you, Zarhym, and welcome everyone. On the panel to answer your questions today we have World of Warcraft lead designers Greg Street, Cory Stockton, Dave Kosak, and Ion Hazzikostas. Questions are pouring in and our developers are preparing their initial responses, so let’s get started!
    Guest-47: Is the second son of DeathWing going to be the Second Prince? The achitvment two Princs says that Wration and another 'Prince' will settle something important, is that true?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-47 "Two Princes" is a placeholder name that may or may not reflect the final achievements in later patches. Suffice it to say, Wrathion's story will continue!
    Guest-101: What was the idea with Monk healing? what mix of elements inspired it and defined it?
    GregStreet: To Guest-101 Mostly we wanted it to feel different from existing healers, so there is an emphasis on a channeled spell as the main heal. We also wanted to emphasize movement and damage-dealing to heal, because those were core to the monk class.
    Guest-51: Do you feel the way of nerfing Dragon Soul, by nerfing the bosses. Was more successful than the Icecrown Citadel version, by buffing the players health and damage?
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-51 Yes, one of the awkward things about the Icecrown Citadel buff was that, over time, it caused players to feel weaker when they were doing anything other than raiding Icecrown. It also had some potentially distorting effects, benefiting some specs and roles more than others. Weakening the enemies instead, as we've done in Dragon Soul, is more in keeping with how we've traditionally handled our tuning adjustments, going all the way back to Vanilla raids.
    Guest-43: Where is N'Zoth? He was mentioned at Blizzcon, then was talked about in Dragon Soul. What is going on with him?!
    DaveKosak: To Guest-43 N'zoth is still lurking. The Titans couldn't defeat it... maybe someday we'll get our chance? Don't expect to hear anything about him in Pandaria, though!
    drwuky: Hello. If someone from a CRZ hits Level 90 as first player on my realm, will he get the Realm First! Level 90 achievement for my realm or for his realm?
    IonHazzikostas: To drwuky His realm
    parrjj01: It seems like PVP never gets much attention from the devlopers during these type of events. As a hardcore lover of PVP and the many people that are in my guild, we have really gotten frustrated, bored, etc with how PVP is handled. Will you guys ever be implanting anything like how LFR system works. Were there will be healers on each side, for a better chance of your team succeeding? I don't know about anyone else but I really hate being on my side with 0 healers and the horde have 4 in E...
    GregStreet: To parrjj01 Our BG queueing system was built a long time ago. Since that time we've engineered the much more powerful system that we use for Dungeon Finder and Raid Finder. We'd now like to reengineer that system to work for BG queues as well, which would give us the ability to better balance healers, item levels, and perhaps even premade vs. PUG. No promises, but it's something we're working on.
    Guest-46: The Theramore event was a little... Underwhelming. Developers have previously stated they spent more time on the content in Pandaria than the Theramore event. Will we see more diversity and excitement in the scenarios in Pandaria?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-46 There's a LOT of diversity in the scenarios. For example. there's a monkey pirate island where you're running around fetching up brew and fighting randomized bosses, and other insanity. We really tried to experiement with some different mechanics, and we got bolder as development continued.
    Gehn: Any chance we will ever see attunements or rep based dungeons again or is that strictly a in-the-past type thing?
    IonHazzikostas: To Gehn There's something a bit like a traditional attunement in the 5.0 raids: Players must defeat Grand Empress Shek'zeer in the Heart of Fear raid before they may begin the Terrace of Endless Spring raid. It's definitely something we're open to exploring further in the future.
    Guest-30: Hi. I've had a lot of concerns regarding hit / expertise with tanks. Currently in MoP it seems tanks would reforge most their defensive stats into hit / expertise. It's extremely annoying design
    GregStreet: To Guest-30 We felt like previously tanks could just ignore even hitting targets because threat was easy to maintain and survivability was based entirely around cooldowns. Now you'll need to hit the target, but you'll gain resources for doing so, so we hope the experience is more engaging to tanks. More *fighting* less standing there.
    Guest-98: Will the ability to obtain legendary mats on LFR mode make it required for raiders, at least until they complete the quest?
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-98 "Required" is one of those tricky words. We understand that for many players anything that gives even an incremental power gain is seen as mandatory. Progress on one portion of the early steps of the legendary questline may be made in LFR mode, so players who want to obtain their gem from Wrathion as quickly as possible will likely benefit from doing LFR alongside their Normal or Heroic raiding. LFR wings will unlock incrementally, after Normal mode, so when someone in a top progression guild is defeating up to 16 bosses when Heart of Fear and Terrace open, doing LFR will only add 6 to that total (from Mogu'shan Vaults LFR). While in the long run, we'd like to minimize players' obligation to run LFR if they are part of progression raiding guilds, that's challenging at the start of an expansion when everyone is using the same dungeon blues. We hope it'll be different for future tiers. Finally, the true power of Wrathion's gem lies in the combined effect of the weapon and the gem itself; an LFR player's Sha-touched weapon will be significantly less powerful than a Heroic raider's.
    Guest-28: As the Cataclysm Expansion is now over. As a team what were your take aways both good and bad?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-28 From a quest perspective, we thought that the storytelling in Cataclysm was very strong, but that the zones were very linear. For Pandaria, we wanted to swing the pendulum the other way and open up the game more, rewarding exploration. I think we found a much better balance. Kun-lai Summit, for example, is pretty open-ended, even though it's got some great stories in there. That's just one example - we're always learning from expansions. The other big takeaway was that we wanted more things for players to do, depending on what sort of challenges they want. Challenge Modes, Pet battles, and the new Daily Quest structure all appeal to different people, hoepfully with the goal of giving everyone more content no matter what your playstyle!
    Guest-124: How much game time do you think will we get in exploration of the continent of pandaria?
    CoryStockton: To Guest-124 We really packed in the content with Mists, that being said the amount of time it takes you is really going to depend on your playstyle. We have so many different things for players to do. Quests, reputations, dailys, sceanrios, pet battles.... The idea is to let players make progress doing whatever kind of activity they like best.
    Amd11394: Prior to patch 5.0.4, When we still had the cataclysm 'revised' talent trees, Elemental shamans gained an addition to one of their talents entailing that when flame shock was dispelled we gained a temporary buff entitled 'Lave Flows' This most recent patch, with the new Mists 'revised' Talent trees highlighted the removal of the cataclysm talent system, and with it went Lava Flows, what is your reasoning for removing this valuable ability?
    IonHazzikostas: To Amd11394 Defensive dispels are significantly more limited in 5.0 than they were previously. Passives like Lava Flows were designed as an answer to an environment in which defensive dispel magic was spammed constantly, and it was nearly impossible to get a buffed Lava Burst off against an attentive dispeller who could remove your Flame Shock while you were casting the spell. With an 8-second cooldown on dispels now, a healer who dispels a Flame Shock may find that they are unable to dispel the Fear or Polymorph that targets another teammate immediately thereafter. We'll keep an eye on the evolving PvP metagame in light of the new dispel changes, and consider re-adding something like Lava Flows if it proves necessary.
    drwuky: Will the storyline of the Sha continue with Patch 5.1 or later patches?
    DaveKosak: To drwuky For the most part, the Sha issues will be tackled by players in 5.0. BUT... not everyone wants to let sleeping Sha lie. Someone might start stirring up trouble beginning with the patches...
    samich: Can we expect mailboxes on the wandering isle on release? was the removal of the one that was there for quest testing purposes?
    DaveKosak: To samich Pandaren Neutrality caused a lot of design issues we had to solve. Mail ended up being a headache. What was easiest -- for us AND for our users -- was to remove mail entirely until you choose a faction. That's nice and clean and prevents a lot of issues people saw on the beta. So, no mailboxes on the Wandering Isle - sorry!
    Guest-114: I know you guys recently changed the LFR loot (weapons) from the last boss in a LFR instance, are you guys going to do any other changes to LFR to make heroic raiders not feel as they have to raid 2 formats a week to be competitive?
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-114 As I mentioned in reply to an earlier question, it's a goal of ours but it's a tough one to realize in a world where everyone is starting out in dungeon blues and looking to get their hands on any and all epics. It's our expectation that by the time Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring LFR unlock, most heroic raiders will have replaced their dungeon gear and have less to gain from also running LFR mode. In future raid tiers, people who are already in Heroic gear from the prior raid zone should not find the next tier's LFR gear to be an improvement over what they have.
    Guest-260: Will there be an appearance of the Burning Legion in the end of MoP?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-260 The threat of the Burning Legion is still out there, and it's very much a threat to Azeroth. The mortal races are mostly focused on the current war, but not everyone has forgotten about what's out there and the challenges to come... Wrathion, in particular, is already trying to look ahead.
    Guest-271: Would say that the new challenge mode dungeon gold times are going to be the "Gladiator" equivalent of PVE?
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-271 That would be our hope. Seeing someone sporting a set of challenge mode armor in town should be akin to seeing someone on a Gladiator mount -- you know they did something extremely skillful to earn it, and it's not the sort of reward you can outgear and obtain later on.
    CoryStockton: To Guest-271 That's probably a pretty close comparison. Beyond gold times we will have server and guild leaderboards too. That's probably where the highest level of competition will be.
    Guest-160: Christie Golden mentioned in an interview that she worked closely with the quest team when she wrote Tides of War to make sure everything was very close. However, there are some notable differences between the book and the scenario during the Alliance side of it. Did the storyline of the scenario change late into the book's writing?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-160 We worked hard to sync with Golden during development. The Alliance side of the scenario went through LOTS of iterations, including when it happend (before the attack? During the attack? After the attack?) Ultimately we went with the one that gave us the greatest gameplay. We want the events of the book and game to match as closely as possible, but we want the best book possible and the best game possible, so they won't be word-for-word identical. This can create some fun arguments. "Well, according to this book..." "YEAH, but I WAS THERE, MAN!" We work hard to make sure the discrepancies are minor, but we definitely don't struggle for perfection.
    Guest-292: Will we ever see cross-server mail or non-boa cross faction mailing phiesibly within the 5.0 content?--Gorebane of Eonar (P.S. Wa
    CoryStockton: To Guest-292 It's on our list and something we really want to do. It's really just a matter of the engineering time it takes us to get it in.
    im_a_rockstar: WoW has always been a mostly raid or die game. The changes in MoP to Justice Points, the item level difference on gear obtained outside of raid, are kind of steps backwards away from alternatives, pushing us back to having our only choice to be a raid. Are there any plans to give the non-raiders / people with random avaiabilities any form of meaningful character progression in terms of player power, besides only raids?
    IonHazzikostas: To im_a_rockstar We have a number of gear acquisition routes that do not involve raiding. We've broadened the avenues for acquiring Valor Points, which can now be earned by doing dungeons, daily quests, scenarios, and so forth. That gear will be at least item level 489 (compared to 476 from LFR). There's also crafted gear. And of course future content updates will continue to provide upgrades outside of raiding. All of that said, I'd encourage you to check out the new raids as well -- the addition of the LFR system makes them more accessible than ever.
    NinjaFox: To Dave Kosak: The reddit AMA gave some teasers that Sylvanas, Vol'jin, and Thrall (specifically in 5.1) would be integral parts to the story. Rexxar and Koltira were also mentioned. On the Alliance side, other than Varian, Anduin and Jaina are there any notable leaders/lore figures we can expect to see active through the Pandaria storyline?
    DaveKosak: To NinjaFox Great question! Many of the Alliance leaders will come into play. Tyrande has a couple of moments in 5.1. We also want to do more with the dwarven storyline (we're still kicking around ideas of how best to do that.) The trick is making sure those characters have meaningful moments. We'll definitely spend a lot of time with Jaina and King Wrynn.
    DeathFish1: With the creation of the farms at Halfhill, the base structure for player and guild housing has subsequently been created as well. Is this the direction you have chosen to go with for player housing or was this even considered as an option. One very good point about this option is that multiple locations for housing can be placed thoughout the game world, preventing the issue of removing players from the world.
    CoryStockton: To DeathFish1 It's certainly a baby step in that direction. We are really excited to see how players react to it in Mists. We already have lots of ideas on how we can expand this kind of content in the future too!
    DaveKosak: Regarding DeathFish's question (Love the name, Deathfish!) when we think about things like player-housing, we really want to look at how this can contribute to gameplay. The farm is awesome because it ties into a lot of systems, it creates some fun crafting opportunities, it impacts the economy, etc. It's a great experiment for us because if it's popular, it gives us a lot of data into how to create this type of content in the future.
    Gosu: What is the design philosophy behind PvP balance and how satisfied are you with PvP balance in Mists of Pandaria?
    GhostCrawler: To Gosu One of the main ones was to allow more cross-over of gear at the lower end but not the upper end of content. (In 4.0 it was more of the opposite.) It's not fun to die in PvP over and over until you get decent gear.
    Guest-134: How come with this expansion you choose to go with Pandas and not something that was already in the game, such as The Emerald Dream, maybe going into the Dragonflights, or even something more with The Demonic legion.
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-134 The pandaren are a race we've been looking to introduce into the WoW universe for some time now, since their introduction as a neutral hero back in the Warcraft 3 expansion. They were originally a top contender for the Alliance race back in Burning Crusade, but we ended up going with the draenei at the time because they better fit the Outland-focused story we were trying to tell, and because it didn't feel right forcing a historically neutral race like the pandaren into one specific faction. When we were looking to make an expansion centered around themes of exploration and discovery against a backdrop of Alliance-Horde conflict, the pandaren just seemed like the right fit: Noble and enigmatic race caught in the middle of the war between the Alliance and Horde as it spirals out of control, forced to choose sides as the outside world descends upon their homeland.
    Guest-179: ogue's shadow blades visual effect is lacking, and needs more of a pop. Paladins get ashbringer; could rogues get something equally cool looking?
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-179 We agree that some rogue visuals (Shadow Blades, Shadow Walk, etc.) could use some more love. That's something we'd like to do in a future patch.
    bocasha: In Pandaria will we see another 9 month period where we will have no new stuff coming out?
    CoryStockton: To bocasha We are doing everything within our power to avoid this. We all feel that 9 months without content is pretty much unacceptable to our players. A glimmer of hope: we are already knee deep into both patch 5.1 and 5.2. Our plan is to deliver these much faster than anyone is expecting.
    Guest-432: When will we see Sargeras, it's one of the reasons I've stuck around for so long...
    DaveKosak: To Guest-432 Sargeras would be one monstrous raid boss! He's one of the most iconic, key villains of the franchise. Believe me, when he comes to Azeroth, you're going to feel it LONG before he even gets there.
    khalanil: Have you thought about implementing zones or battlegrounds where players are normalized by level, similar to the gear level normalization in the upcoming challenge mode dungeons? This could allow players to quest or PVP with lower-level friends, and it could be fun to see a trio of level 20s take down a level 90.
    DaveKosak: To khalanil This is a tremendous question, because it's something we've been talking about and exploring. With Challenge Modes, we now have tech to scale your item level, so that we can guarantee the right level of difficulty. Having this tech opens lots of doors for us down the line. We don't have anything to announce, but it's a step toward a lot of the features you're describing.
    parrjj01: I really love the real ID system, which has helped me communicate with my cousin who lives in Hawaii. The only downfall is, he's horde. Neither of us want to change fractions but we'd love to run toghther doing something. Will you guys ever considor letting us 'group' toghther and duke it out in battlegrounds, but disabling chat (even in real ID terms) so the no communcation rules still apply?
    GhostCrawler: To parrjj01 We don't have huge design problems with letting you play with friends from other factions. The biggest challenge is the game was never designed with the concept of letting you be allied with the opposing faction, so it would be a tremendous amount of work. I won't give up hope for it though! (We always joke about a tauren having the Hallow's End 2D gnome mask when you're grouped with him.)
    Guest-184: Can one stand anywhere in Orgrimmar(including right next to the questgiver that sends you to the gunship) when MoP is activated or do we have to be outside the Garrosh building? Good to know for us who are rushing as fast as we can!
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-184 If you are online, you should get the quest pushed to you no matter where you are. We don't want to over-promise though. This is technically challenging stuff and it might be the case that we need everyone to relog. /crosses fingers
    Guest-37: The story of Tides of War is really interesting. I don't think players can get engaged if they have no idea what's happening, the bomb dropping is really anticlimactic. I felt a bit disappointed so little got included in the scenario. Was this because of lack of time, of developers or because you rather keep all that info in the novels.
    DaveKosak: To Guest-37 I've been watching the Theramore feedback closely, and this comment seems pretty universal. We tried to keep everything all in the scenario, to make it really self-contained, but not burden it with lots of story that you have to slog through every time you played the scenario. It's pretty clear from the feedback that people wanted more story. We should've surrounded the scenarios with more quests or explanations to help round out the story for the people who wanted to know what exactly was happening. Lesson learned!
    Dude7198: Will there be a Realm First achievement that involves Pet Battles?
    CoryStockton: To Dude7198 We did not make any realm first achievements for pet battles. Our intention for the feature is that its more of a casual activity and a realm first just did not feel like a good fit.
    Guest-261: Nobody I know is impressed with the promise of an extra piece of loot for normal 25 mans. What we would be impressed with is separate realm first achievements for each raid format. Any chance of seeing something like this?
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-261 Possibly. On several servers that have one top 25-player guild that's far above the rest of the server in progression, that might turn into incentivizing them to split up the week after their 25-player Realm First to snag the 10-player one. Not sure that's great gameplay for anyone. That said, we recognize that there's interest in making it a bit easier to distinguish between 10-player and 25-player kills in statistics or achievements.
    Guest-257: Were the stained glass windows in Ulduar forshadowing of the Sha? They look very similar to the Sha.
    DaveKosak: To Guest-257 I'd like to say we planned that. [Long pause] But I would be lying. I think it's just a happy coincidence that fits wonderfully into our lore.
    Guest-174: When will transmog rules be loosened up a little. Main hand/one hand weapons, for instance.
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-174 If I had to guess, we will loosen them at some point. We would probably wait until some time after the MoP launch when players will appreciate it more. It's easy for smaller features to get lost when there is so much new content. The designers will discuss it soon (tm).
    Guest-88: We saw some of the animations on the challenge mode gear, will the druid set animations be visible when the druid is shapeshifted?
    CoryStockton: To Guest-88 The custom effects are based on the armor itself so they will only be visible when you are in caster form.
    Guest-306: Will content come at a faster rate in MoP? It seems that we might be pushing thought content at a much faster rate.
    DaveKosak: To Guest-306 That is definitely our goal! As we speak the quest team is simultaneously working on patches 5.1 and 5.2. Our hope is to keep the story and content rolling forward. It's definitely a focus for the team - I can't make any promises, but I guarantee we're trying and I hope you'll notice the results!
    CoryStockton: To Guest-306 I know we sound like a broken record on this but we are really pushing hard to deliver content to you guys faster than ever with the Mists patch cycle. As Dave mentioned, we are already making awesome progress on the first set of patches.
    Zawani: Hey, I had a question regarding arms warrior pve rotation. It feels like there is to much rng involved with the rotation very rarely do I get more than 2 stacks of taste for blood and sometimes I can use overpower 5 or 6 times without a single proc of it, which then will leave me rage starved and without buttons to press, I was wondering if you could lower the damage bonus of the buff or damage of OP while also increasing the proc chance as well.
    GhostCrawler: To Zawani Think of getting a high stack for Taste for Blood as a random bonus, much like getting enraged from a bunch of crits in a row. You shouldn't hold your whole rotation waiting for a 4 or 5 stack, because it won't happen that often. If you're at risk of rage capping, try to Slam. If you don't have the GCD to Slam then it's probably worth just using the Heroic Strike unless you think you'll be able to Colossus Smash really soon.
    Guest-43: Will we ever see Magni Bronzebeard return from being frozen under Ironforge?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-43 Magni is like the definition of BLING. If we continue his story, we'll make sure to handle it in-game. I wouldn't count on seeing him return during the Pandaren story arc, though.
    Guest-313: Greg just said on twitter that the 25s versus 10s situation was handled in the AMA a lot, but nothing came from that apart from an understanding that 25s do have it harder now and could use some more compensation, Don't you have concrete plans for that, more than the tiny bit of extra loot 25s will have? The issue will only get even more pronounced the next weeks during progression.
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-313 It's something we discuss frequently internally. We don't have anything final to announce just yet, but we love 25-player raiding and intend to do what we can to preserve it.
    Guest-6: Windwalkers have been very upset with a couple things in particular with their spec. The first is Fists of Fury, we don't like being rooted and channeling an attack when our kit is supposed to be mobile. Can we please get this mechanic revisited? As well, we don't have literally any useful raid utility. Zen meditation is very weak. Will this be addressed at all post-launch?
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-6 "Mobile" doesn't mean "never, ever stops moving." Like many specs, Windwalkers will do more damage when stationary but can still do some damage when moving. Deciding when you should FoF and when you can't is one of the decision points that separates good monks from great ones. We're not inclined to change it at this time. As far as raid utility goes, we're really reluctant to hand more "must have" buffs. We don't want Windwalkers to be mandatory, especially for smaller, 10-player raid groups. If they are never taken at all, we'll take some kind of action, but I'd be very surprised if that's the case.
    Guest-531: Are there plans on fixing the broken Engineering Flying Machine that has been broken since patch 4.1?
    CoryStockton: To Guest-531 We will look into this and make sure we get it fixed.
    Guest-413: Is there a chance we might see class specific factions developed more? Kirin Tor, Ebon Blade, Argent Bros, Ravenholdt...Could we see something similar arise for Warriors, Hunters etc?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-413 We're cooking up some cool Warlock stuff we can hopefully announce soon. In a more general sense, we LOVE class-specific content, but to do it right takes development time (believe me, I have to somehow schedule all this stuff.). When it came down to deciding between more zones of content and more faction content OR class-specific stuff, we opted to create more content for everyone. But, again, we love class-specific content, we'll try to squeeze in some cool challenges for the various challenges in the patches to come...
    Guest-74: Are we going to get more story-telling in scenarios? The Theramore scenario was lackluster compared to the book, key story elements haven't even been address in-game yet.(Kirin Tor leader)
    DaveKosak: To Guest-74 I addressed this earlier, but keep in mind that we want scenarios to be replayable. We definitely didn't want to burden them with tons of story that you have to wade through every time you play it. As I said for Theramore, people obviously wanted more context, which probably was best served by some one-time quests on either end of the scenario. That's a lesson we're pulling forward.
    Guest-335: Will Wintergrasp ever be added as a max level battleground?
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-335 Potentially, if there is enough demand for it. We would introduce it as you suggest as a true Battleground to avoid faction imbalance issues.
    Guest-28: Beside the lifting on the mist with the clock strikes midnight on the 25th. We have come to expect events to complement the expansion. They have been fascinating and very fun. Should we expect events over the next 6 days? Or was the Scenario it?
    CoryStockton: To Guest-28 The Theramore scenario is intended to be a preview of what players can expect from scenarios in Mists. It is by no means a launch event and thats intentional. We made a call early on to put that time into developing more content for Mists that will last and not be over in a week.
    Guest-33: I loved the "Visions of the Past" quest-line in Vashj'ir. Will we see anything similar in upcoming content?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-33 This is the "Battle-Maiden" questline, where you got to play as a naga badass for a while. I think these are a great break from the standard gameplay if they're well-designed, but we would want to use them sparingly. (After all, it's not WoW if you're not playing your class and kicking butt!) That said, there's a couple fun moments in Pandaria that have similar gameplay. In the Valley of Four Winds, you get to play as Chen Stormstout for a little bit. After kicking around a lot of ideas, we ultimately decided to give you a single 'Chen-Fu' button that makes him randomly do awesome kung-fu moves. It's a short sequence, but it's fun for storytelling and gives you a chance to Chen it up.
    Gehn: Any updates on future guild leveling past 25?
    CoryStockton: To Gehn We are totally open to increasing guild levels and the associated rewards but only when the game feels like it needs more of that content. A large number of guilds are still nowhere near level 25 so Mists did not feel like a good fit to add more guild levels.
    Guest-214: Mists of Pandaria features an ambitious number of 18 raid bosses and I'm very excited about that. Im curious though as to how many bosses we can expect to see in future tiers? Firelands and Dragon Soul felt like small tiers with only 7 or 8 encounters in the tier. 
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-214 We like big raid tiers too, and will do our best to continue delivering them. We're planning for the next tier after Heart of Fear/Terrace to be a fair bit larger than Firelands or Dragon Soul were.
    Guest-197: Whats would your answer be to the players who feel that by making multiple classes bring similar buffs and abilities, that the classes are losing their 'uniqueness'? Introducing combo points to ShadowPriests/Ret Paladins for example
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-197 Ultimately, there are only so many distinct resource mechanisms, and many of them are not great from a gameplay perspective. We'd rather differentiate our classes and specs on the basis of their overall feel and unique capabilities such as Death Grip for Death Knights or shaman' totems. I don't think many people are likely to mistake a shadow priest for a rogue just because they build up a resource and then consume it to deal damage.
    Guest-395: Will the gear in Theramore's Fall 85 version be available in the 90 version?
    CoryStockton: To Guest-395 The gear and the rewards for the 85 version are only available now. The 90 version has standard scenario rewards (Valor and a chance at a dungeon blue)
    Lansuer: Where do you see races that are neutral leaning like the Blood Elves going within the Horde? They seem rather separate from the Horde story since Cata's launch.
    DaveKosak: To Lansuer Stick around for patch 5.1 - we pick up the Blood Elves' story and propel it forward. Finally, a chance to interact with Lor'themar! Most players don't even know who he is.  
    Guest-121: What are your thoughts on healing classes in MoP? Are you seeing the type of balance you want in the new expansion between all classes/specs? I ask because we are seeing a lot of blending of healers into one unit, instead of variety. All healers can do everything now to state it plainly which is making certain classes stronger choices than others for non-healing reasons. Sure some do slightly better in certain situations, but the classic archetypes are no longer as valid. It removes the need fo...
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-121 We strive for harmony with the healer design. If healer niches are too well-defined, then you are encouraged to stack Resto druids for one fight and then Holy paladins for the next fight. We'd rather see a diversity of healers. As far as healer balance is currently, we're pretty happy with it at 90. We still need to see Disc priests really figure out all of the nuances of Spirit Shell and we want to make sure all of the healers are really strong for Challenge Mode gold runs.
    drwuky: Will you guys decrease the experience needed from 88-89 and 89-90 or increase the experience gained in Townlong Steppes and Dread Wastes before release? At the moment you can NOT hit Level 89 if you start with Level 88 and 0% experience in Townlong Steppes (~10% experience missing) and also Level 90 is impossible with Dread Wastes quests only (~5% experience missing). These are datas with the 10% experience guild perk and yes, I've got both zone completed achievements.
    CoryStockton: To drwuky We are still actively tuning the XP. We will look into it.
    Velenor1: Question for Dave Kosak. I have always wondered why the Alliance has continuously frowned upon the Scarlet Crusade. Their main purpose was to simply eradicate the undead. With their return in MoP, we are tasked with eliminating them -again- with the aid of Lillian Voss. Why is it that we have turned their organization down for so long when we more or less have the same goals in mind? 
    DaveKosak: To Velenor1 The complexities really aren't in the game, but the Scarlet Crusade was very much a rogue organization. Great priests and warriors who would've otherwise served the Alliance disappear into the crusade, who serves its own ends. (In Northrend, it was clear their leadership had succumbed to demonic influence. It's hard to make up for that.) To be honest, the main reason to revisit the Crusade in 5.1 was a gameplay reason and not a story reason - it was a favorite dungeon that we really wanted to revisit with new mechanics. We didn't think a lot of story was needed.
    Guest-553: Question from Munich, Germany. As the Octoberfest here and Brewfest in WoW are coming up, I wondered whether anyone at Blizzard did "field research" for designing Brewfest at the real Octoberfest ? The costumes and music are done really well.
    CoryStockton: To Guest-553 We do field research on Brewfest every Friday.
    DaveKosak: Sorry - meant to say 5.0 in that last question
    Guest-235: Why is the theramore event so boring? Its way too easy and if you didn't read the book then you have no idea what's going on, you also wouldn't know why jaina isn't dead and why azeroth isn't completely destroyed. Do you think it would've been smarter to put more lore in the scenario and would've made it more fun?
    Zarhym: To Guest-235 Dave already spoke to the story part of your question (if you missed it Best Buy will be providing a full transcript after the chat). To address your concern of difficulty, we agree it was too easy on release. We pushed a hotfix recently that increased the HP of all enemies in Theramore's Fall. The fact is that Scenarios in Mists will be more tailored for players in quest gear and dungeon blues. But players at level 85 were steamrolling through it in Dragon Soul gear, and the hotfix was to compensate for this a little.
    Guest-494: Do all designers use the same in-house editor? Or do you have different tools for different jobs? How do you handle collisions in your edits?
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-494 We all use a massive proprietary tool called WoWEdit, which has been showcased a couple of times at Blizzcons in the past. We all use this tool to create and edit everything from creatures to spells to quests, and our level designers use it to actually shape the terrain of the outdoor world. At the end of the day, there are countless columns and rows in tables that define the properties of the game world and the players and monsters that inhabit it. We're only able to do the work that we do because of our amazing Tools team, a dedicated group that is constantly refining and updating our editor to enable us to create content more quickly and with fewer bugs.
    Guest-186: On the World of Warcraft website, it lists tradeskill patterns, plans, etc. that the player is missing. Some of those items are no longer in game. Are there any plans to reincorporate those missing plans back into the game so the players have an opportunity to try to get all of their missing tradeskill plans?
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-186 I'd hate to add back plans with no real game purpose just for sake of completeness. To be honest, I'd rather get rid of more of the older recipes that don't have a strong purpose.
    Guest-160: Compared to designing dungeons, how difficult is it to design scenarios? Does it take more or less resources to make scenarios?
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-160 The biggest challenge for us was just figuring out what scenarios should be. How long should they last? Should they be hard? How much variability should they have from run to run? Now that we've gone through that process, they should take much less time to design than dungeons. The biggest time expenditure on dungeons is the amazing art that goes into them.
    Amd11394: Considering Dispels remove ALL magic effects, even if they dispelled Fear the Flame shock would go with it, regardless of if they intended to dispel it or not. Would this not constitute it's reinstatement?
    IonHazzikostas: To Amd11394 Guessing this is a follow-up to my earlier reply. I meant that if you dispel Flame Shock off yourself, or off Teammate A, maybe you can't dispel Teammate B's Fear or Polymorph a few seconds later, and now they're stuck in CC for its full duration. In general, we expect that players have to be much more careful about how and when they use their magic dispels.
    Guest-399: Rogues are famous for using daggers, and that's all that we seem to be able to use, but I like to play Combat Spec, and it's described as being a swashbuckler spec. As such, I'd like to use 1handed swords along with daggers, but there are next to no 1handed rogue compatible swords, will we ever get to use swords as part of a rogue's arsenal? Afterall, there is no longer a block on what weapons a rogue can use on their abilties. 
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-399 It's less of a design concern and more about how many different items we can drop. Things like e.g. Intellect axes don't have a lot of customers, so we just don't make them very often. This might be the kind of thing that transmog can eventually help address too.
    basketballer259: I assume I ask this question on behalf of thousands of vanilla WoW fans: Do you ever plan on bringing back "Server-wide" Events? An example would be the Opening of AQ, which allowed the entire server to collaborate their efforts. An event of the same theory would be an incredible experience for all players to witness. It was incredibly rewarding when the whole server gathered enough materials for the opening ceremony!
    DaveKosak: To basketballer259 From the standpoint of, "Everyone gather at the same place at the same time to see a big event and if you miss it its gone forever assuming you all don't crash the server," then no, no more events like that. BUT, we love the feeling of server progression, similar to the Isle of Quel'denas. Is there a way to build that progression into the game such that players who come in a couple months later don't miss out on all the fun? We think there is. And we're planning something that we'd like to try in the 5.0 patch cycle... so stay tuned! [No guarantees here, but we're actively tinkering with something.]
    Shnitzel: With the pet battle system, pets which you can acquire multiples of, have lost the 'Already Known' tag. This is pretty annoying when shopping for pets for example, as you constantly have to search through your journal ("Do I have the red tickbird or the white one?"). Will this be changed? perhaps add an 'Already Known' tag in a different color?
    CoryStockton: To Shnitzel Sorry for the inconvenience on that, we have already redesigned the tooltips to fix this in patch 5.1.0. Tooltips will display if you already own the pet in addition to how many.
    Guest-892: Have you thought of introducing titles to reward realm 1st times for the new challenge mode dungeons. Something similar to how the PvP titles work now. 
    CoryStockton: To Guest-892 We actually have! The idea was that you would only have the title for as long as you held the top time. Main issue we ran into was that the title could be changing hands so fast that you might only have it for a few seconds. It's an awesome idea though and we want to explore it more.
    Guest-489: Can we have a rough timeframe on when we can expect the Trials of the High King questline to be implimented? Are we taking around patch 5.1 or something closer to the Siege of Orgrimmar patch?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-489 Varian Wrynn's first trial will happen in 5.1. But to set expectations, the development of Varian's character happens across the entire patch cycle and beyond - it doesn't all happen in one event or one scenario. His trials are many. 
    Guest-776: Transmog has become a very important part of my gaming fun. Will we be able to farm Dragon Soul LFR recolor gear at level 90, since the LFR tool won't work for it at that level ? This goes for future expansions and MoP content, of course.
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-776 We aren't going to support Raid Finder for content that is much lower level than your character, but we are going to allow you to enter old raids solo without being in a raid in a future patch (ideally the next major one, but standard no promises). That should facilitiate a lot of transmog farming.
    Guest-727: The Reliquary is an interesting faction (at least in my opinion), but it hasn't been really visible in Cataclysm. Any chance we'll see them in Pandaria, as a counterpart to Brann ? Or at least some way to get their tabard ?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-727 No plan for a tabard, but starting in 5.1 they're going to start poking around Pandaria for relics...
    Guest-763: Were Orges ever thought of as a playalbe race, at one time? (Greg marry me /kiss) Irth
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-763 Yep. We considered them for Cataclysm instead of goblins. Figuring out the females and the two-headed mages would be (fun!) challenges. Maybe someday.
    Zarhym: Way to ignore that marriage proposal follow-up, GC. ;p
    Cueball: First: Hi guys, including Zarhym (didn't know you'd be here). Anyway, is there anything to Jaina's words that it is "time to bring Dalaran down" to the land and that she is still in support of fighting against the Horde?
    DaveKosak: To Cueball Jaina's story will continue starting in patch 5.1. We'll try to catch players up with where she is at the end of the book, and then move on from there. 
    Guest-571: With the introduction of Pet Battles, do you think we can see pets dropping in raids again? There hasn't been a pet drop in a raid since Karazhan IIRC so a prime example in today's standing could be Ragnaros dropping Mini Ragnaros instead of it being on the store.
    CoryStockton: To Guest-571 I don't see why not! We just need to make sure it's a good fit with the content.
    Guest-736: Is there any plans to allow players to have more then one Death Knight per server?
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-736 We agree that it feels like an antiquated rule at this point. We'll see how hard it is to remove that restriction.
    sdk: I am wondering about the incentives to 25 man. This game is a social game so why does it seem that 25 man guilds are dieing off and they are going to 10 mans. Paragon recently posted that they were going to 10 man. Is there any other way to fix it so that people are drawn to do 25 mans because they want to raid with friends and get the good gear?
    IonHazzikostas: To sdk In Paragon's specific case, I suspect they'd find no lack of capable people more than willing to raid with them, but maintaining a Finnish-speaking roster is a core part of their guild culture, and they've made what was no doubt a very difficult decision to scale down to 10-player raiding rather than compromise that culture. As I noted in the Reddit AMA, ultimately there are heavier logistical burdens, particularly placed on the officers and raid leaders, in sustaining a 25-player roster versus only needing 10 players. We're actively discussing ways of ensuring that 25-player raiders feel properly incentivized and rewarded without necessarily elevating one raid size over the other. We definitely welcome ongoing community discussion and feedback on that topic.
    Alablaster: As Developers, what was your biggest hurdle in building the new features we will see in Mists and how did you overcome them? Also I want to send kudos out to the art team - the beta was visually stunning!
    CoryStockton: To Alablaster Our biggest issue with new features is adding more complexity to the game. It's somethign we struggle with every expansion. I will pass your kind words on to the art team too!
    Wamogri: Will the baby shark pet ever get added back into the game?
    CoryStockton: To Wamogri Yes! That's what those sweet new water bubbles are for!
    Guest-525: Recently in Twitter Ghostcrawler mentioned the possibility of making subraces such as Maghar orcs and Wildhammer dwarfs available with the player character model updates, how high chance is there that this would also allow us to play as Broken or Taunka?
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-525 If we ever opened up more races, I suspect we'd be pretty liberal about it, but to be clear, that feature is no more than a twinkle in some designer's eye at this stage.
    artimadours: Are there any plans to allow for heirloom items to be sent cross realm?
    CoryStockton: To artimadours We want this as bad as you guys do. It's on the list and we are looking into it.
    Nize: You mentioned in a previous Q&A that legendary weapon components would be done in a manner to lessen drama within in a guild. One step was the implementation of components achievable through LFR. My question is how will components from normal and heroic raids be distributed. Will it be distributed similarly to how Deathwing's essences or new LFR are, or will the raid leaders still choose who to give those components to?
    GhostCrawler: To Nize In 5.0 it's not a competitive issue at all. In Raid Finder, it's a random drop for some players. In Normal and Heroic there is a chance of a drop, at which point it is multi-lootable and every player on the quest will get it.
    Guest-787: There has been some speculation as to whether Turalyon and Alleria might make a triumphant comeback in Mists of Pandaria. Any comments on this, or are they saved for a later expansion pack? The Alliance sure could use something to turn the tide of war.
    DaveKosak: To Guest-787 ...and also, I think the Alliance can take this! 
    DaveKosak: To Guest-787 There's no plan to continue their story in Pandaria. 
    DaveKosak: (Reverse the order of those replies.
    Guest-212: Are we going to have the ability to remove players who dc or log off from scenario groups and add in new players from the queue?
    CoryStockton: To Guest-212 Not at launch but we hope to have it in for the 5.1 patch. We understand the concern.
    lilm123: Do you guys plan on giving out title for challgenge modes, like how you do for PvP (0.0% - 0.5%: Gladiator 0.5% - 3%: Duelist 3% - 10%: Rival 10% - 35%: Challenger)
    IonHazzikostas: To lilm123 If and when we move on to future challenge mode "seasons", titles to recognize players' past accomplishments are definitely something we'll consider.
    Guest-913: With all these new changes to get players out into the world (great idea), is it a goal of the development team to possibly bring back World-PvP? Coming from someone who plays on a PvP Realm, I would love to relive the old days of huge scale open world PvP battles. I'm sure many others feel the same way.
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-913 We are trying to encourage it. Spots like the Black Market and the shrines (the faction "cities" in the Vale) will probably have a lot of PvP on PvP servers. Remember, guards are much weaker on PvP servers now and there are no sanctuaries in Pandaria.
    Guest-883: At the end of the Klaxxi questline, the mantid mentioned that at one point in time, they worshipped Y'shaarj, an old god. However, he was slain by the Titans and was split into "shadows of his former self". Is he, in some way, in relations with the Sha and will we see Y'shaarj in future content patches?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-883 Y'shaarj breathed love and exhaled hate, inhaled peace and breathed violence... Plus, his name was y'SHAarj. It's pretty safe to connect the dots. But Y'shaarj itself is very, very, very dead.
    Guest-728: WIll we see a Heroic Version of Ragefire Chasm?
    CoryStockton: To Guest-728 Certainly not out of the question. Heroic versions of classic dungeons have been some of our most popular content. We will keep doing them as long as people keem playing em'.
    Guest-508: What exaclty (If you can answer without spoiling the story line!) has turned Garrosh Hellscream into the monster we all hate now? 
    DaveKosak: To Guest-508 Garrosh is not a monster. He has a very clear vision of the Horde, and the future of the orcs, and he gives very little thought to anyone who stands between him and that future. As he gets more powerful, and gets away with more, his vision becomes clearer. This has put him in conflict in the Alliance, and ultimately will cause problems within the Horde.
    Ünseen: I love the little mana bomb received from the Theramoore scenario, but the cooldown is making it really hard to have fun with. Any chance this will be reduced to allow a bit more spammability? Maybe like a 30 second cd?
    CoryStockton: To Ünseen Glad you liked the reward! Unfortunately, that kind of mana power takes a long time to recharge!
    Guest-749: The new LFR system you have in WoW now seems like a great way for people who dont have alot of time to donate to raiding guild environments a chance to see content that was most of the time closed to them, however im not a big fan of 25man raids. Is there any plans to add a 10man choice to the LFR system?
    GhostCrawler: To Guest-749 We think 25 works better for Raid Finder. The ratios of DPS to non DPS more matches the player population and there is less risk of getting an unviable group. In 25s you can afford to have a few deaths and you can even pull if you're backfilling a few players. Both really make you stop in your tracks on 10s. In 25, it's easier to fade back into the group if you're still not 100% confident in what you're doing. In 10s, it's harder to be a wallflower.
    Guest-986: "Turalyon and Alleria" is it possible in anyway to know if there are any plans to continue their story? I had HUGE hopes to see them in game when BC came out and their SON poped out of nowhere saying they where alive. anything would do!... plz!?
    DaveKosak: To Guest-986 Oh, their story will continue!!
    Guest-51: How are group compositions gonna work into Challenge Modes? Surely every group would want to have a Bloodlust. And atleast a kings buff.
    IonHazzikostas: To Guest-51 Realistically, if you're aiming for Gold, you're going to want a shaman or a mage or a hunter in your group, though Gold is absolutely possible without using Heroism/Bloodlust or equivalent effects. Realistically that probably saves you 15-20 seconds at best, and we've seen groups beat some Gold times by more than that. When constructing a 5-player dungeon group, you're inevitably going to have some strengths and some weaknesses in your composition, and players may find that the sorts of abilities they find invaluable are not the ones they're used to viewing in that light. (Pop quiz -- Which is likely to help you more in an 18-minute challenge mode run: Bloodlust, or an AoE stun that you can a couple of times a minute?)
    Vaengence: Ok, I am going to be the one to ask the dreaded question, mainly because my guild members know that I continue to fight for them and have asked me to still chase this question. 25 mans - GC you have said it would be a good topic for a Watercooler, which is good, and recent tweets say not enough is being done for them.The only change we know about is the loot change and that is onl 1 item different for Normals from the majority of Cata which, excuse the sentiment here, seems a little underwhelmin...
    GhostCrawler: To Vaengence Sadly, we don't have any details to announce yet, but we have a couple of ideas that should make the 25 players happy. We'll talk about them when we're confident that they are good ideas. Remember, the result can't be that all the 10 players stampede back to 25.
    DeathFish1: Any chance we will see the option to upgrade out current legendary to be maybe not the equal to the current ilvl but maybe raid finder ilvl or just a little below so that they are not just taking up space in out banks, or bags in the case of dragonwrath. 
    GhostCrawler: To DeathFish1 Not sure we would let you upgrade a legendary, but we could potentially allow you to transmog them. Our reluctance has always been that Thunderfuy feels less special when you see 30 of them running around AV.
    Guest-924: If some gamers are thinking about coming back to WoW to exp Mist of Pandaria content, is there any special program "come back" that will launch with the release?
     CoryStockton: To Guest-924 Scroll of Resurrection is awesome for returning players!
    Bolting: Have you changed your design philosophy of the quest flow in mists of pandaria? In previous expansions, moving to a new zone as soon as you are eligble left enough experience to cause no issues. Do you intend for all zones to be finished from beginning to end in order, and if so why did you feel the need to add breadcrumbs to the next zone prior to being able to go without issues further down the road?
    DaveKosak: To Bolting Pandaria is like a huge novel that you can read in any order. You can skip ahead to other chapters as soon as you're eligible. It's worth it to stick through a full zone to wrap up the storylines and maybe get some blue quest rewards, but you're welcome to play through however you want. We definitely put in the effort to make this expansion much more open and non-linear.
    Crithto: That about wraps things up, everyone. Thank you so much for joining the Best Buy Dev Chat, sending us really great questions, and for your patience. On behalf of Greg, Cory, Ion, Dave, and Zarhym, we truly appreciate your time and passion for World of Warcraft. Have a GREAT rest of the week, and we'll see you in Pandaria next Tuesday!
    DaveKosak: This was a lot of fun. Thank you everyone! Only days to go... Pandaria awaits!
    CoryStockton: Tons of great questions guys, that was a lot of fun! Can't wait to see everyone in Pandaria in just a few days!
    GhostCrawler: We can't wait for you guys to see all of the new Mists content. We are really proud of what we've been able to deliver with this expansion. It's going to be good. Hugs, GC.
    Dorothy-BBY: Thanks guys!
    Zarhym: Thank you, everyone! For those who got here late or weren't able to follow along for the whole chat, Best Buy will be providing a full transcript here momentarily: http://bbyurl.us/MistsofPandariaChat
    Kyle-BBY: Great chat everyone! Thank you everyone for joining us and Blizzard for totally rocking!
    Sean|Senior Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate
     Private Message

  • Ask the Experts Live Chat - Home Hub 4

    Hello,
    Stephanie and I are pleased to announce our next live discussion with some of our BT experts! It's about one of our latest new products, the Hub 4. This will be a great chance to get our Hub 4 experts onto the community to tell you a bit more about that and answer any questions you may have.
    We have added the Chat transcript below for any of you guys who missed this event.
    7:02
    JacquiBT: 
    Hello everyone.
    Thank for you joining our ‘Ask the Experts’ Live chat. I would like to introduce Dave, Sam and Emma who are our hub 4 experts and will be answering your questions tonight. I would like to invite you to ask your questions now.
    7:03
    [Comment From imjolly imjolly : ] 
    why are there no adsl stats available on the HH4
    7:04
    [Comment From DS DS : ] 
    evening all. Are the antennae omni directional?
    7:05
    Sean Donnelly: 
    Thanks for the question, Emma will respond
    to that question Imjolly
    7:05
    JacquiBT: 
    Thanks DS, Dave will respond to your question now
    7:05
    Dave: 
    Hi DS, yes they are
    7:05
    [Comment From Steve Steve : ] 
    Are there any plans for new firmware on the hub 4 to bring new features?
    7:06
    JacquiBT: 
    Thanks Steve, Dave is answering that question for you
    7:07
    Dave: 
    Hi Steve - yes there are. There will be more information available about this - and any new features - before each firmware drop.
    7:07
    [Comment From Steve Steve : ] 
    why can you not opt out of BT WIFI on the home hub 4?
    7:07
    Dave: 
    Hi Steve - you should have no problem doing this through the Hub Manager
    7:09
    JacquiBT: 
    Some great questions coming through, the experts are typing up responses now
    7:09
    [Comment From DS DS : ] 
    Personal testing - Why is the 2.4GHz range less than the HH3 when at a distance from the hub, but better close up than the HH3?
    7:10
    JacquiBT: 
    Thanks DS, Dave is answering this now for you
    7:10
    [Comment From George George : ] 
    Will the 'Home Network' page show a HH4 instead of the Current image of the HH3?
    7:11
    JacquiBT: 
    Thanks George, Sam will answer that for you
    7:11
    Sam: 
    Hi George, the HH4 image will be displayed in place of the HH3 in the next firmware release
    7:12
    Dave: 
    Thanks again DS - you shouldn't find that, but this can depend on a lot of different factors in the home. I've found mine to be a bit better actually! But it should be pretty much the same for most customers.
    7:12
    Sean Donnelly: 
    Did you know the Hub 4 has Smart Setup?
    Easy set up in just a few minutes. No CD or computer needed, it's all online and works on any device. Set up your Hub 4 router and access all your free extras like BT Cloud and BT Family Protection in just a few clicks.
    7:12
    [Comment From DS DS : ] 
    Is it possible for BT to allow us to move the BTWifi SSID's to another channel, leaving our own SSID on a less congested channel?
    7:12
    Dave: 
    Hi imjolly, sorry for the delay, Emma asked me to reply on her behalf. We have made the stats in the Hub manager simpler for customers to understand, we were reacting to feedback that it was too general for the wide range of customers and tech understandings.
    7:12
    JacquiBT: 
    Hi DS, Sam is replying to you now
    7:14
    [Comment From JamesS JamesS : ] 
    What speeds can I achieve over wifi, assuming I'm connected to 5ghz? Thanks.
    7:14
    Sean Donnelly: 
    Did you know the hub offers Easy Wireless?
    Connect wirelessly by selecting your BT Home Hub connection on any compatible device and just push a button on the Hub and you're connected. It's that simple. No passwords needed.
    7:14
    JacquiBT: 
    Hi JamesS. Dave will reply to your question
    7:14
    Emma: 
    Hi imjolly, we have made the stats in the Hub manager simpler for customers to understand, we were reacting to feedback that it was too general for the wide range of customers and tech understandings.
    7:15
    Sam: 
    Hi DS, moving BT Wifi SSID's to another channel is not possible on the HH4. However, we are looking closely at the wi-fi SSID's the hub broadcasts to see whether we can improve this experience.
    7:15
    Dave: 
    Hi James, 5GHz maximum data transfer rate of 300Mb/s; this will tend to translate as an optimal actual speeds of up to 100 Mb/s - depending on lots of factors in your home
    7:15
    [Comment From George George : ] 
    Why did you remove the built in plastic wireless info tab with a card?
    7:15
    JacquiBT: 
    Hi George, Dave is going to reply to that question
    7:16
    Dave: 
    Hi George - this was part of the design process, we've tried to make it even easier for customers to find their wireless information. Now it's not integrated it's a little bit more accessible.
    7:16
    [Comment From thebennyboy thebennyboy : ] 
    I currently have the HH3 and would like to know what noticable difference it will make having a HH4 over a HH3? We use the ethernet ports and the wireless.
    7:17
    JacquiBT: 
    Hi Bennyboy. Emma is going to reply to that question.
    7:17
    [Comment From Paul Paul : ] 
    How much faster is the processor in the home hub 4, compared to previous versions? how will this effect my online experience?
    7:18
    JacquiBT: 
    Hi Paul. Sam will answer that for you
    7:18
    Sam: 
    Hi Paul, the processor is a staggering 3x faster compared to the HH3
    7:19
    [Comment From Guest Guest : ] 
    Although opted out of BT wifi the hub still shows as being active
    7:19
    JacquiBT: 
    Hi Guest, could we ask that you post this on the community so the moderators can pick this up
    7:19
    Sean Donnelly: 
    Did you know that the hub 4 offers Dual band frequency which makes for a more reliable wireless connection?
    Smart dual-band technology reduces wireless interference and drop out’s giving you a reliable connection for all your devices.
    7:20
    [Comment From Guest Guest : ] 
    When you opt out of BT WIFI it appears to only opt out on the 2.4ghz channel and not the 5ghz channel. Are you looking into this?
    7:20
    JacquiBT: 
    Hi Guest. Dave will reply to your question
    7:21
    Dave: 
    Hi - thanks for this feedback, we'll definitely look in to it for you
    7:21
    Sean Donnelly: 
    Excellent questions coming through folks
    7:21
    Sean Donnelly: 
    Our experts are typing answers so please keep them coming
    7:22
    [Comment From Josh Josh : ] 
    Is it a known issue that the HomeHub 4 has problems identify the Xbox 360 as a media center extender when connected through a wired connection?
    7:23
    JacquiBT: 
    Hi Josh. Sam is replying to your question
    7:23
    [Comment From Winston Winston : ] 
    How much power does the home hub 4 use?
    7:24
    JacquiBT: 
    Hi Winston. Dave will respond to your question
    7:24
    Sam: 
    Hi Josh, we are aware of this issue. This is a problem with the Xbox rather than the HH4 but something we are reviewing together.
    7:24
    Emma: 
    Hi the bennyboy, the main advantages of the hub 4 are the faster processor (3 x faster) and 5 GHz wifi. There is no interference with 5GHz so you get better performance and as the range isn't as wide you dont have to share the bandwidth with neighbours etc. the hub still has 2.4 GHz so you still have the range you have withhub 3 too!
    7:24
    Dave: 
    Hi Winston, I am afraid there's no simple answer as it really depends on what features are in use. But the Hub 4 meets the latest Broadband Equipment Energy Code of Conduct targets for energy consumption.
    7:25
    [Comment From Mel Mel : ] 
    Why did you ignore your existing customers loyalty by charging them for a new hub, don't they pay enough already in their monthly fees?
    7:25
    JacquiBT: 
    Hi Mel, Dave will reply to your question
    7:25
    [Comment From Winston Winston : ] 
    How long did it take you to design and develop the home hub 4?
    7:26
    JacquiBT: 
    Hi Winston, Emma will reply to your question
    7:27
    [Comment From George George : ] 
    Will we get manual power save back?
    7:27
    JacquiBT: 
    Hi Gerorge. Sam will answer your question
    7:28
    [Comment From Jade Jade : ] 
    Does the home hub 4 support ip6 through a future upgrade?
    7:28
    Emma: 
    Hi Winston, It was about 2 years when we first started the project with the first ideas and concepts
    7:29
    JacquiBT: 
    Hi Jade. Emma will reply to your question.
    7:29
    Emma: 
    Hi Jade, thats something we are working on so yes something for the future
    7:30
    Sam: 
    Hi George. With regards to the manual power save feature, we have looked to make this automatic for all of our customers. However, you are able to change the brightness of the lights as an additional step.
    7:30
    Dave: 
    Hi Mel - we've made a lot of changes for our existing customers since the launch of the Hub 3 a couple of years ago. Our customer offer for the Hub 4 only £35 - a really big discount compared to the full price of £109! We've also created a range of recontracting deals that contain a Hub 4 for only the cost of delivery. If you're out of contract or in the last 3 months, you could take advantage of those offers as well. We really want all of our customers to be able to take advantage of these options!
    7:31
    Sean Donnelly: 
    Did you know the Hub 4 has a faster processor? Inside the BT Home Hub 4 router is our latest Broadband processor – the brains of your Hub. It allows you to pass information between connected devices quicker than ever. So if you are transferring files from one computer to another or watching a film streamed from another device, the BT Home Hub 4 won't slow you down.
    7:31
    [Comment From thebennyboy thebennyboy : ] 
    Our house has very thick stone walls and the wireless is weak in certain rooms. We have a few devices in our house that support 5Ghz Wi-Fi. Does the HH4 also work ok with home plugs that use your power cables to provide network connectivity?
    7:32
    JacquiBT: 
    Hi thebennyboy. Sam will respond to your question
    7:32
    [Comment From Calvin Calvin : ] 
    What future developments are in the works for home hub 4?
    7:33

    DS wrote:
    Not many of my Q's are showing either. Could be busy I guess......
    yeah I can tell, I know your quesitons are pretty good but if you notice that JacquiBT is deliberately choosing the questions she wants to go through. The whole chat is based around the fact that they have added 5ghz. I am appauled as I was hoping to at least ask one question. 

  • World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Chat Transcript

    Hey all you World of Warcraft Gamers! @Dorothy-BBY and I talked with J. Allen Brack and Tom Chilton from the Blizzard Development team. They shared some time with gamers on our forum and here's the transcript of what they discussed!
    Transcript for: 'World
    of Warcraft: Cataclysm', Thu Nov 18 6PM CST 2010
    Dorothy-BBY: Welcome to our World of Warcraft: Cataclysm chat
    with Blizzard Developers Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brack, as well as moderators
    Lylirra and Zarhym. Thank you all for joining us and the chat will start
    shortly. Sit back, and enjoy asking some questions about Blizzard's newest
    release! Game on!
    JABrack: Hey there! 
    Tacgnol: Will the heirloom items scale to 85?
    JABrack: The current plan is to
    have heirloom items stop at level 80 at the moment. 
    palondon: Right now, up to 50% of Ignite damage disappears
    due to the technical limitations of spells critting within certain timeframes.
    This has implications for Mage dps and the value of Mastery as a stat. Is
    overall damage being balanced to compensate and can we expect a solution in the
    near future?
    TomChil: We're resolving that by
    rolling up any "lost" ignite damage into the next ignite that
    overwrote it
    deathmane: Has Blizzard considered adding a "Tabards
    Tab" to the UI, so that tabard collectors can switch out tabards more
    effectively without having to take up bank and bag space? --Thanks! Deathunholy
    of Galakrond
    JABrack: Hi. We have talked about
    adding a tabard tab. We've talked about doing a closet tab to handle it. It
    isn't something we are adding for Cataclysm though.
    SenyoPanda: Will it be as long of a wait to fight Deathwing
    as it was for Lich King?
    TomChil: Hopefully not, we
    definitely have a goal to get our content patches out more quickly than we have
    in the past without sacrificing quality of course, we plan for deathwing to be
    the most amazing encounter we've ever made! =]
    Guest-124: Are there any plans to
    potentially add queueing to the rated battlegrounds instead of it having to be
    a pre-made raid team? I was really excited when I first heard about this
    feature, but after reading the FAQ i was a bit disappointed with that design.
    TomChil: we're currently looking
    into the possibility of having players in the honor battleground queue be able
    to be called to action by groups that aren't quite full, but we're going to see how the current queue'ing
    works out first - that isn't something that would be available just yet 
    Guest-85: Will you allow players to fill their quest log
    with say, 25 dailies, and then turn them in right after Midnight on December
    7th to get a quick boost towards 85? This is how it worked in the beta, but
    some players are confused on whether it will work on Live. Thanks!
    JABrack: Regarding 25 daily
    quests to turn in when the expansion goes live, this is something players have
    been able to do for the last 2 expansions and we aren't talking about changing
    it now.
    Guest-224: Is Hit rating intended to tramp all other stats
    but Str for Fury till the 27% hardcap? Seems excessive
    TomChil: generally speaking, we
    do balance hit rating to be the "best" stat until you're at the hit
    rating cap
    Josh-BBY: Quick note about the moderation of the chat.
    Every magician has their secrets. We unfortunately cannot answer some of
    your questions. If yours wasn't selected ask another burning question and we'll
    see if our hosts can get to them!
    Guest-96: I understand the decision from an economic
    perspective but I was wondering if the deveopers were disappointed in the
    decision to allow race changes immediately following the release of the
    expansion.
    JABrack: Regarding allowing
    race/faction change on day one. Actually this wasn't an economic decision at
    all. This was a decision that the leadership team made. Our priority as a dev
    team is to allow players to play the game with their friends, the way they want
    too. 
    We also talked about the
    fact that this is a week one problem. So we made the decision not to restrict
    anything.
    felixlevron: Will darnasus be re built to be a real tree or
    will it always look like a dead stump with trees at the top.
    TomChil: ...but now that
    Deathwing is doing his thing it makes much more sense than it used to! ;]
    Zarhym: Deathwing hates trees.
    axelumog: A lot of players I know are trying to plan out
    what characters to roll for the new expansion, and the big question is: Will
    there be ANY new realms tagging along with the release of Cataclysm? Some point
    to low pop realms as a reason against, but surely with the redux'd 1-60
    experience and the droves of returning players desiring clean slates, there has
    never been a better time for a fresh realm or two?
    JABrack: We haven't decided
    exactly what the new realm decisions are yet, but we open new realms when there
    is player demand for them. One thing we can't do is plan all realms for day
    one. The goal is for realms to have good concurrency so everyone has a great
    game/matchmaking experience.
    Guest-138: Could you comment on the plan for raids in
    cataclysm? If i remember it was said that there would be smaller raids in cata
    but more of them. Would that mean like two small raids per patch or more
    patches in total? 
    TomChil: the idea is that we'll
    have more raid environments, but fewer bosses in each environment, but a similar
    total number of raid bosses overall... if that makes sense. =] So, for cataclysm launch we have the skywall
    environment, the twilight bastion environment, and blackwing descent versus
    having almost all the bosses in one environment like we did with naxrammas
    Wikehaja: With the changes to the game environment itself,
    what new computer requirements will be optimal to run the game smoothly?
    JABrack: One of the things that
    is really important to us is a great gaming experience regardless of your
    hardware. While the system requirements do go up over time, we do want the
    experience on slower machines to be great. We do this by trying to add a lot of
    graphical options to allow players to control the experience from "runs
    fast" all the way to "looks great". 
    Retro94: Will there be more than one Legendary weapon in
    Cata? Will there be a Caster DPS legendary? Any info or plans would be awesome
    =) Thanks!
    TomChil: It's likely there will
    be more than one legendary weapon, although it's too early to say for sure. We
    do, however, have a plan to do a caster dps staff soon.
    Guest-226: where did Uldum come from?
    TomChil: Egypt ;]
    JABrack: The idea with Uldum is
    that it has always been there, cloaked from the eyes of the players. The
    emergence of Deathwing has damaged some of the technology that kept it hidden.
    There is a story in the zone that explains this and what has been happening in
    the player absence. 
    MatthewRhino: With resource systems now broadened to include
    focus, rage, energy, and runic power as well as mana, and there being
    conditionals like enrages, holy power, combo points and runes, will classes
    that just use mana be getting similar treatment or remaining as they are?
    TomChil: Really that decision is
    made on a class-by-class, talent tree-by-tree basis. If we feel like the talent
    spec in question needs a broader resource management then we do it, but we
    don't like to unnecessarily complicate a spec's resource management if it isn't
    absolutely necessary.
    Guest-14: Is the Moonkin form for troll and worgen on the
    beta and ptr the final form or is it just a placeholder?
    JABrack: Final!
    Guest-12: Why is it that we are
    not able to use Archeaology before the exspansion? I thought it was really cool
    how you guys released Inscription last time and would love to have the
    opportunity to level it before the exspansion drops.
    JABrack: Using archeology before
    the expansion was something we talked about, but ended up adding everything
    about the profession to the "post sundered" world. Thus, you won't be
    able to use archeology before the sundering happens. 
    Josh|Community Connector | Best Buy® Corporate

    Sair77: The first tier of Cataclysm raiding has 3 seperate instances to tackle. Are you guys planning on keeping with the Burning Crusade model (SSC/TK, BT/Hyjal) and having multiple instances per raid tier? Will Deathwing have to share the spotlight with some other instance?
    TomChil: We'll evaluate that on a tier by tier basis. When we have awesome ideas that we can successfully make happen we'll do multiple environments, but it won't necessarily always be the case. We do have a super cool idea for the deathwing tier though... or at least so we hope. =]
    Zuesian: Are there any plans for a new Lock mount? I would love to see a possible flying mount for Locks. Fireion Gnomeragen.
    JABrack: One of the things we look at with mounts is broad appeal. While we do specific class mounts from time to time, most of the time we look to have mounts that all classes can use. 
    Arakiba: What happened with the Worgen district in Stormwind?
    TomChil: We decided it didn't really fit very well, it was looking kind of awkwardly forced into the city. Plus deathwing would have destroyed it anwyays.
    Dorothy-BBY: RAWR!!!
    Guest-128: As the world of Azeroth is changing I was wondering if the Death Knight zone will stay the same or will it also be affected by the cataclysm?
    JABrack: The death knight zone doesn't have any changes for Cataclysm. 
    Guest-310: I have been confused from the different posts for tier gear. Will there be three levels within each tier still or just heroic and normal and in either case will u just be getting them with points or will u still have to get certain things off drops off certain bosses to get the higher more heroic version of the tier gear?
    TomChil: There is still just normal and heroic difficulty for the raid and dungeon content, and the heroic gear has a higher item level than the corresponding normal gear
    Guest-392: Do you feel faction imbalance is a problem at the moment? My queue is around 10-15 min at prime time as a member of the Horde and I know this is the case on at least two of the battlegroups. If so, do you think Worgen will fix the problem? And if they do not, will free faction changes ever be a possibility in the future on battlegroups or servers with a major problem?
    JABrack: We are working on some technology to further combine the PVP queues at server sites. This has been going on behind the scenes for a few weeks now in preparation for Cataclysm. Queue time is one of those things that gets a lot of attention and time, but will change significantly post Cata. Really good question.
    IanG: What would you say was the hardest and/or easiest parts of developing this expansion? After all, many are saying this is the best expansion to date... So, what was the biggest challenge/easiest feat in creating it?
    JABrack: There have been huge challanges with this expansion, unlike any we've seen in the other two expansions. The scale of Cataclym is huge for us, and something we didn't really expect when we started development. But we certainly feel like the effort has been worth it, and feel it's our best expansion so far. 
    Guest-202: Why does it seem the scorpion guild mount doesn't have a guild flag where the lion does? I was hoping to see Hordes of scorpions from our guild walking around with our tabard hanging from the tail like a flag behind them. ~ Sorenji of khaz modan
    TomChil: When riding a scorpion mount, your character displays holding a large standard with your guild symbol on it. 
    Guest-127: Why did you decide to make 310% mount speed purchasable in 4.0? It's a huge price for such a tiny speed upgrade, and used to work well as a just-above-vanity perk for people who completed the toughest achievements. 
    JABrack: The primary reason was to equalize the awesome vanity mounts players had, and change the mechanic to one where you used the mount you were most excited about using. We wanted players to be able to see the mount players want, without considering the speed differential as a factor. 
    Guest-411: Will you allow players to change their login screen? I'd love to be able to use the Classic login screen, the unreleased one that was shown at Blizzcon, or perhaps a login screen of a previous expansion.
    JABrack: Players are not able to change their login screen.
    barretrifle: How would a person get a Guild Mount? Would it be guild rep? If so how would that be calculated or obtained?
    TomChil: Once your guild gets to a high enough level and unlocks the guild mount, any player in the guild with a high enough guild reputation is able to buy the mount.
    gandclynn: Will heirloom items work for goblins and worgens leveling from 1-80 at release? 
    JABrack: Heirloom items will work perfectly for Worgen and Goblin characters! Enjoy! 
    Dorothy-BBY: Woot!
    Guest-124: Has there been any discussion of changing the heirloom items to true "Bind on Account" instead of the bind on server limitation that it has currently?.
    JABrack: That is something we would like to do. Currently the servers mail carriers refuse to work together, and haven't worked out the economic terms from transferring mail from one server to another. One day we hope to resolve the union issues. 
    Dorothy-BBY: Thanks for all the awesome questions! Keep them coming!
    Wikehaja: Will the option ever be available to change ones class, contingent upon what's currently available to the race restrictions at the time?
    TomChil: Never say never, but we don't currently have plans to do that. 
    Guest-451: There's any through about making account wise achievement, like starcraft ones? It a reason for many players to not reroll/change mains since its look like a lot of work wasted when you switch your main char. Even changing to another char to help with one fight look a bit wrong now, if you are after achievements.
    JABrack: We do have plans to solve this problem, as it is limiting people from re-rolling for sure. This is something we want to solve, but don't have a good solution on how to do it at the moment. 
    Josh-BBY: It's great to see how engaged you all are with this seriously rad game series!
    Dorothy-BBY: EL OH EL Rad. 
    Guest-314: Was there anything you guys regret not being able to include at launch? Possibly something that didn't have enough polish to it that me way see in the future? (You don't need to mention the Dance Studio at this point, really, it's okay) Teln - Misha
    TomChil: Well... there is the dance studio. ;] There are of course always things we'd hoped to get into any patch/expansion that get pushed out until later. One example would be the idea to have a built-in atlas that details every encounter in each dungeon/raid. We're not super happy about the fact that the first time anyone encounters a new boss, the only way to learn about it (other than looking up strategies on the web) is to charge in and die a lot. 
    We'd love to give players some idea of what they're about to fight before they engage the boss. =]
    ZeroG56: Do honor points and Badges roll over into CATA, or do they reset to zero?
    TomChil: Yes, honor points and justice points carry over into cataclysm. Stock up now!
    Spyykke: Is there any talks of maybe some faction cooperative campaigns? Since the cataclysm is threatening to destroy all life of azeroth, to me a logical response from the heroes of azeroth would be to set aside their differences and be able to work together in a raid. An Idea to maybe lessen the frequency of such groups is make the raid difficulty increase by choosing to work with the other faction, a sort of Heroic mode. Possibly even dual faction specific raids. Has there been any talks of such poss...
    JABrack: This is a common request, but not something we are looking to do. While there is a singular main bad guy in this expansion, the Horde and Alliance have their own unique challenges and agendas, and typically don't look to team up. After all it's the World of Warcraft, not the World of Peacecraft. 
    Guest-87: When designing expansions and content patches, do you have a list of new features to choose from that are planned out in advance or is there more of a brain storm session?
    TomChil: The feature set for each patch is determined by a combination of doing things (or finishing things) that we've been wanting to do for a while, along with completely new ideas that emerge as a result of the immediate needs of the game
    JABrack: The primary things you won't be able to do if you don't have Cataclysm are create a new Goblin/Worgen, level to 85, and fly in the orld world.
    TomChil: We like to stay as flexible as possible, so it's important to us to make sure that we aren't "over planned" into the future even though the real needs players have are changing
    SirHaakon: With the previous two expansions, the new content was actually on other continents, so if you didn't have the expansion, you just couldn't visit the continent. Since Cata is largely reworking of old-world content, however, how do you differentiate between someone with or without the xpac? What kinds of things will and won't be available to players don't have the upgrade?
    JABrack: See my answer above!
    Guest-16: Will the 80 to 85 experience be closer to the 18hr mark or the 5 day mark that was 70-80? 
    TomChil: That totally depends on the player to be honest, you'd be amazed by the differences in play patterns. That being said, somebody usually finds a way to level up very quickly.
    Dorothy-BBY: Just so folks know, the Ustream is only for viewing the chat. Only folks in the initial 500 range are going to possibly have questions displayed. Thanks!
    Guest-348: What new feature(s) in WoW: Cataclysm are you guys most proud of?
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    Josh-BBY: Hey everyone! Thank you for joining us for this chat!
    JABrack: Thanks to all for everyone and their participation! Really appreciate you coming out! See you all in the game!
    Dorothy-BBY: Thank you all! For the Horde!
    Zarhym: Thanks all. We <3 you.
    Dorothy-BBY: shameless plug for horde. 
    Josh-BBY: Please check back to view the chat transcript. We'll have it up here on our Forum and Blizzard will be hosting it too.
    Lylirra: Thanks everyone!
    Josh-BBY: Be sure to stop by http://wowc.bestbuysweepstakes.com/?h=488 for a chance to win an Ultimate PC Setup! And preorder your copy today! http://bbyurl.us/Cataclysm
    Josh|Community Connector | Best Buy® Corporate

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    Thank you for your patience.
    While you wait, you can try our community forums where experts are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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    Rashmi: Hello. Welcome to Adobe Technical Support.
    mary russell: hello
    Rashmi: Hi Mary , How are you doing today ?
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    Rashmi: In that case i will suggest you to please visit our website forums.adobe.com
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    mary russell: xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx
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    Rashmi: What
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    Rashmi: If you need further help please visit our website forums.adobe.com
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    mary russell: so what app do i open it with
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    Rashmi: please visit our website forums.adobe.com
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    Rashmi: Are we still connected ?
    mary russell: yes
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    Rashmi: Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused
    Rashmi: But we do not have support for that .
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    mary russell: are you kidding me
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    mary russell: can i atleast try this is ridiculous if u offer support then there should be more support
    Rashmi: Give me a moment.
    Rashmi: Let me call my senior.
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    Rashmi: Hi Mary Russell! My name is Meraj, I am the floor supervisor. How are you doing today?
    Rashmi: I am sorry to know that.
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    Rashmi: Is there anything else I can help you with?
    mary russell: if its available on their why cant u tell me how to resolve this
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    mary russell: the issue isnt listed on that site

    Maryrhire910 I am sorry that you are facing difficulty downloading and installing Photoshop Elements 12.  Are you downloading the installation files from Download Photoshop Elements products | 13, 12, 11, 10?  If so what specific error are you receiving?

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    Grand Forks, ND (#337)
    Any opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not represent Best Buy Co., Inc.

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  • First of all, I would have to say that getting in touch with you is a nightmare and I am not at all happy that I can't just email or live chat with someone who can help!  I am not a technical person, I just want to be able to use Photoshop Elements and ge

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    Hi Debski
    Debski wrote:
     obviously a call package that is WAY too expensive.
    BT do offer an unlimited anytime phone package. For £4.99 extra per month, you get free calls 24/7 to 01,02,03,0870 and 0845 numbers. For any other number you can log on to SayNoTo0870, then type in the number, for example 0871 and in a majority of cases, you'll find a 01 alternative. This should bring the phone bill down by quite a bit. (Line rental + £4.99 - should be all you need to pay, unless you call mobiles from your landline. If you do, IIRC BT also offer a package for this to also bring the tariff down)
    I managed to have a live chat with someone. 
    From the Bills & Call Packages main page, you'll find the live chat there.
    But here's the link anyway - http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact/c/2902/?s_intcid=con_intban_sanda_contact_us_chat_from_forums
    Debski wrote:
    Oh and could you tell me why I've get charged three months Broadband and line rental in advance?
    Sounds like you're now on quarterly billing instead of monthly
    -+-No longer a forum member-+-

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