Alex Afrasiabi Interview

MMORPG.com:

With phasing, how much is being used in the re-imagining of the classic zones?

Alex:

Tons. I couldn't even give you an estimate. Like I said, 90% of the world has been redone at this point, and you better *believe* we extensively used phasing. From little temporary phase events to grand phased terrain. In Stonetalon we destroy an entire Night Elf compound; the terrain shifts around into a crater. Redridge, same thing. You'll see this all over the world. Phasing is used *extensively*in this expansion, and I think in a really really cool manner.

MMORPG.com:

One of the things I wanted to do when you guys introduced flying mounts was go back to the classic zones and fly around them. And back then, the word was that, when the world was originally designed, it wasn't a real contiguous space. So, what restrictions are there now for players who want to go back and fly around the classic zones?

Alex:

None really. You can fly wherever you want. We might have a few places, like flying out into the ocean is one of the things that will eventually "bring the ceiling down on you", and "fatigue you out", because there's only so much ocean that we can build that makes any sense anyway. But aside from that, I can't even think of anything in the Eastern Kingdoms or Kalimdor that you can't fly over. I think you can pretty much fly over whatever you want.

MMORPG.com:

That's cool. I always remember flying from Ironforge down to Menethil harbor. You'd fly past a bunch of stuff that you realize you probably couldn't get to, but you just wanted to go down there and explore it. Have you guys put any places into the world that you can *only* reach by flying?

Alex:

There are tons of them actually. It's kinda funny, our DVD video team -- they do our in-game machinimas and things like that -- I wanted to do something for them. They're such an awesome team. So we have this area north of Feralas in this weird area. It's a lake. And I basically took their whole team and crashed them on this island. And you can only get up there by flying, but it's like the "Lost" island of the DVD Production team. And I only did it there because, not only could you only get there by flying, but, they had very special request for their names, and I asked them if they wanted a Worgen name, or something that was very un-Worgen-ey. And sometimes we'll do that. It funny, it's like an island of refugees that makes up our DVD team.

MMORPG.com:

Do most of those areas exist outside the major quest chains so that they're for "explorer" players?

Alex:

Totally!

MMORPG.com:

Or is it integrated?

Alex:

You have to do it outside of it, honestly, because what's the point otherwise. When we build those areas out, it's to reward the explorers. It's "off the beaten path". And if you want to explore, you'll find something really cool.

MMORPG.com:

Whenever I play, I always try to max out my secondary professions. Archeology is something that is intriguing me. But it feels like a profession that should have some real tangible gameplay benefits, just by the nature of it. Can you speak to whether that's the case, or whether it's just a -- I don't want to use the word grind -- but a leveling time sink?

Alex:

So, personally, I *love* Archeology. I think it plays out so well. It complements the world so well. All the little tidbits of story and lore are amazing. It's a really cool way to get that to the player. But does it have a practical gameplay reason to exist? I think so. Just speaking from a player-power perspective, there's epics you can get from it. And, sure, they're rare, and they should be I think. But some of those epics are *really* good epics. In six months, will they be as good? Probably not. But pretty cool stuff to get, and of course you can get cool things like pets and mounts, and things like that. Again, not a huge world impact, but I think those are tangible rewards for players.

MMORPG.com:

Of course, there's a distinction between being very rare and being "end game". Do you think Archeology is a profession that constantly rewards players as they level, or does all that really cool stuff only appear at the endgame?

Alex:

No, it's as they level, honestly. Probably not immediately. You're not going to get epics at level 1, or 10, or whatever it might be, but it's definitely something that, as you level up, you might get lucky and get something awesome ... as a level 30. That happens. And it's super super cool. So, it's definitely not the "endgame" profession: Blacksmithing and Jewel Crafting being the Lich King examples for that for DPS or tanks. It's definitely not *that*. And it's not meant to be that. It just isn't. it's meant to be more of a fun cool way to occupy your time, to give you something cool to do. And to get the story to the player.

MMORPG.com:

I guess I can ask this in two ways. Do you guys have any plans for any future secondary professions? OR, as the Lead World Designer, can you imagine any professions that you would like to put in that backup or reinforce all the content you've put in the game?

Alex:

You know, we've talked about a bunch of stuff. We talked about Toy Making, for example. And that was one of the fun ones we put on the table. There's always something. We *definitely* want to go back and look at Fishing again, and make it *awesome*. That's what's on the list. It's been on the list. "By God, we'll do it." There's nothing I can really tell you that wouldn't *spoil* what we're working on right now, and I can't really talk about ...