News Roundup: Blood in the Snow Scenario Introduction, Auto-Learning Flightpaths Disabled

Live Posted 2013/03/29 at 11:43 AM by perculia

Blood in the Snow Scenario IntroductionWoW InsiderBlood in the SnowThe King and the Council

Once upon a time - moments ago, in fact - a great King sought the help from a trio of powerful dwarves: The Council of Three Hammers.
The King's scouts had discovered that Zandalari trolls threatened the dwarven capital.
Surely, the king thought, if he helped them with their troll problem, they would give him more troops for his campaign against the Horde.
But what the King did not realize is that the dwarves did not trust one another!
"We cannot help you," said the Bronzebeard dwarf, "For if we turn our back of the Dark Irons, they will defeat the Wildhammer and take over Ironforge!"
"We cannot help you," said the Wildhammer dwarf, "For if we turn our back of the Dark Irons, they will defeat the Wildhammer and take over Ironforge!"
The King was furious. "If none of you help, then Ironforge will fall under siege!"
Only one dwarf offered to help the King. "We will lend you our strength," said Moira, of the Dark Iron. "We will trust our dwarven brothers, and we will show them what loyalty means!"
And so Moira and the High King set out into the snow to save the city, leaving the others to think about their actions.

News Round Up

Did you know many Monk sound effects were made with vegetables? The Warcraft Sound Team shares some insights into the process behind making all of the sound effects for fantastical creatures.

Someone asked why the mothers of many lore figures are either dead or missing. Nethaera responded and sparked a pretty epic discussion about familial strife in Azeroth, the pros and cons of various relationships in Azeroth, how Sylvanas and Moira Bronzebeard are pretty sympathetic characters, and much more.

Steamroll Jin'rokh the Breaker but having diffculty with the rest of Throne of Thunder? Draztal confirms that if you're hitting a wall in Throne, it's expected.

Also some bummer news: auto-learning flight paths was unintended a few patches back. Having to discover them once again on new characters is not a 5.2 bug.

Click the cut to read all of the blue posts!No More Auto-Learning Flight Paths

Bashiok

We’ve seen a bit of confusion over the removal of automatic flight path discovery for characters leveling in patch 5.2, so here’s some background on the whole series of events that lead to where we are.

Players have always been required to visit a Flight Master in order to unlock transportation to and from that location. We’ve always viewed this as a fundamental element of exploration in World of Warcraft. Players should feel like they’re in a massive world with vast continents to explore and thousands of adventures to embark upon (because there are!).

With Cataclysm, every zone in Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms was changing, flight points were moving, being added or removed, and we needed to make sure people didn’t log in to find they were missing large portions of their flight points. To solve this, characters exploring the world below level 80 were given every flight point automatically to ensure no edge-cases were missed. It was supposed to be a one-time changeover in the old-to-new world transition to resolve what could be numerable bugs due to the vastly altered landscape in the expansion. However, when the change went in, we didn’t realize it was implemented in a way that would affect all characters forever. When we found out it wasn’t an immediate priority, and we began implementing new tech in 5.1 and (more completely) 5.2.

We understand it was very convenient, but it wasn’t an intended change for flight path discovery forever. Over the course of patch 5.1 and 5.2, we implemented new functionality to remedy the original implementation issues. We’ve improved our tech in a way that allows us to remember what flight points a character has discovered, or determine what paths a character should/shouldn’t know on a case-by-case basis. In some cases you’re provided flight points when we’ve determined a character’s foreknowledge of them is important to the experience, but in most cases you will need to brave the wilds, seek out adventure, and visit a Flight Master before you can unlock flight to and from that location.We were on our way to tell you, but then we ran into Chuck and he was going off about his landlord and something with his sink smelling like something super foul, and while we was relating the smell to something between rotten onions and and an ogres feet we saw this cat run by that totally looked like our sister's cat that she just lost, but then this big scary lady picked it up and was all like "Don't you look at Chairman Meow!" which took us aback mainly because we didn't think cats followed any particular political ideology, and as we pondered the implications of such a possibility an ice cream truck drove by and so we chased after it because Big Sticks and when we caught up all they had were like the character ones with bubble gum balls for eyes which are all totally gross so we said thank you but no thank you so we left, and then when we finally made it to your place we were just SUPER exhausted so we went home...

Anyway, we meant to. Sorry. :(

Anatomy of Sound Design

Nethaera

Patch 5.2: The Thunder King brought with it not only new and exotic locations to visit (if you don’t mind a few storms) but a slew of new creatures. One of these creatures is the Zandalari Battlesaur whose roar can shake even the most stalwart hero. But, what exactly goes into crafting a voice for such a creature? The World of Warcraft Sound team was able to pop the hood and give us a look at the anatomy of the sound design within.

There are subtleties to sound design that aren’t always evident at first listen. In this case, the Zandalari Battlesaur’s roar consists of several layers of sound that are integrated into one unified voice. These layers include:

A voice actor: We pulled in some of the best voice talent in the industry who excel in making creature sounds. In this case, we were able to bring in Jon Olson who also did the non-Voice Over sounds for sha and hozen mobs. What you hear is an edit of two takes that form a base layer of performance and sound that other layers and effects are crafted around.
Bear: Early last year, senior Sound Designer Chris Kowalski took his recording gear and his courage to Big Bear to gather some scary up-close source material from several of the wild animals at Predators in Action. The bear recordings from that visit were used to add size and embellish some of what the actor did.
Tiger: While at Predators in Action, Chris was also given the opportunity to record the tiger that was used in the movie Gladiator. This resulted in a ton of great material, including a lot of big cat chest rumbles and roars you may hear mixed into several creatures across Pandaria.
Final Sound: The final mix is comprised of all the layers above along with additional processing and mastering that make it fit within the world.
Here’s a brief video with individual sounds before and after they’ve been mixed in.

Tell us More:

We spoke with the World of Warcraft Sound Supervisor (and the sound designer behind the Zandalari Battlesaur), Mike Johnson and Sound Producer Jay Maguire for a little more insight.

Q. How many team members do you have currently working on World of Warcraft sound design specifically?

We currently have five sound designers working full-time on World of Warcraft. They are Mike Johnson, Jon Graves, Chris Kowalski, Eric LeBlanc, and Peter Steinbach. The soundscape of World of Warcraft is continually evolving along with the game and this talented group is always looking for ways to raise the bar and immerse players in the environment through ambient background sound, vocal post-processing, and spell, creature, and object sfx.

Q. How often do you get to go out into the field to do recordings for sound design?

Not often enough unfortunately, so when we do have the ability to go out and record some new source material we really go after the big stuff that we need, like animals. One of the things that I wanted to accomplish for Mists of Pandaria was adding as much variation as possible to our creature kits, so getting enough material to work with was essential. Since we had so many new creatures to make in Mists we made it a top priority to get a wealth of new animal recordings to use in our design work at the studio here at Blizzard. Obviously you can’t go out into the wild and record a Battlesaur, or Mogu, or a Sha so we have to think of individual layers (both real and synthetic) that when mixed together make these creatures.

Q. What sorts of Foley work can you do at the studio itself?

On Mists of Pandaria, we recorded a great deal of new source material for the new Monk class (mainly whooshes and impacts) and for various mounts and creatures as well. Everyone on the World of Warcraft Sound Team spent time in our recording booth recording what they felt they needed in order to bring their creations to life. For the Monk we had a whoosh recording session where Chris (Kowalski), Jon (Graves), and Peter (Steinbach) all took turns swinging around various objects tied onto the end of a rope at high speeds. Many of these whooshes were then processed by Chris and then utilized for all of the new abilities for the Monk class. We also did a big vegetable destruction recording session where we tore up ears of corn, smashed walnuts, hit cabbage, and twisted celery among other things to use for sweeteners. These sounds were used in various ambiences, Monk abilities, creature exertions, farming, doodads, spells and in many different quests.

Q. What’s the most satisfying part of working on sound designs such as these?

The most rewarding part of creating sounds for World of Warcraft is experiencing the new expansion while it has little or no sound while in development and hearing it all come together in the final shipped version of the game.

There are so many other audio disciplines like Dialog, Music, and Cinematics in addition to sound design that are equally responsible for creating a believable soundscape to immerse our players into the game world.

Of course during production we’re aware of what each other is doing, but something magical happens when it all comes together at the end and we get to hear everything together and it just works.

Throne of Thunder Difficulty Level

Draztal

Throne of Thunder normal isn't tuned assuming you are a Heroic raiding guild. If your raid is still progressing through Tier 14 (say, at Garalon) it's very likely you'll be able to only kill Jin'rokh the Breaker and then face a very difficult battle trying to slay Horridon or Council of Elders, though.

In that case (and for the guilds still progressing through T14) it probably makes more sense to go back clear the rest of Tier 14 (which is now more doable thanks to the 10% reduction in damage and health of bosses as well as the new VP gear you can get with 5.2 Patch).

Guilds that have completed Tier 14 Normal already should be able to progress through Throne of Thunder. Of course, you might not clear all of it in a couple weeks, but it's something definitely doable without getting Heroic gear from Tier 14 (gear from Normal Tier 15 is higher item level).

On the other hand, it's also important to keep in mind that Jin'rokh the Breaker is a rather easy boss. He's not necessarily a representation of the rest of the raid's difficulty. Which is something many of you have probably noticed while progressing on Horridon or Council of Elders. And that might set a wrong expectation as to how quickly you can/should progress in Throne of Thunder. It's very possible to kill Jin'rokh the Breaker without much difficulty and then suddenly feel like Horridon is a brick wall, don't despair!

There are many encounters in Throne of Thunder that your raid will have to learn. And it's normal to feel things may be overtuned at the beginning of a new raiding tier while everyone is trying to better understand what each boss does and how to execute the fight properly.

Not everything comes down to how much gear your raid has. In fact, you might overgear, say, Horridon, and yet be unable to progress past him due to an inefficient strategy.

In any case, the developers are keeping an eye out on how things are going, and they will be making adjustments as needed. Ideally, no one should find him/herself in a situation where it looks like it's impossible to win without getting more gear and unable to actually get more gear.

So, don't give up. Go get those Valor Points items (some items from Raid Finder might help as well, absolutely) and keep refining your strategies. The boss kills will come :)
It's definitely true, however, that jumping from Garalon to Throne of Thunder might be stressing for the raid group on the first weeks. As the raid gets more gear from the newest Raid Finders, the 5.2 Valor Point items and so on, they'll start progressing through the harder encounters.

But, even if you start making progress past Horridon and Council of Elders, I'd honestly encourage you to go and finish Heart of Fear in Normal, and Terrace of Endless Spring.
Terrace is particularly useful as it drops 2 tier pieces, Sha-Touched weapons and it has minimal trash, which means you can clear it in around two hours once you get used to the raid :)

Mothers in Azeroth

Nethaera

I think you're assuming a bit much. Authors don't just simply write based on their own experiences, but based on the premise of "what if". I can't speak to what specific reasons the writers have in this regard, but I can say from my viewpoint that Azeroth is not a very forgiving or peaceful world. It's been in one upheaval after another and unfortunately, that means that things don't always turn out for the best. A writer's job is to make you feel something if they can. A spot of empathy or anger or sadness, joy, love, or triumph. Many stories throughout time (fables/fairy tales etc.) revolve around the loss of one parent or another though generally, it's in regard to the loss of a mother. It resonates with people and it fits with the harsh realities that may have been a part of society. It also serves as a catalyst very often for change within the character in question and shapes their very personality or character flaws.

Keep in mind as well that we have a team of people who work on quest and story with a variety of experiences to bring to the table.

It's also worth noting that fathers have died too. Thrall lost both of his parents. Not just his mother.
Just to provide some balanced perspective, here are the fathers and husbands that have been casualties of war:

Arthas committed patricide and killed his father Terenas Menethil.
Cairne Bloodhoof was murdered which left his son Baine to deal with fallout and pick up the pieces.
Anduin Wrynn didn't just lose his mother. He had to suffer through a period in which his father was lost to him and then his surrogate father ended up becoming the Lich King.
Thrall didn't just lose his mother, he lost his father too and his adoptive father wasn't a picture of kindness. He enslaved him and tried to kill him. That will cause some father issues if nothing else will.
Garrosh was abandoned and his father wasn't exactly around to raise him, though he was an influence on him. I'm sure you recall Grom Hellscream.
Leyara lost her daughter and her husband was murdered as well. Her relationship with her father-in-law didn't exactly result in warm and fuzzy quality time together either unfortunately.
Vereesa Windrunner is raising twins alone now that her husband Rhonin was killed in Theramore's Fall (H). She's also dealing with a few sister issues.
Moira Thaurissan is dealing with the death of her husband and her father turning to diamond, while being a part of a new leadership.She's dealing with something many working mothers are familiar with in balancing her dedication to her son and the council I'm sure.
Suna Silentstrike is another one who has lost her husband to tragedy.

War is ugly and dirty and the stories we want to tell reflect that. It affects everyone in one way or another. We can't put every story on the forefront, but we can hope that the stories that are available convey the struggles that plague the denizens.
Actually I'm pretty sure that she is currently assisting Jaina at the Isle of Thunder. Her children (how old are they by the way) are currently home alone.

Hahaha, that's cute, but its wrong.

I don't think she really cares that her father is diamond, it just means that she is closer to being the legitimate heir of Ironforge. I'm also not so sure just how 'dedicated' she is to the council.

Moira cares only about her son, everyone else (I'm imagining even the Alliance) can rot as soon as they lose their usefullness.

Source? Never heard this before and it's not on his Wowpedia and wowiki pages. So for all we know you could be making this up. Either way, no relationship with his mother.

I have to disagree, my well-lit associate :)

Considering that the loss of her husband was her father's fault (he sent you in to recover her afterall) and under the pretense that his daughter was mind controlled, it isn't really a stretch to assume that she goes down to her father's diamond corpse with her son just to show him his grand father, the man whose hatred for the dark irons cost him the knowledge of knowing his father.

As for the matter of the council, considering just how much trouble she went through to sabotage the binding of the 3 hammers in the short story, I feel that she will only use the council (and the alliance) only until it no longer is able to serve her or her sons survival. She'll only do as much as she has to just to preserve that.

AggraThrallLament of the HighborneAlexstrasza the Life-Binder

I'm trying to figure out which female leaders you've seen that "had" to get a mate. From what I've seen, they've progressed into relationships or desired to be in a relationship per their own doing. Just like anyone else in this world does. They may have gotten married or found a partner, but so did their male counterpart. So, are you saying the men drag the female down while the female props the male up?

Since Thrall just got married, does that exhibit that he had to get married to be a whole person? After all, he does have some impetus to produce heirs to some extent. Varian already has an heir.

Tyrande WhisperwindMalfurion StormrageThrallMalfurion Stormrage

Comment by 881971This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by DestruktioSo the dwarves that are currently are our enemies, were the only race of dwarfs to help the king. Leading to the uniting of the clans but also the exile of the dark iron?

I'm confused.Comment by Gruedo77I've got to say, I'm glad to see that something is happening to the alliance in a negative way. Thrall leaves the horde (HUGE), vol'jin is kicked out of org (HUGE) and Garrash is bats**t crazy while the alliance enjoy doing nothing. Janna needs to take over dalaran already. That has been a long time comming. Vol'jin needs to kill Garrash or atleast spart some civil war where Garrash loses. Oh and if swifty got a perma ban, I wouldn't be against that at all. DarkspearhordeFTWComment by AdamsmPossible dark iron dwarf skin color?Comment by 991714you know what? my thoughts on auto flight path thing...you want people to "explore" your game more..great fine...knock yourself out. after iv been to that area 11 freaking times, u really think im going to soak up anymore lore and amazement at the devlopers lil hurt feelings i didnt actually have to run to this location on my 2nd - 11th alt, those guys need grow up and deal with fact i dont care all that much about watchi the scenery go by for x amount of times. its like i had NO problem having to hit 90 on first main toon. so i could please teh " exlplore guys" over there. but when got to my 5-6th alt..i promise you i could care less about something i already know. you want take away auto fp learning..change it make it so first main too HAS to run there. when he has all fp's go buy a tome of fp knowledge. fp tome has all fp's your main knowsComment by lankybritBTW: That last bit in Bashiok's stuff about auto flight-path learning was in response to me asking over on the forums:

And you didn't tell us this ahead of time because?

Just putting the missing piece into that block of paragraphs. It goes before 'We were on our way to tell you......'

Cheers.Comment by 746315change it make it so first main too HAS to run there. when he has all fp's go buy a tome of fp knowledge. fp tome has all fp's your main knowsTome of Cold Weather FlightandComment by BahamutBBobJanna needs to take over dalaran already.Comment by 696346This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by 627828This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by 1064663Now if they can only improve the tech FOR flight paths. It would be great if I could use a flight path from Undercity to Stranglethorn and not take 10 minutes while I hit 1/3 of the Eastern Kingdoms flight paths.
When we used to have to stop at every spot and hop back on, okay, it made sense to have to stop at all of them, the tech wasn't that great. No excuse now, unless we can stop at any point or jump off, flight paths should be point A to point B.Comment by InterestAuto-Learning Flightpaths DisabledComment by voreoDisabling Auto FP learning... Way to crush anyones hopes of leveling alts through exploration blizzard.Comment by 749141lol well of course moira is the only one who would help out she doesnt have to look over her back