Blizzard News: Ask CDev and HotS Beta

Ask CDev Round III answers:

After much waiting, Blizzard has released the third round of answers for Ask Creative Development.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed in these. Maybe it’s because they didn’t answer any of my questions, or maybe it’s because I’m pretty burnt out on Warcraft right now, but these answers just didn’t seem as exciting as the last ones.

However, there were a few good ones.

The one that struck me the most is the revelation is that there is not, in fact, an Old God beneath Tirisfal Glades, despite widespread speculation that there was.

This comes from (I believe) the old WoW encyclopedia that stated the High Elves originally settled there before moving on to what would become Quel’thalas because several of them were driven mad by dark whispers. The bloodstone artifacts, with their obvious similarity to saronite and connection to the Old Gods, strengthened the theory.

Usually, dark whispers making people crazy is a surefire sign that you’ve got an Old God problem, so it’s surprising there isn’t one in Tirisfal after all. It’s even more surprising Blizzard would come out and confirm it out of the blue like that.

However, the answer does make clear that there is something nasty beneath the Glades. My money is on a powerful servant of the Old Gods, like Soggoth the Slitherer in Darkshore. I also considered something demonic imprisoned by the Council of Tirisfal, but as they were formed after the Troll Wars, that wouldn’t explain the crazy High Elves in ancient times.

Other interesting answers dealt with issues that have been puzzled over for some time, such as why newly raised Forsaken seem immediately loyal to Sylvanas and what precisely Alexstrasza meant when she said the Aspects’ purpose had been fulfilled.

Many lore fans will also be pleased to note that Med’an appears to have been written out of the story for the time being. I don’t view him as the abomination most do, but I will admit the whole “Drumorc super-duper-shamageadin” thing was a little much. I’m not happy he’s gone, but I won’t miss him.

Heart of the Swarm beta now live:

On the Starcraft front, the beta for Heart of the Swarm has at last launched, meaning there will be another game I need to find time to play over the next few months — along with Guild Wars 2, PandaLand, and possible The Secret World.

The great H to the usky (Husky) has already started casting matches from the beta.

I still love that mothership core. And holy crap that new map is pretty.

Of course, there has already been some controversy. Workers now begin mining automatically at the start of a match, and your main building (nexus/hatch/command center) will now display the number of workers you have as well as the ideal number to shoot for.

Depending on who you ask, these are either minor quality of life improvements or an evil attempt to cater to casuals that will destroy the game as an e-sport.

I don’t get people like that.

Games I Want to See

After years of not playing games and then only playing World of Warcraft, I am now a full member of the gaming community again. I’ve played many games both well-known and obscure in recent months, and there are many more coming down the pipe I’m excited about, but as a true North American, I am never satisfied. There are many other games I would love to play — if only they existed.

Portal 3:

A screenshot from Portal 2We all want it. Who knows if we’ll ever get it, but if it finally does get announced, it will trigger a tidal wave of nerdgasms the likes of which we have rarely seen.

But what could Portal 3 be about? Chell has finally escaped Aperture Labs. Supposedly, the co-op campaign in Portal 2 hints that there may be other potential test subjects locked up down there, but honestly, Chell is Portal — which is odd when you consider she has no personality whatsoever.

Personally, I’ve always wanted to see a Portal game set in the wider world. The idea of running around a city with a portal gun is just too much fun. Leaving Aperture would be a risk, and there would probably have to be a section of the game where Chell returns there (you’d need to involve GLaDOS somehow), but I want to feel the sun on my face as I sling portals.

Mass Effect: Lost Chapters:

The wreck of the Normandy in Mass Effecf 2I’m not as big a Mass Effect fan as some, but I’ll agree with the majority that the game did have some very interesting secondary characters. I think an anthology game devoted to telling their stories of their lives pre-Shepard would be very interesting — maybe more interesting than the main ME games.

Potential stories include:

Call of the Sea: A tortured Thane Krios sets out to hunt down his wife’s murderers, while struggling with his guilt over failing to protect her.

Crisis of Faith: A young Mordin Solus attempts to restore the Krogan genophage while struggling with Krogan who seek to stop him, allies who wish him to annihilate the Krogan altogether, and his own internal ethical crisis.

Good Cop: New to C-Sec, Garrus Vakarian investigates a series of brutal crimes, but the farther along he gets, the more the system fights him, and the more disillusioned he becomes.

Etc.

Diablo III: Wrath of Angels:

Imperius, Archangel of Valor, in Diablo 3We all know Diablo III is going to get at least one expansion pack sooner or later, and with all the loose ends left by the ending of the main game, there’s no shortage of plots to pursue.

I hope they get around to completing all of them, but something in particular I was disappointed we didn’t see more of in Diablo III was angels as villains. The material leading up to the game certainly seemed to be building up Imperius and Malthael, in particular, as potential bad guys.

Following the events of Diablo III, Imperius now has more cause to hate humanity than ever, so I could definitely see him going rogue and trying to exterminate mankind. I think it would be a very interesting break from tradition to have a Diablo game focused on battling the forces of Heaven instead of the forces of Hell.

It’s not enough for a whole expansion, but I’d also love to see some more character-driven quests about the followers and the player classes. I want to see Kormac confront the leaders of his order, and I want to see that mage-slayer finally catch up to Li-Ming.

Warcraft IV: Army of the Light:

Warcraft art featuring several races working together as they would in the Army of the LightI’ve previously discussed the Army of the Light and the fact that I don’t see how it could work in a game like WoW. But I do think it would work perfectly for another strategy game. There’s not the same level of game mechanics reliant on war between the factions.

Furthermore, it seems to me that the Burning Legion is really the chief villain of the Warcraft strategy games. Every one of the RTS Warcraft games involved the Legion somehow, whereas only one WoW expansion has given them a central role. I view WoW’s central villain as the Old Gods — a type of villain much more suited to an MMO’s smaller scale of story-telling than are the massive armies of the Legion.

The first few campaigns could deal with uniting the peoples of Azeroth to form the Army, while casting down those individuals who are an obstacle to peace (I’m looking at you, Sylvanas), and the latter half of the game would focus on taking the battle to the Legion and ending their threat once and for all.

It’s unlikely, but I can dream.

Warcraft HD:

A screenshot of the Orc campaign from Warcraft 2: Tides of DarknessI honestly can’t believe Blizzard hasn’t already done this. Step one: Remake the early Warcraft strategy games with the Starcraft II engine. Step two: Collect money.

It’s just that simple.

The only real question would be whether to precisely preserve the original storylines or alter them to include the latest retcons. I could see a strong argument for either, honestly.

Dungeon Siege III: Seed of Creation:

I don’t care what the haters say; Dungeon Siege III was a great game. At this point, it’s pretty clear they won’t be doing any expansion or continuation for it, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting one.

There are any number of awesome things a DSIII expansion could focus on, but I would love a game where you can play as the game’s villain, Jeyne Kassynder. Jeyne was a really deep and fascinating character, and one of the game’s greatest strengths.

An expansion could depict Jeyne trying to atone for her past crimes by helping the Tenth Legion rebuild Ehb, while she also searches for the lost power of Creation to fulfill her mother’s mission and resurrect the Creator Gods.

Yes, this would mean ignoring most if not all of the player choices surrounding Jeyne’s fate at the end of the first game, but I don’t care. Jeyne’s just too awesome.

A man can dream…

Honestly, all of these games are pretty unlikely to ever be made, and even less likely to be made how I want them, but speculation is fun. I can dream.

What about you? What are some games you’d love to see made down the line?