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.