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At GDC 2011, World of Warcraft game director Tom Chilton took to the stage to talk about updating Blizzard’s massive hit while still retaining the core of what players love about the game. The Cataclysm expansion was a huge update for the title, gutting most of the original content and replacing it with something new.
"We really knew we had to retain the soul of the original. This is where we really knew we could f*** it up. The content and the mechanics were showing their age," said Chilton.
Chilton singled out one of the zones that got a complete overhaul in Cataclysm, a barren, lifeless area called Desolace. Blizzard redid the zone to make it more visually interesting and more streamlined for questing, but Chilton wonders if that was the right idea.
"I feel like this is a case that it lost a little bit of its soul. ... I think we really have to watch where we take from the original. Really keep in mind what the soul of the original was. Make sure it's a really conscious decision and you're doing it for the right reason,” he explained.
Blizzard also trimmed down the growing talent tree system for the game. The growing list of talents was proving daunting for players and difficult for Blizzard to balance internally.
"You start to realize that this is getting really overwhelming, and we decided that with Cataclysm it was time for it to stop," he said. "I assure you that there are not fewer viable builds today than when we shipped [previous expansion] Lich King."
"If you were a returning or player, [the huge talent tree] would be really intimidating. A smaller amount of choices can help them make better choices,” he added.
In the end, Chilton says that expansions and sequels need to give players something new while keeping the familiar. He suggests what he calls a rule of thirds: old, improved, and new content each getting a third of the game.
"Know what was great about awesome game one, and keep that for awesome game two," he said.
[Via Gamasutra]
