Blizzard Developer Chat on Twitter

[Mania]

Blizzard hosted their second Twitter-based World of Warcraft developer chat on January 15th. You can find a complete transcript of all the questions and answers on the WoW forums.

A couple of questions in the chat related to hunters and pets. Those are reproduced below.


Q. You mentioned pet scaling being added for patch 3.3 but due to time constraints, was delayed. Will this be in the next patch?

A. We'll try to do what we can. Technically it's just more challenging than you might think. For Cataclysm, we have on our list that 100% of stats scale. If they don't then certain stats just won't be as valuable for pet classes. At the very least, we can do stuff like convert your X into damage for the pet so every stat is valuable. Getting everyone to scale with every stat better is a major goal for the class team for Cataclysm.


Q. Will rogues/hunters ever be able to dual wield hand-crossbows or pistols?

A. The pistol idea for hunters gets suggested a lot. It could either be an alternate to the gun / bow / crosssbow or something they use for short-range attacks. Rogues probably have plenty of weapons at this point.


There were a bunch of interesting non-pet questions as well, and I encourage you to go read the entire transcript.

[Ryno]

Ah, it'll be nice if we get to have two ranged weapons. If for nothing more than "Oh my gosh this is so cool!"

[Saturo]

I liked this part. If they add more demons, I might start playing my lock again

Q. With the new skins for druid forms, what is the chance that warlocks might see race/faction specific demon skins or maybe a new one?
A. When you look around, there are a lot of say imp or voidwalkers we could use. It's something we talk about quite a bit. As for new demons, I hear warlocks are going to be getting some new spells for the next expansion...

[Vephriel]

The demon news excited me almost as much as the Hunter news! ^^ I'm fond of my warlock, but she's stuck at level 43 since I just get into that slump during those levels.

I've always thought it would be nice if they had a few varieties (such as different colours) of each demon type that you could choose from, so not everyone's walking around with identical minions.

[Ryno]

I've always thought it would be nice if they had a few varieties (such as different colours) of each demon type that you could choose from, so not everyone's walking around with identical minions.

Yeah, I've been off of my warlock for a month or three.

It'd be nice if demons got a racial look, like totems did.

[Karathyriel]

Now that you mention it...

I never saw the new totem designs!

[Ryno]

Now that you mention it...

I never saw the new totem designs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNxRiFS6 ... r_embedded
MMO has a vid of them.

[Karathyriel]

Wow, they're cool!

The trolls are best, having a new design for each element.

Makes me itch to roll a troll shaman!

[Vephriel]

Wow, they're cool!

The trolls are best, having a new design for each element.

Makes me itch to roll a troll shaman!

Yeah, they made me do that too. xD Started a male Troll shaman on my main server...male Trolls just have awesome casting animations.

[Ryno]

Wow, they're cool!

The trolls are best, having a new design for each element.

Makes me itch to roll a troll shaman!

Agreed, I've been tempted to do just that. Haven't brought myself to do it yet though.

[Karathyriel]

male Trolls just have awesome casting animations.

Yeah! *arms put together on the wrist and hands spread wide*
FROSTSHOCK!

[Ryno]

male Trolls just have awesome casting animations.

Yeah! *arms put together on the wrist and hands spread wide*
FROSTSHOCK!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5mD1n4v2JA
For those not in the know. (contains some language).

[Vephriel]

Hee, I was thinking of that video. ^^ They practically do a haddoken, haha.

You can never go wrong by re-rolling Horde.

[Karathyriel]

FOR THE HORDE
No honestly, I could never play alliance.

@ Ryno:
Yep, that's were I got it from. Isn't it funny that everyone seems to now this Frostshock! thing?

[Zangor]

speak for yourself im happy as alliance i mean look at this screenshot

[Karathyriel]

speak for yourself im happy as alliance i mean look at this screenshot

Speaking for myself is exactly what I'm doing.

I said. "No honestly, I could never play alliance."
Not: "Noone should play alliance."

Whom would I kill on the BGs then?

[Dulanie]

I started as alliance because of my ex-wife, and it just kinda stuck. I guess it's mainly because the quests are so much easier on Alliance then Horde. A prime example of this is the difference between ally and horde shaman quests >.< For pvp though it's solidly horde. Alliance sucks so bad in pvp it'd be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. Also I would only play a druid on Horde. Got to love a lion or bear with horns. lol

[Kalliope]

I started as alliance because of my ex-wife, and it just kinda stuck. I guess it's mainly because the quests are so much easier on Alliance then Horde. A prime example of this is the difference between ally and horde shaman quests >.<

Uh.

Counter example.

Alliance warlock quests.

>_<

[Makoes]

ummm...getting back on topic All pet states scaling, oohhh nice, I like that a lot, and duel pistols, wheeeeee, I forsee a lot of western themes coming out XD
any more news yet on the change from mana usage?

[Saturo]

News on Focus usage:

Not so much, other than that it will regenerate slowly like our pets, and that we can hurry it up by casting Steady Shot.

I wonder what they will do to Aspect of the Viper...