MrGM Interview with Holly Longdale - Plunderstorm, Experiments, Cross-Region

wowhead.com:

MrGM interviewed Warcraft Vice-President Holly Longdale about lessons from Plunderstorm, experimental modes, and NA x EU cross-region play.

Highlight Topics

• Dragonflight target was an 8-week patch cadence.
• Dragonflight was a learning experience on how to make content sustainable for the team and the players.
• Plunderstorm outperformed Blizzard expectations.
• Blizzard is fortunate to have a healthy community to support all these different game versions.
• Warbands, Delves, and Follower dungeons are answers to what the community has asked over time.
• Blizzard feels like they have underserved «casuals» and «midcore» players and are working to address it with all different play modes and content being added.
• EU x NA crossplay? Blizzard would like it to happen. But there are many barriers like regulatory issues from different countries.
• Do release cycles hurt one another? i.e., with y being delayed because x is launching now? Yes. At BlizzCon, when talking about Cataclysm and SoD, it was a deliberate decision to announce them together since many players might not enjoy Classic going to Cataclysm, so SoD provides them a home. Blizzard plans on releases and tries to not have them cannibalize one another. But at the same time, they see that the crossover between some versions, like SoD and modern isn't too big.
• Did plunderstorm panned out like intended? No. It didn't go at all how Holly planned it. They admit they overplayed it way too long, maybe would be better to not said anything at all. Lesson learned. Blizzard is willing to take more risks now.
• Plunderstorm is limited time due to a design decision. Its design isn't one of long-lived game mode. Blizzard is now going back to take a look at lessons learned from it and how they can improve for the future
• Jeremy Feasel (Muffinus) is leading the experimental team and has much in store for the future.
• Will we see more stuff like Remix? Yes. As long as the community likes it, they will keep doing it.
• War Within was «made for