The Blizzard staff had some interesting things to say about the game. We took notes on it all, and now it's time to post what we got. Our questions focused on all aspects of the game, both campaign and multiplayer.
What we saw of Warcraft 3 at e3 was really impressive. There were all sorts of buildings and features not yet seen in the Beta, that really gave the campaign it own beautiful look and feel. Without making you wait any longer, we'll move on to the questions we asked the staff at Blizzard.
Let us start our first interview/round of questions between...
Blizzard Game Staff [Staffers:] -Staff Members at e3
and
Mike Malone [Malone:] -warcraft3strategy.com
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Malone: Do you guys think Warcraft 3 will actually make its planned release in June?
Staffers: Wish we could say, but what we do know is that it's looking good so far. If it doesn't make June, it should make it out around mid-summer.
Malone: What are going to be the main differences between playing the campaign and the multiplayer?
Staffers: The campaign has a more 'novel' feel to it. The Beta is mostly just about killing off the other player, but the campaign forces you to complete tasks and is not just killing. You'll see a lot of details in the environment that you don't see in the online Beta (at least not yet). Heros will 'cap-out' in each level, forcing the player to use what skills they are limited to in order to complete the level. This will apply to buildings and units as well.
Malone: Any special units we can expext to appear in the campaign that we dont have in multiplayer/Beta?
Staffers: There will be 'special units' you'll be able to use that are not available in multiplayer/Beta.
Malone: The latest Beta (1.32) performs well, but I still have some quarrels with it. Do you guys plan on making any more major or even minor improvements, so close to your planned release?
Staffers: I'm not qualified to answer that. That is more of a question for Mike Schaefer. He's the main man to talk to about further improvements to Warcraft 3 and the multiplayer element of War 3. We're here to answer questions about the campaign and what we've got here at e3.
Malone: No worries. Will there be any 'boss-like' units to go up against in the campaign?
Staffers: There are 'special' units in the campaign, but I'm not all that sure about 'boss-like' units. You never know.
Malone: No worries. Will there be any 'boss-like' units to go up against in the campaign?
Staffers: There are 'special' units in the campaign, but I'm not all that sure about 'boss-like' units. You never know.
Now we move on to our next round of questions between...
Mike Schaefer [Schaefer:] -QA Compatibility Analist
and
Mike Malone [Malone:] -warcraft3strategy.com
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Malone: Do you guys plan on making any more major or even minor improvements to the Beta, so close to the planned release date?
Schaefer: We look at the forums to this day, hoping that testers like you will continue to add requests and report problems they have with the game. The Beta forums are an important source of info for us, and the more you guys add, the better. The more users let us know about their problems with the game, the more good changes we know to make.
Malone: I really like the look and feel of the 3-D perspective War 3 uses, but I feel that certain players are put at a disadvantage depending on their starting position on the map. I already know the trees will go invisible when selected and the camera rotation buttons, but is there any way to lock the camera rotation to allow the player to play in their selected view without having to constantly hold down the camera view button?
Schaefer: No, I don't think it's possible to add a camera locking feature this late in development. Our programmers are having a hard enough time right now. In fact, you'll probably notice that none of them are here at e3 to talk about Warcraft 3 because they are too busy cranking out work on the game.
Malone: What will the map editor be like?
Schaefer: The map editor that comes with War 3 will be pretty much the same one our developers work with. Which means users will be able to do everything from creating maps to actually creating their own mods.
Malone: So say I want to set up a mod that excludes heros from the game. Could I create it using the map editor?
Schaefer: Absolutly. You can create just about any modification with it.
Malone: I player the Human part of the War 3 campaign and it seemed very easy. Is the entire campaign about as difficult as the Human levels?
Schaefer: Well, you have to take into consideration that we are trying to present the game to people here at e3 who have never played the game before. Also keep in mind that you have been playing the Beta for awhile which naturally makes these levels easy for you. It gets progressively harder as you continue the campaign.
Geek: [As I'm about to ask my next question, some geek steps in and asks Schaefer:] "Is it actually going to come out in June?!
Schaefer: Workin' hard to get it out. Looks like June/mid-summer.
Geek: [The geek then goes too far and says:] "Stay on track!"
Schaefer: We will. Doin' 60-80 hour weeks. [Geek leaves]
Malone: You know what bro, don't listen to dorks like that. The reason I love Blizzard games is because you guys make sure the game is truly ready before putting them on the shelves.
Schaefer: Thanks, it always feels good to hear that our fans love what we work so hard to produce. And we love the fact that we don't have to force out a patch right when our games are released (like most other companies).
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