Queues, balance, the Butcher, couch co-op, dungeon design and more.
And they had some eye-opening things to say about each topic.
And, of course, there’s the apparentlynever-ending Microsoft buyout sagalooming large.
Far from ideal working conditions.
And if you did have one, did you meet it?
Rod Fergusson:Yeah.
Part of it is the number of players.
And so this weekend was to prepare for next weekend, and next weekend prepares for launch.
How many people were playing?
Rod Fergusson:I don’t have final numbers but well over a million people were playing this weekend.
Are there any restrictions on numbers next weekend?
Rod Fergusson:No.
It makes me wonder what people’s expectations should be about queueing when the game comes out.
Is there an expectation that queues will be a thing we have to deal with, to some degree?
So it’s not always just availability of space.
OK, let’s halve it again."
So eventually it goes away to nothing.
Rod Fergusson:We’ve made a lot of forward progress.
I don’t think that’s very energy efficient, Rod.
Rod Fergusson:Ha ha ha!
But it’s play-efficient!
Firstly, is that right?
Rod Fergusson:That’s right.
Rod Fergusson:It’s a technology question.
Why - how is it different from console?
Because those systems allow multiple users to be signed in?
Rod Fergusson:Right, exactly.
Whereas trying to get two Battle.net accounts signed into the same PC at the same time…
It’s a technology problem.
Is it a solvable issue?
Rod Fergusson:Um, not sure.
I’d have to talk to our TD [technical director].
I don’t know if it’s a game-solvable issue.
I think there’s more tech that has to happen.
Okay, fair enough.
Rod Fergusson:Ha ha ha!
Was the Butcher in the build in December?
Joe Shely:No.
I’m glad I didn’t completely miss him two times around.
But where did this idea to have the Butcher surprise-ambush people come from?
Joe Shely:Ha ha!
He is a kind of reverse treasure goblin - yeah.
I see - with unexpected, um, surprises?
Rod Fergusson:Yeah, because you never know when it’s going to show up.
And we want to add more things like that in the future as well.
Because if it’s too nostalgic, it’s the same old game, why am I playing?
[content] which is awesome.
It’s a wonderful response to have.
And just to clarify:isit like a reverse treasure goblin in how the Butcher appears at random?
What are the conditions for him appearing - are there any?
Joe Shely:I think that there are some minimum level restrictions - there might be a few others.
But it’s meant to be very random and very unexpected.
He also will leave-
Rod Fergusson:[Chuckling to himself] pieces of you.
Joe Shely:Either after he killed you or after some amount of time.
What the hell?"
That overcoming, that showing of mastery, is a really cool kind of arc within an arc.
So are any other enemies getting a similar kind of treatment to the Butcher?
Joe Shely:Yeah, we’d like to add more enemies like that to the game.
And because the game is a live service, we have a lot of opportunities to do that.
Is this something you’ve seen and are you taking a look at it?
Joe Shely:We have seen it, yeah.
There’s a few elements there.
We don’t want players to be running through an empty dungeon.
It is a goal of ours that you’re not running through an empty dungeon, basically, ever.
It can be okay for very short periods of time.
Rod Fergusson:People are seeing dungeons at the baseline level.
And it’s going to feel like a much different experience.
And I’ve had a go at all the classes and I tend to agree.
There’s a few things like that.
But in general, there are no classes that are only for the really skilled people.
Joe Shely:We absolutely don’t want that to be the case.
There’s lots of opportunity for a high skill-cap there.
Or, if they want a higher skill-cap, they can lean into that.