WORLD OF WARCRAFT CHAT WITH WOW INSIDER JENNIE AND TURPSTER
June 28th, Worldwide Invitational, Paris

To wrap up these two days where Blizzard showcased the Alpha version of their second extension to World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King, we've invited editors of WoW Insider to share their feelings on the game with our users.

[Xfire] Chatteox (chatteox): The chat has started, and the staff from WoW insider will answer your questions as soon as possible

WoW Insider Jennie: Hello folks! Let's start off with some intros.

[WoWInsider] Turpster: Hello, My name is Mark "Turpster" Turpin, I am a member of the WoW Insider Podcast each week live on WCRadio.com! You might have seen me in TurpsterVision on Massively.com reviewing MMOs.

WoW Insider Jennie: I'm Jennie Lees, columnist and blogger for WoW Insider.

Zhingen (tharnar): Are passenger mounts confirmed?
WoW Insider Jennie: Blizzard has said there will be the ability for mounts to have passengers, but they haven't said much more than that yet.

Travis (hawkface): How well do you think WotLK will be received from the public?
[WoWInsider] Turpster: Blizzard always say that they make the games that they want to play. This approach of creating games that are compelling and released only when they are ready ensures that it's pretty much always a Smash Hit, I am sure we will see Wrath break BC's opening sales record

Nick (nicpic10): will there ever be any water mounts?
WoW Insider Jennie: Nothing like that's been confirmed. You'll be entering one of the new battlegrounds on a boat, but they don't plan to make them player controllable

[E.C]Aim (jorhun): are there going to be special battleground for the flying mount battles
[WoWInsider] Turpster: The flying combat mounts will be found in the new PvP zone named "Lake Wintergrasp" it is an open PvP zone with minimal PvE objectives, there are two types of flying mounts, fast "fighter" type mounts and slower "bomber" type mounts (which also allow for a second passenger/gunner!)

†CøldƒusiønҲ™† (soomld): have anyone of you tried wotlk? What are your first impressions?
WoW Insider Jennie: The playable alpha of WotLK at the invitational is very limited and a lot of the content isn't in yet. It's clear the game is far from ready for launch despite the number of fans that would go out and buy it tomorrow. First impressions are that it's very exciting with a lot of new stuff to explore, but, y'know, starting areas are starting areas. Initial quests are the same old stuff.

[Xf Helper-Tbc.pl] Kumbol (kumbol): Boars killing!

†CøldƒusiønҲ™† (soomld): omg turpster! Could u teach me your gnome dance?
[WoWInsider] Turpster: Only the brave may undertake such a challenge, if you believe that you are then you aren't, if you think you aren't ready then you certainly are not up to the challenge

w!kk!|Alex (wikki11): Hi Jennie =) so go on; Will there be new flying mounts? (Faster ones or other models)
WoW Insider Jennie: Hi! Well, as with so many things this weekend Blizzard haven't really said yes or no, everything's "still being looked into". They've certainly hinted that there will be new ones though.

dragonrhonin: What was the point of the Evil Penguin?!?!
WoW Insider Jennie: We asked Samwise Didier and Cory Stockton this question - they didn't know either!

Travis (hawkface): What’s the first thing do you think people will do with WotLK, hit 80 or make a death knight?
WoW Insider Jennie: I think it depends on the person. A lot of people will do both, the quest areas for both will be pretty crowded so they'll spend some time levelling and some time on the new alt. Hardcore raiders like me will just go straight for 80 I think Though I know people who have banks full of death knight levelling gear, potions and stuff all ready to reroll.

w!kk!|Alex (wikki11): Will there be new Legendary Items? When yes, for which class they will be?
WoW Insider Jennie: Nothing's been said on this yet, we got the impression the item design team is still very much at work on all the itemisation for WotLK. They did say in the raids and dungeons panel that they loved the Atiesh-style legendary quest (rather than say Thori'dal or warglaives that just drop randomly), so they're certainly thinking about legendaries still. I hope we'll get some for some new classes that haven't had a chance at legendaries in the past.

Nick (nicpic10): when you make a death knight what lvl will you start at?
WoW Insider Jennie: 55.

[E.C]Aim (jorhun): in the flying mount battles, who will take the damage ? The hero, or the mount ?
[WoWInsider] Turpster: From what we have been told it will depend on what mount you are in, for example, some of the battle mounts in Wintergrasp have shielding that will protect the hero (The goblin shreder for example will act like an Iron-Man style armour protecting the hero) where as the there are other mounts where riders are left out in the open. Otherwise, I believe it will be the mount that will take the damage while in Wintergrasp and probably the same in the instances with flying combat

[E.C]Aim (jorhun): will the siege weapons in front of Orgri, StormWind, Iron, and Darnassus will be usable ? Or they will be for a BG
WoW Insider Jennie: I'm pretty sure they're just for looks. Blizzard could prove me wrong though!

SpaceSquid (duckyo): Hi. What is the goal in the new WOTLK BG?
WoW Insider Jennie: As far as I know it's to win! They haven't really made it clear whether it's CTF or territories style, unless I missed something. They do want you to both attack *and* defend, though. Check out our PvP panel writeup for what little we know

Travis (hawkface): Is everyone at WoW Insider excited to kill ARthas/ Lich King and take up Frostmourne?
[WoWInsider] Turpster: I don't know about the rest of the team but I know 110% that I personally can't wait to bring the fight to the Lich King, unlucky for us though, we'll have to wait until the very end of the expansion as Arthas is expected to take up the same progression as Kil'Jaeden is currently in TBC

w!kk!|Alex (wikki11): So, i remember when I get first time to BC; I gained so imba items from easy quests! Will it be the same with wotlk?
WoW Insider Jennie: Depends what you mean by 'imba'. They've said that players in tier 6 and Sunwell loot won't be replacing them with Northrend greens (although, who knows, this might change). However, as with TBC, the new expansion is a levelling of the playing field as far as gear is concerned so some of the new items will indeed seem pretty imba. For example we've seen midrange dungeon rewards that are almost equivalent to Cursed Vision of Sargeras (!).

[E.C]Aim (jorhun): isn't being a Death Knight a little Overpower ?
[WoWInsider] Turpster: Not at all...it's a lot Overpowered! Seriously, here at WWI we've only got to play on starting DKs at level 55, I believe that there is still work to be done on the class, but with the rune system it is most certainly a class that you will want to try out, really interesting and fun to play

Raein (raein): Did anyone in the crowd boo Kalgan when he got up to speak?
WoW Insider Jennie: Nope, everyone was very well behaved. There was a booing match last night though, when someone yelled 'for the Horde!' on stage and half the audience cheered.. The other half played Alliance.

skaterchief: Has anyone commented further on having 2 specs available?
[WoWInsider] Turpster: Not yet, we aren't sure if it was something that they really wanted to talk about here at the WWI, they've got to save some gems for Blizzcon later this year

Rolzy (rolzy): Has there been any talk about player usable knock backs effects?
WoW Insider Jennie: Nope, but there's been some talk of various crowd control abilities coming to different classes such as the shaman's new Hex spell. Nothing on knockbacks though.

Raein (raein): Did you guys get to play the alpha? Was there any mention of a beta at all?
WoW Insider Jennie: Blizzard were close-mouthed as always about when the beta will open and whether the beta key in the goodie bags was for WotLK. The version on the demo stations here was alpha.

Travis (hawkface): Is it really confusing to play a death knight considering the rune system, or is it just pick up and play without a problem
[WoWInsider] Turpster: There is a reason that we have to have a level 55 character to unlock the class in the first place, it currently is a class with a lot of Percentage based talents that would confuse a "Green Horn" WoW Player or even some "Pros". It is challenging to get to grips with at first, but before you know it you will be using your runepower like it's going out of fashion!

alexrosa1: I noticed a lot of talk on player classes and the changes the expansion will offer, but I haven't heard anything new about Inscription, have there been any new developments? Will we be able to see some of the mats drop b4 the expansion?
WoW Insider Jennie: There hasn't really been much about Inscription. We found out that the profession is mostly implemented already, that it requires herbalism (the characters on alpha had 2 recipes that used peacebloom). But they also said earlier today that they didn't want to make levelling it annoying, like with Jewelcrafting when you had to spend forever mining in low level zones, so maybe the mats will change. We haven't a clue how the spell modifications from Inscription will work yet.

w!kk!|Alex (wikki11): when WOTLK will come? (45 dudes in my guild ask me this 1000times ^^)
[WoWInsider] Turpster: Blizzard would say "When it's ready" I would like to hope for a Xmas release but I would think that it would be like TBC and come out early on in the New Year