Project Lore

Blue Stew is a new daily column bringing you a delicious concoction of developer news, thoughts, and opinions straight from the boiling pot that is the official World of Warcraft forums. The highlights of each day include additional commentary by Project Lore staff. What a long, long weekend, folks. I decided to take a little breather from WoW, myself, spending a little "quality" time with NCSoft's Aion, instead. I also gorged myself on snacks, caught up on True Blood Season 2, and felt sorry for myself because I couldn't attend PAX this year (but at least I didn't catch the swine flu!). What were you guys and gals up to? As for Blue Stew, I sincerely apologize about the lack of updates, but there was simply nothing to talk about. Labor Day, as it turns out, has nothing to do with going to work, so I imagine that a lot of Blizzard employees were off hanging with their families and friends instead of answering questions on the forums. Today seems no different, with a marked decrease in overall Blue activity. But I think we can find at least a couple of things to talk about from the WoW Europe community. The Availability Of AddOns? Vanera is either an extremely bored CM or he's not very good at veiling his questions. It didn't take more than three replies for someone to call him out on the poll he posted earlier in the day. Ceriulun posed the following:

"Would the question be: 'Would you like an official AddOn browser feature in the new Battle.net?' my answer would be 'Yes.'"

It was the first thing that came to my mind, as well. Blizzard's been sticking their paws in all sorts of honey jars lately, and though it's not quite the same thing, I can't help but think about the company's reactions to Warcraft-theme iPhone apps. Specifically, the way in which they systematically shut them down before releasing their own, comprehensive Mobile Armory software. Will an AddOn Browser join Cross-Game Chat as one of the new Battle.net features in WoW? Now, Blizzard has a pretty open policy towards AddOns. Occasionally, they've even seen fit to incorporate the functionality of popular ones into the basic UI (see: the failure of in-game voice chat and the recently-added Equipment Manager), so I don't think they're about to outlaw anything like that. Rather, a poll like this seems to target modding community sites like WoWUI or Curse Gaming. Some of the sites have even started releasing independent AddOn update clients, which may be verging on the edge of what's kosher with Blizzard and what's not (and they sound an awful lot like those iPhone apps in terms of out-of-game functionality). But, if you use these clients, I wouldn't start fretting just yet. Perhaps, like Ceriulun proposes, Blizz just wants to incorporate their own AddOn browser into the game. If they follow a model similar to what they plan to use for the StarCraft 2 community, that means that you can download and install add-ons from the in-game interface, they can be ranked for popularity and monitored for safety, and the ones that rise to the top could even begin to earn revenue for their creators. It certainly seems to fit with Battle.net's modus operandi of having everything you need in one place. As convenient as something like this might be, what do you think about Blizzard exercising that much control over AddOns? Open Letter To Blizzard: Thank You Illea's made me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside with the following post:

I know I'm just one man in a sea of millions, and I may not be able to express myself fully, but I felt this need to share my love of the game. Hopefully it might serve as a reminder to some. =) I want to thank the people who work at Blizzard Entertainment and all the people who have made World of Warcraft what it is. Because it is truly an amazing game. I can't think of any higher praise than saying that, after several years, I still get excited thinking about it. Once I stop bringing my problems to the game and really *feel*. Listening to the soundtrack. The sheer magic. Makes me want to create a piece of art. But since I can't do that right now, I write! Anyway, I think many people have forgotten that. Most of all, playing it remains *fun*, beyond any doubt. You really nailed the basic elements that make the experience fun, and I'm very grateful that you paid attention to that process. Most of all, I trust you. I believe in your ability to make the choices that serve the game and its players best. To continue improving this game. Even in the face of criticism, I believe you have made and will make the right choices, and I respect your ability to make the unpopular ones. At the same time you manage to be down-to-earth with your players, you can really sense the life and love behind the game, websites, events, posters... Somehow you all seem like buddies. I know that there are many others who feel like me. Who think this is a game that keeps on giving. Heck, just the other day I decided to really take a walk in the Temple of the Moon, noticing myriad things I never noticed before - the music and imagining the space, and it was a great experience. I'm looking forward to really rediscovering content both new and old. It's a great feeling, giving yourself to the experience. Of course there will be problems and challenges as the game goes on, but if I were to trust a group of people to deal with it intelligently, it would be you guys. I know the future of the game rests safe in your hands. Thanks for being an inspiration.

D'awwwwwww... it's good to see some nice words used on the forums once in awhile. Next time you want to bitch or cry about something in the game that you think is unfair, just stop and remember why you still continue to play the game. Somewhere along the line, you had fun, and hopefully you still do. If there is one company that cares about its fans more than any other, it's got to be Blizzard. They just happen to have one of the most continually popular titles on the market right now, and it's nigh impossible to make all 11.5+ million players happy at once. Couldn't you give 'em a break? Today really is a bit of a bum day for news, but as usual, comments are appreciated. I'm especially interested to know what you think about a potential in-game AddOn browser!

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Earlier this week this video (thanks Kotaku) showing that someone had created a way to play World of Warcraft on the iPhone started circulating. TechCrunch called it the end of the world, and Gizmodo thought it had some potential. I just want it in my hands! The technology behind the program is a program called Vollee. Most of the processing is not actually done on the iPhone, but instead uses streaming video of the rendering done on another machine. The functionality was pretty basic, but it includes auction house access and also what would at least be a great way to get some dailies done without having to bring your computer on vacation. Unfortunately, the future of this and all WoW related iPhone Apps is up in the air. Blizzard just issued a Cease and Desist order to the makers of the popular apps, Armory Browser, Warcraft Characters, and Warcraft Arena Calculator. These apps used information that is freely available on the Armory, so why Blizzard would do such a thing is not quite clear at the moment. Perhaps Blizzard is making its own version of those Apps listed and doesn't want any other products out there to confuse users. Perhaps they're working closely with the creators of the Vollee application to give all of us addicts a way to get some WoW in while we're on the go. Whatever the reasoning, there is still a lot of potential in the iPhone and other smart phones for all of us. As a user of an iPhone and a couple of the apps that got Cease and Desists, Blizzard's decision to send out those C&Ds is a little frustrating to me. Hopefully Blizzard creates something amazing or gives up some control to the huge number of developers out there. I'd love a way to log in and chat with people while I wait for the bus and using the Auction House on the road would be amazing. What do you guys think? What kind of phone are you guys using? What World of Warcraft apps are you using on your phone? Would you play WoW on it if you could? What other WoW-related apps would you like to see?

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