Episode #73 - Ex-WoW Designer Kevin Jordan On Classes, Abilities + Classic

It's raining former Blizzard staff as Countdown To Classic brings you the first of three straight fantastic interviews with the people that helped make the game that we've all come to know and love. Listen in as Josh chats with Kevin Jordan, one of three original game designers who was brought on early to World of Warcraft, and who helped design many of the abilities that we'll be using again soon when Classic drops. After that, Josh finishes with a Memory Lane segment, and then a quick comment on the big news that J. Allen Brack would be replacing Mike Morhaime as President at Blizzard. Highlights Below: In Depth Interview - 3:10 All About Kevin - 4:10 Working With Blizz Personalities - 8:00 State of WoW/Blizz When Kevin Arrived - 11:45 Designing/Balancing Abilities - 14:30 Designing Talents + Talent Trees - 17:40 Cookie Cutter Builds - 21:20 Spec Failures/Ret Paladins - 25:10 Elemental Mages - 29:20 Things That Hit The Cutting Room Floor - 31:25 Class Design Pride/Warriors - 36:05 Warriors Being OP - 37:35 Hunter Late Design - 40:20 Technical Limitations Cutting Content - 42:30 Broken Rotations - 46:30 Would You Change Anything With Hybrids - 49:10 Demon Hunters In Vanilla - 53:50 Spell/Ability Design Process - 58:10 Grim Batol - 1:02:45 Cooldowns - 1:07:20 Warlock Design - 1:12:05 Runemaster Class - 1:14:25 Necromancer Class - 1:15:30 Bard Class - 1:16:50 Other MMO Inspirations/Concepts Kevin Liked - 1:19:25 Kevin Helps Bring PvP To WoW - 1:27:50 Fun Blizz Personalities - 1:33:30 Having Items Named After You In Game - 1:35:40 Classic WoW Demo - 1:37:25 Changes or No Changes Coming To Classic - 1:40:40 Thoughts On Post Vanilla WoW - 1:46:05 Blizzard Love For Vanilla? - 1:50:20 Thoughts On Classic Leaks - 1:54:30 Will Classic Succeed? - 1:58:45 Farewell - 2:00:30 Memory Lane - 2:05:00 Morhaime/Brack Blizz President News - 2:14:45 Show News & Shout Outs - 2:18:00   Follow Kevin's Twitch Channel @ https://www.twitch.tv/failureanalysis  Pick up awesome Countdown To Classic show rewards @ Patreon: patreon.com/countdowntoclassic Or support the show with a tip @ Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/Y8Y3D2TT Or simply show your support by leaving the show a review at iTunes or by telling a friend! Directly download here: http://traffic.libsyn.com/countdowntoclassic/C2C_Episode_72_Final.mp3  Also listen @ Spotify here (Spotify takes a couple of hours to upload after posting, check back later if not there): https://open.spotify.com/show/38mHWjscNorJr7OFeNu8X5?si=c6JKxJeSRCeLQPSIlKJL8w Or @ iTunes (As above, can take a short while to upload after posting): https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/countdown-to-classic/id1352967778 Or @ Stitcher (As above, can take a short while to upload after posting): http://stitcher.com/s?fid=174762&refid=stpr Send your Memory Lane stories, Anger Management rants or just say hello to Josh at feedback@countdowntoclassic.com or get in touch on social media: Twitter: @count2classic FB/Insta/YouTube: @countdowntoclassic Add Countdown To Classic on Twitch: @CountdownToClassic And join the Countdown To Classic Discord here: https://discord.gg/2xJAwNf