Shane Dabiri (World of Warcraft) talks shop

Paul grills the lead producer on WoW

Hell-bent on finding out a little more about the people behind the World of Warcraft phenomenon, play.tm's Paul Newcombe sat down with Shane Dabiri, lead producer of the game that has revolutionized the MMO genre.

The recent announcement that World of Warcraft has hit the 8 million subscribers mark was quite a milestone; can you look back in time to the original development period and honestly say you ever thought it would be this much of a success?

World of Warcraft has far surpassed the estimates we made before the original release. We're really pleased and humbled by the huge response we've received, and knowing that we're still attracting new players, as well as satisfying our existing players, really pushes us to keep delivering great content.

World of Warcraft has proved to the industry beyond doubt that MMO's, when done well, can succeed on a massive scale meaning the number of competitors looking for a slice of the pie is ever growing. How close an eye do you keep on rival MMO's and do you think the market can really support more than one or two MMO's operating on the same kind of scale as World of Warcraft?

We don't really look at other games as 'rivals' - we play them because we're all gamers too, and we're excited to see what other developers come up with. As for whether the market can support more MMOs operating on the scale of World of Warcraft, ultimately it's the response from players that will decide. If the games are enjoyable enough and well-designed, I'm sure they'll receive player support.

Has the game evolved in ways that you didn't expect when it was first released?

In some ways it has, but the great advantage of working on an online game is that we can sometimes make some pretty broad changes as needed. One example that comes to mind was the original PvP Honor System. We thought players would enjoy the challenge and accomplishment of achieving the highest rank, but after receiving good feedback from the community we decided to change the system to better fit the play style of our customers. Today, great rewards are within reach of casual players via the revamped Honor System, and we've created an entirely new PvP mechanic with the Arena System, which caters to more hardcore players looking to show off their skills.

With so many different ways of playing World of Warcraft, from those who like to simply quest alone to those who do nothing other than join raiding parties, how hard is it to keep a balance of content so that all playing styles are equally well served?

From the beginning, we designed the game so that solo, group, and raid play would all be equally fulfilling, and we've continued to build on that philosophy, along with incorporating input from player feedback. The great thing about being able to regularly add new content is that we can address content balance issues as we see them arise - such as adding new profession recipes, modifying the Honor system, lowering dungeon raid caps, or retuning existing areas.

Is there any chance of a drop in the subscription costs in the future?

With the massive amount of content in the game, as well as our regular content updates, 24/7 support offerings, and network infrastructure, we believe we're providing great entertainment value for players at the current price. The continued growth of the game is a positive indicator of this value as well.

How long realistically do you think World of Warcraft can keep running and evolving?

Because we have a history of continuing to support our products for years after their release, and previous successful MMOs have enjoyed long lifespans, we're confident that World of Warcraft has many years ahead of it. We all love working with the Warcraft mythology, and we have no shortage of ideas and plans for the future.

With The Burning Crusade now safely out the door how pleased have you been with the reaction to it from the press and gamers themselves?

We thought that we were a little more prepared for the response this time, but the turnout at the midnight launch events across the world still amazed us. We knew we had some tough expectations to live up to with our first MMO expansion, so the positive feedback we've received from players and the press has been truly rewarding.

What part of The Burning Crusade are you personally most proud of or excited by?

The massive breadth of the game is one of the things that never cease to amaze us. We've worked hard to include elements that appeal to a wide variety of players. Just to touch on a few things - flying mounts are giving everyone a brand new perspective on the game world. Small groups can adventure in so many different and challenging winged dungeons. The new raid content and boss fights are also more fun than ever for larger groups, while the new Arena System is allowing us to run our first-ever, global World of Warcraft PvP tournament. Though all of these pale in comparison to the thing I'm most proud of, which is our fantastic player community that has embraced this game and called it their own. They are the ones that truly breathe life into this virtual world.

The two new races in The Burning Crusade are welcome additions and seem to perfectly fit into the World of Warcraft, were they always intended to be part of the world or were they designed from scratch for The Burning Crusade?

Both races are part of the Warcraft III mythology that leads in to World of Warcraft, so there were elements in-game even before the expansion - like the blood elf NPCs scattered around Azeroth. As the focus of The Burning Crusade was on Outland, which both races have their reasons to return to, we felt the expansion would provide a great opportunity to fill out their stories.

How much does player feedback and requests influence future design?

We're very attentive to feedback, as it tells us what kinds of content are popular with players and whether design elements are working as we'd intended them to. The evolution of World of Warcraft, like any MMO, is really driven by the players. That said, players don't always have access to some of the details that we have when it comes to game balance, and there are many factors we have to weigh in addition to player feedback before making design decisions.

The Burning Crusade offered lots of new content for all levels of player, two new races to take from level 1 to 70 and new 60+ content for existing high level characters. Is this a model you see yourself repeating for each new expansion or will new content be more focused towards high level players from now on?

We haven't discussed specifics about future expansions, but we can say that we're always interested in doing things to expand our game and our audience while at the same time meeting the needs and expectations of our existing players.

As well as spending all your day working with World of Warcraft, do you still find time to play it?

Always. Most of us have been playing World of Warcraft for as long as it's been playable in some form, as there's no better way to get a feel for how the game is working. And it's also a lot of fun. We're a company of gamers, and if we enjoy the content we're putting in, that makes us more confident that other players will too.

Thanks for your time Shane, best of luck with the game's continuing evolution.

By Paul Newcombe