Blizzcast Episode 2: on managing Blizzard lore, Magtheridon and more

Remember what Blizzard said about BlizzCast Episode 2 being double the fun? Well, Blizzard wasn’t kidding, that’s for sure. Company Vice President of Development Chris Metzen and WoW designer Geoff Goodman had a lot to say about the Diablo and StarCraft series, and World of Warcraft, respectively, in the latest Blizzard BlizzCast. Read all about it in the full article, located right after the jump.

With podcasting being the rage nowadays, it’s understandable that Blizzard Entertainment would want to broadcast a sequel to its initial BlizzCast episode. This time around, Blizzard Vice President of Development Chris Metzen and World of Warcraft designer Geoff Goodman took the time to speak about the Diablo and StarCraft series, plus WoW.

As promised, Blizzard effectively doubled the length of the Blizzcast episode with loads of information on the games and series mentioned above. Metzen, for example, talked about the challenges of managing the lore behind the three franchises. Fortunately, Metzen isn’t alone in the endeavor, as he admitted to having a team of talented quest designers and writers to help him out.

Goodman, on the other hand, talked about WoW Pit Lord Magtheridon and how encounters with the boss are actually designed. According to Goodman, he welcomes a lot of input from the other designers, the story people, and Metzen. He then takes the best of the best of the ideas and delegates it to the person who will actually implement the boss encounter. The other details are filled in later.

Metzen and Goodman tackled a whole lot of Blizzard-related information, including how Metzen and his team decided Kerrigan’s fate and the psychology of Pit Lord encounters in World of Warcraft. Other Blizzard staff members such as lead writer Andy Chambers and WoW lead designer Tom Chilton pitched in as well. If you’d like to read the full transcript or listen to the entire podcast, all you have to do is to click on the source link below.