Mists of Pandaria Sr. Producer: No End to the Stories

Mists of Pandaria Senior Producer Ray Cobo stated in a candid video interview, exclusive to Gaming Illustrated, that there’s “…no end to the stories we can tell…” when asked about the lifespan of the popular MMORPG, World of WarCraft. In this interview about Mists of Pandaria, Mr. Cobo discusses the lifecycle of WoW, making the game better for casual gamers as well as what gamers can expect right off the bat in the new continent of Pandaria.

If you haven’t checked it out already, do not miss our Mists of Pandaria Release Party Pictures and Report (plenty of hotties!).

Mists of Pandaria – Interview

Recap

When asked about World of WarCraft being analogous to Disneyland and that whenever something gets stale, it gets updated and when there’s a new “land” that needs to go in, Blizzard can just build it, Mr. Cobo agreed. When specifically asked if it’s conceivable to think that World of WarCraft could have a 30 or 40 year lifespan he said, “I think so. I think there’s no end to the stories we can tell in that universe. I think it’s a universe people want to live in, play in and have fun in. You invest a lot of time developing a character and a persona in Azeroth, it’s a living and breathing world.”

Many gamers felt that the last patch to Cataclysm really saved the game for casual gamers and Blizzard Entertainment had stated on more than one occasion that they wanted to move more in that direction with Mists of Pandaria. When asked about it, Ray Cobo said, “That was one of the big philophies we went into Mists of Pandaria with. We wanted content for all kinds of players. We have content that hopefully will satisfy the harcore players and satisfy the casual gamers. We have Looking for RAID for the new Raids coming up. We got Pet Battles for the casual players as a mini game and then there’s Challenge Modes that will press the hardcore gamers to get Gold Medals and get that prestigious gear.”

Later in the coversation, Executive Editor Sean Gibson asked Mists of Pandaria Senior Producer Ray Cobo about how the game will start off and what will come out of the first dungeon experience. Cobo explained, “The first dungeon you’ll probably hit is Temple of the Jade Serpent… it’ll set the tone for Pandaria. There’s a lot of lore and history there. You get a sense of what the Pandaren are about. Some of the dungeons will not be as dark as some of the dungeons in the past… there’s a lot of fun and we had a good time and we hope it’s lighter content but still challenging for the players.”

Turning to Raids, Gibson asked about what will be available right off the bat and the other two raids that have been announced but are not available at launched. Cobo elaborated, “We are going to launch one right away and we’ll wait and see how progress goes on that. We have a timetable on the others but it isn’t set in stone, but it won’t be long. We’ll definitely attach the Looking for Raid to that stuff. We think that was one of the things that fueled that 4.3 patch and kill the final boss.”

During the end of the interview, Gibson took a step back to look at Mists of Pandaria holistically and asked what Cobo hopes people remember Mists of Pandaria five years from now when they look back at the World of WarCraft expansion pack. Cobo reflected, “It’ll look back and see it as a place where we took a step back and took a breath. We stopped to say ‘hey we had this death and destruction’ and the world is coming to an end … let’s do some exploration and adventure with some intruige… We’ll have some fun, take a step back to enjoy the world and move on from there. There’ll be a lot of Horde and Alliance stuff as we have happen throughout this expansion.”

We’d like to thank the Blizzard Entertainment PR staff for arranging the interview as well as thanking Ray Cobo for his time and candor in the interview!