Originally Posted by Acacia

As my site is hammered, and currently inaccessible (I'm currently trying to access my admin to install a less demanding theme on the blog), I'll publish the full post here as I trust the seriousness of this community.

Disclaimer: Jeff Kaplan were interviewed by Magnus Eriksson for Level Magazine. The content of the magazine Level and their sub magazine “LEVEL Special: World of Warcraft” #3 2007 are all copyrighted to Reset Media and as such, I will not scan and publish the full article here. Any Swede can however go and purchase their own copy in stores today. And I do apologies for any translations mistakes as this was pretty hastily put together >.>


Original post: http://acaciaizm.com/?p=309

The Swedish magazine Level also publishes a reoccurring Special World of Warcraft magazine. In the newest issue they have published a long interview with Jeff Kaplan, talking about patch 2.4, and onwards. The below text are translated and shortened parts of the interview:

• Sunwell Isle will be located off the coast, north of Silvermoon in Eversong. The Island will be patched in with patch 2.4
• Sunwell Isle will, as previously announced, house a major questing hub with a 5-man Normal and Heroic Instance (Magister?s Terrace) together with a 25-man raid Dungeon (Sunwell Plateau). The goal with Sunwell Isle is to close the Burning Crusade storyline with the next expansion in mind. However, Kaplan states that there are some scenarios left in their back pockets “in case of” the development of WOTLK gets delayed for any reason.
• At the start of the patch, the players will be greeted by a small expedition camp where they can start questing; though as the questing progresses (more dailies, yay!), the camp will grow to a small town. The larger the camp gets, the more quests will open up. Some buildings will already be in place, but needs to be re-taken.
• Kaplan states it will be about the same “feel” as the Opening of the Gates scenario for AQ, in a miniature version. The more daily quests that gets done, the faster the whole server will progress.
• The questing will tell the full story about Tempest Keep
• A new faction will be introduced, “The Shattered Sun Offensive” for which you can gain reputation. Aldor and Scryer factions seem to finally be getting along to meet the new threat.
• The 5- and 25-man dungeons will be open from the start, although, some bosses will be inaccessible until the dailies have progressed far enough. The 5-man Heroic instance will “most likely” require Honored reputation with “The Shattered Sun Offensive”. The first three bosses in the 25-man dungeon will be accessible from start, the three last ones has to be “unlocked” via questing.
• In the Magister’s Terrace (the 5-man dungeon), Kael’Thas will have a comeback as a boss, in a new shape. (Kaplan mentions a large green crystal etched to his chest).
• Players entering the 25-man dungeon will be faced with Kil’Jaeden himself. Kaplan states that this is one of the coolest bosses the art department has ever produced. The fight in itself matches the one with Illidan.
• Other bosses include Brutalicus, a giant Pit Lord who has lost his wings, one of the first bosses will be the famous blue dragon Kalecgos who you will need to free from his enslavement under Kil’Jaeden. A Fel Dragon (first in WoW history), the female Eredar Twins and a Dark Naaru will also be in the mix.
• Kaplan suggests the dungeon to be on par, or harder than the Black Temple. The Sunwell Plateau will be tuned for Tier 6 geared players, though there will not be any Tier 7 per se. Some pieces will be set pieces (though not necessarily class specific); all in all the drops in the dungeon will be above T6.
• On other news, patch 2.4 will raise the cap on the amount of Daily quests allowed on a given day, from 10 to 25.

And the second post, http://acaciaizm.com/?p=310:

• On the subject of daily quests, Kaplan comments: They are happy with the Daily Quest concept and likes how, for example, the Heroic dailies works. Instead of having players grinding Mechanar over and over again to get easy Heroic Badges, they now provide an incentive to explore other instances which you might not previously seen.
• They are also happy with the Heroic keys being accessible from Honored reputation level, as it enables those leveling “late” to access the Heroics as well. As a late leveler or an alt, it could get almost impossible for many to get a group to re-run Shadow Labyrinth over and over again.
• On the question of “other information regarding 2.4″, Kaplan is secretive as always, though hints that there will be balancing actions taken in regards to PvP for certain classes.
• Arenas are also hinted as an area Blizzard “have large plans for” and they will be aiming to bring it closer to e-sport acceptance.

Curiosa:

The magazine cover featured on WoW insider is from the previous issue (Loading.se Specialutg�vor), the current issue features Zul'Jin and is the third issue of 2007.

The translation above is of course parts of the interview which is in fact 8 pages long. I've therefore focused on the main, relevant parts. I'll try to keep an eye out for any critical clarifications needed to be done based on the interview that are an outcome of my fast (bad?) translation.

Originally Posted by Nurru

I can't believe they really used the name "Brutalicus"

Originally Posted by Pachwa

It says the bosses will be on par with Black Temple, that is kind of surprising to me. It also specifically says Kil'Jaeden will be on par with Illidan. I thought this was going to be a bump up.

Also, I am glad to see that they are going to making arena changes, but I can only speculate(which really isn't worth the time) to what they will be, but they should be welcome if they are in small scale arenas.

Originally Posted by Cos-

Kael needs to drop ilevel 115 blues in the 5 man. I can't really come up with a good reason, it would just be amusing.

Originally Posted by zeidrich

ilevel 115 blues and a vial remnant.

Originally Posted by Nurru

With flavor text: "This vial is oddly empty"