WoW TCG : World of Warcraft General Discussions

An article on http://www.gamingreport.com/article.php?sid=20590 talks about the new WoW TCG soon to come out for hardcore fans!

This is the article..............


Dan Sivils Reports: I sat down with Cory Jones Director of Brand and New Product Development for Upper Deck to talk about the new card game at the GAMA Trade Show this past week. Enraptured by Cory's excitement as he talked about the game, I attempted to keep pace and not miss any details. From what I heard, the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game sounds like it is on track to be one of the most innovative Trading Card Games this industry has witnessed.

The game is pretty much complete at this point according to Jones. Blizzard Entertainment is currently

reviewing some aspects of the game to ensure they meet with their expectations. "I think we've got it there now", said Jones, confident that the game is ready.

The extension of the release date was a necessity to ensure the game meets everyone's expectations. From the time I spent talking with cory it sounds like it is already an amazing game that captures the feel of the original massive multiplayer online role-play experience World of Warcraft fans love.

While we talked about the game cory showed me a binder of 20-25 pieces of artwork commissioned for the game. The art is fantastic! Artists were tasked to bring their own unique styles to the art while still capturing the air of the World of Warcraft. The artwork I saw captured the game in perfect detail. The artists' uniqueness still shown through in the art while specific elements, like type of armor and spell effects, were easily recognizable. The list of artists goes on like a who's who of modern pop culture. Pieces by Todd McFarlane and Boris Vallejo will awe both fans of the artists and of the game. While at the same time, other artists will reveal their artistic mastery as well by transitioning the game from a computer RPG to beautiful static images. I saw two pieces by the Penny Arcade guys and both were of female gnomes which were awesome. The female warlock gnome with her imp in the background was easily recognized as being from the World of Warcraft while at the same it was obvious to anyone who's ever read Penny Arcade that they were the artists. They kept their own artful style while at the same time representing World of Warcraft perfectly.

As a good friend of mine is keen on stating, "great artwork doesn't make a card game". This is very true, but artwork is just one of the elements Upper Deck is devoting extensive attention on. Jones said that the three things the development teams are focused on are "Great Art, Great Game play, and Great organized-play". Unlike Upper Deck's QuickStrike and VS. systems, the game-play system for the World of Warcraft TCG is being designed so specifically to the World of Warcraft online game that players shouldn't expect any kind of cross over to other intellectual properties. I asked if the system could lend itself to say a Starcraft, or Diablo card game but Jones stated that Upper Deck would design a different system for those games if they were to ever become a reality due to how specific the game play is to WOW. One of Upper Deck's most significant challenges was trying to make the game so decks were like characters in the online version of World of Warcraft.

The game system itself has various options of play one of which Jones went into specific detail on; Raids. A player will be able to purchase a 60 card, preconstructed Raid deck which they would then use to "host" a Raid for a group of friends. Players would build their character decks with the realization they'll be going into a Raid and the need to work together as a team, much like Raids in the online version of World of Warcraft. The Raid deck player would play say...Onyxia, an example given by Jones. At the end, if the players win against Onyxia they get to open the special gold treasure chest pack (part of the Raid deck kit) containing their loot cards. Aside from the interesting aspects of roleplaying this type of game play brings, some cards will be unique to the Raid decks making players more interested in trying them. Raid decks are treated as a variant type of play and will also be used for special organized tournaments. This type of play really lends itself to organized-play; expect special organized-play tournaments wherein Upper Deck officials will play Raid decks against players in a tournament format. This is not to say that there won't be other standard versions of organized play where players go one on one.

Speaking of organized-play Jones said that Upper Deck will be, "prizing the !@#$%^&* out of it!" Ideas being developed are custom modded motorcycles and cars, in addition to money. Players should expect some crazy cool prize support for the organized-play program. I should have more details concerning organized play that I can share in a few weeks.

In a recent online survey Upper Deck had asked potential players and fans what elements of play, organized-play and visuals they would want in the trading card game. Since the game has been in development so long I was curious if the survey meant Upper Deck was not actually as far along as they wanted fans to believe. Jones explained the Upper Deck team was actively working twelve variant versions of the game and the intention of the survey was to see what elements fans wanted in the final version of the game. Fans answers to the survey helped Upper Deck in determining what parts of the twelve to include and what they may need to look at for organized-play. The survey got 6000 responses and the results were very specific as to what was important and not, very few responses were middle of the road. In the end the desires from the fan survey clearly matched what Upper Deck believed the final version of the game should be.

I asked Jones for more details about the scratch-off cards that players can find randomly in packs of cards. The players can scratch-off card to reveal a special code for use in the online version of the game. Players will use the codes online and receive virtual items for their online WOW characters. Unfortunately, the details concerning what specific items players may receive is still under wraps. However, he did mention that they are just waiting on the final ok from Blizzard concerning what categories of items Upper Deck will have to work with. The items players get from the scratch cards will be unique to Upper Deck's TCG and will only be available to players if they purchase the trading cards. Think of these codes working like the "Murloc Pet" code attendees of Blizzcon received last fall.

With all the interaction of the TCG back to the online version of the game I asked Jones what elements in the online version of the game will tie back to the TCG. Apparently, there is to be an "associated group" in the online version of WOW which will relate back to the trading card game and have both elements and branding referencing the TCG. If this is to be specific to an existing group, or race in the online game cory wasn't able to state.

The World of Warcraft Trading Card Game will be packaged in Upper Deck's new "U Deck" packaging being used for UDE's current Avatar the Last Airbender, and the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean, trading card games. The packaging is Awesome. Think of a DVD case, then add the space for rules, pens or pencils, a compartment for two separate decks and a changeable slip cover. The case holds a total of 80 cards and with the removable "user defined" slip cover expect all sorts of custom covers from Upper Deck and special convention promotions from Upper Deck artists. Players will have a myriad of options to customize their "U Deck" cases. And it doesn't look like the price point for the decks will be affected by the nifty new hard plastic case. The Avatar card game, out now, saw no increase specific to its "U Deck" packaging.

At this point the game is slated to release late September/early October. However, Upper Deck has no intention of releasing the game until the game is ready so that date has the potential to be adjusted. Based on my 30 minutes with cory and the pieces of the game I saw it looks like the game will not let fans of the online version of World of Warcraft down. At the same time there is so much innovation being pumped into this game I expect players who haven't tried the online game to want in on the TCG too.

Hmm the only reason I'd ever do this is for the codes. I wasted so much money on Pokemon in my early elementary school years and Yu-Gi-Oh around 5-6th grade.