Blizzard Veep Delivers Keynote Address at AGC

Continuing on the AGC vein, if I may:

If you're not familiar with Rob Pardo, you really, REALLY should be. He's VP of the Boys in Blue from Irvine, CA and Lead Designer of the most successful MMO... well, ever. There was also that little thing earlier in the year where he made TIME's Top 100 people, but who really pays attention to that sort of thing anyway?

Whether you're a fan of the WoW experience or shaking your fist angrily at its success, it's hard to deny Pardo's influence on the game--and consequently, his influence on the Massive genre as a whole. So, when Pardo was announced as the keynote speaker at the MMO-focused Austin Game Conference, it really shouldn't have come as a surprise to anybody.

Pardo's keynote touched on many of the things that made World of Warcraft the worldwide success it is today:

-Unique classes that were individualized and fun to play (the addition of Paladins to the Horde and Shamans to the Alliance was partly a result of the team worrying that the classes were becoming too similar to properly balance the game). As a result, when one reached the level cap, they could start a new character and have a relatively new experience with a new class.

-A fun experience levelling to 60 that could be completely soloed, without the "OMG lost in n00bie town now go kill rats for 10 levels" that are an oft-mocked mainstay of the genre.

-A smooth learning curve, with easy to find (Hooray for exclamation points!) quests that would lead the player from zone to zone in a natural progression.

-"Killing with a purpose." No more farming owlbeasts for hours just to level up (well, you CAN...), but having quests involved with the killing of said owlbeasts to give more XP and a sense of purpose.

-The famous Blizzard polish. "Don't ship until it's ready." Pardo stressed that while Blizzard tends to have more time to finish the game, they don't spend 8-12 months just working on the polish--in fact, it's inherent in every step of the game's design.

Gamestop and Joystiq both have excellent summaries of Pardo's speech, so choose your poison and read on!