Got the book on Kindle (only option in Europe) a few weeks back and having such a blast reading it. Fantastic book, great writing/storytelling and the anecdotes are so funny (like this one about Stormwind).A few fun reflections from a fan of WoW since launch:You write that most people don't care about the design and story and are more into the mechanics and loot tables. Well I must say that for me it's ALL about the story, the atmosphere, the beautiful design of the dungeons etc. So your work is definitely not overlooked. I love the dungeon/level design and keep coming back just to look at it and "feel" it again. For me the mechanics are just the wrapping, and the story and immersion is the core that keeps me coming back. I kind of "expect" mechanics but if the story is not immersive and interesting I will very quickly quit a game.You also write that the winged SM dungeon design proved to be popular and laid the foundation of design going forward. SM might be popular, but when I returned to Classic (and dabbled in private servers), for me the most iconic dungeons (and the ones I love the most) are the big unstructured ones like BRD and BRS. And the first time I stepped foot in Deadmines and WC is still at the peak of memory. I also keep running Stratholme and Scholomance even though I don't need anything just because I love the place. :-)I can't recommend reading this book enough. It is such a great piece and so well written. :-)
Even from players who presumably only care about loot tables I hear comments about BRD being absolutely amazing, or that someone got the chills from reading what ghosts in front of Scholomance have to say while waiting for a slow party member to arrive. (Those ghosts really help set the tone of the dungeon imo.)
I always loved BRD and Uld, I think in part because getting a group to do the whole thing was so hard that I never ran them enough to get bored of them. It always felt like an adventure going in.
I always loved classic stratholme and making the timed runs always felt good, it made me feel like a powerhouse, especially when I took someone through their first run. And I recall the old secret of if you pulled the neutral elite ghosts that patted around, all you had to do was /dance with them and they would stop attacking to dance allowing you to control them while dealing with more pressing threats. And I always wondered who came up with that, and what inspired it.
I don't know if you're still around but just wanted to thank you for what you've done, the decisive role you played into the shaping of wow, which is an integral part of my life and probably hundreds thousands of others.maybe wondering how you feel about the current team often replacing the old works and models (labelled as "updating") without preserving it? sometimes the feel is quite different from the source.it's reassuring that we now have classic, but there's still many cool things that appeared after 1.12!