Blizzard Entertainment: World of Warcraft
Content/Event Design - Breathing Life into Azeroth
While I began my tenure at Blizzard as one of the community managers manning the forums at the game’s launch, I transitioned into crafting experiences as a designer on the World Event team. I worked on the last few patches before the first expansion, as well as extensive work on Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King. It was wonderful to help bring a world I’d loved since I was a teen to life alongside a team of talented folks.
Holidays and Events
Working as a contributor on the World Event team, I helped craft experiences for Brewfest, Midsummer Fire Festival, Hallow’s End, Pilgrim’s Bounty, and Love Is in the Air. I designed quests and items for these holidays, as well as spawning up the event-specific areas celebrating the festivities.
I also helped with expansion transition events. For example, I created the Tauren Paladin/Priest introduction quest in late-patch Wrath of the Lich King, as well as the Night Elf Mage introduction, to help explain the unusual race/class combinations coming to players.
(Note: despite the suspicious name of Dread Cap’n DeMeza, I did not create the Pirate Day festivities! The name is the result of some good-natured ribbing.)
World Population and Interaction
The World Event team at the time was also responsible for populating the world and maintaining the functional systems such as flightpaths and graveyards. As such, I brought life and flavor to the zones of Shattrath (resulting in my wayward creation Griftah wandering nearly every future expansion), Dalaran, Blade’s Edge Mountains, Howling Fjord, and Dragonblight. The spawning and events in the exterior of the Argent Tournament were also my work, as was the design for the 5-man tournament dungeon.