TenTonHammer.com - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Want to know more about who's behind the WoW trading card game?

Upper Deck Entertainment has just completed a four part interview with Danny Mandel, the lead designer of the new WoW Trading Card Game.

Q: What were your primary goals as the lead designer of the WoW TCG?

A: That’s a tough one. The main thing is, in my heart of hearts, the first thing I want is that the game should be fun. However they want to play the game—if they want to play casually, if they want to play in tournaments, if they want to throw the rulebook out the window—I don’t care, as long as they’re having a good time. So, the primary thing is to make a fun game, which is sort of a no-brainer. Part of the problem is when you get down to defining fun, that leads into all sorts of different directions. What’s fun for one might not be fun for another. I guess that’s not a great answer. That’s my answer for any game.

Now, more specific to WoW—we really wanted players to feel that they could build their character from the video game. We also wanted heroes in the card game to have enough identity that they wouldn’t be just blank slates. Finally, we wanted the game to feel like it was really open-ended. One of the cool things about TCGs is that you can build your own deck and play in your own style. Another thing is that we wanted the game to be fast, not just in terms of a game taking twenty to thirty minutes, but we also wanted lots of action. There should be guys fighting; there shouldn’t be people standing around. Beyond that, we wanted to represent some of the really cool stuff in the video game—some of the cool weapons and abilities.

Click here to read all 4 parts of the interview!