Blizzard explains scenarios

One of the new features in Mists of Pandaria was explained in some detail by Blizzard on their forum today.

In case you were confused by what a scenario is, Blizzard forum-posters talked at length today about their implementation. "From a technological standpoint, almost everything in the system is new," said Dave Maldonado. This allows Blizzard to create situations that are less linear than a typical dungeon, he explained:

- "My favorite example is the concept of a ship that you want to destroy by setting it on fire. So you could storm the ship, kill everyone on-board, and then burn it down. But what happens when you decide to sneak on to the ship, leave everyone alive, and set the fire while they're all standing around? In Scenarios, we have a lot of flexibility to imagine the different ways that players might choose to play, and have the NPCs and the environment react to that more naturally. The result is -- you're going to see all those NPCs on the ship jump off because it's on fire, and then look back at it in amazement. Other NPCs that were making deliveries to the ship before it became a floating inferno are going to react to the change in their world. Instead of trying to put the box that they're carrying on the boat, or despawning and disappearing before your eyes, or something else unrealistic, they're going to stop and gawk at the flames."

You may be wondering how this is different from a regular dungeon but with better AI. "can be easier than dungeon bosses, because they have to be feasible for three DPS players," said Maldonado. "They can also be much more difficult than dungeon bosses, because they can have very high damage attacks that must be avoided by the players."

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