Holly Longdale: How World of Warcraft Is Now Different

I spoke to Holly Longdale, Executive Producer of Warcraft, on how the team has evolved, what they think has went right / wrong, and how development is changing into the future.
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[@elilawrence7166]

Holly feels like the best thing to happen to WoW in a long time

[@ivanthespacebiker5390]

100% true

[@radiks2008]

Completely agree. She's so earnest and passionate about what she's doing, which will filter down into the rest of everything.

[@saphrix4587]

"feels like"

[@simpleman3898]

Probably is😊

[@ByteKnight93]

I came here to say this exact thing, but you beat me to it so have an updoot instead!

[@necrobale]

Holly seems like such a great addition to the WoW team.

[@DoneBrokeDatBack]

She seems like such a sweetheart too. She gives me hope.

[@dreadbull5039]

Yeah she feels like the heart that WoW was missing for quite a while. I hope she stays a long time

[@icyflamezkurotsuchi4265]

She’s kind of the ‘Yoshi-P’ of WoW imo. It’s clear how much passion she has for the game and the players.

[@Dragonfire2505]

Ion is great but you can see that he comes from a job where you shouldnt look at feelings. I think Holly is a good partner for what Ion is missing.

[@MysteryMan159]

She’s on the verge of tears the whole time, which tells me she’s really proud of what’s going on

[@Dofladingus]

I didn't know who Holly was until Blizzcon, but the way she was connected with the community I thought she must've been here for decades and I just hadn't seen her before. Whoever hired her for this role was on the money. I hope we have her around for a long time.

[@fabuloushetero1228]

She worked on Everquest before this!

[@holysinner6253]

She was over the classic team before her current role

[@Dofladingus]

@@fabuloushetero1228 love it dude, that's a veteran if I've ever seen one

[@alericc1889]

@@fabuloushetero1228 How well is everquest doing these days???

[@fabuloushetero1228]

@@alericc1889 no clue lol I just know the fun fact of her working there

[@ZergS4uc3]

Holly since she showed up has been rather endearing, shes never talked down to the players, never told us we were wrong for wanting things, shes a likeable leader

[@nepats001]

she cant sound more emotionally invested in a good way. You can hear it.

[@stefalt292]

A lot of other interviewers cover the more standard "New Expansion questions", really cool that you did the more production oriented ones, always interesting to hear how the team is set up to deliver more content.

[@Toadiferous]

It's always good to be able to put our "demands" in the context of how the team actually operates. We can be better consumers if we actually know what we're asking for, and it lets people give more constructive criticisms and feasible suggestions, and creates less of a barrier of disdain from the devs who might disregard an idea because it sounds silly with regard to how things actually work. Anyone who's worked in any sort of customer-facing business has had those experiences of "if they only knew how it actually worked, they'd know it's not that simple." This kind of transparency from the devs being open about their actual development process has been really helpful. I remember back when the Dragonflight launch fiasco happened with the boats and portals where the actual engineers on the team were posting details about what happened and why. Put it in really interesting context and helped humanize them a little more. Does transparency excuse failure? Of course not. But it makes it feel more like we're talking to actual people when we voice our complaints.

[@user-fv7jd4xj5n]

You know, Holly is up there with metzen when it comes to passion for warcraft. I hope she stays for a long time :)

[@a1pha_star]

Truly? I don’t know anything about her but that gives me hope. 🙏

[@gingerbilly1396]

@@a1pha_star she has been in the industry for a long time was orginally the everquest executive producer for alot of years

[@Bradgilliswhammyman]

@@gingerbilly1396 Her reputation and decisions in everquest left the community very polarized...she made more than a few bad game design decisions.

[@vtxshiva]

@@Bradgilliswhammyman I mean, doesn't that go without saying? You can't always make the "right" decision. And even if you managed to make the "right" decision, it doesn't mean everyone will like it. Rather than focusing on the blunders or the successes, it's about getting it "right" more often than not, and making sure you can fix your past mistakes or shift direction. As long as your actions lean towards a net positive, that makes you "good" at the job.

[@HH-hd7nd]

​@@Bradgilliswhammyman That doesn't mean anything. It is impossible to always make the right decision, and it is also impossible to please every player all the time. Players have different interests and expectations. I for example would never touch PvP with a 100 meter long pole. I despise PvP not only in WoW but in general and I hate competitive gameplay. This means Plunderstorm wasn't for me and players like me and some of them have voiced their anger loud and clear that Plunderstorm was a PvP event (a frustration I don't share btw). Some people would say the devs made a bad decision by releasing a Battle Royal, but in my opinion they're wrong. Even if it wasn't for me doesn't mean its for no one - a lot of people enjoyed Plunderstorm. It wasn't a bad decision to release it. Or take Torghast - many hated it but it also had a lot of fans. It's never just bad/good.

[@omanitoo]

Her energy is honest and immaculate, it makes me feel hopeful for what's to come.

[@antoniopascotto4139]

when i heard warcraft reforged my heart skipped a beat

[@BellularGaming]

Hah same! Glad the RTS side was mentioned. Didn't expect that at all.

[@aaronjohnson2215]

Im sure they want to fix that disgrace, so maybe we still are yet to see properly reforged campaign.

[@MeshOG]

I love the vibe that Holly gives off. She feels like such a positive ray of sunshine and passion for the franchise. I truly hope she sticks around for a long long time.

[@Themurphyshow7]

Holly is absolutely delightful.

[@calotron357]

You can see the sparkle in her eyes as she talks about this, so cool. Some very in depth answers behind the scenes, Holly is a breath of fresh air.

[@random135246]

This was a great interview - my favorite one Ive seen so far for sure.

[@LMondoux]

I like Holly in this interview. She emphasizes how much she relies on other people for information, how her job feels rewarding. Experimentation, fun, novelty and whimsy for these play modes lets them gather data and feedback. Evidence-based decision making and long-term story planning is really good. Great interview.

[@Potholet]

The way she drops other members of the teams names so casually is so comforting. She actually knows who's doing what and isn't just a PR face. So refreshing

[@BritGirlJay]

Holly is SO enthusiastic about wow - and she seems to care about players (seen in previous interviews) and feedback. I think she's great.

[@cyndrigaming]

Im still not over her Blizzcon coat. SO AWESOME!!

[@vickimaroney800]

That was so stylish!

[@davidrubio4791]

I wanna give a shoutout to John Hight. He used to bring his motorcycle in to me when I worked at Harley. He was such a solid down to earth dude. Never had an ego or chip on his shoulder was always kind and gracious to the people that worked there. He’s a real one.

[@GerlockArgentDawnUS]

I wish this interview was an hour long! I could listen to this conversation go on and on.

[@remmanak2139]

What conversation? Based on what we saw, we don't even know if Bellular actually spoke to her lol.

[@realkriket]

When she came out at Blizzcon. I was sitting there in the front row and was immediately like: "She's one of us! She truly wants us to love WoW again"! Nothing but love for her since she's took over!

[@eddiepatch2]

Holly is the goat for sure. Love her since the moment she came on. She understands both the logistical business side of WoW as well as what the players want and deserve. I hope she stays around for the long haul!

[@ScarieWOW]

Holly Is one of us! She is awesome, and you can see and hear her passion for our game and our world. I am so happy her and Maria are heads in the WOW team!

[@josejuanandrade4439]

Holly and Maria are both pure gold! I feel we are in safe hands every time i hear them talking about the game. So happy they are in the team.

[@gubigubigubigubi]

This feels like one of the very very VERY few and far between times since wow was released that I am hearing people in charge of the game saying things that sound like good ideas. Whether these ideas actually make it to the game is another thing entirely but at least starting off with good ideas is a good start lol

[@bludelflink]

Please keep doing interviews Holly! As a midcore dad player I am loving solo shuffle and am stoked for ranked blitz!

[@katherineholliday8595]

It's nice to finally have a member of the leadership say they want to do more for the casual players and make them feel wanted.

[@Foretelling]

I want a ‘Warcraft Story Experience.’ A single player experience, streamlined, going all the way back to Vanilla. Streamline the main story beats, add some new in engine cutscenes here and there, and tell the story of Warcraft from the start in an instanced single player mode. Cut all the fluff, and go from main story beat to main story beat; from Vanilla, to TBC, to Wrath, all the way up to the previous expansion to whichever this feature launches in.

[@txdmsk]

A lot of people are looking for that. Make it level appropriate to your character. It would also require a proper reward track.

[@JCdragon81]

I would be so down for something like this. I understand having faster ways of leveling. But an option for players to just re play the story beats would be awesome.

[@djbreakfastca]

Holly seems like such a funny, goofy & wonderful person. I really like her vibe and she seems very passionate and sincere about the game :)

[@Captain.AmericaV1]

She reminds me a bit of Yoshi P with how she comes across and is very genuinely apologetic with no PR scripted crap. She seems to have inspired many good ideas and the changes that broke the usual wow mould, and as much as Plunder storm didn't appeal to me, it's was very popular with a lot and received very positively which is a positive. Remember, it's not just about us as individuals, but as a whole, and since we all have our own favourite parts of wow we like, we're not going to like everything, and nor should we. It would be way too much to try to do!! It needed a womans touch, albeit the right woman, and it seems she has fitted in very well within her role and has the respect of those working under her. Happy people ..... productive environment ...... better creativity ..... better game ..... And that's what we see is happening here. It was a good choice for Microsoft to appoint her in this role and hope the game thrives under her leadership.

[@danielantonioginartemilane1658]

I love Holly, She seens so transparent and honest, i really feels comfortable when she speaks.

[@Lightbrother9072]

I love how much she talks about the playerbase and player experience. Especially how she considers the different fan bases. There's a fine line that needs to be walked by Blizzard when it comes to catering to these different "types" or categories of WoW players. There is a balance that needs to be achieved so that all these types of players can be satisfied simultaneously; I think Holly is aware of this and hearing what she says in this interview is relieving.

[@jakubpelikan2393]

Actualy you are wrong. This is perfect way how you gonna end up ruining your game. You need core audience. Cuttering game to vast different players never works. I dont know if you notice but retail is in fact in terrible state and its all carried by classic.

[@a1pha_star]

@@jakubpelikan2393 You must be fun at parties… 🙄

[@tobiasb1632]

@@jakubpelikan2393 source on retail being carried by classic? so far we only know that era classic and wotlk are basically dead

[@Lightbrother9072]

@@jakubpelikan2393 I primarily play SoD currently, I haven’t touched retail since Dragonflight’s launch - but classic is not carrying retail. Retail still has a lot of active players. WoW is a huge MMORPG that has been around for 20 years now, there’s multiple baskets to put eggs in. Blizzard has the means to put eggs in each basket and should be expected to do so by their playerbase (I mean cmon, we pay a monthly sub for this). Maintaining a “core audience” while providing the best experience to different styles of play can and should be done at the same time.

[@izzyabab]

​@@jakubpelikan2393 Your example goes against your argument. Retail and the several different versions of classic is a great example of blizzard finding success in catering to many different types of players.

[@TheHatefulHulk]

I really like Holly. She seems really genuine.

[@Taldemarr]

Hoping for audible questions in the future. Not only does it make seem more 'real', but also I often work away from my PC with wireless headphones and I have to go back and see what the comments are on. Other than that, great to see Holly's passion!

[@motyfokol5392]

she is such a vibe. i assume that being around her would feel great and healthy. love her

[@Baalshazar]

Glad to hear the RTS isn't abandoned.

[@Crypto-Cat]

Wholesome Interview, I liked it very much :)

[@maraeni]

That is what you get when an old time player and fan gets to take over. Beautiful!!!!

[@wtff]

We're so lucky to have Holly 🤍

[@Draevon68]

Great job conducting a very intelligent interview. Really good questions that allowed Holly to share vision and depth about the future of WoW. I really appreciate hearing about the WoW team purposely planning content for all levels of the player base.

[@syatek]

Holly is awesome. Great for the team, game, and community

[@marcmurphy5819]

I like this interview format , nice work.

[@KirkpatrickSounds]

The WoW team has fantastic leadership right now and a great team. Could be heading into a new Golden age at this rate

[@Hennersy]

Doubt it mate

[@sonia417]

Agreed

[@HunchPunch]

I can't think of a better person for this job

[@TaliesinMyrddin]

It's really nice to hear her say casuals have been underserved. DF had its issues with group content in the open world, but Emerald Dream was near perfect and I'm looking forward to seeing how things go. And Feasel being a lead on experiments, that's awesome.

[@outbreak2289]

Holly seems down to earth and sweet. Happy to have her in the team

[@Durzo86]

Not sure if you have a new camera or its a filter but the interview sections look amazing. Cant quite put my finger on it but it clicks a happy button in my brain for some reason!!

[@HighTide.Sunset]

It's so refreshing to hear fundamental business practice discussed in a relatable manner. It makes me more hopeful for the future and they are being stewards for the consumer. Great job Holly!

[@evilmunk1]

having Holly and Ion at the helm, wows future loooks real good

[@fazilmuhayat8035]

this is really an insightful interview. makes me want to come back to the game to give it a try.

[@darthbane6958]

Great interview

[@BoxandJacquilope]

This was an amazing interview :)

[@teej143]

Thank you, Holly and Team! Wonderful and insightful interview!

[@Altrantis]

On discoverability, most things I do in game is because a friend told me about them. I hadn't even noticed the existence of thunderstorm on my own.

[@queenschism1234]

her energy is so much different than the last handful of people that were in her position recently, i am excited to see what she will do in the future of warcraft

[@Cayn]

I just wish someone would ask in these interviews about housing. After the housing attempt with garrisons pretty much no one talks about it anymore, but it would be so perfect for the casual / rp players who just wish to have even more fun and cozy stuff.

[@Drewbert__]

You can tell Holly cares about Warcraft. So glad shes on the team, specifically interested in this new "discoverability" for new players.

[@GangsterCoffee]

Love Holly's attitude, and always loved Ion. Think we may have light at the end of the tunnel for Warcraft.

[@timartinho]

Well, I rarely comment on Blizzard staff but I am very happy she's in charge on Warcraft. She seems very collected, passionate, organized. Excited with this interview. Thank you buddy.

[@JBMareMareJB]

I adore listening to Holly. She seems so passionate and positive. As someone who has been playing WoW on and off since about 2006, I'm so happy she's here.

[@daveb3989]

Holly and Ian have done a great job with Wow and getting the team going in the right direction for us. Hyped for War Soul Saga. Thanks to Holly for giving Bellular the interview too. All great stuff.

[@aaronjohnson2215]

No Ian never had done anything good with the game and he should have been gone long ago. On the other hand, I think decisions are made collectively and he is not solely to blame.

[@petermerison4002]

Holly has the same enthusiasm as Metzen, this is why we like her x

[@von3550]

Holly brings back so much love and passion for the game that has been missing for years. I’m excited to see what’s next.

[@sonia417]

Holly is what WoW needed. And Maria is amazing. I love how Holly said they will keep working on delivering high fantasy. Thats exactly what its about. And I love how theres no single bad comment about Holly,or any of them. Their hard work is speaking for themselves and incredible amount of content in all versions of the game,feels amazing

[@Ncasiano1022]

wonderful interview.

[@SimplyPsyke]

Great interview, I love this backstage look at how their dev work and philosophy is working these days. No hype package, trailer or anything has made me this excited to play through the entire World Soul Saga and beyond.

[@shranda]

Holly is amazing

[@TheDarq0n]

What an amazing and HUMAN interview! Absolutely a joy to watch and listen to Holly!

[@seraphimdunaway8084]

Great interview! She’s got great things to say, I could listen to her for hours! I gotta say, as a player of wow on a Mac, I feel the love being able to run it on my M1! I appreciate the hard work from the wow team.

[@beck86]

All I got from that was 'I work with an amazing bunch of people, I love my job and while some stuff didn't quite work, other's have. Oh, and we love the players'.

[@selinameow]

The outro music… ❤ 😭❤

[@yodiggievilla3825]

the biggest thing I took from this interview is (what devices we will be playing on) which she quickly responded after she said it.

[@AdamC28]

It is wonderful to see so many positive comments on a WoW video for a change, it is lovely!

[@Swatta637]

My gosh. Finally someone at Blizz says "No offense to our PR" and just says the truth how it is. THANK YOU HOLLY! So tired of Blizzard PR nonsense. It's also refreshing how honest she is on so much of what she does. It's needed.

[@lavender_moon11]

I love that they are really taking a look at something for returning players. It can be so overwhelming when you take a long break - and then have no clue what's going on😅

[@pudgeypigeon]

Fantastic interview. I appreciate holly and feel very optmistic for the game.

[@ZestyGuides]

We need more people like Holly!!

[@Alstadiwh]

Please in the next interviews include the question asked in the audio instead of just having text on screen, I like to listen to stuff while walking around the house or playing games and it makes it worse if you can't hear the questions.

[@SillyOne90]

Everquest went 300% south after Holly left. I'm still not a fan of WoW retail but she legit is putting in the work.

[@Reyz-ym7op]

She seems awesome I feel wow needed it.

[@oz5150]

Loved Holly on EQ and I love here man. Very transparent and very upfront and thoughtful. Love her so much!

[@pikkuhukkis]

this interview seems very genuine, not canned responses, genuine

[@lukabozic5]

Best interview, good job, love Holly she is amazing!

[@titanicsosroblox]

I feel like I can trust her that she's really putting the game in a good direction.

[@Raika63]

It feels like things have really trended better since she's come on board, and while of course that isn't just her, I do wonder what experience she had previously (not just which games, but what kind of roles and projects) that resulted in this success. As someone in IT, it's a huge difference between someone who is an engineer leading vs a finance or sales person leading. She feels a lot like someone who actually knows how this stuff works vs a finance person. (No offense to finance folks, the role is important but unless your company's selling financial products I don't believe most finance people have the long term vision needed for delivering good products in other industries)

[@SwobyJ]

She knows the long tail of MMOs because she was from Everquest and Everquest II. Which may not sound that useful, as they're older than WoW (by 1-5 years) and certainly never kept updated for modern gaming, but it possibly means she knows how to maximize what resources are available, and Blizz/MS are going to have a lot more resources than EQ did.

[@44Alvar]

Great video. Great person. But a brilliant future for WoW.

[@ashtravelerr.3895]

As a normal player, I feel much better served now and I re-subbed. I hope they go further to remove addon and make more past major dougeons and raids more accessbile for us normal-mid players who just want to enjoy as much content as possible and not sweat about competitive performance!

[@KnightShepherd]

I love what Holly said from 14:00 onwards, everyone I talk to about WoW who has never played it are daunted by the sheer amount of content. The other issue too is that they want to know the story. Jumping into a new Xpac without knowing who XYZ is without context doesn't work, there needs to be some backstory. If not some well done cinematics, then make it a scenario. Personally I think they should do a Chromie/Nozdormu timestory scenario where they recap an expansion in a small 15-30 minute adventure. It won't cover all the tiny little nuanced things, but it should cover the characters, experiences, important storylines, dungeons/raids etc, so that new players CAN then jump in to a new expansion with a better set of bearings.

[@Deathislifeful]

wow Holly was great awesome job!

[@MediaCreature-Ben]

I personally don't like plunderstorm, not my thing but, i am super happy they did it anyways and i feel like there are A LOT of people that feel the same way. If they (blizzard) are willing to gamble on a fun little thing like this then there is a good chance they will come up with a new "experiment" that will be a huge hit and possibly a new way to play the game or inspire other new features and such. and that makes me happy

[@TWIMC_Tarsyo]

It's really heartfelt hear @TheWindstalker in this interview, give us hope that the Magic and the human factory still lives on the core of our passion.

[@annamayhem5974]

I loved this interview! Holly is truly passionate and really cares about the community, so lucky to have her on the WoW team :)

[@xavierarial24]

This doesn't affect me personally but I will say that all the Warband/UX/UI/New Player Exprience and other tidbits they are looking to improve in their aim at returning and/or attracting new players and keeping them is very fascinating to me, especially when looking at the broader future post-DF/WW. Depending on how well these things improve over time, this could help the game grow to pretty big numbers especially when you factor in where the game was not too long ago. There's huge potential for growth by the end of this trilogy the WoW team is on.

[@Marackone]

Thank you Holly. Good to see that the Team has gems in people like you are ! Love the interview made me so positive.

[@fotis7312]

She is so chill, i love her🥰🥰🥰

[@Tazandd]

Holly seems like the cool teacher in school that always liked to try and make learning exciting.

[@Afterhours.101]

Love Holly interviews

[@smokeythagamer8521]

I wonder what the new features are gonna be in Midnight. Im thinking upgrade to ground mounts since we cant fly in the BELF area, improvements on Warbands with some form of player housing, and maybe artifact void weapons since Midnight should essentially feel like Legion 2.0 but with void.

[@archmagealodi]

It's nice to have someone like Holly who cares for Warcraft as a whole not just a certain part of one game.

[@joshdevine7162]

MoP remix could be super good, so good that it could be the new leveling style in the game. Kinda gives me the FF leveling feel; play through the expansion story through all the main quests, dungeons, raids etc. you will know what happened, who the characters are etc. as someone who quite enjoys story, it’s been hard to catch up fully on the expansions I didn’t play. I’m really pumped to see how it goes

[@AdamShwaginz]

Fantastic interview. Love Holly and love how she’s committed to evolving the game. Future is bright.