WoW bosses: Cutting edge graphics have never been a Blizzard hallmark

Speaking to VG247 at Games Convention, World of Warcraft production director J Allen Brack and Wrath of the Lich King lead designer Tom Chilton said that having the most "technologically advanced" graphics in Blizzard games has never been a "hallmark."

"It's really never been a Blizzard hallmark," said Brack. "I mean, our games look good, but they've never tried to be the best looking game out there."

"Or at least not the most technologically advanced," added Chilton.

"The way we've approached the unveiling of new features in terms of graphics," Brack continued, "is much more organic than just releasing an expansion that has a set of graphics upgrades.

"With this expansion we're releasing a new shadow system that's pretty different to what we've had before, and we've got a new technology that allows us to create better looking terrain, better looking dungeons: it's just continual improvement."

Wrath of the Lich King has no fixed date as yet, but appears to be moving quickly towards launch, as it was announced last night that the expansion's major pre-release content patch has now gone live on the Public Test Realms.