World of Warcraft - Armory Transmog App
Case Study
Designing an app/website to quickly help users easily find the best armor to help design their transmogrification collections in World of Warcraft.
Role: Designer
Team: Solo
Time: Started January 2023
About the project
This mobile and website platform aims to provide World of Warcraft players easy access to all of the armor sets available in every expansion. Users will have the ability to view & organize their armor by class, color, and material (leather, plate, mail, cloth, etc.) and expansion. Also, this app provides information on how to obtain each armor piece selected, whether that be through dungeons, PVP, questlines, or raids.
The Challenges
According to esports.net, there are roughly 8.5 million monthly players in the last three years. Some players may not own every expansion to access some of the questlines or have enough gold to pay for transmogrification costs in game. Per Blizzard's forums, active players comment on less casuals playing and therefore resulting in more players playing "hardcore", meaning there is a higher focus on ranks, skillsets, armor upgrades, and character levels, instead of focusing on past expansions for armor aesthetics.
Challenges would easily be defined as:
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Less casual players focusing on building 'transmogs' from previous expansions and instead focusing on current armor upgrades to improve competition in-game.
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Design the app to make searching for armor sets easier per material & expansion.
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Players not owning all of the expansions, therefore, not having access to all of the necessary dungeons, questlines, etc.
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Players not feeling motivated to revisit old content.
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Users not interested in PVP to unlock PVP armor looks.
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End-to-End Project Creation
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Using tools such as Figma, Visual Studio Code, and Adobe.
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Using Blizzard's Armory APIs
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The Problem
Have you ever casually played World of Warcraft and come across another player with really amazing looking gear, but don't know how to get it? What dungeon or questline do you need to complete in order to look just as awesome?
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Do you struggle between making progress on current content and can't find the time (especially during raid night) to research on where to run previous expansions for old armor sets?
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The Solution: Quickly Navigate Armor in one location
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Color Themes
This app allows players to easily filter through armor sets by not only material, but by color. This allows players to easily locate armor sets by color. So, if they want to find all reds, blacks, or silvers for their designs, it can easily filter & organize.
How to get the armor
Upon finding armor pieces they want, users can discover how to obtain each item to transmog. Locations can be addressed by providing specific questlines, dungeons, mythics, etc. that need to be completed per item.
Expansion Selection Option
Armor sets can be searched and filtered through specific expansions. So, if a player owns up to a specific expansion, they can review all obtainable armor with that expansion set, including the most recent release.
My Process
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Interviews
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Surveys
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Problem Statement
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Persona
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Idea Sketches
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Ideation Sessions
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Wireframes
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Usability Tests
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High Fidelity Prototype
Design Process
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Research & Synthesis
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Brand Development
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Architecture & UX Design
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Prototyping
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Testing
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Design Decisions
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Color scheme is used from Blizzard Entertainment for brand familiarity,
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Typography, Poppins Extra Light is used for clarity and to create a light fresh look.
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Research
Goal
​To currently understand how many players are considered casual and any obstacles they face for casual gaming.
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Quantitative Research
An online questionnaire form was aimed at World of Warcraft players and was answered by 106 people: men, women, non-binary, and self-identified between the ages of 18-60 years old. This questionnaire asked if they are actively playing World of Warcraft, 72.8% stated yes, while 38.2% have cancelled their subscription.
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I decided to start with the questionnaire to get a general idea, then narrowed it down to selecting only the 72.8% who have responded, "active".
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For those with an active subscription, 59.4% considered themselves casual players, 31.2% focused on Raiding/ Mythics, while the remaining 9.5% played only PVP.
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As a casual player, how much time do you dedicate to running old content for transmogs?
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Concerns and Complaints