Eurogamer have a really good article, part one published so far, which talks about how WoW was designed.

They’ve interviewed Tom Chilton, Jeff Kaglan and other senior staff to storyline how the game went from a concept to sketch to model to release, and the turns along the way. Gnolls were an original art inspiration, for example, and no PvP at launch was a decision in order to get the game on the shelves.

No mention of death knights in the article (yet)! I guess we weren’t a twinkle in their eyes five+ years ago.

It’s a great read, here.