Designer - Programmer island still exists. GM Conversation

[snoxyes]

So there is what i talking about with Game Master in live chat support.

you: Can i ask something ?
Thraucpal: Sure can.
you: Is GM Island still ingame?
Thraucpal: Yes
you: What about Designer island and Programmer island?
Thraucpal: We have to have somewhere to chill out.
Thraucpal: These are all places which are possible for us as Blizzard Personal to get to.
Thraucpal: Standard players cannot go there.
you: So Designer island and programmer island still exists?
Thraucpal: They are 'around' yes.
you: I heard it was removed after vanilla
Thraucpal: Don't believe everything you're hearing.
you: Oky Game Master
you: You are level 1 ?
you: as GM ?
Thraucpal: Nope.
you: 100?
Thraucpal: I have no level.
you: and spells?
Thraucpal: Why would I need spells ?
you: I dont know. For fun.
you: u are invisible, right ?
Thraucpal: Yes.


So is thats true ?
P.s. Sorry for my bad english, i comming from Slovenia

[advanta]

So there is what i talking about with Game Master in live chat support.

you: Can i ask something ?
Thraucpal: Sure can.
you: Is GM Island still ingame?
Thraucpal: Yes
you: What about Designer island and Programmer island?
Thraucpal: We have to have somewhere to chill out.
Thraucpal: These are all places which are possible for us as Blizzard Personal to get to.
Thraucpal: Standard players cannot go there.
you: So Designer island and programmer island still exists?
Thraucpal: They are 'around' yes.
you: I heard it was removed after vanilla
Thraucpal: Don't believe everything you're hearing.
you: Oky Game Master
you: You are level 1 ?
you: as GM ?
Thraucpal: Nope.
you: 100?
Thraucpal: I have no level.
you: and spells?
Thraucpal: Why would I need spells ?
you: I dont know. For fun.
you: u are invisible, right ?
Thraucpal: Yes.


So is thats true ?
P.s. Sorry for my bad english, i comming from Slovenia

They exist, however they are not accessible in-game ie they are not part of the azeroth, outland or draenor, in the way that GM island is. You can't exploit your way into them. You'd have to hack into Blizzard's infrastructure.

The only time players could access them for a day or so when wotlk was released, due to a mistake.

Interesting about spells, I thought they did have various abiliites for giggles and to help them view players in-game when an investigation was required. There's a video of some GM levitating players and other tricks somewhere, but that could easily be faked.

[Dovah]

I don't think they exist in our client anymore. (only in dev client) they used to exist on the Eastern Kingdoms map ID along with an outlands testing zone but that was in vanilla. WoW Map Archive
They aren't accessible and probably never will be without model edits. (Even hacks can't change your Mapid afaik)
I don't even think a GM would be allowed to see programmer or designer island. They talk to you through a special chat client so that part about them needing a place to hang out is most likely just him messing with you.

[Lickin]

GM island is still ingame, i have 2 char there:P

[Talaien]

GM's use a web-client to answer tickets now, and are not in-game. I asked them about that and that was all I was told.

[Hazzbazzy]

This is very similar to what happened in regards to Gilijims island; it was still there "in spirit" (and in location data) but you needed a patch to actually access it.

[akspa420]

This is very similar to what happened in regards to Gilijims island; it was still there "in spirit" (and in location data) but you needed a patch to actually access it.

Not Quite
We have evidence from datamining that blizzard does ship different data to different people - internal builds that are used for building new content off of include all the maps. In some cases, Blizzard has accidentally shipped internal map data with PTR and Retail builds. These maps appear in Map.dbc, so we know that they exist in some fashion, without a 'patch'. The data that is shipped with the retail client is typically stripped of internal maps, so that dataminers aren't able to see things that are in-progress or not intended to be shown to players. Blizzard is well aware of datamining, and has slowly begun to take notice by cleaning internal bits out.

That all said, we know thanks to TaxiNodes.dbc, that the map id 451, which is 'development' has been updated recently with patch 6.2, but seeing as the files aren't shipped with the retail or ptr clients, we don't have any means of seeing what's going on. This information then indicates that the OP is correct in stating that designer island is still in use.

If you take a look at the Map.dbc file, you will find a handful of development maps that have never shipped outside of blizzard, including devland3. During the alpha/beta phase of WoD, LevelDesignLand was accidentally left in the shipping files. This land was used to organize new art kits for the various races, among other things. The lower portion of the map indicates 'Sound design land', which has textures for different types of ground textures, likely for testing footstep sound effects.

Believe me, there are a handful of users that keep their eyes on each public build in search of 'unleaked' content. PTR builds seem to be notorious for these types of findings, like the incomplete Cataclysm development map, which was found in a PTR build from the 4.2/4.3 era. The data was quickly removed from the game archives, as someone at Blizzard realized that certain private data had been leaked.

[Hazzbazzy]

I still don't understand how the above reply relates to my reply, but I see.

[Blizzhaxer]

The only time players could access them for a day or so when wotlk was released, due to a mistake.

that was a fun day on the PTR when the .console port commands where working for players.

[leaston]

if he say so its true...ithink he dont lie