Johnathan Staats

Johnathan Staats is the former first 3D Level Designer on World of Warcraft at Blizzard Entertainment. He was responsible for some of World of Warcraft ' s most celebrated content including numerous raid instances such as Blackrock Mountain, Molten Core, and numerous other instances. He was described by Jeff Kaplan as the "hero of the WoW dev team." After 10 years on World of Warcraft, he was moved to the secretive, massive project nicknamed Titan, which he worked on for a year. Staats was ultimately laid off when Titan was canceled.

A few years later, Staats developed an undiagnosed medical condition in his hands that prevents him from sustained computer use, including making or playing games. Staats set out to write the World of Warcraft Diary, recounting the development process of the game.

Works

 * Temple of Ahn'Qiraj
 * Blackfathom Deeps (Classic)
 * Blackwing Lair
 * Blackrock Mountain
 * Blackrock Depths
 * Lower Blackrock Spire
 * Upper Blackrock Spire (Classic)
 * Booty Bay
 * Karazhan (with Aaron Keller)
 * Loch Modan dam
 * Molten Core
 * Razorfen Downs (Classic)
 * Razorfen Kraul (Classic)
 * Scholomance (Classic)
 * Slag Pit
 * Wailing Caverns
 * Warsong Gulch (with Matt Milizia)

Notes and trivia

 * The NPC Johnathan Staats and Staats' Fishing Pole are references to John Staats.
 * He is also referenced in a quote by Levixus.
 * Staats had also worked on the Dragon Isles before the idea was scrapped, having built the squid and hermit-crab temples.
 * Staats pitched the ideas for the Azshara zone and the charred area around the Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands. The latter was inspired by an experience he had as a child visiting in Canada and seeing rocks discolored black by acid rain damage, which the young Staats mistook as being char from meteor impacts.
 * Staats created the world's first druid player character.
 * Staats enjoyed annoying people with the Toy Train Set.