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Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: Alternate Azeroth
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Warlords of Draenor takes place in an alternate, splinter reality in which Garrosh Hellscream has gone back in time and prevented the leaders of the old orc clans from drinking the Blood of Mannoroth. In this version of reality, several events have changed dramatically -- leading players to ask many, many questions about alternate Azeroth, how its history has been altered, and how that changes the Azeroth we know and love today. The answer is very simple: it doesn't. Not in the slightest. That alternate Azeroth, and whatever future it may hold, has no bearing on Warlords of Draenor at all. We won't be exploring that world, and our Azeroth remains unchanged. However, people still continue to ask. So we're going to take a little trip into that alternate reality and explore what that version of Azeroth would theoretically look like without the Dark Portal. We're going to explore this alternate world, take a look at what likely never came to pass, and what happened as a result. And then we're going to quietly put all of that away, because this is all information and events that we are not going to see in Warlords of Draenor. But it'll be nice to get it out of our systems, won't it? Today's Know Your Lore is a Tinfoil Hat edition. The following contains speculation and history based on known material. These speculations are merely theories and shouldn't be taken as fact or official lore.
Know Your Lore: The humans, part 1
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. We've talked about their politics and their ancestors, but humanity itself has not really been described in detail -- and it deserves to be. The humans of Azeroth derive from the ancient servitors of the Titans, and their origins lie in the frozen continent of Northrend (indeed, before it was a continent of its own), but they've developed over time into a brash, persevering people of their own who rose to master the Eastern Kingdoms and who had endured two hideous wars with alien invaders, the plague of undeath that shattered their strongest kingdom, and times of chaos and uncertainty. It is humanity that holds the Alliance together today, serving to unite disparate peoples in a collective that grows more cohesive in the face of growing Horde expansionism. The ultimate drive to exist that has kept humanity going past world-shaking calamities must be respected. When war and strife come, humans have risen to the challenge. Although one of the shortest-lived of Azeroth's native races and possessed of one of the youngest cultures, human have risen on the strength of their determination.
Breakfast Topic: What's the First thing you did when you got to Dalaran?
So Alex's latest Know Your Lore on Dalaran got me thinking. Now, some part of me is still sort of annoyed that Rhonin was made archmage and the Horde got to enter Dalaran with nary a peep about their tendency to kill all those citizens of Dalaran in Alterac or Silverpine, but I have to admit, Dalaran is an amazing city.Everywhere you turn, there's something interesting going on, and every shop has its own life. The Architecture is an amazing blend of human and elven styles that looks to have organically evolved from a rich magical culture, and the atmosphere is lively without descending into the constant laughing and lag inducing sparring of the Aldor and the Shattered Sun Offensive that plagued Shattrath's outer ring. It also feels livelier and more city-like than Shattrath's strangely alien fortress and adjoining shanty town.
Welcome back to beautiful Alterac
The forums have been quiet lately. Quiet about Alterac Valley, that is. Whereas the changes brought about by Patch 2.3 resulted in an uproar, with reports of entire realms reportedly boycotting the Battleground, Patch 2.4 seems to have delivered a modicum of balance at long last. Prior to the last patch, some people seemed to believe that the new mechanic prevented the Alliance from winning the Battleground unless the Horde played below par. The stink brought about by the supposed imbalance was so huge, in fact, that Blizzard quickly hotfixed Balinda Stonehearth and Vanndar Stormpike to have more life in an effort to "assist in balancing the opposing sides."In Patch 2.4, Balinda and Vanndar were restored to their original (lower) health totals and included minor tweaks in order to further balance the ambitious map. The biggest change in the patch, however, was a geographical one. The Horde starting cave -- which was reputedly so close to the game objectives that it gave the Horde side an unfair advantage under the new mechanics -- was abandoned and a new one created further South. The old cave is still there, oddly, except that now it's just an empty hollow where people can presumably AFK in peace.
Breakfast Topic: AV Fixed?
Alterac Valley has long been a battlefield for contention, not just between Drek'Thar and Vanndar Stormpike. There have always been complaints that the battleground has favored one side or another. Blizzard has modified the battleground several times to balance it out, and thus far they have been unsuccessful. The following changes were made to Alterac Valley: Captain Balinda Stonehearth Stonehearth can no longer be interrupted, silenced, or have her spells slowed. In addition, her water elemental cannot be banished, and does increased damage. Vanndar Stormpike and Captain Balinda Stonehearth have had their health totals reduced to match the health totals of Drek'Thar and Captain Galvangar. Warmasters/marshals in Alterac Valley now increase each other's maximum health and damage by 25%. This is a stacking effect. Horde players will now start the battle closer to Drek'Thar and Frostwolf Keep. There is now a Join as Party option.
2.2 coming to the live realms tomorrow morning
By now, it's almost a certainty-- not only did the PTR shut down last week, but Neth has almost confirmed on the forums that patch 2.2 is coming tomorrow morning. That means, I guess, that Amanda was right on our podcast a few weeks ago-- she was the only one who predicted it would show up this week, so kudos to her. Of course, it also messes up my plans for the week, unfortunately. I was planning to snipe Brutes and capture flags at least through Thursday, but now I may have to punctuate that with some voice chatting.And besides voice chatting, what else are we seeing in this new patch we've waited so long for? The full patch notes are here for now (though they may be replaced with the 2.2.2 notes in the next day or so). Anti-AFK measures are showing up, as well as the Haste rebalancing. And most of the class stuff seems like bugfixes more or less. If you're a Druid, it'll be good to know that you can attack from further away while in Cat form, Shaman ankhs will now stack to ten (nice!) and Hunters with Raptor pets can now go out and learn Dash, but otherwise, it's all bugfixes-- some more harsh than others (the Six Demon Bag no longer benefits from spell damage, so bummer for that one).But the thing that will really pull me away from Halo 3 this week is probably the simplest. Finally, my Orc male shoulders are returned to full size. Finally, after more than two months, I can walk around Orgrimmar with my head held up proudly, trapped between two huge masses of metal. See you tomorrow, 2.2!
Reminder: The WoW Insider Show is live tomorrow afternoon
Tomorrow, don't forget to tune in to WoW Radio, and check out the third episode of our official podcast, the WoW Insider Show. We're going to kick off the broadcast about 3:30pm EST (which is 8:30pm GMT, I believe), and we've got lots of great discussion items on our platter: we'll hit up AFKers in Alterac (because we haven't talked about that on the podcast yet, right?), the WSVG shutdown shocker, and all of our most popular posts of the last week.I'm going to be back on the mic this week, and WoW Insider's Amanda Riviera will be joining me, as well as Turpster ("The T," as we like to call him) and Alris from WoW Radio. And of course we want you along for the ride as well: go to wcradio.com tomorrow to listen in live, and we'll also be sitting in the IRC channel at #wowradio on irc.mmoirc.com. And as usual, we'll be watching for your emails: theshow@wow.com is the address for your suggestions, complaints, compliments, or questions you'd like us to answer.Tune in tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 pm EST for the third episode of the absolute best podcast about WoW Insider: we'll see you on the WoW Insider show.
