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WoW Archivist: 10 years, 10 amazing moments, part 2
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Reflecting back on 10 years of WoW, I find it hard not to smile and shake my head in disbelief. If someone had told me early in 2004 that a game would be released that year and I'd still be playing it week in, week out in 2015, I never would have believed it. If you missed part 1, I covered world PvP near Uldaman, founding a guild, getting lost in Gnomeregan, earning my Rhok'delar bow, and my first night in Outland. Here are five more amazing moments. 6. The Wrathgate. In the weeks after Wrath of the Lich King launched, one achievement got instant attention in your guild chat: Veteran of the Wrathgate. Those who had already experienced the awesomeness congratulated the player who earned it. Those who hadn't waited in anticipation of that moment (and hopefully remained unspoiled until they did). And those who had just earned the achievement were left saying, simply, "whoa." It's a quest line that deserves its own Archivist column someday, so I won't go into detail about the lead-up to this incredible event. Once you completed it, the cinematic began. Going into it, we thought we knew what Wrath was all about. We thought it would be straightforward: The Lich King attacked us, so the Horde and Alliance would put aside their differences to take him down. No mess, no fuss. Four and a half minutes later, the champion of each faction was (apparently) dead, the Forsaken were in open rebellion, everything was on fire, and we realized that this story would be far messier and more interesting than we thought. Afterward, we gazed over the charred remains on the battlefield and listened to the screams of the dying, shellshocked from this devastating moment. It was over, or so it seemed. But Blizzard had another surprise in store for us a few quests later: the Battle for the Undercity.
World of Warcraft gives players a 100% chance to get heirlooms for Warlords of Draenor
The World of Warcraft faithful are busy devouring the recent Patch 6.0.2 in anticipation for the much larger expansion pack that's coming next month. To help players prepare for Warlords of Draenor, Blizzard is currently running a Smash 'n Grab event that will award players prized heirlooms. By running any difficulty level of Siege of Orgrimmar, players will get a 100% chance to obtain their first Garrosh weapon if they haven't already for that difficulty. The caveat is that players will have to run this without the assistance of the raid finder. The Smash 'n Grab event is currently running and will end on November 13th.
Reminder: Get your content cleared before 6.0.2
Blizzard posted a reminder earlier this week regarding several features that will either be changed or removed from the game entirely in patch 6.0.2. While we don't at present time have a release date set for the introductory patch of Warlords of Draenor, it would still be in your best interests to complete the content now, rather than waiting and possibly missing out for good. And of course, removed content means those achievements you've gathered will be filed away as either Legacy achievements, or Feats of Strength in the upcoming expansion. Challenge Modes should be top priority if you've got your eyes on those Mists of Pandaria sets, because they will no longer be available as of 6.0.2 -- the phoenix mounts will also be going away, although players that have earned one of the mounts will have access to all variations. Players looking for heirloom weapons from Garrosh Hellscream should hop to it, as those will also be removed once Warlords of Draenor is released in November. In addition, the Brawler's Guild will be taking a hiatus once patch 6.0.2 hits -- the bosses and encounters in the Brawler's Guild will be re-tuned for level 100. However, if you've already gained access to the Brawler's Guild, you'll still retain that access when the new expansion launches -- no need to dig up another invite. Lastly, if you have not started the legendary cloak quest chain by patch 6.0.2, you'll no longer be able to obtain it. Players already on the chain will still retain the quests, although they will be slightly altered, as the section of the chain that requires players to collect Valor Points will be gone altogether with the removal of Valor Points in 6.0.2. For more information on changes and removals with the arrival of both patch 6.0.2 and Warlords of Draenor itself, take a look at Blizzard's full post on the official site.
The war between narrative and game mechanics
I've long had a complicated relationship with the story of Warcraft. Once, I was enamored by the world they've created -- I was one of the earlier contributors to Know Your Lore, eager to share my love of the franchise's narrative. I'm no longer so enamored. I don't hate it, but neither do I love it. I'm not angry, I'm disappointed. Yes, I often disagree with the narrative choices Blizzard has made with their story, but moreso I come to realize World of Warcraft is burdened by itself in respect to its narrative. Story and game mechanics are in constant conflict, and when you're looking at a game like WoW and a company like Blizzard (with their focus on tight gameplay), story will lose that battle every time. Blizzard has mentioned more than once that orcs versus humans is the core element of Warcraft. Whenever the narrative tries to move back to the roots of the franchise, that's where it goes. And that's the problem. The war between the Alliance and the Horde can never end. Worse, it can never progress -- and the characters involved in that war story cannot progress unless removed from it. Mists of Pandaria made this more obvious than it has ever been before. Boneheaded heroes For the sake of parity, let's look at both Jaina Proudmoore and Thrall. These two characters have had a history together since Warcraft III. Not a romantic history as some like to claim, but a history. They were allies. Both of them held out hope for peace between the Horde and the Alliance for years. Both of them made sacrifices in the hopes of accomplishing it, Jaina moreso than any other, allowing the Horde to kill her orc-slaying father. They were both powerful, influential people in their respective factions. The events of Warcraft III made us believe they might achieve that peace. World of Warcraft showed us otherwise.
Know Your Lore: Mists of Pandaria in review
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. With the introduction of the Warlords of Draenor cinematic, short story Hellscream, and the Lords of War animated shorts, we can pretty much tack an official "The End" on Mists of Pandaria. All tie in material has been or is in the process of being released, and all new and upcoming content seems to be focusing on the expansion ahead. Although Warlords of Draenor won't launch until November, we can pretty much consider Mists of Pandaria over and done with, story-wise. Which means it's time to do one of my favorite things to do -- head back and review the expansion in its entirety. It's not really fair to review a book based solely on one chapter, after all. Mists of Pandaria might have seemed like a fairly simple concept from the announcement of the expansion, but it actually played out into a reasonably complex story over the course of four content patches. So how does the story of Mists hold up against its predecessors?
Siege of Orgrimmar gear will not become multi-spec in 6.0
If you're waiting for the big multi-spec gear shift when patch 6.0 drops, you'll have to wait a little longer. Rygarius took to the forums today to clarify that the gear that drops in SoO will not be changed to the system announced for Warlords of Draenor. Rygarius - 5.4 SoO Gear Conversion Hey Danthedruid, Gear obtained from Siege of Orgrimmar won't be multi-spec. That's for the new items that will be obtained in Warlords of Draenor. There's no change to existing item levels and they'll will retain their upgrade ranks. If they were reforged they'll be returned into an unreforged state. Some of the details are still being worked out. We'll be posting more information once there's more info for the remaining stuff. source Basically, this means that you'll still need multiple sets to do things like tank or heal or DPS as long as your wearing gear from Mists of Pandaria - it's not until Warlords itself comes out that you'll get the gear which switches when you do.
Breakfast Topic: When will the Siege of Orgrimmar reach Orgrimmar?
Though the Siege of Orgrimmar patch was released way back in September 2013, the situation in the live version of Orgrimmar has changed very little since the so-called siege begun. If you play a horde character, portals throughout the game send you to Orgrimmar as the horde capitol... even though Orgrimmar under the rule of Garrosh is hardly a friendly place. Patrolled by the all-orc Kor'Kron Guard, the city streets aren't particularly welcoming to non-orcs -- or anyone who disagrees with Garrosh's leadership. While this made for a strong story element when patch 5.4 was launched, it's rather outstayed its welcome. At this point, even a wrecked, post-siege Orgrimmar would seem a more welcoming place than the fear-filled city that's been the center of the horde's game world for nearly a year. So tell us, readers -- when do you think Orgrimmar will get a post-Garrosh makeover? And what will we see taking its place come Warlords?
WoW Moviewatch: Siege of Orgrimmar Abridged
Siege of Orgrimmar Abridged features an epic battle to bring justice to Azeroth. Or something like that. Despite its thrilling story and exciting bosses, there were more than a few odd moments in SoO. Also, some of the bosses spoke a little too much truth. After all, you and I both know that some of your raid members maybe shouldn't really be there, right? Slightly Impressive to a bang up job highlighting those bizarre little quirks. Take the time to check out the video, and let us know in the comments if you shared Griff's experiences. We'd love to hear your story! Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
Warlords of Draenor: Guild leveling and guild perk changes
Players on the Warlords of Draenor beta have noticed something a little different about guild perks in the new expansion -- a large portion of them have simply been removed entirely, including both the Fast Track and Cash Flow perks. While some assumed this was likely a bug, it turns out this is part of change that has been planned for guild leveling. Namely, guild leveling is being by and large removed from the game. Or, if you want to think of it in a slightly different fashion, all guilds will automatically be what level 25 once was. Why the changes? Watcher hit the forums to explain, and to point out that the perks people normally associate with guilds aren't really going away entirely. Some of them, like Ride Like the Wind or Honorable Mention will just be rolled into the game as default behavior, rather than offered as a perk of any kind. So yes, while the perk is getting removed, we won't really see a change -- flight paths will simply go 25% faster by default. The Cash Flow perk, however, is being flat out removed, and Watcher had some really good points as to why this is being changed.
Patch 5.4.8 and the wait for Patch 6.0
With patch 5.4.8 we're seeing a new way to achieve an old goal - allow players to get further in established content while it remains the most recent content available. In essence, with this patch, we will be able to buy slightly increased ability to progress with valor points. This isn't new - it's what the item upgrade system has always been. I've been thinking about the new item upgrades and the Deeds of Valor since they were announced. I haven't been able to play WoW as I'd like lately (health reasons) but one of the things that immediately came to mind when they announced Deeds of Valor was that this was an entirely new way to nerf raid content at the end of an expansion. Instead of a progressive buff to the players, or a progressive nerf to the bosses, we're seeing a mechanical way to spend valor points to gain the same ultimate aim. Making it possible to trade in your Timeless Coins for valor points is a good way for players who are flush from constant Timeless Isle grinding to convert them to something useful, and allowing players to upgrade items an additional 2 times (for a total of four upgrades) serves to nerf content without nerfing it. Everyone will be stronger, will hit harder, will have more mana for heals. I have some opinions about this, of course. Others have already expressed theirs - and to be fair I accept the basic premise that these are quality of life changes that will cease to matter in patch 6.0. And I'm okay with that, because again, I see this primarily as a way to nerf Siege of Orgrimmar without actually doing so. It gives us another valor dump, of course. But with changes like Heart of the Valorous (which won't be live when 5.4.8 drops) it feels as if valor itself is being made into a progression mechanic.
Know Your Lore: Wrathion's duty
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. Wrathion is one of those unique and entertaining characters who appeared out of nowhere and managed a staggering degree of complexity in just a few short years in game. Although he was not introduced by name until the tail end of Cataclysm, his origins began when the expansion revamped level 1-60 content and consequentially introduced a bizarre and touching origin story in the Badlands. It wasn't until the legendary quest chain for rogues that we got a real look at Wrathion, newly hatched and remarkably intelligent for his age. Once his tasks for rogues were over at the end of the expansion, Wrathion departed -- and then promptly showed up again in Mists of Pandaria, in a far more extensive role that stretched the length of the expansion, and beyond. But one thing has always been incredibly unclear -- exactly what Wrathion is up to, and why he is doing what he's doing. He's given us a reasonable enough answer, but can we really trust the last remaining member of a dragonflight known for lies, deceit, and evil, even if he is supposedly uncorrupted? Please note: The following column contains spoilers for War Crimes. If you're mid-book, or have yet to read it, you might want to come back when you're finished with it.
Patch 5.4.8: Deeds of Valor, Valor upgrades, and Garrosh heirlooms
It's interesting to me how valor point upgrades have replaced raid wide player buffs or debuffs to the fights, as we saw in Icecrown Citadel and Dragon Soul respectively. Perhaps it's because valor upgrades can serve a variety of functions beyond just making one raid easier. At any rate, in patch 5.4.8 (undergoing PTR testing right now) we'll see the valor upgrade system get a bump. But it's not just the valor upgrades that will be changing. Players who spend a lot of time on the Timeless Isle and have a lot of coins they can't do anything will now be able to exchange the coins for Deeds of Valor, which will be a straightforward swap of 3000 timeless coins for 100 valor points. You'll still have your weekly and monthly valor caps to contend with, but now, you can at least do something with all those timeless coins on your currency tab. Finally, because we'll be able to upgrade our items twice more (up to the 4/4 upgrade level) the special heirloom weapons from Garrosh Hellscream will also be automatically upgraded, gaining an additional 8 ilevels. This is to make sure that players using those heirlooms as their main weapon don't have to abandon them for an item which can be upgraded. Head to the official site's forums for more details.
Breakfast Topic: Raid wipes and eternity
The Greek myth of Sisyphus tells the story of a self-serving king who repeatedly tricked and cheated the gods during his life. When he finally died, King Sisyphus was punished for his pride and insolence by being made to eternally push a boulder up a hill. Just endlessly toiling away in the Underworld wasn't enough of a sentence for him, though. To punish him further the gods enchanted the boulder so that whenever it neared the top of the hill it would slip from Sisyphus' grasp and tumble back to the bottom of the hill. Sisyphus' hell is one that encapsulates futility, hopelessness, and frustration. This story came to my mind a week ago when my guild repeatedly wiped to heroic Sha of Pride in the Siege of Orgrimmar ... A boss which we technically have on farm. After the fourth or fifth attempt in which we died to the enrage timer, I leaned back in my chair and thought, "This is it. This would be my punishment in hell." After thinking on it further I decided that while heroic Sha of Pride farm wipes are bad, there is likely another boss that I would find even more unbearable to repeatedly wipe to. Some of the long fights like Garrosh or Ragnaros 2.0 would be contenders. Then there's the fights with annoying mechanics like Razorscale or Faction champs. Then there are those two encounters at the end of the raid-instance-which-must-not-be-named ... Anyway, I still haven't decided what the ultimate punishment for myself would be, so I thought I'd ask you all for your own. Let us know which boss and why!
Know Your Lore: The trial of Garrosh Hellscream
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. War Crimes, the latest novel from Christie Golden, released earlier this week. In the book we finally see the trial of Garrosh Hellscream -- former Warchief of the Horde, apprehended during the final moments of the Siege of Orgrimmar. We aren't going to be talking too in-depth about plot points and book spoilers in this column. We'll save that for next week. But we are going to talk about Garrosh Hellscream, the Alliance, the Horde, and the trial itself -- the need for a trial at all. Because let's face it: Garrosh Hellscream is a murderer. He slew countless victims, both Alliance and Horde. He decimated Theramore. He decided to ally with those that Warchief Thrall had blatantly turned away, and even directed the Horde to attack, during his reign. He didn't so much try and redesign the Horde as he did give it a gut job, tear it down from the inside out, and try to rebuild it even stronger. He's guilty. He's beyond guilty. There isn't really any need to prove what he's done, the evidence is permanently etched into Azeroth -- the crater left where Theramore once stood. Why on earth would a confirmed killer need a trial? Please note: The following column has a few minor spoilers for War Crimes. If you're mid-book, or have yet to read it, you might want to come back when you're finished with it.
Christie Golden, Micky Neilson discuss newest novel, War Crimes
War Crimes, Christie Golden's latest Warcraft novel, officially hit the shelves today. The novel details the trial of Garrosh Hellscream for his crimes against Alliance, Horde, and Pandaria alike. We were lucky enough to get a chance to sit down and chat with Christie Golden, as well as Lead Story Developer Micky Neilson, about the novel, the feedback, and even some upcoming projects that are on the way. War Crimes is a different kind of book -- it features a gigantic cast. Can you tell us a little about the challenges involved in writing and keeping track of so many familiar faces? Christie: It definitely is. I had kind of done a run at something like this with The Shattering, that was my first experiencing writing for both Horde and Alliance, trying to weave in various characters and their story lines and still make it fast paced and entertaining. This really was a chance for me to, with the Vision of Time at my disposal, to kind of go through and not just address Garrosh, but sneak in some of the history of Azeroth. What made these factions who they are, how they thought of each other, and a lot of old hurts, as well as new things. I actually just posted on Twitter a picture of the colorful index cards that I laid out on my dining room table at work at one point just to keep track of it!
Siege of Orgrimmar changes in patch 6.0
So if you're raiding Siege of Orgrimmar, there's some news to be had - namely, some things are going away, and other things are becoming a lot easier to get. First off, if you haven't gotten the Kor'kron War Wolf for the 'Ahead of the Curve" achievement, it will cease to be attainable once the patch drops. Garrosh Hellscream will no longer have a 100% chance to drop the Kor'kron Annihilator mount on the new Mythic difficulty, once you can level past level 90. If you have not already gotten an heirloom off of Garrosh Hellscream, you will have a 100% chance to get a specialization appropriate heirloom, and your chances to get an additional heirloom will be increased. But once you can level past 90, you will not be able to get heirlooms from Garrosh anymore. Group finder will be available. For all this news and more, check out this post on the official site.
Review of Christie Golden's novel, War Crimes
It's time for Hellscream to pay. Or at least that's what everyone in War Crimes would enjoy seeing, to varying degrees. Christie Golden's latest novel, War Crimes, is due out next week on May 6. It tells the tale of Garrosh Hellscream's trial, an event many players have been waiting to hear about -- and it also serves as a bridge novel, of sorts, between Mists of Pandaria and the upcoming expansion Warlords of Draenor. If you'd like to know how Garrosh wriggled out of his presumably inevitable death and got to Draenor, this is the book you want to read. But it's so much more than that. In War Crimes, the focus is much less on Garrosh, and much more on the people around him -- those called to the witness stand, and those simply observing the trial in progress. It's a sweep of almost every major face in the Alliance and Horde, and their unique individual reactions to what happened during Hellscream's reign. In that, it's a very different kind of novel -- and I think it was just the novel needed to bring this expansion fully to a close. Please note: Because War Crimes has yet to be released, this will be a spoiler-free review. Please refrain from talking about spoilers in the comments -- any spoiler information posted will be deleted.
Reminder: Get your Garrosh heirlooms while you still can
When Garrosh Hellscream's loot list for Siege of Orgrimmar was first revealed, the list included a ton of heirloom weapons for every spec and class under the sun. However, unlike every other heirloom currently present in the game, the weapons are intended for use from level 90 through level 100 -- to be used while leveling through Warlords of Draenor. It's a pretty cool idea, one that will likely help, at least a little, with leveling both mains and alts through Warlords content. However, if you want to get your hands on these heirlooms, you better act quickly. Once Warlords is here, the heirlooms will be removed from Garrosh's loot table. @Meerkatx The Garrosh heirlooms are specifically a reward for doing Flex+ while relevant. They won't be available once Draenor unlocks. - Watcher (@WatcherDev) April 26, 2014 Currently, there are no intentions at all to add the heirloom weapons to Garrosh's loot table in LFR -- as Watcher mentioned, they were meant as a reward for those doing Flex and above difficulty. And once Warlords is out and Draenor is unlocked, the rewards will be going away, so that players can't simply farm Hellscream for more heirloom items when they outgear the former Warchief. If you've been meaning to get your hands on these heirlooms, be aware that there is a finite limit as to how long they'll be available -- and get them while you still can.
Know Your Lore: 5 influential moments in Warcraft lore
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. The lore of Warcraft isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world to follow. It's not a straight line of cause and effect that you can simply trace from beginning to end. It's an endless chain of events intertwined with each other in a ball that is so tightly wound together, it's almost impossible to untangle and pick apart. This is a large part of the reason why it's so hard to answer a seemingly simple question, "I want to try and get into Warcraft lore, so where do I start?" That said, there are several standout moments in lore, moments that have influenced far more than one character's development or one chain of story progression. While the following list isn't every moment, it contains some of the most influential, those events in history that have shaped the world of Warcraft and will continue to shape it for years to come.
Garrosh Heirlooms have Bad Luck Protection
Garrosh has been killed captured many times over, thanks in part to the heirlooms that he drops. Everyone wants one, and players are frustrated at what is seen as a very low drop rate. I am among those players, so Lead Encounter Designer Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas' tweets are music to my ears: @tomrom83 Garrosh heirlooms have "bad luck protection" - you should start to see more and more each week as you get more kills. - Watcher (@WatcherDev) April 10, 2014 @tomrom83 Yeah, separate items, so separate chances. You wouldn't want getting a Flex heirloom to hurt your Normal chance. Keep at it. Soon! - Watcher (@WatcherDev) April 10, 2014 This is great news, and indeed, on my tenth kill of Garrosh on my shaman, my 14th kill across all characters on that account, my bad luck was finally protected, and I got my first heirloom. The message to keep at it is a good one, and maybe in time, as the expansion wears on, the game's tolerance for bad luck will be adjusted. Or people will have killed him so many times that they're drowning in heirlooms. I'd love to know a little more about how bad luck protection works, too. How unlucky do you have to be, does getting one drop completely reset its count no matter how long that drop took to happen? How's your luck? For clarity, these heirlooms only drop from Flex and above.
