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  • Know Your Lore: Go'el, son of Durotan

    by 
    Anne Stickney
    Anne Stickney
    11.28.2010

    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 character Thrall has been a mainstay and a highlight figure in Warcraft lore since his first appearance in Warcraft 3 and the novel Lord of the Clans by Christie Golden. We've covered Thrall and his history before on Know Your Lore, particularly in the current orc politics article, which went over the situation with Thrall and Garrosh Hellscream. Since the release of that article, certain things have been revealed that make another short look at the former Warchief of the Horde necessary. Thrall has always been a fascinating character to myself and many others. Originally, he seemed to be designed as a simple "true hero" for the brutal orcs to follow, a beacon of honor and integrity in an otherwise incredibly violent, savage society. With Thrall, we were introduced to an orc who had the misfortune of losing both of his parents when he was just a baby, an orc raised in slavery for the amusement of Blackmoore. But a deeper look into the character revealed several intrinsic flaws with the hero that were openly explored the further we progressed into World of Warcraft's storyline. Please note: The following article contains spoilers for The Shattering by Christie Golden. If you'd like to remain unspoiled, veer away!

  • BlizzCon 2010: Quests and lore panel highlights

    by 
    Anne Stickney
    Anne Stickney
    10.26.2010

    The Quests and Lore panel at BlizzCon 2010 answered some old questions, raised a few new ones and featured some information with heavy implications as to what we may see in future Cataclysm content. The panel, hosted by Alex Afrasiabi and Chris Metzen, was a flat-out Q&A geekfest in which the hosts answered as many questions from the audience as possible in the hour they were given to do so. Check out our liveblog for the full coverage of questions asked and answered, and read on for some of the most surprising moments from the panel. Please note: The rest of this article contains heavy Cataclysm spoilers. If you wish to avoid any content reveals, veer away now!

  • BlizzCon 2010: Day 1 round-up

    by 
    Allison Robert
    Allison Robert
    10.23.2010

    This is going to be a slightly quieter BlizzCon than last year, folks. There aren't any major announcements on the scene for World of Warcraft and we already know that Cataclysm is coming this December. Apart from that, the directives this year can be summarized as: Relax, have fun and try to find that bartender at the seafood place who makes the really strong drinks. WoW Insider reader meetup This year's bash drew record attendance (we may have gotten as many as 3,000 people over the course of the evening), drew guests from all over and featured some interesting shirts. We'll have more specific coverage on guests and events once our bloggers recover. The agony of the lines Well, it's a convention -- you're gonna be in line for a while. Fortunately, we found the first people in line, some things to keep life interesting and costumed fans and scenes from the crowd. Alex Ziebart flagged down one of his guildies emerging from registration to get pictures of the 2010 goody bag. Liveblogs We liveblogged the opening ceremonies for our sister site Joystiq, then trotted back to WoW Insider to liveblog the Dungeons and Raids and Quests and Lore panels. Digital downloads Turns out we'll be able to play Cataclysm even earlier than we thought; Blizzard's offering the expansion as a prepaid digital download, so players will be able to enjoy a shattered Azeroth the moment the game goes live. Cataclysm news and patch 4.1 There may not be any major announcements for the moment, but we did get a few tidbits on upcoming features. We got a peek at the Firelands raid and Abyssal Maw dungeon available in patch 4.1, changes being made to classic dungeons to (as Scott Mercer, lead encounter designer, referred to it) "cut out the suck," and upcoming enhanced dungeon maps. Outland and Northrend revamps being planned Chris Metzen and Alex Afrasiabi have confirmed that Blizzard's planning to update Outland and Northrend to keep them current with the Cataclysm storyline. Fun trivia Mike Morhaime shed some light on how many times our buddy Arthas has fallen to the might and magic of Azeroth's champions, and Blizzard's releasing another pet (the moonkin hatchling) during the holiday season to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. %Gallery-105820% %Gallery-105831% %Gallery-105834% BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!

  • BlizzCon 2010: Outland and Northrend revamps eventually planned

    by 
    Gregg Reece
    Gregg Reece
    10.22.2010

    One of the problems with changing the world in Cataclysm to bring all of the classic storylines up to date is that you suddenly go to Outland for an event that happened in the past. You also follow this up with going to Northrend and fighting back the undead which were already shown to have fallen back in the content before you ever went to Outland. Chris Metzen discussed the fact that this really doesn't mesh well and the internal Blizzard lore folks aren't really happy with it. They plan to eventually go back and make Outland and Northrend fit with the revised storyline. The problem they ran into is purely a lack of time. As an example, Wrath of the Lich King had around 1000 quests in Northrend. Cataclysm has 3500 quests without touching either Outland or Northrend. So, these changes to make the lore line up are planned, but there is absolutely no schedule as to when they will be implemented. BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!

  • BlizzCon 2010: Quests and lore panel liveblog

    by 
    Allison Robert
    Allison Robert
    10.22.2010

    Hey folks. Our people on the ground are having some major technical difficulties, so for the time being I'm taking over the liveblogging duties. This is the first time I've done it, so just bear with me if I bring the site crashing down. The Quests and Lore panel will begin momentarily. As with the Dungeons and Raids panel, we're covering this here rather than Joystiq, and you'll find the liveblog past the cut. BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!