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WRUP: In which there are elves and broken
The delicate subject of new classes was discussed this week by various members of our staff, and while we seem to be split on the matter, there's another option to consider. In this week's bonus question, we look at the possibility of new races and what everyone would like to see -- along with a glimpse at what the staff is playing this weekend. But enough of that -- what are you playing this weekend? Leave your comments, and while you're at it, maybe you want to answer this week's bonus question of what new races you'd like to see yourselves! Daniel Whitcomb (@danielwhitcomb) I'll be farming battle pets and working on my last few rares on Timeless Isle for the Timeless Champion achievement. I keep barely missing Chelon and Osu. As far as a new race goes, I am still a High Elf fan. As someone who's loved them since Elven Archers in WCII, I think we should have them from the start. Plus, with the extra development the Silver Covenant got in Patch 5.1 and 5.2, it's a perfect time to bring them in to the Alliance. Yes, I know they're "too similar to Blood Elves." I figure we can just give the Horde some "reformed" Eredar that look like red-skinned Draenei, and we'll be even.
The Queue: Music is distracting
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Sarah Pine (@ilaniel) will be your host today. Thanks to tumblr for introducing me to the Armenian pop singer Sirusho. I can't get this song out of my head, despite not understanding a word of it. This video in particular has been praised for featuring some wonderful Armenian design, and it's easy to see why! Ron2 asked: What's your favorite class and/or race for a gathering alt? Horde or Alliance, Mining, Herbing, and/or Skinning, I leave that up to you.
Know Your Lore: The long game of the naaru, part 2
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. These posts about the naaru are mainly speculative. I hesitate to use the Tinfoil Hat title, because I'm not postulating that they're secretly evil or anything. But the fact remains, we know very little about the naaru. We don't know where they come from, how long they live, if they can enter their Light/Darkness cycle indefinitely, if they ever die naturally or even if they can be really killed. The only one we've ever defeated in combat ended up part of the Sunwell, and who's to say what he's doing in there now? Is M'uru still alive in the Sunwell, or did his mind die with Entropius? We currently have no way of knowing. We know that despite what we experienced in The Burning Crusade, for the naaru, entering the void phase of their existence is an exceedingly rare and perilous event, at least according to the Ask CDev threads. It is this unknown quality that fascinates me about the naaru. As we discussed last week, the Ata'mal Crystal that Velen used to create the barrier of Light and hold off Archimonde and Kil'jaeden's followers was an ancient mystery of his people. We don't really know where it comes from or if the naaru gave it to the ancient eredar or if the eredar constructed it somehow. What we do know is that at some point in the distant past before Sargeras came to Argus, the eredar and the naaru had some form of contact. This implies that the naaru may well predate the Titans. What we do know is this: Somehow, in some way, the eredar and the naaru met, and the Ata'mal Crystal was left in eredar hands until Velen came to call upon it for guidance.
TERA's High Elves strut their stuff in a high-octane video
"We believe. We remember." Those are the watchwords of the High Elves of TERA, and they're not just talking about rock 'n roll, mind you. As TERA's launch approaches, En Masse is making a strong bid for the legitimacy of this race by releasing its High Elf spotlight video. It's two minutes of flips, ridiculously big weapons, and strong magic flaunted in the face of enemies everywhere. Once a conquering nation that operated under the name of the Children of Karas, the High Elves suffered a humiliating downfall and subsequently re-emerged as a force for good. While their aid to the good people of the world is welcome, they're not quite trusted as of yet. High Elves receive four unique racials: They can teleport to their home city, refill their mana, regenerate mana upon resurrection, and gather alchemy resources quickly. Check out the video after the jump and let us know if you'll be rolling a High Elf upon launch!
Know Your Lore, TFH Edition: The naaru are a menace that must be destroyed
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. A soothing light fills you as you approach the naaru. Slow musical chimes echo within your mind and though a word is not uttered, you feel an assurance of safety. They glimmer with the purity of the Light, and their very presence fills one with a warm, calm feeling of inner peace. They also teach the ways of the Light -- the draenei would not be paladins were it not for these mysterious creature's intervention. In fact, the benevolent naaru came to Velen in a vision when his world was at its darkest hour, offering him hope, salvation, escape ... and the knowledge that there was a far larger battle out there, one that had yet to come to pass. Kil'jaeden and Archimonde eagerly agreed to follow and serve Sargeras, becoming the highest-ranked members of the Burning Legion. As for Velen, he took the worried, the lost, the concerned draenei with him and fled, pledging his servitude to the naaru and their righteous cause. Two causes, one outwardly and easily identifiable as evil -- and the other, far more sinister and wicked than anything the Burning Legion could ever hope to achieve. Today's Know Your Lore is a Tinfoil Hat edition, meaning the following is a look into what has gone before with pure speculation on what is to come. These speculations are merely theories and should not be taken as fact or official lore.
Know Your Lore: The Troll Wars
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 past is prologue. Melodramatic, perhaps, but it bears stating. The world of Azeroth, known to us for the three most recent wars, has in fact seen many -- the War of the Ancients, the War of the Shifting Sands, the war between the ancient troll empires and the aqir. One of these wars went far to set the stage for the First and Second Wars by creating, in effect, three of the major players in those conflicts. Without the Troll Wars, there would today be no Silvermoon, no human nations (and thus no Forsaken), and the troll nation of Zul'Aman would rule all of northern Lordaeron, perhaps all the way south to Khaz Modan. The Troll Wars were named by their victors. To the trolls of Zul'Aman, they never really ended. Pushed back by the elves of Quel'Thalas and their human allies, the once-great northern troll empire receded but never actually died. Technically, even after repeated raids by outsiders, the Amani still hold onto their ancestral home. But all around it, the direct descendants (barely two elven generations) of their conquerors hold the Ghostlands, forests scarred by the Scourge during the Third War. War seems to never leave the gates of the troll kingdoms. However, to be fair, it's not as if the trolls are shy about warring on others, either.
Trion details RIFT's Silverwood lore
It's mid-week, and if you've been following our RIFT coverage for some time, you know that that's generally when Trion graces us with another lore-centric news item. Last week it was a profile of Alsbeth the Discordant; this time around we've got a look at the primordial elven sanctuary known as Silverwood. RIFT's high elves are described by Trion as the wardens of all life, and so it follows that the race be given stewardship over the untamed wilds, forests, and vibrant greenery of their ancestral home. Join us after the cut to explore how Tavril, Telara's nature goddess, bade the high elves defend Silverwood through the ages and how the forests are faring under the onslaught of the destructive planar rifts. %Gallery-101448%
TERA unveils new class information and its plans for GDC
For a hack-and-slash-type MMO, TERA doesn't skirt around with the lore. Each of the player races has its own distinct personality traits. This week, En Masse Entertainment is talking about the High Elves. As a player race, the High Elves reward ambition and intellectual prowess yet frown on emotional outbursts. Despite being the last members to join the Valkyon Federation, these accomplished Sorcerers, Mystics, and Slayers will probably be running things for a while. Speaking of classes, En Masse revealed more information about the Berserker and Priest classes. The team claims that, although a Berserker rages through his enemies, it is still a very tactical class to play. And despite the Priest's adept healing abilities, this class is still a terror on the battlefield, dishing damage one second then turning around the next to help keep his friends alive. Nine new images of these classes were added to the gallery below. If this lore or these classes interest you, then you will be pleased to know that key members of En Masse Entertainment, along with a brand new demo of TERA, will be available at GDC in San Fransisco on March 2nd - 4th. If you are attending, you can be one of the first in North America to get your hands on this action-MMO. %Gallery-105090%
A world torn asunder: RIFT's Mathosian Civil War revealed
Brother vs. brother, elf vs. elf: This is the sad state of Telara that led to the Mathosian Civil War. While RIFT players may find themselves drawn to the planar invasions as the key conflict of the world, the truth is that plenty of events and key figures have played a part in shaping the land up to this point. Today Trion Worlds released the backstory of both the Mathosian Civil War and Shyla Starhearth, the leader of the High Elves. Both Aedraxis Mathos and Shyla find themselves at odds over the conflict and the future of the world. It's interesting to note that the civil war began at the city of Port Scion, which will be both a PvP warfront at launch and a proper zone sometime thereafter. Hit the jump to bone up on your RIFT lore as two mighty forces come to a head!
The Perfect Ten: Best non-traditional MMO fantasy races
Elves. Dwarves. Humans. Halflings. Gnomes. Hobbits. Dark elves. High elves. Half-elves. Wood elves. Keebler elves. Elvish impersonators. Are you as tired as I am of the endless regurgitation of stock fantasy races in our MMOs? It seems inconceivable (I do not think that means what you think it means) for a new fantasy title to come out without most of the above races infesting the character creation screen with moldy unoriginality, putrescent stank, and dusty boredom. That's why today I'm standing up to praise 10 MMOs that dare to go above and beyond the stale by offering mostly unique and different races than the rest of the market. Hopefully future games will learn from their example and throw off the yokes of generic oppression to give us something bold and refreshing!
Exclusive Rift reveal: The Kelari race!
As Rift: Planes of Telara marches closer and closer to that glorious day when demons will invade our world, we've been eagerly soaking up Trion Worlds' gradual reveal of the races, classes and features of this promising title. Today we're pleased to announce Rift's sixth race, the Kelari! If the thought of edgy rebel elves who channel magic into machines makes your ears perk up, then you're going to love the Kelari. They're not just the stereotypical "dark elves" that many fantasy games boast, but instead they carry with them the same genre-twist that Rift is becoming known for creating. Read on for Trion Worlds' official background description of the race, as well as a few new gorgeous screenshots in our gallery.
SDCC 2010: TERA by the numbers
If looks were everything, then TERA would certainly place as a finalist in the Miss Upcoming MMO Universe pageant. Yet as visually sumptuous as it may be, we're more interested in its personality. Can the brains match the beauty? So far, it looks promising. We've been locked on to TERA's unique brand of fantasy play since this year's E3 (and before), and as such, it's great to check back in with the title, take it out for a quiet romantic dinner, and see how it's shaping up. We caught up with En Masse Entertainment at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con and spent a half hour putting the game through its paces and chatting up with TERA's devs. While TERA's dev team is working with a more recent build of the game, our hands-on demo was the same build as the one we saw at E3. Even so, it's always worth spending a few more minutes with an upcoming MMO to see what new facts and impressions can be gleaned. Hit the jump to read more about classes, races and an idea about not getting hit that's so crazy, it just might work!
Know Your Lore: Elven evolution
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. I love reading the comments on KYL. Sometimes you guys have some really great ideas, and sometimes you guys know just where to poke a hole in whatever fanciful theory I've got out for discussion -- but by and large, it's just nice to see people asking questions and thinking. The bonus to having comments, however, is that I can see where people are confused and put together something to straighten it all out. The subject today is elven evolution -- the difference between the night elves, blood elves, high elves, Highborne, Shen'dralar, quel'dorei, sin'dorei and all those other terms thrown out there that make the simple process of figuring out where all those elves originated incredibly confusing. Elven evolution is fairly straightforward; it's just the extra terminology that throws people. All elven ancestry starts with the kaldorei, which means "children of the stars" in their native tongue. These guys are night elves, and they are the first elves that ever existed and the elves from which all elven ancestry on Azeroth originates. Don't think of them exactly the same as the night elves we can play in Warcraft today, but as a slightly older version, though they looked virtually the same. Malfurion, Illidan, Tyrande, Azshara ... All of these elves were descendants of the original kaldorei. Where the kaldorei came from is up in the air, though there are multiple theories. The night elves believe that the kaldorei were originally their own race, a primitive group of nomadic, nocturnal creatures who settled by the Well of Eternity and were blessed by Elune, transformed and subsequently adopting the name kaldorei. Ancient troll legends suggest that those nomads who settled by the Well of Eternity were actually trolls that were turned into the first kaldorei. This is where the crux of that argument about the elves' origins stems from. The elves believe that the primitive group of nomads were simply early elves who hadn't evolved into "proper" elves yet, and the trolls believe that the primitive group of nomads were actually primitive trolls who split off from the Amani Empire.
Know Your Lore: Quel'delar, the Sister Blade
Welcome back to Know Your Lore, WoW.com's column about the story behind the game we all play. A featured questline in Patch 3.3, the story of Quel'delar is available to any player who attains the Battered Hilt, which can drop from any mob in the Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons. But what's the story behind this ancient and powerful weapon? Long ago, the night elves and the five Dragonflights worked together with great ceremony to forge a set of incredibly powerful prismatic swords, intended to be the first line of defense against any evil that would challenge the races of Azeroth: Quel'serrar, the High Blade, and Quel'delar, the Sister Blade. Quel'serrar was gifted to the night elves, but ultimately nearly destroyed. For thousands of years it remained partially intact with the Shen'dralar of Eldre'thalas, who anticipated that one day it'd be possible to reforge the blade. Only recently did this occur, with heroes reforging the blade in the flames and black heart of Onyxia, broodmother of the Black Dragonflight. The blade's triumphant return to its full glory brought great joy to the night elves, who thought the blade lost forever. Its sister blade, however, followed a different path. This writeup contains spoilers from the Quel'delar questline and should be avoided if you want to be surprised when Patch 3.3 launches.
A Wild Hunt leads to Warhammer's one year anniversary
What happens when you don't appease a god in the Warhammer Online universe? They get angry -- very, very angry. And then they smash things. Unfortunately, it appears as though the High Elves have been too focused on the RvR campaign to properly honour Kurnous with their annual sacred hunt and it has greatly displeased the God of the Hunt and Lord of the Beasts. His retaliation sets the stage for a new Live Event called Wild Hunt, which releases August 31, 2009 and leads into the game's first anniversary.Mythic just released Grab Bag no. 21, which is full of Hunty goodness. Players will be granted special access to a new dungeon called Hunter's Vale for one week. This dungeon is accessed from RvR areas and is not warded, which puts the tier 4 version on par with Bastion Stair. Each tier will get its own version and lower level players will even be bolstered once inside so they can contribute.A lot of effort goes into the game's monthly Live Events and they seem to be quite a hit with players. Some of the events will be annual, like the Wild Hunt and Night of Murder and some of them will be unique and introduce game-changing content to the world (e.g., Rise of the Tomb Kings and Bitter Rivals). It doesn't appear as though Mythic will be letting up any time soon.
Ask a Lore Nerd: Looking to the future
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week blogger and columnist Alex Ziebart answers your questions about the lore and history of the World of Warcraft. Ask your questions in the comments section below, and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.This week I have a special request: I want any questions you might have about potential future expansions. Any questions at all are welcome, but I'm on a speculation kick recently, so next week's column will probably focus on the future and then we'lll be back to our regular deal after that. So no matter whether you think the Maelstrom could be next or something else entirely, ask!Mark asked..."Any chance that the Vrykul will be a playable race in a future expansion?"
The Queue: I'm back. It's me, DP.
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Today I am pleased to announce something even bigger than a new WoW expansion. In fact, it has nothing to do with WoW at all, but it's still something every single person reading this blog will want to know about. It's something that will bring excitement to all of our lives. Our inner children will burst forth in joy at this announcement. This is something that's 17 years in the making, folks. That's probably longer than some of you have been alive.Yes, that's right. Don't Copy That Floppy is getting a sequel. Naix asked..."Will we ever see each faction get their own special class again like the Paladin and Shaman?"
Breakfast Topic: The next Warcraft comic book hero
So I posted a couple days ago about the new Death Knight manga starring the Human Death Knight Thassarian, and it sparked some interesting conversation in the comments. Namely, people started talking about the type of hero they'd like to see in the Warcraft comics. Some complained that the Horde wasn't getting enough representation, some wanted specific races to get the spotlight. I thought it was at least fun to think about, so I thought I'd ask the question straight up: Who would you like to see get front billing in a Warcraft comic storyline or graphic novel?
The Digital Continuum: Beyond Warhammer Online patch 1.2
Warhammer Online players are in the midst of the Bitter Rivals live event, plus another big new patch. I'm going to guess that it probably took a lot of development muscle to get the Black Guard, Knight of the Blazing Sun, Slayer and Choppa in a fun, playable shape. Not to mention the improvements to open RvR, Scenarios, PvE and general quality of life fixes.I have no doubt that the east coast developer has the next several patches planned out to some degree. Nonetheless, Mythic, Warhammer Online and its community are at a development crossroads -- and so today I'm going to explore a few possibilities.
The Queue: High Elves, great race or greatest race?
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. I have to admit, there were one idea brought up in the comments yesterday that I'm completely in support of: Kael'thas returning as a Lich. Hell. Yes. Not aligned with the Scourge, but self-fueled and up to his own machinations again. Kael'thas has been one of my favorite villains, watching his fall into desperation through WCIII and The Burning Crusade. Lich Kael would own so hard.That's enough of that, though. On with the questions!Leprakahn asked... I remember reading during Wrath beta that at the end of inscription scribes were going to get a 7th glyph slot, what happened to that? Did it get scrapped completely or will it come with a later patch?
