rexxar
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Hearthstone heroes ranked not by power, but by lore
Hearthstone news site Liquidhearth posted a pretty interesting rank list yesterday. The site primarily focuses on the game-related side of Hearthstone -- arenas, deck builds, card abilities and the like -- however, this particular article looks at not the individual cards, but the heroes featured on Hearthstone's nine available decks. The list is laid out and ranked not by the relative power of the class deck, but by the place they stand in Warcraft lore. Each hero is given a brief descriptive summary detailing their place in Warcraft's history, and each rank is justified by one of three panelists quizzed for the column. What makes it interesting is that from a Hearthstone standpoint, the order isn't really quite where I think it should be. Mage decks, for example, are absolutely devastating if they get the right cards -- and I've had my cards thrown right back at me by more than one incredibly clever set of combos from a priest deck. The rogue deck is particularly devastating when used correctly as well.
Hearthstone dev diary sets its sights on Rexxar the Hunter
Blizzard's latest entry into the money-printing franchise that is World of Warcraft, collectible card game Hearthstone, is currently chugging along through the closed beta stage of development, and many fans are clamoring for more information as the game nears launch. Well today you're in luck, especially if the animal-loving Hunter is your class of choice, because the devs have just released a new dev diary detailing Hearthstone's playable Hunter character, the legendary Rexxar. The dev diary dedicates the first half of its entry to the lore of Rexxar the beastmaster, a half-orc, half-ogre from Outland's Blade's Edge Mountains who eventually found himself in Azeroth becoming staunch allies with the Horde warchief Thrall. But let's be real here: We all want to know how he plays. Not to worry, the devs have that covered too. Rexxar's mechanics echo the playstyle of World of Warcraft's Hunter class. He has plenty of tricks and traps available to him, including classics such as Snake Trap and Misdirection. With his longbow in hand, Rexxar unleashes a barrage of ranged attacks while standing safely behind an army of his animal companions, making him a veritable force of nature on the battlefield. For more on Rexxar, click on through the link below.
Know Your Lore: Lost Lore Legends
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. This week, while I was doing the WoW Insider podcast, we got a question about Rexxar. Now, if you know me, you know I love Rexxar. The question was, essentially, where is Rexxar and while there's a simple answer to it (he's in Blade's Edge) it's a bigger question than that. With Vol'jin getting the band back together, so to speak, with Chen and even Thrall and Baine taking part in the Darkspear Rebellion, why didn't he call in Rexxar? This is, in fact, the perfect time for Rexxar to show up and save the day in that gigantic brooding Mok'Nathal way he has of doing that. Heck, Rexxar would be the perfect choice for a field commander of the rebellion, because as I pointed out before, Rexxar is the one guy who always believed in Thrall and Thrall's vision for the Horde even when Thrall didn't. The orcs changed because one person said so. That person stands before you now as Warchief. Do you doubt him? So where is Rexxar? Why is he still in Blade's Edge? If he could return to Orgrimmar to protect it from the Elemental Invasion, why isn't he in Razor Hill now, saving the Horde from bad leadership and bad intentions? Am I the only one who wants to see Garrosh throw down with Rexxar? And the Champion of the Horde isn't the only lore figure who has been conspicuously absent as the Alliance/Horde conflict heats up.
Know Your Lore: The role of characters in WoW 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. One of the interesting aspects of the Warcraft setting is which characters have achieved a kind of iconic status. The lore of the game is the unfolding story, and the story is ultimately shaped and defined by its characters. The story is what happened to, and because of, these people be they orc, human, troll, night elf, gnome, tauren or pandaren. Take Rexxar, for instance. He's one of my favorite characters in Warcraft. Why? Why do I love Rexxar? Well, in part I enjoy that his mixed heritage makes him an outcast in a faction of outcasts, that he was one of the few to see how twisted and warped the old Horde was in time to step away from it before it began its campaign of atrocity across Azeroth. I like his simple faith in the ideals Thrall represented for the Horde in Durotar, his willingness to fight to preserve them, and the lengths he went while at the same time knowing exactly when to finally stop. Rexxar knew that defeating Theramore and Admiral Proudmoore was enough; he didn't have to destroy it.
Know Your Lore: Rexxar, Champion of the Horde
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. It's been a few years since we caught up with Rexxar, hasn't it? Despite the fact that he hasn't gotten any new screen time since he showed up to save Orgrimmar from the elemental invasion, Rexxar is on my mind of late. In truth, I pretty much covered Rexxar's life in broad strokes during the interbellum pieces The coming of Rexxar and Rexxar saves the Horde. This won't be a post rehashing all of that. We will discuss it, but in terms of what it means for the Horde right now and the Horde in the future. With what we know about what's coming, the office of Warchief of the Horde will be contested. It's likely that Thrall may return to assume the mantle of Warchief again. But frankly, his time as World Shaman means that he has assumed a far greater and more demanding responsibility, that Thrall has Azeroth as his responsibility and his charge. Can he truly be both? And more importantly, should he? Whether or not you believe Thrall is the ultimate choice for Warchief of the Horde, I posit that he never would have endured in the role without the help of others, those who could be the mailed fist he could never truly be. Before Varok Saurfang and Garrosh Hellscream led Horde forces to Northrend, one figure strode across the face of Kalimdor and beyond it, and through his actions defeated Theramore and saved the Horde. That one figure was Rexxar, born to the Mok'Nathal clan, a beastmaster of half-ogre descent. For his actions, he was named Champion of the Horde. And the Horde sorely needs its champion again.
Know Your Lore: Interbellum part 7 -- Rexxar saves the Horde
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. And now at last, our series detailing the years between Warcraft III and World of Warcraft ends, as it must, with the story of the greatest warrior the New Horde has ever seen. After the supposed peace proposal led to a trap that might have captured Thrall had Rexxar not insisted he take the Warchief's place, Thrall decided that the usual paths of protocol could not be trusted. He had to contact Jaina Proudmoore directly. Rexxar would go directly to Theramore Island to meet with Jaina and discover what was behind these attacks. If Rexxar thought that Thrall's strange attachment to the human woman whose forces had seemingly tried to kill him six or seven times by this point was odd, he still went.
Know Your Lore: Interbellum part 6 -- The Coming of Rexxar
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. Just face it: Rexxar is the greatest hero the Horde has ever known. If it were not for Rexxar, Cairne Bloodhoof would have sat mired in depression while the aggressor humans of Kul Tiras destroyed Orgrimmar. Baine would be dead. Thrall wouldn't have acted in time and might well have ended up a Warchief without a Horde to lead. The Echo Isles were saved from destruction years before Zalazane by Rexxar. It is an indisputable fact. Rexxar saved the Horde, defeated its enemies, discovered the human perfidy and the actions of Admiral Proudmoore (opening Jaina's eyes to her own father's unwillingness to share her dream of peace) -- and, lest we forget, it was no Warchief who struck the ultimate blow in this battle at the birth of the new orc homeland. It was the hand of a Mok'Nathal.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a Leatherworker
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the thirty-fourth in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class (or profession!) well, without embarrassing yourself. At the outset of this series on how to roleplay one's professions, Leatherworking struck me as the most difficult profession to write about, even more than skinning, herbalism, or mining. This was in spite of (and in fact maybe because of) the fact that it was the first profession I ever chose in WoW. My very first character, who was a druid, wanted to choose leatherworking in order in order to make her own armor as well as prevent the dead bodies of all those animals she had to kill during her quests from going to waste. At that time I didn't know a whole lot about roleplaying, or how to play the game, and I knew even less about the background lore behind everything I was seeing. I originally roleplayed with my friends that my night elf had been born in Darnassus, only later to find out that would have made her about 3 years old -- a fact none of us had known, because WoW was our first exposure to the lore of Azeroth. This was actually my inspiration for writing these articles, so that our readers wouldn't have to go read pages and pages of books and websites or play old and (to me anyway) less enjoyable games.As I played the game more and more, the leatherworking armor seemed less and less useful and seemed more and more difficult to make. I also started imagining what skinning all those animals and then stitching together parts of their dead bodies would actually feel like, and suddenly I felt more like a kind of Dr. Frankenstein than a peaceful druid. It turns out, however, that I knew as little about leatherworking back then as I did about the game itself.
The Queue: Of vampires and lances
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. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.We're going to jump right in today, because we have plenty to talk about this time around!NarwhalFrenzy asked..."Referring to the quest Out of Body Experience, we already know what happened to Prince Keleseth and Prince Valanar, but will we ever figure out what happened to the other darkfallen there, like Prince Theraldis or Prince Atherann?" I have no doubt we'll be seeing them in Patch 3.3, in and around Icecrown. Prince Theraldis (the one on a horse (with an equine-themed pashmina afghan)) seems to have been the overseer of that whole project going on during Out of Body Experience, so I wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be a raid boss and Prince Atherann is in a 5-man or a group quest elsewhere. Though it would be interesting if they were a side-by-side raid boss, like the Twin Emperors. Hm!
Scattered Shots: The Hunters of lore
Scattered Shots is your weekly guide to improving your Hunter skills, brought to you by Jessica "Lassirra" Klein of The Hunter's Mark, covering a wide variety of Huntery topics. Today, we'll be looking at some prominent historic figures in Hunter lore. For Hunters looking to get into role playing, a good place to start is to look at the Hunters that came before you to get a feel for common themes upon which you can base your character concept. There are many prominent Hunters in Blizzard lore that spans multiple Warcraft titles, both for the Horde and the Alliance, which you can look to for inspiration. Today, I'd like to spend some time getting to know some of the great Hunters of Azeroth.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a troll
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the third in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself.Trolls are based on the "wild savages" you've seen in the movies or on TV, from King Kong to Discovery channel. If you've seen people hunting with spears, walking around in the forest without many clothes on, or dancing around in costumes and face paint in some kind of ritual you've never heard of, you've seen the apparent inspiration for trolls in World of Warcraft. The culture of Warcraft trolls are a mishmash of all the different myths and rumors that have grown up about some of the earth's indigenous peoples that live outside modern society: Strange voodoo beliefs and rituals? Check. Bloodthirsty headhunters with a taste for cannibalism? Check. Witch doctors, shrunken heads, human sacrifice, and rampant superstition? Check on all counts.It's important to note here that troll culture is based on the myths about some indigenous people, not on their reality. Cannibalism, for instance, has been rare among human societies, nearly always viewed as anathema, but among the trolls of Azeroth, it appears to be the rule rather than the exception. Unbiased study of the world's primal religions has shown them to be far more sophisticated than early (and prejudiced) Western explorers ever imagined. Don't listen to the Jamaican accent trolls have in the game and assume that trolls are based on real life Jamaicans. There is nowhere near the correlation here that we might find with the dwarves and the Scots, or even the draenei and the eastern Europeans that they sound like. Indeed, one could argue that the choice of a Jamaican accent to represent the trolls and their culture reveals a great deal of ignorance we Americans have regarding Caribbean islanders -- but that's a discussion I'll not go into today.Suffice it to say that as a member of the Darkspear tribe, the only tribe of trolls to join the Horde, your character living in a time of great change for your people. Your tribe is the first to embrace the more modern values promoted by Thrall, to take up the spiritual practices of shamanism, and to integrate itself with other races. Although the Darkspears have officially given up human sacrifice, cannibalism, and now tell you to "stay away from the voodoo," these practices are all elements of religion and superstition that your character would have grown up with, and may find it hard to let go of completely.
Ask a Lore Nerd: Babies babies babies
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, the column that answers your questions about the story and lore of the Warcraft universe. Click the Comments link below (or e-mail us!), ask your question, and blogger/columnist Alex Ziebart will answer you in a future installment!Let's jump right in with Tom's trio of questions... We know what happens when a human and orc cross-breed, but what about elf/human intermingling? Is it possible for the other races on Azeroth to breed and are there any such results of that union? Elf/Human crossbreeds are definitely supported by lore, as well as a whole mess of other combinations. Arator the Redeemer in Hellfire Peninsula is a Human/Elf Hybrid, for example, and there are plenty more around. Other combinations are valid as well. Rexxar is an Orc/Ogre Hybrid. Gross, I know, but oh well. There are a lot more examples you can add to those that are scattered around the world(s). There are no hard rules in place dictating who can and cannot interbreed, but it's pretty safe to assume the races similar to one another are compatible. I would bet Dwarves and Gnomes can shack up and spawn, for example, but probably not a Gnome and a Tauren. That's just me talking, though. I could be wrong. Let's pray very, very hard that I'm not wrong.
Know Your Lore: Thrall (part 2)
Welcome to Know Your Lore, where each week Alex Ziebart brings you a tasty little morsel of lore to wrap your mind around. Sweet, sweet lore. Mmmm.Many moons ago, Matthew Rossi began a look at Thrall, one of the most beloved heroes in Warcraft. It was only the first half of Thrall and Grom's Radical Adventure and in a shocking turn of events, most of you actually want us to finish what we started! Man, slavedrivers, the whole lot of ya. If you haven't read part one of the Thrall saga, you should probably do so. If you have read it, here's a quick recap of what went down so far: Thrall is the son of Durotan, former chieftain of the Frostwolves, who refused to drink the Blood of Mannoroth and was killed because he called Gul'dan a jerk. Aedalas Blackmoore, a drunkard with a lot of power, kept Thrall alive and raised him to be a tool to be used to gather more power for himself. Thrall made friends with Teretha Foxton in his days at Blackmoore's Durnholde Keep, and when Thrall escaped Durnholde many years later, Blackmoore cut off Taretha's head and threw it at the freshly-named Warchief of the New Horde. Thrall rejected this oh-so-kind gift and killed Blackmoore. If you need the details that go in between those notes, well, part one is just over there. Let's move on to the Third War and beyond, shall we?
Maintenance for June 17th will be short
Here's a heads-up to all our North American night owls early risers and Oceanic readers: It's Tuesday morning, and that means maintenance. Luckily, it's a short one today. Bornakk has said that they expect most servers to only be down a half hour, starting at 5AM PDT and ending a 5:30AM PDT. There are some extra servers that will be down slightly longer, until 6:30AM PDT. Those servers will be listed after the break. Aussies can rejoice as well, as any Oceanic servers not on this list won't be taken down until 5AM AEST (Which is noon over here on the American west coast). For the list of servers that will have a longer downtime, read on:
Father's Day in Azeroth: A salute to the fathers of Warcraft lore
So it's Father's Day, the time when we all pay homage to the fathers or father figures in our lives, and thank them for all that they do. While we can't say for sure if they celebrate Father's Day in Azeroth, too, there's a lot of people in Azeroth and Outland who have reason to think back on their dads today. Many dads of Azeroth have affected their children's lives or been affected by them. The ramifications of the interactions of these fathers and children have then in turn affected the lore and story of Warcraft in ways great and small. Therefore, in honor of the holiday, let's look at 10 famous and not-so-famous dads of Warcraft lore (listed in no particular order).
Breakfast Topic: Lore and story progression via static NPCs
When the Burning Crusade first came out, veterans noticed a few things back on Azeroth: Some of our favorite NPCs had disappeared! The wandering Rexxar was replaced by a fellow name Rokaro, and Hemet Nesingwary left Stranglethorn, leaving his son, Hemet Nesingwary Jr., to take over the hunt. More recently, Lady Liadrin has come to Shattrath City, leaving behind Lord Solanar Bloodwrath to guide up and coming Blood Knights in her place. In order to move along a few story lines, Blizzard decided that it was worth moving NPCs to move along the story, and left other NPCs in place with minor alterations so that other people could still experience their old quests. This, however, isn't the only way Blizzard has dealt with progressing story lines.
Breakfast Topic: Real Azrothean Heroes
Alex Ziebart and Elizabeth Wachowski do an excellent job of filling us in on the stories behind our World of Warcraft adventures in the regular Know Your Lore columns. I had very little experience with the real time strategy games that led to our beloved MMORPG. I find that learning the lore gives a bit more meaning to my level grinding. As I've leveled up I've come across some really interesting NPCs, some more famous than others. I'd like to take some time to look at some of the lesser known heroes of Azeroth. Caregiver Inaara has to be the hardest working character in the game. Stationed as the Innkeper of Sun's Reach Harbor on the Isle of Quel'Danas. Reportedly an excellent companion, Inaara serves up cold brews to thousands of thirsty characters, tired from endless daily quests. Even as a newcomer to Azeroth, we know little about this blue beauty, except that she is a surviver and serves her patrons with an unflinching smile. Sure there are famous folks like Jaina Proudmoore and Rexxar, but let's take some time to salute the little people. Who's you're hero?
Know Your Lore: Rexxar
Rexxar's a bit of an oddity in WoW. Prior to the Burning Crusade, he and his bear Misha wandered through Desolace and Feralas, with nothing to identify him but the title "Champion of the Horde" and no way to pass his time but to help Horde players with their Onyxia keys. As a player new to the Warcraft universe, I always wondered who he was and why he was a hero to the Horde. It was only later that I found out about his past, his true race, and his connections to the rest of the Horde. Oh, and so Big Red Kitty doesn't yell at us, we'll cover Misha and his other "pets" too. Ready? Let's go. Who: Rexxar, Last Son of the Mok'Nathal, Champion of the Horde. What: A Mok'Nathal, which is a tribe of half-orc, half-ogre humanoids. History: Officially, Rexxar was "born of a union of orc and ogre" -- but since we get to meet his dad and his dad is also a Mok'Nathal, he's probably the son of two half-ogre parents. He grew up in a Mok'Nathal village in Blade's Edge Mountains. He was a happy child with a peaceful life, but as he grew older, he realized that there was no future for him in Draenor. So when the local orcs came calling with their plan to go through a portal and invade a new world called Azeroth, he joined up with the Old Horde against his father's wishes. But after going through the Dark Portal and seeing the activities of the Old Horde in the First War, he decided that he would be better off on his own. He took off and wandered through the wilderness and communed with nature, kind of like a hippie but with less weed and bad jam band music. He made friends with several animals while he roamed, most notably Misha, an enchanted bear who he became fiercely attached to. But the wilderness of Azeroth was still too close to civilization, and he could not escape the fighting between the Alliance and the Horde. Misha and Rexxar set sail for Kalimdor, where they roamed the Barrens for fifteen levels until they were finally able to finish their quests and go to Thousand Needles.
Hey! You've got your Azeroth in my Outland!
So earlier today I finally decided to leave the confines of Hellfire Peninsula (I haven't even come close to finishing all the quests there-- Outland is just plain packed with things to collect and kill) and check out the rest of the continent for myself. I did a quick loop around Zangarmarsh and then headed for my favorite zone so far, Nagrand, to see the PVP town of Halaa, and then, on my way back to Terokkar Forest and Shattrath, I noticed a familiar looking camp on the side of the road. I pulled up, shocked, and sure enough, it was my old friend Hemet Nesingwary! The master hunter (and quest giver) actually recognized me when I talked to him from our time together back in STV (apparently he's left his son in charge back there), and said he'd come through the portal and leveled up to 70 in the blink of an eye, just to see how the hunting is here in Outland.Likewise, while I haven't seen him yet, I hear Rexxar, the questgiver in the Horde Onyxia quest chain who used to be in Desolace, now resides at a settlement in Blade's Edge Mountains. Maybe I just don't know how much WoW has affected me, but seeing Hemet in Nagrand was like seeing an old friend, and I know when I see Rexxar I'll have to give him a /nod or even a /wave as well.And the self-referential stuff goes back even farther than WoW's Azeroth-- the Unyielding Vengeful Knights and Footmen in the Expedition Armory in Hellfire Peninsula are right out of Warcraft II, and the first time I went to Shattrath to do the little tour quest, I was too agog at the scenery to realize the questgiver I was clicking through was none other than Khadgar-- THE Khadgar! As in, the one standing with the rest of the statues in Stormwind!I love Blizzard's references to pop culture and the real world. And yes, it's nerdy, but I think that I love their self-referential lore stuff even more-- it's awesome to see the story of these characters play out before our eyes. Seen any other familiar faces in Outland yet?
