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Breakfast Topic: How would you do the Wrath cinematic?
If you read WoW Insider, or really any WoW site, there's really no way you can be unaware of the Wrath cinematic's debut. Some people loved it, some people hated it, some people can go either way on it. I found that pretty interesting, because I personally loved it. While watching it, I actually thought to myself, "Wow, Daniel is gonna love this." Turns out he wasn't a fan of it at all!I loved the fact that it was more heavy on the story than the previous trailers. The Burning Crusade cinematic had some story, but it all seemed like it was just an excuse to kill some people and then throw in a quotable one-liner. Not that there's anything wrong with one-liners. Yelling 'You are not prepared!' with a few dozen other nerds at BC's midnight release was pretty sweet.I think that the trailer missed on the adrenaline factor, which is what made the previous trailers so fun. Daniel had some gripes with the Lich King's character, but I think that oomph of adrenaline would've pushed it from 'awesome' to 'completely amazing.' It needed something that gets you pumped. I adored it, but I came out of it going "wow, that was neat" and not "Hell yeah, I'm off to kill some undead, woohoo!" I think the only thing I would have done differently is add some conflict. A battle between the Horde/Alliance and the Scourge, maybe. Quick snippets of random pairs duking it out would've taken away from the 'epic' of this trailer, but I like the idea of a massive battle raging down below. That likely doesn't jive with the storyline they're working with since that dragon is going to be an actual character and/or boss in Wrath, but it would have been nice anyway.What about you guys? Let's say you were given the opportunity to rewrite the script for the whole thing, what would you do? Would you scrap the whole shebang and start over, is it fine how it is, or are you somewhere in between?
Ask a Lore Nerd: Now now, there's enough Light for everybody
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, ask your question, and blogger/columnist Alex Ziebart will answer you in a future installment!Aydinn of Cenarion Circle wrote in to ask...My question is (which may seem obvious to some), who is the goblin statue at Booty Bay? Why does he deserve a statue?Answer: Thanks for writing in! Good to hear from people from my home server. That statue on Janeiro Isle might be of Baron Revilgaz, the overseer and top dog of Booty Bay. He deserves a statue because... he wanted a statue, and he's freaking Baron Revilgaz. He runs the show. Really, though, it's kind of a generic Goblinoid figure so it could be nobody at all. At one time, it was a statue of a Human Priest. It's a nod to a really cool landmark here in the real world. It's based on Christ the Redeemer, a statue found in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. You may recognize it from an episode of Lupin III. Eh? No? ...oh. Oh well. It's a pretty awesome sight to see in real life regardless of whether you put faith in what it represents or not. The in-game model was likely changed from a Human to a Goblin to back away from the religious overtones while keeping the reference, and Goblins fit the area better anyway.
Ask a Lore Nerd: Only a little broken
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, ask your question, and blogger/columnist Alex Ziebart will answer you in a future installment!skoll asks...Whats your speculation about the Burning Legion in the new expansion, since Kil'jaeden has been killed/defeated? IF he is dead.. will it that be the end of Burning Legion? If not, what you think their role will be?Answer: Well, Kil'jaeden isn't dead. Not at all. In the Sunwell Plateau, Kil'jaeden is being summoned but never fully makes it through the portal. We bop him on the head and he just falls back in. What presence will they have in Wrath? Well, it will probably be minimal. I am sure they'll have some presence, the Legion doesn't really have any love for the Scourge, but it won't be anything like what we've seen in The Burning Crusade. Kil'jaeden is alive and well, but I think they'll scale way back on demons just because we've seen so many lately. They will probably want to step away from thrusting the same thing on us for another entire expansion.
WotLK bestiary presents Flesh Giants
The Wrath of the Lich King bestiary has been updated and it now introduces us to the Flesh Giants, "nightmarish creatures that make abominations look tame by comparison." I must say, I agree with that description! Abominations have the 'ew gross' factor, but these guys look downright intimidating. Even though they are basically the same as the regular Northrend giants (their parts are harvested from those giants), the Scourge variation has a little something extra. I'm not sure what it is, but I like it!Next up on the list seems to be the Darkfallen, so maybe we'll learn just what they are fairly soon. Of course, it is Blizzard's website and they don't need to reveal those next if they don't want to, but it's next on the list so I'll continue assuming it's coming like a good boy. From the name alone, my first thought is the Darkfallen will be ghosts or spectres of some sort, but we already have those. Maybe some sort of Priest or Acolyte of the Shadow? Perhaps the vampires we've been hearing rumors about?
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).
WotLK bestiary presents the Jormungar
The official WoTLK bestiary has been updated yet again with another of the creatures we'll be meeting in Northrend. This time, we're introduced to the Jormungar, a race of massive worms with sharp teeth capable of boring through solid rock. Apparently, they were used by the Nerubians as slave labor to hew out their massive subterranean empire. However, when that empire fell to the Scourge, the Jormungar broke free, and now run rampant, drilling through the permafrost and destroying everything in their path. It seems likely that the worms themselves are named after the Norse mythological figure Jormungandr, a child of the trickster god Loki, also known as the the World Serpent who surrounds the Earth. In the end times of Ragnarok, he will kill Thor (although Thor will kill him first). Now really, you know that anything bad enough to kill Thor himself is something you have to take notice of, so if these Jormungar are even half as strong as their namesake, it looks like we could have a lot of trouble with them. Maybe we should look to the old massive sandworm Ouro (whose name is likely a homage to another mythical serpent, the Ouroboros), to give us some idea of what we might be facing. [via MMO Champion]
All the World's a Stage: How to be a death knight
When you decide to roleplay, a whole new world of imagination opens up to you -- soon you realize that all the World of Warcraft is a stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players.Last week, we took a look at how roleplaying a death knight will be different from roleplaying other classes, because death knights come pre-packaged with elements of a backstory for you to flesh out: they have, for whatever reason, at one time joined forces with the Lich King, learned from him how to be a death knight, and now are breaking free of his influence and striking out against him.As Medeni pointed out in her comments, however, this can potentially lead to a kind of unlikable "celebrity in rehab" type of personality. Imagine, if you will, the death knight known as Marisoo: formerly a paladin of the Light, she sought to destroy the Scourge that plagued her homeland of Lordaeron, but eventually, as she was consumed with vengeance and hatred, she joined the Lich King instead of destroying him. Having learned to turn corpses into slavering ghouls and call forth armies of the undead, she eventually thought better of the whole "wickedly destroy all life" thing and decided to destroy the Lich King after all, only this time she would use his own power against him! Muahaha.As you can see, there are some pretty obvious flaws in this idea. First of all, the first half of it is almost a direct copy of Arthas' own tale, and, while I can certainly appreciate the power of that story, and the possibility that other paladins could have gone through something similar, roleplayers who want to play a death knight character must realize that it's going to get old fast. Just as death knights aren't just human paladins, we can't all go around copying Arthas, brooding on how moody and wicked we've become. We have to come up with new ideas that fit the death knight mould.
Know Your Lore: The Scarlet Crusade
Welcome to Know Your Lore, where each week Elizabeth Wachowski and Alex Ziebart bring you a tasty little morsel of lore to wrap your mind around. Sweet, sweet lore. Mmmm.This week on Know Your Lore, we're going to talk about the faction that manages to be one of the most beloved organizations in the game while also being one of the most hated. Whether you love them or hate them, the Scarlet Crusade remains one of the most interesting factions in WoW, and they're attached to the Ashbringer that the WoW community is so fascinated with. Better yet, they return in Wrath of the Lich King.The Scarlet Crusade was founded during the fall of Lordaeron, shortly after the Knights of the Silver Hand had been decimated by the Scourge and largely disbanded. Though its founders did not necessarily have the most sane or noble intentions, many of the men and women who joined their ranks did have only one primary goal in mind. They wished to free Lordaeron of the Scourge in the name of the Light, and crush the undead utterly. Considering those undead brought their homeland (one of the most powerful kingdoms in the world at the time) to its knees and blighted it beyond belief, that was a pretty noble cause.
Know Your Lore: Brann Bronzebeard
Welcome to Know Your Lore, where each week Elizabeth Wachowski and Alex Ziebart bring you a tasty little morsel of lore to wrap your mind around. Sweet, sweet lore. Mmmm. Oh yeah, and it's late this week. Blame it on the severe dehydration. Or Alex, you can blame him too, if you want.Continuing the Wrath preparation train, this week's Know Your Lore will take a look at one of the three Bronzebeard brothers. Not the King one or the dead one, but the eccentric, probably-should-be-dead one. The one and only Brann Bronzebeard, explorer extraordinaire.Brann Bronzebeard is the very definition of a Jack of all Trades. He's an explorer, a linguist, a warrior, an archaeologist, et cetera, et cetera. He is the premier member of the Explorer's League, and while the guild was founded under an edict by Magni, Brann was one of its founding members.
Why all race Death Knights make sense from a lore standpoint
It seems like one of the biggest problems a lot of people have with Death Knights is the fact that they can be all races. Me, I say: Why not? The lore really isn't as bad as you might think. Sure, some of the retcons can get a little annoying, but despite the fact that non-Paladin races will get to be Death Knights, I don't think you really consider it a retcon, but rather an evolution in an ever-evolving story that opens up a lot of great story ideas and RP opportunities, and I'm really looking forward to it.
Overview of the Dragonblight
I've examined the Dragonblight before when Blizzard first gave us the preview of the zone, but some other news about the region has come into the spotlight in the last few days. I'm sure you've noticed, the Wrath news is everywhere, especially here on WoW Insider. Below I have a little breakdown of what we know so far. The Dragonblight is both the beginning and the end of the dragon life cycle. The Titans granted the Dragonflights their powers here, and this is also where dragons go to die. This zone contains a shrine for each of the Flights which surround Wyrmrest Temple. These shrines are under siege by the Scourge. Alexstrasza herself is lending a hand in recruiting for the war effort in the Dragonblight. The Scourge has been twisting the remains of fallen dragons into Frost Wyrms and potentially other monstrosities. The Scarlet Crusade returns in this zone, renamed the Scarlet Onslaught.
Know Your Lore: Azjol-Nerub
With Wrath of the Lich King and the return of the Scourge to the spotlight, an old friend comes back along with them. The Nerubians! We haven't seen much of them in the World of Warcraft yet beyond being undead lackies, they have a long, quite interesting backstory. We saw a little more in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, but their story goes even deeper. In the big picture of Warcraft, their ancestors predate all but the Trolls, and maybe even them.In the beginning there were the Silithid. Insectoid horrors that crawled forth from the Well of Eternity just happened to grab the interest of the Old Gods. The most notable of them so far being C'Thun. C'Thun crafted avatars of war from the Silithid, twisting them into humanoid soldiers. These avatars became known as the Aqir. The Aqir are best described as 'evil' though that is always in the eye of the beholder.The Aqir were one of three super powers in the world at the time, roughly 16,000 years prior to the Orcish invasion of Azeroth. The other two came in the form of the Troll Empires of the Gurubashi and the Amani. The three clashed repeatedly, and the Trolls only managed survival by forging a loose alliance between their empires. The Aqir civilization of Azj'Aqir held up quite well, their war lasting thousands of years, and no ultimate outcome ever came to fruition.
Fury of the Sunwell trailer Lore analysis
So you've had time to traipse around Sunwell Isle, you've read the new lore (both the official stuff and Alex's Know Your Lore: The Sunwell), watched the trailer, and all that good stuff, but you're still a bit confused. What does it all mean? Let the lore geeks at WoW Insider help you out a bit. We've put together a scene by scene analysis of the lore behind the Fury of the Sunwell trailer, and we're presenting it to you here. Hopefully, it sheds some more light on this whole "Did Kael'thas go crazy or didn't he, and what is up with Kil'jaedan anyway?" thing.
Are we the bad guys of Azeroth?
After publishing a recent Breakfast Topic on whether there should be a sense of personal honor in PvP, I wasn't really all that surprised to see a few comments echoing the sentiments of "If it's red, it's dead" and "Don't roll on a PvP server if you don't want to get ganked." These crop up in any discussion about PvP, and while there's an undeniable sense to them -- why would you roll on a PvP realm unless you wanted to, I dunno, PvP? -- I've always felt that they did actual PvP a disservice. You can't frame ganking as true PvP. There's no such thing as strategy, skill, or even combat when a player one-shots another, so I've never considered ganking to be defensible along the same lines that actual PvP is.
Know Your Lore: The Scythe of Elune
In today's Know Your Lore, we're going to take a look at something that has been requested by a few readers(and a blogger). It's not a very well known topic, it comes from a quest line tucked away in the far corners of Ashenvale that sends you running all over the world as if you had absolutely nothing better to do with your time, much like any other quest line in Kalimdor. Regardless of the annoyance of the quest line, it is probably one of the more intriguing side stories in the Warcraft universe.It begins shortly after the destruction of the World Tree. Archimonde was gone, but a great number of demons remained. Like the Scourge, the Legion doesn't simply stop when you tear the head from the beast. Priestess and Sentinel Velinde Starsong was the Night Elf in charge of leading the forces of the Kaldorei in these regions, assaulting the Legion and pushing them back as far as they could. This held up well for quite some time, pushing the demonic hordes as far back as the borders of Felwood. Unfortunately, the Night Elves were only level 20-something at that point, and the mobs in Felwood are like level 50, so things stopped going so well.In all seriousness, the Kaldoreian advance was slowing more and more as they pressed into Felwood, their numbers being utterly decimated. Velinde grew desperate as so many of the Night Elves fell to the Legion, and called out to her final hope: The goddess Elune. She begged the goddess for strength and power, the ability to avenge her fallen comrades.
Phase 2 Dailies: Distraction at the Dead Scar
One of the two dailies to unlock the Armory portion of the Shattered Sun Offensive on the Isle of Quel'danas, this quest will send you on a bombing mission down the Dead Scar, the giant strip of dead land that marked the Scourge's march to the Sunwell. There's still scourge there, but your target will be the Demons fighting them, in hopes that your attacks will disrupt their efforts to keep the Armory by drawing more and more of them away and to the Scar itself. You'll get the quest from Battlemage Arynna in the new sanctum building. She'll order you to kill 2 Pit Overlords, 3 Eredar Sorcerers, and 12 Wrath Enforcers, provide you with some Arcane Charges to drop on them, and send you to Ayren Cloudbreaker, who is located back by the docks where you first land when coming in by gryphon or bat. From there, talk to him to get your Dragonhawk. The Dragonhawk will fly on a predetermined course. You'll first pass some of Kaelthas' archers and fly over the Naga and Murloc villages before you hit the Dead Scar. Once there, you'll need to be on your toes, especially if there's other people trying to kill the demons. You'll see the demons both on the ground and on the balconies and ramparts and bridges to the sides of the Dead Scar. The Wrath Enforcers often come in packs, and will generally die in one hit, but the Eredar Sorcerers and the Pit Overlords may take 2 hits, so you'll have to watch for them to show and quickly hit them before you fly back out of sight. Once you hit the end of the Scar, you'll get a brief glimpse of Brutallus fighting Madrigosa before you turn around and fly back over the scar, giving you one more chance to hit a few demons. If you don't have your demons killed after the first run, you don't have to abandon the quest to try again. Instead, you can simply talk to Ayren to be sent on another pass. Luckily, after the first 2 or 3 tries, you should probably get the hang of it enough that you'll do it in one pass, assuming there's enough demons to go around. If nothing else, it's sort of nice not to have to dodge Kaliri or Fel Cannons. Once you have your demons, return to Arynna. You'll get 9 gold 10 silver for your troubles, and credit for your server towards the next step of the offensive. Plus, the fun of having totally ridden a Dragonhawk. Once this phase of the offensive is unlocked, this quest will be renamed "The Air Strikes Must Continue." For further information, you can also check this quest on Wowwiki and Wowhead.
Know Your Lore: The Sunwell
The upcoming patch, patch 2.4, now known as The Fury of the Sunwell, revolves around... well, the Sunwell! I guess there's something in there about a huge demon by the name of Kil'jaeden, but I'm sure he's not important. Like my previous installments of Know Your Lore, I'll give a little bit of background information on our subject, so you understand the foundation of it. This bit isn't quite as exciting as my last installment or two, but this took a lot more research, and a lot more piecing together half-told bits of story from multiple authors. It's a bit like playing Connect the Dots, but instead of getting a flower or a sailboat, I get Richard Knaak flipping me off. Sorry it's so dry, but on with the show!A little over 10,000 years ago, the Night Elves lived under the rule of Queen Azshara and the upper class of society, the Highborne. Their culture was rich in magic and the arcane, very different from the down to earth, nature-centric society of the Night Elves today. Queen Azshara and her Highborne were extremely hedonistic, using the nearby Well of Eternity for personal power and gain. At some point during all of this, Azshara heard a dark whisper, promising power beyond her imagination.Does this sound familiar? Yes, Sargeras was up to his old tricks again. Like he lured Kil'jaeden and Archimonde to the Legion's cause, he did the same with Queen Azshara. Whereas Kil'jaeden and Archimonde seemed to have needed a little trickery from the Destroyer, Azshara was far more welcoming. She was pretty okay with hanging out with demons, and rather enjoyed the whole fire and brimstone thing.
Predicting the WoTLK cinematic
The Gnomes are revolting on the official forums! Also, some of them are mad. Lead by Gnomium of the Aggramar server, they are demanding that they be included in the opening cinematic for WoTLK. It is certainly true that they haven't really had their chance in the sun for the past 2 major cinematics, although to be fair, the Trolls didn't get much more than a quick flash across the screen. Still, I can get behind this, and not just because I like my ankles non-bitten. Give them some Gnomish love, eh Blizzard? Maybe even let one use an engineering trinket without backfiring! Or, you know, just give us a tableau of Lake Wintergrasp with Gnomes being loaded into catapults and flung at the advancing Horde, either way. Of course, we can't really have the WoTLK Cinematic be all Gnome all the time, so how do they fill the rest of it? I have to say, there's potential here. We'll probably need a massive army of Scourge, seething masses of ghouls dotted with the odd abomination or meat wagon. Perhaps we could see a group of adventurers descending into Azjol-Nerub only to be set upon by a platoon of vicious Nerubians. For the amazingly, unbelievably epic win, we could even feature a Blue Dragon vs. Red Dragon battle, since apparently Alexstraza herself will be helping us stop Malygos' mad plans to control all magic in the world. We'll probably also need at least one or two scenes of a "rebel" Death Knight fighting the scourge or breaking free of Arthas' control. What do you think? What other scenes would you like to see in assuredly soon-to-be-released (We hope) FMV cinematic for WoTLK?
Forum Post of the Day: How did your undead die?
Yeah yeah, lolRP, but even though I'd never seriously do an emote with my character (though I do enjoy /coughing at inappropriate times), I do kind of enjoy thinking of what my characters did before I started playing them in the game. As I've said before, my Orc Shaman was actually a prisoner in Durnholde Keep along with Thrall (and though I've tried to find him among the Orcs down there, I don't look too hard -- wouldn't want to cause a paradox).But for my Undead Rogue, I've never thought about this questions: What did he die of? Whether it was choking on a gnome, one too many enchantments (never knew those could kill you), or the old standby of, y'know, cancer, every Undead character out there used to have a life (and now they just play WoW, ha!). So how'd your Undead lose theirs?I'd like to think mine was something poetic, like his family was murdered by roving noblemen, and he arose from the afterlife and became a backstabbing rogue to avenge his lost ones. But it's probably more pathetic: like most of the Forsaken, he probably just got trampled underneath the onset of the Scourge. Of course, that'll make an appointment with Arthas more interesting...
Around Azeroth: Braaiiiinnnnnnss
I admit -- the zombie jokes are probably overdone at this point. But you can't deny that this excellent screenshot of Tirisfal Glades sent in by reader Oaty of Hearts Blood defines all things Scourge in World of Warcraft. (Including, no doubt, their hunger for delicious brains.) And the best part -- the full-sized version (click on the image above) is wallpaper sized for continued enjoyment on your desktop.Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see your idea of the best looking instance on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!%Gallery-1816%
