Warcraft-I
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Warcraft as a whole: story balance between RTS and MMO
I was perusing the forums (like you do) when I came across this forum thread from poster Xewie, and I found it an interesting place to start thinking from. Xewie's points aren't entirely ones I agree with - I frankly found Mists of Pandaria one of the richest expansions in terms of lore and story and feel that anyone who dismisses it simply because there are pandaren in it is deliberately and willfully blinding themselves to an excellent ride with some astonishing highs and lows - but there's a certain truth in the points about the RTS vs. WoW itself. As others (including our own Michael Sacco) have pointed out, Garrosh Hellscream is really one of the first big lore characters we've had in World of Warcraft who was born in the MMO, evolved over its course and became a faction leader and finally an end villain. I think part of the problem is that the RTS features these characters, so even when it kills a few (like Terenas Menethil) it offers up a few more. But the MMO features us, ultimately, so when we put down Lady Vashj or Arthas, there's no immediate replacement. To be sure, there have in fact been tons of new faces over the course of World of Warcraft - Ragnaros, C'thun, Nefarian were all first introduced in classic WoW, not the RTS. The problem is, we introduce these characters and then, well, we dispatch them. Sometimes, like Ragnaros, our first encounter with them isn't a final one, but even if we know they'll eventually be back, it's not like their luck will hold out forever. I called this the "Joker problem" once, and to a degree I think it is an issue for the MMO. However, does it follow that we need an RTS to create stories? Since I think Mists of Pandaria did an amazing job of building up the story, and in fact I'm really much more of a Cataclysm booster than most, I don't agree with that idea. In fact, in many ways, WoW has done more to broaden and expand the Warcraft setting than the RTS ever did.
A Warcraft Retrospective from Gametrailers.com
The fine folk over at Gametrailers.com are preparing for Wrath of the Lich King in their own, fun little way. And by little, I mean totally awesome. They've posted the first part of their Warcraft Retrospective, looking back on the history of the Warcraft series of games. This first installment talks a little about Warcraft I, Warcraft II, and the adventure game Warcraft Adventures that ended up getting canned.On top of the nostalgia-riddled look at past incarnations of Warcraft, the retrospective provides insight into the origins of things such as the RTS genre itself and perhaps one of the first map editors that ended up in user hands, setting the stage for just about every RTS to start providing one baseline. Entertaining and educational! Uh, sort of. I really do recommend watching it, though. It's only a click away, so go on! Hit play![ Thanks, Ray, James and Colyn! ]
Forum post of the day: What makes a Death Knight heroic?
The Death Knight has been touted as the first heroic class in World of Warcraft. Hopefully there will be more to come in the future. We've heard some interesting tidbits about this class, and many people are chomping at the bit to play one. Aegulle of Cenarius wants to know what it is about Death Knights that makes them "heroic." To him they appear to be just another class. Some suggested that the starting level of this class makes them heroic- that nothing more thank skipping 55 levels of grinding is enough to qualify for an elevated status. Unlike existing classes, a player must put some effort into WoW before it can even be rolled. Death Knights can only be created by those who "unlock" the class by leveling at least one character on the server to 55.
The WABAC Machine takes you to early Azeroth
For those of us who got into Warcraft lore through WoW, looking back at what the world used to be like can be shocking. Kurdran of Aegwynn stunned the WoW Forums with a map of the Azeroth of twelve years ago. Not too many people are still able to play Warcraft I, so it was nice to see how the map originally looked. It looks vaguely like the middle of the Eastern Kingdoms today, with Stonard, Stonewind/Stormwind, the Deadmines, Moonbrook and Northshire Abbey in roughly the same places as they are in WoW. Rockard and Temple of the Damned have disappeared off the face of the planet, and "Orc Camp", "Medivh Tower", and "Grand Hamlet" turned into Grom'Gol, Karazhan and Darkshire. I also enjoyed looking at this map from Warcraft II. Apparently Azeroth has been undergoing some strange tides, because a lot of the land that would make up Silverpine Forest, Hillsbrad Foothills and Arathi Highlands seems to be underwater. Kul Tiras, as shown on these maps, seems to have disappeared in WoW, and the Dark Portal migrates south every new game. Checking out these maps makes me realize how tough it must be for the designers to reconcile the previous Warcraft geography with WoW. Now that Azeroth has gone from a place of isolated campaigns to a huge world you can run across, they had to retrofit all the lore locations into an accessible, unified form. Making Outlands must have been a big relief in comparison. What do you think about how Azeroth has changed? What locations from previous Warcraft games would you like to see in WoW?
