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BlizzCon 2011: Lore Q&A Liveblog

Welcome to the liveblog of the Lore Q&A at BlizzCon 2011. We should hear a lot of great bits of story about Pandarens!

Update: The liveblog is done, have a look after the break for everything Metzen and his story team talked about. Some great stuff!



5:17PM That's all for the panel. Thanks for reading!


5:16PM A: Jack Black won't be voicing a Pandaren Leader.


5:15PM A: They don't really have leaders, they'll have representatives with the Alliance and Horde.


5:14PM Q: Who's going to be the Pandaren leader, and can he be voiced by Jack Black?


5:13PM A: We have no idea why it's there, it's just cool.


5:13PM A: Metzen: It means Thrall is going to leaving Aggra and start dating Jaina (Just Kidding!)


5:12PM Q continued: So what is this giant snake tail?


5:11PM He printed out a screenshot and is now up showing Metzen! Awesome. Crowd loves this.


5:11PM Q: In Gundrak, there's an area where you look over the cliff, there's a big wiggly snake tail.


5:10PM A: It wasn't an easy transition for him. The scourge and Cult of the Damned operating the in Plaguelands are autonomous.


5:07PM Q: What happened to Bolvar? We haven't seen him reign in the scourge at all. What's he doing on the Throne?


5:07PM A: (Metzen doesn't want to answer it -- seriously)


5:06PM Q: What happened to Neptulon in the Throne of Tides?


5:05PM A: There are only a few left.


5:05PM Q: Are there any rules for Valkyr resurrection?


5:04PM Metzen: Before Golden wrote The Shattering, they didn't have plans for Anduin. But Christie killed it. He's currently off to boarding school with the Draenei. We've got some plans for that boy one day.

5:03PM A: I don't know exactly when it's going to drop, trying for 5.0, I think Varian has potential to be a very bad ass character. Epic Quest line, "Trials of the high king." Based off the trails of Heracules. You'll be his squire, you'll help him become the most awesome warrior. There will be no question from the Alliance races, they'll all follow Varian. "The Alliance is going to need a king with his shit together."


5:01PM Q: Does Alliance ever get to kick ass in WoW? Thrall is great, Varian is boring and one dimensional.


4:59PM Basically, they don't want to put too much reliance on the books, because not everyone reads the books. But, Metzen is rambling a bit here. He's just really passionate about stories, and you can tell that he wishes people would read the books.


4:58PM "For the billions of WoW players, not everyone wants to read a book." (Metzen then says "it's the digital age, buy a Kindle damnit").


4:57PM A: Nature of aspect and what's coming for them -- it's big. Big things go down in patch 4.3. The completion of a very grand *grand* cycle.


4:56PM Q: We don't see what's happened with the books come over into the game too much. (the questioner trailed off)


4:53PM Don't jump to conclusions about MoP -- it's just as rich as anything we've put out so far.


4:52PM The pandaren are ultimately going to be part of the solution between Horde and Alliance.


4:51PM A: (Metzen) There's no way we're going to build an expansion set on an April Fools joke.


4:50PM A: You haven't even seen who Pandaren are yet, you haven't seen what they've had to struggle with yet. If you think it's a joke race, check out what we're doing. Because we're actually building a lot of story with this.


4:50PM Q: Is there going to be something serious in MoP, or is it just going to be light stuff?


4:48PM A: If the troll tribes could ever unite, look out world! Why are the Zandalari about creating a new [troll] empire? That's what you're going to find out in MoP.


4:47PM Q: Will we ever really see a return of the troll empire?


4:45PM A: There's something unique about Azeroth in the cosmology, and there's a reason why Azeroth is the focus.


4:44PM A: Titans are a big thing, a big part of the overall story; but we're letting them cook.


4:43PM Q: Something about the Titans.... (guy is mumbling too much)


4:42PM Metzen adds: I can imagine there'd be shenanigans and some idiots would try to fix it up.


4:41PM A: Don't know, specifically wasn't address yet.


4:41PM Q: Where are the shards of frostmourne?


4:40PM A: We haven't grafted her fate, although my impression of WCIII, I think it works better if she died before the fall of Lord.


4:39PM Q: What happened to Arthas' mom?


4:39PM Metzen basically says watch Star Trek if you don't get this whole time thing.


4:38PM They can't be warlocks.


4:36PM A: (Metzen) If that's true, then I don't like it (Metzen thought warlocks were out). You could argue that pandarens have a vibe with not having hate.


4:35PM Q: How does it make more sense for a Pandarian to be a warlock and not a druid, given pandarens are all about peace?


4:34PM Metzen: We get clobbered on the forums that we don't develop these characters enough, they get called Mary Sue, etc... but we love them all, their developing is coming.


4:33PM Jania is going to be more active as a character too, she's going to have her moment.


4:32PM The _____ at 4:30 is Terenas' crown, the one Arthas knocked off his head when he killed him.


4:32PM A: (Metzen) Good point. Before the quest line in Nagrand in BC, there was no Thrall at all, and I like this guy. It took an xpac or two to get his story up. I love Tryande, I had a blast writing her in WCIII. We just haven't gotten to her yet.


4:31PM Q: Regarding Tyrande, she's been a strong female leader. But she's kind of fell off during BC and Cata. Now she's Malfie's arm candy. What's going on?


4:30PM (Don't know if he's serious or not)

4:30PM A: We're going to make it a legendary loot drop.


4:30PM Q: What happened to _____ helm?


4:29PM A: We struggle with how to include novels in the game, they're kind of hard to work into the game.


4:29PM Q: Why haven't characters like Rhonin, that have been directly tied to the black dragonflight, been involved with killing Deathwing?


4:28PM Metzen says that the RPG books are broadly non-canonical, but there are bits in there that we want to use. At some point there may be a project we go back and decide what bits we want to use.


4:26PM A: We're thinking about it


4:26PM Q: What happened to Calia (Arthas' sister)?


4:25PM A: (Metzen) Maybe one day.


4:25PM Q: Metzen, will you write more?


4:22PM A: The Pandaren that live on the turtle have been separated from the Pandaren on the main land for generations. They're the bold Pandaren.


4:21PM Q: What is the motivation for the Pandaren to fight each other?


4:21PM A: We don't necessarily know right now where Arthas' body is.


4:20PM A: (Metzen) I woudln't say we're going to bring all of them back. Do you guys think we should bring Illidan back? (Crowd cheers) Based on that response I think it is likely, we'll have to find some way to bring Illidan back.


4:20PM Q: What happened to Arthas' body, Kael'thas' body, Illidan's body? Can we just bring them all back?


4:19PM Crowd loves him.


4:19PM A: Yes, we're looking at ways to make that compelling and interesting. We have some plans, but nothing to really talk about yet.


4:19PM RSG: Pandaria world PvP zone?

4:18PM A: Two patches later, maybe. (Metzen nods: right). It's not on the cards right away, but it's something we'd like to do.


4:18PM RSG: Are we going back to Gilneas?


4:17PM RSG: Thanks for putting me in the game, I like that!


4:16PM The wildhammer fact checker is here, and Metzen just went down to shake his hand. Class act!