bronze-dragonflight
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Ask A Beta Tester: Kalecgos, Wintergrasp, and how much is this going to cost me?
We're going to get right down to business this evening, folks. I was kind of heartened to see Willferal (our first questioner) ask about something that's bugged me for a while.EDIT: several commenters have taken issue with the lack of a spoiler warning on this post when it went live at 9:00 pm EST. I genuinely apologize; it should have occurred to me to write one, and it's entirely my fault that one wasn't present. So consider this fair -- if belated -- warning that there's a significant, if general, spoiler in this AABT concerning an important quest chain in Wrath, and if you're trying to avoid spoilers completely, please do NOT read AABT. This column is nothing but a pile of spoilers compressed into a spoiled package and tied with a spoilery bow.Willferal asks...I know that in Wotlk, the players are fighting Malygos. But in TBC, Kalec/Tyri are blue dragons that help us, and Kalec is especially vital in his help to kill Kiljaeden. What's their role in Wrath?I wish I knew. I never found any mention of Kalecgos while leveling, and Tyrygosa only got a brief mention at last year's BlizzCon. Tyrygosa's role in BC wasn't that extensive, but Kalecgos was all that and a box of crackers in Sunwell, so this is a little...mystifying. They both seem on passable (Tyrygosa) to good (Kalecgos) relations with the mortal races, so the involvement of their entire flight in Malygos' war would -- I hope -- concern them somewhat. I really hope Blizzard goes somewhere with this, but as of now I don't think you can expect to find anything in Northrend.
The funny, morbid, and sad coins of the Dalaran fountain
Level up fishing so you can fish in the Dalaran fountain. I'm serious. This completely nonsensible and illogical statement is brought to you by the 53 tiny lore moments you'll get if you'll just sit yourself down somewhere and level up fishing. Yes, it's boring having to fish up dozens of useless fish to get to the good stuff in Outland and Northrend. Yes, you could be farming up gold or materials that will help you level in Wrath. I don't care. Go fish.You see, while you'll be fishing up a lot of equally useless fish in the Dalaran fountain, you'll also get coins. No, not in the sense that you'll be fishing up ingame money, but you'll fish up coins tossed into the fountain of this very old city by 53 people, many of whom will be known to you if you've played the game for any length of time. Some of them, perhaps most of them, are funny. Some are serious. Some are heartbreaking. I admit to a touch of being a lore geek, and it was wonderful being allowed a peek into the irreverent or hopeful or sad heads of Jaina Proudmoore, Thrall, or Stalvan Mistmantle. It is idiosyncratic little touches like this that make WoW hopelessly fun to play, and it is my fondest wish that whatever person at Blizzard who thought this up is pulled off whatever they're doing right now and chained to a desk until they come up with more stuff like this.So, if you don't do anything else with your time between patch 3.02 hitting and Wrath going live...level up fishing so you can fish in the Dalaran fountain. But don't read any further if you're not interested in Wrath spoilers, because there are a few here...
[UPDATED] Azerothian birthday cake
I think I've lost count of the ongoing tally between the Alliance and Horde cakes over here at WoW Insider, although I can say for certain that I've never actually eaten a WoW-themed cake (bummer!). Reader Steve tipped us in to a cake that doesn't side with either the Horde or Alliance, but features the two continents of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms (Northrend didn't make the cut, apparently).While a map and faux faded parchment colors probably don't help make a visually appetizing cake -- the lower right of the cake is actually the Naga depicted on the world maps, don't worry about the green -- this literally sweet gesture was made by WoW widow girlfriend Natalie for her man Sean's 21st birthday. Sean plays on the Bronze Dragonflight EU and held a party for his guildies in May Contain Funk where this edible Azeroth was unveiled. According to Steve, the cake was vanilla sponge with raspberry jam and was, "absolutely delicious". Since those guys didn't send us a slice, we'll just have to take his word for it![UPDATE: Reader Alex3 sent in a picture of his friend Woo's birthday cake made by Woo's awesome mom -- a Warlock icon cake that looks delightfully, infernally scrumptious! Man, I'm hungry now. Check out the gallery for all the awesome Warcraft-themed cakes we've seen over here at WoW Insider.] %Gallery-31459%
Breakfast Topic: The next Caverns of Time encounter
It hasn't shown up on the Beta servers yet, but it's probably still one of the most eagerly anticipated instances of Wrath of the Lich King, especially for us old timers. I'm talking, of course, about The Culling of Stratholme in the Caverns of Time. The nice thing about the Caverns of Time is that you can do stuff like this, sending people back to visit pivotal places, people, and things in the past without creating a whole new game. Despite the stumble in Mount Hyjal, when we appeared to go as tourists instead of agents of the Bronze Dragonflight to combat the Infinite Dragonflight, the Caverns of Time has been solid and well-liked, with 5-man instances that allow you to experience some important and intriguing lore and give you a definite story to follow in the instance, one that can be done in well under an hour. Certainly, this model has lead to a lot of fans, and a lot of people hoping we'll see many more CoT dungeons to come. There's even rumors (or wishful thinking) that we'll get another Caverns of Time raid for Wrath, possibly The War of the Shifting Sands. Whether it's true or not, I can't say, but the caverns definitely have room to expand. As the custodians themselves explain, passageways to new times could open up without warning, sending us off on new adventures. What times, places, and people would you like to visit via the caverns?
The Infinite Dragonflight in Stratholme
We hit on this one with Mount Hyjal before, but Ironcog brings up an interesting point: why exactly are we going to be mucking around in the old city of Stratholme via the Caverns of Time? In Escape from Durnholde, we're obviously trying to make sure Thrall gets out of the prison camp, and the Infinite Dragonflight is fighting to stop us and ruin history. Same deal in the Black Morass -- the Infinite Dragonflight is trying to keep Medivh from opening the Dark Portal. But in Hyjal, the dragonflight is nowhere to be seen, and we're basically just time tourists. You'd think the Bronze Dragonflight would want us to stay out of there.Of course, we don't exactly know what's happening in the Stratholme of the past -- maybe the Infinite Dragonflight is causing problems there that we need to stop (or, even better, maybe we'll get to see an as-yet-unknown reason why a Paladin of the Silver Hand, headstrong as he might have been, decided to slaughter an entire town even before he was under Frostmourne's corruption -- maybe there's more to Arthas than we saw in Warcraft III).But hopefully the Infinite Dragonflight storyline will be continued in some way -- mucking about in time isn't exactly safe, so there should be good reasons the Bronze Dragonflight sends us back to these past events. Watching history firsthand is fun and all, but the lore of the Bronze Dragons falls apart completely if they just start opening up theme parks in the past.
Free transfers for some European realms
For the European-server-playing readers in the audience, some awesome cracking news: free transfers, including a couple of brand-new realms! Thundgot sends a telegram wireless announcing the following transfers for English realms, with a stern note to the effect that origin and destination realms are subject to change, and that they won't be helping guilds with transfers: Burning Legion to Boulderfist Burning Legion to Haomarush Crushridge to Burning Blade Crushridge to Jaedenar Drak'thul to Twisting Nether Drak'thul to Xavius Frostmane to Dentarg Frostmane to Mazrigos Grim Batol to Agamaggan Grim Batol to Dragonmaw Warsong to Daggerspine Warsong to Vek'nilash Kilrogg to Anachronos (brand new realm) Runetotem to Anachronos (brand new realm) Silvermoon to Bronze Dragonflight (brand new realm) Stormrage to Bronze Dragonflight (brand new realm) Sometimes I feel like a European when playing since I listen to a lot of BBC radio shows. Can I have free transfers?
Caverns of Time Preview
The entrance to the Caverns of Time has long existed in-game, nestled in the Tanaris desert and guarded by several rather unfriendly members of the bronze dragonflight. However, in the Burning Crusade, players will, for the first time, be able to venture inside the caverns and aid the bronze flight in its mission to safeguard the past. Inside, players will be able to help with Trall's escape from Durnholde keep, participate in the Battle of Mount Hyjal, and witness the original opening of the Dark Portal by Medivh. There's still a lot we don't know about this upcoming dungeon - level requirement? number of players needed? - but it already sounds exciting.
