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BlizzCon 2014: Hearthstone: Goblins vs. Gnomes expansion announced
It's about to get all funky and explosive up in Hearthstone. At BlizzCon today, the team announced that the upcoming expansion is called Gobins vs. Gnomes and will be releasing next month. Hearthstone: Goblins vs. Gnomes will contain over 120 new cards that draw upon the innovations of these clever and mad inventors. Two of the cards mentioned were the Explosive Sheep and the Annoy-O-Tron. Currently, the expansion is "in a final balance pass" prior to its December launch. Hearthstone will also be coming out on Android devices next month.
The Queue: Who needs a title with that picture?
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. I'm glad I waited until the wee hours of the morning to write today's Queue. If I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to use that picture of Zarhym as today's header, courtesy of Ben Brode's Twitter. Benjamin Seeberger asked: with the introduction of Warlords of Draenor and the retirement of the legendary quest in its entirety, are new players going to have any clue who Wrathion is, unless they are rogues? Will his storyline make any sense in Mists when the legendary questline is taken out? Will the Timeless Isle make any sense? How will the departure of the questline impact Pandaria's storyline?
Know Your Lore: Gnomes, the inheritors of the future
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. The gnomes are one of two people of modern Azeroth who can lay claim to being the most intelligent, most adept with technology, most innovative of the mortal races. Unlike their goblin rivals, however, the gnomes are not materialists in the sense of always seeking a means to profit - their mindset is far more exploratory. A goblin looks at a situation and bends her mind to determine how best to exploit it, while a gnome seeks to learn how it works. And in a way, the gnome is far more dangerous, because they're never satisfied. Consider this - the gnomes invented a weapon so destructive it rendered their own city unlivable for years. Even today, Gnomeregan isn't fully recovered. This radiation bomb (the work of Sicco Thermaplugg, the ambitious madman who once ruled Gnomeregan in its fallen state after Gelbin Mekkatorque led those gnomes he could out of the city) is proof positive of just how terrifying gnomish ingenuity can really be. Unlike the mana bomb Garrosh Hellscream used on Theramore, the radiation bomb doesn't destroy building - it kills without ruining structures. Furthermore, the mana bomb was a discovery, created by blood elves serving Kael'thas Sunstrider who had the chance to study naaru technology in Tempest Keep, but the radiation bomb was entirely a gnomish invention. From their origins as a titan created construct race, the gnomes have persevered through to the modern day as a clever, resourceful, inventive people. But Sicco Thermaplugg also shows that gnomes can be treacherous, deceitful, arrogant and even contemptuous of others. Now, following the Siege of Orgrimmar, is there any limit to what the gnomes can achieve?
Compare new and old female gnome model animations
Though we saw some brief previews at BlizzCon -- and detailed Artcraft posts on certain races since -- we're still waiting on the official unveil for many of the updated character models coming in Warlords of Draenor. But for those of us who can't stand to wait any longer, Wowhead's model viewer offers previews of female and male gnomes, female and male orcs, female and male dwarves, and male tauren. But if you're particularly interested in gnomes, like I am, you'll be especially interested in this video preview of the updated female gnome model complete with animations and emotes. Compared side by side, the new animations -- especially the facial animations, which bring a lot of life and personality to the character -- are pretty stunning. Keep your eyes open for more videos from Wowhead -- and more Artcraft posts from Blizzard featuring the remaining races.
New level 90 boost trailer pushes Warlords... with gnomes!
We knew level 90 boosts were coming, but in this new Warlords of Draenor trailer, Blizzard's pushing the boosts as a reason to buy. You can escape the endless leveling desert and finally play with your friends by buying Warlords -- which is all well and good, but it does strike us as a bit odd that Blizzard is promoting the game by suggesting that playing the game up to level 90 is something tedious and awful that you would not want to do. However, the obvious highlight of this trailer is gnomes making their cinematic debut. Finally, we see a gnome taking center-stage... as a level 61 wandering aimlessly through Tanaris. (That's why you haven't hit level 90 yet, Mr. Gnome -- you're in Tanaris. Maybe if you'd gone through Un'Goro and Silithus and then headed to the Dark Portal you'd have made some progress.) But now that this gnome is finally level 90, we can only assume that we'll be seeing more gnomes showing up in future, right Blizzard? [Thanks to many tipsters who sent this in!] Editor's note: Pre-purchase of Warlords is not available at this time -- no official announcements have been made about pre-ordering just yet.
EverQuest Next debates which small race will make the cut for launch
The EverQuest Next team is tackling the issue of smaller races and is using a round table poll as a way to assist the devs in deciding which iconic shorties should make it to launch. While Dwarves are a given for a launch race, several other short races are up in the air as to whether they'll make it in the initial cut of the game or be held back until later. Fae and Gnomes ended up at the top of the poll, while Ratongas and Froglocks tied for last place. The devs were surprised by how popular the Fae ended up being in the poll, which in turn caused them to take a closer look at their potential as a launch race. One of the issues that the team is grappling with is the difficulty in giving shorter races the new "heroic movement" that will take place in EQN. Watch the debate after the cut!
Know Your Lore: A Precarious Position Part 3
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. There will be spoilers for patch 5.4 in this post Part one covered the Horde, and part two covered the humans, dwarves, night elves and worgen of the Alliance. But what about the gnomes, draenei, and neutral factions? What about the pandaren, so new to both Horde and Alliance? How could these figures react to the new status quo (whatever it will be) and will they be a force to stabilize relations between the Alliance and the Horde, or will they make the situation more volatile? Both the draenei and the gnomes have an outsider's perspective in their own way - the gnomes missed the entirety of the Third War due to problems at home (problems they are still attempting to fix) and while the draenei have experienced much suffering at the hands of the orcish Horde they are dedicated to the Prophet Velen's vision of the mortal races coming together to oppose the Burning Legion. Although both races sent observers to Pandaria during Varian Wrynn's Operation: Shieldwall, their leadership has not been very involved in this latest struggle with the other faction. Individual members of these races have, but not the groups as a whole. So what, then, is their perspective after the siege of Orgrimmar?
The Queue: BlizzCon, daily quests, gnome heads, and more
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Let's go right to the questions! mikkelsdk asked: Considering Blizzard has a lot of things on the table currently (Heartstone, Blizzard All-Stars, Titan, Next WoW Expansion, Diablo 3 xpac and probably SC2 xpac) which of these aren't we going to hear about at Blizzcon? Titan is a given but have Blizzard talking about Heartstone, All-stars, WoW xpac, Diablo 3 xpac and SC2 xpac is kinda of a long shot.
Know Your Lore: The future of the Alliance
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. The Siege of Orgrimmar is almost upon us, and the Alliance stands strong, ready to dive in and put an end to Warchief Hellscream's reign. Along the way, they've picked up some entirely unconventional allies in Vol'jin's group of rebels, who are also insistent upon getting Garrosh out. But when the dust settles and all is said and done, if and when the Alliance prove their military superiority, take out Hellscream, and are declared the ultimate victor of what has been a very messy, bloody war, what happens next? Does the Alliance simply go home and wait for the world to rise up with yet another threat? Do they at last attempt some kind of tentative peace treaty with Vol'jin and his group of rebels? Will Varian Wrynn take a moment of clear victory and use it to crush what remains of the Horde? Will the Alliance leave a military presence in Orgrimmar, to carefully watch and make certain events like this don't come to pass again? What does the future for the Alliance hold, once Orgrimmar has been taken down?
The Daily Grind: Why do you play a short race?
Let me put my capital-b Bias up front and center here: Short races rock. Whether they be Gnomes, Gibberlings, Asura, Hobbits, or Dwarves, if I have the option to play a diminutive character in an MMO, I'll take it. Even my City of Heroes characters jacked down the slider to the shortest possible height. It's why I'm ecstatic that WildStar will be offering the Chua as an option, because my purpose in life is to play a small rabid kangaroo-rat-thing. So why do I play short races? Being somewhat short myself, I like putting my height out there in games as a point of pride instead of being ashamed of it. Plus, there's always something cool about watching a tiny dude beat up someone 1500% of his body mass. Plus plus, short races are often associated with a wicked sense of humor and irreverence. That's me, baby! Enough about me; why do you play a short race? Where are my gnomies at today? Speak up, tiny brothers and sisters! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
What If: Purge of the Aspects
In case you missed it earlier this week, Matthew Rossi and I are playing a little game that Sacco brought to attention on the latest podcast. In the game, we choose an unlikely figure for the antagonist of an entire expansion, and try and puzzle out what that expansion looks like. Rossi went first, so he got to choose his own antagonist and went with Velen -- and then decided to drop Alexstrasza on me for the subject of mine. It's okay. I'll have my revenge a little later. But how does the former Aspect of Life, the Lifebringer, the Dragonqueen Alexstraza suddenly turn to evil? Oh I guess we could go with the corrupted by Old Gods route ... but that would be far, far too easy. Instead, let's look at the interesting premise of the Aspect's charge -- and what happens when we fail our duties as mortals.
Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: The Curse of Flesh
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. Abedneum: Accessing. In the early stages of its development cycle Azeroth suffered infection by parasitic, necrophotic symbiotes. Designation: Old Gods. Old Gods rendered all systems, including Earthen defenseless in order to facilitate assimilation. This matrix destabilization has been termed the Curse of Flesh. Effects of destabilization increased over time. Brann Bronzebeard yells: Old Gods eh? So they zapped the Earthen with this Curse of Flesh. And then what? Kaddrak: Accessing. Creators arrived to extirpate symbiotic infection. Assessment revealed that Old God infestation had grown malignant. Excising parasites would result in loss of host-- The early days of Azeroth's creation are a puzzle that has yet to be completely solved. The issue of Azeroth's creation lies in the order of events as they've been presented; we have two very different orders of events depending on where you're looking for reference. In one, the Titans arrived on Azeroth to find the Old Gods, put the world in order, then left for parts unknown. In another, it's implied that the Titans arrived, put the world to order, and left. At some point after this, the Old Gods arrived and wreaked havoc, prompting the return of the Titans and the imprisonment of the Old Gods. So ... which one is correct? Well, there's an interesting part in the middle of all of this that can be used to try and unravel that particular puzzle. It's called the Curse of Flesh, and its shaped far more of Azeroth as we know it today than you'd think. Today's Know Your Lore is a Tinfoil Hat edition, meaning the following is a look into what has gone before with pure speculation on what is to come as a result. These speculations are merely theories and shouldn't be taken as fact or official lore.
The Daily Grind: Which MMO races do you detest?
My loathing of Elves is not only well-documented here on Massively, but stretches back to my childhood. I've just never liked them, period. Maybe it's because they're the preppie cool kids in my mind's John Hughes movie, or maybe it's their incredible haughty arrogance and froofy love of flowerwear. In any case, I don't like them, I don't play them, and I feel perfectly fine wishing all manner of humiliating harm upon them. After all, they're pretend and that makes it OK, right? So in the tongue-in-cheek spirit of imaginary racism, which pretend species makes your skin crawl in MMOs? Can you not abide by Dwarves no matter what? Do Gnomes irk you? Will your eyes roll out of your head if you see another humanoid cat race invade your gaming space? Let's get our hate on this morning! Whee! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Breakfast Topic: What was your first day in WoW like?
Over on Reddit, there's a thread where users are reminiscing about their first experiences in World of Warcraft which has me feeling nostalgic for the good old days when I'd just started playing and everything seemed so much simpler. Azeroth was a huge new world, entirely unexplored. I didn't know about gear or raiding or even what awaited me around the next corner. Every word of quest text was new and fresh (though, admittedly, some were pretty tedious to finish). And, best of all, I discovered gnomes. The first character I stuck with was a gnome warlock who was both tiny and deadly (and pink-haired to boot). I still haven't decided just what was so appealing about gnomes. Was it because they were tiny and adorable? Because of their bright pink hair color options? Perhaps because they jump just as high as any other race, which means each jump for them is basically leaping their entire height? It's probably a combination (newbie me was very fond of jumping everywhere). And even today, my Alliance characters tend to gravitate back to the gnome race. Perhaps they imprinted on me somehow in those first gameplay sessions, I'll never know for sure. But enough about gnomes: tell us about your start in WoW. Was it a true newbie experience? Did you fall in love with a certain race or class? Even if you just made stupid mistakes, trust us: we've all been there! (As my gnome story proves.) So tell us everything: what was your first WoW login like?
WoW Moviewatch: Gnomes
An epidemic ravages the face of Azeroth. Whether inspired by bully-like urges or sheer meanness, the bulkier races feel the need to punt gnomes. But, finally, actions have consequences. You can't just punt a gnome and expect nothing will come of it. Finally, a few individuals are taking action. With a methodical, creepy efficiency, a few gnomes are providing some sweet, pint-sized payback to gnome punters. Rectify your ways before they come to you. This is an older video, and it's a shame we've missed it for this long. ResSickness did an amazing job of the joke, the animation, and the voice acting. Tone-perfect and skillfully made, Gnomes is worth the time. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
Turn your gnome into Chromie with transmogrification
For those of you who don't know, there is a subreddit for transmogrification. Though the community is relatively small, it's a wonderful place to go if you want to show off your latest transmog or ask for help with an outfit that isn't quite coming together. I like to visit this particular subreddit quite often, and earlier this year, there was one amazing outfit that I just couldn't get out of my head. The outfit was put together by Hedgewocket on Lightbringer (EU) and is a close replica of the outfit worn by Chromie. Chromie is, of course, the best NPC in the game lovable bronze dragon who frequently takes on the form of a female gnome. Anyway, when I first saw Hedgewocket's transmog, I knew right away that I'd have to feature it on WoW Insider one day. Fortunately for you (because I know you all love Chromie), that day is today.
Excelsior! The cheerful insanity of the Guild Wars 2 Asura
It would have been easy for ArenaNet to make Guild Wars 2's Asura race just another batch of quirky MMO "shorties," playing into the standard fantasy trope. You know how it goes -- what the little guy lacks in brawn he makes up for in quick wit and charm. Throw in some floppy ears, a mischievous grin, and some mechanical gizmos, and you've got yourself a gnome by another name. So did ArenaNet rise to the challenge of porting and updating the Asura? We got a good look at the race and its starting zone in the game's final beta weekend event in the hopes of figuring that out. Follow on for our first impressions!
Know Your Lore: State of the Alliance, 2012
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 has never been harder to be Alliance. Throughout the years of war brought about by the orcish invasion of Azeroth, the Alliance has seen its ups and downs. During that first assault, Stormwind was destroyed, its king assassinated. However, the direct result of this was an Alliance of kingdoms that paved the way for the Alliance as we know it today -- a smart, level-headed group of races focused on survival. The survival of each race individually, and the survival of the world as we know it. A noble cause, and the Alliance is well-known for its nobility. Yet despite bouncing back from that original, horrific assault, the Alliance seems to be in a downward spiral in the days of Cataclysm, one which is spinning horrifically out of control. And despite the best efforts of Alliance leaders, trying to staunch the flow of death and despair is becoming increasingly more difficult. This has much to do with the effects of the Shattering, and even more to do with those enemies of old; the orcs and their united allies in the Horde. Even though the Alliance has come back before, the question of whether or not they can do it again is a heavy one that weighs on the minds of all. It has never been so hard to be Alliance, it has never been this dark. Or so popular opinion states.
Guild ratchets to level 25 on 100% pure, steam-driven gnome power
"This makes me super happy. I want to join this guild." What sort of guild does it take to evoke that kind of reaction from Community Manager Zarhym on the official forums? Gnomes -- lots and lots of nothing but gnomes. "Gnomes are tiny little bundles of concentrated awesome," writes Forbidra, the GM of an all-gnome guild on Wyrmrest Accord (US). "They have endured so much hardship, and yet their indomitable spirit and insatiable curiosity shines through. Gnomes attack their problems with their intellect and ingenuity, rather than with brute force. Still, many players consider gnomes a joke race and don't take them seriously. We in Gnomeregan Forever respectfully disagree. Many of us in G4 not only love roleplaying our characters but actively strive to combat gnomish stereotypes and discrimination on our realm. We believe that gnomes can do pretty much anything any other group of players can do and have heckuva lot of fun doing it! "Oh, indeed we do! And honestly, all joking aside, most people seem to secretly love gnomes. Whenever our guild goes someplace together, people stop and stare. You can almost see thought bubbles popping over their heads: 'OMG, gnomes!!' Sometimes they will follow us. They have no idea what we are up to, but they figure with that many gnomes, it's gotta be fun, right? All gnomes. All fun. All the time. Meet Gnomeregan Forever.
Leaderboard: Hobbits vs. Gnomes
We shorties have been looked down upon our entire lives, so it's not without some sympathy that I champion the cause of the shorter races in MMOs. Happily, there are a lot of them, and they have their ardent supporters, with the added bonus of seemingly irritating the "Tallies" around them. Yet out of all of the diminutive races in online games, two seem to stand out as the kingpins of the Shortie Empire. The first is Hobbits, the classic heroes of Tolkien's novels as well as Lord of the Rings Online. With their genial attitude, disregard for shoes, and fondness for multiple breakfasts, they've endeared themselves to millions and influenced the development of the RPG genre. The second is Gnomes, the tenacious inventors of the underworld who seem to pop up in every MMO that isn't afraid of a steampunk fringe. So if a Hobbit and a Gnome fell into a pit together and there was only one breakfast to be had, which would go hungry and which would be satisfied? In other words, which race rules more than the other? Vote after the jump!
