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Know Your Lore: Wrathion and Draenor
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. We may have helped him in Pandaria, but we certainly didn't fulfill whatever it was Wrathion had on his peculiar wishlist of things to do in regards to his plans for Azeroth. The Black Prince has stated on more than one occasion that he seeks to protect the world from some kind of impending attack by the Burning Legion. He even showed us the vision he'd seen as part of the expansion-long legendary quest chain in the last expansion. Yet when the chain came to a close, Wrathion was less than pleased with the results -- he wanted a clearly defined winner in the battle between Alliance and Horde, and he didn't get it. It was his next plan of action that was perhaps the most surprising, however. In the novel War Crimes, Garrosh Hellscream is placed on trial, and the end result for the former Warchief was a trip back in time to an alternate version of Draenor, courtesy of the bronze dragon Kairoz. But Kairoz wasn't alone in his efforts to take Garrosh back. Wrathion helped him out. And that's pretty strange when you think about it, because unleashing the Iron Horde on Azeroth seems like a really funny way to protect the planet. So what gives? More importantly, where is Wrathion now?
Build an inn or trading post in World of Warcraft's Spires of Arak zone
Are you a fan of the arakkoa, World of Warcraft's avian humanoids? Blizzard Game Designer Don Adams and Associate Quest Designer Johnny Cash are betting you are, which is why they've brought back the sqwawking Burning Crusade beasties in Warlords of Draenor, complete with a "fancy new model." In a dev blog posted today, the duo discuss the Spires of Arak zone, in which the arakkoa aren't quite as evil as they later become in the BC timeline. Over the course of the zone, you're helping [a] shady resistance group of cursed arakkoa to make their final stand. You're learning about the curse they bear, the ancient gods of their land, and the very real threat posed by the Adherents of Rukhmar, the ruling caste of zealous arakkoa in Skyreach. Your adventure leads to two climactic events in the zone: one involving the plight of the outcasts against the flying arakkoa, and another focusing on the Shattered Hand fortress of Bladefist Hold. Of interest is Cash's note that players can choose to "construct an Inn to help [them] house more soldiers and supplies or a Trading Post to establish trade agreements with friendly locals," thereby unlocking unique questlines and gaining access to special perks in the zone, like quicker hearthing and easier access to rested experience.
Warlords of Draenor: Spires of Arak zone preview
We have another zone preview, guys. This time Blizzard is previewing the Spires of Arak, a zone that has no analogue in Outland, an entirely new zone for players to explore. We'll get to see the arakkoa, both the cursed ones we're familiar with from Outland and their kinfolk with the ability to fly and a freaking laser beam. In The Burning Crusade, the arakkoa of Skettis had pretty much fallen entirely into evil, but in Warlords of Draenor we see them at a crossroads. They're outcasts, hated and oppressed by the flying arakkoa who are torching their villages with an enormous beam weapon fixed atop Skyreach. To make matters worse, the Shattered Hand orcs have begun expanding into the region, killing anyone in their path. These arakkoa outcasts are caught between several enemies, and they really have nobody on their side before you show up. Over the course of the zone, you're helping this shady resistance group of cursed arakkoa to make their final stand. You're learning about the curse they bear, the ancient gods of their land, and the very real threat posed by the Adherents of Rukhmar, the ruling caste of zealous arakkoa in Skyreach. I don't know about you, but I'm fairly certain allying with the cursed arakkoa is going to come back to bite me in the posterior, but that's a song we adventurers have sung before. Also, I don't know who decided to let the goblins start up an expedition to Draenor, but I'm calling it now - huge mistake, guys. Huge mistake. Head on over to the official site now for the preview.
Latest Warlords beta build opens new zones, increases level cap
The beta forums are abuzz with discussion of an upcoming beta build -- the servers are down for maintenance this afternoon. Two new zones, Nagrand and Spires of Arak, will be open for testing, and the level cap is increasing to 100. The leveling portion of the beta is moving along at a steady clip now. Though there are still many major bugs with fixes in progress, nearly every leveling zone will now be open for testing. In addition, the new beta build will be renaming beta realms for clarity. They will lose their unique names, and instead be given names that are simple descriptors. Lost Isles (PvE) is being renamed to Beta Leveling Realm 01 Gilneas (PvP) is being renamed to Beta Leveling Realm 02 Mekkatorque (PvP) is being renamed to Level 100 PvP While these clear descriptions are far more useful than their old names, I'll miss having the ability to personify Lost Isles. Cursing its name aloud each time it crashed was cathartic. Screaming Beta Leveling Realm 01 to the heavens doesn't quite have the same effect.
Artcraft presents The Spires of Arak
The Artcraft series returns, this time with a preview of an entire zone - the Spires of Arak. This time Gary Platner takes the lead, explaining all the various ways that Blizzard makes a zone in World of Warcraft, and how it came together for this zone. The Spires of Arak is the home zone for the Arakkoa, and its unusual design is based around the spires the bird-people make into their homes. A lot of us contributed to the Spires of Arak, but ultimately Matt Sanders (exterior level designer) and Kelli Hoover (environment artist) were tasked with creating the zone. Kelli gathered resource material and started to do some paint-overs of our concepts in order to unify a distinctive new color palette. Meanwhile, Matt created the proof of concept in our editing tools in order to test ideas for creating large spiky rocks with the exterior terrain editor. Head over to Blizzard's latest Artcraft post and see how they did for yourself.
Warlords of Draenor: New garrison screenshots from PAX East
Hunter site Eyes of the Beast attended PAX East this weekend, and uploaded some images from the press kit. Included in the screenshots are an impressive shot of what appears to be the Spires of Arak, a shot of Frostfire Ridge, another shot of the gorgeous scenery in Shadowmoon Valley, and of course, garrisons. The garrison screenshots in particular are interesting because it looks like this is a garrison at or very near completion -- giving a much clearer look at just what these things will look like when we get to set them up ourselves. Of course, the buildings displayed are all Alliance structures -- we haven't really seen any fully realized previews of Horde settlements just yet. The Alliance architecture seems to blend in with Draenor's lush landscape remarkably well. I'm hoping that the Horde buildings won't stick out like a sore thumb in comparison -- but we'll have to wait to see what the Horde structures look like, for now. Check out the full post on Eyes of the Beast for all the images.
