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Know Your Lore: The Dragonmaw clan
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. Warning: there will be spoilers for Cataclysm in this post. They came to Azeroth with the Old Horde: orcs, much like any other tribe, loyal to Blackhand the Destroyer. Their fate under Blackhand was the same as any other orc tribe: defeat by the forces of Stormwind. Under the rise of the new warchief, Orgrim Doomhammer, the Dragonmaw would accompany the now victorious Horde north. There, they would move from a minor clan to a powerful force, supplying the Horde with an instrument they would use for victory thanks to the machinations of an ancient evil. They were the instrument that he used to defile his oldest foe, and the blood of the Aspect of Life and that of her offspring stained the Dragonmaw clan who used them so brutally. Eventually, it came to an end. The Dragonmaw, however, did not. Driven from their conquered territory, the vast fortress of Grim Batol, some found their way back home to Draenor only to find that world now a shattered ruin. Others clung to holdings in Azeroth, even going so far as to ally with Rend Blackhand and his Dark Horde. What future can there be for these, the furthest fallen, who tumbled from heights of power and influence to find themselves the servants to other, darker forces than even they themselves could comprehend? To discuss the future of the Dragonmaw, we must discuss their past.
Know Your Lore: The Second War
Welcome once again my friends to the lore that never ends, we're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside Know Your Lore. When last we got together over the nonexistent campfire to share stories of Azeroth and Draenor and the peoples of both, our heroes were either fleeing the destruction of Stormwind or destroying Stormwind, depending on who you think of as the heroes. Once again, the 'canonical' nature of these events has shifted somewhat from the time they were first presented to now, so bear with me if you see any inconsistencies as I attempt to work several disparate accounts together. Also, wow, did a lot happen in the Second War, so please forgive anything I miss or merely allude to from the Alliance and Old Horde KYL's. We know that following the loss of Stormwind (and by following I mean that they could probably see the buildings burning as they sailed away) the survivors, led by Anduin Lothar, sailed north for Lordaeron and the court of King Terenas Menethil. It was this journey and Lothar's arrival that led Terenas and Lothar to begin the diplomatic work that created the Alliance of Lordaeron. It's important to keep in mind that, at the time, not many people actually knew much about the orcs aside from the survivors of Stormwind. King Llane Wrynn had an adviser who knew a lot about the orcs but that ultimately ended in Stormwind's destruction as we covered last week. Still, Lothar was the one person both connected enough through his descent from the ancient Arathi bloodline and knowledgeable enough about the enemy to command the military of this new Alliance.
A new round of free character transfers announced
As of noon today, a new set of free character transfers are available from select realms due to their exceedingly high population. Bornakk says that these transfers will last until Wednesday, September 10th unless their transfer goal is met early. In that case, the character transfers will end early as well. Get in while you can, if you're on one of these realms!The realms Illidan, Mal'Ganis and Warsong have the option to transfer to the Zuluhed server. Aerie Peak, Area 52, Moon Guard, and Zul'Jin have the option of transferring to Muradin. On the Oceanic side of things, the servers Barthilas and Frostmourne may transfer to Dreadmaul if they so choose. Forum links embedded for your new-home-researching convenience.Remember, these transfers are only open until September 10th or until their transfer quota is met. If you're interested in moving, do it as soon as you can so you don't miss out.
How Blizzard monitors realm populations
This forum thread from Pepe on Zuluhed is a little more than a "QQ need moar realm pls" post, but only a little-- he's wondering why a relatively empty realm like Zuluhed isn't added to the "Recommended Realms" list. Drysc answers to say that while Zuluhed might be low population, there are others which need more help. And then the conversation get a little deeper, and Drysc reveals more about how Blizzard monitors and controls realm population.First, another player quotes the Warcraft Realms stats page, and says that Zulu actually has less players on it then Azuremyst, a realm that was chosen as recommended. But Drysc answers that by saying Blizzard doesn't take "total players created" on a realm as a sign of population-- they're looking at percentage full (actually logged in) on any average night. Azuremyst is 35% full on average peak, and Zulu is 45% full on peak. He says once they fill those lower pop realms up a little more, they'll change the recommendations, and try to keep player populations as even as possible.He also says (and he wouldn't lie, right?) that player numbers are actually seeing a "steady increase" since the expansion, but with the free transfers before the expansion and all the new landmass, servers might seem a little emptier. If you're cynical enough to think Drysc would twist the truth about player population, then you basically just heard him say "up is down."But the strategist in me sees a mischievous idea here-- if Blizzard is watching actual logins during peak and not just created characters, reroll locusts could affect the recommended realms list. If you somehow got a big group to jump off of Zuluhed during peak, and on to Azuremyst during peak for a week or so, would Blizzard switch the two servers around? Could you actually game the realm population system?
Urgent Realm Maintenance
Several realms (Andorhal, Anetheron, Archimonde, Dalaran, Dentarg, Duskwood, Executus, Haomarush, Khadgar, Mal'Ganis, Scilla, Steamwheedle Cartel, Turalyon, Ysera, Ysondre, and Zuluhed) were brought down tonight for urgent maintenance around 5:15 PST with a note that expected downtime was to be minimal. The servers seemed to pop up online again not so long after but the uptime doesn't seem to have last - around 6:30 PST most (all?) are offline again. Oddly, all of these servers appear to be those running on new hardware...
US Realm Migration Ahead of Schedule
So reports CM Drysc. Only sixteen servers (of the original thirty-two) remain offline, and these still could remain offline for the full 24 hours. However, the progress with so many realms is promising news. The remaining offline realms are as follows:Andorhal, Anetheron, Archimonde, Dalaran, Dentarg, Duskwood, Executus, Haomarush, Khadgar, Mal'Ganis, Scilla, Steamwheedle Cartel, Turalyon, Ysera, Ysondre, and Zuluhed
Server Downtime Thursday
Blizzard is rolling out new hardware for several US realms this Thursday, and the process of transferring the realms means - you guessed it, extensive downtime. The migration will begin on Thursday at 12:01 AM PST and may last as long as 24 hours. Those of you on effected realms will receive an extra day's credit to your account, which is, I suppose, better than nothing. Following the migration, Blizzard plans to open character transfers from existing realms to new realms (yet to be opened) to further help with performance and overcrowding issues. Realms transferring to new hardware are Archimonde, Dalaran, Khadgar, and Mal'Ganis. Other affected realms include Aggramar, Andorhal, Anetheron, Burning Blade, Burning Legion, Dentarg, Duskwood, Earthen Ring, Eonar, Eredar, Executus, Gilneas, Gorefiend, Haomarush, Kargath, Laughing Skull, Lightning's Blade, Llane, Malygos, Scilla, Shadow Moon, Steamwheedle Cartel, Thunderhorn, Thunderlord, Turalyon, Ysera, Ysondre, and Zuluhed. While these realms are not receiving a hardware upgrade, Tseric explains that current equipment configuration requires this.Update: The schedule has been pushed back to Thursday.
New Servers Online!
Community manager Tseric has posted stating that four new realms were scheduled to come up at 12:00 PM PST today. From the word on the forums, they're up and running. Anyone looking for a fresh start, here's your chance. Duskwood - PvE Zuluhed - PvP Anetheron - PvP Steamwheedle Cartel – RP PvE
