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Could there be such a thing as life without the Lich King?
In response to one player's question, "After Arthas, what's left to kill?" Bornakk has revealed a surprising tidbit about the future of World of Warcraft. The answer is: Murlocs! That's right. After we kill Arthas, "instead of adding new creatures or new continents it will be just one area of endlessly spawning murlocs." Amazing fun! This is what I've been wishing for ever since I saw my first murlocs on the shores of Darkshore. Perhaps we'll be able to collect endless varieties of Murky pets, too! They could go by all sorts of cute names like Lurky, Quirky and Turky.Ah... to dream. Anyways, later in the same thread, Nethaera stops by too and adds her own meditation on the possible death of Arthas, reminding us of a most ancient question regarding trees falling in the woods without anyone to hear them: "If Arthas dies, does the Lich King also die?" This seems to be a pretty clear indication that the death of Arthas will not mean the death of the Lich King, and that the story of the Living versus the Dead will go even after the big bad prince bites the dust.Arthas and the Lich King has been a pretty huge part of the Warcraft story ever since before most of us were even familiar with it, and for some of us it feels strange that he might one day no longer be a part of it. In our interview with WoW's lead producer, he noted that both the Maelstrom and the Emerald Dream were once considered as possibilities for WoW's second expansion, but they chose Northrend and Arthas to come before them because it seemed like the strongest idea. But how strong is Arthas really? Could he ever compare to murlocs?No, but seriously, do you think the Lich King is just way too cool not to perpetuate indefinitely as the ultimate villain? Would you like to see Arthas get killed in one patch, while the Lich King returned in another, kind of like Kael'thas showed up twice in The Burning Crusade? Or do you think we're going to get our fill of Lich Kinginess -- so much so that once Arthas is dead, the Lich King and all the Scourge should just die for good along with him?
Blizzard hosts an annual Pumpkin Contest
I love this time of year -- the leaves are turning colors, there's a cool breeze in the air, and we're getting closer and closer to both Hallow's End and Halloween. And speaking of Halloween, it's time once again for the annual Blizzard pumpkin contest -- Bornakk has the deets on the forums. Just carve up a pumpkin at least as cool as this one featuring Illy D (it was one of last year's winners), take a picture of it lit, and send it to the judges through this form. The pumpkins last year seemed very influenced by Burning Crusade, so this year, we'll probably see plenty of Arthas and Death Knight pumpkins in the entries (I'd like to see a Nerubian pumpkin, myself).I can't wait to see the winners, though truth be told, I just can't wait for Hallow's End -- the best candy of all are the purple Epics falling like rain off the Headless Horseman.
Ask a Beta Tester: Raid zones, plot, and more on phasing
I decided to do something a little different with the image above for today's Ask a Beta Tester. Instead of beating you over the head with another of my awesome Dalaran screenshots, I've plugged in some music you can listen to while you read, if you'd like. Just hit play, and get in a Wrath kind of mood.Milkgas asked quite a few question, but many of them involve story spoilers that I don't think readers would appreciate seeing in this particular column. What I don't answer, you can truck over to Ask a Lore Nerd and I'll squeeze them in on the bottom behind my usual "spoilers be here, yarrrr" line. We can definitely hit a few of them though.Has there been any hints in the quest text of either the Uldum or the Karazhan Basement as a raid or dungeon in this expansion or the next?Nothing that I've seen! We'll have Ulduar as a raid zone in Northrend, so to me that seems like a definite no on Uldum. I don't think they would put two Titan raids in one expansion, unless Uldum turned out to be a 5 man dungeon. We've seen nothing about the rest of Karazhan.
Patch 3.0.2: Echoes of Doom
From the North, a cold wind blows, and brings with it Echoes of Doom. A king is ready, after all these years, to return to his people...Blizzard has named the last content patch before Wrath of the Lich King -- it's "Echoes of Doom." They've created a page for patch 3.0.2 in their Under Development section, and all of the features we've become familiar with over the past few months -- from Inscription to two new Arenas (no mention yet of the new battleground, unless they just meant Wintergrasp) and lots of UI modifications -- are listed right there as ready to go in with the new patch.The page still seems like a placeholder, though, so expect to see it changed over the next two weeks or so -- we'll see more detailed patch notes, of course, near release, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some information about the World Event that will likely kick off Wrath. "Echoes of Doom" -- are you excited?Update: WoW Insider has obtained this exclusive video of what the new patch may be like.
Scourge Invasion to return?
Here's a promising note for those who enjoyed the Scourge invasion world event a while back. When a player moans on the forums that he thought it was a yearly thing (and that it might never return), world designer Kisirani says not to jump to conclusions: we may be using the Necrotic runes from the event very soon in the future. Rumors have been swirling about a world event for a long time now, and if you've been paying attention to the spoilers (that link is a spoiler, of course), you know that things are going to hit the fan very shortly here.Though for all of the hints and leaks and files found in the beta, we haven't actually seen an event at work, and it's not completely clear just what will happen. Of course, something has to happen to Naxx for it to move north to Northrend, and we've speculated all along that, without being too spoilery, Arthas would do something to drive the Horde and Alliance to seek him out, and that's exactly what the hints are pointing at. But as for when this event will go down, and what, if any, rewards might come out of it, from Necrotic Runes or otherwise, we don't know for sure. As much as players have learned about how Wrath might kick off, Blizzard is still holding their cards close on this one.
Christie Golden drops more info about Arthas
BlizzPlanet has a nice tidbit from Christie Golden about her upcoming novel about Arthas Menethil (better known as half of the Lich King, that bad guy we're going to be spending a lot of time with in the expansion). The book is due out next year (so odds are that we'll be approaching the end of the story by the time it hits store shelves), but it'll offer a look at the bad guy way before he started being bad -- the book starts with Arthas as a 10-year-old Prince, and covers everything between there to his little meltdown we witnessed in Warcraft III. The romance with Jaina is supposed to get some good coverage as well, so the book should be a good read.And there are some bonuses for close readers as well -- we'll have seen some scenes before (including one between Arthas and Muradin in Beyond the Dark Portal), but of course, in this book, they'll be from Arthas' perspective. Arthas is undoubtedly the villian of the next ten levels in WoW (they even named the thing after him), but it's really exciting to have a villian with such an interesting and twisted past behind him.
Ask a Lore Nerd: Portals, pandaren, and Jaina Proudmoore
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week Alex Ziebart answers your quests about the lore in the World of Warcraft. If you have any questions, no matter how big or small they might be, ask them in the comments section below and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.Let's get this party started with Lionheart's question...What is that barred off instance looking portal thing in Stormwind, by Old Town? Were the gates once open?There are actually two of these in Stormwind. Neither of them were ever open, they're relics of unfinished projects. One is a closed off little guarded island in the Canals. That one was going to be the Stormwind Vault, probably a dungeon like Arcatraz or the upcoming Violet Hold in Dalaran. Probably.There's also the barred off one at the end of the Canals, right down the way from that one. This is probably the one you're referring to, I'm going to guess? I don't think we've gotten a real answer on this was supposed to be, but it was probably going to be the portal to player housing. They actually did start work on player housing at one point, but never got far. There are relics of it in the game files. Half completed houses/structures, things like that. They all use the Stormwind motif for their appearance, and they would have to put it somewhere. Through this portal is a safe bet.thinice asked...Jaina Proudmoore and Arthas. Any chance they'll hook up against in the future? What are the details of their history together?
Blizzard unveils the BlizzCon store
The 2008 BlizzCon is coming rapidly, and with it, of course, comes exclusive BlizzCon swag. In addition to the goody bag, the BlizzCon store will also be open for business, and Blizzard's previewing the loot you can buy. Among the highlights: You may remember that the goody bags will come with either an inflatable Frostmourne or an Inflatable Paladin-in-a-Bubble. Luckily, if you don't get the one you want, you can buy it at the store. Alliance and Horde T-shirts A talking Pandaren bottle opener. The hardcover version of the WoW comic. Arthas' Helm. A WoTLK cinematic book. There will be lots of Diablo 3 and Starcraft II loot as well, including posters, stress balls, and t-shirts. Check out all the gear at Blizzard's official site, and start planning your budget to buy some stuff. I know I'm planning mine![Thanks for the heads up, Nicholas!]
Arthas novel to be released April 2009
Author Christie Golden has posted a little more information about the Arthas novel coming next year -- she lists the release date as April of 2009 (Arthas will probably still be alive then -- if "alive" is what he is now), and says that it'll be a nice hardback edition, which should be cool to see. She also says that while they were considering throwing a sample chapter in the BlizzCon goodie bag, all they were able to get in is a little postcard art of the book's cover. Too bad -- it would have been fun reading a little preview of the book while waiting in line to play, say, Diablo III.And for the Starcraft fans, she's also got a Dark Templar book coming out a month after that, in May 2009. It was supposed to be out sooner, but apparently Arthas' book got pushed forward, and she had to switch up schedules a bit. So two good pieces of extended universe fiction for Blizzard's games to look forward to next year.[via Blizzplanet]
WoW Radio runs CoT: Stratholme
Our good friends at WoW Radio have continued their beta instance-running ways -- previously, they've taken runs through Utgarde Keep and The Nexus, and after a short break (they're busy folks, pushing out great radio 24/7), they've done a run through CoT: Stratholme, viewable right there if you want to see it.We should warn you that there are spoilers, of course, and personally, I think I might not watch the whole thing -- I'd kind of rather experience the Culling of Stratholme on my own. But for those of you willing to take the plunge with the WoW Radio folks, enjoy. We hear there is some good lore commentary going on, and there's even a bug where, Totalbiscuit tells us, "all Gnome females are default naked." Shudder.Yeah I think I will pass, actually. But if you do choose to press play, enjoy the video.
Icecrown Citadel confirmed in post-release content patch
As if we didn't really see this coming -- just like the Black Temple with Burning Crusade, Tigole confirmed for sure that the last instance of Wrath of the Lich King will be pushed off past release to a content patch (likely 3.1 or 3.2, if we had to guess), which means we won't face Arthas for a final showdown when the expansion releases. Of course, there'll be plenty to do anyway -- besides all of the other 5man instances, there'll be Lake Wintergrasp to mess around with, and of course Naxx and Zul'Drak will be in and ready to go. But those looking for a Lich King resolution will likely have to wait -- while we'll see plenty of Arthas, we won't actually face him until the Icecrown content patch.Disappointing? Not from our perspective -- just like Black Temple, leaving the last instance out of the expansion will not only let Blizzard make sure it's released only when done, but it'll give us something to look forward to after Wrath. No one really expected to see this content in the Wrath box anyway, and not even Blizzard has left us guessing -- they've been pretty clear that Icecrown would get its own content patch from the beginning. Leaves us more time to enjoy the content that does come with the expansion.
Know Your Lore: Tirion Fordring
Welcome to Know Your Lore, where each week Alex Ziebart brings you a tasty little morsel of lore to wrap your mind around. Sweet, sweet lore. Mmmm. Have suggestions for future KYL topics? E-mail us! Or, if you have a question for our sister column Ask a Lore Nerd, e-mail us those, too!Despite how cool Tirion Fordring is, this was is actually one of the more challenging topics for Know Your Lore. It's difficult to write about Tirion without just giving a summary of the book about him, becase there's not much more to him until Wrath of the Lich King. Even after reading this, I'm still going to strongly recommend that you go out and find a copy of the Chris Metzen written book Of Blood and Honor.At the creation of the Order of the Silver Hand, Tirion Fordring was chosen to be among the first of the Paladins. Alongside him were people such as Saidan Dathrohan, Turalyon, Uther the Lightbringer, and Gavinrad the Dire (who!?). During the wars with the Orcish Horde, Tirion pretty much did what every other Paladin did: Kill a lot of Orcs and save a lot of lives. The real juicy stuff came a bit after that.
The best of WoW Insider: August 19-26, 2008
It's "The King and I" in the World of Warcraft lately -- the Lich King is everywhere, and this past week we moved even closer to the release of the most popular online game in the world's second expansion. Joystiq's sister site WoW Insider, as usual, has all the angles covered -- if you want the hottest new spoilers, a more casual look at why the expansion is so important, or just to keep up to date on what's in the old game (wait, there's an old game?), we've got you covered. News Wrath sound files point to World EventHeavy spoilers here: before we step into the new expansion, our old world is going to change a bit. Wrath cinematic trailer unveiledBlizzard showed the cinematic for the first time at Leipzig. Arthas has left his throne and now he's summoning dragons. Sylvanas finally gets her makeoverThe most famous (former) High Elf in the game now looks the part. Engineering fun builds up in BetaSome excellent Engineering crafted items make their debut. Blizzard announces pre-Wrath content patchWe're going to get a look at Wrath on the live realms even before the game comes out. Features Ten things I hate about the Wrath betaNot in the beta? Here's a few reasons why you might want to wait for the live realms anyway. WoW Insider and WoW TCG Loot give away a Tabard of FlameAll this week is your chance to win a hot (pun intended) in-game tabard. Ask a Beta Tester: Don't want to look like a clown editionAABT is our one-stop shop for all your beta testing questions. Hybrid Theory: Yet another Spell Power discussionSpell Power is one of the biggest changes coming -- find out exactly what it means to hybrids. The Care and Feeding of Warriors: When words are insufficientOur Warrior writer is speechless with joy over what's happening to his class in the expansion.
WoW movie poster contest winners announced
Worldofwar.net announced the winners of its WoW movie poster contest today. Each winner of the contest received a Wrath of the Lich King beta key. The five winning posters, oddly, have a very sci-fi feel to them. Two of the winners, in particular, gave me a Star Wars vibe. One shows a cast of Alliance characters posed in a fashion reminiscent of Luke and Leia on the A New Hope posters and the other (pictured to the right) reminds me of an Imperial Star Destroyer on the move. Maybe it's just me, but I expected a poster to have more of a fantasy feel to sell this movie. Something that reminds me more of, say, Lord of the Rings rather than Star Wars.I think my favorite one is the one of Arthas staring at the viewer. It looks menacing and the artwork is fantastic. (Not a big fan of the "2012," teaser date, though.) In addition to viewing the winning designs, you can also flip through a gallery of all the entries they received, including a nice one in the honorable mention category called "There is no escape," featuring Kil'jaeden which definitely has a fantasy vibe to it.
Ask a Beta Tester: Of Northrend and Nesingwary
Today we're going on safari with a question from t_d, who asked.... Do we get to see Hemet Nesingwary do some big game hunting in Northrend and if so, who did he leave in charge of the Nagrand Expedition? Where there's new adventures to be had -- and new beasts to hunt -- you will find Hemet Nesingwary, struggling to rid the world of dangerous creatures everywhere. Though on the beta realms, his camp in Nagrand still contains Hemet himself, we're guessing that when Wrath goes live they'll replace him with a stand-in, similar to what they did when he came to Nagrand from Stranglethorn Vale. For more on on Hemet Nesingwary -- and other questions -- read on! But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving a few things away.
Ask a Lore Nerd: Books, boats and Blood Knights
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, the column that answers your questions about the story and lore of the Warcraft universe. Click the Comments link below (or e-mail us!), ask your question, and blogger/columnist Alex Ziebart will answer your question in a future installment!Without further ado, let's get to the questions. Justin of Firetree-US wrote in to ask...Along the coastline in the Swamp of Sorrows there are skeletons of giant turtles with structures built onto the back of their shells. Is this a nod to the Gnome submarines used in Warcraft II? If I remember correctly, they were turtles as well.While yes, the Gnomes did use the turtles as submarines in Warcraft II, they aren't the only ones that have made use of them. According to a few quests in Darkshore, the Naga have put the Giant turtles to work as transports. Also, in Wrath of the Lich King, the Tuskarr use giant turtles with carriages on their backs as transportation as well. In fact, you can use them to get from one end of Northrend to the other. Edit: I was wrong, the Gnomes didn't use the turtles. It was a Horde unit. Same answer applies, though.
Wrath sound files point to world event
Spoiler Alert! The guys over at the WotLK Information Wiki have uncovered what appears to be sound files related to the world event that will open up Northrend. There are three separate monologues that have Arthas talking in villanous tones and creepy background music. Spoiler-heavy details after the jump! You have been warned!
Traces of the Wrath cinematic found ingame
Just in case, like me, you were wondering just what happened in the cinematic for Wrath of the Lich King yesterday (wait -- Arthas puts Frostmourne in the ground and a dragon comes out?), it looks like we're likely to get some answers. We didn't exactly see any familiar player characters or races in the trailer, but apparently the location of Arthas' little dragon summon can be seen in Northrend, as per the shot above. We still don't know what spell it is that summons a frost wyrm, but you can clearly see the hole in the ground the thing left.And while most players assumed the wyrm was Sapphiron (the frost wyrm boss of Naxxramas), MMO Champion doesn't think so -- there's a model in the beta called Sindragosa (labeled "The Frost Queen"), and there's a place called "Sindragosa's Fall" -- we're not sure where it is in the game, or if that's it above, as Icecrown Citadel has barely been explored.So maybe further questing and lore in the expansion will give us a little bit of a clue as to what exactly Arthas was doing in that trailer. Odds are that dragon we saw is ingame somewhere, and we players are probably just the dragonslayers to slay it.Update: Yep, the area is Sindragosa's Fall, which makes the dragon almost definitely Sindragosa. So it looks like the summoning we saw in the cinematic might be more story significant than we thought.
New Wrath of the Lich King trailer chills and thrills
If the anticipation of Wrath of the Lich King has been steadily growing for World of Warcraft fans, this latest cinematic trailer will absolutely push them over the edge. The trailer is set within the icy continent of Northrend and introduces us to its master, The Lich King Arthas, while providing a look at the harsh setting of Blizzard's latest expansion. Click through below to see The Lich King's minions assembled in all their bluish necromantic glory.
Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brack talk Wrath at Leipzig
Here's a nice tidbit from the Games convention at Leipzig, Germany in the form a bundle of Wrath news. Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brack gave a pair of interviews to Getbuffed.de and Gamona.de. In the Getbuffed interview embedded above, they discuss the future of the lore and raids, most notably Icecrown Glacier, the home of Arthas.
