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Wrath cinematic trailer unveiled
Is there anything left to be said? The Wrath of the Lich King cinematic was unveiled to the public earlier today on Blizzard's sites... and it's freaking awesome. The trailer features Arthas, the Lich King, trudging the icy plains of Northrend with the echoing narration of the late King Terenas Menethil, his father. Haunting music, a chilling narrative, and imagery that shows the frightening power of the Lich King is all packed into the short trailer, which can be downloaded in hi-resolution for Macs and PCs. "The truest victory, my son," King Terenas says, "is stirring the hearts of your people." I can tell you right off that this cinematic stirred my heart... and sent a shiver down my spine. Check out the full version over at the Wrath site now.Update: Our friends over at Big Download now have the trailer in downloadable form, so if you want to preserve it on your hard drive for future generations (or just to watch it a lot more), you can do so.
Wrath of Lich King cinematic debuting at Leipzig
Blizzard announced today that World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King's opening cinematic will premiere at the Leipzig Games Convention. The clip will be shown this Thursday, August 21, at 1PM German standard time (7AM Joystiq time).We'd speculate about what Blizzard has in store for a big reveal at Blizzcon, but with Diablo 3, Starcraft 2 and WoW in play, who knows what the company could announce. We'll see what happens on October 11.[Via WoW Insider]
Around Azeroth: Master of his domain
We've gotten a flood of great submissions lately, both from live realms and WotLK beta (and a huge backlog of pictures we're planning to put up -- be patient!) But the one thing I've been looking for is a really good shot of the Lich King himself. We received two of those shots in the last two days, and I was torn on which to put up. So I put it to a vote. By a majority of 3-0, the members of the WoW Insider blogging staff that were awake and responding to questions at 3:30 AM picked this picture, featuring the Lich King and an angel of death, over its rival (available for viewing here.). Reasoning? It "looks cooler," "doesn't have a gnome" and is more of "an 'omg i'm standing in front of the freaking LICH KING' moment." Congrats to victor Anderek of Lightbringer, and unfortunate gnome runner-up Littlest from Lich King beta server. Which picture do you prefer? Leave a comment and let us know!Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more sunsets.%Gallery-1816%
The Death Knight starting experience
A couple of days ago, it was with a little good fortune and a lot of soul-selling by WoW Insider lead Elizabeth Harper that I finally got my grubby little hands on a precious Beta key. Over 2 Gigabytes worth of installer and patches later, I found myself creating a Death Knight. It is a fair certainty that every player who upgrades to the Wrath of the Lich King will create one. In fact, after playing the class for just a short time, I have to say that every single player should. The Death Knight starting experience is the single most immersive role-playing experience in the game.Don't get me wrong. I'm not too big on role-playing. I mostly skip quest flavor text and go directly to the objectives. But the Death Knight starting experience -- it's really called that -- is just game design at its finest. Blizzard mentioned that one design flaw in The Burning Crusade was not making Illidan's presence felt early on in the Outlands. In fact, aside from the raiders who managed to set foot in the 25-man raids, a large number of the player base never got to see the bad guys driving the story of The Burning Crusade. Well... when you play a Death Knight, you won't just feel the lore, it punches you in the face and knocks you off your feet the moment you log into the game for the first time.
Sate your need for Wrath info at our Wrath of the Lich King page
Poking around on our front page for the latest and greatest in Wrath news not enough for you? Want an IV of all the news coming out the Wrath beta poked directly into your news-reading veins? Then look no further than our newly resdigned Wrath of the Lich King news page, found at wow.com/wrath-of-the-lich-king. From now until launch, that's your number one stop for anything and everything Wrath related, including guides on what's going down in the beta, news about upcoming talent changes and updates for all classes, and what the Lich King himself has planned for us when we step across the threshold in Northrend. Read it, link to it on your own blogs, and, above all, enjoy it. Just like the horrendous undead/demonic melding of Nerz'hul and Arthas Menethil, it's waiting for you.And if Ask a Beta Tester is more your style, our hardworking linkbunnies (actually, there's just one, and she's really nice) have hammered together this Ask a Beta Tester page as well, with a clear overview of everything our Beta Testers have been asked and answered so far. Want to know what races the NPCs of Dalaran are, or whether Stratholme has showed up in the expansion yet? Our Beta Testers have your answers, and you can see them all over there.
All the World's a Stage: Center of the universe
All the World's a Stage returns today after a week off due to reasons beyond the comprehension of mortal man. Mysteries abound in World of Warcraft, and roleplayers are there to enjoy them.In roleplaying, one's own character is never the center of the story -- this is true. But from another perspective, your character is always the center of the story -- and this is also true. It seems like a paradox, but it's actually a way of understanding your own relationship to the world.In most stories, the main characters are usually the ones who have the most impact on the world around them: they are the heroes who save the day, fall in love, and make the choices that determine the ultimate outcome of the plot. In a way, the whole story circles around them, like planets around the sun. The structure of Warcraft lore is built with the stories of characters like this, whose choices made the World of Warcraft what it is today: Arthas, Thrall, Jaina Proudmoore and the like.But the roleplaying community of imaginative characters is not such a centralized system. When immature roleplayers fail to understand this, they end up with a chaotic mess where everyone wants to steal the spotlight. But mature roleplaying environments are quite the opposite: they are cooperative rather than competitive, and quite unlike traditional storytelling patterns. Where traditional stories are like a solar system, with main characters around which all the other characters revolve, roleplaying in WoW it is like the expanding universe itself: a web of interconnected stories and characters in which the center appears to be nowhere and everywhere at the same time.
Ask a Lore Nerd: Only a little broken
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, ask your question, and blogger/columnist Alex Ziebart will answer you in a future installment!skoll asks...Whats your speculation about the Burning Legion in the new expansion, since Kil'jaeden has been killed/defeated? IF he is dead.. will it that be the end of Burning Legion? If not, what you think their role will be?Answer: Well, Kil'jaeden isn't dead. Not at all. In the Sunwell Plateau, Kil'jaeden is being summoned but never fully makes it through the portal. We bop him on the head and he just falls back in. What presence will they have in Wrath? Well, it will probably be minimal. I am sure they'll have some presence, the Legion doesn't really have any love for the Scourge, but it won't be anything like what we've seen in The Burning Crusade. Kil'jaeden is alive and well, but I think they'll scale way back on demons just because we've seen so many lately. They will probably want to step away from thrusting the same thing on us for another entire expansion.
Forum post of the day: What makes a Death Knight heroic?
The Death Knight has been touted as the first heroic class in World of Warcraft. Hopefully there will be more to come in the future. We've heard some interesting tidbits about this class, and many people are chomping at the bit to play one. Aegulle of Cenarius wants to know what it is about Death Knights that makes them "heroic." To him they appear to be just another class. Some suggested that the starting level of this class makes them heroic- that nothing more thank skipping 55 levels of grinding is enough to qualify for an elevated status. Unlike existing classes, a player must put some effort into WoW before it can even be rolled. Death Knights can only be created by those who "unlock" the class by leveling at least one character on the server to 55.
WoW's Wrath of the Lich King box art leaked
What is with all these World of Warcraft leaks? If you knew where to look everything you wanted to know about WotlK was already exposed before Blizzard Entertainment's World Wide Invitational extravaganza. For shame, not even the WotlK box art is safe from prying eyes and camera phones. WoW Insider already exposed the box art for the Collector's Edition, and the same source has also obtained snaps of the basic box art.Is it the real deal or a mocked-up forge? The WotlK box layout has many exact elements used on The Burning Crusade box. The placement for the Blizzard logo and ESRB rating line up exactly, and the font used to spell 'expansion set' is identical to its cardboard predecessor. In another photo that lends to its authenticity is a printer's mark. The box also notes that you need The Burning Crusade to play Wrath of the Lich King which means no free TBC bundles.Hopefully, it won't be long until those boxes are stuffed with the goods and shipped to retail where we can pick them up because what comes on the inside of the box is what matters. Unless you're one of those weirdoes that save game boxes and treasures them for eternity. If you are feeling lucky skip the box altogether and try your hand at the WotlK beta-lottery.
Kisirani implies the return of the Scourge Invasion event
I think a lot of old school WoW players will agree with me that the Scourge Invasion event that kicked off the Naxxramas patch (and coincided with that year's Midsummer Fire Festival) was a whole lot of fun. There was something incredibly epic about fighting a massive hulking abomination on the steps of the Stormwind Cathedral that not even most boss fights have been able to capture for me. it was also nice to have all those extra bosses in the dungeons for a bit of variety, especially since some of them dropped some very nice loot. Beyond all that, it finally gave us a chance at getting the much coveted tabard of the greatest faction in the game. Still, despite Blizzard's hints that we'd get a chance to experience the Scourge Invasion again, it's been over a year and a half since the citadels ceased to hang over our capital cities with no sign of a return -- I've even saved a space in my bank for my spare Necrotic Runes, just in case! Of course, if the Scourge Invasion is ever to return, it's getting closer and closer to the most opportune moment for such a thing. WotLK is coming, in which we will invade Northrend ourselves to try to put a stop to the Scourge once and for all. Preparations are already underway in Stormwind for the journey, and rumor has it that Arthas himself is in eager to lure us to Northrend and trap us there. What better way to do that than with a preliminary invasion as bait? Apparently, Kisirani agrees.
WWI '08 notes from WoW Insider's chat with Xfire
Our very own Mark "Turpster" Turpin and Jennie Lees were invited to sit down with Xfire users and chat about their thoughts from the Worldwide Invitational. You can read the entire transcript, but we've encapsulated most of the goodies for you in this post.Mounts and battlegroundsAnswering a question about water mounts, Jennie said that they don't seem to be in the works. Still, you can get your H2O kicks with the non-player-controllable boats in Lake Wintergrasp. Another questioner asked whether the flying combat mounts will take damage. Some of these combat mounts will have shielding to protect the player from damage, but the mount will take damage instead.Killing ArthasConsensus in the chat was that there is a lot of excitement around the idea of being able to kill Arthas, the Lich King, even if it takes up the same progression as Kil'Jaeden currently does in TBC. The hope is that Frostmourne will drop, but the consequences of getting the sword are not yet known. Will it corrupt the player and take away stats? Will players become the new Lich King if they pick it up? We'll have to wait and see.That's just one of the questions awaiting an answer for us in the post-Wrath world. Another came from a chat question about whether there would be any future for the Warcraft franchise after Arthas is dead. From what our bloggers have heard, there's no standing still for the franchise. Turpster says, "I think a favourite King of mine might be making a return to a Stormy City!"
Where's the Wrath cinematic?
So it's Monday now, the Worldwide Invitational in Paris is officially over, Diablo 3 has been announced and we've got tons of new info about Wrath of the Lich King -- but where's the cinematic? We know the Wrath cinematic is coming, but there was no sign of it at all at the WWI.Then again, if you look at the timeframes, it's still a little soon -- the acclaimed Burning Crusade cinematic actually dropped on the Spike Videogame Awards in December of 2006 (just a month before BC was actually released in January of 2007), so since there's still some time until the Wrath release, there will still be some time until the cine shows.In fact, it's looking more and more like BlizzCon 2008 might be the place to see it. With a rumored release date of sometime in November, Blizzard's big convention in October would probably be the perfect place to show off the next, undoubtedly beautiful chapter in the fall (and maybe even redemption?) of Arthas Menethil. Plus maybe they'll put a Gnome in there this time around.
Blizzard's splash screen changes for June 27th: A "Lost" penguin and Death Knight imagery
Good Morning everyone! It is now June 27th, and as expected, Blizzard's splash screen has changed yet again to reveal more of the mystery behind what they may be announcing at the Worldwide Invitational, which begins tomorrow. What exactly they're announcing is still up in the air, but there have been some interesting revelations, especially concerning the mysterious purple monster everyone's been wondering about. The new graphic, named ice5.jpg, doesn't seem to have changed the cracking ice much, but what has changed is the "eyes." There's now very little doubt that they are glowing eyes instead of snow flecks, and to be frank, they do look remarkably like the eyes of Arthas the Lich King from underneath his helmet -- although the ethereal feel of them and the strange ridges being formed in the vapor are also very reminiscent of the Protoss. Whether these ridges indicate Arthas' helmet or the face ridges of a Protoss or a demon might still be up for debate, but this overlay of Arthas on today's splash screen by Zach is very convincing -- the eyes match up pretty much exactly. Hopefully, we'll know for sure who it is tomorrow. In addition, the new rune, located just above the breaking ice, is that of a snowflake, which brings to mind the Frost tree of the Death Knights (even if the frost rune shown on the official Death Knight page doesn't quite match up). Tipster Allen notes that the new rune looks a lot like a Norse Bind-Rune, specifically one known as a compass or the "Helm of awe," which is often used for invulnverability -- perhaps a Lost Vikings reference, or a nod to the Viking-like architecture seen in many screenshots of Northrend? All This new imagery would seem to be a killing blow of sorts for a Diablo 3 announcement, but it is also worth nothing that the new frost rune is in the correct area for the Pentagram theory to continue to apply. In addition, all 5 runes have lit up, so if you weren't able to get a good look at them before, you certainly can now. %Gallery-25975% What's really sort of interesting, though, is what our purple monster friend reveals, which I'll discuss after the break.
Christie Golden working on an Arthas book, Legends story, and a secret project
Author Christie Golden, who's written a few Warcraft books for Blizzard in the past, has started up a blog, and her first post is full of fun info for fans of the expanded universe. First, she's going to be doing a novel about none other than the Lich King himself, Arthas Menethil. She's been chatting with Metzen about the book, and she says she's excited to tell the story of how "good people slide down that terrible, slippery slope to becoming monsters." Sounds about right to us.She's also working on a short story to be featured in Toykopop's Warcraft Legends series, based around Winter's Veil and called "I Got What Yule Need." Cute. We'll assume Goblins will be involved somehow. And finally, she's working on a third secret project -- it's not clear that it has to do with Blizzard (Golden writes her own fiction, as well as fiction for a few other properties), but why else would it be so secret, right? If we had to guess, we'd probably say a retelling or connection story for the Diablo stories -- if we do see the announcement of a new Diablo game at WWI, time would be ripe for Blizzard to catch players up on the lore of that setting as well.[via Blizzplanet]
Ask a Lore Nerd: The Evil-o-Meter
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, ask your question, and blogger/columnist Alex Ziebart will answer you in a future installment!Travis asks... What can you tell me about the other portals around Outlands (the only one that springs to mind right now is the one in Zangarmarsh)? They look just like the one you get to Outlands through, but are just standing there doing nothing. Answer: Those portals were once used by the Burning Legion and their lackies to travel between Outland and various other worlds. Those portals were also used to send Legion reinforcements to Outland. Before Illidan and his posse usurped Magtheridon, they went around shutting down these portals to prevent Magtheridon from being reinforced. Further, they've been kept closed so Kil'jaeden can't come stomping back into Outland to punish Illidan for not being able to kill the Lich King.
Father's Day in Azeroth: A salute to the fathers of Warcraft lore
So it's Father's Day, the time when we all pay homage to the fathers or father figures in our lives, and thank them for all that they do. While we can't say for sure if they celebrate Father's Day in Azeroth, too, there's a lot of people in Azeroth and Outland who have reason to think back on their dads today. Many dads of Azeroth have affected their children's lives or been affected by them. The ramifications of the interactions of these fathers and children have then in turn affected the lore and story of Warcraft in ways great and small. Therefore, in honor of the holiday, let's look at 10 famous and not-so-famous dads of Warcraft lore (listed in no particular order).
All the World's a Stage: How to be a death knight
When you decide to roleplay, a whole new world of imagination opens up to you -- soon you realize that all the World of Warcraft is a stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players.Last week, we took a look at how roleplaying a death knight will be different from roleplaying other classes, because death knights come pre-packaged with elements of a backstory for you to flesh out: they have, for whatever reason, at one time joined forces with the Lich King, learned from him how to be a death knight, and now are breaking free of his influence and striking out against him.As Medeni pointed out in her comments, however, this can potentially lead to a kind of unlikable "celebrity in rehab" type of personality. Imagine, if you will, the death knight known as Marisoo: formerly a paladin of the Light, she sought to destroy the Scourge that plagued her homeland of Lordaeron, but eventually, as she was consumed with vengeance and hatred, she joined the Lich King instead of destroying him. Having learned to turn corpses into slavering ghouls and call forth armies of the undead, she eventually thought better of the whole "wickedly destroy all life" thing and decided to destroy the Lich King after all, only this time she would use his own power against him! Muahaha.As you can see, there are some pretty obvious flaws in this idea. First of all, the first half of it is almost a direct copy of Arthas' own tale, and, while I can certainly appreciate the power of that story, and the possibility that other paladins could have gone through something similar, roleplayers who want to play a death knight character must realize that it's going to get old fast. Just as death knights aren't just human paladins, we can't all go around copying Arthas, brooding on how moody and wicked we've become. We have to come up with new ideas that fit the death knight mould.
New Wrath of the Lich King wallpapers on Blizz' EU site
Blizzard's site is down (and it's killing my daily routine of checking the forums, unfortunately), but there is one consolation -- over on the EU site, which is still up, you can grab a trio of new wallpapers for Wrath of the Lich King, including this handsome shot of the lichy monarch himself (although every time I see this armor, I can't help but think of Private Ownsusohard's "im the lich king lol" silliness back at BlizzCon).There's also a shot of Arthas rocking Frostmourne, and a screenshot of that big furnace inside Utgarde Keep (which has been around for a while, but still looks cool. If you're looking to adorn your desktop with some cold and snowy images while the weather heats up outside, there you go.In fact, almost any of these Wrath images might work for you. The sizes aren't actually wallpaper, but with a little tweaking, you could pretend you were in Northrend already.%Gallery-5525%
GamerDNA offers Frostmourne replica contest
GamerDNA, the GuildCafe offshoot, has opened up a new contest to World of Warcraft players. Send in a screenshot of your character -- armored, naked, alive, dead, it doesn't matter -- and you stand a chance to win a replica of Frostmourne, Arthas' evil runeblade from Epic Weapons. The sword itself is a $379 value, but of nearly equal worth to many players is the $20 game card that five players could win by entering a picture they've created themselves, either traditionally or digitally. These hand-done portraits are also eligible for the Frostmourne prize. To enter, simply register for GamerDNA through GuildCafe and send in your favorite character's picture. The deadline is June 30th, so get snapping![Thanks, Sam!]
All the World's a Stage: How roleplaying a Death Knight will be different
When you decide to roleplay, a whole new world of imagination opens up to you -- soon you realize that all the world's a stage, even if just an electronic one.We don't know a whole lot about death knights in WoW yet, but what we do know is already enough to show that death knights are the class with the most background story already laid out for them ahead of time: The death knights we will be able to play are former servants of the Lich King who have now turned against him and joined the Alliance or the Horde instead. This background story is built into the class -- something each and every death knight roleplayer will have to take into account when they roleplay their character, and it will have ramifications upon everyone else in the entire global society of Azeroth as well.Some other classes have a great depth of lore behind them as well, such as druids, paladins and shamans, who look to Malfurion, Uther, and Thrall for inspiration. These classes certainly look up to their heroes and follow in their footsteps, just as, in some ways, death knights follow in the footsteps of Arthas. And yet for other classes that has little effect on each individual's path to becoming a practitioner of his or her particular abilities. The transition from normal shmoe to level one hero is left vague for the player upon character creation, unless, as a roleplayer working on a backstory, he gives it special attention. Indeed, some classes are pretty straightforward, and don't necessarily suggest a story at all. Instead, they present us with an image, or an idea -- when you play one of the existing nine classes, you can fit right into the role without a story, because the role feels like a basic archetype you already understand.
