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Know Your Lore: Blackwing Descent and the Prestor legacy
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. Dragons in World of Warcraft have long been reclusive creatures of mystery; they didn't generally interact with other creatures of the world, with few exceptions. Until the launch of WoW, few chose to speak to the mortal races. The red dragon Korialstrasz was a notable exception who interacted with humans and others quite frequently, even holding a place on several councils in organizations like the Kirin Tor and Silvermoon. However, Korialstrasz took mortal form and the name Krasus when doing so and was careful not to reveal his identity. The same applies for other dragons prior to World of Warcraft, and even in WoW itself. Chronormu, or Chromie as she's more typically called, often interacts with mortals on behalf of the Bronze Dragonflight. As time has passed in game, however, more and more dragon are interacting with mortals in dragon form, no longer feeling the need to disguise themselves or keep their identities a secret. But once upon a time, this ability to disguise and take another form wreaked havoc among the human kingdoms. It all started with a man named Daval Prestor.
Breakfast Topic: Has Deathwing caught up with you yet?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. It's just another day of questing for this frost mage, flying all over Twilight Highlands to get Fading into Twilight. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, my dead crumpled body is falling to the ground. I'm too high for someone to one-shot me, right? Confusion abounds. There's fire all around me, and I can't see a darn thing. Then the little achievement box pops up: Great, Deathwing struck. My guildmates feverishly ask me where I was in the hopes they can quickly fly over. Another day, another dollar -- this one being earned in Uldum. As I'm following Indi -- er, Harrison Jones all over the endless rolling sand dunes and speaking to cat people who somehow speak Common after being secluded for eons, I meet my newest archnemesis again. I actually see him coming this time, lurking in the distance, attempting to creep his behemoth body up behind me. There's no achievement this time, just a dead body amongst the flames. All right, Deathwing, you've destroyed my homeland and you've killed me twice; I'm throwing down my gaunt -- cloth gloves! This is war. Where were you when Deathwing struck? Has he gotten you more than once? Perhaps you feel, as I do, that there should be an achievement each time he strikes you down.
The Queue: Today I learned Misty's real name is Kasumi
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. You know, I don't really care where the fire hawk mounts come from. I've already decided that it will be mine regardless of source. Tier 12 achievement mount? Going to get it. WoW TCG? Going to get it. Blizzard store? Doesn't matter. Going to get it. Why? Because it's fracking Zapdos, that's why. Surrich asked: I noticed that a lot of the WoW Insider writers thought it was a GOOD thing that Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman are coming back. How can you get excited over recycled content?
The Queue: Lore questions? Oh, boy!
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. Patch 4.0.6 has been out for an entire day now. Are we enjoying ourselves, readers? What's your favorite change from the patch? Personally, I'm a fan of being able to see exactly how close I am to reputation-capping with my guild from week to week at a glance. While you talk amongst yourselves, I'm going to dig into today's Q&A. Thyen asked: I know that the Alchemist Stones are now unique-equipped. Does that mean I can only have one of them equipped (only one of any variety), or can I equip two, if one is Vibrant and the other being Lifebound?
Know Your Lore: Grim Batol
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. Grim Batol was founded by Wildhammer dwarves seeking to escape the legacy of the war that tore dwarf society apart. Led by Khadros, their thane, they marched north from Ironforge (originally the home of all dwarves, from Dark Irons to Bronzebeards to Wildhammers) after the death of King Anvilmar and the civil war that pitted the three main clans of their people against one another. Having lost the war, the Wildhammers chose to build a new, grand home for themselves in the mountains between the Wetlands and the Highlands. And it was grand indeed, for a time. In terms of pure architectural splendor, Grim Batol threatens both Ironforge and the massive constructions of the Dark Irons inside the Blackrock Mountain. The Wildhammers did not dwell on their loss to the Bronzebeards. If making a new life for themselves in Grim Batol and the Highlands was hard, it was also exciting and a new challenge to be overcome, a new way of life to meet head on and overcome. Sadly, from these auspicious beginnings disaster would pile upon disaster. Armies would invade, fell sorceries would be unleashed, and in the end, the Wildhammers would abandon their once-great home. It did not rest quietly.
Know Your Lore: Uldaman, Ulduar, and Uldum, strongholds of the Titans
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. In the beginning, Azeroth existed as a simple planet floating in the midst of space (or the great dark beyond, as it's sometimes called). There is very little out there in terms of the history of Azeroth's creation, but what little we do know is this: Azeroth attracted the attention of creatures called Titans, godlike beings that traveled from world to world, creating order from chaos and leaving planets teeming with life. The Titans did to Azeroth as they did to countless other worlds before: They created seed races to inhabit the little planet, encouraging life to grow. Along with the seed races, they created the earthen -- stone beings that were meant to maintain the order the Titans had cultivated. Satisfied with their work, the Titans left. It was some time after the Titan's departure that disaster struck. The little planet caught the eye of malevolent creatures known as Old Gods. The Old Gods strive for chaos and destruction, the exact opposite of everything the Titans create. Azeroth, still new to the universe, crumpled under the assault. However, the Titan-created earthen presented a problem that required a creative solution. The Old Gods, seeing that these creatures were made of rock and stone, released a disease called the Curse of Flesh -- the originator of many of the species that roam Azeroth today.
WoW Moviewatch: Deathwing: The Doom Song
Deathwing: The Doom Song began its trek to fame when it was referenced by Takralus, a Blizzard community manager. This video is pretty bite-sized. The piece is a Deathwing-based video over the soundtrack from Invader Zim's Doom Song. This is 3mmique's first machinima. The graphics aren't actually bad for the creator's first time out, and the video has certainly achieved notoriety in its debut. Ultimately, though, I laughed at this video. I'm not sure I can rate it as a great video or the best video ever or anything like that. But it made me laugh, and everyone I know who's seen it admits it's at least vaguely amusing. So with that, at least, it's a job very well done. 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 machinima@wow.com.
Know Your Lore: Azshara and the Blue Dragonflight
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. Of all the zones to get face lifts in Cataclysm, none deserved it so much as Azshara, the formerly level 50 zone that had a scant 32 quests available during vanilla. Azshara was just a small part of the former home of Queen Azshara and the Highborne, and one would think a zone with that kind of potential would have more to offer. In Cataclysm, the zone has become a level 10-20 area for Horde, and some of the zone's lore offerings have been expanded upon. Others raise more questions than they answer. In between all the goblin advancements, one place directly addressed was Lake Mennar, former home to a ton of blue dragons for no discernible reason whatsoever. Lurking nearby was Azuregos, the batty blue dragon who was an outdoor boss and the key to the blue scepter shard for opening the gates of Ahn'Qiraj. Lake Mennar proper served as little more than a farming area for the Azure Whelpling. Why was the Blue Dragonflight so fascinated with Lake Mennar? There's a story behind that, and it goes all the way back to the War of the Ancients.
Know Your Lore: The tol'vir
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've talked about the tol'vir before Cataclysm launched. While what we learned about them then was tantalizing, what we've learned about them since has helped develop our understanding of them quite a bit. Proud, ritualistic, formal, feral, the tol'vir are a race bound by their ancient task and pinned between their duty and their desire to return to a state of existence they see as more perfect than the one they currently inhabit. The last remaining bastion of free tol'vir on the surface of Azeroth is the mysterious land of Uldum. Created eons ago by the Titans, Uldum is part of the planetary monitoring system that once girdled the ancient continent of Kalimdor alongside Ulduar and Uldaman. While Ulduar seems to have been intended to imprison the ancient Old God Yogg-Saron, and Uldaman perhaps served as a manufacturing center for earthen (although it may also have served other purposes), Uldum's purpose was linked to Ulduar in a very real and direct way. Ulduar was where Algalon would come to make his judgment about the fitness of the Azeroth experiment if the prime designate Loken was destroyed. And Uldum? If one thinks of Algalon as the means by which a world is judged, then think of Uldum as the executor of his will. Ulduar is where Azeroth would have been condemned, and Uldum is how the sentence would have been carried out. The tol'vir of Uldum, therefore, have the most important task of all the Titan's creations, as they maintain the world-destroying engines and keep their power out of the hands of those who might otherwise use them. Unfortunately for the tol'vir, those who would undo the Titan's work for their own ends have often subverted or corrupted these last guardians of Titanic secrets in order to gain access to what they guard.
Breakfast Topic: Who will be the ultimate boss encounter of WoW?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Illidan. Arthas. Deathwing. Gamon? In WoW, we kill a lot of things. From x number of boars to 10,000-year-old, demon-juiced night elves, we gear up for and defeat just about everything that comes our way, assuming we can stay out of the fire. But at some point, even WoW, as with all good things, must come to an end. Both for the game and for players in the game, a last boss will almost certainly arrive. For me, the last boss was simple: Arthas, the Lich King. As players, we've been following his rise, fall, and next rise for years. We watched him succumb to the dark side -- queue evil laugh -- and fall from his perch as a hero of Light into a twisted master of undeath. Then he taunted us throughout the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Finally, we vanquished him, fulfilling years of adventure. Unfortunately for my ideal ending, I still enjoy and want to continue playing the game. Now we have Deathwing flying around, killing folks. Will he be the fated endgame boss? More Old Gods, maybe? Or perhaps even the Titans themselves will come back to purge the world of our meddling. Who do you think should be the last boss of WoW? Do you think there will be a last boss?
Cataclysm Dungeon Guide: The Stonecore
Adventurers will find the site of the Stonecore in Deepholm, wedged on the west side of the Temple of the Earth. A flying mount (or a crafty summon) will be needed to discover the entrance. Earthen Ring Shaman are attempting to maintain the World Pillar and prevent it from sustaining any further damage. This is the same instance where Deathwing acquired some armor upgrades. You can read more about the Stonecore from the official preview. For an idea of what to expect and strategies to employ, keep on reading. At a glance, here's the gist of the instance. four boss encounters levels 82-84 average item level 272 recommended (according to dungeon finder)
Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects to be Christie Golden's next novel
News of a new novel from Christie Golden trickled into our tip line this evening. The novel World of Warcraft: Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects appeared on Amazon.com a few days ago. This novel, which continues a longstanding tradition of too many colons in one book title, is very likely a direct followup to the recently released The Shattering. We're likely to see deeper exploration of Thrall's intentions and motivations in Cataclysm, some of which was alluded to by Chris Metzen at BlizzCon 2010's lore panel. Could Go'el, son of Durotan, be Azeroth's next Aspect of Earth? Probably, yes! [Thanks, Xeon!]
Breakfast Topic: What little details do you hope make it into Cataclysm?
Cataclysm is so close! I can already taste the crisp corners of the box -- not that I eat cardboard or anything weird like that! Dawn looks bashful. Anyway, if you're a daily reader of WoW Insider, you've probably seen a ton of Cataclysm coverage over the past few months. You might even think you know everything the new expansion holds for us. But do you know about ... the Slap Rock? Yeah, I didn't think so. What about the Origami Rock? The Very Unlucky Rock? The Colorful Rock? It sure is a good thing I'm here to enlighten you, huh? As some of you know, I collect rocks. With each expansion, I've been able to expand my little collection, but Cataclysm held the most promise for me since the whole concept is about the earth shattering. (Surely there would be a lot of rocks involved in that, right?) When Cataclysm went into beta, I scoured the database for a sneak peek on the rock situation in the expansion, and I'm definitely excited -- but I'd still say the game needs a few more rocks before it's ready to ship. Maybe some sort of charred rock in the zones that Deathwing laid to waste? Or maybe Blizzard should go all out and design an encounter around rocks. You know, something like David and Goliath, where the players have to pick up rocks and sling them at the boss at the right time. I'm crossing my fingers! So what about you guys? Is there anything you haven't seen in any of the beta coverage yet that you're still hoping will sneak into the expansion? Let's hear your ideas!
Patch 4.0.3: Deathy is going to rehab
Deathy's identity crisis will be over before Cataclysm, according to Nethaera. His days of thinking he's Grunty the Murloc will be over once he goes through "rehabilitation" of some sort. Judging from the words Nethaera uses, Deathy will be fixed in patch 4.0.3. Nethaera For those of you who attended or watched BlizzCon 2010 and claimed a Deathy pet, you may have noticed that he's acting strange. In fact, he seems to think he's Grunty the Murloc Marine. This is an unintended consequence of the groupthink from which all murlocs suffer. Deathy will be undergoing an extensive rehabilitation program and should be acting appropriately destructive once his idol, Deathwing, shatters the world in an upcoming patch that will debut prior to the release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. source BlizzCon 2010 is over! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. You'll find our liveblogs of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
The Daily Grind: Do you like dynamic events?
A recent Blizzard forum posting regarding the coming of Deathwing reminded us of a certain zombie plague that ravaged the lands of Azeroth two years ago this month. It seems that, in a nutshell, the fiendish dragon will soon take to the skies to terrorize questers throughout the realm. True to form for huge fire-breathing monstrosities, victim conveniences are an afterthought. According to the post, "Deathwing will randomly choose territories in Azeroth to attack each day until his ruinous reign is brought to an end [...] the unfortunate victims of his malice will receive a rare Feat of Strength... as well as a repair bill and corpse run." While the prospect of dynamic events of this type excites some gamers, the zombie plague showed us that it irritates just as many (if not more), as it detracts from the steady diet of progression. What about you, Massively readers? Will you be upset if your gaming session takes an unexpected turn, or do you like surprises of this type? 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!
Deathwing is coming
Deathwing will soon be here, attacking from above, bringing down terror and death onto the unsuspecting citizens of Azeroth. At random, Deathwing will attack an entire zone and kill everything -- players, NPCs, mobs, creatures and critters. For your death, you get the feat of strength Stands in Fire. We don't know when exactly this will become active on the live realms; however, we are able to confirm it's active on the beta realms. The full blue announcement as follows: Zarhym One of Azeroth's oldest adversaries will soon tear through the Elemental Plane to reforge the world in flame, but this foe won't be conducting his reign of terror from the confines of a castle or lair. Deathwing is a destructive force the likes of which adventurers have yet to see in World of Warcraft, and his appetite for devastation can only be satisfied by the shattering of the world. Following his explosive escape from Deepholm, Deathwing will cast a deadly shadow over the people of Azeroth as he wreaks indiscriminate havoc across the land. Once free to terrorize the world, Deathwing will randomly choose territories in Azeroth to attack each day until his ruinous reign is brought to an end. A blackened sky will be the only warning before every living creature caught in his approach is consumed by his terrible fire. The unfortunate victims of his malice will receive a rare Feat of Strength... as well as a repair bill and corpse run. When Deathwing returns, you'd best keep your eyes on the skies. source
The Queue: Barely coherent
Welcome back to The Queue, our 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. Just so all of you are aware, Michael Sacco literally scraped me off of a hotel room floor so I could write The Queue today. No, I am not misusing the word literally there. There was a cartoonishly oversized spatula involved. Xantenise asked: Is there any news on the location of the awesomeness that is Asric and Jadaar in the new expansion?
Cataclysm cinematic now available
The Cataclysm cinematic has just become available, and -- words fail me -- it's amazing. Some folks behind the scene here think it's Blizzard's best yet, but personally, I think it's a dead heat between this and the Wrath of the Lich King cinematic. Interestingly, there are no NPCs or characters of any kind visible in the cinematic apart from Deathwing himself (apart from a quick glimpse of what are probably a few goblin or human-looking armorers). You do see some extraordinary landscapes rendered in high-definition glory for the first time -- The Barrens, Thousand Needles, Darkshore and Stormwind -- and perhaps it's meant as a reminder that the aspect of death was once the aspect of earth and that he hasn't relinquished his power over the latter. Sorry, gnomes; looks like you're still waiting for a cinematic debut!
Cataclysm Beta: Alexstrasza cutscene spoilers
SPOILER WARNING: The video below contains spoilers for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. If you do not want to be spoiled, do not watch the video.
Know Your Lore, Tin Foil Hat Edition: The final boss of Cataclysm
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 image above was taken from a blog post I made back in January of this year, a post discussing possible links between the Old Gods, the dragonflights and Deathwing. Unfortunately, not more than a month or so after it originally aired, several points in the post were disproved, largely due to the release of the Stormrage novel and revelations contained therein. But with the release of Cataclysm and the events playing out on beta servers, I feel this deserves another look -- because what we are potentially looking at is a sequence of events that prove that Deathwing isn't really the one responsible for all this disaster we're going to see on Azeroth, nor is Deathwing the one we should really be worried about. Please note that this post is a "Tin Foil Hat" edition. It is pure speculation based on events already presented in Warcraft lore and certain things I've seen lurking around the Cataclysm beta servers. There are potential spoilers for Cataclysm in this post -- but only if my mad, deranged theories are somehow correct. However, I am going to include several screenshots from the Cataclysm servers, so if you'd rather not be spoiled in any way by the upcoming expansion, I'd advise steering away now.
