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WoW Archivist: 10 years, 10 amazing moments
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? In 2004, I bought a brown box with some discs inside it. On the cover was a close-up of a woman with crazy purple eyebrows and an angry bearded guy -- possibly Matt Rossi -- holding a gun. I didn't know anything about the Warcraft universe at the time. I'd watched someone play Warcraft III once (or was it II?). I remember chuckling at the peons' comments as they got to work. That was the extent of my experience. I'd been playing Final Fantasy XI and I loved the concept of an online world. I was hoping for a game that was more accessible than FFXI but with all the cool monsters, grouping, exploration, and loot. I never imagined the journey that I was about to take, the people I would meet, the opportunities that would become open to me as a result of that purchase. Many of us who played back then had no idea what was about to happen to the gaming world because of that brown box. With all the hoopla surrounding Warlords of Draenor, Archivist has been busy covering yesterday's precursors to current content, such as the zombie plague pre-expansion event, patch 3.0, and the original Upper Blackrock Spire. WoW's 10th anniversary events officially ended this week (after an unscheduled extension), and it is past time that I looked back on my own ten years in Azeroth. Here are ten of my favorite WoW moments, in order. 1. Showdown at Uldaman. One of my first PvP experiences in WoW was a complete accident. In late 2004, a friend and I were questing in the cave outside of Uldaman in the Badlands. We were in our mid to high 30s at the time on our first characters. One of the mushrooms we had to gather sat behind an Alliance NPC. I went to right-click to gather it but instead I clicked the NPC and started attacking him. We were flagged for PvP on a PvE realm. We knew it was now open season on us. And on Khadgar-US, Horde players were heavily outnumbered by the Alliance.
WRUP: Time for some repairs
We've finally learned that sometime during WoD ... you know, some time. Nothing specific... that Stormwind might get repaired. At least a little. If the Horde doesn't blow it up with a bomb, first. But Stormwind is hardly the only thing in Azeroth that could use some home improvement. (What's up, Westfall?) With that being said, when you tell us what you're playing this weekend, nominate your other favorite spot for a repair job. What do you think also needs some inevitable repairing during WoD?
The 15 nastiest trash clears of WoW
I was reading through some links while writing a follow-up to Robert's Not-So-Original WoW Miscellany when I happened across some discussions concerning the game's most agonizing trash. This is a popular subject for players, not least because complaining is a lot of fun, but I don't think anyone's going to argue that there haven't been some legitimately unpleasant trash clears in WoW. Fortunately, most of the really bad trash clears are a distant memory, but there was at least one recent one that almost everyone who raided Dragon Soul could agree on. I'm going to include both dungeons and raids here, mostly because Shattered Halls was among the first things to go on this list. After including that, I knew there were other, equally nightmarish 5-mans that had to be included in the interest of fairness.
WoW Moviewatch: Battlestar Gnomeregan
Let's hit the wayback machine here. And I mean the wayback machine -- we're talking all the way back to January 2007. That's five and a half years ago, folks. Not only was a new science fiction series featuring a man named Adama and his trusty cohorts tearing up the TV channels, a polluted town called Gnomeregan was in desperate need of heroes. In our little world, that's how this Battlestar-styled trailer came to be. Just remember the next time you join a dungeon group, that warrior might have a little toaster in him. 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 moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
Leader short stories continue with Gelbin Mekkatorque: Cut Short
The gnomes have not had it good over the last 6 years of World of Warcraft. Their home was irradiated and infested with Troggs at the hands of the traitorous Thermaplug. Gnomes were forced into hiding and shelter in the dwarven capital of Ironforge. Even during Operation: Gnomeregan, the plot to reclaim the city for its rightful denizens, gnomes only met with a modicum of success. Gnomes have had it rough. The newest leader short story in Blizzard's series of behind-the-leader lore details Gelbin Mekkatorque, the High Tinker of the gnomes of Gnomeregan. Written by Cameron Dayton, Gelbin Mekkatorque: Cut Short details the High Tinker's fight for Gnomeregan against traitor Sicco Thermaplug, as well as Mekkatorque's coming to terms with his anger and frustration over his people's plight. We are finally treated to some back story about the gnomish leader and his emotional response to his city falling and his people dying, his place in the Alliance of the Eastern Kingdoms, and the resolution to Operation: Gnomeregan. As the battle for Gnomeregan continues to be fought, Mekkatorque finds his way back to his old study, where his memories and introspection begin. His thoughts hit topics ranging from the election of gnomish leaders, Gelbin's first Alliance operation in the Second War against the Horde, and the inconceivable notion that Thermaplug, a gnome himself, would bring about such horrible destruction on his own people.
Operation: Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall events over
Blizzard just ended speculation that the two pre-Cataclysm world events for the gnomes and trolls, Operation: Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall respectively, have entered "stage 2" and are no longer available for players to complete. Here is the official blue response: Re: Operation: Gnomeregan Quote: I don't see it in the 4.0.1 patch notes, but it's been in the 4.0.1 PTR. Is the next phase of Operation: Gnomeregan going live today as well? The next phase does start today, but it's a passive phase. There will not be anything for players to do outside of Gnomeregan, or on the Echo Isles, until the new bases of operation for gnomes and trolls are complete, and the new level 1-5 starting experience is added in patch 4.0.3. source If you missed either of these two events, it looks like you're out of luck. As mentioned, the new leveling experiences for trolls and gnomes is coming with patch 4.0.3. This is it! Patch 4.0.1 begins the slide into December's upcoming expansion. It's a whole new game from here on out. Get oriented with our roundup of everything there is to know about patch 4.0.1 and how it changes the game until the launch of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
Cataclysm Beta: Welcome to New Tinkertown
Fresh off the heels of Operation: Gnomeregan, Blizzard has published a web reveal of New Tinkertown. High Tinker Mekkatorque and the gnomish forces have seized control of an area on the surface just outside of Gnomeregan and have started efforts in retaking their city. Mekkatorque will ask you to complete new missions like rescuing gnomes and routing troggs, with the main goal of stopping Razlo Crushcog. New Tinkertown is the new level 1-5 leveling zone for gnomes. While the quests and the content have been on beta for a while now, you can read more about the official details after the jump.
Know Your Lore: Gnome priests and the failure of the flesh
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 however many years I've been playing World of Warcraft, there has always been one constant that has stayed popular opinion since the games launch: Gnomes. People hate gnomes, for whatever reason they use to justify it. I've heard every excuse in the book from "They're short" to "They're so cheery and annoying," but none of the reasons have any real meaning behind them -- it's just popular opinion. The other side of the equation are the people that love gnomes and think they're the best thing since sliced bread, and will not tolerate any disparaging remarks about this tiny and affable race. With Cataclysm's launch comes a new class for the gnomish race -- gnomes will now be able to roll the priest class and heal right along with their Alliance brethren that have been doing this for years. By and large, gnome priests have already existed in some fashion -- Gnomeregan had the presence of a group of gnome "medics" that were healers. When you're dealing with a society that is constantly mid-invention that may or may not accidentally detonate, it's probably a good idea to have a medic or two on hand to patch people up. But these medics didn't really seem to follow the path of the Light, something that dwarves and humans have been using for years as a tool for healing. Gnomes, however, are very good at inventing -- so it may be that they simply found a way to utilize their creations to heal people, hence the medics. The gnome priest of Cataclysm is an entirely different creature, however -- these gnomes appear to use the Light just like their dwarven friends. There are two ways you can look at the gnome priest in Cataclysm -- the easy way, and the more difficult (yet in my mind, more entertaining) way. Since gnome medics already existed in Gnomeregan, and even now players on live servers are working to retake their irradiated home, you could simply assume that the gnome priests are medics that were rescued. Or we can look at gnomes and their past -- and how recent discoveries may be altering how they view their future in a big way.
Operation Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall events now available
Players who're able to log on after maintenance is over today will discover that the Operation Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall world events are now available! These are two of the introductory Cataclysm world events. Head to Kharanos in Dun Morogh or the Echo Isles in Durotar to take advantage of these limited-time experiences. To start the Echo Isles quests, you want to talk to Vanira, who is right next to Voljin in the Sen'jin village in Durotar. To start the Operation Gnomeregan quests, you want to talk to High Tinker Mekkatorque, who is located in the Tinker Town district of Ironforge. These quests are counting towards the Loremaster achievement. More information on the event: Official Gnomeregan and Echo Isles announcement and information Operation Echo Isles / Zalazane's Fall: Transcripts and details Operation Gnomeregan: Transcripts and details Echo Isles / Zalazane's Fall quest summary and gallery PrintWarcraft.com offers original WoW posters %Gallery-93811%
WoW.com's Weekly Comic: Byron, the Tauren Rogue
Welcome to another edition of the WoW.com Weekly Comic, Byron the Tauren Rogue! Well, they've made it out into the Deeprun Tram. It doesn't bother anyone else that it's eerily quiet? No? Ah, I suppose it's just me, then ... Also, please pardon any "artistic licensing" I've taken with the tram. I originally had the train several cars long, but was then informed that it's only three cars. It's been a little while since I escaped out of Stormwind. Doesn't the tram look more interesting as a London-style train station, anyway? Check out the full version right here, and tune in next Tuesday morning for a new page. You can also see all the previous pages in the gallery below. %Gallery-77825%
For Gnomeregan! Distractions
For Gnomeregan! is where the members of <B.L.O.G.> on Shadow Council (US-RP-A) roleplay guild meetings as part of an in-blog and in-game RP campaign. The rules for this campaign are no ERP (Erotic RolePlay) and no vampires (though death knights are welcome). Everyone is invited to participate. Assume that to get into the guild, you at least pretended to be in full use of your faculties and are willing to fight for the cause. You are all welcome to join us here in the comments and those who wish to play with us in-game should friend Peenk and ask for an invite on Shadow Council (US-RP-A). Kixi Sparklebolt here again. Let's talk this week about distractions. We are supposed to be focused on training for the upcoming offensive to free Gnomeregan, but it is easy to get distracted. For example, here I am at the Darkmoon Faire in Elwynn Forest. I came here because some guy in Ironforge handed me a piece of paper so that I could get some smaller pieces of paper. And though I have no use for pieces of paper, or a home to display them in, I accepted the one paper and went off to exchange it for the other ones. Does this help me fight troggs, Thermaplugg or even the Horde? No. Does this help me earn better equipment to train with? No. But I did get to dance with a night elf and his leashed dog. That was something.
Operation Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall available now on the PTR
Blizzard has big plans for gnomes and trolls, with brand new starting areas and questing experiences available for those races when Cataclysm launches. But before that can happen, they need your help! There are some awful baddies that've been crashing on their couches, and they've been kickin' around for far too long. But all that's about to change! With the upcoming Patch 3.3.5, new world events and quests will kick off that will allow players from their respective factions to help their allies reclaim Gnomeregan's surface and the Echo Isles. Players who want to test out the new quest lines and events need only log into the Public Test Realm starting today, Blizzard has announced. They want tons of participation and feedback to make these events fun and memorable, so copy your character over and hop to it! It's just embarrassing to let low-level mobs control your territory for four years. Help your buddies save face.
Know Your Lore: Current Alliance politics -- the gnomes
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: The following post contains small spoilers for Wrath of the Lich King. Players who are still playing through the expansion and wish to avoid spoilers may want to avoid this post. In addition, theories behind the new Cataclysm race/class combinations will be discussed. Last time on Alliance politics we looked at the night elves, who have had arguably the largest impact on Azeroth of any race currently living, and a lengthy history, as their current leader has been in power for approximately 10,000 years. The night elves have an extensive amount of history to back up their current political stance, but today we're going to look at a race that doesn't really have a lot of history to speak of (or at least they didn't until the launch of Wrath of the Lich King): the gnomes. The gnomish race has been relatively low profile in World of Warcraft and in the Alliance in general. Friendly to everyone, regardless of faction, the gnomes are quite happy to teach engineering to anyone who will listen. They generally avoid conflict where they can and honestly the main reason they joined the Alliance wasn't due to their beliefs or any strong feelings, it was due to circumstances at the time. Let's take a quick look at the background of the gnomes and how the events in Wrath could potentially affect future political entanglements.
PTR character copy service active (Updated)
While we're unsure exactly for what, the Public Test Realm character copy function is currently up and running, but not yet active. Could be for the upcoming Echo Isles and Gnomeregan content, could be for the new Ruby Sanctum raid. We have no idea. It may not even mean anything at all. Of note: my particular character copies haven't been reset since the last PTR testing phase, giving me a grand total of one possible character copy to the PTR servers. You may be in a similar or worse boat. As always, when Blizzard provides more information about the status of the PTR, as well as its contents, we'll be sure to let you know. Until then, feel free to hammer the character copy server -- you were going to anyway. Update: MMO-Champion points out that instead of our normal Anasterian and Broxigar realms on the PTR realm list, we have Broxigar and BlizzCon Event. As Boubouille notes: "When was the last time Blizzard needed a server for BlizzCon?"
Ask a Faction Leader: High Tinker Gelbin Mekkatorque
WoW.com's prestige in the community has afforded us the opportunity to speak with major Azerothian leadership figures on any subject, and we're letting you, the reader, Ask a Faction Leader! We recently spoke to the three brothers Bronzebeard, princes of Ironforge all, and they shed light on several key issues, including ale preferences, brotherly competition, beer goggles, lost leggings, and dwarf gestation. In this installment of Ask a Faction Leader, we'll be sitting with High Tinker Gelbin Mekkatorque, king of the gnomes. Our first reader question... Dear High Tinker, I hear you have plans to retake Gnomeregan! In five years, I've never been happier! I just have one question...not that I'm doubting you or anything, but ... what took so long? Anonymous Gnome Gelbin responds... A fair question! You see, gnomes have ADD.
Blizzard posts the newest World of Warcraft Battle Plan
A Battle Plan! Been a while since we've seen one of these; in fact, the last time Blizzard posted an official Battle Plan was late 2006, and there may be good reason for that. As a whole, Blizzard is much more open now in terms of communicating development philosophies and providing direct answers to questions posed -- I blame Ghostcrawler -- than they were four years ago. Given that we're on the eve of WoW's most extensive expansion, though, this is a pretty prime time to catch everybody up on what's happened thus far since Wrath launched and where Cataclysm is bringing us, and that's exactly what the Battle Plan does. There's not a lot at first glance -- a small Wrath postmortem, some basic info about the upcoming Ruby Sanctum and Echo Isles/Gnomeregan content -- but some closer examination reveals a few interesting tidbits. Cataclysm's Kalimdor content is basically finished. "Much of Eastern Kingdoms" is completed. After the upcoming events to retake Gnomeregan and the Echo Isles, all level one gnomes and trolls will start in the newly-reclaimed areas! Database hardware upgrades will be put into place to ensure that the Cataclysm launch goes as smoothly as possible. The entirety of the Battle Plan post is after the break.
Operation: Gnomeregan Imminent
An Azeroth Bulletin has just been released announcing that Operation: Gnomeregan is imminent. High Tinker Mekkatorque wants you to join him in his fight to finally conquer Mekgineer Thermaplugg and his irradiated minions. "Victory begins in Tinker Town" and "every man, woman and child" is called upon to serve! The staging ground for the offensive will be at SteelGrill's Depot under the command of Captain Sparknozzle. There you will undergo Drill Sergeant Steamcrank's training. You will also be testing the Mechano-Tanks before they go to the front line. Then you will bomb the irradiation vents under the command of Pilot Muzzlesprock. All levels will be able to participate, whether by donating boar skins for siege pilot seats or helping to write the battle cry. But the actual offensive, when ready, will be limited to levels 75 and up, led by the High Tinker himself. For full details, read the Azeroth Bulletin.
Blizzard releases official Gnomeregan and Echo Isles Cataclysm information
Blizzard has released a series of background information pages on the Gnomeregan and Echo Isles campaigns to be happening with the coming Cataclysm expansion. We've known for a while that this pre-cursor world event will be happening, and it's nice to see some official information come out about it. For those looking for the datamined material, check out the following heavy spoilers: Operation Gnomeregan: Transcript and details of the event Operation Echo Isles: Transcript and details of the event Of course, it's important to remember that these transcripts were taken from the PTR and could easily be changed in upcoming patches. Nothing is set in stone until it happens. The full Blizzard announcement is as follows: Nethaera -- An Assault on Two Fronts High Tinker Mekkatorque, betrayed by Mekgineer Thermaplugg and forced to flee the irradiated city of Gnomeregan with the few of his fellow gnomes who managed to survive, is preparing to reclaim his once glorious city. Meanwhile, in distant Durotar, Vol'jin of the Darkspear trolls is determined to exact revenge upon the witch doctor Zalazane for dividing the Darkspears and seizing the land bestowed to them by Thrall: the Echo Isles. Read more about the ongoing struggles of the gnomes and the trolls... and their plans to seek redemption. Gnomes: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/3p9/gnomeregan.xml Trolls: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/3p9/echoisles.xml source Regarding "Patch 3.9": The URLs above point to these events happening in patch 3.9. It is possible there will be a patch 3.9, however it is also possible the "9" simply stands for "the very last patch before 4.0" (patch 4.0 is the Cataclysm content patch). No one outside of Blizzard knows the right answer, and don't read too much into URLs. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.
Operation Gnomeregan: Transcripts and details
WARNING: This post is chock full of spoilers. Spoilers like you would not believe. If you'd like to be surprised about the Operation Gnomeregan and what is contained within, I wouldn't recommend continuing onward. If, however, you are clamoring for more information, read on! A lot of new sound bites have popped up in the latest PTR patch build for 3.3.3. After some digging, listening, and arranging, we've figured out the basic script of the Operation Gnomeregan event. There's a lot of good gnomish humor in there as well as an explanation of events to come. Please note that this is just an assembly of transcripts from all of the sound files put in what appears to be a proper order.
Gnome and troll starting zones to be revamped
After five years of squatting in other races' capital cities, gnomes and trolls will have their starting zones revamped, developers confirmed through the recently concluded chat over Twitter. It probably isn't much of a spoiler now after the developers talked about it, but discovered among the files in Patch 3.3.3 were quests and Achievements related to the retaking of Gnomeregan and Echo Isles. It's been a long time coming for two of the game's original races who got the shaft when Burning Crusade introduced two new races with their own capital cities while gnomes and trolls continued to squat in Ironforge and Orgrimmar, respectively. Over the chat, developers mentioned that they were looking at revamping all the original starting zones, with particular focus on the two races. Now that Cataclysm is on the horizon and Blizzard plans to introduce two more races with the worgens and goblins, it only seemed fitting that gnomes and trolls get their due. However, the developers were quick to point out that the zones won't get as "epic" a feel as the two new races in Cataclysm. They did reveal that they have "big plans" for the two races, hinting at the events set to come in a future patch, if not Patch 3.3.3. Blizzard also reminded everyone that they planned to overhaul all the starting zones with Cataclysm, which improves gameplay, quest flow, and overall experience. Now that these squatter races are finally getting equal status with the others, maybe Blizzard will finally let us see a gnome in the Cataclysm cinematic?
