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Ask a Lore Nerd: The swirling vortex of death
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!Terrant asks...I have questions about Kalimdor. How aware were the Alliance races of the continent before the events of Warcraft III? Was it completely unknown, known but unexplored, or frequented by the adventurous? The only Alliance settlement seems to be the recent Theramore, but at the same time, the goblins' trading network and cities seem to be well-established, so you'd think word of the continent must have gotten around. And there are pirate organizations that include humans and dwarves on the continent, too.
Warhammer Online preview covers all the basics
Up until now, you might have had a shaky understanding of all the basics in EA Mythic's upcoming Warhammer Online. If that's the case, then there's a recent article where you can read up on what we like to call the, "WAR Essentials" as it's pretty much covering the basics. Unfortunately, if you've been following news on WAR then there isn't anything here that you didn't already know. It's nice as a refresher on all of EA Mythic's basic talking points, though. In fact the article itself sort of reads like that: a prolonged "back-of-the-box" set of bullet points. It just seems a little dry for a preview about a videogame like Warhammer Online, where there are some crazy things to talk about like squigs or little (and big) green monsters from space.It wouldn't have hurt to try and spice things up a little, is all we're saying.
Breaking News: Ethereals better than Goblins!
After looking back on my post about disliked races in WoW again and talking to some friends of mine, I can't help but notice one of my favorite races gets quite a bit of hate! Which is funny, because one of the races I greatly dislike(but didn't make my list) are sort of their 'competition' and get quite a bit of love!There are a lot of similarities between the Ethereals(like) and the Goblins(dislike), which is rather neat! It's interesting to see the two races somewhat rubbing against one another. Competition is fun to watch. Even more fun are the differences, though. I imagine that's where the opinions are formed.Read on to discuss the Barons of Bling and the Planar Princes!
25 Easter eggs of the Burning Crusade
We at WoW Insider felt that, in honor of Easter/Noblegarden, we'd go looking for some of the best Easter eggs in Burning Crusade. This is by no means an exhaustive gallery of all the little nods you can find in BC; it's really almost impossible to go anywhere without running into a programmer's sly joke. I had to limit my gallery to things that could be seen by toons who'd outleveled some of the really good quest-related ones ("How To Serve Goblins" was great) or who had ready access to the Blood Elf/Draenei starter areas. Enjoy your trawl through a feast of cleverly-placed pop-culture references, and you can visit BlizzPlanet for an exhaustive list of Burning Crusade Easter eggs if these whet your appetite for more! Don't forget that with our new gallery functions, you can hit the "Hi Res" button at the top right of the page if you want to see a photo in more detail.%Gallery-18980%
Visit LotRO's dangerous High Pass
The Lord of the Rings Online site is featuring the High Pass in its "Exploring Middle-earth" series. Located in the Misty Mountains, near the Vale of Imladris, it used to be the most commonly traveled route through the area. Lately however, it has become overrun by goblins and giants. In fact, the LotRO site reminds us that it was in this area that Thorin and company had to get away from some boulder-hurling giants -- and anyone that has been around giants in-game will know that they still maintain this annoying habit.There is a small encampment (pictured) at High Pass that offers some quests, and is a good area to visit in the mid to upper 40's. It's also not a bad place to do your selling before or after a trip to Goblin-town, which isn't too far away. Visit the official site to find out more about the history of the area.
Bringing magic and steel back to Warcraft
Alerinne starts an interesting conversation over on the forums about bringing WoW back into "Medieval Fantasy" -- swords and sorcery instead of alien Draenei and spaceships. Normally, the conversation about MMO genre runs along the lines of too much fantasy, but many players, it seems, would rather be running around with axes and fireballs rather than lasers and robots, especially in a world that is so akin to traditional fantasy (Orcs, Elves, and so on).To be fair, World of Warcraft has always had its own charms -- Dwarves have always been able to fire guns, something that's not usually in traditional fantasy, and even Goblins with their zeppelins (and Gnomes with their engineering) have always added a little extra flavor to the game that goes beyond purist fantasy. But it's true -- zones like Netherstorm and even Auchindoun go a little overboard for real fantasy fans.So hopefully, as we hear in the thread, we'll see a little more traditional fantasy setting in Wrath of the Lich King. So far, lots of things we've seen there have had a bit of a Norse trend to them, from the Frozen Tundra to the Vykrul race found in the early zones. But there's more to this expansion that we haven't seen -- Icecrown Citadel is an old-fashioned ice fortress, according to the lore, and with the movement of Dalaran and the rumors of dragons up there, we definitely have a possibility of a return to the magic and steel that made this series so popular in the first place.
Breakfast Topic: Potential playable races
Corpsebride of Nordrassil made a suggestion that Naga should be a playable race in World of Warcraft. She gives a list of reasons why Nagas should be a playable race such as: they're highly intelligent with their own language; they have a unique architectural style; they have permanent underwater breathing as a built-in racial ability. The author pointed out that Naga would fit in better with the Alliance than the Horde due to their lore and relationship to Night Elves. I would make Goblins a playable Horde race if I were in charge of recruiting playable NPC races from the existing environment. The Horde needs an annoying little race to balance out gnomes. While they're neutral, goblins already have an inhuman look to them that tends to be characteristic of the Horde. They might have racial traits that help them to get better deals on goods from vendors, perhaps even if they were not skilled in engineering, they might be able to use player-made bombs such as the Exploding Sheep. I would have Goblins play Warlocks, Mages, Hunters, and Rogues. If you could play any race in the game, what would it be?
Around Azeroth: The welcome committee
Though screenshots do not, by default, have sound enabled, I can very nearly hear this smiling Goblin heartily welcoming us to Booty Bay. (Of course, being a Goblin, he would immediately segue into selling us something.) Reader Elaynea of Lightbringer sent us this shot with the title "Rio de Goblineiro" -- and, well, with that much Goblin on-screen, how could it be anything else?Haven't filled your Goblin quota for the day? Send us your Goblin-themed images to us 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!%Gallery-1816%
EQ2 community zone reviews: Runnyeye
The EQ2 Players site hosts a player-written review of one of EverQuest II's zones every week, and this week the focus is the goblin dungeon Runnyeye. Player Xalmat of the Permafrost server shares his knowledge of the zone, including the basics like how to get there and what level you should be to visit, to a detailed and lengthy rundown of strategies to use when moving through the zone, and even a handy list of some named mobs to look out for.
Leveling improvements for Patch 2.3
Are you in the midst of leveling a character between 20 and 60? Well right now is the time to stop everything, rush over to this forum post from Blizzard, and sing a happy song while you hurry up and wait! That's right, in answer to the crying pleas of casual alt-oholics everywhere, Blizzard is finally speeding up the tedious leveling curve for old world content in patch 2.3, adding in a bunch of new quests, nerfing a lot of the nastiest bad guys, and buffing a whole bunch of the items they drop.Here's a summarized list of the changes, with the full post by Vaneras copied for you beyond the link below. Amount of experience needed to level reduced by 15% per level between 20 and 60. Experience gained from completing quests increased between levels 30 and 60. Outdoor elite quests will now now be soloable, with the same (or better) rewards. About 60 new quests and a new goblin town based in Dustwallow Marsh (levels 30 to 40) Level ranges for old dungeons to be narrowed down a bit (so that if you are high enough to start them, you are high enough to finish them too) Increased questing experience for dungeon quests. Buffed up item drops from dungeon bosses. As Vaneras says, "Though we've given you a few examples of the things to come, we think everyone will pleasantly surprised when they see the full extent of the changes discussed above." Keep reading to see all the juicy details.
WoW Moviewatch: Racecraft
This music video by Baron Soosdon is for all those who ever wondered what it might be like to participate in the races held between gnomes and goblins at the Mirage raceway in the Shimmering Flats. It's particularly timely in light of the new Engineering flying mount that will be coming out soon. Is this about what it will look like? Surely some players would be interested in the Goblin-engineered land mount featured here as well, if only they were making that for players too.For those who are interested in a higher-quality version (which I recommend), this video is also available on Stage 6.Previously on WoW Moviewatch...
Around Azeroth: Those goblins have the strangest taste...
I think that the goblin statue in Booty Bay is kind of eerie (there's nothing welcoming about a goblin, open arms or no), but this one outside of Area 52 in Netherstorm -- sent in by reader Rolaw of Ursin -- takes creepiness to an entirely new level. Something about that toothy grin is very unsettling... (Do goblins really have that many teeth?) Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins video review
You may remember that the 1UP network wasn't too pleased with Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins' horrifying difficulty. Now, you can see their complaints in video form in the latest episode of The 1UP Show (available as a video podcast). There's a lot to go over, such as the dated controls, the randomly spawning enemies, and the unpleasant rings system, which can nullify all the hard work a hapless player may have endured through. Will this stop you from picking the game up, or is the masochist in you raging for a beating?
Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins video blowout
Gametrailers.com has gone absolutely crazy with Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins, posting three new videos of the game in motion. We've covered this game quite extensively so far, and although there may be mixed impressions of the quality of the game, the video evidence seems to suggest that this game will be undoubtedly awesome.See also:Living the life of Arthur
Hope for the Pirates?
There's been a lot of frustration among those who spent time factioning up with the Bloodsail Buccaneers - which automatically lowers your standing with the Steamwheedle Cartel. Those who made the grind to get revered with the pirates to get their pirate hat are now discovering that they're unable to acquire their Dungeon 2 armor set, because the second step of the quest requires you to visit Gadgetzan, where loyal Bloodsails are attacked on sight. To those contemplating the slow grind back to good standing with the Goblins, Tigole offers a ray of hope - patch 1.11 will feature several quests that will help Bloodsails return to good standing with Goblins throughout Azeroth.
