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Know Your Lore: Gul'dan, the soul of evil
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. Every villain in the Warcraft universe has a story behind why exactly they're a villain. For some, it was the corruption of the Old Gods that slowly drove them mad. For others, it was the promise of great power by agents of the Burning Legion. But it's rare that we see a villain that is simply a villain without any kind of outside influence. Garrosh Hellscream is one of the better villains in Warcraft solely because he does evil things, but doesn't believe that they are evil -- instead, he believes that they are simply the right thing to do. But before Garrosh Hellscream was an orc who pretty much represented pure, unmitigated evil in its most concentrated form. He knew the corruption of his entire race was at stake, and he went ahead and traded it for the one thing he craved above all else -- power. Gul'dan may not have come from bloodlines that boasted glory, but he was ridiculously intelligent, cunning, and cruel. To Gul'dan, it wasn't about performing evil deeds. It was about amassing as much power and prestige as he could -- and the rest of the world could burn, for all he cared.
Know Your Lore: The rise of the Dark Shaman
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 had warning that this was coming. When Ragefire Chasm was given an overhaul in Mists of Pandaria, the changes didn't escape the notice of players -- but nobody really knew the extent of what was going on. Remnants of the Twilight Cult from Cataclysm could be found in the depths of Ragefire, carrying insignias that noted they were part of a new order -- not Twilight Cult, but something quite possibly far darker, called the Dark Shaman. These shaman were highlighted briefly in the novel Tides of War, as part of Garrosh's assault forces on Northwatch Hold. While the question of how they came to be seems to be fairly self-explanatory, there's a little more to the story than previously thought. It stretches all the way back to the days of Wrath of the Lich King, and the discovery of a different, new, hardy race of warriors and shaman that were far more used to doing what was necessary to survive, than what may or may not have been right.
Know Your Lore: The Shattering, part 3
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. Garrosh Hellscream is probably one of the most contentious additions to the Cataclysm expansion. Oh sure, he existed all the way back in The Burning Crusade, but he wasn't Warchief at that point in time. Nobody thought for a moment that the depressed Orc in Garadar would one day be leading their characters into battle against the Lich King. And nobody dreamed that Garrosh would one day be sitting on the Horde's throne. It wasn't so much the surprise of the situation that people took issue with, however. Instead, it had much to do with Garrosh's attitude throughout Wrath of the Lich King. Headstrong, ruthless and downright bloodthirsty, Garrosh's decisions in Wrath didn't ring right or true with the playerbase. Even more jostling to players was the notion that despite the player dislike of the character, the NPCs of the world loved the guy. It may very well be the first time that a large chunk of a faction's players have blatantly disagreed with a fictional NPC faction -- and the NPC faction won out. The Shattering makes it clear that Garrosh's position is only temporary, but in Cataclysm, he's certainly attacking the job with gusto. Today's Know Your Lore contains pretty much every possible spoiler that exists for the novel The Shattering by Christie Golden. If you're avoiding spoilers, run away! Run away!
Patch 4.3: Blizzard's official preview of the Hour of Twilight heroic dungeon
The last of patch 4.3's time-traveling dungeons now has a preview available on the official website. The Hour of Twilight takes place in present-day Azeroth, where the Twilight's Hammer is putting on a full-scale invasion of Dragonblight. Why Dragonblight? Because that is where the ultimate showdown with Deathwing will begin -- and the Dragon Soul plays a key part in taking the former Aspect of Earth down. Included with the preview are some unsettling images of Wyrmrest Temple crawling with the tentacles of Old God minions, as well as some shots of the surrounding areas. There are three bosses mentioned with the preview: Arcurion, a formidable water ascendant who is tasked with killing Thrall; Asria Dawnslayer, a deadly agent of the Twilight's Hammer; and a third face who should be instantly recognizable to Alliance players. If you want to avoid spoiler content, I'd avoid the preview, but the third boss is a shock for those familiar with him in game so far. Did we mention Thrall? That's right, he's there too, and players must escort him and the Dragon Soul safely to Wyrmrest Temple. I'm having flashbacks to CoT: Durnholde Keep, but they are good flashbacks. From the looks of things, these events tie directly into Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects; those who are wanting to know more about the events in Hour of Twilight should check out that novel. All in all, it looks like the three dungeons are similar to the last three dungeons of Wrath of the Lich King. They tie into the final raid encounter in a crucial way, and the story is interlocked between all three dungeons. Check out the official website for the full preview, plenty of images, and more boss information. Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Look at what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Know Your Lore: Garona: A study on stealth and treachery, part 2
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. Human or orc... An orc would say that it's a human hand -- too slender to be really useful, not enough muscle to hold an ax or bash a skull in properly -- too pale, too weak, and too ugly. You see the parts of me that are orcish. My orcish superiors, and all other orcs, see the parts of me that are human. I am both, and neither, and considered an inferior being by both sides. -- The Last Guardian Garona spent the first half of her life unaware of her true bloodline -- and unaware of the mental controls placed in her mind by the Shadow Council. After escaping Doomhammer's forces, she fled, gave birth to her son Med'an, and then handed him over to an old friend for safekeeping. It wasn't that she didn't want to raise the boy; it was that she thought she was a danger to the child. There were two moments that stuck with Garona the most. The first was that moment in Karazhan's tower, in which she witnessed herself killing King Llane. The second was the moment in which that horrifying vision came to pass -- and there was nothing she could do to stop it. The combination of these two events made Garona realize, in terror, that she seemed to be destined to play the part of the villain, no matter what she had to say to the contrary.
Insider Trader: No more low-level crafting alts
Insider Trader is a column about professions by Basil "Euripides" Berntsen, who also writes Gold Capped about how to make money using the auction house. Email Basil your questions. It's been pointed out before that I happen to use the very laziest of profession and auction alts: a level 65 death knight. Death knights start at 55 and can be facerolled to 65 with the least investment of time of any class. In my reply to that comment on the original post, you'll see my method: I never level anything except the character I plan on playing in the endgame. I'm a busy man, and among all the activities that can be done in World of Warcraft, I prioritize leveling just under patching my client and just above reputation grinding. Well, it's a good thing that my poor, facerolling DK has been grinding the dungeons for the last week, because one of the trade skills I've maxed on him is undergoing a pretty serious change: All enchanting recipes that require a skill of over 510 are apparently not available from the normal trainers in major cities. That's not the end of it, either -- blacksmithing, leatherworking, and jewelcrafting are all capped out at 500 skill at the city trainers. Special thanks to my Hunting Party Podcast co-host Darkbrew for confirming these values for me in the beta, and thanks to Kaliope for writing a post that pointed me in the right direction.
Official preview of the Stonecore now available
Blizzard has added to its continuing official Cataclysm previews with a sneak peak at the Stonecore, a 5-man regular and heroic dungeon located in Deepholm. From the preview, we learn that the Stonecore is where Deathwing had been fixed up with elementium plates by the Twilight's Hammer cult, as well as the exit point used to shatter the World Pillar, break into Azeroth and start causing us trouble. Check out the official preview for more information and some pretty screenshots. From my personal experience in beta, Stonecore is one of the most fun dungeons and heroics that I've run. It's frantic and fun, and the final boss is something really awesome and unique. You'll love this place. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Pre-Cataclysm event image gallery
As we mentioned earlier, the next pre-Cataclysm event is currently being tested on the PTR. We've now gone through the Horde version of the event ourselves (it's still a little buggy) and nabbed some screenshots to share with you. We'll do a full writeup later today, so stick around and we'll fill you in on all the details soon. Be warned: The gallery includes spoilers for events coming up in the next patch, so if you'd like to be surprised, move along. Might I suggest to the priest section? %Gallery-102854%
Cataclysm faction traitors revealed!
As alluded to in other sound files data-mined from the Cataclysm beta, traitors from the Horde and the Alliance are defecting from their respective factions to the new Twilight's Hammer cult. Previously, the identities of these traitors have remained unknown, but new sound files indicate we just might know now who is turning away from their own. Spoilers and sound clips after the jump. WARNING: This post contains spoilers about the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm. Do not read further if you do not wish to be spoiled on major plot points.
Official Cataclysm site update: The Twilight Highlands
Those of you watching the live stream last night may have noticed a fly-by of the Twilight Highlands zone, including some strange rock formations, and the frustrations of that ever-present invisible wall. Thankfully, we now know a little more about what's behind that invisible wall in the Twilight Highlands zone courtesy of an update to the official Cataclysm website posted today. Some highlights from the post: The Dragonmaw orcs have a presence in the Highlands, and "their knowledge of dragons and warfare is of unquestionable importance, especially amidst the chaos of the Cataclysm." This explains a little of why they would join up with the Horde, though I'm still wondering how Alexstrasza feels about the whole situation. The Wildhammer dwarves also make an appearance here, and have begun to consider allying with Stormwind and Ironforge "thanks to the entreaties of their cousins, the Bronzebeard clan." It looks like the red dragonflight's days of haunting Grim Batol and the surrounding areas are numbered -- the black dragonflight are taking over. The Twilight's Hammer cult has relocated here due to the presence of an Old God. For more information, highlights and screenshots, check out the post on the official Cataclysm website.
Blizzard releases information on new Cataclysm Twin Peaks battleground
PvP fans can rejoice -- Blizzard released information today regarding the new Twin Peaks battleground today, located inside the Eastern Kingdoms' new Twilight Highlands zone. Twin Peaks is described as a "10 vs. 10, capture-the-flag style battleground" reminiscent of Warsong Gulch. Alliance players will be called to the defense of the Wildhammer Dwarves, who are fighting to regain control of their home territory of Grim Batol. The Horde will be forging a new coalition with the Dragonmaw Clan, who seek to take hold on the territory as well. More details are beyond the break.
Patch 3.3.5 PTR: Unfinished Doomsday quest line removed
Sure, Patch 3.3.5 is shaping up to be interesting with the implementation of the Battle.net Real ID system, and new Ruby Sanctum raid dungeon -- but early players on the PTR got a sneak peek at a quest line that has since disappeared from the PTR servers. This quest chain was originally datamined back in the Patch 3.3.3 PTR along with various Cataclysm doodads and items, but the quests hadn't surfaced until now. Its removal suggests that it wasn't meant to be implemented in the first place -- luckily, we've got screenshots of the entire chain. These are spoilers for pre-Cataclysm content, so if you don't want to be spoiled, don't check out the gallery. More info on the chain after the break.
Know Your Lore: Med'an, Cho'gall and the Prophecy
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 spoilers for World of Warcraft: The Comic. Players who are currently reading through the comics or simply wish to avoid spoilers from the series should avoid this post. We're taking a step back from Alliance politics this week in light of some new information from the 3.3.5 PTR. The servers have been laggy and somewhat unstable, but I've still been able to log on and play through a few things. One of those things is an interesting new quest chain available in Orgrimmar involving Doomsday Cultists who are suddenly making appearances in the Drag and talking about the end of the world as we know it. The biggest thing that sparked my interest was mention of Cho'gall. Matthew Rossi did an excellent write-up of the Twilight's Hammer and their leader Cho'gall, but what struck my interest was that Cho'gall's presence in game may lead to more interplay between story lines from the Warcraft comic series and World of Warcraft itself. However, while I made the connection readily enough, there are plenty out there who haven't read the comics and have no idea who Cho'gall, Med'an or any of the other characters I've referenced in previous posts actually are. In light of this, today we're going to be talking about the last half of the Warcraft comics series -- what happened in them, who was introduced, who died, what happened with Cho'gall, why Silithus was suddenly relevant again, and most of all, who the heck that Med'an kid is that I've been going on about. As I will be talking about these things in detail, this post is absolutely brim full of spoilers for the comics series; readers who are interested in picking up the comics and reading through them may want to veer away from this post.
Know Your Lore: The Twilight's Hammer
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 groups and sects and collectives and factions in the World of Warcraft, the Twilight's Hammer stand out as being possibly the most deranged and nihilistic of the bunch. If you have an apocalypse, they'll happily start it. They'll worship elementals, Old Gods and anything else that might bring about the end of all that is. Whether infesting Blackfathom Deeps, evoking elemental spirits in Silithus, fighting the Scourge in Anh'Kahet or making trouble in Ulduar, if there's a chance for the world to come to an end, the Twilight's Hammer are definitely pulling for Armageddon. They started out as the personal fiefdom of Cho'gall the ogre mage, handed to him after their previous chief was disobedient to the wishes of the Shadow Council, the warlock servants and mouthpieces of Gul'dan. They continued on through the wars, eventually finding themselves in control of Tol Barad itself, and were therefore of use to Gul'Dan following the Doomhammer's ascension, when he desperately needed allies. Even then, Cho'gall sought annihilation. The ogre, and through him his clan, saw the Horde as the best means to bring absolute destruction about (in their way as devoted to nihilism and apocalyptic destruction as even the Burning Legion). So when Gul'dan found the location of the Tomb of Sargeras, Cho'gall and his clan the Twilight's Hammer followed. And when Gul'dan found death in the tomb, many of the Twilight's Hammer died alongside him. Many, but certainly not Cho'gall. (As a note, we'll be discussing spoilers for Cataclysm in this post. So if you don't want to see those, don't read past this point.)
More Cataclysm precursors found in Patch 3.3.3 PTR files
While we haven't heard much new Cataclysm news lately, the Patch 3.3.3 PTR files have provided some pretty tantalizing hints as to what may be to come, including some new models associated with the Twilight's Hammer cult. First off, we have a series of portals. These portals are topped by a crystal that looks very similar to the wind stones of Silithus, and in fact, each portal and crystal seems specifically marked to summon a specific element. There's also a bloodstained sacrificial altar and a couple of banners, all of these have a very specific dragon-like motif. The Twilight's Hammer has already been confirmed to be working with Deathwing in Cataclysm, and since they're an elemental doomsday cult dedicated to bringing about the return of the Old Gods, busting Deathwing out of prison is right up their alley. We should probably expect to see these models in game relatively soon, and probably as part of a plot by the Twilight's Hammer to summon Deathwing back into the world -- a plot which will, of course, eventually succeed. Stayed tuned for more coverage of Patch 3.3.3 and the Cataclysm opening event as it develops! %Gallery-86068%
The Queue: Cho'gall is back in black
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. On the last edition of The Queue written by yours truly, I included a mind-blowing video on how to properly eat chicken wings. Today, I bring you something equally as mind blowing. How to properly peel a banana. And now, on with the show. Boombaclot asks... "Do you believe that WoW has truly gotten easier or just maybe that the WoW community as a whole have become better players? Yes you have your scrubs but I know my WoW game has improved vastly since I started playing in Vanilla WoW."
What does Blizzard have planned for a Cataclysm in-game launch event?
So Cataclysm is coming and Kisirani is already working on an in-game launch event. It's gotta mean something right? Now don't get me wrong, even with my self-confessed zombiephobia, I loved last November's zombie invasion (though, at times, it got really frustrating). So now Kisirani is officially hard at work planning a new event to herald the beginning of an Azerothian cataclysm, I can't help but wonder what she has up her sleeves for us.Is anyone else excited? I certainly am and it gives us something to focus on during the inevitable wait. To be fair, at least Cataclysm's not scheduled for 2012! We don't have that long to wait, we could be rolling Worgen and Goblins in just under/over a year's time. That just about makes it bearable. But it also leaves us with time to think about what Blizzard will do to introduce players to this brave new world.Hit the jump to find out what we think could well happen prior to the launch of Cataclysm.
Ask a Lore Nerd: It's a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week blogger and columnist Alex Ziebart answers your questions about the lore and history of the World of Warcraft. Ask your questions in the comments section below, and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.I didn't intentionally choose today's Scourge theme. Really. These things just happen. That Dragon-specific one I did all that time ago? I didn't plan that, either. I'm just awesome enough that these things come together all by themselves. Yep. It's my pure, radiant awesome.What? What do you mean current game content dictates what topics are hot or not? Pssh, that's crazy talk. That can't be it. It's all me, y'all.Briz9 asked... "Who built Icecrown Citadel and the accompanying structures? Did Arthas build it after he became the Lich King, or was it already there?" The massive Saronite structures that make up Icecrown as it is today is all fairly new, from what I understand. Most Scourge architecture is based on Nerubian architecture (as you can see in Ahn'kahet) but the Saronite structures in and around Icecrown seem more styled after the Lich King himself. You certainly didn't see that stuff in Warcraft III either, but I suppose that's not always a good indicator.
Yogg-Saron, Old God of Death speculation
One of the things that caught my eye in the Ulduar preview that was posted awhile ago is the description of Yogg-Saron. The flavor text describes him as 'the Old God of death.' Considering our big target in this expansion, the Lich King, that's extremely interesting.Wrath of the Lich King has heavily hinted at some sort of connection between Yogg-Saron and the Scourge, though we never quite find out what it is. The Scourge make heavy use of Saronite, an ore with Yogg-Saron himself as its origin. When the Alliance investigates this ore in the Dragonblight, they discover the Scourge says Yogg-Saron's name with some degree of hate and contempt.A lot of people fear there's a "puppet of the master" thing surrounding the Lich King, that he's not actually his own power, he belongs to Yogg-Saron. I find this unlikely for one really big reason: The Scourge hates Yogg-Saron, and everybody else that we've run into that have fallen under Yogg-Saron's will either love him utterly or serve him faithfully. If you go to the Saronite Mines in Icecrown and do the quest Slaves to Saronite, you see just how faithful some of his servants become once they've been controlled. If Yogg-Saron were controlling the Lich King, we'd see a very different Scourge.
Sneak peek at World of Warcraft comic issue 16
The official WoW website has put up a preview for issue 16 of the World of Warcraft comic. I have to say, this one doesn't look nearly as facepalm inducing as the last few. In fact, aside from a few art oddities (did Valeera just trip up there?), it looks like a pretty good start for this arc.It looks like this arc is not only focused on Garona's half human, quarter orc, quarter draenei son, but a few other things, too. It looks like this arc will focus somewhat on Fandral Staghelm and the state of Teldrassil, what's happened to Ahn'qiraj since we were there last and potentially the relationship between King Varian and Valeera. To avoid spoilers, I'll stick a few more things behind the cut below.
