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The real Griftah story
Griftah has now been exiled to the outskirts of Shattrath in Patch 2.2.Players complained loudly on the forums after realizing they paid over 30 gold for an amulet that allowed them to resurrect when they died and were not mollified when informed that they should have shown a bit more caution before buying items from a character named after another word for con artist. Everyone (including me) assumed that Griftah was being exiled from Shattrath because of these complaints.His creator, World Designer Kisirani, says otherwise. Though we don't know how the story is going to unfold, Kisirani says that Griftah is kind of a progressive content guinea pig. He explains:It's a shame you're unwilling to believe what is, in essence, the truth -- that Griftah has been a small foray in progressive content as we gauge certain things.
Azeroth's bad guys aren't always that bad
Malygos is a new kind of antagonist for the Warcraft universe in that he's probably the enemy with the least actual evil we've seen so far, in sharp contrast to the Burning Legion, the Scourge, the Old Gods, and a host of others. As we've already noted, some players think he may actually be right: he wants to protect Azerothians from the magic they're dabbling in, for fear that they might end up bringing the Burning Legion back with it, except that he goes about "protecting" the people by waging war on them, which somehow eerily familiar.... Anyway, Malygos is just the latest example of an antagonist in WoW that we can almost sympathize with, a bad guy that isn't all that bad. Malygos' particular place at the other end of our attack buttons can be attributed mainly to his conflicting point of view rather than an evil and corrupted soul. His ultimate aim is still the greater good of all life -- he just believes (wrongfully, we hope) that he needs to destroy the minority of magic users in order to save the remaining majority of all other life on the world.
Should Death Knights get one runeblade for life?
Drustai over on the European WoW forums has a good observation: death knights have always had a special relationship with their runeblades, using the same weapon for their whole life. Arthas is the classic example, since he and his sword, Frostmourne, are forever associated with one another. Could you imagine Arthas starting out as a level 55 death knight and then gradually replacing his low-level Frostmourne with something better? How then, could it work out with our player character death knights? Shouldn't they have their own sword for life too? Obviously though, working this out with the game's character progression would be difficult. You can't give an epic sword to a new character, nor can you keep an experienced character stuck with a non-upgradable, outdated weapon. There are many suggestions as to how to keep one blade throughout the character's life. Have a look at the original poster's favorite suggestion after the jump:
Breakfast Topic: Make up your own mounts
A poster on the forums asked about whether people would like to see spider mounts in the game. It's true he was just asking out of boredom, but to me this actually an interesting question. We have the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal, of course (pictured here, courtesy of Wowhead), but that's more or less impossible to get now, and it's not exactly a spider in any case. What sorts of new mounts will there be then? Nethaera responded: "I couldn't tell you what possible new mounts there will be. :( Perhaps a little further along we'll have information on more of the fun features that are getting added in with Wrath of the Lich King." What mounts would you ask Blizzard to put in the new expansion? Flying machines are already going in at some point, and bats and hippogryphs have already been mentioned. How about rideable owls? For land mounts, maybe you could ride on the shoulders of your very own yeti! Better yet, what if we could pilot our own slow, yet moveable siege weapons?
New WotLK screenshots on the official site
Two new screenshots have landed on the official Wrath of the Lich King page, and they look pretty different from anything we've seen about the next expansion so far. You can click on the pic above to see the first one full, and here's the second.Now clearly both show a forested, lush area, and there is only one forest that we know of is Northrend so far: Grizzly Hills, supposedly a redwood type of forest home to the Northern Furbolgs. This forest, however, looks a little greener than that-- it may be the Sholazar Basin, which we haven't seen screenshots of yet. Obviously the creature above is some new kind of Dryad, so that means we may see traces of Cenarius in Northrend, and when you mention Cenarius, you have to mention the Emerald Dream. So we may find out more about that line of lore in Northrend as well. Very interesting.
Official Wrath of the Lich King forums are live
Late this afternoon, Blizzard created an official forum for their next expansion, The Wrath of the Lich King. Both the U.S. Wrath forum and the European Wrath forum are just now filling up with the usual questions, and some are already getting blue responses.From the U.S. forums: CM Nethaera confirms one new hero class is planned for each expansion CM Bornakk confirms the level restriction on using flying mounts in Northrend has not be set yet (maybe L78, maybe not) CM Bornakk implies that initial travel to Northrend will by boat and zeppelin The European forums have plenty to offer as well: CM Vaneras has moved the all things announced about Northrend post to this forum and confirmed today that Ulduar is a dwarven instance that will be accessible by both Horde and Alliance CM Vaneras also moved the all things announced about Death Knights post to this forum Forum VIP Schwick has stickied his round up of all confirmed dev quotes about the Wrath expansion and put it at the top of the forum Keep your eyes on those forums and on WoW Insider for future news about the expansion.
Death Knights not welcome at town picnic
It's a problem: here you are, a master of your very own runed blade, a summoner of an army of undead, an immensely powerful tank and damage-dealer -- and yet no one will let you into the lore party over at Starshine Shadowstrider's house! "Yuckie!" they say. "He got his powers from the Lich King! ...Eww!""But I turned against him!" you proclaim in your defense. "I wised up and came back to the Light, sorta. Okay not really but I'm still not completely bad! It's like... fighting..." your voice gradually gets quieter as party-goers stop listening, "... fighting fire with ... fire. Dammit. I'm gonna go kill Onyxia by myself! That'll show 'em."Yes indeed. It's looking like the future's going to be pretty rough for Death Knights. As Nethaera explained, "It's most likely that Death Knights aren't going to find themselves being popular guests at the town picnic."But Death Knights aren't alone in dealing with this sort of thing. "Keep in mind," Nethaera points out, "that Warlocks aren't generally welcomed with open arms either (depending on the culture of the race in question)." Here we have a good role model for plucky summoners of the undead: Warlocks are magic users who use the powers of the Burning Legion against the Burning Legion itself! Have not the Alliance and the Horde not gradually come to accept that just because some people happen to summon demons, cause agony, corruption and ruin, as well as steal people's souls -- that doesn't make them inherently evil, right? So it is with Death Knights. So what if you betrayed all the peoples of Azeroth to go and serve the Lich King for a little while? So what if his taint of undeathiness is still flowing through you while you draw those unholy runes and create zombies? You can now go to Shattrath to have your picture taken with a Naaru! Your reputation should be squeaky clean.While Blizzard may yet find a plausible reason for Death Knights to be fighting against the Lich King rather than with him, keep in mind that even if that doesn't work out, you've got one magic word that will make everything okay. Whenever people won't trust you or play with you just because it would seem that you might possibly be technically evil (on the outside)... Just say: "Lore, lol."
WoW Moviewatch: Rise of the Lich King
We know that the new expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, will take us to Northrend to fight Arthas. But if you haven't played Warcraft 3 and The Frozen Throne and seen the story of how Arthas became the Lich King, you may well wonder what all the fuss is about. Blizzard released a three part series of short stories about the Rise of the Lich King, (and we have our own summary here at WoW Insider) but now there is a movie version as well. This is a compilation of machinima before machinima was an art form for the masses -- Blizzard used their own animated sprites within the game to tell the story, with good actors providing their voices in between (and sometimes during) battles. Sylvictus has recorded these scenes from Warcraft 3 and presented them here for us over at Warcraft Movies. Even though it clocks in at a whopping 52 minutes, Sylvictus said that he had to cut a lot of things out in order to keep the story even that short: Fall of Sylvanas and her freedom which lead to the founding of the Forsaken. Sylvanas betrayal and failed murder attempt on Arthas. The 3 dreadlords that takes control over Lordaeron as well as their war with Sylvanas. The perils Arthas and Anub'Arak faces in Azjol-nerub. The scenes with Sapphiron, most Muradin clips etc. Although I agree it's probably better to keep the movie to a manageable size, I would have personally liked to see this extra footage too. Perhaps one day Sylvictus will do an expanded version, or a movie all about Sylvanas. Keep in mind that you'll want to skip this if you intend on playing through Warcraft 3 and enjoying the story experience first hand. If you don't have the time or interest, however, you may enjoy this taste of what it's like.Previously on WoW Moviewatch...
Blizzard's third project: Hydra
We already know Blizzard has three games in development right now. One of them is Wrath of the Lich King, the next WoW expansion. The second is Starcraft II. And the third is an as-of-yet-unannounced title... called Hydra.That's what the Inquirer overheard at the Austin GDC. One Blizzard employee asked another what they were working on, and the overheard reply was "I'm working on Hydra."So now we have an internal name for Blizzard's third project. Let the speculation begin. I'll start: the Hydra is a creature from Greek mythology, so maybe we're looking at a Diabloesque game set in Greece? Like Titan Quest (which is really Diablo anyway) or God of War, but made by Blizzard? And Hydras also appear in World of Warcraft (notably in BFD, where a Hydra is the final boss), so could it be possible that this is actually another WoW expansion, maybe the Maelstrom expansion we've been waiting for?Thanks, James!
Amazon still has Burning Crusade CE in stock
In case you really wanted it, the Burning Crusade Collector's Edition apparently isn't all that collected-- it's still in stock at Amazon for $74.99, a few bucks off the original price. The original Collector's Edition is a little harder to find-- it's been out of stock for a while, and copies are going for around $200. eBay is the same story-- you can buy the BC:CE for as little as $50, while the original CE is going for much, much more.My guess is that it's the old laws of supply and demand-- by the time Burning Crusade dropped, everyone knew it would be a hit, so Blizzard made a bunch, while the original CE probably had a lot fewer copies made. But the noncombat pets might be a draw as well-- the original CE had Diablo, Zerg, and Panda pets, while the Burning Crusade only had a pretty unimpressive Netherwhelp pet.And the other interesting question is what will happen when the next expansion drops. Being that WotLK is much more integral to the Warcraft that everyone knows and loves (while BC was much more involved with the ancient history of Warcraft), will people who've skipped Burning Crusade so far be more inclined to pick it up when Wrath releases? Maybe the BC:CE will get rarer as we get closer to Northrend.[ via WoW Ladies ]
Player burnout and the next expansion
Hardcore Casual has a post up about his reaction to the news being released about the next expansion. As a player who left WoW, he's not impressed.Burning Crusade's effect on Blizzard's game was gigantic-- player who'd left came back in droves, and guilds and players who hadn't been playing together for a while all of a sudden found themselves online almost every night. And even out of the game, it had a huge impact-- Wowhead, the argument could be made, rode the wave of Burning Crusade, and it led them to their sale.So the question now is: will WotLK have the same effect? HC says no-- he says Hero classes as hyped were much cooler than the way Death Knights are being implemented, and that the next 10 levels doesn't appeal to him. They do appeal to his father, he says, and there's no question that lots of players are interested in the next expansion. Who wouldn't want to fight alongside and/or against Arthas? This expansion might get players to connect with this universe in a way they haven't since they played Warcraft III.Or it might be too late. Even Blizzard realizes the player base is headed for a rough patch-- they've started the Scroll of Resurrection program to bring straying players back with bribes. The game itself is far from over-- there is a significant core audience who still love this game (including myself), and can't wait to see WotLK. But the fact is that WoW may have peaked with BC. Even if there is a nice peak coming again with Wrath of the Lich King, all indications are that it won't be as high as the first expansion went.
WoW Under Development page (finally) updated
If you've been keeping up with the news here on WoW Insider, you already know the information that has been updated on the WoW Under Development page. But it's nice to see it in black and parchment.Under Almost Ready, Blizzard lists the highlights of Patch 2.2: Voice Chat, Mac Movie Capture and the Improved Chat Interface. They also include a link to the current PTR Patch notes. These changes will be released in the next major patch, which unfortunately looks like it will be a while. The Coming Soon section lists things that will be in upcoming patches, presumably before the expansion. They don't link to any further official info for this section, but I've provided links to WoW Insider details: Zul'Aman - A high-level 10-player instance located in the Ghostlands Guild Banks Sunwell Plateau - A high-level 25-player instance located north of Silvermoon City The On the Horizon section is all about Wrath of the Lich King. The highlights they list are the new level cap, Inscription, Northrend, Death Knights and Character Customization. For more info, they link to the official WotLK website.I was hoping for more official info on the Coming Soon topics -- and something more than just 3 items. I don't expect the expansion to be here for another year, so an official sneak preview of some more of the free goodies we're going to get in the meantime would be nice.What are you most looking forward to being added to the game before the expansion? Or will nothing satisfy you except for new hairstyles, ten new levels and another continent?
Enchants on the AH in WotLK
On the French-language EU forums, Blizzard poster Thyvene gives enchanters a hint of news on something they've been wanting for a long time: the abilitity to sell their enchants on the auction house. For those of you attempting to confirm on the site, but failing your language skill check, Thyvene's comments approximately translate to: The developers plan to give to enchanters the possibility to sell their enchantments at the auction house, nevertheless this shouldn't be implemented into the game before the next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.Of course, without knowing an official release date for Wrath of the Lich King, this change could still be a year off. However, I'm certainly looking forward to a time when my enchanter won't have to stand around in a major city spamming macros in oder to market and sell my wares.[Thanks, Boubouille!]
Patch 2.2 may take "weeks" longer
MMO Champion's about right-- patch 2.2 is likely not coming for a matter of weeks. Since background downloading started a little while ago, we all figured this Tuesday or next was looking pretty good for a patch update, but Hortus on the forums alludes to new PTR patches "several times in the upcoming weeks," which is a good indication that we've got a while to go on the PTR.It doesn't necessarily mean that we're looking at a November patch-- it could be that the PTR updates are for 2.3, or that 2.2 will drop with hotfixes coming later, or that Hortus just doesn't have the information from the devs right. But take a deep breath-- even if it takes a few more weeks for a new patch, odds are we'd all rather have it "right" than "right now."And Boubouille says that if it takes this long for 2.2, he doesn't see how they'll release the expansion by next January, which is just plain laughable. Sorry Bou, we love you and all, but WotLK isn't dropping anytime before July 2008, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if we didn't see it until early 2009. It's not that we won't have content until then-- Zul'Aman is coming, and a new arena season will show up before then (maybe even two), as well as guild banks, a new CoT instance, and of course the Sunwell. But if you're still thinking we'll see Arthas as soon as January, time to stop holding your breath.
Ask WoW Insider: Who's the most powerful character in Warcraft history?
TGIF folks -- that means it's time for another installment of Ask WoW Insider. Last week we looked at the etiquette surrounding leaving an instance early as well as a bit of a trip down memory lane to highlight the best of Ask WoW Insider to date. This week we'll be speculating about a lore issue: who is the most badass character of all in Warcraft history? Killah writes: Because of the recent activity regarding the new expansion set Wrath of the Lich King, it has come to my interest to find out about more about the lore in Warcraft. I was reading about the Lich King, his rise and fall, on WoWwiki. It suddenly appeared to me that the Lich King indeed possessed great powers, but yet there must've been someone stronger than him. My question to you guys is: What character is the strongest (physically, magically, powerful, fearful) in Warcraft history? This character might be deceased now, but still might the strong throughout history. Who's your pick for the most badass Warcraft figure of all time (excepting Leeroy for simplicity's sake)? Is it Illidan, or Neltharion, or that nasty murloc that pwned your ass in the Wetlands last week? Who's your top of the tops? WTB your questions! Send us your WoW-related inquiries to ask AT wowinsider DOT com.
Probable factions in Wrath of the Lich King
Jikiyami from Kul'tiras dropped a tip asking us about all the different factions that might be in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion when it comes out. Unfortunately, Blizzard hasn't completed design on most of Northrend, so I'd bet that the actual list of factions isn't really determined yet. But that won't stop us from speculating who you might be working for from level 70-80. There will most likely be Horde and Alliance starting factions, just like Honor Hold and Thrallmar. For Horde, Forsaken seem to be taking the spotlight (according to what we saw in the playthrough), so an "Apothecaries' Guild" faction might be up there. For Alliance, I'm betting the Dwarves will lead, so an "Explorer's League" type of group might be a good guess. Dalaran will be up there, of course, so we'll either see the Violet Citadel make a return, or another Mage-based faction. The Tuskarr, a new race, are supposedly fighting against Naga trying to melt their grounds, so I bet we'll see a faction for them. Lake Wintergrasp is a World PvP zone, so expect a Horde and Alliance faction for each side. We know Gnomish flying machines will be available in the expansion, so I'd guess there's a Gnomish faction to rep up for in order to gain access to those. In Dragonblight, the rumor is that Deathwing is setting up shop, so there may be a new faction fighting against him. And that same faction may be situated around the Nexus, an instance hub in which Malygos is running things. Then again, we've heard that Dalaran is fighting Malygos' campaign against magic, so this may overlap with the Mages there. Jikiyami points out, rightfully, that supposedly some Nerubians are fighting against Arthas, so outside Azjol-Nerub we may find a faction ready to give us rep for fighting in there. And finally, someone's got to lead the battle against Arthas and his Scourge, right? Blizzard seemed kind of opposed to this at BlizzCon, but I would be very, very disappointed if the Argent Dawn didn't have some role to play near Icecrown Citadel or the new Naxx. Or maybe Arthas will have his own rep to grind-- how else would we get access to a Death Knight? So there's about ten guesses at different factions right there. And who knows if older factions might show up-- since so many players are now allied with the Scryer or the Aldor, will they come back through the Portal and have a place in Northrend? Either way, there'll be no shortage of rep to grind in the cold north.
Shattering the Frozen Throne
Blizzard has posted the third (and supposedly final) chapter of the Rise of the Lich King story, called "Shattering the Frozen Throne." It covers Arthas' betrayal of his father, and his subsequent journey (through Illidan) to Northrend to the Frozen Throne of the Lich King.Call me a lore noob (I've been called worse), but for some reason I never connected Arthas' charge into Silvermoon with everything going down in the Ghostlands. I've played through the Blood Elf starter area a few times now, and while it's obvious the Scourge is there, I never actually realized it was Arthas who brought them through there. Interesting.And of course the story ends with Arthas "sealing his union" with the Lich King. We're still not sure (and maybe Blizzard isn't either) what exactly happened there-- did the Lich King completely possess Arthas, or did Arthas consume the Lich King? Are they still separate, and is there a chance we might still break Arthas free of the Lich King's influence? Blizzard has bolded, enlarged, and highlighted the "Now, we are one" quote, so it seems that a redemption for Arthas is unlikely, but Metzen hinted that we might be able to do exactly that at BlizzCon.At any rate, it seems we won't know the end of the story until we actually step up to the Frozen Throne ourselves.
More WotLK and future content info from Leipzig
Monde Persistants, a French Warcraft site, has released their full interview with Lead Designer Jeff Kaplan and Art Director Chris Robinson from last week's Leipzig Games Convention. Some of this information we already know, but there's quite a bit that was new to us. You can read the entire interview (in English!) and see the video at MP. Here's the summary of the new items: Part of the lore behind the Wrath of the Lich King expansion has Arthas trying to seduce players to the dark side, both Alliance and Horde. Part of the Death Knight lore will have them "break away" from the Lich King influence to be free agents, the way the Forsaken have broken away from being mindless undead. Death Knights will "probably" be able to inscribe any weapon with their Runes that give them power. Ulduar is going to be a new raid instance. It's controlled by storm giants and is a fortress of the Titans like Uldaman and Maruadon according to WoW lore. The Nerubians (spider guys) will host a few instances at the underground Azjol'Nerub. The Nexus will have a L70 5-man instance. The main boss in the CoT: Stratholme instance will be Mal'ganis. Possibly new daily quests introduced with the Sunwell Plateau patch (2.4?) Previous information gathered from Leipzig can be found here.Via World of Raids
Death Knights' "rune" system might take some skill
"Oh my frikkin dog, everybody and their second cousin is gonna wanna be Death Knights!" was the cry heard throughout Outland when the new Hero Class was announced. WoW players everywhere had visions of dungeons and raids filled with only Death Knights; as well as Alliance and Horde cities alike all filled wall-to-wall with thousands of players who abandoned their original class to become Death Knights, only to discover (along with rogues and hunters) that it ain't so easy being uber-cool and powerful when everyone else is uber-cool and powerful too -- because everyone else is taking your raid spot.Well Drysc has a ray of light to shed on this despair... or, in the case of Death Knights, perhaps that should be a big tank of unholy frozen blood to spill on it (assuming that would help): I expect just about everyone is going to want to try one, but is everyone going to want to drop their long-time proffered class for one? I seriously doubt it. Also there's some amount of self regulation that will really be required to keep group composition equalized. Not only will the other 9 classes still be needed to succeed in any group effort, but the tactics involved in playing a Death Knight might be too hard for the average Stanley Noobsauce to master. In response to one player who felt that the rune system Death Knights will be using seemed "clunky and not fun," Drysc responded:
Death Knight tidbits from Neth
In a silly thread in the Druid forums asking whether the druids would get a "dark form" to go along with the Death Knight being a dark version of the Paladin (which it...sort of is, I guess), US CM Nethaera dropped a few interesting pieces of DK information.[when asked if DKs will start at level 55, instead of 60 or 70] That is the current thinking. It could still be subject to change though and is not concrete. We're still toying with ideas of how we want to make it all work. We want people to feel like they are learning not only the how's of becoming a Death Knight from the lore perspective, but also how to play one.[More character slots?] Undetermined as of yet. We'll let people know when we know more.[...the current feeling is that a player with any class over 55 (or whatever the level ends up being) will be able to unlock Death Knight? ] yes. That is our current thinking.[asked about balance] It is going to be balanced against other classes and will not be able to stomp everyone else just because it's a Death Knight. Yes, they will be powerful but in their own unique way. What makes it a Hero class is that it is from Warcraft lore as a Hero class and also you will get access to it at a higher level. Any race can be a Death Knight in our current thinking as well since the path to corruption can be founded with good intentions much like what happened to Arthas.[How many abilities will DKs start with?] Undetermined as of yet. We're still fleshing a lot of things out. This is another reason we caution people about the perception that the expansion is coming out 'too soon'. We have only shown people the tip of the iceberg and have a lot more that we are still working out and planning for. Once we have more details, we'll be sharing them so people can discuss it more and plan for the future.So there's a lot of "not sure yet" in that post, but there's also some good information, notably that they currently think DKs will start at level 55. That's a bit lower than I would have expected. 58 or 60 would make more sense, in my opinion, in order to be able to start out in Outland (but then again, does that make sense lore-wise?). So how excited are you about Death Knights? Are they your main reason to buy Wrath? The change that will kill WoW?[thanks, Natulcien]
