Project Lore

It was a completely magical, fulfilling moment. It was months in the making (actually, considerably longer than I had anticipated, and I did end up losing that bet I posted about a while back, but refuse to pull out my hair!), which made it all the more sweet. That wondrous, level 80 ding. Here at Project Lore, we've followed the progress of several of our bloggers as we reach one of the pinnacle moments of our WoW careers, and cap out a character. For me, the moment came after a much-needed, much-delayed session of dailies in Icecrown. I pushed through the Shadow Vault, Jotunheim, Onslaught Harbor, Ymirheim and, of course, the Argent Tournament before realizing that I had finished my usual rounds and stood at 97 percent through level 79. I couldn't just leave it at that, so I sought out Keritose Bloodblade to finish up a questline I got a while back. I made a quick trip into the saronite quarry to complete An Undead's Best Friend, From Whence They Came and Honor is for the Weak, then alerted my guildies to watch the chat as I handed in each one and saw that lovely, level 80 achievement flash across my screen. So now what? Well, first things first, I equipped my lone purple item from my last venture into the Crusaders' Coliseum. Then, after a quick hearth to Dalaran, I picked up my congratulatory loot in the mail, and took a portal out to Undercity. In the Rogues' Quarter, I got all my skills up to level, cleared my spec (have yet to rebuild it, leaving that for next login) and bought dual spec just for fun. Now, what to do next...? Of course, finishing the respec process is an easy first choice. But beyond that, I still have more questing to complete, rep to grind, loot to find, achievements to earn, professions to level off, and definitely some good raiding to be had. So much to do before the world of Azeroth is changed in the Cataclysm! Level 80 is only the beginning. In the end, I think I'll just continue to take things as they come without any pre-set path. Spontaneity is just a good a plan as any. And I'll let you all know how it works out. So to those of you who have already hit level 80, perhaps long ago, I pose a question: what were your first steps after that wondrous first level 80 ding? Would you choose differently for an alt?

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Blue Stew is a new daily column bringing you a delicious concoction of developer news, thoughts, and opinions straight from the boiling pot that is the official World of Warcraft forums. The highlights of each day include additional commentary by Project Lore staff. Welcome to day two of Blue Stew, everyone. A lot of you seemed interested in what this column has to offer, so I'm going to do my best to bring you its brothy goodness every day this week. Now, on with today's serving...

• Oh man, what is it with Druids? It seems that poor Blizzard just can't get a break from their polymorphic prejudice! Veere has set up an obstacle course made out of Winchesters so that he can get even better at jumping the gun. Wanting to test his progress, he decided to post this gem on the official forums: "NE Mages = The Death of Lore?" I don't know what it is that makes people think that lore exists in a vacuum. Moving forward with the timeline and shaking things up a little bit doesn't equal a retcon, people! So the arcane has been forbidden from Night Elf culture for thousands of years? OK, that's fine, but I'm sure you've all heard this phrase before: "Desperate times call for desperate measures!" Look at it this way, when the world is as threatened as it is by a force like Deathwing, each and every race on Azeroth is going to take a good, long, hard look at themselves and figure out what they can or need to do to overcome that destruction, and sometimes that means breaking taboos and sharing resources with each other. If that means paths once closed need to be re-opened, well, I see no problems with that. But, of course, there will be ramifications for doing so. Blue poster Kisirani reminds us that Blizzard is not ignorant of such things: "I'd like to reinforce that we're perfectly aware of the way Night Elf society has viewed arcane magic over the years. We are similarly aware that Night Elf Mages have been in the game since patch 1.3. Not all Highborne became the High Elves and Blood Elves of today. As evidenced in the screenshot linked, patch 3.2.2 begins the explanation. We're not ignoring what came before, but we are moving the storyline forward, and at times, that means change and a shake up in the status quo." So, please, where Cataclysm lore is concerned, be aware that these things have been announced long before they actually occur within the game world.
• Lyresse spends most of her days inside a giant, plastic bubble. Not because she's sick, but because she's always wondered what it was like to be a hamster. She's also curious about WoW's shoulda-beens and coulda-beens, and asks if phasing technology could be used to breathe new life into old quest lines. Her given examples include finishing the bridge in Redridge Mountains and the remote nature of Marshall's Refuge in Un'Goro Crater (how the heck did they manage to get a flight path out there?). Wryxian responds with a tight-lipped answer, admitting that he knows little of what the development team plans to do with the technology, but that "the main issue will be deciding on when to stop using it." It doesn't seem like we'll be getting any real answers on this subject anytime soon, and while I have no doubt it will be used to make new quest lines more exciting, I'm not sure what can be done for old ones like those Lyresse is interested in. The fact of the matter is that we have to consider Cataclysm as a quantum leap forward in the WoW universe. Everything is moving forward, and many of those old quests might not even be available any longer. That is to say that we likely won't get another line dealing with the bridge in Redridge, because either it will be finished at the start of the expansion, or it will be utterly destroyed. So, I'm not entirely sure that we're going to see old areas of the world that could've benefitted from it in the past actually incorporate phasing now, but rather that they all will from here on out.
• Grand Apothecary Putress I think Lindra can read minds, because she's asked a question that I've been itching to ever since being clued into the massive changes of Cataclysm: "What's going to happen to the Plaguelands?" Wryxian answered the call once again, expressing his own interest in the possibilities: "It's really intriguing wondering what exactly will happen to places like the Plaguelands. Will they be kept much as they are, even despite the nailing we all expect Arthas will receive, or will they be liberated and thus potentially becoming hotly contested by all the various races that may be interested in re-claiming the area for their own?" With Arthas most likely gone, the Scourge will lose their power. Like a bee hive without its Queen, they'll become listless and without direction. With production of new Scourge at a halt, they become easy pickin's for the likes of the Argent Dawn and Scarlet Crusade, eventually allowed the Plaguelands to be reclaimed by those who seek to call it home. Will the Blood Elves want to rebuild Quel'Thalas? Do the Humans want to reclaim their former capital of Lordaeron? And what about the Forsaken? They still need a place to call home (and, in fact, they seem intent on expanding their influence with the sacking of Gilneas). It seems to me that, with the spirit of open contention between factions at hand, that the Plaguelands will once again become a battlefield. So, what of the Scourge? Just because Arthas is gone doesn't mean they've lost all of their masters. In fact, there are a couple traitorous Forsaken who might see the Lick King's death as an opportunity. Despite their disdain for the Scourge, who could resist controlling an instant army?

Well, that wraps it up for today, folks. Add your thoughts below and, as always, keep those suggestions flowing!

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As per usual, Boubouille of MMO-Champion has been doing his fair share of digging in the game files, and the last PTR update has revealed some interesting new pets to add to your collection. They're so nauseatingly adorable, that even Elmyra would think twice about snatching up these little guys. Below is the list of cuddle-bums you pet freaks out there will no doubt be scouring the far corners of Azeroth for when 3.2.2 goes live (note: some of these were listed in last week's patch notes update):

• Cute pets... nature's defense against jerks and cynics! Onyxia Whelpling: Most of you already know about this one. It will be available to anyone who logs in during the 2-3 week period that Blizzard considers World of Warcraft's 5th anniversary in November.
• Zipao Tiger: The interwebs tells me that "Zi Pao" is both a kind of purple jade and a style of traditional Chinese carving. The look of the pet certainly seems to fit the color description, but I'm unsure how the tiger fits into the world or where it might come from. Could this have something to do with the impending relaunch of the game in China? A good-will present perhaps?
• Wind Rider Cub: A miniature version of the Horde's flying mount du jour.
• Gryphon Hatchling: A miniature version of the Alliance's flying mount du jour.
• Spectral Tiger Cub: Available only by obtaining a loot card from the upcoming "Scourgewar" trading card game expansion, the vanity version of the very rare Spectral Tiger Mount will no doubt be in similarly large demand!
• Pandaren Monk: This one has kind of come out of left field. Blizzard likes to joke about Pandaren in Warcraft as much as they do about the Cow Level in Diablo, and yet neither is a complete farce (there was a hidden, and very challenging Cow Level in Diablo II). The only in-game representation of the bear-like race so far has been a quest associated with famed brewmaster, Chen Stormstout. Well, at least until now. They may not be playable, and it doesn't mean you're going to start seeing NPCs popping up around Azeroth, but you can have finally have a mini-Pandaren of your very own.
• Lil' KT: Only Blizzard could be capable of making an Arch Lich into a cute, cuddly little pet. That's right. The "KT" stands for the one-and-only Master of Naxxramas, himself -- Kel'Thuzad. Like most of the others, it's currently unknown when or where this one drops.
• Core Hound Pup: Nothing cuter than a tiny, two-headed dog that spews lava all over your shoes, is there? I wonder if you can carry them around in your Gigantique bag.

So there you have it. It seems that with each new patch or expansion, the cadre of available vanity pets continues to grow by leaps and bounds. It makes you wonder why Blizzard hasn't implemented some sort of Pokemon-esque battling game with them yet. "Grunty the Murloc Marine, I CHOOSE YOU!" Anyway, which of these new pets are you readers looking forward to the most?

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This is it folks, my last remaining coverage from this year's BlizzCon.  May I present to you the show in picture form - with captions!  Enjoy. The opening madness & SWAG. New and retuned leveling territories. Upcoming changes to The Barrens. Raid map, Uldum concept layout and art. Extended universe cases for Blizzard's titles. New racials and secondary profession's UI screen. New Rated BG queuing system & UI screen. Path of the Titan system and applicable changes to Glyph and talent trees. More raid layouts and planning. The first mocks up before they begin adding environmental art. Scripting, placement, pathing & spell tools.  Notice the Deep Breath possibility. Icecrown Citadel layout! Cataclysm raid layout, including The Firelands (Ragnaros) concept art. I beat Blizzard to announcing the secret guest - the company was not happy about that.  Apparently I type faster than whoever was manning the keyboard for them. Statues (Queen of Blades ftw) and a lot of computers! BlizzCon 2009's retro arcade.  Rock n' Roll Racing! Art, art and more art.  Sheep is dedicated to Treznor. So Long Anaheim!

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Anub'arak is not pleased

In what may or may not be a grand coincidence, there are going to be major PvE and PvP occurrences after this weeks server resets on Tuesday. The final boss of Trial of the Crusader (ToC), Anub'arak, will be available to fight, allowing players to unlock the Heroic difficulty setting for the raid. In addition, the seventh season of the Arena will be starting, handing out Frost Wyrms and titles to the most skilled combatants and bringing in a new tier of PvP gear. The events were likely made to coincide to avoid what happened with previous seasons, where it was easier to gear up in raids than it was to in PvP and players played in PvE gear. For those unaware, Trial of the Crusader comes in 10 man and 25 man versions. Each week since patch 3.2 launched, a new encounter has been added, and Anub'arak will be the fifth. If at least one player in the raid has completed either the 10 or 25 player versions, their raid can enter the Trial of the Grand Crusader by setting the raid difficulty to heroic. It is unknown if the bosses are any different at this point in this mode, but I imagine that they must be much harder than their regular versions. The raid will have 50 attempts to clear the instance, that is, if the raid wipes more than 50 times, they are locked out of the instance. If the raid can complete the instance without wiping too many times, they will get a chest with loot that is better the less that they wiped. Its a new take on the Undying style of achievement. In addition, because Season 7 is starting, Koralon the Flame Watcher will be spawned in the Vault of Archavon to drop some Season 7 loot. The loot table is not yet confirmed. In addition, the achievement Earth, Wind, and Fire will now be obtainable. I've been thinking about different strategies for this, and I'm still not sure on how it could be possible, especially on 10 man. We will have more details on this on Tuesday. We may see a minor patch on Tuesday in case some of these things were not implemented in the very early patch 3.2, and we may even see patch 3.2.2 live on Tuesday.

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Blue Stew is a new daily column bringing you a delicious concoction of developer news, thoughts, and opinions straight from the boiling pot that is the official World of Warcraft forums. The highlights of each day include additional commentary by Project Lore staff. Welcome to the first edition of Blue Stew! We know that trying to find anything useful on the official forums can be a lot like tip-toe-ing through a minefield, but if you look a little harder, you can find some surprisingly useful information from the development team and various Community Managers (collectively known as "Blues," due to their specially-colored text). The goal of this column is to provide you with the highlights each day, as well as our own brand of commentary on the subjects at hand where appropriate. Considering the nature of the beast, there might not always be a lot worth talking about. But since this is our virgin voyage, why don't we go ahead, crack the bottle on the bow of the ship, and get this thing sailing?

• First up is an inquiry from transmogrification fetishist and part-time Druid, Saberclaw, who idly wonders why Goblins don't get to transform in the same way that Worgen do? Maybe it has something to do with our fuzzy, were-wolf bretheren being the only race with a reason to change the way they look? He quickly recoils from his stupidly outlandish thread title, stating that he was really just trying to ask whether or not we'd get to pick from various goblin types at the outset. Wryxian was kind enough to step up to the plate, stating that while the playable Goblins aren't as vastly different from their current in-game counterparts (as opposed to the Draenei, when they were introduced), you can expect them to be more than just another "standard green short guy." And I have to agree. Just looking at the picture to the right, you can tell that this particular set of Goblins has been bred and prepared for combat. There's something leaner and meaner about them. Something that says they'd rather drain your blood than your bank account. I don't know if it calls for drastic changes to the race, but I bet they'll be a lot more expressive and interesting than your average, "time is money, friend" NPC.
• Axelhander, when he's not busy squishing grapes between his toes, spends his spare time correcting the development team on their flawed game design.  Today, he called out Kalgan (a.k.a. Lead Game Designer, Tom Chilton) on some comments he'd made in a locked thread about the nature of Rated Battlegrounds. His major beef? Why, as a primarily solo player, is he being locked out of the best gear able to be obtained through the new rating system? Kalgan already addressed this issue in the previous thread, stating that the reason they didn't want to allow single players to queue and participate in the rated Battlegrounds was because it would be too easy and convenient for them to game the system by afk-ing. The natural assumption would be that, as a part of a group, any individual player would have more incentive to perform at their best. After all, think of it like an Arena group: a member that just sits there while his comrades do all the work (or, more likely, get slaughtered) isn't going to be on the team much longer. Kalgan adds that the current design philosophy for end-game PvE content is to reward organization, and that they'd they like to do the same with PvP: "I understand that you're expressing a philosophical disagreement as to whether rewarding for organizational effort and coordination is the right approach for the game, but I'm not sure why the expectation would be that we'd do that in battlegrounds when we don't do that in pve. You certainly can't 'get gear on par with the game's best' by doing solo daily quests either." Hey, I like to solo as much as the next guy. When I level a new alt, I almost never team up with anybody until I hit the level cap, but what's the use in rewarding someone the finest gear in the game if they don't care to engage in the level of content that requires it?
• Zomber had to put on his "smart" glasses for this one. He asks: What's going to happen to the Argent Tournament when Cataclysm hits? Will it simply become another Quel'Danas, a once-major hub of end-game activity reduced to obsolescence by new content? Or will the event end once the crusade against the Lich King does? Zomber then expanded his query to incorporate other pockets of "dead" content in the game. The inimitable Bornakk answered the call, stating that since not everyone will own Cataclym right away, it makes sense to keep the Tournament, and areas like it, in the game. He also emphasized that it may stay in play longer than Quel'Danas did because it's currently one of the easiest and most convenient ways for a player to raise their reputation with their faction's major cities. Bornakk acknowledges how tricky managing this sort of ephemeral content is: "Generally speaking - spending a lot of time on new content and then making it end and disappear is not something we like to do and have to be very careful on when and how often we do it. We are changing some of the classic continents because they have been there for 5 years so we feel it's okay to change it around after all this time."

So that's it for the first edition of Blue Stew, which we will pick up starting again on Monday. I hope you were entertained, enlightened, or both. But it's clear that there are many ways in which we could improve this column. So, please, in addition to adding your thoughts on the content above, let us know how we might make it better! What sorts of issues should we focus on? How can we make it more interesting to read? The floor is yours, readers.

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The Novel Post is Project Lore’s review column for materials - books, manga, comics, card games, etc - of World of Warcraft’s Extended Universe.  As such the column’s posts may contain plot, character or other spoilers. Run Draenei, Run! Ignore the note above, I did my best to rid this post of spoiling material. I have never been big on manga (pronounced it incorrectly for over a decade), but I've come to love these compilations from Tokyopop.  Each and every episode has bowled me over with at least one epic story.   The upcoming Volume 5 continues, and closes, not one, but two storylines that were launched in Volume 4.  It also includes what equates to an opening for Richard Knaak's upcoming book, Stormrage.  Fear not though, Volume 5's quality stays on track with the previous installments, thanks to Blizzard's lore historian. Yes, the company has frakking historians. A Warrior Made - Part 2:  Christie Golden's tale of Thrall's mother really lost it for me at its closing.  Part 1 was a finely crafted look into the clan atmosphere of the Frostwolfs, and the Spartan like attitudes towards ill children.  Part 2 sees her continuing her quest, and then she has a very special Blossom moment and the chapter on Draka is closed.  We do see a little character development in the pages - a nod to where Thrall gets his cool determination - but even the connections to a pair illustrious characters didn't save the story for me.  A drag to start out with. Warrior: United:  Grace Randolph also returned to complete her two-part story.  Warrior: United sees us following the estranged twins Lieren and Loania as they attempt to save their other parental unit from the damnation.  It just so happens that their father has become trapped in Karazhan.  This little tidbit allows Randolph to bring the nostalgic entry raid from The Burning Crusade into the story.  You'll have to read it to find out if they move during Flame Wreath. Randolph and artist Erica Awano do a fantastic job at displaying the differences of the twins.  In both the art and the writing, we can see how the separate upbringings of the twins, one as a Dwarf, the other as a high elf, impacted their lives.  The environment even impact their skillsets, the dwarf-raised Lieren is well versed with a mace, while Loania is a mage in training.  Warrior: United was a little predictable for me, but the fantastic characters kept me interested. The First Guardian:  Louise Simonson, co-writer of the Wildstorm comic, dives deep into the past for this previously unknown story.  I am talking way back there.  We're talking before Warcraft 3, before Aegwynn.  It's elf old, not dragon old, but it's old enough that most people - myself included - couldn't place the story in the timeline accurately.  You'd have to be a heavy, heavy lore buff, one who reads the RPG manifests for fun, to place the tale of The First Guardian off the top of your head.  For the rest of us, Simonson writes a nice recap of Dalaran's history, and where we are in it, before the opening. As a seasoned comic scribe I expected Simonson to be able to deliver a fantastic story in the 50 or so pages she had.  She didn't disappoint.  The mage heavy tale, with a gnome (!), explains the early days of the Guardians of Tirisfal, and the groups constant struggle against demonic beings.  There's also that small problem of the tearing of the world by magical use.  Simonson used the plight of the world as a backdrop, setting up the main character, Alodi, as a Peter Parker type.  A great read, but the art isn't as detailed as I would have liked. A Cleansing Fire:  Evelyn Fredericksen, Creative Development Historian for Blizzard (seriously, that is her title) and nutty professor on the Wrath DVD, doesn't pen many stories for the universes she watches over.  When she does, you'd better stand up and take notice.  Evidence?  She crafted the original Naxxramas tale, and the short for Wrath Gate.  And now they roped her into a bit of story telling for the manga.  This story alone is worth the price of the collection. Fredericksen picks a character that we all know.  We all know him because he's the centerpiece of Hallow's End.  That's right, the main character is the rhyming Headless Horsemen.  But Fredericksen paints a new picture for us.  A Cleansing Fire isn't about the horsemen's love of pumpkins, but his fall from grace and his ultimate corruption from the horrors of war.  It's a captivating look into a character we just thought of as a loot pinata.  Like last edition, the best story is accompanied by the best art. Nightmares:  Richard Knaak is back in short form - where I enjoy him the most.  Glancing at the first page of Nightmares I noticed two things.  First off, the art looks like cartoons from my childhood (not a bad thing), and it's annoying me that I can't place which cartoon I am thinking of.  The second is that Knaak dropped the L word at the first chance he got.  I am starting to think that it's a private joke of his - "How many times can I say leviathan before Blizzard censors me?" To sum up the story, Nightmares is a shameless self promotion for Knaak's upcoming book.  I'll let that slide simply because the story was so engrossing.  As the title suggests, Knaak conjures up a trio of stories told through dream sequences.  Each of them touches an important city leader, Thrall, Jaina, and Magni Bronzebeard in ways unfathomable and highly disturbing.  Knaak takes old stories that we are familiar with and casts his own spell over them.  Changing them into dark, horrible What If...? series of tragic happenings.  Very entertaining. What the writers and artists pull off in such a small amount of space continues to impress me.  We've got stories from thousands of years ago, psychological warfare, battles from beyond the grave, cracked minds, the early horde and avenging hearts all rolled into one Volume.  I highly recommend that more people begin reading these tales.  They are relatively inexpensive, imaginative, and very quick reads. Something to do while your waiting for that 7:30 raid to start...at 8:30. Warcraft: Legends Volume 5 comes out on September 1.

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Note: The below information was covered as part of our Live Blogging & Tweeting during the show.  But the information is simply too important to be glossed over.  Here are the major class changes in one convenient, to the point package. Quick Synopsis Of The Upcoming System Guild progression was, without a shadow of a doubt, my favorite WoW announcement during BlizzCon 2009.  The crowd erupted when the snippet was splashed across the screen.  The bees nest was stirred further as the developers began detailing the progression tracks, rewards, and reward schemes.  The panelists had to stop speaking numerous times during the presentation as the crowd drowned them out with hoots, hollers and hoorays.  It seems that I wasn't the only player desperately seeking a reason to grow with a guild.  Prophetic vision placing that in the The Next Expansion column, rather than Wishful Thinking methinks. Cataclysm's Guild Progression basics:

• You're guild will earn experience by way of its most active members (top 20 guildmates contribute).  The "gate" is to limit the "grindiness", a reoccurring theme at this year's BlizzCon.  Limiting the amount of players who can contribute helps maintain a balance between massive guilds, and those with only a few dozen players.
• Guild contribution won't change your daily activity much.  You can contribute by doing the stuff you already do, be it dailies, professions, farming reputation, raiding, PvP (rated Arenas and BGs) or bum rushing Hogger.  Different acts will be weighed differently.
• The guild level cap currently discussed is level 20.  Guilds will receive talent points, much like the class talent points.  More on this below.
• Looking For Guild system being implemented.  The idea is to make it easy for a Raid Leader, Officer or GM to find exactly what a guild needs, or to post a casting call.
• Guild Achievement system is also incoming.  It'll act like today's system, but require that a certain percentage (75% discussed) of the attendees be a part of the guild.  Some current achievements will be recycled, but most challenges are to be new.
• A new paid service, guild transfer, was mentioned as a possibility.
• No, it's not going to happen.  There is still no guild housing plans.

Look At All Those Talents The current rewards for guild progression are too fluid, and numerous, to discuss in bullet form.  According to the Systems panel, guilds will have numerous rewards for sticking together, and not sucking.  First off is the guild Talent system.  Effectively a clone of the current class talents, but with convenience rewards.  The guild variety will offer no gameplay changing talents (no buffs or anything like that).  Instead it will focus on making things easier for a guild.  Bottom line, you're guild will never have to spec a certain way to beat a boss.  We'll be hit with tons of time saving abilities like grabbing extra money from mobs, mass resurrection, mass summoning, reduced durability loss and reduced repair bills!  Quite awesome right?  Sadly, I didn't call that last one correctly. On top of those guild wide buffs there will be a way to reward individuals a bit more, the vendor/currency system.  Users will gain guild currency as they earn XP for the guild.  They then can buy special items, including rare reagents (hello Frost Lotus), Heirloom gear, crafting plans, vanity items, guild standards, guild respects and guild bank slots.  The items are all bound to the guild, so if you leave the Totally Rad Guild, you lose access to the totally rad loot they have accumulated.  Leaving a guild is not as painful as it sounds.  If you join another guild, you get access to their perks right away. It remains to be seen exactly how easy guild leveling will be.  Those specifics were not detailed.  Numerous other titles, old and new, have had guild progression systems of varying success.  Some developers made it incredibly difficult to obtain.  Others tied the size of a guild to its success.  Yet others made it so easy and bland that the feature was lost, a common occurrence.  Worst of all, some demanded that a guild have certain attributes before they could continue advancing in content, disrupting the idea of choice. Hopefully Blizzard's track record of incredibly polished, not always innovative, design will prove to be successful once again. At least they are giving guilds yet another topic for drama, what to spec in!  I vote saving money spec.

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Proverb is a twice-weekly column discussing the lore of Warcraft. It is spoiler heavy for all Warcraft games, novels, and other media. Comment on this post or send a tweet to @Heartbourne and let us know what you would like to see in future columns!

Statue of Alleria Windrunner in Stormwind

If you have not done so already, be sure to read part 1! "May my sisters realize their full potential, the name Windrunner known as result of their deeds." - Alleria Windrunner After many losing battles, the Horde grew more and more desperate. While the Alliance Expedition was successful in recovering the Book of Medivh, the orcish warlocks continued to open portals to new worlds, and this reckless act began to tear Draenor apart. Much of the Alliance Expedition quickly shut the Dark Portal with the Book of Medivh while they remained in Draenor. The few heroes that remained in Draenor, including Alleria, Turalyon, and Khadgar, leapt into the Twisting Nether as Draenor was engulfed in its final fiery cataclysm. They eventually returned to the planet's remains, now known as Draenor. Alleria nor Turalyon have been seen since and while presumed alive, it is not certain. Their son, Arator, ventured into the Outlands when the Dark Portal was recently reopened by Lord Kazzak and the Alliance and Horde pursued Illidan. He talks of seeking his father, but makes no mention of wanting to find Alleria. It could be that Alleria shunned him after his birth, as half-elves are looked down upon. This would also explain why he is never discussed in the lore, even when Alleria and Turalyon's relationship is explored in detail. Khadgar lamented their absence with his wish in the Dalaran fountain.

Sylvanas locked in thought (fanart)

During the third war and the destruction of Quel'thalas (see the previous Proverb post), Sylvanas was killed defending Silvermoon from the Scourge. Arthas raised her as a banshee, and she eventually returned to her body. She retained her ranger skills and added to them her new skills in necromancy. This style of combat led to the future rise of Dark Rangers. After the Burning Legion's defeat at the Battle for Mount Hyjal, Sylvanas was free from the control of Arthas and Ner'zhul, and struck up deals with the Dreadlord Varimathas to retake as much control of the local undead in Lordaeron as possible. Her new faction of undead became known as the Forsaken, and she became their queen, known as the Dark Lady. She vows vengeance on Arthas and will stop at nothing until he is dead. She was instrumental in bringing the blood elves into the Horde; she reached out to the blood elves and even stationed troops in the Ghostlands to assist them before they official joined the Horde. With Alleria missing and Sylvanas killed and reanimated, Vereesa is the only remaining known "living" Windrunner sister. When Kael'thas defected to the blood elves, Vereesa was with Rhonin and stayed a high elf. However, one of her cousins, Zendarin Windrunner (who turned to blood elf), allied with the Black Dragonflight, specifically Sintharia, with the intention of helping them create the Twilight Dragonflight, which may have been a great source of magic for him to feed upon. As a non-dragon, he could wield the Demon Soul. He kidnapped Vereesa's children, Galadin and Giramar, as he believed half-elves to have the potential to wield great power. Vereesa recovered her children, killed Zendarin, and destroyed the Demon Soul. Vereesa continues to despise the blood elves, and leads the Silver Covenant, which opposes the admission of blood elves into the Kirin Tor (see previous Proverb post). Blood elf players can recover the necklace that Alleria gave to Sylvanas in a low level quest. Upon returning it to her, she states that, "You thought this would amuse me? Do you think I long for a time before I was the queen of the Forsaken? Like you, it means nothing to me, and Alleria Windrunner is a long dead memory!" and sings the old folk song Lament of the Highborne, revised to lament the fall of Quel'thalas to the Scourge and the state of the blood elves:

Thalassian	Common	Sylvanas sings the Lament of the Highborne
Anar'alah, Anar'alah belore Sin'dorei Shindu fallah na Sin'dorei Anar'alah Shindu Sin'dorei Shindu fallah na Sin'dorei Anar'alah belore Shindu Sin'dorei Shindu fallah na Sin'dorei Anar'alah belore Belore	By the light, by the light of the sun Children of the blood Our enemies are breaking through Children of the blood By the light Failing children of the blood They are breaking through O' children of the blood By the light of the sun Failing children of the blood They are breaking through O' children of the blood By the light of the sun The sun

Sylvanas' wish in the Dalaran fountain from long ago reads: "I hope my sisters and I can grow up and get married together." This coin appears to be very old. With the destruction of Arthas imminent in patch 3.3, I wonder what role Sylvanas will play. No one wants Arthas dead more than her, and with all the work put into her model and voice as of late, I can't imagine she will stay in the Undercity during his defeat. After Arthas' death and the Cataclysm, I wonder what goals she will hold. Vereesa will likely stay in Dalaran, and we have heard that Northrend will not be heavily affected by the Cataclysm, so I doubt her role will largely change. Alleria is still missing, and it is possible she will reveal herself at some point. However, it may be that she traveled to some other world via the portals in Outland and will show up in a future expansion that explores some demon world. What do you think? Which is your favorite of the sisters, and what will their future hold?

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iTZKooPA took us through the starting area of the Goblins, who have joined the stinky Horde, where as I will be bringing us back to the, ahem, better faction with the Alliance. I know you've been clamoring for this, so here it is: the hands-on preview of the new Alliance race, the Worgen! With the announcement of Cataclysm, the Alliance and Horde are once again receiving new races. The Alliance finally get a “beastly” race in the Worgen, which are a group of feral wolf-beasts. Those of us who got to attend BlizzCon 2009 got a chance to get some hands on time with the new race and their starting area and it is quite good! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) the demo we played started the Worgen off at level 6 (in the Cataclysm panel they told us they didn't want to show us exactly what happens with 1-5 just yet) and if you were at the event this weekend and saw a Worgen Rogue running around named “Projectlore”, well, more than likely it was me (a little more creative than certain other bloggers!). The demo started us off with your character, in Worgen form, in “The Stocks” with other Humans around your character discussing your fate. Some of the humans seem to think you are lost to your fate as a beast and should be killed, but a doctor runs up with a potion which allows you to be “cured” and appear as a Human again. This allows you to start your questing, and you have the ability to switch from Worgen form to Human form at will (although you are forced into Worgen form while in combat). Worgen also get a “sprint” ability on a three minute cooldown which increases their run speed for a short time. They also have a couple of static racials: Flayer, which increases skinning skill by 15, and Viciousness, which increases damage by 1%. The quests are designed to get you involved in the Forsaken invasion that is happening in Gilneas. The first couple quests involve finding a package, which upon completion starts a small cut scene showing you the Forsaken ships docked on the shore near Gilneas. You then go and kill them to advance to the next area, which involves Worgen in the basement of a shack where a mother asks for your help with finding her children at the farm nearby, and another asks you to continue to help kill the Forsaken. There has been a lot of care put into the starting zone, as Blizzard felt that the Death Knight area was really successful in engaging the player and getting the player really involved in their character (and I'm inclined to agree). While we only got a small taste of the opening area for the Worgen, we still witnessed lots of scripted events, phasing, and cut scenes which only get me even more excited for the new expansion. The area is well designed, and if this is any indication of how they're revamping classic WoW, there will be a fewer obnoxious walks to get to different places, which I am perfectly OK with. The whole of Gilneas looks absolutely stunning and I am really excited about what's to come in the later levels of the starting zone. Blizzard uses the weather effects extremely well here, as well, and I am looking forward to seeing how the rest of the zone turns out. For players wanting a fresh start, there is a nice selection of classes to choose from including: Death Knight, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock and Warrior (only classes they cannot be are Paladins and Shaman). I am really hoping that, similarly to what they did with Wrath, they lock out Goblins and Worgen from being Death Knights at the beginning of the expansion, and maybe allow it later on in the life of the expansion. It would really be a shame if the first 85 worgen didn't even set foot in Gilneas because the brief taste we got at BlizzCon was so polished and well done that I can't wait to do 1-15 again (and I honestly thought I would never say something like that). I included some screenshots that will hopefully give a bit of perspective of what this great starting zone looks like! [gallery]

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