Longing for More Cut Scenes and Epic Events (spoilers!)
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pixiestixy on Thursday, June 4, 2009 - 40 Comments Tags: Alliance, Horde, battle for the undercity, bolvar, cinematic, cut scene, dragonblight, event, lich king, lore, movie, saurfang, wotlk, wrathgate
pixiestixy on Thursday, June 4, 2009 - 40 Comments Tags: Alliance, Horde, battle for the undercity, bolvar, cinematic, cut scene, dragonblight, event, lich king, lore, movie, saurfang, wotlk, wrathgate 
Last week you guys might remember that I wrote a bit about my love of the Dragonblight zone and all of its lore-tastic quest lines. And I should have known I can't sneak anything past you guys! As several of you pointed out, I excluded from my post the major Wrath Gate cut scene and epic event that follows. Well, that's partially because I hadn't finished that quest line yet. But it was also because the quest line was so grand that I thought I'd dedicate an entire separate post to it.**Possible spoilers for anyone who hasn't played through WotLK content!!**
You have to work to get to the awesomeness. As a Hordie, I worked through four quest lines to prove my worth: Into the Fold, Victory Nears, Strength of Icemist, and The Forsaken Blight and You: How Not to Die. From there Overlord Agmar offers The Kor'Kron Vanguard:
The time has come, the moment is now - our elite soldiers at the Wrathgate need you. The son of Saurfang awaits your arrival at the Kor'kron Vanguard. Go now, northeast to the Wrathgate.
Another quest line later, some Scourge defeated, and the fun begins. Start in-game cinematic.
I'll admit it. the first time I saw this was before I did any of the questing. But the second time, after all that work, left much more of an impact on me. We (who aren't DKs) get our first in-game glimpse at the Lich King, and it's an epic one at that. Both Bolvar and Saurfang Jr., along with a ton of their accompanying forces, get fandoozled by the Scourge (who are parading as the Forsaken). I knew those creepy apothecaries were up to something sinister!
After the scene ends, everything has changed. In place of Bolvar and Saurfang Jr. stand Alexstrasza and Korialstrasz, who you met in previous questlines in their humanoid forms atop Wyrmrest Temple. Those who still are alive are running around screaming, mourning the dead. And you're left to inform either Saurfang or King Varian Wrynn of the casualties, and deal with the remaining aftermath.
I've heard that some thought the cutscene was a rip off Lord of the Rings - and I can definitely see the resemblance. But regardless of where Blizzard drew its inspiration, I think this was a huge step in the right direction. The movie gets both Alliance and Horde energized for the big event to come, which is another big WIN for Blizzard - The Battle for the Undercity.
Whether you're battling Varimathras alongside Thrall and Lady Sylvanas for the Horde or smacking up Grand Apothecary Putress with King Varian Wrynn and Lady Jaina Proudmoore for the, in this case, ill-informed Alliance, the battle for the ruins of Lordaeron is one of the most entertaining events I can recall for many reasons. Not the least of which is getting constant buffs that transform your character into a badass as you battle hell-minions who obviously are confused about their place in Azeroth. But there's also a ton of great lore in there for those of us who love the storytelling aspect of WoW, and we see some insight into the current relationship of Horde-Alliance. The phasing of areas we usually see much differently was pretty damn neat, too. I had a difficult time tearing myself away from the computer after all that excitement.Blizzard's movie site explains a bit about their thoughts behind the cinematic that triggers it all:
One of the design goals for Wrath of the Lich King was to elevate storytelling in World of Warcraft to new heights. Northrend is brought to life by engaging quests, memorable characters, beautiful environments, and the introduction of a brand-new feature: in-game cinematics. The first of these cinematics, The Wrath Gate, is now available for viewing and download on the Wrath of the Lich King website.
Now since this is the "first" of the "cinematics" (plural!) I really hope that means more of this is to come in the future. I'm not sure whether they're considering the Ulduar cinematic to be another of these, since it's really more of trailer than anything resulting from quests. But at least it adds on to the storyline, too. And Blizzard has put out plenty of trailers in the past, but the in-game Wrathgate morsel really seems like more of a reward and motivation to me. It may be unrealistic knowing that cinematics have got to be pretty expensive to make. But I can't help it - I just want more! Don't you!?
Reader Comments (40)
Oh it's a huge rip of the Lord of the Rings, specifically the scene when Aragorn and the others are standing outside the Black Gate and he yells almost the same exact lines that Bolvar copped in this cinematic.
One of the best moments in Wrath if you ask me.
I was the first of my guild to view the Wrathgate event as I was the only one able to take time off to power level to 80. The epicness (is that a word?) of the cinematic lead me to stop before actually completing the Battle for Undercity and wait for the remainder of our Guild officers to reach that stage in the event. We then planned a time to all complete the event together...one of those moments of solidarity, long time RL friends coming together from around the country to retake UC, it was grand!
ok first of all if you dont know the lore please do not speak because it makes you sound like an idiot thrall put wrynn though hell wrynn wanted to make piece with the orcs more then anything witch is why i was sent to talk with thrall instead of sending assasins to kill him its only natural he wanted some paay back may i remind you who rebuilt SW in and who destoyed it ? and dont give me the they were under burning legion control excuse i would love to hear wrynn speach again another reason may be the "unknown voice" who we know is yogg-saron like in the ulduar video the horde is just as if not more hot headed then the allys and what lady jaina did made me hate that bitch i was phyced to kill some horde but that bitch stoped me froze the ally forces and ported the maway now i dont feel so bad doing what i did to here during the scourge event before the WOTLK release if i may efrene this to real life here methods is exacly why the League of nations failed in proventing WW1 would ii be so bad if teh alliance and horde fought thier no one woul have to die just ported away as thier about to be defeated and it would be a fun event horde get to kill alliance alliance get to kill horde. spoken like a true forsaken awarlockno we are not evil we just wiped out half of our own fraction forces only half the otehr half is still alive why does you're capital look so creepy and if you're so perfect who could possibly rebel against you? you may have broken free of the lich kings control but you still have teh same practices like eating humanoid flash for example and lets brush up on the blood elf history the night and blood elfs used to live in harmony though back then they called them selfs high borne meaning they thoguht they were better then everyone ellse and they were ruled by thier trachorous queen azshara drunk from the weel of eternity power teh queen allways looked for more and when sargeras offered her such power in return to open a portal for him and his legion to invade her kingdom she used the well of eternity to generate teh power needed to make a portal of that proportion which eventualy led to its destruction and the great sundering which split the night elfs perfect kingdom of kalimdor into 3 big pieces of land and lots of small once plus the great sundering led to the creation of dwarfs and trogs the naja and those bastards with horn and hoofs it allso created the BE we know today the highborne hair turned red and their thirst for power grew and with bigest source gone they wondere of looking for another one and renamed them self high elfs closer to the present day they found the sunwell and become under the leadership of kel'thas the sunstrider who gave them the name we know tehm as teh blood elfs but they were unable to defend thier source of power from teh invading scourge and were killed and driven out kel'thas set out in search of another power source and went as far swearing his alegance to illidan my point is the blklood elfs will do anything for more power what is that if not evil and yea more cut scenes were would be totaly kick ass i have an idea of how to make teh arthas fight epic if he brought some of the people he killed liek uther back to life to fight us how epic would that be if he outs us though a series of events and after each on he would say something like "fool i am just warming you up step forth and meet you're doom" and then when we get though to his room he is sitting their on his throne when we beat him he throws a bunch excuses on how he lost leaves arthases body and then blows up in the ceiling creating sert of a rair which you have to get out of or you will die then teh whole citadel starts falling apart and you have a limited amount time to get out tehn when you're out you are met by nar'zhul and he rewards you with something wicked cool
@cocopuff
Really was tempted to fix up that post of yours (what little I bothered reading of it), but then I figured you're just baiting.
@cocopuff
Seriously man, take a breath and lay off the Red Bull
I really enjoyed the cut scene and quest, TBH i don't read q's so i was like "WTF?!" when it came up, my mate did it after and we both thought it rocked. We are gonna do it again as we are levelling a Priest and Hunter ( I know its a weird combo, but it works) at 60 and i hope it is just as epic.
And..
@ Cocopuff
Wow, i didn't read it but you look like you have a bit to much time on your hands :)
ok first of all i never had are bull in my life you think taht took along time to type not all those of you who read my comments know most of my commets are really long because i have lots to say and FYI my last post is the short version of what i wanted to say
@cocopuff
Seriously, just because it's the Internet doesn't mean you can completely ignore the laws of basic English.
To put it in common terms:
WE CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO SAY WHEN YOU CONSTANTLY TYPE AND TYPE AND CONTINUE LIKE THIS WITH NO DIRECTION AND YOU ARE BY THIS POINT LOSING THE FOCUS OF WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO TELL PEOPLE.
Periods and commas man, they are your best frieds. :)
ok it seems i to forgot to make the post idiot proof ok first of all i hever had a red bull in my life toy think tthatt took along time type? al those of you who read my comments know my are really long becausee i have lots to say and for your information (thats what FYI stand for) my last post is the short version of what i wanted to say
@ Cocopuff
I think you are missing the point. Proofread. That's all they are asking. It is difficult to understand and read your posts. If English is not your native language, then say so. Otherwise, idk... But it is painful to try and grasp what you have to say in your comments.
@ PL
Keep up the good posts. I loved this questline for how in depth it was. Walking into Org (as I'm a Forsaken DK) empty with all of the refugees was great. Very surreal. And then getting to siege my home city, perfect! I do hate that now Varimathras is dead I can't go back and complete any of his ending quests. Of which there are many more than I thought there would be. I think Blizz should've added someone to 'take over' his quests so those of us who never got a chance to do them could in fact complete the line and not just come to an unsatisfiable ending. At this point I'm just doing them for the rep and Loremaster Achievement but it's still a let down to receive the next quest in a line and read Varimathras' name, sigh, then click "Abandon Quest". Oh well, stuff happens. I can't wait to see more cinematics as we build up to the fall of the Lich King. I've got my own hopes and dreams for Icecrown Citadel, and I know even if they don't pan out as I have predicted, Blizz won't fall short of giving me an awesome experience!!!
I just had to point this out.
I love how cocopuff made a reference to the "League of Nations" failing at WWI... and Jaina Proudmoore?
Strange analogy might I add, and your overall post made me go "lolwut".
@cocopuff
Dear god use punctuation.
Loved the cinematic, Hope there are many more to come.
OMG TEXT WALL!!!!!
Punctuation is you friend.
But ya, the Wrathgate cinematic is one of my favorite parts of WTLK. I also liked the Guru of Drakuru quest chain, which also features the Lich King at the end (though not in a cinematic).
LOL - Awesome video!!