Project Lore

That big, old convention we keep talking about isn't the only Blizzard-sponsored event coming up soon. Though it hasn't gotten a whole lot of publicity, the company is holding a benefit dinner at the Laguna Art Museum on the night before Blizzcon. So why would this concern you folks? Well, if you've got the cash to spend on a ticket ($500 -- but, hey, it's a benefit) you get a pretty swank opportunity to hob-knob with some Blizz employees. The package includes dinner and drinks with company luminaries (you can ask them why they haven't nerfed rogues yet in person!), a signed print of official Blizzard art, and, yes, your very own ticket to Blizzcon! In addition to all the other perks, you can circumvent paying those scalpers on eBay for a last-minute admission and support a good cause at the same time. Blizzard's partnership with the Laguna Art Museum is chiefly due to their current exhibition: WoW: Emergent Media Phenomenon. While official artwork from the likes of Chris Metzen and Samwise Didier anchor the show, it will also feature interpretive pieces from fourteen international artists. Likewise, certain pieces of fan art and machinima will be on display to round things out. Sounds like a really awesome exhibit to check out if you're local, even if you can't make it to the dinner. According to Nethaera, there are still a few tickets available! So double-check your credit limit and head on over to the order page to grab one for yourself. The Laguna Art Museum is located in the Southern LA area in Laguna Beach, just down the road from Anaheim, where Blizzcon is being held.

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Blizzard blue Zarhym revealed yesterday that Onyxia would be making her gallant return to World of Warcraft in celebration of the title's fifth anniversary.  Following last year's random non-combat pet that players got for the four year mark, we'll be granted a Black Dragon Whelps to go along with the our bear.  Obviously I am in favor of nostalgia, adding more vanity pets and content to the game.  I did have one reservation upon hearing the news.  I instantly thought, and entered into numerous discussions about, "how is Blizzard's creative team gonna pull that off lorewise?" The lengthy brainstorming session caused much WoWWiking and some heated discussion.  Believe it or not the mind melds came up with some well-crafted ideas, and of course, not so good ideas.

• The "Who Cares" Approach - More than a few people I have talked to spouted this defense.  Simply put, many players, hardcore and casual, don't feel that the lore is important.  They claim that they won't care how she went from a head displayed across Stormwind (read dead) to a level 80 boss (alive).  While I personally believe the lore holds more water than this group realizes, it's possible that Blizzard will just retune the encounter and ignore everything else.
• Retcon - Retconning is the fine art of changing a storyline after it has already taken place (meaning absorbed by the audience).  It's a popular mechanic in today's large franchises (Star Trek, Star Wars, too many comics to name), and Blizzard has employed the technique themselves.  Considering that Onyxia's quest chain has been removed, and her human disguise vanquished from the halls of Stormwind, a retcon with a new storyline is entirely plausible.
• Infinite Dragonflight - I posited this as my little baby.  We know very little about the Infinite Dragonflight.  We do know that they are messing with the timeline, but that's all we have.  Their actions could be at the request of Nozdormu himself, but it could just as easily be another flight created by Deathwing for his own nefarious purposes.  Assuming it is Deathwing's latest scheme, then the new encounter can be explained as an alternate timeline's Onyxia making her triumphant return.

It should be quite obvious what I want Blizzard to do, the Bronze Dragonflight.  Just think of how cool it could be.  First off, the process can be explained in the lore easily.  It'll also offer the encounter designers a chance to experiment with new moves for Onyxia (she's different after all).  Perhaps a Really Deep Breath?  She'd have to perform her asthmatic move more often of course.  Lastly, and most importantly, it'd offer a perfect time for Deathwing and his Black Dragonflight to rear their ugly heads. The overall consensus is that Blizzard may very well take the "Who Cares" approach.  After all, it's just a bit of added content to effectively pat themselves on the back for sticking around a half decade (has it really been that long? *checks /played*).  Unlike the rest of the Internet, I am not a pessimist, and I expect the developer to deliver something to us.  Retconning seemed to be as equally likely from the poll.  You'll recall that Blizzard said Onyxia's chain would be modified to fit into Wrath's timeline upon its removal.  That little diddy fits my Infinite Dragonflight hopes even more than a retcon.  Hmm. Which scenario is most likely in your mind?  Have any other ideas as to how Blizzard can write in the retune?  Do you think Blizzard will remove/replace the old encounter with the new one?

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It was the Friday after patch day, and my buddies in our small guild were itching to try out some of the new 3.2 content. Considering there were five of us online, we thought the best place to start would be besting the Black Knight in the new 5-player dungeon, Trial of the Champion, in the Crusaders' Coliseum. Here's the lineup: Warrior tank, Paladin DPS, Warlock DPS, Shaman Healer - all level 80s, and my lonely level 79 Rogue. I'll be the first to admit that we weren't super-well prepared for this dungeon, even on normal mode. One of us had never jousted before, and I'm still getting used to the shield-break, charge and thrust rotation while mounted with a lance. So I was a little unsure of what we were getting ourselves into when the dungeon began and we had to mount up and face several waves of javelin-wielding champions. But the strategy was pretty straight-forward: focus on one at a time until they are dismounted, then trample them to prevent them from getting back up. Then it's on to the hand-to-hand combat. Once through this set, you go on to encounters with several more argent trash followed by a nice fight with either Eadric the Pure or Argent Confessor Paletress. It was Eadric for us. Not the smoothest of kills; he's a bit tricky right at first before the tank picks up aggro, and even after that has an annoying Vengeance buff causing him to crit often. But we kept on him and took him out. Well, took him down to 1 HP, anyway. Then he ran away, like the bitch he his, but not before throwing in his loot chest. Thanks. Finally, on to the main event: The Black Knight.  From what I can gather from the Project Lore forums, it appears that several of us here already have tried out this new dungeon, but if you haven't and dislike spoilers you may want to stop reading here! This guy doesn't like to stay dead - he comes at you in three phases. And that's where my relatively inexperienced group wiped several times before we got the hang of things. The Black Knight starts out as a forsaken, then a skeleton and finally a wraith. Probably the most trouble we experienced was in the second phase when he started summoning an exploding Army of Dead. We talked through a couple of possible strategies - kiting the Black Knight to avoid the trash Ghoul Explosion, or throw some nice AoEs to kill the ghouls before they explode all over you. Neither of those seemed to be working for us, so we instead just ignored the jerks and focused all of our attention on the main battle at hand. It worked. When we downed the Black Knight in that form and saw the ghouls channeling their explodey spell, we just ran away. From there, the boss enters wraith form, this time without any adds. He consistently casts Marked for Death on his enemies, which increases their magical damage two fold, and can make things sticky if you drag out the fight too long. Each DPSer pulled out all the stops at this point, and finally the Black Knight was downed... for good this time. The best part: My very first purple item (/dance), and a pretty darn good one at that, at least for a 5-man on normal difficulty. Now I just have to finish off my last half-level to 80 so I can equip this beauty - Uruka's Band of Zeal. Overall, I'd say the coliseum is about what I expected. Granted, I haven't checked out Trial of the Crusader yet (beyond watching Juggy and the TRS Guild take it on), but got a decent preview of that through the smaller battle. It's pretty short and to-the-point, which to some may be a disappointment. Others say they've felt underwhelmed by the small scale of the coliseum itself. And I can see that point. But as for me, I was happy with it, and plan to keep running it to get more loots! Hopefully next time, it'll go a bit smoother! Any of you who have tried out the Crusaders' Coliseum so far? What are your impressions of either instance?

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Zarhym just dropped the bombshell that, in honor of the 5-year anniversary of World of Warcraft that's coming up in November, Onyxia's Lair will be getting an update. That's right, Patch 3.2.2 will bring a new, level 80, 10- and 25-man version of Onyxia for players to take on. Not only that, but there is a new 310% mount in her loot table, along with "updated" loot modeled after tier 2 but with updated stats. Further details will be coming soon, and the full announcement is here on the official forums. I hope this news means that, if the upgrade goes smoothly, other old school raids and instances will get an update. Like, say, Deadmines? Is this news exciting for you guys, or are you thinking it might be another Naxx that was dumbed down and made a little too easy?

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Last night we took down the first two bosses that have been unlocked in the 10-man version of Trial of the Crusader on USTREAM. Tonight, at around 7pm PDT/10pm EDT, The Totally Rad Guild will be trying the 25-man version of the instance. Once we get those bosses down we should be headed into 25-man Ulduar and then maybe we'll finish off last night's 10-man Ulduar hard modes run. If you caught Monday's stream and experienced some audio issues, you'll be glad to hear that those have been taken care of (I hope). As usual, I'll be in the USTREAM chat and I'll try to answer any questions that come up whenever I can. The streamed video and chat are embedded below, so come in, join the chat, and check it out. You can also follow Project Lore on twitter or check out our USTREAM channel to find out more! Also, if you happen to miss the stream, there should be some archived videos embedded below!

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The biggest news in recent memory is WoW.com's hat eating guarantee over the next expansion's details.  According to sources for the lucky domain squatters, the third expansion is indeed called WoW: Cataclysm, and the previously rumored Goblins and the Worgen are the upcoming playable classes.  The news, that was likely going to be one of BlizzCon's big reveals, has overshadowed all else the past few days, but I am here to put an end to that. Below you will find stories that were lost in the shuffle, abandoned to the fates, and pushed down the stairs.  Some are gems, others are mix-ups, but they were all passed over thanks to the assertions of Cataclysm and our excitement around it.

• Ozzy Ozzborne at BlizzCon - The Ozzy @ BlizzCon 2009 rumor has been around the block.  It first appeared in early July, and I didn't really take it that seriously then.  Sure, he was in a (damn fine) commercial for WoW, but that doesn't mean he's going to perform.  Well, with VideoGamesLive out of the picture this year it does!  Blizzard has confirmed that the junior "Prince of  F&*^ing Darkness" (since 1979) will be rocking out Anaheim in just over a week.  The concert will also be viewable as part of the DirecTV package.  What are the odds that Ozzy actually plays?
• Icecrown to have 31 bosses - "Promising" 31 bosses in a raid for a PvE content junky like myself is more than a pony, Ghostcrawler.  Everyone knows the ratio of boss fights to ponies is 10:1, and here you promise 31:0.  How dare you sir!  And how dare you quip later on that you were joking...maybe.  Damn your brain teasers!  Who do you think you are J.J. Abrams?  /shakesfist
• Battle.net v2.0 news - StarCraft II was "delayed" to 2010 earlier this month, and you can at least partially blame Blizzard's matchmaking, login and purchasing platform known as Battle.net for that.  According to the bigwigs at Activision Blizzard the service is still in the infant stages of re-development with "social networking features, cross-game communication, unified account management" and more being added to the service.  Bobby Kotick stated that the service would be "similar to Xbox Live".  Hopefully the term was used for that service's perceived quality, and not the monetary fee associated with it.  Either way, it appears that BNet 2.0 will be just another gaming service to keep track of.  Sigh.
• Collegehumor WoW video - My friend turned me on to this World of Warcraft-based video last night, and it is absolutely hilarious.  He claims that "that's what it will be like in five years" and although I wish it were true, I just don't believe it.  Thankfully, the laughs it gets are on purpose.  The video is safe for work.

Nothing earth shattering, but interesting nonetheless.  Hope you enjoyed the little recap of the last week or so.  If I missed anything major feel free to leave a comment with the details and the source.

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One example of phased content: the Wrathgate event. The MMO is an odd beast. Like most games, or game series, it evolves and grows in expected ways over time. Players are provided with a bevy of new options or the graphics are given a shiny new coat of paint (especially if it's associated with a generational jump in hardware). But the online RPG is no moulting reptile. It can't simply shed its old skin. Expansions offer new content, but rarely do much for the old, so we're stuck with the less impressive aspects of the game, and the developers are consistently reminded by these ancient artifacts of their failings the first time around. I'm sure Blizzard would love to reshape the original continents as much as we players would like to see them do it, but the drain on resources would be absolutely massive. I know I've stated this in previous posts, but it entails so much more than a graphical overhaul. They'd have to reconsider how quests, dungeons, leveling, and other such balance-related aspects of the game are dealt with. What starts as one problem to deal with quickly spirals out of control. But let's be honest, who is it that wants to experience this content again? I'd wager it's largely people who are at the end game, and have been there for a very long time. Often, that means relegating yourself to a scant few zones worth of content, which, as we all know, can get boring very quickly. A first-time player should still have a lot of fun exploring the old world and those who are leveling alts likely want to progress through it as quickly as possible. Mainland Azeroth, specifically Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, is the bread and butter of the Warcraft universe, though! It seems necessary to revisit and reinvigorate those areas so absolutely central to the lore. So, how do we do that? What can Blizzard do to persuade us to go back? Well, by moving forward, actually. Through the idea of phasing. It's already in the game, if you're looking for it. The go-to event whenever anyone talks about this sort of thing is the Wrathgate, and as great of a showcase as it might be, it doesn't really deal with the complexities of the concept's implementation.  Simply put, phasing allows parts of the world to look/act/behave differently for players at different stages of the game. The problem with Wrathgate is that it's mostly cosmetic: a player who hasn't completed the line will see a standing army and one who has will see, well, the aftermath. A better example to look towards, and perhaps a test bed for what we can expect looking forward (should Blizz choose to go down this road) is actually Icecrown Glacier. There are several questlines involving the Argent Crusade and Ebon Blade that slowly change certain parts of the zone, even opening up new questlines along the way (which otherwise wouldn't be available to players who haven't progressed that far yet). For phasing to truly be game-changing, it needs to be able to make sweeping changes to the player experience. What this all boils down to is this: why not phase the whole of Azeroth? If some world-changing event is ahead, make it so that level 80-90 players see a different kind of world. What if the Crossroads were in ruins or you suddenly had high-level mobs in the newbie zones? Those are simple examples, but they could scale with the amount of work Blizzard feels they want to put into it. It's the Battle for the Undercity on a much greater level! Of course, that does present some problems to overcome. Specifically, how two such versions of Azeroth can exist concurrently. Blizzard isn't completely shy about fudging the timeline (which would explain how Kael'Thas could exist as an uber raid boss in Tempest Keep and in his weaker, defeated form in Magister's Terrace at the same time), and you could argue that's necessary in a persistent-world MMO like Warcraft, but there are more practical concerns. For instance, would it be possible for a level 80+ character to return to the old version of Azeroth and how would that even be justified in the lore? What if they want to play with or help our some of their low-level buds, who they wouldn't be able to see in the phased version of the world? Would things like auction houses be connected across the great 4th-dimensional abyss? The disconnect between gameplay and practicality does eventually reach the point of becoming undesirable if you stretch players' suspension of disbelief too far. Nonetheless, I can think of at least one solution, as cliche as it might be: portals. WoW lore does have a few built-in fail safes for things like this. We already know there are alternate versions of Azeroth, like that of the Emerald Dream. And then there's the possibility of the Infinite Dragonflight finally finding success in corrupting the timeline, resulting in a completely different chain of events. Areas, or possibilities like these, can be accessed through special gateways opened up by the dragonflights in their attempt to restore order. What sorts of ideas might you readers have for this sort of thing? Is phasing a viable option? Would you be willing to excuse the lore to explore an alternate version of Azeroth at any cost, or should it have to jive with the existing story line? Let us know what you think in the comments section!

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BlizzCon! Rumors incoming! With BlizzCon less than two weeks away there is no surprise that we are starting to see leaks and rumors. MMO-Champion had reported on the races first with their data mining showing new Halloween masks that featured Goblin and Worgen races (of both sexes) and then pixiestixy brought us news today that WoW.com confirmed this information with sources close to the company, and specifically that Goblin will be Horde and Worgen will be Alliance. To be quite honest, this news is a little underwhelming. This doesn't specifically add content outside of the starting zones and is quite a bit of work (all items have to be remodeled/skinned for these new races) for something that really doesn't ADD to the gameplay (argue all you want but it's merely a cosmetic upgrade). With the races apparently set in stone (we will know for sure at BlizzCon) I find that to be disappointing. The announcement of Blood Elves and Draenei had a much stronger impact because of the classes that you could use with those races, which were previously exclusive to the Horde (Shaman) and Alliance (Paladin). Blizzard really should make these races start out neutral (can't interact with any Alliance/Horde player characters) and either the actions you take through your questing will decide your faction at, say level 20, or you just flat out get to choose. With faction transfers incoming, this would seem to be a logical extension of that model and where Blizzard wants to make the game as accessible and varied as possible. This alongside the lore implications that both these races are (generally) faction nuetral. Based on past experience though I am inclined to believe that the new races are in the next expansion. We knew about Burning Crusade days before BlizzCon 2005 and BlizzCon 2007's announcement of Wrath of the Lich King was known a few days before as well. Funny though was that when I picked up my press badge that year they gave me a program guide with all the details about WotLK (which hadn't been officially announced) so that kind of killed the suspense of the opening ceremony but it was nice to see that the rumors were true. With BlizzCon so close I expect to see a lot more "rumors" pop up, at this point be skeptical of nearly everything from this point on and we will all know August 21st (and we hope to see you there!)! Let us know what you'd like to see related to the new races, do you think picking your faction in game (rather than associated race) would be a good idea? What kind of ideas do you have if they continue down this path of alternating race/class additions every other expansion?

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The Man Himself, Alexandros Mograine The Novel Post is ProjectLore's review column for materials - books, manga, comics, card games, etc - of World of Warcraft's Extended Universe.  As such the column's posts are likely to have plot, character or other spoilers. The fabled Ashbringer sword may be new to some of you, but the sword has been known to World of Warcrafter's, in some way, since the title was released so long ago.  Those who are new to the MMORPG likely focus their lust upon Frostmourne, but Ashbringer was the first weapon with a detailed story inside WoW (not Warcraft III, WoW).  After realizing that one of the title's most epic stories may have been missed by the majority of players, Blizzard recanted the tale as part of the Death Knight starting area.  Those of us who couldn't wait for Wrath's to release, or simply had no intention of playing a Death Knight, had another route, the World of Warcraft: Ashbringer mini-series from Wildstorm. It's unknown who designed and wrote the Death Knight quests that involve the Mograine and Fordring storylines, but Micky Neilson's (Senior Writer & Voice Director for Blizzard) vision of them are absolutely superb.  Neilson doesn't simply touch upon the Ashbringer's power.  He begins his story well before that, before the weapon was even forged by Dwarven hands.  Political shenanigans, character development, backdrop and backstory are the main plot devices in the incredibly busy introduction.  It isn't until the second half of the first installment that Alexandros gets to lay his hands on the socketed item, and not a moment too soon. Looks Like He Dropped The Poison In The Middle Of The Room... Ashes to Ashes, the appropriately named second issue, continues all of the previous material including the ultimate separation of the rich Scarlet Crusade and the Argent Dawn as we know them today.  The final betrayal of Alexandros by his elder son Renault is the obvious climax here, and a thing of beauty.  Not only does Neilson describe the dastardly deed in great detail, with the help of the superb art, but he continues the confrontation through flashbacks that Alexandros has while being placed under the control of Kel'Thuzad.  The added scenes complete the betrayal, making it far more painful than a simple death.  A fact that causes the fall of Ashbringer to Corrupted Ashbringer. The third chapter revolves around the Darion-led Argent Dawn excursion into the intimidating Naxxramas.  Its entirely dedication to action till the last few pages, causing the story to progress very little.  However the confrontation between the Scarlet Highlord's two sons is nothing short of showstopping.  A defining moment in the comic, and the Ashbringer storyline, for me.  And it even explains why Alexandros Mograine is no longer present in today's incarnation of Naxxramas. The token instancing (and wiping) distraction was followed up with the another round of back story and character development for a name many of us know well, Tirion Fordring.  As the current owner of Ashbringer he's a character I expected to see some focus on, but that didn't truly come to pass.  Instead Tirion snatches the fabled sword away from the Scourge only after Darion made the ultimate sacrifice for his father.  One that may or may not have been successful at releasing the trapped soul of Alexandros, as far as the comic is concerned. Ashbringer's pacing is truly the only complaint I can levy upon the comic from a Warcraft players standpoint.  Although the Ashbringer is a relatively new tale in the Warcraft canon, meaning far younger than Frostmourne, we've been introduced to a lot of the specifics.  Nielson's story, while incredibly strong and highly emotional, is weighed down by the bumpy pacing.  Ashbringer starts off incredibly busy, then hits a lull for nearly two issues, ramp up for a few pages before more yawn and then the final culmination. Positive On Which Side? If I was to try to review Ashbringer without previous knowledge of the back lore, as a normal comic reader would, then the highlight would likely have been on the art, and not the story.  Ludo Lullabi and Tony Washington perform beautifully together, and their skills highlight much of Nielson's story.  However, a non-Warcraft player would miss out on tons of cameos, nods to different storylines and the high arc tri-faction war (mortals vs Scourge vs Burning Legion) would go right over their head. Nevertheless, if you are into comics and Warcraft then Ashbringer is a must have, especially now that it's in a mass market paperback edition.  If you fancy yourself a lore nerd then you also need to pick up this masterful mini-series. That's how Varimathras got a hold of the plague.  That willy bastard.

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Edit: The initial stream is over, but we're doing some more tonight. Check it out at the same time! Tonight starting around 7pm PDT/10pm EDT, The Totally Rad Guild will be continuing our raid of Ulduar and hopefully not failing. Some of you may have watched the live streams before, but today I'll be streaming with full in game audio and limited audio from me to respond to the chat room that's attached and give a little side commentary outside of vent. The streamed video and chat are embedded below, so come in, join the chat, and check it out. You can also follow Project Lore on twitter or check out our USTREAM channel to find out more! Free TV : Ustream

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