Project Lore

Cataclysm Countdown is a series of informed speculative articles concerning things we might see in the next expansion that I will be posting every day this week, leading right up to Blizzcon. In the interest of thought purity, I will do my best to steer clear of recent "leaked" material, relying upon it only where it logically connects with the existing lore. Nothing hereafter is official or has been confirmed/denied by Blizzard at the time of its writing. Weekends are like life's natural cliffhangers. Once Friday evening rolls around, the entire news-media industry just sort of shuts down as we writers and journalists go off to frolic with our friends and loved ones (or level up a Paladin, in my case) for a couple of days. That is, unless you're an unfortunate weekend editor or something really, really big happens. Well, something really, really big did happen this past Friday, but as it turns out, there was just nothing else to report after the big leak. We would've continued to keep you informed if there was anything to inform you about. Instead, people began to speculate and everything that entails (including the doubters, and some misguided young fellows who were looking for their 15 minutes of internet fame by claiming to have "hoaxed" the whole thing). I must admit, I couldn't keep my mind off of Cataclysm, either. And, in the following few days, I'd like to share some of my own thoughts with the rest of you. So many things have gone through my head, but I keep coming back to the one thing that is near and dear to my heart: raiding. As much as a pure pain in the ass it can be at times, raid content represents the nexus of high lore and the most complex gameplay elements. It is the intersection between the legacy of WoW's biggest baddies and the narrative you've carved for yourself as a character, or as part of a guild. That seems like a fine place to start, as we can use the existing lore as a touchstone to examine what villains we may be facing in the near future. The Maelstrom, a giant storm raging in the center of Azeroth, conceals much of Azshara's empire. Nazjatar - If there's one thing we can almost certainly count on seeing in the expansion, it's Azshara, former Highborne and Queen of the Naga for the past 10,000 years or so. Nazjatar is the seat of her power, currently built into a wall of The Rift, a deep ocean trench that runs under the Maelstrom. Some people have speculated that the catastrophic event associated with the expansion will cause Nazjatar to rise to the surface. Whether it erupts from the waves or remains at the bottom of the sea, I'm willing to bet that players are going to have to go there at some point. And as acting home base for one of the chief expansion villains, they're probably going to have to raid it, as well. I personally imagine Nazjatar to be Icecrown-like in structure. It is unlikely that we'll have access to the stronghold from the get-go, but we will be able to explore and quest in the surrounding area. Nazjatar, and the area of The Rift would be sufficient enough, but it may also end up including nearby locales like the homeland of the Makrura and a huge ship graveyard called the Drowned Reaches (assuming they survive the destruction). The Rift - The Rift, itself, is a scar cut deep into the ocean floor by the collapsing of the Well of Eternity thousands of years ago. Little is known about what is down there, but lava flows in the deepest of its reaches. It may also be home to an Old God (these guys really do love hiding within the planet's core, don't they?) who needs some slaying. This could end up being a single-boss raid, Malygos style, depending on whether or not an Old God ends up being the primary villain. Zandalar - It wouldn't be an expansion without some new Troll content, now would it? Sure, they haven't gotten a raid in Wrath, but they did get a whole zone, and two 5-man dungeons, to themselves. The most underplayed race in the game is also, without coincidence, the coolest. It would be a shame if we didn't see any associated areas! Zandalar itself could play a pivotal role in the coming events. It was once attached to Kalimdor before being torn from the coast by the original Sundering (a.k.a. the collapsing of the Well of Eternity), and now exists just to the southeast of the Maelstrom. It's close to the action and mixes deliciously into the lore, which makes it prime territory for a raid. But where and why? I say Zuldazar, the worldwide Troll capital, with King Rastakhan as the endboss. While we don't know a whole lot about the nature of the island, Zuldazar is reported to look like a mountain built out of smaller Ziggurats (think the tiered structure of Zul'Drak, but bigger, much taller, and all squished together). This towering structure makes for an imposing, and impressive raid zone. Non-Troll races face danger the moment they step on the island, but some new found threat (perhaps a Naga invasion) could force Rastakhan to seek outside help. If rumors of the Goblin's home being destroyed by the cataclysm are true, it stands to reason that Zandalar would suffer a similar fate. So, whether outsiders are called to resolve a communal threat, or Rastakhan and company have been driven mad, I'm secretly hoping that Blizzard finds reason to stick some cool raid content here. The gate to Grim Batol -- it could use a facelift. Grim Batol - Grim Batol has been called home by several different factions over the years. First, it was the Wildhammer Dwarves, and then the Dragonmaw Clan of Orcs. Currently, members of the Red Dragonflight (kin to Alexstrasza, who has played a key role in the events of Wrath) guard the entrance, but there is no way in. The Warcraft novel Night of the Dragon indicates that Deathwing, the Black Dragon Aspect, currently resides within. As another potential primary villain in Cataclysm (as well as another major power driven nuts by the Old Gods), a raid on Grim Batol is an almost certain possibility. His attempts to perfect the destructive twilight dragons ensure that we'll be seeing plenty of them inside the dungeon (and the world at large). CoT: War of the Ancients - Azshara and Deathwing were both key players in the War of the Ancients. Just like they did to remind us of Arthas' past in Wrath of the Lich King, I fully expect Blizzard to give us some insight into where these villains are coming from. In order to do that, we may have access to a new, Hyjal-style Caverns of Time raid that puts us right into the heart of this weathered conflict. At what point? I don't know. But in a "history repeating itself" moment, I bet we get to witness the original Sundering. Blackrock Mountain - But there's already a raid here, right? The venerable Molten Core! One rumor pointed out that Blackrock Mountain would explode to reveal a new caldera. There isn't much to back this up just yet, but it stands to reason that a cataclysm would involve shifting around the tectonic plates and screwing with the chewy, magma-filled core of the planet. If so, it stands to reason that a gigantic volcano like Blackrock would blow its top. It's unclear what this may or may not do to the existing dungeons/raid content, but I'm sort of hoping for the return of Ragnaros. Blackrock Mountain -- at least as it looks right now. Allow me to go into fanboy mode for a moment. I'd love to see this massive version of Ragnaros erupting from the center of the destroyed Blackrock Mountain, hurling fireballs into the countryside and causing massive destruction. Imagine entering the instance, in this case, an outside one placed around the edge of the caldera, facing mini-bosses while trying to avoid the wrath of the Elemental Lord by ducking into small caves and alcoves. I can just see him taunting the raid with threats and insults as you travel around the spiral, eventually arriving at his "feet." I'm imagining an experience much like Coldarra in Borean Tundra, only replace the magic spire and rings with the towering inferno that is Ragnaros. None of us truly knows what to expect from Cataclysm at this point, but understanding the lore likely to be associated with it provides us with the framework for basic raid content as shown above. Every location, every character, relates back to the core event of the War of the Ancients and the Sundering. As things seem about to repeat themselves, it only stands to reason that they will come to the forefront once again. But that doesn't preclude Blizzard from inventing entirely new villains or raids to supplement the existing lore. So, trusty readers, what do you think of my predictions? Knowing what we know, are there any other major zones or characters that you think will show up in the expansion's raid content? What about Uldum (I suspect it to be a 5-man instance) or modern-day Hyjal (what might be a standard, but nonetheless important, area)? There might even be repurposed content from old raids. Tell us what you're looking forward to raiding beyond Wrath!

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The Next Expansion is an ever growing series of articles that focuses on WoW’s upcoming third expansion.  The column covers news, speculation and even gameplay mechanics that PL’s writers would like to see implemented.

Late last Friday MMO-Champion ran a story on the next expansion that detailed enough information to keep many brains busy over the weekend.  Boubouille insists that none of the information posted is speculation, but pure fact.  I was as giddy as a school girl (or my girlfriend) around Robert Pattinson (swoon) as I read the news, until I took the time to think things through.  It just sounds too good to be true. You can consider the races, Worgen and Goblins, confirmed as well as the third expansion's title, Cataclysm.  Those tidbits have been repeated by "sources" for weeks now.  I'm skeptical about a few other things, as are many others out there.  My main concern is that the larger playerbase is getting too excited before the details are official.  Simply put, I fear hype backlash. Boubouille is one of the great Internet sleuths, so it is hard to doubt his skills.  Nevertheless here's what I have trouble digesting:

• Level 85 Cap:  There's really no justification to not do 10 additional levels like we are used to.  If the developers want leveling to take longer then Blizzard can simply make the XP pools far larger.  We've also no reason to believe that WoW has to end at level 100.  No matter what this isn't a big concern; just the first point that caught my eye.
• Class Combinations: This is certainly plausible.  Orc Mage, Tauren Priest, Blood Elf Warrior, all highly likely, lore-fitting modifications to our current race/class structure.  It's the Troll Druid that I can't see being a reality.  On the one hand, It'd be a perfect way to get more Horde playing the most underplayed race in the game.  However, two druids for the Horde and only one for the Alliance (Night Elf) just doesn't seem like a move Blizzard would make.
• Flying In Azeroth:  There's a reason that Blizzard never allowed flying in Azeroth, the game's basic design.  If you look really closely at the old landscapes you can see that Blizzard employed a lot of tricks to get objects, foliage specifically, to look 3D without it actually being 3D (allows the client to have a crappier computer).  These Doom-esque tactics would need to be completely redone across all of Azeroth to enable flying.  Even using the superb tools created by Blizzard, it would be a daunting, and boring, task.
• Unfinished Original Content:  Areas like Mount Hyjal only compound the flying issue.  The zone was never made accessible because Blizzard never finished the content.  It was there however.  If we are allowed to fly in Azeroth then Blizzard has to spend more time completing, or at least overhauling, the formerly neglected areas of Azeroth.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see all of this come true.  The fact of the matter is it would be a massive undertaking.  The scope of the expansion, as detailed by Boub, would effectively be like starting the game from scratch, as far as content is concerned.  Blizzard is good, but I don't know if the company can pull all of this off in approximately two years development time. If Cataclysm comes to pass as described it will set a new precedent for MMO expansion. It's hard not to get excited, especially with awesome mechanics like flooding, town sacking (kinda), revamped old world content and the return of Deathwing.  Love me some horizontal content. Just remember that BlizzCon, and official confirmation, is only days away.  Take a deep breath, do a reality check, and wait...for ~120 hours.

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The info just keeps on rolling in today. A week out from the rockstar event that is Blizzcon and we might have our first major leaks. Heartbourne has already clued us in on potential new class combinations, but our friends over at MMO-Champion seem to have found a whole lot more. Boubouille absolutely insists that none of this is speculation, and while I remain skeptical about his sources, his track record is proven. This is as close to gospel as we're going to get until we hear something officially official. So keep on reading to find out what we know (or think we know) so far. Be warned, though, spoilers are abound if you want to keep your sense of surprise. SPOILER WARNING Herein is a rough list of major content changes that we can expect to see in the next expansion:

• New Class Combinations - No new classes will be added to the game. Instead, existing races will be given access to classes that they never had before. It is currently unknown what classes will be available to the new races, however.
• New Level Cap - Surprisingly, it's only 85. This may fit in with a new philosophy of improving characters through gear instead of pure XP. Likewise, if the end-goal for WoW is 100, it leaves a little more space for successive expansions to grow.
• Azshara, Queen of the Naga The Cataclysm - This titular event, set in motion by Deathwing and Queen Azshara, will bring many changes to the existing content in the game, as well as open up several new ones.  Their motivations for unleashing such destruction upon the world may be in part due to those pesky insanity-inducing Old Gods.
• New Horde Race: Goblins - The Goblins have found their island home virtually destroyed by the events of the Cataclysm. Washing up on the shores of The Barrens, a quest line involving Thrall's capture (and subsequent rescue by the Goblin race) will explain how they ended up as the new consorts of the Horde. With their homeland gone, it's unclear whether or not we will get to visit Kezan, the island where the Goblin capital of Undermine exists.
• New Alliance Race: Worgen - The Greymane Wall, which separates Gilneas from Silverpine Forest, has been shattered by the Cataclysm. Bewildered from their self-imposed exile, the Worgen venture forth and find friends in the Alliance. It is unclear what the Goblin starting area may entail, but the Worgen will be receiving the Death Knight treatment. Gilneas will be a heavily-phased zone that will shuttle your character through the nation's history before unleashing them on the rest of Azeroth. Did I mention that Worgen do get to transform? That's right, you'll be able to shift from Human to Worgen at the click of a button, though we don't know if it will afford you any special abilities to do so.
• Azeroth Remade - Goblins and Worgen aren't the only ones who have felt the impact of this catastrophic event. Existing zones will be remade or phased in order to accommodate the current state of the world. The examples given include remaking Azshara into a 10-20 level area and splitting the Barrens into two distinct zones for players of different levels.
• New Areas - There will be no new continents introduced in the expansion, but instead, unreleased content in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms will finally be filled in. In addition to the aforementioned opening of Gilneas, you can also expect to see modern-day Hyjal and Uldum. These are only examples and do not represent the entire breadth of fresh content that will no doubt be introduced.
• Mainland Flight - Restructuring the two core continents has allowed Blizzard to add flight to those zones that never had it. Now you can ride all the way from the Plaguelands to Booty Bay on you very own flying mount. Presumably, you will still need to take a boat or zeppelin to go from one continent to the other.
• Dungeons Remade - Onyxia was only the beginning. This does not preclude the addition of new 5-man dungeons or raid content, but many of the old instances will be retrofitted for players progressing from Level 80-85. Reportedly, we'll also be seeing Ragnaros again. It is not known how extensive the changes will end up being (new bosses/new graphics or merely upgraded stats on mobs and items).

That's a lot to digest and I'm honestly eager to see how everything fits together. There are some controversial ideas in there, as well as changes that players have been clamoring for year after year. In fact, a lot of it sounds like the kind of stuff that Blizzard employees have wanted to implement themselves, but have repeatedly insisted they haven't been working on. Phasing, as I previously proposed, will play a large role in the recreation of mainland Azeroth (self high-five!). By treading this path, however, I'm afraid there is also the chance of alienating a certain portion of the  player base who see this as merely reusing old content. That may or may not be the case, and we may have to wait another week to find out. I think it really depends on how fresh the revamped content ends up feeling. Will the graphics of many areas be significantly improved or changed? Will the new quest lines make it worth adventuring through old zones? Is this the vanilla WoW that we always wanted? Or will the new Azeroth be a whole lot like the old Azeroth? A yet-to-be-confirmed post on the Something Awful forums indicated huge, sweeping changes for the landscape, though. Thousand Needles flooded, many zones in absolute ruins, Orgrimmar sundered in two (with the introduction of a new Orc main city). The forums are private, but the summary has be re-posted on MMO-Champion. I'm sure you all have a lot to say about these revelations, so feel free to strike up a conversation in our comments section. I know I'll be watching it closely!

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With the great shadow of Blizzcon looming on the horizon, how can we not get worked up about it? How can we not begin to wonder what goodies they're just waiting to unleash on us die-hard fans like front-liners at a GWAR concert? We expect to walk away from this thing tired, satisfied, and maybe just a little sticky! But laying restless in bed this morning, I began to think: Blizzard's got this huge expansion coming up, but they've still got at least one major piece of content to release for Lich King. Likewise, they stated they'd like to get a new expansion out every year -- an unrealistic goal for a company like this, but perhaps a year-and-a-half is within the realm of possibility. And then I remembered that they just pushed StarCraft 2 back into 2010. Having two major releases coming out back-to-back like that is virtually unheard of! That might push Cataclysm (as we assume the expansion to be named) to next Fall for a release date similar to Lich King two years previous. And that means that they've got until next Blizzcon to give us all of the real juicy details. I believe that most people, at this point, assume that there's going to be a deluge of information about Cataclysm this year, but that may be jumping the gun. No doubt we'll get something, perhaps a reveal of new races and some very early look at the content, a trailer even, but let's not forget that there is still the matter of the Lich King to resolve. If the rumors of Icecrown Citadel being enormous are true (not 31-boss big, of course, but I believe the intention of size was expressed), I expect we may hear a log more about how this expansion is going to wrap up before even going into the next one. Once again, I'm going mostly on conjecture here, but I do remember one of the Blues mentioning (when asked about how far off the Argent Coliseum would be) that their timetable was not as lengthy as we players might expect. And, indeed, we saw the release of 3.2 just three months or so after Ulduar. Now that opens the possibility of seeing the Citadel released by the end of the year or early next. If Cataclysm releases in the Summer, no biggie. But Fall 2010? That would leave a huge 9-10 month gap between content releases. That would mean that there may be some post-ICC release, a 3.4 if you will, that would function much like Sunwell at the end of Burning Crusade. If that's the case, we may begin to hear something about that content, as well. And really, when it boils right down to it, the end of the Lich King is potentially such a big deal, are they going to want us knowing a whole lot about the aftermath just yet (which learning about Cataclysm would probably entail)? My head's spinning just trying to consider all this and I hope you're all still with me at this point. But I'm currently of the opinion that we're going to get a real introductory look at the next expansion, with the remainder of Wrath content getting the bulk of attention at the show. Do I hope I'm wrong? Most certainly. I'd love nothing more than to experience the largest fangasm ever from the impending surge of information that could be coming our way. I'd die for Mike Morhaime to ascend to the stage and tell us that they're finished with Icecrown Citadel, the expansion's coming within six months, and that, Oprah-style, we all get a beta invite. But I also expect Blizzard to take as much time as they feel they need to complete their products, and considering their track record, that's what supersedes everything else. They're tackling more releases at this point in time than they ever have at once before. We're going to hear tons about StarCraft 2 and the revamped Battle.net. We'll get the dish about Diablo, too. Let's not forget there's also that "next-gen MMO" hanging on the horizon, as well. If they wanted to release all of these games on the same day, they could probably get away with it. So maybe it's not so far-fetched to consider the sequel to StarCraft and the new expansion to hit shelves so close to each other. After all, one shouldn't really cannibalize sales of the other... much. Don't worry for a second. Blizzcon will be packed to the brim with details, but with so many things to cover, I just keep coming back to the idea that Cataclysm's dynamite reveal may quickly be overtaken by the rest of the show's content. What do you guys and gals think? I know I presented a lot of possibilities above, a lot of variables to consider. This kind of idle thinking leads to a whole lot of brain spew (something else you'll see at a GWAR concert, by the way). Do you agree? Disagree? The way content is being handled, just what will we end up hearing about at Blizzcon? Maybe the reveal of new races and a quick overview? A teaser trailer for Cataclysm? Is Blizzard ready to show us that much of the game's future?

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It may come as no surprise since we've been speculating on this for quite some time, but it seems that folks over at WoW.com have confirmed from "multiple sources close to the situation" that the next expansion will be World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and will include the Worgen and Goblin as playable races.

While Goblins have up until now remained neutral, with currency their only faction of choice, WoW.com reports that the Goblin will be playable for the Horde in the new expansion (Go Green!). We've already received a ton of feedback from our previous speculative posts on what the implications will be for having this wide-spread race specific to only one faction. What will happen to the neutral cities, such as Ratchet, where they are a mainstay? I suppose we'll find out with time - perhaps some of the Goblin NPCs will remain neutral, or maybe we'll see a major upheaval of some of those villages. It could make for some great new lore - not to mention the Great Sundering, which also should make for a fun expansion topic.

So that leaves the Worgen, who up until now have played a much smaller role than that of the Goblin. They apparently will be joining up with the Alliance. We've already seen a glimpse of what the female may look like through Halloween masks revealed a while back. Now it just makes me wonder if all the additional masks revealed later (murloc, Naga, plus already available playable races) may have just been added to throw us off the trail? Maybe they're just included because they inevitably will play a large role in an expansion about the Cataclysm. Or, perhaps we'll see a couple more playable races still (One can hope, right?).

All this is still very preliminary and I'll feel a lot better about the information once we've gotten some kind of official comment from Blizzard. But that likely won't come until BlizzCon - and hopefully we'll learn much, much more at that point. New playable races alone don't equal a full expansion, so I'm sure there will be plenty more to report on in the coming weeks. Until then, I'll be crossing my fingers that I will soon be able to play green!

What does everyone make of these leaks and the possible lore behind them? Would you play a Worgen or Goblin? How do you think Blizz will handle all the complications related to turning Goblins for the Horde?

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Run Ma, It's A Hurricane! The Next Expansion is an ever growing series of articles that focuses on WoW's upcoming third expansion.  The column covers news, speculation and even gameplay mechanics that PL's writers would like to see implemented. The little quip about Southshore vs. Tarren Mill in yesterday's post was no accident.  We've discussed the topic at length in the past and it continues to instill a sense of nostalgia whenever it is brought up.  Unless you were trying to level during those days it was pure fun.  Even most of the lowbies didn't mind, as they got to be a part of the battle (even if it was a small part) and a glimpse of the future.  Occasionally the skirmishes became so large, and the resurrection timers so long, that one of the towns (often Tarren Mill due to level differences of the hubs) would be decimated.  Crushed, destroyed, void of anything but the corpses of the fallen and the invaders who laid them to rest. I've been waiting for a Blizzard sanctioned event since.  No, I don't count Wintergrasp.  What I want is the mix of PvP and PvE that the battles gone bye brought us.  If one side dominated the other than it had an adverse affect on one's ability to continue questing in the area.  Sure, the NPCs respawned quickly, but when the town was completely sacked they'd fall to another blade in a moment's notice.  Not to mention that it was damn near impossible to be questing between the two towns without being ganked. By binding a PvP/PvE area to the Honor system (sacking a town would give bonus honor to everyone involved) the system could be arbitrarily policed.  Upon the battle's completion the town would take time to recuperate.  With nothing to kill, and no honor to be gained the opposing faction would be forced to travel to some other land, giving the losers an opportunity to finish and turn in quests.  Or they could always prepare a counter-attack. Unfortunately some people would deem this as too hardcore, since your leveling could come to a crawl.  So I'll present another scenario along the same lines that wouldn't be PvP oriented, but pure PvE.  One that is a perfect application of Tabula Rasa's invading forces mechanic mixed into the speculated world event for WoW Cataclysm. With the Naga invading local shorelines the citizens of the areas beg for help, anybody's help.  Upon accepting your dispatch you are sent to various shores to clean up the invading forces, driving them back by the dozens.  Despite our best efforts the sea beasts overrun the shorelines, pushing further and further in.  As time progresses the bustling ports of Menethil Harbor, Southshore, Booty Bay and more are taken by the Naga.  With our shipping and supply lines in peril the capital cities have no choice but to attack the Naga's home.  It isn't until we breach their final defenses that the Naga swarm retreats back into the ocean to defend their Queen. Think of it as a reverse Isle of Quel'Danas event.  Instead of us opening up content by reclaiming the island, the invasion's progress (which would be an unstoppable force) would reveal new objectives.  We'd start off with simple quests to collect information and slaughter the early cannon fodder.  Then we would work our way up to Naga Officers (outdoor bosses), staging grounds (5-man dungeons somewhere on the shores) and naval combat (ship to ship battles against the Naga).  The aquatic tyranny would not end until we have breached the Maelstrom and located the Naga hideout.  The bosses and invading force would then return, leaving the land mostly intact. What do you think?  Would you rather the mix scenario or straight up PvE?  Any other ideas out there for a return of TM vs SS style combat?  At least these scenarios would finally make the Local Defense channel actually mean something.

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Blizzard has already set the bar for the next expansion. Based on Wrath and The Burning Crusade, players expect to have to level 90. Players expect either new races or a new hero class starting at a high level. Something that not many people talk about but would probably miss is a new tradeskill. Jewelcrafting was very fitting for Burning Crusade; the theme fit in well with the Naaru and the Draeni. Additionally, it added a whole new level of character customization and armor itemization. Inscription worked alright with Wrath; it used herbs as the raw materials, giving Alchemy a run for its money, and also offered some character customization. In a new expansion, should we expect a tradeskill? What kind of role would it fill? One of the first things to note is that a gathering profession would be hard to implement. It would require creating nodes all across all of the zones in order to scale with character level. Unless it started at a high level when you learn it, it seems unlikely that Blizzard would simply implement a new gathering profession without a crafting profession. Supposing they did make a new crafting profession, they have three options for raw materials: ore, leather, or herbs. There are currently three professions which use ore, two that use herbs, and one that uses leather. Enchanting is unique in that it uses equipment as a resource in a sense. The fact that three professions use the products of mining may be indicative of why mining is considered to be the most lucrative gathering profession by a wide number of players. The obvious design choice would be to choose the resource that is used least by professions to create an overall even consumption of resources. But what profession besides leatherworking could work with leather? If we look at the Jewelcrafting and Inscription examples, each of them came with a complementary ability to convert raw materials into processed goods for crafting. But what could you do to leather to turn it into something that doesn't fall into the realm of leatherworking? And what would it create? If not leather, how could we use herbs? A new crafting profession probably would not create armor as its main selling points. For each of the armor classes, there is a profession that creates armor for them. Inscription was reaching with the glyph idea, but its come to be accepted. Weapons are largely in the realm of Blacksmiths, and trinkets are (somewhat) in the realm of Jewelcrafting. Is it even possible with the rate that Blizzard will be coming out with expansions that they can continue to create professions for each one? It seems that for future crafting professions, it is necessary for them to couple new professions with a new feature. With player housing being one of the most requested features, I wonder how this could be implemented. Perhaps Tauren tents could fall in the realm of player housing. It could fall under a "Tanning" profession. Its kind of hard to differentiate what would fall between these, how this would work for the Alliance, and how to create a profession around just this. I think the solution is to give each profession the gathering ability that complements it. With more and more crafting professions and less and less gathering professions, the ratio of total players with crafting professions to players who gather more than they craft is decreasing. Having every player be able to gather materials for their craft would simplify it a lot for new players, as well as make it easier to scale professions together. Leveling through the first 350 levels of each profession could be done either by gathering or crafting, making it much easier. Additionally, theoretical new hero classes or players who drop professions for new ones could skill up easier. The profession bonuses, like Lifeblood and Toughness, have been a little inferior and less customizable than their crafting counterparts, and rolling some things together might make it easier to balance. Continuously adding professions and having characters only be able to choose two does add diversity, but it also may result in a lot of content or mechanics not being consumed or experienced by a large player base. This sort of fits in with my idea of the convergence of crafting and gathering professions that I've expressed in the past. Engineers can now gather from gas clouds, Tailors "gather" more cloth, miners smelt, etc. Most professions can give you money by interacting with the world or by interacting with players and crafting. Later, I'll talk about some speculation behind Woodworking. Do you expect a new profession in the patch, and what would it be, especially if its Maelstrom based?

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Proverb is a 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!

The Great Sundering

One of the lore-richest eras in Warcraft history is the War of the Ancients, in large part due to the trilogy by Richard A. Knaak. I confess that I have only read the first book in the trilogy, but I am working on the rest. The War of the Ancients took place about 10,000 years ago. In short, a sect of night elf sorcerers, called Highborne, wielded arcane energy using the power of a body of water called the Well of Eternity to summon the Burning Legion into the Azeroth, and a great war ensued. The origin of the well is unclear; some sources claim that the Titans created the well when they were shaping Azeroth, but this conflicts with some of the implications in the War of the Ancients trilogy. In any case, it was a endless fount of magical energies that attracted the interests of demons and sorcerers alike. When the war between mortals and demons came to the Well at the Battle of Zin'Azshari, Illidan Stormrage filled seven vials with waters from the well. When the night elves were able to seal off the demonic portal at the Well, a great cataclysm occurred, called The Great Sundering of the world (also referred to as The Cataclysm, which is why most people are certain that this will be the theme of the next WoW expansion). The single continent of Kalimdor shattered into several land masses, and the Well of Eternity became a swirling vortex in the center of the Great Sea known as the Maelstrom. Illidan created a second Well of Eternity on the top of Mount Hyjal using three vials from the original Well. The night elves condemned the creation of a second Well, as reckless use of the first one nearly destroyed Azeroth. Illidan was condemned to confinement, and was not released until about 10,000 years later, during the Third War. At some point, he gave one of the vials to the Highborne, which ended up in the hands of Dath'Remar Sunstrider. Dath'Remar and the Highborne were exiled, and fled to the east. They washed up in Tirisfal and founded the new high elven nation of Quel'thalas. There, they built the wondrous city of Silvermoon and used Dath'Remar's vial to create the Sunwell. I suppose his jailers didn't think to search his body, as he seems to have retained the remaining 3 vials during his imprisonment. Soridormi later claims in the Burning Crusade that they were thought to be lost, but it doesn't seem like they looked very hard. Upon his release and exile from Kalimdor, and his defeat at the hands of Arthas, Illidan fled to Outland with with new lieutenants, Kael'thas Sunstrider and Lady Vashj. Kael'thas became the second in the Sunstrider dynasty to posses a vial, though players in The Burning Crusade recover this vial and the one held by Lady Vashj and give them to Soridormi, who uses them to create the portal in the Caverns of Time that goes to the Battle of Mount Hyjal. The vials were not consumed, and Soridormi retains these two vials. The final vial is not quite accounted for, as Illidan should have been the possessor. Illidan was killed by players at the Temple of Karabor (Black Temple), and his vial was not mentioned. It is unclear if he really held the vial at the time of his death or if he chose another person to claim it, or if he even lost it. It is possible that someone else claimed the vial after his death. If the next expansion really is Maelstrom based, I predict we will see the three remaining vials again. With Nozdormu's possible insanity and his possible role of leader of the Infinite Dragonflight, Soridormi may play a major role. I bet Nozdormu will eventually need to be defeated, and with the theme of the former site of the first Well of Eternity, maybe we will see the current Hyjal open to players and Azshara may have some nefarious scheme with the vials. Thanks for the comments on the last post! I always learn a lot from our readers, so keep helping me learn about the history of Warcraft. Let me know what you want to see in future editions of Proverb, and if you like more speculation or my recounting of the lore.

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That's A Lot Of Classes! To date, our series of speculative creativity has relied upon some inkling of a rumor as the basis of most of the pieces.  I am going to pull a hard 180 and go completely off the cuff with this one.  No backroom discussion, drunken rant or friend of a friend who knows a guy that dated some girl who roomed with Chris Metzen sparked my neurons.  As such, the class details below are entirely fake! Currently we only know one thing about World of Warcraft's third expansion, that it exists.  Beyond that it's all been conjecture, speculation and well wishes, and yet none of these have touched upon any major gameplay feature.  Masks aside (and I consider that rumor a huge leap of faith) we lack the faintest idea of what could be announced as part of the official declaration of expansion the third. What you thought Sams would walk to the podium, whisper "World of Warcraft: Cataclysm" and walk away?  Fólkvangr no.  There will be a ridiculous amount of information given that faithful day, whenever it may be.  What I am trying to figure out is what the big gun is going to be?  Another new class?  A pair of new races?  An incredible amount of dungeons and raids spread across all levels?  A working Wintergrasp? I found the idea of new classes to be the most interesting despite the fact that Wrath just brought us one.  That and guessing classes is a shot in the dark. Alliance:

• Mountain King (Dwarf only) - The mighty Mountain King will be a tank of a different nature.  These steadfast warriors will be capable of absorbing obtuse amounts of damage no matter their specialty.  Their stocky stature enables them to create earth shattering Thunder Claps to frighten, disorient and slow foes in the immediate vicinity, and a well-timed Storm Bolt stops almost anything in its tracks.  Unfortunately the bulk is a defensive mechanism, causing overall DPS to be lower than other melee classes.
• Warden - Popularized by Maiev Shadowsong, the Warden makes a return to reclaim Fan of Knives from rogues hunt those who have done injustices to Night Elves, and the rest of the Alliance.  The nimble class' focus will be close-ranged AoE combat.  Single target DPS suffers when compared to the class' ability to handle two or more mobs via close range AoE attacks and spells.  Shadowstrike, a non-channeled, multi target Mind Flay can be used to lay waste to fugitives.

Horde:

• Dark Ranger (Undead only) - At the basic level Dark Rangers are to be compared to their bow-loving buddies, the Hunters, but DRs have a completely new set of spells and abilities.  The most notable difference would be the lack of a pet.  Instead of fuzzy companions these former Scourge officers have the ability to resurrect fallen corpses to fight for them.  However, these beings act more as fodder than DPS.  The devastation instead comes from the DR's Silencing abilities, Life Drain and an overall more powerful, yet slower, standard shot that is charged with dark energy.
• Dread Lord - The Nathrezim have played a large role in the Warcraft universe, but haven't received much press in WoW (at least as far as the Alliance can tell).  It's unlikely that they could be added as a class without the addition of the race itself, but the Dread Lord makes for an interesting class.  These dastardly beings are quick attacking, weaponless fighters that use a mix of instant or fast spells (one second or less) and strong claw-based attacks to drop foes.  A revamp of the Sleep spell that allows units to be damaged would be their stun and the Vampiric Aura adds fantastic group appeal.

Neutral (more on this tomorrow):

• Goblin Tinker - Another class that can only be applicable as part of a new race, the Goblin Tinker specializes in machine-based battle.  The short race makes up for its strength inadequacies by placing themselves in crazy battle mechs.  The new class will feature mindless, summonable minions which detonate on aggressive mobs if they are not killed quickly.  Attacks include a targetable rocket AoE stun, a slow swinging wrecking ball for white damage (also another weaponless class) and a personal buff along the lines of Inner Fire, but with damage attributes too, call Mechanical Mayhem.
• Goblin Alchemist - In an effort to once keep a solid number of healers being played at all times comes the Goblin Alchemist.  Instead of mechanical ingenuity, this diminutive class relies on its ability to create chemical and biological agents for offense and defense.  Alchemists specialize in short to mid-range AoE combat, with nearly all of their spells, healing or damaging, being targetable AoE abilities (think bombs).  Instead of mana, the class is reliant upon how fast the brews can be concocted, causing the cooldowns to be the only limiting factor.
• Demon Hunter - The DH would have made a more logical addition in The Burning Crusade, but one could argue that the amount of demons in the world then caused an vast increase in these heroes, on both sides of the fence.  With the threat largely neutralized the dedicated hunters have begun looking for other work.  Following the outcast class' lore, the melee (fist, swords and dagger) machines would subsidize their strikes with powers from the dark taint they hunger to banish from Azeroth, such as Immolation.  Spectral Sight allows Scourge and Demon tracking.  A fantastic chance for Blizzard to show our characters changing over the course of time (leveling) thanks to the demonic energies corrupting one's body.

Any Warcraft III fan can see that I picked the most applicable and unique heroes from the past lore and spiced them up with some World of Warcraft twists and mechanics.  What are the odds that one of these bad girls gets selected, assuming a new class is announced?  Who's the most likely candidate? Which toon would you want to play?  Personally I think the Goblin Alchemist sounds pretty freaking cool, but Storm Bolting never gets old.

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Source image courtesy of MMO-Champion. It is often that we find hints of new or as-yet-unreleased content by carefully and dutifully digging through the files of new patches. Few are better at this than Boubouille of MMO-Champion, a site nearly unparalleled at breaking this brand of news for our favorite game. But I'm not so sure about one of their latest. Boubouille has managed to scrounge up several graphics of Hallow's End masks that depict both Goblins and Worgen. Traditionally, these masks have only been made from playable races, and the next expansion is predicted to focus primarily on the Maelstrom, which would theoretically feature zones such as the Goblin home city of Undermine and the isolated kingdom of Gilneas (which may or may not have fallen victim to a Worgen invasion -- after all, it is suspiciously close to Shadowfang Keep!). Little has been confirmed by Blizzard themselves, but the evidence certainly tips in favor of these races being prominent players in forthcoming events, if not completely playable. So what's holding me back? Not excitement, that's for sure. Worgen would be a great addition, and it'd be nice for the Horde to have their very own little people. But the fact of the matter is that both Goblins and Worgen (read: werewolves) are creatures traditionally associated with Halloween, which may explain the inclusion of their masks for the holiday. Despite my skepticism, there is one key point that intrigues me: there is a female Worgen mask. Of course, this is only fair and in keeping with the tradition of offering a mask of both genders for players to wear, but I'm not aware of any female Worgen currently existing in the game (at least none that take on an appearance apart from the generic model). Looking at the image provided by MMO-Champion, you can see softer, almond-shaped eyes and a smaller nose, perhaps implying that they might account for playable options in the future. Ultimately, everything at this point is simply an educated guess, but Blizz's own loremaster, Chris Metzen, has stated that they are "doing some awesome stuff for Gilneas." Worgen are apparently naturally evil, battle-worn creatures, but it wouldn't be beyond reason to see them do a turn for the Alliance. After all, the story of Warcraft is all about people or races being redeemed or damned through their actions. Darkspear Trolls shied away from the cannibalism prevalent amongst their people, the Forsaken have made strides to separate themselves from the Scourge, and who can forget the once benevolent High Elves transforming into magic-addicted wretches after the corruption of the Sunwell? Who's to say there isn't some small contingent of Worgen trying to earn their place in the world by rising above their race's natural anger and ferocity? The discovery of these masks certainly gives us food for thought, if no concrete answers. Teasing us this far ahead of the expansion is awfully cruel of Blizzard, but if they are in the files now, might that imply that we'll see a release before the next time Hallow's End rolls around? I'm eager to know how everyone else feels about this development. Is Blizzard just playfully baiting their fans (as they have for so long with the Pandaren), or is this serious evidence of things to come? If playable, do you think that Goblins and Worgen are locks for the Horde and Alliance respectively? Which would you like to play as, and would you be willing to switch factions just to do so? And why does that female Goblin mask look exactly like Fiona from Shrek?

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