Project Lore

This post may contain spoilers for anyone who hasn't played through the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. With the beginnings of Icecrown Citadel now on the PTR, it seems that the death of Arthas is on a lot of peoples' minds. If you've been playing Wrath of the Lich King, you're certainly at least vaguely familiar with the, well, wrath that the Lich King has brought to Azeroth. You've seen the destruction of waves of scourge under his command and the legions of indigenous peoples of Northrend enslaved under his control. But what of Arthas Menethil, the fallen paladin prince who ultimately unleashed the full power of the Lich King by merging with him? Arthas' story is, indeed, a tragic one. The only son of King Terenas Menethil II, Prince Arthas was a promising swordsman as a youth and a member of the purest paladin group, the Knights of the Silver Hand. He may have been perhaps a bit too quick to action, but the prince became a well-known, renowned warrior who, among other exploits, defended Quel'Thalas from an attack by a group of forest trolls. Perhaps the turning point in Arthas' life came with the rise of the plague of undeath. While investigating the plague, Arthas and his group, including Jaina Proudmoore, fight an undead army and encounter Kel'Thuzad, the plague-bringing necromancer. During this attack, Kel'Thuzad mentions Mal'Ganis. On their way to Stratholme and Mal'Ganis, Arthas learns that the plague is not just killing innocent people; but turning them into an undead army. Every soldier who had fallen while defending Lordaeron would become an undead puppet. Arthas, who wanted to be the one in control of the situation, was perhaps driven a little crazy knowing that even in his death, Kel'Thuzad had triumphed. As it turns out, this was the Lich King's intention all along. Although the prophet Medivh and Jaina both suggest that Arthas should head to Kalimdor and not to Stratholme, Athas' headstrong manner guides him against that advice. He drives onward to another spot of his unraveling. Arthas pledged to do anything to protect his people - even if it meant the extreme step of killing those who were on the brink of becoming undead in the Culling of Stratholme. Some viewed it as murder; But I see it as the tragic fall of a hero - Arthas sacrificed his own humanity in the hopes that it would prevent the spread of the plague. Perhaps haunted by what he had done, Arthas grows ever-obsessed with the intention of eradicating the plague. He tracks the source to Northrend and, once again in the hopes that it will help protect his people, takes up the cursed runeblade Frostmourne. As we know, it has quite the opposite effect. From there, the downfall becomes rapid. Arthas begins losing his soul and his sanity. He finally destroys Mal'Ganis, but only to help free the Lich King and take control of the Scourge. Eventually, the Lich King and Arthas become one... or do they? Perhaps with the approaching climactic battles of Icecrown Citadel in Patch 3.3, we shall see. Could Arthas' true consciousness still be buried deep within the Lich King? Or has he been so completely tainted that he never could be found again? I would draw a comparison to Star Wars' Anakin Skywalker, so consumed by the Dark Side that he lost his true self until just before his death. Take that a step further - what if, by chance, Arthas knew that taking up the Frostmourne would eventually kill the Lich King by giving him a human form, and he was willing to lose himself in the process? Would the end justify the means? Personally, I'd like to see the former Arthas come out once again (and it seems some of you would, too), somehow, in Icecrown Citadel. But even if he did somehow live and separate himself from the Lich King, could he redeem himself after all the horror he inflicted upon his people? If given the choice, would you allow Arthas to have a second chance?

Click to read more ...

The PTR is abuzz with all sorts of changes right now, at least when people aren't getting disconnected! Through the 30 second gaps of up-time, though, I managed to score a few screenshots of the new quest tracking features that Blizzard's been working on. And guess what? They're integrated right into the World Map! I knew something had to be up when I read this in the patch notes:

Quest Tracking Feature

• This system is currently under development and is not fully functional.

And apparently, this is it: As you can see, your quest log is now integrated into the map screen when you bring it up (though if you prefer the old log, you can still use it by hitting the appropriate icon). Checking a box in the lower-right corner will allow you to actively track objectives on the map. Presumably, the numbers that correspond to quests in the panel on the right while be displayed on the world map where your goal is. Sadly, this must be the part of the system that "is not fully functional" just yet. As for that green box in the upper-right corner? The final graphic obviously hasn't been added just yet, but clicking on it allows you to window the world map, something you couldn't do previously without add-ons like Cartographer. Here's what it looks like: Since the feature is still in development, it's not guaranteed that it will make it to live servers in the form you see it here, but I'm still rather excited by changes like this. If I can log onto the test server for more than a few minutes (I haven't even had enough time to re-allocate my talent points), I'll be sure to bring you more (and, hopefully, some details about the new 5-man dungeon that is currently open for testing). What think you of this feature, good readers?

Click to read more ...

The Forge of Souls

With patch 3.2.2 now live, the next major patch on the radar is patch 3.3. It introduces three new 5-man dungeons with both normal and heroic modes, as well as Icecrown Citadel, the flagship raid of Wrath of the Lich King where players will face off against Arthas. The 5 man instances will be three wings of "the Frozen Halls." Players will be assisting one of their faction's heroes, either Sylvanas Windrunner or Jaina Proudmoore, as they infiltrate Icecrown Citadel through an alternative entrance while the Argent Crusade and Knights of the Ebon Blade attack the main gates. An epic questline will lead players through the three instances, and players must participate in the questline in order to get attuned to the second and third dungeons.

Scary

The first wing, The Forge of Souls, tasks players with assisting their faction's hero to destroy machines known as "soul grinders." The instance has two bosses who operate the machines: Bronjahm, the Godfather of Souls, and The Devourer of Souls. The second wing, Pit of Saron, is home to Scourgelord Tyrannus. Players will free soldiers of their faction to assist them in combating Tyrannus. It is not clear who or what this "Saron" is. Players will apparently get clues as to where Arthas' private chambers outside of the Frozen Throne are. Three bosses inhabit this instance: Forgemaster Garfrost, Krick and Ick, and Scourgelord Tyrannus. The final hall, the Halls of Refection, seems to house Frostmourne, the legendary weapon that the Lich King wields. Players, accompanied by their faction's hero, will ultimately confront Arthas. It is unknown how this encounter will progress. Two encounters exist in this instance: Falric and Marwyn, and The Lich King. More information can be dug up at the official World of Warcraft website.

10-man	ilvl	25-man
Naxx	200
KT, EoE	213	Naxx
Ulduar	219
IC 5 mans	219
Ulduar hard	226	Ulduar, KT/EoE
CC	232	Ulduar weapons
IC heroics	232
	239	Ulduar hard
CC hard	245	CC
	258	CC hard
IC Raid	??
	??	IC raid

This information is flooring. Not only is it a lore-gasm, but the loot here is astoundingly good. Players can grab iLevel 219 loot in the normal version of the instances, and iLevel 232 gear in the heroic version. That puts the normal mode on par with Ulduar 10-man, and the heroic version gear on par with 10 man Crusader's Coliseum loot. The full, updated iLevel chart is on the left. The first two wings seem to introduce new characters as bosses, but the final wing, Halls of Reflection, bring back Arthas' two old commanders, Falric and Marwyn as bosses. It was unconfirmed prior to this announcement if they were truly undead. They were last seen accompanying Arthas into King Terenas II's chamber to slaughter him and signal the downfall of the human kingdom of Lordaeron. And who knows of what nature the encounter with Arthas will have? He will not be defeated here, as he is the final boss of the 10/25 man raid instance. Jaina is seeking any humanity left of him, so perhaps this will be some shade of Arthas' soul. I, for one, look forward to accompanying Sylvanas to hunt Arthas to the death.

Click to read more ...

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?

Click to read more ...

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!

Click to read more ...

Yes, I Know My Achievement Score Sucks & No, I Do Not Care It's been just over a month since the Secrets of Ulduar stopped being secretive and brought us the Argent Tournament.  The new Icecrown area was designed to raise the level of solo content for those players who wouldn't be entering Ulduar any time soon, or ever.  And we enjoyed it for awhile. I've only missed 3 days worth of dailies since the tournament went live and would consider myself a bit of an expert on the subject.  Don't believe me?  Well then how about this dose of arrogance; I can down all four Champions for Among the Champions without healing my stead.  That really should be an Achievement in my humble opinion.  Doing anything that many days in a row leads to a bit of burnout and I am no exception.  I can't wait until either new Argent Tournament content is added - how long does a coliseum take to build anyways? - or I can stop grinding those Champion's Seals.  Only 70 more to go till I grab the five-some of pets, then it's back to grinding for the Hippogryph. Enough background and qualifying information.  The major fault of the tournament isn't that the content gets stale quickly, or even that it's more financially rewarding to not Champion every faction, it is the design of the Citadel quests.  Actually, not the quests themselves, but the area of Corp'rethar itself.  I'm lucky enough to have time in the morning to tackle my dailies when most people aren't online.  Over the course of the month+ I have had to delay those tasks till peak hours, a time when the Court of Bones turns into a mini Wintergrasp.  If I had to deal with the lag and lack of mobs on a daily basis I think I would have quit the Argent Tournament a long time ago. At first I wrote off the problem as being due to the allure of new content, and wholeheartedly expected the area to become a wasteland in the near future.  Last week's afternoon Citadel run told me otherwise.  How did Blizzard not see this coming?  They basically took the crowds of Dalaran, tossed them into a single confined area and have them fight over a limited resource (although quickly respawning).  Who approved that design document? With the reduction of the Hippogrpyh's price, the bird has been re-added to list of things to purchase.  This means I only have...44 days left.  Those added quests and chance to score a Seal from the purses can't come soon enough.  Solidsamm deserves a break after the pets. Do you experience this kind of lag, or is it limited to my aging and crowded server?  Still plugging away at those Seals?

Click to read more ...

With patch 3.1 expected to hit live realms in the next 2-3 weeks, its time to start speculating about patch 3.2! We know that patch 3.3 or 3.4 (probably 3.4) will introduce Icecrown Citadel, but it is uncertain what the other two patches are to contain. Patch 3.3 is known to progress the Ashbringer storyline, but its unclear if this will be Icecrown Citadel or not. Not every "point" release has brought with it new raid or even new dungeon content. Zarhym did say that patch 3.2 would contain a new dungeon back in October in an interview with Curse, but he could have meant battleground. While most patches have released new PvE content, patches as late as 2.2 have not contained new PvE content. Patch 2.2 added in-game voice chat, Brewfest, and Hallow's End, as well as UI and feature additions. Expecting 4 PvE content patches for Wrath might not be completely accurate. There are many potential old-world zones that could be used for new raids. Grim Batol has a rich history with the dragons, which could easily work into the Wrath storyline. Neltharion is hiding somewhere out there, and Grim Batol may be that place. Alternatively, Uldum (in Tanaris) could be the logical progression to Ulduar, as there are many loose threads in the story involving Uldum. Hyjal is still not a finished zone, nor is Gilneas, and there are yet some unnamed zones on the map. Blizzard has stated that they want to keep the old world relevant, as they did in patch 2.4 by bringing players back to the Sunwell, and I don't think its unlikely that one of these zones will be added in either patch 3.2, 3.3, or 3.4. However, I think its likely that 3.2 will not contain a new major raid zone. There are several reasons why I think this. We have been teased with a new battleground that is on the scale of Alterac Valley, and AV marks have been re-added to the requirement for For Great Honor/Concerted Efforts. The battleground has been described as "epic", on the scale of AV. Additionally, they say they are "revamping" the battleground system to reward skill in PvP more than they have. Additionally, Arena has been receiving a lot of attention with rating reworking changes to open it up to new players and the tournament. Blizzard may be trying to draw players to PvP. Hardcore PvP certainly brings WoW into the spotlight as a competitive game and may prolong its lifespan. Thus, I predict 3.2 will largely be a PvP patch. Wintergrasp will be overhauled and rethought with the lessons learned since the release of Wrath, battleground rewards will be reworked, and the new battleground will be introduced. This would fit in with the theme of Horde vs. Alliance that Blizzard is attempting to re-kindle with things like the post-Wrathgate events and whatnot. To satisfy PvE players, I bet they open up another short raid in the Chamber of the Aspects. There are 5 portals there, and we don't really know whats going in those. Its likely that Blizzard will reserve one or two of them for the next expansion to keep players coming to Northrend (maybe the green portal if its Emerald Dream themed), but I doubt we won't see more open soon. Maybe the blue portal will open in response to the end of the Nexus war. One battleground that has faded into obscurity is Azshara Crater. It was originally alluded to all the back in patch 1.3 (released March 7th, 2005) and is brought up now and again. The terrain is in the game files and appears to be Tauren vs. Night Elf themed. The entrances are already made on the Forlorn Ridge. The Tauren have not been the key faction in any battleground, and the blood elves may also be interested in Azshara. Perhaps the zone will be further developed and the battleground added. The battleground is known to be on the scale of AV and since there was already so much development on it, perhaps it will be implemented. Blizzard had lots of problems balancing AV for a long time, but now that they claim they are satisfied with game legnth and win ratio of the factions, it may be time to see another "epic" battleground. What would you like to see in patch 3.2? More raids, more dungeons, or more PvP?

Click to read more ...

What, no meal with this flight?

Before Wrath hit, I admitted that I was awaiting its release far more than its predecessor, The Burning Crusade. Blizzard Entertainment planned to do things with The Burning Crusade that I just did not agree with. And if you ever state a fact along those lines in General Chat, you'll know that one of the first responses you will receive is “Quit if you don't like it.” The thing is, I actually did.

I was only gone a few months, but I tried to show my disdain for some of their choices by slightly lowering their income. I highly doubt they noticed. Shortly after my return, solid details of Wrath started pouring onto the Internet, but I only needed one detail, that the Lich King would be in the expansion. Once the storyline was revealed to include and extend Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne's theme, I was as good as signed up. The other stuff was just icing.

The quest designers really, I mean REALLY wanted players to understand what is going on in Northrend. One would have to be incredibly feeble-minded (or adverse to questing) not to see that Arthas, aka The Lich King, has his talons in everything and sees all.

While putzing around Zul'Drak I picked up the Unliving Choker from a random mob. During my routine vendoring of my junk, I realized that it was actually a quest item that begins the Betrayal quest line. The chance at spying on the Scourge, by disguising myself as one, was enough of a motivator to send me off on my way. The Achievement hungry will be happy to know that it is one part of a two quest chain Achievement for Zul'Drak.

/me spams Vanish

The chain is much longer than that of the Storm Giant's, but to be honest, the gameplay isn't as cool. The chain lacks the destructive qualities of Gymer, but makes up for it in story, which Gymer severely lacked. If only the designers could have merged the strengths of both. Zul'Drak has already hit me with two chains that I have loved enough to highlight here. Safe to say that it is a pretty solid zone, and from what I am told, Icecrown only gets better. Can't wait.

Towards the middle of the chain it becomes abundantly clear why the chain is called what it is. The twist – if you can really call it that – reminded me of something a great man once said “Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!”

I miss that show.

Click to read more ...