Project Lore

Thrall, Jaina, Varian, Sylvanas, Magni, these are all leaders that we hold some attachment to.  Wrath of the Lich King has brought new dynamics to the characters (and in some cases armor), shown new sides of their psyche, and reinforced others.  They are more than familiar characters to players thanks to trailers, quests, and in-game interactions, but that's only four of the ten leaders.  The rest, well they've faded into the limelight, retreated from the throws of war, usually the Third War, to live a life of relative peace.  Or Blizzard just hasn't bothered writing them into a storyline.

Ordered in relative uselessness, from least to most:

Cairne Bloodhoof - Cairne is the first good ole boy from the Third War.  Thanks to his veteran status he's seen as one of the wisest leaders of the Horde.  Like most wise people he takes an incredible amount of time to make a decision - we assume he's busy weighing all the complexities - which have put him at odds with quick-to-decide people like Garrosh. Cairne hasn't done much for players lately, but he's been grooming his son for eventual leadership.  An act that has many people wondering about his immediate future.  This reason alone keeps him somewhat relevant.

Tyrande Whisperwind - Her elfen complexion drew me to the Warcraft 3 box like you wouldn't believe, and later art only reaffirmed her sex symbol status in Warcraft lore (just don't look at her high school picture).  It should be no shock that brothers fought over her affection in their early years.  The love triangle between herself, Malfurion and Illidan was a driving force in Warcraft 3, one that went unrequited until Illidan's demise in The Burning Crusade.  Something she wasn't a part of.  The leader of the night elves hasn't been a major player in the lore since Malfurion became trapped in the Emerald Dream, which was before WoW was launched.  She's made cameos - the battle against Eranikus and a spot in the WoW comic - but nothing serious.  We may be stuck with emo Tyrande until the Emerald dream finally opens.

Vol'jin - As the leader of the most under-played race in the game it's not that surprising that the witchdoctor is underutilized.  Outside of a couple of quests and a cameo in the Battle for the Undercity, Vol'jin has been largely ignored by the writing staff.  It seems that his sole purpose is his little bromance with Thrall, the savior of him and his people during the Warcraft 3 campaign. 

Gelbin Mekkatorque - The exiled leader of the gnomes is easily the least useful racial leader in the game.  He has little background, had no known place in the earlier wars and continues to suck at fending off the Horde invaders.  He even allowed his once prosperous city to be usurped by Thermaplug thanks to his unwillingness to ask for aid from the nearby dwarves.  I guess it only makes sense that the most useless leader is the leader of the race with the least lore.  It's worth mentioning that we know more aboutThermaplug, Mekkatorque's former adviser, than the deposed leader himself.

I'm not suggesting that we simply kill off nostalgic cast members to get things moving, as LoreCrafted has, but something needs to be done.  These are the leaders of entire people, and yet Saurfang and Garrosh receive far more face time and global impact than the entire list.  I hope the reboot of WoW via Cataclysm gives these heroes a new drive.  Frankly, they've been without a storyline, central role or even a major side quest, for far too long. 

Could Velen and Lor'themar have been included in this list?  Possibly, but they were a large part of The Burning Crusade and have had some impact on the world since we headed to Northrend.  Those four, not so much.

There's been one specific horse trampling his mark all over WoW news this week, and his name is Invincible. On the official World of Warcraft website Wednesday, Blizzard unveiled a page devoted to Arthas' horse along with the news that the Invincible Charger mount will drop upon defeat of the Lich King in Icecrown Citadel, on heroic difficulty. The site also goes into considerable depth on the history of Invincible -- in both life and undeath -- and just why he is so epic and frightening:

The mare Brightmane gave birth to Invincible as a young Prince Arthas watched with rapt attention. In the years following Invincible's birth, the horse and Arthas formed a bond that carried them across the warring nations of Azeroth, through the icy grip of death, and into the throes of battle. The stallion's coiled muscles were made for speed, and Arthas often felt that his mount flew rather than galloped across the countryside.

With the slightest touch of his heel, Arthas was able to convey his directions, and Invincible obeyed without question or hesitation. It was Invincible's unfaltering faith in his master that inevitably led to the stallion's death and unholy rebirth. On a cold winter afternoon as snow was blanketing the ground, Arthas was desperate to get away from the city even if it meant riding through harsh and unforgiving weather. Once outside, Arthas guided Invincible over a familiar jump, but the stallion slipped on slick ice, and the fall shattered his forelegs.With no way to save his companion, Arthas was forced to give Invincible a merciful death, and the prince carried that guilt with him for a very long time.

Years later, after the Lich King granted Arthas necromantic powers, Arthas returned to the grave where he had buried Invincible and raised his loyal servant into undeath. It was in this dark act that Arthas felt a sense of purpose. He believed that Invincible's death was not an accident; rather, it was essential to Arthas's destiny. Invincible was not bred to be a warhorse, but after he was brought back from the dead and made immune to hunger, pain, and exhaustion, he became the perfect steed for Arthas.

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Welcome to The High Inquisitor, where Project Lore pokes fun at all those crazy, unexplained WoW impossibilities. While the answers to these great mysteries of Azeroth often are a matter of game mechanics, here we’re less interested in that aspect, and more interested in exploring our own unique brand of lore that could happily provide explanations. The inquisitor will make her own suggestions, and the best comment(s) with more possibilities will be highlighted with the next edition’s inquisition.

It's the dead of January, and my usually decently warm spot in the world on the eastern coast of the U.S. is downright frigid. Even my friends in Florida have been seeing wintry temperatures below freezing. It's days like today that I'm happy to escape to Azeroth. ...But wait!

The different zones of Azeroth remain basically the same year-round. Northrend is a chilly place no matter what time of year, seemingly stuck in a perpetual winter. And Durotar... well, have you ever seen snow there, or anywhere else that it doesn't fall regularly? What is going on with the seasons of Azeroth!?

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Finally, this week saw a return to somewhat normalcy in-game, after about two weeks of haphazard scheduling around the holidays. Starting the week of Christmas and stretching through New Years, my own guild and many others I know of saw a startling halt to raiding, despite all that new content and drool-worthy loot within Icecrown Citadel. I was able to sneak in a couple hours here and there for the weekly raids and a few daily randoms. Then toward the end of my extended vacation, I had a couple of entirely empty days that I chose to fill with WoW. With few others in my guild on, I decided to catch up on some questing that I've pretty much abandoned (other than dailies) since hitting 80. I finished up quests in Zul'Drak, remembering the days when that content was incredibly difficult, spent a little time in Storm Peaks, and continued on to Icecrown. And something struck me: Arthas really has left his mark all over Azeroth. Of course, with hordes of undead minions roaming the planet, you can see Arthas' imprint everywhere. But through questing, you see more the larger essence of his influence. Such is the case with a quest chain starting at Sindragosa's fall that leads the adventurer through some key moments in Arthas' life. It begins with meeting a ghostly childish figure, Matthias Lehner, who gives you the quest Where Dragons Fell and you witness the Raising of Sindragosa. In subsequent quests, you play as Arthas and see him kill his own soldiers then raise them as undead, then battle Illidan Stormrage. I don't want to give anything away to others of you who may not have seen the line, so I'll simply say that the questline concludes with a heart-pounding confrontation between the Lich King and the heroes who are fighting against him. I've heard others reference this questline before (mainly through comments on my post asking whether Arthas can be redeemed, a question which I still think is valid despite the conclusion of the questline). But since it's something that easily can be overlooked on the grind to 80, I hadn't actually seen it for myself. So if you, too, find some time leading up to the battle with the Lich King, I recommend seeking out this ghostly little boy (whose name, by the way, is an anagram of Arthas Menethil) and playing through it for yourself. Now that the battle is nearing, has anyone else found themselves thinking through some of these older quest lines involving Arthas? Do you think we can draw any clues about the final encounter from them?

[caption id="attachment_9252" align="alignright" width="298" caption="Snow flurries count as action, right?"][/caption] Tokyopop returned to the forefront of Warcraft's extended universe by releasing its ninth Warcraft related manga, World of Warcraft: Death Knight, two weeks ago.  The book marks the first in the line of class-based stories, and artist Rocio Zucchi's first major undertaking.  Writer Dan Jolley has had numerous cracks in the business, even penning a Warcraft short for each of the first three Warcraft: Legends collections. Death Knight tells, and retells, the story of Thassarian, the first of his kind to break from Arthas' grasp and rejoin the Alliance.  Thass is by no means a stranger to WoW players, acting as one of the main quest givers during a death knight's fight for freedom.  The upside to that is that Thassarian's known lore allows Jolley and Zucchi to recant an incredibly brutal story.  Jolley's tale is one full of action.  Not long battles of wit and spell casting mind you, but confrontations of well executed strikes that result in a quick, and grisly deaths and dismemberment.  Even chickens were beheaded. Much of these battles follow previously known atrocities committed by Arthas and his minions.  The sacking of Lordaeron, the battle at Light's Hope Chapel, and Frostmourne Cavern are all retold from Thassarian's perspective, with each being a key moment in death knight's life.  Key moments that anyone familiar with today's lore can easily detail.  By and large the only new chapters of the story are Thassarian's beginnings.  His love of the farm, duty to his family and ambitious military career are the few poignant aspects of his life not previously known to lore nerds.  For a lorejunky like myself, the only redeeming quality of the later chapters is Jolley's interpretation of the Lich King, how he speaks with and controls his minions. It's quite apparent after reading WoW: Death Knight that Jolley's creativity was handcuffed by Thassarian's standing lore.  Rather than being able to craft any character he wanted, he was constrained to using specific events, interjecting small bits of lore and details as he went.  For those that have focused on the current lore, and death knights especially, the story is largely known.  But Jolley's dialog, and the few aspects of new lore shine through and continue to show us that he's a capable writer in our favorite universe.  Capable enough that he should be crafting his own stories, in short or long format. Zuchhi's freshman outing wasn't constrained like Jolley's, enabling her skills to highlight Jolley's action-packed tale clearly and efficiently.  I never once had to rescan a pane to understand the art, a common issue I have in action manga. World of Warcraft manga will continue with Richard Knaak's June 2010 installment, WoW: Mage.  Little is known about the plot, but it has been disclosed that Mage features Kirin Tor's Dalaran, and (sadly) Knaak's pet character Rhonin will be in the title, but (thankfully) not the main character.  Mage will be followed by WoW: Shaman, that has no known author currently.  Tokyopop has stated that Shaman, another 2010 release, will tie-in with Cataclysm.

Anyone who's completed Wrathgate knows exactly why Varimathras, Sylvanas' second-in-command, and Grand Apothecary Putress have disappeared from Undercity.  After such a betrayal it's expected that the rest of the Horde would become a little weary of The Forsaken, thus replacing the abomination guards with orc defenders.  We knew the change was coming too.  But we didn't know that the changes, adding orc guards and Bragor Bloodfist, would break the continuity of one of the Horde's earliest questlines. It turns out that the change wasn't entirely phased, causing the abom guardians to disappear from the game for Wrathgate veterans and level 10 players alike.  Yet the early plague-creating quest from Varimathras (getting the books from RFC) is still available from a new orc NPC (to preserve the quest for the lore achievements).  Thus, the change has caused a paradox for lowbies.  Why are we tasked with retrieving the books from Ragefire Chasm if Varimathras already has them, as evidenced by his disappearance? Blizzard took the easy road on this one.  Rather than spending the time to phase all of the NPCs, abominations, Varim and Putress pre-Wrathgate, orcs and Bloodfist post-Wrathgate, the developer dropped in an unexplained replacement for Varimathras, and had orcs unstich the aboms.  Okay fine, maybe phasing all of that would have been too time consuming, or difficult.  At the very least the book quest should have been modified to skirt the paradox by asking for different, less volatile items. Who knows if the early parts of this memorable quest line will remain in Cataclysm.  Maybe that could explain the laziness.  I think that with all the players re-running old content Blizzard would be careful not to break continuity.  Especially when it could have been so easily avoided.

In commemoration of  the release of the final major content patch of Wrath of the Lich King, we've decided to stroll down memory lane to generate some of our own Top 10 lists. So between now and the probably still somewhat distant release of Cataclysm, we'll be taking a look back at the best (and worst) that WotLK brought to World of Warcraft. Let's start out with a fun one: The top 10 best boss battlecries (5-man dungeon edition). We have yet to see all that Icecrown Citadel has to offer in this category, so we can save the 10- and 25-man edition for another time. Let's get rolling.

10. "Soft, vulnerable shells. Brief, fragile lives. You can not escape the curse of flesh!" Oh, those cuddly vrykul have such a way with words. These ones were uttered by Sjonnir The Ironshaper in the Halls of Stone.

9. "The master surveyed his kingdom and found it... lacking. His judgment was swift and without mercy: DEATH TO ALL!" The first new dungeon makes its appearance on my list. Marwyn in the Halls of Reflection takes all of the Lich King's murderous malice and sums it up well. Out of all bosses here, he seemingly takes a LOT of pleasure out of killing, also telling players things like "Death is all that you will find here!" and "I saw the same look in his eyes when he died. Terenas could hardly believe it. Hahahaha!"

8. "I have witnessed the rise and fall of empires. The birth and extinction of entire species. Over countless millennia the foolishness of mortals has remained the only constant. Your presence here confirms this. My master has shown me the future, and you have no place in it. Azeroth will be reborn in darkness. Yogg-Saron shall be released! The Pantheon shall fall!" The somewhat long-winded Loken in the Halls of Lighting shows his eloquent side with a nice soliloquy. Perhaps he should have put that misguided passion into the heroes of Azeroth.

7. "Tiny creatures under feet, you bring Garfrost something good to eat!" If you haven't been to the Pit of Saron yet, make sure you go soon and pay Forgemaster Garfrost a visit. I like him because he seems not so much evil -- just hungry, enslaved and stupid. Upon bashing his own food sources (which would be you) with a boulder, he yells in disdain, "That one maybe not so good to eat now. Stupid Garfrost! BAD! BAD!"

6. "We fought back da Scourge. What chance joo be thinkin' JOO got?" Gundrak's Moorabi has a point. And a sexy accent. And he gives you a HELL of a time as you try for that stupid-luck achievement Less-Rabi. But he'll die in the end.

5. "You spoiled my grand entrance, rat. Did you honestly think that an agent of the Lich King would be bested on the field of your pathetic little tournament? I've come to finish my task. This farce ends -- here!" Perhaps it's not so much the Black Knight's words that put him on my list, but the mini-event in which he flies in and disrupts the Trial of the Champion. Plus, if you've done any of the Argent Tournament quests, there's some pretty intriguing lore that leads up to his death.

4. "Your heartbeat is music to my ears... I am nowhere. I am everywhere. I am the watcher, unseen." In Ahn'Kahet: The Old Kingdom, Prince Taldaram's vampiric ways and flame sphere ability are annoying. But he invokes the calm and collected exterior of a proper blood-drinker when addressing his enemies.

3. "You invade my home and then dare to challenge me? I will tear the hearts from your chests and offer them as gifts to the death god! Rualg nja gaborr." Another vrykul appears on the list! This time it's King Ymiron in Utgarde Pinnacle, who wants to rip you apart more than any other. His violent nature continues as he screams, "Ranulf of the Screaming Abyss, snuff these maggots with darkest night!"

2. "I'LL PAINT MY FACE WITH YOUR BLOOD!!" Utguard Keep's Ingvar the Plunderer, yet another vrykul, tells us about his creative plans for our entrails. This also has become a great battlecry among guildies (as popularized by Scott Johnson of The Instance) and is just a fun thing to yell at random crowds in Dalaran. It would have been atop my list if not for the appearance of the Lich King in Halls of Reflection. (SPOILERS AHEAD!)

1. "There is no escape! Succumb to the chill of the grave! Another dead end..." How could the Lich King NOT be at the top of the list? This first time you face him in HoR, you’re mostly just running away. But his confident yet totally pissed off manner of steadily following your retreat is terrifying. No, you will not down the Lich King in a 5-man dungeon. You can only run away. A fitting lead up to the battle ahead at Icecrown Citadel, and yet another way for Blizzard to up the tension factor for the climax of WotLK. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say at the very end.

With Patch 3.3 out, all most of us can think of going forward is the release of Cataclysm, but according to a new interview with the folks over at WorldofWar.de, Tom Chilton has more or less confirmed that we will see just one more round of additions before the expansion hits:

WorldofWar.de: Will there be another patch before Cataclysm or do you even plan to release a new raid boss? Tom Chilton: We do expect that there will be a new patch before the new expansion, although we don’t expect it to be like a typical numbered patch like 3.4 or 3.5. This could include balance changes, it could potentially include new features, depending on once the BattleNet-Features come online, maybe it could implement some of these. There’s even the possibility for a new raid boss, but it’s too early to say for sure.

So if it's not 3.4, then what will it be? 4.0 is likely to be the patch which introduces the re-made version of Azeroth, as well as many of the other universal changes undoubtedly coming with Cataclysm. Therefore, I think we can expect to see something along the lines of a "Patch 3.3.2," for the reasons cited by Chilton above. Assuming Battle.net 2.0 gets up and running before the expansion, then there will most certainly need to be a patch which adds that functionality to World of Warcraft, and we knew there would have to be a world event connecting Wrath with the events that come after its conclusion, we just didn't realize when. As for the possibility of a new raid boss, I'm going to go ahead and assume that it might be the final addition to Vault of Archavon (which would provide the necessary dungeon symmetry, pleasing obsessive-compulsive types). But if I really wanted to go out on a limb, perhaps another portal opening up under Wyrmrest Temple? Blizzard has stated they have no current plans for the space, but as we've witnessed, what they said publicly months ago doesn't serve as a a good indicator of what they might currently be doing behind the scenes. The rest of the interview is worth reading, though it offers little new information other than the reveal above. I do like that Chilton anticipates the game being around for many years to come ("Personally I would be surprised if World of Warcraft wasn’t still around another five years from now," in his own words). With the influential, but far less popular Everquest releasing its sixteenth expansion today, I don't think I'd be surprised to still be playing WoW well into my thirties, either. I'd like to thank WorldofWar.de, a German site, for providing us with a convenient English version of the interview which you can, once again, read in its entirety here. After looking it over, come back here and tell us what you expect (or rather, want) to see in a final, pre-expansion content patch.

[caption id="attachment_9164" align="alignright" width="216" caption="Greatfather Winter awaits your tankard of bovine extract and sugary baked goods!"][/caption] What do meat-filled tubes, bosses wearing red woolen caps, and crazy, old bearded dudes leaving suspicious packages under the shedding carcass of a dying pine have in common? The Feast of Winter Veil, that's what! And it starts today! Aside from simply admiring the jolly decorations strung up around the world's capitol cities, there's plenty of other things to keep you busy until the Christmas-themed holiday ends on January 2nd. The first thing to do is head to your faction's event nexus, which will either be Orgrimmar or Ironforge. Why not Stormwind? It may have something to do with the Alliance version of Greatfather Winter being a dwarf, but otherwise it's anyone's guess. There you should be able to pick up several short quest lines associated with the event, as well as purchase holiday goods and recipes from the nearby vendors. You'll have to wait until December 25th for the presents under the trees to become active and, therefore, complete some of the achievements associated with Winter Veil. Speaking of achievements, here's a full list of what to look for, in both meta- and non-meta- flavors. Winter Veil Meta-Achievements You must complete the following goals in order to obtain the Merrymaker achievement necessary for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been:

• On Metzen! -- Save Metzen the Reindeer.
• Scrooge -- Throw a snowball at (Cairne Bloodhoof/King Magni Bronzebeard) during the Feast of Winter Veil.
• 'Tis The Season -- During the Feast of Winter Veil, wear 3 pieces of winter clothing and eat Graccu's Mince Meat Fruitcake.
• Let It Snow -- During the Feat of Winter Veil, use a Handful of Snowflkaes on each of the race/class combinations listed below (Orc Death Knight, Tauren Shaman, Undead Rogue, Gnome Mage, Blood Elf Warlock, Human Warrior, Night Elf Druid, Troll Hunter, Dwarf Paladin, Draenei Priest).
• The Winter Veil Gourmet -- During the Feast of Winter Veil, use your culinary expertise to produce a Gingerbread Cookie, Egg Nog, and Hot Apple Cider.
• A Frosty Shake -- During the Feast of Winter Veil, use your Winter Veil Disguise kit to become a snowmand and then dance with another snowman in Dalaran.
• With A Little Helper From My Friends -- Earn 50 honorable kills as a Little Helper from the Winter Wondervolt machine.
• Fa-la-la-la-Ogri'la -- Complete the Bomb Them Again! quest while mounted on a flying reindeer during the Feast of Winter Veil.
• Simply Abominable -- Complete the quest to retrieve Smokywood Pastures' stolen treats and receive a Smokywood Pastures' Thank You.
• Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho's -- Use Mistletoe on the "Brothers" during the Feast of Winter Veil (Alliance: Brother Nimetz in Stranglethorn Vale, Brother Wilhelm in Goldshire, Brother Kristoff in Stormwind, Brother Karman in Theramore, Brother Joshua in Stormwing, Brother Crowley in Stormwind, Brother Cassius in Stormwind, Brother Benjamin in Stormwind, Brother Anton in Nijel's Point; Horde: Brother Malach in Undercity, Durkot Wolfbrother in Warsong Hold, Brother Keltan in Icecrown).
• He Knows If You've Been Naughty -- Open one of the presents underneath the Winter Veil tree once they are available.

Winter Veil Non-Meta Achievements These achievements can be earned at your leisure and do not count towards the meta. You will only receive achievement points for completing them.

• Crashin' & Thrashin' -- Gain 25 crashes with your Crashin' Thrashin' Racer during the feast of Winter Veil.
• BB King -- Pelt the enemy leaders listed below (Horde: High Tinker Mekkatorque, King Magni Bronzebeard, King Varian Wrynn, Prophet Velen, Tyrande Whisperwind; Alliance: Carine Bloodhoof, Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, Lor'themar Theron, Thrall, Vol'Jin).

A few notes on these achievements real quick. Yes, the Horde version of Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho's only has three brothers, but Alliance players should realize that at least half of theirs are in the same general area (Stormwind). You may recall that BB King is the one goal that kept a Taiwanese player from legitimately obtaining all achievement points in the game (sans those introduced with Patch 3.3). Considering its name, BB King may be associated with a new present obtained during the event, likely a toy rifle in the fashion of A Christmas Story's Red Ryder BB Gun. This means that Crashin' & Thrashin' is impossible to complete now unless you got one last year and happen to find other people willing to crash theirs into yours. Considering the limited availability of the items, these are the only two Winter Veil achievements not part of the meta. Enough yapping! I better get cracking on these achievements as Winter Veil is one of the two remaining holidays I haven't completed yet (the other being Love Is In The Air). Stay tuned to Project Lore as I'm sure I (and all the other regular bloggers) will be happy to provide you with strategies and share their holiday stories in due time. Meanwhile, let's hear about yours! Tell us about your experiences with Winter Veils past and what you plan on doing this year!

WoW Cataclysm is probably still a long way off. But I know the very first thing that many of us will do upon picking up that glorious next expansion already is decided: we'll roll either a Goblin or Worgen, depending on our faction of choice and possibly also which we like better aesthetically. But for many of us, we already have a legion of options for doing just that: Roll a new toon. Pick a new race and class combination that you've never tried before. Run all the quests and dungeons that you've skipped over in the past. Actually read through the quests so you get a feel for what you're fighting for. I'm sure there's going to be a few of us who can say they've rolled each race or each class at least once. But have you truly played through each one well enough to learn their homeland? As iTZKooPA detailed a bit back, he's got a group together who all rolled classes they've never played and are running low-level instances together. I happen to play the warlock in that group, and let me agree with him: So far, it's been a blast. If you're going to do something similar, you should do it now. As we've been informed, the Cataclysm is going to cause huge changes and upheavals within Azeroth. Some starting areas may get completely revamped not only in their looks, but also in their quests and the level of monsters within. What better way to really experience the full effect of all those changes than by better getting to know what Azeroth is like before those changes come? Perhaps this little reminder of what's to come will get you motivated: So, anyone else thinking of rolling anew before the new content comes out? I suspect we'll all be enthralled with Patch 3.3 before long. But in what likely will be a long stretch between that content and the release of Cataclysm, think of rolling something completely new. For me, I think I'll choose a gnome mage and better get to know that Alliance side that I'm always picking on!