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?

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Blizzard has been surprisingly forthcoming with information on future content as of late. Normally so quiet about what's on the horizon, they seem to have broken their vow of silence either in an attempt to cut off data-miners at the pass or to simply engage their fans in a more direct way than they have in the past. Whatever the reason might be, we all win in the end. Sylvanas, as envisioned by Blizzard artist Glenn Rane. As a continuation of this campaign, Blizzard has opened up a Character Biography page for those Heroes and Villains most closely associated with the events soon to transpire at Icecrown Citadel. The first two chronicled are Lady Sylvanas Windrunner and Jaina Proudmoore. Who knew that Arthas was so popular with the girlies? Sure, he was something of a pretty-boy before he turned into the Lich King, but with his whiny attitude and bad judgment skills, I'm surprised that he ever got as far as he did! Despite my misgivings, it's obvious that these two lovely ladies have a huge stake in Arthas' fate. Surely, Sylvanas would love to notch an arrow right between his cold, unliving eyes. After all, he did turn her into a Banshee and force her to commit atrocities against her own people. Jaina, on the other hand... she's a strong woman, and had the will to shy away from her one-time friend when he started to walk the path of darkness, but will Miss Proudmoore be able to resist the opportunity to redeem him? We could see quite the moral struggle between these two atop Icecrown Citadel. So, if you need a refresher course on either character, be sure to hop on over to the bio page and check them out. Though most of the information itself isn't new to people who keep up with the lore, each entry details their vital stats, tells you what games or media they've appeared in (novels and comics are included), along with a short summary that shows you how they are associated with the Lich King. It's worth a quick perusal and I'm sure they'll be adding more bios as Blizzard ramps up to the release of Patch 3.3. Personally, I'd like to hear a little bit more about the lesser known characters -- perhaps those that we'll meet within the Citadel itself. What characters would you like to see detailed, readers?

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Finally, subscribing to @Warcraft on Twitter has paid off.  Yesterday, Blizzard, by way of said Twitter account, updated all its followers with news that Jaina Proudmoore "needed new attire for an urgent upcoming event.  So our artists obliged."  Obliged indeed, but they didn't just stop at her attire (which is the same look, but appears to actually be fashioned armor, instead of squishy cloth). Jaina also received a much needed makeover, complete with a unique face.  The whole ensemble clocks in at a higher resolution (is that a belly button?!), giving the famed character all the glam and curves any NPC could ever want.  It's not exactly how the comics portray her though.  I am of course referring to the size of her...staff.  It's much taller than her in the comic...Yeap, the staff. /me looks around shifty-eyed. This is actually the Ruler of Theramore's second major update since her former lover became the focus of our attention.  The first being minor adjustments to her face and stomach.  She wants to save him so badly that she's resorted to cosmetic surgery to return him to the light! With Jaina all dolled up, the artists can now focus on some of the other leaders.  I don't know about you, but after almost five years I'd think Thrall would have replaced his gear.  Especially since he's been chasing Jaina all over Azeroth.  Even orcs should realize that human females enjoy men who change their outfits! A forum thread on the topic prompted Zarhym, everyone's favorite disembodied chattering head, to tease us with further Patch 3.3 details.  "We feel now is a very good time to get Jaina an update since her and Sylvanas will play key roles in the five-player Icecrown Citadel dungeon. That isn't to say other heroes will not receive similar treatment in the future. ;)" Seems safe to say that Jaina and Sylvanas will be appearing during the assault on Icecrown Citadel, and hopefully in the absolutely epic death of Arthas.  I hope I am not overselling the upcoming event, but I am quiet excited to see which direction Blizzard takes us.  After all, it'll be the culmination of Warcraft III's events, allowing us to progress into uncharted territory. Here's a link to the old image of Jaina for comparison.

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It seems as though the patch notes for 3.3 have been updated once again, meaning that a new build on the PTR should hit sometime within the next couple of days. Here's what's new:

General

• The existing /welcome emote now greets/welcomes targets (character says “hello”), while the new /yw is for saying "you're welcome."
• Many of the tail sweeps with knockback effects will no longer hit players’ pets.

Icecrown Citadel

• The Forge of Souls and Pit of Saron in the 5-player dungeon are currently available for testing.
• Additional Icecrown Citadel dungeon and raid content will be made available in future test builds. For more information and testing schedules please visit our Test Realm forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=11572&sid=1

Classes: General

• Area-of-Effect Damage Caps: We’ve redesigned the way area damage is capped when hitting many targets. Instead of a hard cap on total damage done, the game now caps the total damage done at a value equal to the damage the spell would do if it hit 10 targets. In other words, if a spell does 1000 damage to each target, it would hit up to 10 targets for 1000 each, but with more than 10 targets, each target would take 1000 damage divided by the number of targets. 20 targets would be hit for 500 damage each in that example.
• Pet Resilience: All player pets now get 100% of their master’s resilience.
• Taunt Diminishing Returns: We’ve revised the system for diminishing returns on Taunt so that creatures do not become immune to Taunt until after 5 Taunts have landed. The duration of the Taunt effect will be reduced by 35% instead of 50% for each taunt landed. In addition, most creatures in the world will not be affected by Taunt diminishing returns at all. Creatures will only have Taunt diminishing returns if they have been specifically flagged for that behavior based on the design of a given encounter.

Races: General

• Orc and troll shamans now have their own unique totem art.

PvP Battlegrounds

• Battleground Experience: Battleground experience gained is now based on the level of the player gaining experience, rather than the highest possible player level in that Battleground.

Death Knight Unholy

• Scourge Strike: Redesigned. The base ability now deals 50% weapon damage plus an additional amount as physical damage. However, for each disease the death knight has on the target, the target will take additional shadow damage equal to 25% of the physical damage done.
• Unholy Blight: This talent now deals only 10% of Death Coil damage as a damage-over-time effect on the target.

Druid

• Prowl: This ability no longer has multiple ranks and penalizes movement speed by 30%.

Hunter

• Call Stabled Pet: Cooldown reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes.
• Deterrence: Now also increases the chance for ranged attacks to miss the hunter by 100% while under its effect.

Pets

• Avoidance: This talent has been replaced by Culling the Herd. Hunter pets now innately take 90% less damage from area-of-effect abilities like all other class pets. This does not apply to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
• Cower: Redesigned. This ability no longer affects threat, and instead reduces damage taken by the pet by 40% for 6 seconds with a 45-second cooldown. While cowering, the pet’s movement speed is 50% of normal speed. Cower now only has a single rank and is available at pet level 20.
• Culling the Herd: This pet talent has replaced the Avoidance talent in the pet trees (Hunter pets now gain that benefit automatically without expenditure of talent points). Culling the Herd increases pet and hunter damage by 1/2/3% for 10 seconds each time the pet deals a critical strike with Claw, Bite, or Smack.
• Demoralizing Screech: The attack power reduction from this ability has been increased by 40%, equaling the maximum possible attack power reduction from the abilities of other classes.
• Improved Cower: Redesigned. This ability now reduces the movement penalty of Cower by 50%/100%.
• Venom Web Spray: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards.
• Web: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards.
• Wolverine Bite: This talent is now enabled when the pet lands a critical strike rather than from the target dodging the pet’s attacks. In addition, this talent no longer has a prerequisite.

Paladin Protection

• Divine Guardian: This talent no longer increases the amount of damage transferred to the paladin from Divine Sacrifice. Instead it causes all raid and party members to take 10/20% reduced damage while Divine Sacrifice is active.
• Divine Sacrifice: Redesigned. The effect of Divine Sacrifice is now party-only and the maximum damage which can be transferred is now limited to 40% of the paladin’s health multiplied by the number of party members. In addition, the damage transferred to the paladin is now reduced by 50% before being applied to the paladin. Finally, the bug which allowed Divine Sacrifice to sometimes persist despite reaching its maximum damage has been fixed. Divine Sacrifice will now cancel as soon as its maximum damage value is exceeded in all cases.

Priest Shadow

• Mind Flay: The range of this ability has been increased to 30 yards, up from 20.

Rogue

• Vanish: For the first half second after this ability is used, neither Vanish nor Stealth can be broken by taking damage or being the victim of a hostile spell or ability.

Warlock Affliction

• Improved Felhunter: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the felhunter’s Shadow Bite ability by 2/4 seconds.

Demonology

• Decimation: Redesigned. When Shadowbolt, Incinerate or Soul Fire hit a target that is at or below 35% health, the cast time of Soul Fire is reduced by 30/60% for 8 seconds. Soul Fires cast under the effect of Decimation cost no shards.
• Demonic Pact: This talent now also increases the warlock's spell damage by 1/2/3/4/5%.

Destruction

• Conflagrate: Redesigned. This talent now consumes an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the enemy target to instantly deal damage equal to 9 seconds of Immolate or 8 seconds of Shadowflame, and causes additional damage over 3 seconds equal to 3 seconds of Immolate or 2 seconds of Shadowflame.

Pets

• Doomguard/Infernal: These pets now innately have Avoidance like all other warlock pets.
• Shadow Bite: This pet ability now provides 15% increased damage for each of the warlock’s damage-over-time effects on the target.

User Interface For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?sid=1&forumId=11114 Enchanting

• Enchant Weapon - Unholy: This enchantment now inflicts Shadow damage in addition to its original effect.

First Aid

• The training costs for most bandages have been reduced.

Mining

• Enchanted Thorium: This ability now uses the Mining skill and is learned from trainers at a skill level of 250.

Quests

• Weekly raid quests are now available from Archmage Lan'dalock in Dalaran. Every Tuesday at 3 AM the Council of Six will choose a different strategic target that must die from either: The Obsidian Sanctum, Naxxramas, The Eye of Eternity, Ulduar, Trial of the Crusader, or Icecrown Citadel.
• For the various Icecrown Bomber quests at Aldur'thar: The Desolation Gate, players can now choose to eject from their bomber seats mid-run. If you do so, a rescue vehicle will transport your character back to the safety of your infra-green platform.
• Azure Drakes and Dragons will now attack back when attacked by characters not riding Wyrmrest Defenders.

Items

• Death Knight Tier-9 4-Piece Bonus: This set bonus no longer grants Frost Fever a chance to be a critical strike. It still grants that possibility to Blood Plague.

Bug Fixes Items

• Glyph of Immolation Trap: Now properly increases damage by 100%.

Classes Druid

• Infected Wounds: This ability is no longer considered to be in the magical defense category; therefore spell hit no longer applies to its activation.
• Nature's Grace: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it will not be activated from periodic spell critical strikes.

Hunter

• Concussive Barrage: This ability is no longer subject to spell reflects.
• Point of No Escape: This ability no longer stacks and now only functions for the hunter.

Mage

• Flame Strike: Some ranks of this spell had an incorrect cast time of 3 seconds. All ranks now share a 2-second cast time.

Priest

• Inspiration: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it also functions with Prayer of Mending.
• Mind Flay: The rank 1 tooltip has been corrected to indicate the accurate damage and snare effect.

Warlock

• Curse of the Elements: Rank 4 has been increased to 11%, up from 10%.
• Drain Soul: This spell now deals 4 times the normal damage for all ranks. Previously it was only ranks 6 and above.
• Suffering (Voidwalker): Ranks 5-8 had the incorrect taunt radius of 5 yards and have all been adjusted to a 10-yard radius.

Looks like there are a lot of changes coming to Hunters and their pets as far as class tweaking goes. And it also seems as though the design team still hasn't settled on how to handle a Rogue's Vanish skill, as it's down to .5 seconds from 1. Feral Druid's Prowl skill has now been modified to stay in line with the changes made to Rogues' Stealth. There's also a confirmation of weekly raid quests, and I do believe that we'll get to test Forge of Souls pretty soon. Looks like they fixed the bugs associated with it (we were supposed to test FoS instead of Pit of Saron last week), so hopefully that means those that prevent people from seeing the instance portals are, as well. You can find the full list of Patch 3.3 changes here. Whether you like the shape of things to come or not, chime in with your thoughts on these latest changes below!

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Death By Tar & Feathering? Patch 3.3 is so close that I can almost connect to the PTR long enough to play it.  We've been waiting for this content patch ever since it we revealed that Arthas would be joining the game dedicated to him a little late - by C'Thun the star could never arrive on time.  Now that we have the PTR housing patch 3.3, the first round of ever-changing patch notes, maps of the dungeons and lots more, one burning question remains.  How will Arthas die? Let's start with the more appropriate question.  Will Arthas die? It has almost become cliche that World of Warcraft's bosses manage to slip through death's grasp at the last second.  A large number of the best known bosses have merely been de-summoned, released from someone's control or regained their sanity (put down at his request).  In the case of the Old Gods, we mortals have been fighting parts of them, leading some to believe that we've only faced a portion of their vast power.  Is it possible that Blizzard could allow one of Warcraft's most infamous villains to avoid the grave?! Hell no.  The disservice done to fans by allowing Arthas/The Lich King to live would be unfathomable.  He's going down. Of course, then we return to the original discussion, how do you want Arthas to die?  Blizzard could go one of a hundred ways for Arthas' demise, so I can only tell you how I'd like to see him die.  That would be by Jaina's hand.  If there's anyone who needs redemption for all Arthas has done (that's still alive) it is Jaina, his former lover. Rather than another Maiev + raiders vs. Illidan team-up, I'd like to see Arthas go all Hulk on us, freezing our toons when we get him to zero HP.  As he's toying with us, attempting to crack our minds, Jaina pops out of no where to confront him.  Being the former suave Prince The Lich King tries to sweet talk his former mate, only to be struck down mid sentence by an icy bolt, and then finished off with a melee move from her staff.  Double tap, it's important.  Her icy demeanor would vanish as he falls to the ground, and then she'd weep over his fallen corpse (as we looted it) as she curses the gods for putting her in such a position. The odds of my vision coming to fruition are slim to none, but it doesn't hurt to dream.  It wasn't until I finished reading Christie Golden's book that I came to believe Jaine is the only person to send the Prince of Lordaeron six feet under.  How do you want the former paladin to go down?  What about you hordies?  You likely have a different view on this whole Scourge debacle since one of the leaders of your nation-states didn't date the backstabbing necromantic.  Although I hear Thrall has the hots for Jaina.  Just a rumor someone's spreading.  And there is that Slyvanas lady.  Perhaps she'll get her revenge in the horde script?

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Warning! This post is speculative and potentially spoiler-heavy. I won't lie. I've been cringing inside at the thought of Garrosh Hellscream replacing Thrall. How could he? What would this mean for the fate of the Horde? And why would Thrall allow it? Amatera's recent post on glimpses of the changing Horde on the PTR solidified that even more. I am not a fan of Garrosh, to put it lightly, and based on the comments on that post, plenty of others aren't, either. In fact, it's easy to name plenty of other Horde leaders who would make a better Warchief. Among the contenders, on one humorous forum thread: Cairne Bloodhoof (which would be difficult if he's dead), Saurfang, Sylvanas, Hogger (/chuckle), Westfall Chicken or a Sickly Gazelle. And with all this mounting contention against Hellscream, it was only time before the issue would be addressed via Blue Post. Kisirani took the call in a thread questioning Hellscream's ability to lead the Horde. Here's what was said:

"Garrosh is a character with a lot to prove. I realize there's a great deal of consternation out there concerning the tales of what's to come, but I want to reassure you that we understand that concern. We know where you're coming from. Why are we still going this route? With all respect, you haven't seen the entirety of who Garrosh is. You've seen a great deal of his faults, certainly, but people grow over time, and you may find, come Cataclysm, that he is not quite the disaster you portend. :) (Mind you, that doesn't mean he's Thrall, either.)"

Can you hear the collective sigh of relief? No? Well, I'm still not exactly crazy about the idea, either. But it does remind me that what we're hearing so far is only bits and pieces of what surely will be a much larger, more complicated story. If you think back to the Burning Crusade, we did see a slightly different side of Garrosh. Before he knew of his father, Grom Hellscream's heroic death, Garrosh is portrayed as ashamed, intimidated at the thought of becoming a great leader, and even a little depressed. Thrall's news that Grom had fought valiantly to his redemption is a huge part of what transforms Garrosh into the strong, confident, belligerent being that we now know. But at least we see that he is capable of growth and change as a character. My guess is that there's going to be some massive world event leading up to the Cataclysm, or it may even be the Cataclysm itself, that forces Garrosh to grow as a character once again. Let's hope that by the time Garrosh leads the Horde, if this indeed is to come, that he is a multi-dimensional character with more layers than the surface one we've seen up until now. And if that's not the case, then may Thrall (or one of those other potential leaders - I'd root for Sylvanas) overthrow him and retake the Horde!

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The jury's still out on whether or not Garrosh Hellscream is truly a dangerous man. Sure, he's pushy, belligerent, hot-headed, and more than a little racist, but he seems to honestly believe that what he's doing is best for the Orcish people. And yet, we know somewhere in there, that he seeks to defy the more... unsavory aspects of his father's legacy, who was equally lustful for power, but failed to control himself by drinking Mannoroth's blood and esnlaving the Orcs. Likewise, we must consider that Garrosh has spent nearly his entire life in Nagrand. He's not as familiar with the struggles on Azeroth as his compatriots are; not as beholden to the same love of certain humans or ideals of peace as Thrall is. And let's not forget that he's got a virtual equal in the Humans' King Varian Wrynn. In Garrosh's eyes, he is a man who cannot be controlled and will take the opportunity to destroy the Horde when it presents itself. If Garrosh is to slated to become Warchief, he has to do what he thinks is right to protect his people, even if his methods seem wrong. We haven't reached the expansion just yet, or even the world events that will lead up to them, but signs of the changing times are already starting to show themselves on the PTR. While everyone else is distracted by the shiny, new 5-man dungeon (Pit of Saron), I decided to do a little bit of poking around, and discovered a rather interesting development in the good old Undercity. Bye-bye Abominations! As you might recall, after the events of the Wrathgate, Thrall sent his elite soldiers, the Kor'Kron Guard, to keep watch over the remaining apothecaries in the Forsaken capital. The difference on the test realm is that now, they're all over the place. Gone are the abominations that used to protect the city, replaced by Orcish knights patrolling the city. It's possible that this is just an expansion of Thrall's policy to keep the apothecaries in check, but it also fits in with things we've heard about the future. Namely, Garrosh becoming Warchief and changing the way things work. Only letting Orcs and Tauren into the center of Orgrimmar, because he believes that they're the only ones actually capable of defending it. Hey, what about the Trolls, Garrosh? Sure, the double-dealing of a certain faction of Undead and the inherently shifty Blood Elves need to be scrutinized, but what did the poor Trolls ever do to lose your trust? But, I digress. If the betrayal at Wrathgate made Garrosh lose faith in his already tenuous allies, the installation of Orcish guards in foreign cities may be a sign of the new Horde to come. And if this is truly the younger Hellscream's policy, then we may see him take the throne sooner than we thought. Another interesting tidbit that could possibly corroborate this idea: pre-BlizzCon claims cited that Cairne Bloodhoof, leader of the Tauren, would be framed for treason against the Horde and be killed by Garrosh. We don't yet know if that's actually how things will play out, but the tag for Cairne's son, Baine, has been changed in MMO-Champion's database. He is now listed as the High Chieftan, leader of the Tauren. Food for thought, people. Food. For. Thought.

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Despite the fact that the official patch notes clearly state that the Forge of Souls would be the first wing of the new 5-man Icecrown Citadel instance available for exploring, players on the test server can only currently access the the second wing, Pit of Saron. Even if it does seem a bit odd to kick off testing with the middle of this epic story instead of the beginning, I was still hungry for any bone Blizzard was going to throw us, so I gathered up a war party and ventured deep into the unfortunately-acronymed dungeon. If you're not afraid of spoilers (and there will be some), continue reading below! A word of warning to those who might seek entrance to the Pit of Saron before I begin: while the servers themselves seem to have been largely stabilized, many characters are having trouble seeing the instance portals. This appears to be a bug associated with phased content, meaning that anyone who has completed certain Icecrown quests (the exact culprits haven't been nailed down just yet) will not be able to see, let alone use, them. In that case, you'll have to either transfer another, less developed character, use a premade, or hope there's a Warlock in the group that can summon you in. I, for instance, have been stuck using my under-geared Elemental Shaman, Nuggnuts, instead my pimped out Rogue, Amatera. This will no doubt be fixed in upcoming builds, but those are the only options for now. If you're not cool with that, feel free to join the rest of the players out there using the dungeon's abbreviation as a fun pejorative for describing their current experience! That aside, let's get on with it! The first thing I noticed when I entered the Pit is that the bulk of it consists of a wide-open outdoor area. This means two things: mounts and the ability to skip trash. There also may be some choice regarding which order you tackle the first two bosses in. The dungeon map for Pit of Saron. The second thing I noticed was the big, bad frostwyrm called Rimefang hovering overhead, with Scourgelord Tyrannus, the mine's overseer in the saddle. After taking a few steps in, Lady Sylvanas appeared from the portal behind us (well, if you're Horde, she will), with two of her Dark Rangers, and a small battalion of troops in tow. The redshirts of the group charged right for Tyrannus, who clearly doesn't like people interfering with his operations. A little bit of the old Darth Vader stranglehold and they all dropped to the ground, dead. Tyrannus flew off, leaving the remainder of his undead minions for us to deal with.

Sylvanas' forces attempt to crush Tyrannus...

...and are subsquently destroyed. From here, the path split off to the left or the right around the eponymous Pit, where tired slaves are busy digging out Saronite while a giant, floating skull watches from above. Each one leads to a different boss encounter, and as I mentioned before, it doesn't seem particularly important which you decide to fight first. We chose to go to the right, which included offing some giant skeletons, necrolytes, and vrykul -- in other words, the usual Icecrown rogue's gallery. *The* Pit of Saron Along the way, just passing by slaves working the ore freed them, and they had all sorts of reactions to their saviors, from just plain old running away to thinking that they're hallucinating when they first saw you. It adds a nice little touch to the proceedings. Eventually, we reached the platform where Forgemaster Garfrost resided, who was essentially a giant vrykul crossed with an abomination. He looks a lot like the Pustulent Horrors you might see wandering around Mord'rether, but with a sack of giant Saronite boulders on his back, which he evidently thought was a good idea to toss at us during the fight. His other primary ability seems to be an AoE pulse that stacks a debuff on you, increasing Frost damage taken. This means you'll need to take him down quickly before it builds up and his regular attacks start doing too much to handle. Garfrost's ugly mug. Though we downed him on the first attempt, I won't say it went cleanly. I was killed due to one of the boss' ranged attacks and so were the Hunter and Resto Druid (aka the healer), leaving the two Paladins in our group to finish the job (I should mention here that loot hasn't been implemented yet, on trash or bosses). A previously enslaved Orc named Gorkun Ironskull appeared to retake the forge, along with all the other laborers we had previously relieved of their bonds. He promised that they would take the opportunity to gear up and help us in our final assault. After rezzing everyone and buffing back up, we traversed the Northern edge of the Pit towards the second boss, a corrupted leper gnome named Krick and his hideous companion/mount, Ick. This wasn't a particularly hard fight either, but it was fun and definitely tested our movement skills. For a majority of the encounter, Ick tossed globs of slime, which created poisonous, green pools on the ground where they landed. These came slowly and were easy to dodge. But at some point during the fight, Krick decided that it simply wasn't doing the job on its own and started conjuring time bombs on the ground. Represented by expanding, purple domes, they started popping up all over the place and quickly became difficult to completely avoid. All the while, Ick continued to throw bolts of his fetid bile at the party, dealing direct damage this time. Unfortunately, I bit the dust again, but we still managed to pull off a victory on our first attempt. Krick gets throttled by Sylvanas. Sylvanas appeared to take the vile gnome's life, but before he perished, he let slip that the Lich King's blade, Frostmourne, could be found in the 3rd wing of the instance, the Halls of Reflection. Sylvanas questioned Krick's admission, citing that she thought Arthas always had it by his side, but he continued to insist that he was telling the truth. With the second boss down, Tyrannus showed his ugly mug once again. He taunted us from the skies, provoking us to burst through the ranks of his most powerful undead lackeys and challenge him on the platform above. Several more powerful packs of trash stood before us on the slope, five or six to a number. Trash on the way to Tyrannus. Hey, look! A cave! Embarassingly, we wiped on the first set, but picked back up and made it through the rest more or less unscathed. The cliffside eventually lead to a cave, which I can now admit is probably my favorite part of the dungeon. The trash inside isn't terribly difficult, but you'll have to fight them through falling blocks of ice. If you've ever fought Hodir in Ulduar, you should already be familiar with this mechanic, as glowing blue circles on the ground will show you where icicles are about to drop. This looks awfully familiar... On the other side of the cave we met Tyrannus for the final time. He had nowhere left to run or hide. Gorkun and his men appeared to back us up, distracting the Scourgelord's undead army so that we could face him and his frostwyrm alone... In the interest of at least keeping some things a secret, I'll end my recount of the events here. As for what I thought of it when it all was said and done? Well, if you were expecting a challenge, I don't think you'll find it here. The Pit of Saron, at least, isn't much more difficult than any of the other Heroic 5-man dungeons out there. But it does flow better, and the integrated story elements allow the instance to have a sort of "rhythm" you just don't get in other parts of the game. With each boss down, you feel like you're actively working towards an end goal instead of just more loot, and the inclusion of important NPCs like Sylvanas adds some extra fun, even if you never fight directly by her side. I'm reminded somewhat of the dungeons in Lord of the Rings Online, and I hope that, at least in terms of pushing the narrative, this is a path Blizzard continues to tread in the future. Facing down Tyrannus, once and for all!

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The High Inquisitor is a new regular column at Project Lore that seeks answers to the greatest mysteries of Azeroth. Each week, the inquisitor will attack a previously unanswered question and attempt to explain the unknown. But she won't rest until all plausible explanations are explored. The best, most probable comment(s) will be highlighted with the next edition's inquisition.

They're the drunken, boorish, muscular, axe-wielding, long-bearded, mining, vertically-challenged characters of Azeroth. And did I mention that their accent suggests they're Scottish? Yup, I'm clearly talking about dwarves. And my question is simple - why? Just when did dwarves become such a type-casted caricature? Not just in World of Warcraft, but dwarves in a multitude of modern pop culture references seem to share a few key elements: beer, rocks and a hardy, bearded musculature. If you want to blame someone, let's go directly to the source - Norse mythology. The dvergar, as they were called, were significant nature spirits associated with rocks and the earth. Although they weren't described as short beings until much later, the dwarves even in this rendition are master crafters, especially in the sculpting of metals. Somewhat ironically, when exposed to sunlight, the Norse dwarves would turn to stone and die. The pop-culture version of the dwarf took a drastic turn thanks to JRR Tolkien and his iconic The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy. The stocky, touchy, easy to anger incarnation this time also explained dwarves as merrymen miners who loved a good drink and would willingly take on someone much larger than them in a fight. We see this version of the character commonly referenced in the modern fantasy genre, including in WoW (especially recently in Brewfest). And this certainly wouldn't be the last time that LOTR may have been used as inspiration for WoW. In the Warcraft lore, dwarves originated from the Earthen, who are guardians of living stone. After the implosion of the Well of Eternity, the shocked earthen went into a state of hibernation within the titan cities of Uldum, Uldaman and Ulduar. Nearly 8,000 years later, they awoke with softened skin and diminished powers over stone. Some migrated to Dun Morogh and built Ironforge. So, that's that. But there's still the remaining question of the Scottish accent. In the Lord of the Rings books, the dwarves were described as having a language that would more closely resemble African tongues. On the other hand, the LOTR movies adopted the Scottish convention, solidifying it into all of our minds as the proper language for dwarves. Perhaps one explanation for the accent could come from English folklore surrounding Duergar. These short, trouser- and hat-wearing tricksters would appear bearing torches at night to lead travelers astray into bogs. This story originated in Northern England, along the border with - ding ding - Scotland. Or, perhaps, someone just decided to portray a dwarf with a Scottish accent, and it stuck. So, perhaps it's the accent that's the biggest mystery of all. But WoW dwarves just wouldn't be the same if they didn't proclaim, while rolling those RRRs and charming the listener, "I don't have a drinking problem. I drink. I get drunk. I fall down. No problem!" So here's where you guys come in. What do you think of the accepted portrait of dwarves - does it work for you? Or would you rather see more originality instead of stereotyped characters? Oh, and don't forget to find me a good reason why dwarves are Scottish. The best answer(s) will be featured in the next edition. 3...2...1... GO!

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At BlizzCon, we learned that parts of Azeroth would be reshaped as Deathwing broke the the Plane of Earth and shattered the world. Azshara, The Barrens, Ashenvale, Desolace, and several more were showcased, both in panels and in the trailer for Cataclysm released during the event. But that doesn't mean those are the only areas that would be greatly affected by the destruction, just because that's all we saw at the time. I think it's reasonable to believe that Blizzard only showed those that were farthest along in development at the time. Stranglethorn in all its (current) glory. Well, thanks to the most recent issue of PC Gamer UK, we now know that the oh-so-infamous Stranglethorn Vale is set to join the ranks of those zones receiving a substantial face lift in the next expansion. But, you might ask, what's wrong with Stranglethorn? Clearly, something. In his interview with Gamasutra, Lead World Designer Alex Afrasiabi mentioned that they've taken a hard look at every zone internally, giving each a rating depending on how happy they are with it currently. So, if Stranglethorn is getting reworked as drastically as implied, either the development team has a really big beef with its present incarnation, or the redesigns are important to the continuation of the story. Knowing that, I'd like to examine several possibilities for the Vale of the future. Right from the start, I think it's safe to assume that the zone will undergo the typical terrain changes. There's always the possibility of seeing volcanic ruptures tearing through the ground, just as they do in several of the other transformed zones. And with most of its landmass being coastal, we may see parts of Stranglethorn flood or be washed away by tidal waves (hey, it's happening to Southshore). By doing this, they could potentially eliminate some of the quest-lines and reduce the overall amount of time that you'll be spending here as opposed to the past. Sometimes streamlining means trimming the fat, and while the zone currently showcases a wealth of content, it both completely supplants leveling in other areas (like Desolace) and requires a lot of back-and-forth between those of the same band. Leveling zones in Cataclysm will usually be right next to each other. As an example, Horde players often have to split their leveling with far away regions like Thousand Needles, Arathi Highlands, and Badlands from 28-45. If we take a look at the slides from the Preview panel at BlizzCon, they show new leveling paths moving from one adjacent zone to the next, largely eliminating the ludicrous amounts of globe-trotting required in the game now. We'll still go to Stranglethorn, but I think the question now is "when?" That's a tough one. The zone has always been closer to Alliance territory, perhaps implying that it will now be more integral to their mid-range leveling experience, but at the same time, they've only ever had a meager presence in the area. One might argue that neither has the Horde, but now we have a bit of a wild card to consider -- Garrosh Hellscream. We already know that he's bent on not only fortifying the faction's capital, Orgrimmar, but also tightening the grip on Alliance lands. If Zoram'Gar Outpost in Ashenvale is set to swell in size and importance, it's not a huge jump in logic to think that the Grom'Gol Base Camp might, too. Going a bit farther, I have a feeling that it will also move more in-land, with the original encampment being overtaken by the sea. Figuring out which level band Stranglethorn might occupy in the future isn't easy, but I imagine it'll be a lot more homogeneous, requiring only one trip around the zone, instead of making the Northern and Southern halves effectively separate in terms of difficulty. But let's take it to the next level, beyond the fundamental changes that have become a part of the Cataclysm experience. What's been going on there the entire time? For one, the animals of have been experiencing a small-scale Cataclysm all their own. Hemet Nesingwary and his cohorts have been decimating the local wildlife population unchecked for the past few years. And what about D.E.H.T.A.? Though I was surprised that it took them until Wrath of the Lich King to react to his genocidal ways, perhaps they'll return here in the expansion to protect the rich floral and faunal habitat that is Stranglethorn Vale. If we combine the threat of new found ecological disaster (as well as an old one, if the Venture Co. sticks around) with the Nesingwary onslaught, I'd be astonished if they didn't show up once again. Whether they do or not, I fully expect a revamp of Nesingwary's (or Nesingwary Jr.'s, if they keep him here) quests to be more in line with those in Sholazar Basin. In other words, a lot less "grindy" than they are now. Something else I'd really like to see is an extension of the war between the Blackwater Raiders and the Bloodsail Buccaneers. After all, who doesn't want more pirate action? Undoubtedly, the local swashbucklers will find some way to exploit the chaos of the Cataclysm, whether that be open plundering or an escalation of their conflict. This could have dire consequences for Booty Bay. Though I fully expect it to remain a hub of transportation, I suspect that it will not survive the Armageddon unscathed. And then there are the Gurubashi Trolls and Zul'Gurub. Now that we'll be able to fly over it, will we see activity, or will it look barren until you jump through the portal, like most current outdoor instances? If I recall correctly, the Darkspear Trolls (the faction associated with the Horde) once lived here, and I think it's high time that we got a look at their story again. I would love to see them join the other Horde forces in establishing a greater presence here, perhaps reclaiming their homeland from their corrupted brothers and sisters. If anything can be said about the Cataclysm, though, it's that it has affected the world in completely unexpected ways, and that may be the case with Stranglethorn Vale, too. The expansion provides Blizzard with the chance to really move the existing story in each zone forward, but at the end of the day, there's no way to tell exactly what they have planned until they let us in on it. Let's hope that day comes sooner rather than later! In the meantime, please chime in with your thought on the future of Stranglethorn, and what things you'd like to see change from the current version!

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