Project Lore

Long-time readers will know that I'm not a big fan of tabards. Most are bright, ugly, and cover up all that neat armor that you spent so much time earning in dungeons. Not to mention, there are ostensibly better ways of showing your guild pride (such as regaling the denizens of Trade Chat with tales of your l33tness or posting embarrassing videos of your raid leader yelling to Youtube).

So tabards suck. But what about sexy, fashionable overcloaks? Now, that's an idea worth backing!

What little we know about these new vanity items (data-mined by MMO-Champion from the latest build of 3.3.3) indicates that they're currently attached to Pre-Cataclysm events. Specifically, those that we already know something about, like the reclamation of Gnomeregan and the Echo Isles.

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Oh, data-mining always brings such wonderful news! The artifacts of code and unfinished content often give you a fair idea as to what's coming in the near future and, considering where we're at right now, that means getting the goods on pre-expansion events.

At this point, most of you have already read about the new Ruby Sanctum raid dungeon and how that plays into the lore leading up to rebirth of Deathwing, but if we dial things back a notch we find that even the smaller, somewhat forgotten factions will have their role to play in what's to come.

You may recall a little piece that iTZKooPA wrote a couple of weeks ago. It's also something that we discussed on the podcast, wondering why Blizzard didn't give any of the "assault on Northrend" roles to existing faction leaders instead of brand new characters whose importance to the game would likely begin and end with the questline they're associated with.

I think we spoke a little too soon, as both High Tinker Gelbin Mekkatorque and Vol'Jin will be getting their due in an upcoming patch, starting with the reclamation of their respective homelands!

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I've had a ton to keep my busy in WoW since dinging level 80 a couple of weeks ago. There's rep to grind, daily heroics to run and farming of the ToC to be had (building up my purple collection FTW). But on the side when I have a few moments (or hours) to spare, I've taken up exploring Azeroth. Perhaps it's not something that most players would have at the top of their priority list after hitting 80, but so far for me it's been a bit of a nostalgic way to re-visit the old world, run through parts I've never seen before, and earn some achievements in the process. Plus, now we have an even more compelling reason. With the imminent destruction of Azeroth in the Cataclysm, this could be the last time I see some of these zones before they are changed forever. Sure, I'll likely visit Orgrimmar and UC, but the surrounding areas? Probably not. And we still don't know what the expansion will mean for exploration achievements - if a zone is completely altered to the point of being split in two (I'm thinking Barrens), will the old exploration achievements be locked? The same could be said for questing in the Old World, but that's for a later conquest. Maybe there will be some middle ground on the issues, but I'd rather not take my chances. Anyhow, back on point. I started out in Kalimdor, from good ol' Durotar, where I had neglected to uncover Kolkar Crag. Then it was west to the grasslands of the Barrens, where my Zhevra visited her long-lost cousin. I worked my way west and then to the north, finishing off a couple of uncovered areas in each zone of Thousand Needles, Feralas, Mulgore, Desolace, Azshara, Stonetalon Mountains, Ashenvale, Felwood and Winterspring (and /love-ing every critter I see along the way). One of the high points: running into a pack of Worgen hiding out in Ashenvale and beating up on a few of them (good practice for future PvP fun). There also was Moonglade and Dark Shore, neither of which I had stepped foot in before. So far, I've finished up 14 of the 20 zones in Kalimdor, but I've still got a long ways to go before hitting that coveted Explorer title. It's easy to forget, when hidden away in the deep corners of Northrend, how vast and diverse Azeroth is. My secret pleasure - I've really enjoyed running into some of those humanoid tribes that you don't see too much of anymore: The Centaurs, Ogres, Furbolgs, Harpies and Wildkin of the world. I suppose Murlocs still are a pretty common sight, but I also made a point to run over top of every single murloc I came across, just to hear their gurgling battle cry while I galloped away. And more fun is yet to be had. I still have more nostalgia to come as I finish up Kalimdor, then head to the Eastern Kingdoms. Has anyone else taken to exploring lately? What about any other achievements that you want to get before the expansion? Don't worry if not - it seems that we'll still have quite a while before it comes out.

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