Project Lore

The barrier has finally come down.  Blizzard has admitted defeat.  The company is now selling WoW gold.

/me reads the rest of the announcement.

Oh, that kind of gold.  Like the Activision-Blizzard merger, Blizzard has simply taken my breath away with its latest business venture.  In an effort to expand the World of Warcraft brand to as many people as possible, Blizzard will begin selling collectible coins.  Yes, thanks to DC Unlimied the extended universe has branched out to the QVC lover in all of us.

Starting June 23, players, and coin collectors, will be able to get their mitts on two Collectible coin sets.  If you guessed an Alliance version and a Horde version, you'd be correct.  Dare I ask which faction has the better collectible set?

Each set comprises of three coins of differing sizes plated in precious metals (that means the coins are just wrapped in the precious metal).  The set will feature various faction leaders set in a fancy box and topped off with a faction emblem.

Alliance coins:
Gold: Varian Wrynn
Silver: Magni Bronzebeard
Copper: Tyrande Whisperwind

Horde coins:
Gold: Thrall
Silver: Sylvanas Windrunner
Copper: Cairne Bloodhoof

Does it need to be said that this strikes me as incredibly odd?  Sure, we use gold, silver and copper coins in the game, but I...I don't know.  Collecting coins just isn't my thing.  They are right up there with stamps and commemorative Elvis plates.  I'll stick with my vast collection of slowly corroding retro games, thank you very much.

The only thing that doesn't surprise me is the continued neglect to gnomes and trolls.  The two factions should really just splinter off and make a new faction called "Emo."  I doubt anyone would even realize that they'd left.

Not my cup of tea, but I am sure the sets will sell out anyways.  Even if they are "on sale" for $59.99.

*Note* I realize this happened last week, but I just came across it.

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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Varian'd Hit It Both Ways Blizzard's Extended Universe for World of Warcraft is a bit lopsided.  The developer has farmed out an entire collection of lore to various companies, but for the most part, the Alliance material is what's been selected for production by the outside parties.  Sure, the Horde out there have a few books, and the various mangas , which happen to be the most balanced of any material, but outside those select few items the misunderstood faction hasn't received too much attention. There is a rebuttal though.  The case being made by some Alliance players is that the vast majority of Horde-based lore has been already told in game.  For evidence simply look at all of the faction leaders.  The history of each leader, and in the case of the horde, some sub-leaders like Garrosh, is known fairly well.  That is except for one leader who was missing for years, Varian Wyrnn (purists will note that he was in the game until Patch v1.10).  The World of Warcraft comic by Wildstorm has managed to take care of that problem. Volume 1:  The initial compilation of the monthly serial is an absolutely fantastic ice breaker.  Written by Walter and Louise Simonson the opening story arc revolves around an amnesiac warrior that awakens on the shores of Kalimdor.  After being quickly captured and turned into a gladiator, we are given our first inklings as to who this warrior is, by his captor no less.  Lo'Gosh, as the warrior eventually is called, is written as a true leader, tactician and all around badass warrior who's quick to fight, and has no qualms with shedding the blood, or limbs, of his victims. The compiled seven issues feature a story arc of their own that mainly revolves around the introduction of Lo'Gosh and the pair of Elves, Broll Bearmantle, a night elf druid and Valeera Sanguinar, a blood elf rogue, that are part of his team.  The Simonson's do an amazing job of developing the drastically different backstories to each character, while simultaneously keeping the run full of brutal action.  The abilities of artist Ludo Lullabi does a fantastic job of driving the action throughout the 170+ pages without the pages becoming an unreadable mess. A tip of my hate for the heavy fan service, including the use of Dire Maul's arena.  I guess a gladiator's life tends to make for some brutal depictions of war. Volume 1 is a stunning book that really sucked me into the story, and even managed to make me feel for previously unknown characters.  It wasn't justLo'Gosh's quest that I became infatuated with, but the tales of Broll and Valeera as well. *SPOILER ALERT* Volume 2's review has some unavoidable spoilers for Volume 1 in it.  Read it only if you've already read Volume 1, or don't care about spoilers. Volume 2:  Volume 1 culminated with the closing of two major story arcs.  Broll regained the use of all his druidic forms after much internal strife and external struggles.  We also learned exactly who Lo'Gosh really is, Varian Wrynn.  To keep things moving the story ended in a bit of a cliff hanger thanks to Valeera's use of arcane energies.  That's essentially where the second arc kicks off, with Valeera attempting to secure more magical energy.  Unfortunately, Valeera's magic addictions, and Broll's attempts to help her, are kicked to the curb as a secondary arc behind the main plot.  It's as if the authors didn't feel that the supporting cast from Volume 1 fit in the coming campaign. Valeera and Broll's own story may have been cut back, but they by no means abandoned Lo'Gosh in his quest to reclaim his throne.  It just takes them awhile to even get there.  The band of warriors are constantly distracted by various nuisances, the raptors outside Menethil Harbor and the Dark Iron Dwarves raiding Thandol Span for instance, that seem forced and out of place.  Sure, the Thandol Span episode allows for the development of Thargis Anvilmar, but the excursion, coupled with the other distractions, left a bitter taste in my mouth. The interruptions did offer additional time for the author's to play with Anduin, Lo'Gosh's son and the now-former King of Stormwind.  Of all people to question the supposed return of Varian, and Lady Katrana Prestor's intentions, it was a child who did it first, and demanded a deeper inquiry.  Anduin became a major player in Stormwind thanks to the brains he showed throughout the seven chapters of Volume 2, and a character that I can't wait to see develop. If you haven't picked up on it, Volume 2 didn't impress me all that much.  Outside of the development of Anduin, the second volume just didn't ring with me as much as the first.  It's a bit of recycled content, the plot outside of raiding Onyxia isn't original, things were forced and the cast of characters who've been helping Lo'Gosh since his re-birth were pushed to the side.  Even the art is of lower quality when compared to Lullabi's.  Its relative lackluster offering won't stop me from continuing the series.  It wasn't bad, just not awesome. *</SPOILER ALERT>* Believe it or not, now is probably the best time to get your nose in the comics.  Not only has Varian become a recent staple in the Alliance, but Volume 2 deals with not only the Black Dragonflight, but Onyxia herself.  And in case you didn't notice, her revamped encounter is being added to the live servers today!  Volume 3 will likely be out later this year, and will conclude Varian's story.  From there the comic is becomes more Horde focused. I feel obligated to point out this absolutely stellar recap of Varian's current main enemy, Garrosh Hellscream, written by WoW.com's Matthew Rossi.  If you're an Alliance player who loves lore discussions it is a must read.  Hordies who've dealt with Garrosh time and again likely know Garrosh's ins, outs and mood swings, but could see the orc in a new light.

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Cataclysm Countdown is a series of informed speculative articles concerning things we might see in the next expansion that I will be posting every day this week, leading right up to Blizzcon. In the interest of thought purity, I will do my best to steer clear of recent “leaked” material, relying upon it only where it logically connects with the existing lore. Nothing hereafter is official or has been confirmed/denied by Blizzard at the time of its writing. The Lich King falls. The Argent Crusade's task of defeating the Scourge is over, and with it the tenuous cooperation between the Alliance and the Horde. A new threat arises from the depths of the ocean and brings death and destruction to both sides. Jaina Proudmoore and Thrall take it upon themselves to protect the world at large, ascending from their positions as faction representatives. In the interest of self-preservation, the remaining forces of the Horde and Alliance cease any remaining ties. Instead, tempers flare as Garrosh, the new Warchief of the Horde, and King Varian Wrynn bare fangs at each other and decide to drag their people, once again, unto the brink of all-out, bloody-nosed WAR. The stage is set for a conflict greater than Azeroth has ever seen before. But how will we experience it? Ahh... the way things used to be! World of Warcraft, despite its name and pedigree, was not built from the ground up for PvP play. Ever since the game's release, Blizzard has added more and varied ways of engaging the enemy, but it's always been compartmentalized and shoved just to the side of primary content. Even Lake Wintergrasp, arguably the crowning jewel of PvP combat at the moment (it both maintains the scale of a Battleground and affords access to certain rewards typical of World PvP). Though it's far from perfect, Wintergrasp will likely be the template for this part of the game moving forward. Let's stop for a moment, though, and let our imaginations run wild, yeah? WoW, at its pinnacle, should emulate the large-scale, world-wide conflict that the series is known for. Ideally, that means  bunkers, forts, and whole armies fighting with each other in all zones across Azeroth. Players would be able to not only construct siege vehicles, but hire mercenaries, create defensive buildings, and upgrade units. OK, have a good image in your head now? Well, hold onto it, because that's only a dream. With the changes we are expecting to see to the rest of the game, PvP on that level would be near impossible to implement. Let's not forget all the balancing that would be involved in the creation of so many new game systems. We've got to face the reality that World of Warcraft just can't support such an overhaul in its core gameplay. Will we see something approaching that near the end of the series? Quite likely, through patches and incremental additions along the way, but not right now. Still, that doesn't mean we won't see PvP combat expand in Cataclysm. The key really is just to find a happy medium. I see this as taking at least one of two forms:

1. Zone-wide PvP -- With many zones being re-purposed in the expansion, it stands to reason that a few of them could play host to open fighting. Those with high amounts of resources, or those that straddle the border between core Horde and Alliance territories will be the ones most impacted. The first that comes to mind is the Hillsbrad/Arathi area of Eastern Kingdoms. With the Scourge threat defeated and the Plaguelands theoretically in the process of returning to normal, little stands between the Alliance reclaiming Lordaeron than the Forsaken. With his new found allies, the Worgen of Gilneas, on Undercity's doorstep, Varian is in a good position to retake the former Human kingdom. The Forsaken, with some help from the Blood Elves, would fight back to protect the only place they can call home. Several areas like this can be spread throughout the world map, with control of them affording certain buffs or rewards.
2. Objective-based play -- True World PvP would be hard to manage. Imagine a full PvP server, but one where control of the world actually matters. Instead, what not have a series of smaller objectives that each side needs to take and hold. Holding a number of these sites at any given time would afford lesser rewards, perhaps some sort of points or honor to every player in the general area. These points could then be used to purchase faction rewards in the main cities. Final Fantasy XI did something like this with crystals needed for crafting professions, and so has WoW to an extent (with Stone Keeper Shards and the like), though it was necessary to engage in PvE content to obtain those items.

But then again, who knows? We may just see a few new Battlegrounds and Arenas to fight in. I'm sure PvP will move forward in certain respects, but at the end of the day, the balance between fun and fairness is what needs to be maintained. Considering either of these ideas, servers with already lop-sided populations would potentially see one faction completely shut out of rewards. Objective-based gameplay may be more suited to accessibility, considering that when more capture sites are placed in the world, it becomes harder for either side to dominate completely. Covering every objective would quickly spread forces thin, but it would allow the opposite faction to rally up and take a few of their own. The only difference in this case would be that one side would gain points, and thus rewards, at a faster pace. However, this approach runs the risk of placing less importance on any given objective. It would be less lore-centric, and some out-of-the-way objectives would fall into disuse. Zone-based PvP would certainly centralize the conflict, and the consolidation of forces would allow Blizzard to do more interesting things within each area. While balance is a greater issue here, Wintergrasp-style buffs could preserve the spirit of competition. So what are you guys looking forward to in terms of Player versus Player action in the next expansion. Are my ideas too far-fetched? What about ideas of your own? Do you think PvP might get the shaft as Blizzard focuses on expanding the lore and PvE content? We've only got a couple more days until we find out for sure!

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