Yes it is. But I beleive the Dragonflights will again come into play when you venture into Icecrown (which is not implemented yet) and still the question on what that Nefarian area is remains.
Yea, sadly, the black dragonflight chain is utterly uninteresting. The bronze dragonflight chain seems incomplete, really.
Oh, wait, it reveals that there are magma dragons. Which we'll probably never hear of again, however.
Well, that is based on the current unfinished and limited build that some people are playing.
Yes it is. But I beleive the Dragonflights will again come into play when you venture into Icecrown (which is not implemented yet) and still the question on what that Nefarian area is remains.
The Maw of Neltharian is where most of the Black Dragonflights' chain takes place. The Cult of the Damned has infiltrated it in order to raise dead dragons. I guess I'm wrong, though - magma wyrms are just the fiery version of the frost wyrms that we see every once in a while. Nightbane, etc. But there's nothing in that place left to be developed. It looks super cool though, to be sure.
So, the Lich King attacks the center of the horde, but the unloved stepchild of the Alliance? That seems fair >>
As for the timeline for the Deathknight intro, the jumps in "time" along the story line are hours/days - not months/years. It seems to me that the whole event takes place "after" BC.
Meh. Stormwind was razed and rebuilt in 4 years. I would think lore-wise Darnassus would seem like a much larger threat than either Ironforge or Stormwind. The Night-Elves primarily fought in the War of the Ancients and War of the Shifting Sand. It was Night-Elves that destroyed Archimonde... Night-Elves who stopped Queen Azshara... If I was the Lich King, I'd be worried about the race that's already destroyed some pretty powerful enemies rather than the Humans who have already lost Lordaeron and had Stormwind razed already.
-- Also, I think Blizzard probably needs a reason for Night-Elves and Orcs to go to Northrend. Humans and Forsaken/Blood-Elf want the Lich King dead. Dwarves and Tauren have the Iron Dwarves and Taunaka to meet.
Darnassus is also a lot closer to Northrend than Stormwind or Ironforge.
But this logic falls apart with Silvermoon City being far closer to Northrend than Orgrimmar. Unless this is supposed to happen simultaneously with the events of the SWP patch, so Arthas is scared to tussle with Kil'jaeden. Also, I thought Undercity was much further north than Orgrimmar too, but I may be misremembering.
I guess most people are focusing on the Plaguelands as a reason why Eastern Kingdoms should be focused on most.
As to why attack Darnassus.. perhaps Arthas had to endure listening to Staghelm while 'leveling up' and finally managed to get time in his schedule to try and knock him off - who can blame him for that.
I'm curious what will pan out in the Chamber of Aspects.. more specifically the Green Dragonflight one as it could introduce new links to the Emerald Dream.
The Maw of Neltharian is where most of the Black Dragonflights' chain takes place. The Cult of the Damned has infiltrated it in order to raise dead dragons. I guess I'm wrong, though - magma wyrms are just the fiery version of the frost wyrms that we see every once in a while. Nightbane, etc. But there's nothing in that place left to be developed. It looks super cool though, to be sure.
Ah, I did not know that. I had read sometime back on one of the forums that the Maw of Neltharian was empty or something like that.
As for the attacks on Org, Darn, I think it will be explained more in Lore Terms than Arthas just attacking the city that was close.
Also, I think Blizzard probably needs a reason for Night-Elves and Orcs to go to Northrend. Humans and Forsaken/Blood-Elf want the Lich King dead. Dwarves and Tauren have the Iron Dwarves and Taunaka to meet.
I really doubt Night Elves need a reason to go to Northrend.
'War' is too small a word for what I'm fighting. Like a candle in front of the whole burning Sun. Now, I am not going to die today. I have other projects, and other options.
I certainly hope the old god doesn't end up being named Yogg Savon... Savon means soap in French, I couldn't do anything but giggle if I have to fight a frighteningly old entity with a name like Yogg Soap...
It's Yogg-Saron. See the Ursoc questline for details.
'War' is too small a word for what I'm fighting. Like a candle in front of the whole burning Sun. Now, I am not going to die today. I have other projects, and other options.
Orgrimmar I knew about, but where it is mentioned that Darnassus was razed? O_o
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For the lurking Phoenix Wright faithful.
What is the most important thing to you? Won't you grant me the pleasure of taking it away.
Orgrimmar I knew about, but where it is mentioned that Darnassus was razed? O_o
I dunno. I saw someone mentioned Darnassus earlier in the thread and figured they knew what they were talking about. Could be entirely wrong though.
As far as Yogg-Saron, there are two Horde quests that mention him. The first is at Agmar's Hammer, where the blacksmith there tasks you with recovering some metallic ore samples from outside Azjol-Nerub. This ore is apparently what is used in constructing a lot of the walls of Icecrown (which is referred to as a metal that is nearly alive, or something like that.) The metal is called the "black blood of Yogg-Saron" in the quest.
In Grizzly Hills, you learn that the massive tree that lies strewn across the zone was once a World Tree called Vordrassil. It was grown in ancient times by the Cenarion Circle but then they discovered that it was corrupted at the roots and so they felled the tree. You discover that the furbolgs of the region have planted a new growth of Vordrassil inside the trunk of the old tree, and that they have been driven mad by whatever was corrupting the original. The son and daughter of Ursoc tell you that their father has also been returned to life -- but that he is not himself and is also under this evil influence. After burning the new Vordrassil sapling, you defeat the evil Ursoc and Ursoc's spirit tells you to "beware Yogg-Saron, he of a thousand maws."
Clearly the guy is alive and well and somehow linked to the activities of the Lich King to boot.
'War' is too small a word for what I'm fighting. Like a candle in front of the whole burning Sun. Now, I am not going to die today. I have other projects, and other options.
I guess most people are focusing on the Plaguelands as a reason why Eastern Kingdoms should be focused on most.
As to why attack Darnassus.. perhaps Arthas had to endure listening to Staghelm while 'leveling up' and finally managed to get time in his schedule to try and knock him off - who can blame him for that.
I think the Plaguelands are probably the very reason the Scourge went after Darnassus/Orgrimmar. In the Eastern Kingdom the Forsaken, Blood Elves, Argent Dawn, and Scarlet Crusade are all mobilized against the Scourge. They are constantly on guard against the threat from the cold north. In northern Kalimdor, there's no great threat other than some demonic remnants from the Legion's invasion. The Horde and Alliance forces would have their guards down.
I think the Plaguelands are probably the very reason the Scourge went after Darnassus/Orgrimmar. In the Eastern Kingdom the Forsaken, Blood Elves, Argent Dawn, and Scarlet Crusade are all mobilized against the Scourge. They are constantly on guard against the threat from the cold north. In northern Kalimdor, there's no great threat other than some demonic remnants from the Legion's invasion. The Horde and Alliance forces would have their guards down.
I would think that Teldrassil has some defenses to it; the druids grew a giant tree, surely they could cause the tree to, say, fire giant thorns or something. Not to mention that the Night Elves already have an excuse to hit up Northrend: early NE civilizations were there, and they grew the World Tree Vordrassil there.
The (apparent) excuse for razing Orgrimmar is so Blizzard can rebuild it in a better, newer fashion. But Orgrimmar is a major hub for the Horde, so that's fine. Darnassus is not a major hub for the Alliance, there's no particular reason to rebuild it other than to waste WoW designer time. If anything, I'd rather that the developers rebuild Gnomeregan (the instance, not necessarily a new city, although that would be nice too).
Well, if I remember correctly... its Amnennar the Coldbringer in Barrens tied to the Scourge? So there's certainly a Scourge presence in Barrens which is close to Orgrimmar. I never really saw how the Scourge forces get there, and as far as I knew they were just there to gain a toehold, but it seemed really arbitary. Perhaps this will tie in more with that.
Also, no one really knows what exactly is going to happen to Darnassus and more importantly, where are we establishing that it IS Darnassus? But Darnassus could use a few tweaks, namely it could use a forge/anvil that isn't in Auberdine. Darnassus feels "out of the way" more than any other city in the game... its worst than Theramore.
Maybe the exact reason you state for NOT razing Darnassus IS the reason they want to rebuild it. IE rather than leave it being an out of the way place they want to make it an Alliance quest hub.
But like I said earlier, Night Elves have been the protectors of Kalmindor for millennia... that should bear weight.
Ok, so, the entire Darnassus being razed is 100% speculation based on nothing. :P
I certainly haven't seen any evidence of it in Northrend, you'd think the Night Elf NPCs, or even the Dragons, somebody would make SOME sort of mention of Teldrassil being burned.
With the Horde, the quests hint(and in Hellscream's case completely confirm) that something happened in the old world to the Horde and Orgrimmar, and that the entire Northrend campaign they're currently leading is in retaliation to the Scourge's attack on them.
On the Alliance side of things, Stormwind's King Varian Wrynn(Lo'Gosh to you Hordlings) is leading the Campaign with the assistance of the Argent Crusade and Tirion Fordring, as well as Bolvar Fordragon, who's primary forces are fighting up at the entrance to Icecrown. There's no real mention of what set the Alliance off in the first place though. It DOES however seem that the whole of Stormwind is united, Goldshire/Lakeshire/Darkshire/Westfall forces are all in Northrend, meaning that the unrest you encountered in the Human starting areas from 1-35 are qualmed. There is also a heavy presence of Humans, Dwarves/Gnomes(And their new steam boats/siege weapons), left out of the loop are the Draenei and Night Elves. When I say out of the loop, you just don't see a strong presence of them, in comparison to the Humans/Dwarves.
Getting back to the Horde for a moment, I do like the small hints of blind savagery in the Horde. Hellscream is extremely brash, and he clashes with Saurfang over the campaign's progress. In addition Saurfang secretly supports you from the shadows, while the bulk of the Horde forces in Northrend scream their fanatic loyalty to Hellscream repeatedly. Overlord Agmar in Dragonblight is just downright scary, "It is from this throne that I issue the command of Hellscream. His word is life and his word is death." It is afterall the Warsong Offensive, but goodness if I wouldn't want to cross the current Horde as Alliance or Scourge at the moment.
Last edited by Emeraude : 08/11/08 at 9:10 PM.
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For the lurking Phoenix Wright faithful.
What is the most important thing to you? Won't you grant me the pleasure of taking it away.
"Good <name>, the Lich King plagues us -- both Horde and Aliiance -- with disease and invasion. Only by joining our strengths can the two great cultures of Azeroth survive against his assault.
In Shattrath, in the Terrace of Light, that alliance has been struck. To aid our struggle against the Lich King, go to the new Alliance camp in the Terrace of Light and speak with Bishop Lazaril."
Seems like we'll definately be seeing a new invasion type deal that affects more than just Ogrimmar, including maybe some pervasive low level disease in the main cities for a couple weeks before Wolk goes live.
edit:
Actually looking a bit deeper, it seems there's 10 versions of this quest, one for each race, The horde ones specifically state there's a 'zombie plague' that needs to be cured:
<name>, the Lich King plagues us with invasion. To beat him back to his frozen throne, the Horde and Alliance must stand resolute together. In Shattrath, in the Terrace of Light, that alliance has been struck.
To aid our struggle against the Lich King, go to the new apothecary camp in the Terrace of Light and speak with Grand Apothecary Putress. He leads desperate research to end the zombie plague. His cure is our salvation.
Be swift, <name>. Each moment passed is another innocent life lost.
I mentioned the thing about Darnassus getting raised, and it's something I heard being passed along from elsewhere a while back when the news about Org getting raised came out. Could be wrong, naturally.
One tangential point that I want to make is that I've been pretty disappointed so far by how few new Outland races/forces have been involved in Northrend so far. Blood Elves don't count, but I don't think there are really any Draenei camps (haven't played Alliance though), and I was hoping to see some Naaru helping the fight, or maybe it'd be cool to see some Arrakoa paladins, etc. So far, though, all I've seen is one and only one Ethereal get involved. Which was actually kinda cool, the potential of a Consortium / Blue Dragonflight alliance, but I gather that that subplot isn't going to go anywhere. It really feels like TBC may well have never happened.. I understand why the new Outland races and demons are largely absent, but there's no reason why the "good" races shouldn't show up.
Plus, they need to do with Azuregos what they did with Kazzak in TBC. And they need to use the unique Naxx models (Grobbulus, Thaddius are the main ones) more. I've seen one Grobbulus-type monster and I think there's a Thaddius-type somewhere as well. There should be more though.
Has there been any mention of the Maelstrom (Queen Azshara), Emerald Dream or Titan "Scheduled revisitation" in any quests yet? Given that WC3 ended with "Arthas, Illidan and Vashj" as the primary characters - TBC+WOTLK is set to have used up all three of them and leave us without a character tie-in many veteran WC3 fans are personally familiar with. Id think having such an intimate character players can respond to would be very important for Blizzards potential new players and marketing future games: character recognition/familiarity when buying new Blizzard games is important (Ex-WC3 players will surely respond favourably by seeing a WOTLK box with Arthas's face on it) A new hero/villain will need to be created/groomed as early as possible. Im interested to see whether there are any hints from quest/zone text at where the story (and long term: next expansion) could go.
Getting back to the Horde for a moment, I do like the small hints of blind savagery in the Horde. Hellscream is extremely brash, and he clashes with Saurfang over the campaign's progress. In addition Saurfang secretly supports you from the shadows, while the bulk of the Horde forces in Northrend scream their fanatic loyalty to Hellscream repeatedly. Overlord Agmar in Dragonblight is just downright scary, "It is from this throne that I issue the command of Hellscream. His word is life and his word is death." It is afterall the Warsong Offensive, but goodness if I wouldn't want to cross the current Horde as Alliance or Scourge at the moment.
That's pretty cool. I hate when they end up making the horde too goody-goody which they do occasionally. Give me savage orcs/trolls and revenge-crazed forsaken/BEs and I will be happy.
I think there's a Thaddius-type somewhere as well.
Thrym in Zul'Drak uses Thaddius model. While browsing Wikipedia article about Þrymr (Thrym, Thrymr) I saw some other familiar names (Jotun, Freya) that are also in the game - all elites.
Has there been any mention of the Maelstrom (Queen Azshara), Emerald Dream or Titan "Scheduled revisitation" in any quests yet? Given that WC3 ended with "Arthas, Illidan and Vashj" as the primary characters - TBC+WOTLK is set to have used up all three of them and leave us without a character tie-in many veteran WC3 fans are personally familiar with. Id think having such an intimate character players can respond to would be very important for Blizzards potential new players and marketing future games: character recognition/familiarity when buying new Blizzard games is important (Ex-WC3 players will surely respond favourably by seeing a WOTLK box with Arthas's face on it) A new hero/villain will need to be created/groomed as early as possible. Im interested to see whether there are any hints from quest/zone text at where the story (and long term: next expansion) could go.
There are a few mentions of Azshara and the Emerald Dream (Green Dragon questchain in Maelstrom), but nothing out of the ordinary. Titans get a lot of mention, but nothing about a revisitation afaik - maybe that'll be for Storm Peaks.
I don't think Blizzard will tie in the next expansion's plot too strongly with the current development. That'd spoil the surprise, I guess, and possibly commit them to story threads which they haven't really thought through yet.
Relatedly, Crystalsong Forest is supposed to have one of those Emerald Dream portals, but it looks like Blizzard isn't going to add one... kind of annoying, especially since I'd put money on Emerald Dream being the focus of the next expansion..
Thrym in Zul'Drak uses Thaddius model. While browsing Wikipedia article about Þrymr (Thrym, Thrymr) I saw some other familiar names (Jotun, Freya) that are also in the game - all elites.
Freya is a titan avatar. Jotun is... a titan construct of some sort. Thrym was the Thaddius clone I had in mind, yes.
Crystalsong Forest seems to be unfinished though; you can see a bloodelf post there but not npcs. It would also seem a bit odd that so large an area would be totally without mobs or quests. I believe they opened unfinished Crystalsong Forest just because it was needed due to Dalaran being there.
Maybe they add a portal to emerald dream, maybe not (would be cool if they did!) They could leave it non-functional as they did with Dark Portal in vanilla. They could also make it so that you can enter a small restricted region of emerald dream for some quests without tying it too strongly to the next expansion.
08/10/08, 3:11 PM
