So basically your argument is that Noz can see his future but the Titans will not/cannot? How do you empower someone with something that you do not possess yourself? Even in the case that Aman'thul does bless Nozdormu with an ability he does not have himself somehow, can't Nozdormu at least see something immediately after the gift and tell Aman'thul "there's something massively wrong with the Old Gods?"

So basically if he foresees a ruined future by the Old Gods he cannot act even when his charge is to protect Azeroth against them. There is a contradiction here that cannot work either way: he will fail one of his tasks if that is the future he sees.

1) His job is to protect time in regards to Azeroth. The invasion of the Orcs was certainly not something anyone saw as beneficial to Azeroth at the time. Neither was the explosion of the Well of Eternity. The Culling of Stratholm? Tragedy. They all ended up having a reason for happening, though. Inaction is a fairly common stance for time warden archetypes.

2) Like I said earlier, prophecy and time travel are about more than just paradoxes. There's an infinite number of possibilities. He may decide that one future is the most likely to occur, but quite clearly nothing is set in stone, and so to act on one possibility and intervene with the natural flow of events, you would have to be very certain that you must. What does he know that we don't?

Can you really judge the actions of a being who perceives time completely differently than us in the same way you would judge another person? Not really. Any perception of his failure could not be confirmed until all events have completely run their course.

New short story posted by Blizzard. It basically is the leadup to the 4.3 patch. Interestingly enough, it mentions King Bronzebeard I think (not by name) and insinuates that he is communicating with the Earthen/guarding the area around Khaz Modan in spirit. It also very briefly mentions Pandaria (again, not in name, but it's clear that they are talking about it). It also outlines why the Demon/Dragon Soul is able to harm Deathwing in the raid.

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I can think of numerous scenarios where something can be given that cannot be used yourself. Example: So-so artist becomes a teacher. Teaches the mechanics of artistry to students. One student learns from this teacher. Student is able to create world class artwork (Sistine Chapel, Mona Lisa, etc). Teacher could not have done so.

Why didn't Noz tell Aman'thul? Again, plenty of scenarios. Example: Noz says "There's something massively wrong with the Old Gods!" Aman'thul says, "Okay, we kill them." Titans kill Old Gods. Azeroth is completely and utterly destroyed in the process. Noz would have just failed his appointed job.

Again, seeing the future does not automatically mean you can control it or get the precise result you want. If you can see every possible result of every action and an action has even a 1% chance to produce really bad results, can you risk that action? Or do you instead go with the less useful action that has 100% chance not to produce bad results?

I can see the merit in some of your explanation, so I do appreciate them.

I disagree with your analogy with the teachers though. Time-related abilities are defined by Aman'thul when he gifted Nozdormu. He had the ability to see across the timeline and even his own end before Titans even left. So it's not the same as a teacher unlocking the potential in gifted students who then went on and achieve more.

I can definitely understand the argument about changing something affecting the future. I was going to say that he is able to go back to the past to undone any tampering he has done. But then we just open a whole paradox of things in that regard (butterfly effect?) and we don't even know if the past can be affected by present day decisions when the whole time travel is concerned.

I think your argument made the lore in 4.3 a bit more reasonable, but I still think the flaws are fairly apparent.

So after watching this video of Blizzcon 2011, BlizzCon 2011 - World Of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria - Lore and Story Panel (Full) - YouTube, what is going down with the Aspects? Chris Metzen makes reference to big things happening with the Aspects. The Aspects themselves make reference after the fall of Deathwing that their time has passed...anyone?

Indeed, it would seem rather pointless. Titans appoint Aspects for the sole specific task of defending the world against... one of the Aspects going wild?

If their duties are manifold and greater, which one would hope is the case, then temporarily supercharging the Dragon Soul should not drain them entirely. And, again one would hope, the supercharged Dragon Soul is a temporary business, otherwise even if you return it properly to the timeline you're replacing the normal with a beefed up version. Beyond the Dragon Soul business I can see no reasonable explanation for them to be spent. Does a mage cease being able to control any magic for perpetuity when they run OOM? No, they just need to rest and recharge. Focusing an Aspect's powers on Deathwing during an assault may be a very enervating experience, but it shouldn't de-demigod-ify someone. Not that logic or reason has ever appeared to influence any lore decisions.

Chris Metzen also commented that they were still not sure when or how to bring in the Titans. Sargeras would be the one I'm most interested in since he fueled the Burning Legion, and he would make an excellent raid boss. There are so many undeveloped Titan areas in WoW (Makers Terrace in Sholozar, all the various structures in Storm Peaks, and what about the big hole in the ground in Storm Peaks ,Engine of the Makers). They started going down the road with Ulduar and then got derailed with ToC and ICC somewhat. Of course, if they race to the end of the story they can't pursue lateral threads in game...so I'll just sit back and enjoy Pandas I guess.

From what we have seen of the Mogu, they look dead on as a Titan created race. The shots from the Mogu'shan Palace raid had Titanic architectural features. The layout shown, which Blizzard did admit was already changed, also included a Titan Repository.

The Mogu themselves look like they are made from stone. That makes me wonder how these guys managed to avoid the Curse of Flesh.

So we should still get some Titan lore in MoP, if these small scraps of information is anything to go on.

Looking at this link Mogu - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft, they seem to be flesh and bone, although their description is rather vague. However, I do see the titan repository you mentioned Mogu'Shan Palace - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft.

I just wanted to share this link I found when I searched WoW books in an effort to find a chronological order to the book series. World of Warcraft Books in Chronological Order

That's a chronological order of the novel's release, not the timeline.

I certainly agree that Arthas rising to power occurred after the "Sundering". I believe "David0925" is correct in pointing out the website provides the chronological release of the books, not the actual timeline. Interesting point, Nerzul does predate the "Sundering".

Thanks for looking over the link and clarifying the exact nature of the information being provided.

You should do Storm Peaks as Alliance. Their questline makes pretty good use of Engine of the Makers. In fact, any time you go through a zone and think a whole section of it seems unused, you should try running it as the other faction. It can be pretty surprising (sometimes).

Ok, so the press NDA for Mists of Pandaria (which appears to lift before we set foot on the continent, anyway) is lifted.

Besides the fact that I think they're introducing waaay too many new races, I'm also disappointed by the biggest spoiler of all.

Really? 5.2 is us raiding Orgimmar to depose Garrosh? And we needed to be told now? I understand Garrosh has been a poster boy for the "bad leader", but come on...

I don't understand Blizzard.
First off they make Garrosh look hot-headed and a bit reckless, yet still a bit of a badass.
Then they "redeem" him in Stonetalon by showing us how he has learned from Saurfang and is becoming a good leader.

He's really going to have to do something very evil in MoP for us to all want to kill him as a raid boss.

And who will replace him as warchief?
Are we going to see a very horde-centric expansion again?

also, Chris Metzen on the Orgrimmar raid:


Garrosh is Saddam Hussein

I think the important take away from this is Anduin's effect on Varian. And Varian definitely is redeemed. Also, remember the repeated rumors of the destruction of Theramore? I suppose the invasion of Orgimmar is a bit of "making up" for the fact Theramore gets invaded/destroyed and Alliance already lost the Archbishop in the Cataclysm campaign.

The direction of those 2 characters is entirely intentional. Varian & Garrosh were made to cause conflict.

Varian was meant to be the Thrall of the Alliance, while Garrosh was meant to replace Thrall. Obviously you can't be the Thrall of the Alliance if you're a jerk and not a nice guy, and you can't be Thrall of the Horde if you're not...THRALL OF THE HORDE :P

It's not entirely surprising to me that Varian is going to become this amazing Alliance leader that even goes so far as defending the women and children of the Horde, while Garrosh who replaced the real deal Warchief ends up the villain. That being said I'm not entirely convinced Garrosh will be killed, the Hellscream bloodline always adds so much to Warcraft lore, although I guess it could live on if that female Orc from the Dragonmaw ends up pregnant with his kid.

I wanted to go with a Varian = Naruto, Garrosh = Sasuke, Thrall = Itachi analogy, but it didn't work out for me!

All I took from that is Thrall comes back alive to team up with Garrosh to take down Mannorath or Doomhammer reincarnated or something.

-- All kidding aside though --

For what it's worth though, with your analogies and all, you should consider Vol'jin. Vol'jin being Warchief I think would also be satisfying. I mean, there's even a little bit of lead-up there with Vol'jin working with Vereesa Windrunner (the parallel here is Thrall working with Jaina, though Vol'jin and Vereesa working together could use a bit more fleshing). Vol'jin has many Thrall like qualities and don't forget the dialogue with Vol'jin at the start of Cataclysm.

Hmm, I could be wrong, but weren't the High Elves the mortal enemies of the Troll too? Vol'jin uniting Vereesa and Halduron (I believe? Zul'Aman v2 arc) is another good quality and working together for the "greater good". Plus look at the even brighter path down the line in 6.0 when we finally see the Zandalari/South Seas. There's just a whole lot of depth here too, the aspect of a Troll being Warchief, from refugees to being more prominent.

Back to your Naruto reference, Hiruzen was very much alive when Minato was the Hokage. I can absolutely see Vol'jin as the Warchief with Thrall (and Saurfang) being the retired Warchief and functioning as advisers. (By the way, for your reference, consider Garrosh's father as Itachi (seemingly evil, but truly good); Thrall would more likely be one of the older Hokages to make it work (Hiruzen would make a good deal of sense, but Thrall's "power" and wisdom is also reflective of Hashirama).

A tauren or troll will never be warchief, nor a member of the forsaken or the blood elves.

The Horde is very centred on the orcs, I don't believe that blizzard will ever really divert from that story.

So, we'll have to watch very carefully the storyline to see who appears to be the horde Hero.

Thrall won't be stepping back as Warchief anytime soon. He has accepted his responsibilities as top shaman of the universe, he's got family... While he would be back if nothing else worked, I don't think Metzen is going to plunge him back into the polarized Horde-Alliance conflict. Not when we have more cosmic threats (or is it submarine ones?) coming again in 6.0...

Well if Garrosh isn't warchief and Thrall doesn't retake the role, what are your legitimate options? IMO there are 2 strong options besides Thrall

1) Saurfang would obviously be everyone's favorite choice, but he has never wanted the leadership role. Then again, it's a common fantasy theme for leadership to be thrust upon those who would be good at it, but don't want it. He would be a good fit because he's not above some bloody fights, but he is also honorable and willing to consider the bigger picture.

2) Baine might be a possible 2nd choice, although he isn't as developed. The Tauren are respected by the Horde in general, so it would be a less volatile choice then a troll or a blood elf or undead.

Honestly our best hint will either come from the game OR related media. If they release a book on some horde character (that isn't Thrall), that might be a good hint as to what to expect from that storyline.

Btw, interesting things to consider from MMO-Champ

Obviously we know what sorts of things happen in the underbelly of Orgrimmar. Perhaps he felt the orcs lost their edge when they escaped Mannoroth's curse and he is trying to recreate the felblood boost without the side effect of being the slaves of the Burning Legion?

That Jaina bit could be interesting, although it still seems like an odd turn of character for her (town burns down and she goes crazy). I do hope that if they go down that route, it's more then just a case of her having a nervous breakdown.