Sorry to veer away from the discussion of Saurfang / Varian, but do we know what Jania is talking about during these quotes? Was searching through the thread but only found "guesses" - hoping to get a definitive answer now that the Lich King is out.

I wasn't being serious about the BE warriors, seeing as they already exist in lore and warrior is pretty much a default class anyway. But if they are going to explain any of then new race/class combos I think they should equally justify them all. It isn't hard to understand how there can be gnome priests, but it seems like a ripe opportunity to give a specific story behind how these priests came to be and what differentiates their beliefs from the other races. Even the BE warriors could be interesting if they spin it that these warriors are different from those before them and are a special battalion being created with a specific purpose to the BEs.

I can't find a factual explanation to those files, they seem pretty lonely right now. There's no quest-drop from the Lich King.

Just noticed something, though...when did the blade become the higher power? Yes, it contains souls, including Arthas', but since the boy scout was turned into the Lich King, shouldn't he be able to rule around without saying things like the whisper to Shadowmourne-wielders: "You will know how it feels to have a blade for a prison". Something like that. Has Ner'zhul moved to the blade, secretly? I always though the greater portion of power rested in the armor - wherever the thinking is done.

Wowwiki is suggesting that the Shatterspear Trolls (from the village below the flightpath between Darkshore and Winterspring) will be involved in some Trolls becoming Druids. It's as good as anyone's guess, but it does match where the Night Elf Mages and the Dwarven Shaman are coming from, i.e. a previously uninvolved racial subgroup.

Actually, I'd say that gnomes are discovery driven. This often leads to technology (functional or self-explosive). A gnome properly braced/proselytized could accept the Light as an experiment. Input X amount of Faith and get Y results. How much Faith is required for certain results? If I believe/worship in fashion Z, do I get better/worse results?

Yes, it sounds a little blasphemous, but to something vague and ephemeral as the Light seems to be (without the personal passions/human failings of embodiments such as the Greek Gods) they should not receive Divine Retribution for mockery or disbelief. As long as the Faith is real, you should get results. Not to start a religious debate regarding Faith and Belief, but if Faith (even other people's) has demonstrated results, it's somewhat hard to be Atheistic. Agnostic, possibly, atheistic, not so much. I would argue that Gnomes don't disbelieve, they just haven't found it as interesting as all the other shiny things that take their attention, therefore haven't actively pursued it.

Gnomish Medics in Gnomeregon use bandages or machinery and are dressed like technicians. They probably are treating wounds the same way they'd treat a damaged machine.

OK - as normal this is 100% speculation but I *think* I may have this one figured out. I'm guessing that this is also an Arthas drop quest, where you take something from Arthas/Frostmourne to Darion Mograin. When presented with it, Darion is able to communicate with Alexandros for one final conversation. After that's finished, Darion thanks you and rewards you with the reigns of his Deathcharger, Iydallus, who incidentally accompanies him in the entrance to Icecrown Citadel.

The model of Iydallus is exactly the same as the "unknown" summon spell that was posted on MMO a few days ago:



Compared with:



My best guess is that this could be the extra reward from 10 man Arthas hard mode. 25 gets Invincible, 10 man gets Iydallus. That seems logical to me given how Blizzard no longer like a huge disparity between 10 and 25 rewards.

I expect if that were true then the spell would be named Summon Iydallus.

The Crimson Deathcharger and Azure Deathcharger that have been datamined are likely just variety in the same vein that the Argent Charger is for paladins, if they're even going to be available to players at all.

Providing Deathchargers for any class is also going against the grain of keeping class-exclusive mounts... well, class-exclusive.

I expect any extra item heroic Arthas drops in 10 man will be acquired in the same way that Yogg's Tentacle and Mimiron's Head were: directly from his loot window. We'll find out soon enough.

No, current PC Deathchargers are purple.

Faction colors is as good a guess as any. I was thinking they added Red for Blood and Blue for Frost, with the current Purple representing Unholy. Granted, they usually go with Green for that, but it's interchangeable in many cases.

If it's a drop, I can see it coming from Saurfang Jr - the only Death Knight boss in Icecrown. Azure for 10-man hc, red for 25hc, or the other way around...

Meh, there's probably no real point in carpet-speculating. It's even not that big a deal, although the red one looks pretty cool for a horse (seeing as orcs and tauren seem to have more muscular mass and volume than any horse in Azeroth).

Considering the elemental/dragon theme (Armor design included) of Cataclysm, I'd say you'll be seeing as many Shamen in the next expansion as you saw of Paladins in this one.

Stumbled across a couple of new Thorium Brotherhood quests in Searing Gorge, revolving around Dark Iron pillows -- and I could swear those cranes north of the TB base weren't there before.