World of Warcraft - Lore & Storyline discussion [SPOILERS] - Page 679

Kirion · 01/25/11, 6:46 PM

Originally Posted by Bierzkrieg

So, can anyone give any insight into the Sinestra encounter? I haven't been able to see the video - look Ma, no flash! - but apparently Calen dies. Guess that's one more step towards Alextrasza going berserk.

Given that Calen was pretty much out of picture for thousands years (after War of shifting sands) I doubt that. Death of Kaelstraz, for example, would be much more tragic.

Fnar · 01/26/11, 3:48 AM

Originally Posted by Kirion

Given that Calen was pretty much out of picture for thousands years (after War of shifting sands) I doubt that. Death of Kaelstraz, for example, would be much more tragic.

I'm not so sure, isn't he Alexstraza's heir? She certainly places a lot of importance on him in the TH questline

NykylaiHellray · 01/26/11, 10:53 AM

You guys wiill want to take this following information with a grain of salt, but present evidence could suggest that this is legit. Though if it was legit, I doubt Metzen would be bound to anything said on 4chan.....

But anyway this thread might be of interest:

4chanarchive - /v/ - 84793174 | source is 4chan.

If you dont want to register to view, then i recomend looking at this thread where sarah has posted screenshots.

The Big Ol' Cataclysm Thread - Page 343 - Scrolls of Lore Forums
The Big Ol' Cataclysm Thread - Page 344 - Scrolls of Lore Forums

Tinwhisker · 01/26/11, 11:58 AM

I imagine that Metzen wouldn't post such things on 4chan. Not because he wouldn't but because it wouldn't be good for Blizzard; they have a policy of not posting as themselves on outside sites. I think it happened once on EJ a long time ago and if memory serves it caused a lot of trouble they didn't want. And I have to believe that EJ is a much more accepted and mainstream site for WoW content than 4chan.

The stuff contained therein looks mostly beleivable and that seems like it might be the way Metzen would talk among friends but we've seen very clever and believable fakes before.

Kaejin · 01/26/11, 1:26 PM

An elaborate (and very successful) troll, nothing more. Just someone who did a lot of research on both Warcraft and Metzen's mannerisms, basically. He doesn't tell us anything that isn't already out in the open (though perhaps not readily in view), and the few things that aren't easy to find out by reading a book somewhere are safe assumptions made by analyzing information already available or else things that no one would be able to prove or disprove without talking to someone who was actually involved.

I realize that Metzen doesn't always enlighten us with grand new revelations whenever questioned about lore, but this is the very picture of suspicious, and not all that odd to find on /v/.

Exemplar · 01/26/11, 2:31 PM

Apply Occam's razor.

You're a heavily scheduled and possibly overworked businessman. Chance that in your free time before/after work, you go online and answer fan questions about your job? Said answers which could infringe on work product or imply action your employer is making/will be making/may make, with full knowledge the legal department has advised you about even implying what the company will do (i.e. things read by others as making promises you cannot guarantee are fulfilled)?

Other end of the razor:
Post it on a site more easily summed up as 'notorious' rather than 'famous'. Best reasoning for such a location is so it can be easily denied. So easily and believably denied that people would be unlikely to believe a double-bluff scenario (denial increasing believability). In short, any effort put into writing it in the first point is lost once belief is removed. If there is sufficient belief in its truth your business would force you to deny it.

So why would anyone want to take the time and effort to post anonymous "talk out of school" when they could write the same answers, submit them to marketing and legal and have them posted legitimately? Posting in such a fashion would be an attempt to dodge or express discontent at "the man" (some perceived oppressive leadership at your employer) - neither of which are attitudes which seem applicable to Metzen.

I find it a bit amusing that folks have gone from pretending to be royalty/nobility or pop stars in order to gain self-satisfaction from misdirected praise, to pretending to be a video game designer.

Leviathon · 01/30/11, 10:45 PM

Originally Posted by Nathanyel

Maloriak is likely "simply" the science nerd in Neltharion's greater family, physically weaker than other dragons (I know, tanks might object) but way more adept at experiments etc.
He walks upright and uses his front paws for interaction with objects like a humanoid, but I'd say this posture rather comes from centuries of training and maybe a bit of magic/alchemy/surgery involved, up to trimming his wings so that they don't get in the way, than from being bred or created in this shape.

Maloriak's 'wings' are just a mechanical contraption on his back. He himself has no wings and likely is just a odd Dragonkin.

Bierzkrieg · 01/31/11, 7:21 AM

Aye, he's either a skinnier Drakonid or a bipedal dragonspawn. I'll go with the born-that-way theory, even if he's made a couple of enhancements to his body.

Kaejin · 01/31/11, 4:58 PM

I'd be surprised if he wasn't one of Nefarion's creations. Though probably a failed creation if you were to ask.

Nathanyel · 02/01/11, 4:27 AM

Originally Posted by Kaejin

An elaborate (and very successful) troll, nothing more. Just someone who did a lot of research on both Warcraft and Metzen's mannerisms, basically.

That, and he at one point writes "Panderan", a mispelling of Pandaren which I only ever see in "lol I wanna play a panda" threads on the official forums.

Cybsled · 02/24/11, 7:41 PM

So, patch 4.1 will apparently revamp ZG and ZA into 5-mans. We also see the opening of Firelands.

Some of the ZG achievements have been leaked:

# It's Not Easy Being Green Do not get hit by Bloodvenom, Pool of Acrid Tears, or Venomous Effusion in the High Priest Venoxis encounter in Zul'Gurub on Heroic difficulty.

# Gurubashi Headhunter Defeat Gub, Mortaxx, Kaolema, Mor'Lek, the Florawing Hive Queen, a Lost Offspring of Ghaz'Ranka, and the Gurubashi Master Chef in Zul'Gurub on Heroic difficulty.

For screen effects, it also lists:

Zul'Gurub 4.x - Jin'do Spirit World - Screen effect

Based on the STV quests, it seems a lock that Jin'do, Venoxis, and Mandokir will be involved and the achievements seem to confirm that (save for Mandokir, but based on his central role in the STV line + the baby raptor, he's pretty much guaranteed).

Nathanyel · 02/25/11, 4:16 AM

They've been datamined, not "leaked" :P

The Gurubashi Headhunter one sounds like a hunt for random or rare spawns.
a) They mispelled Gahz'ranka
b) "Florawing Hive Queen" - sounds much like a silithid, which would add background to Hakkar being an Old God or at least related to them. Then again, the name Florawing is irritating. Moth swarm?

obbity · 02/25/11, 10:14 AM

I presumed the Gurubashi Headhunter achievement was more akin to the first boss encounter of ToC 5 or Violet Hold : Each run you'd have 3 or 4 of the 7 listed appear during the boss encounter.

Nathanyel · 02/25/11, 11:51 AM

Checked out ZG on the PTR, there are even quests for these nameds. First entered with a group of randoms, however that one quickly fell apart as just being in the instance randomly crashes your client.

Florawing is a hive of wasps, and there are several offspring of Gahz'ranka in the waters below. I think I've seen all of the mobs for the Headhunter achievement.
Layout was altered, you can go left in the direction of Jin'do's corner, which is now inhabited by Zanzil. Several dire trolls are hanging at the walls, reminds me of cow quarters hanging in a slaughterhouse, also, an "undead" feeling.
Several new bridges between the 'outer ring' and the temple in the middle.
Jeklik and Mar'li plateaus are blocked off by rubble, I could feral charge a monkey to enter Jeklik's, the area still exists, but is completely empty. Venoxis and Mandokir are still/again at their old places.
Temple of Bethekk is guarded by a "Tiki-Lord", which has a bone-shield-esque buff that throws bones around, though the buff tooltip implies it might just be popcorn. Down in the temple is a new priestess, again with noticable cat adds.
Didn't explore further since, as mentioned, the client kept crashing while inside the instance, at the end it was already crashing when trying to log into my character.

Fnar · 03/02/11, 8:22 AM

Zul'aman and Zul'gurub
There's a lot of new content in Cataclysm. There's also a plethora of updated content to advance the story.

Likewise, there's plenty of new content still to come in this expansion. But, we're also going to keep moving existing themes forward when the story calls for it. There were specific reasons for originally entering Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman, but those reasons by no means wrap up the story of the ancient troll empire. These city ruins still serve a major purpose in troll lore, beyond just providing new locations to gain loot.

We're moving the story of the troll nations forward, and hope you recognize and enjoy that. Hakkar and Zul'jin are gone now. Even so, that doesn't make Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman irrelevant as key locations of Azeroth.

[...] Zul'Aman is in Ghostlands, which is in Azeroth, not Outland. It's true Ghostlands didn't receive any terrain changes after the Cataclysm, but that doesn't mean the remaining Amani are unaffected by what's happened.

We'll have more information to share on the return of Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub soon. But for now I'll say this: there is a center of troll civilization yet to be seen in World of Warcraft. There was once an ancient empire of troll tribes united. Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub becoming key points of interest in Cataclysm plays into this. Perhaps something has happened to once again call for the unity of the disaffected tribes. Perhaps a certain tribe with allegiances elsewhere sees this as a very bad thing.

The above is just a nice summary of blue posts on the re-invented troll instances which I have lifted from mmo-c.

The really interesting part (in my opinion) is the bolded bit at the end. If there is a centre of troll civilization that is yet to be seen in WoW, this suggests Zuldazar, the Zandalari Capital.

Blue posts have also hinted that Kul'Tiras will be making an appearence in cataclysm. I don't have the source for this but I believe the exact wording was that Kul'Tiras would not be visible at the start of cataclysm, which suggests to me that at some point it will be and presumably it will be tied to further developments in Tol Barad and will be a way of seeding the next expansion which I think it is safe to say will be Azshara-centric due to her appearence indirectly in cataclysm so far, her ties to the old gods and of course Arthas' vision in Rise of the Lich King. It would make sense to start adding Island nations like KT and the Zandalar, if we are going to see Zin'Azshiri rise from the seas