Picking Things Up with the Alliance and Horde

Massive upheaval was the name of the game for the past two expansions, though that had been the case somewhat in Wrath as well (newer players who knew that Stormwind didn't used to have a harbor might have assumed that was a Cataclysm addition, but it actually came in Wrath.) One of the things that's kind of interesting, though also a bit frustrating, is how our journey to Draenor will mostly be leaving Azeroth behind to go about its own business for a while. Cataclysm saw familiar zones totally overhauled and stories jump forward in progression. Mists did take us away from our home territories a bit, but the action all came back to familiar lands - particularly for Orcs and Trolls, who saw their home zone and capital city become the central point of conflict. Mists was, in many ways, an interesting trick - one that I liked, actually. Pandaria seemed so utterly foreign and different when we arrived, but the more we found out, the more familiar it got, with the Old Gods and the Titans playing prominent roles, and the climax to the expansion taking place beneath Orgrimmar itself.

Warlords of Draenor appears, at least for now, to be far more isolated. It's a little early to predict the whole trajectory of the expansion at this point, but I suspect that the events of the expansion are really going to be limited to Draenor. The aftermath of the Siege of Orgrimmar and the peace treaty signed between the Alliance and Horde does not appear to be in focus. While more and more Azerothian forces arrive as you establish yourself on Draenor, I don't foresee anything like 5.1's Landfall happening - you are part of an expedition, and not a full-scale deployment. Your forces are a small elite group that is going to gather material and allies in Draenor, rather than opening the way for your forces to back you up. And one thing that's nice for those of us who preferred the "grudging cooperation" between the factions in Vanilla, BC, and Wrath over the all-out war in Cataclysm and Mists, is that the two sides are small enough teams headquartered far enough away from one another that there's really no reason to squabble (except in Ashran, which is just because they needed to do something PvP focused.)

But we're also going to see basically nothing of Vol'jin or Varian. Really, other than a few figures, like Khadgar, Thrall, and Maraad, we're really not getting anyone super-important from Azeroth to come with us. The Velen we interact with is not our Velen. That prophet is presumably still at the Exodar. Thrall is obviously no longer Warchief, and with the Cataclysm dealt with, he doesn't have to stick around as World Shaman either. Sure, it might have been better to bring someone like Saurfang, who actually, you know, knows Draenor, but I can understand why Thrall would be really eager to see what Draenor was like.

So what is going on back home?

There was quite a lot of chaos that happened during the last few in-game years. Most of it is because of Garrosh, either directly or indirectly. After the war in Northrend, there was a serious power-shift. Under Hellscream's leadership, the Horde expanded aggressively and totally industrialized. Territory expanded in just about every direction, but in response, the Alliance invaded the Barrens, laying siege to Mulgore and striking at the soft underbelly of the Horde. With Theramore destroyed, I'm not sure that the Alliance was able to do much in the Barrens during the Pandaria campaign. Overall, while they did gain some territory, Hellscream's leadership has really wound up costing them any of the advantages that they had post-Northrend.

The Alliance is still struggling, but while the Horde practically collapsed in on itself, the Alliance is holding. The destruction of Theramore was a devastating blow, but it was also the last serious defeat they would suffer during the war. Garrosh had pushed Sylvanas into more aggressively spreading into Lordaeron, which she did with gusto, but the invasion of Gilneas was not quite as successful as, say, Hillsbrad. While there's little there to indicate so to an Alliance player, Gilneas is basically holding against the Forsaken. Silverpine is essentially all Horde territory now, but the Greymane Wall, shattered though it is, does effectively mark the border, albeit a shifting a porous one, between Horde and Alliance ground. But Gilneas is not a functioning country anymore, with the civilian population in exile. The only people there are Alliance forces who are trying to establish a permanent foothold, and it's going to be a while before the Gilneans can move back in.

Despite these difficulties, the Alliance has been growing its membership. When Moira Bronzebeard returned from Blackrock Depths, the fear was that she intended to essentially lead a coup to install the Dark Irons as the chief controllers of Ironforge, which could of course jeopardize the status of one of the absolutely core members of the Alliance. However, as time has gone by, Moira has proven herself to be a loyal leader, and while many of the Dark Irons remain loyal to Twilight's Hammer, a large number of them are now reintegrating into the greater Dwarven, and by extension Alliance society.

Likewise, the Night Elves have finally decided that it's time to let the Highborne come back and practice Arcane magic as long as it's done responsibly. I don't know if it's such a huge population, as most of the Highborne sailed east and became the High Elves and then the Blood Elves, but it can't hurt.

Now Dalaran is of course a cause for some controversy. During the worst of Garrosh's abuses, Varian Wrynn and Lor'themar Theron had been engaged in very, very secretive talks. The Blood Elves had, of course, been members of the Alliance at one time, and while there were absolutely some old bitternesses about the way that the Blood Elves were treated post-Third War, it wasn't as if it was any worse than Garrosh. The Blood Elves have also been separated from family - those High Elves who were in human territories during the Scourge invasion might actually be a pretty big population. In the era of Hellscream's brutality, it didn't really make any sense for the Blood Elves to be in the Horde, rather than the Alliance (which, in the meantime, and become far more tolerant and diverse anyway.)

Unfortunately, the actions of a small few can make things much harder for everyone else. Despite losing Theramore, Jaina had largely been able to separate the actions of Hellscream from those of the Blood Elves in Dalaran. However, when it became clear that the Mogu's Divine Bell had been stolen from its safe place in Darnassus by Sunreaver Agents, she drew a line. And perhaps that was too broad a line. Jaina locked down Dalaran and began imprisoning anyone in the Sunreavers - effectively any Blood Elf or just any Horde people in Dalaran. The thing that's so frustrating about this is that she wasn't entirely wrong in her convictions. It's pretty clear that Aethas Sunreaver - the leader of the Sunreavers - was involved in that plot. But by broadly arresting any Blood Elves - or killing those who resisted arrest - she stirred up all the old resentments and torpedoed those talks that Varian and Lor'themar had engaged in.

Many Blood Elves are likely still in Violet Hold, and that's something that needs to be taken care of. However, the upshot of this is that, while the Alliance lost the opportunity to not only regain an old ally but also deprive the Horde on one at the same time, Dalaran itself has reverted to being a purely Alliance force and institution. Is it a good trade? Well, one wonders. If the Blood Elves were to flip over, Dalaran would probably be Alliance by default anyway. Now, however, the Alliance has got to deal with a complex situation where they need to let those Blood Elves go at some point, but they need to do it in such a way that it does not threaten to bring up tensions again (actually, immediately post-Orgrimmar would have been a great time, but I don't know if Jaina would have been up for that.)

Speaking of prisoners: Sylvanas currently has one of the key members of the Knights of the Ebon Blade in her own dungeons, being "re-educated" after fraternizing with members of the Alliance (really just his fellow Death Knight.) This is kind of a big deal. For one thing, whose jurisdiction is Koltira Deathweaver under? One could argue that he should answer to Darion Mograine, but given that the Ebon Blade is a neutral organization, he shouldn't have been participating in the battle for Andorhal in the first place (same with Thassarian.) But if he's a member of the Horde, would he not be representing Silvermoon? Yes, he's Undead, but with the exception of Sylvanas and her Dark Rangers, the Forsaken are primarily undead humans. It's not as if anyone Undead defaults in loyalty to the Forsaken (for one thing, half of them are members of the Alliance.) And even if, by serving as a commander of Forsaken forces, he did wind up under Sylvanas' command, one still wonders - is the Horde cool with brainwashing as a disciplinary action?

Garrosh attempted to reign Sylvanas in, but the Forsaken seem more aggressive and dangerous than ever. There's really no long-term solution for them. Most probably wish they'd just gradually die out and let living people repopulate Lordaeron, but it's clear that Sylvanas does not have anything like that in mind. Essentially, she wants her own little slightly-less malevolent Scourge to live there forever. But unless you can get humans to go volunteer for a Forsaken afterlife (which seems unlikely,) her vision is going to require a pretty horrific abuse of the very concept of Free Will.

Luckily, despite the bloodshed there, Kalimdor actually seems to have a more thoughtful peace process going on. Tyrande has agreed to allow the Horde uncontested control of Azshara. The question then becomes Ashenvale. Azshara's strategically important given the huge harbor there, but the Horde's main source of lumber in Kalimdor is just west of there. The Night Elves are presumably interested in halting the logging of Ashenvale, which could be a problem, especially given that post-Siege, the Horde's probably going to need to rebuild. Still, the Night Elves are in a good position to reestablish themselves throughout much of Kalimdor. The question, as it is for the Alliance from now on, is one of restraint.

The Horde itself is going to be going through a bit of chaos. Orgrimmar was devastated by the Siege, and it's likely that the former Kor'kron or just ordinary Orcish supporters of Garrosh, are going to be really upset about the fact that they have to bow down before a Troll as Warchief. The Darkspear have just gotten elevated to a position of incredible power, but that also makes them targets. I would be very curious to see how the Horde interacts with the Zandalari from here on out. The Orcs are now somewhat leaderless as a race. Thrall does not seem to want to be that figure for them anymore. While many I'm sure will adjust to Vol'jin, there's a lot of dangerous racial pride among the Orcs, which could threaten to cause some big problems.

Hopefully the peace treaty will allow the Tauren to open up Mulgore once again, and perhaps they will be able to resume their ties with the Night Elves (no two races on opposite factions are so close. Seriously, I think the Tauren are closer to the Night Elves than they are to the Undead.)

Depending on how things go in Draenor, it's possible that Azuremyst and Bloodmyst Isles are about to get a huge immigration. With SPOILER, some of the Draenei of the other universe might decide to move to Azeroth, though the reverse is also a possibility. No one has really made much mention of the fact that the Exodar is once again functional, but it's possible that that remains a closely-guarded secret, perhaps known only to a select few.

Fundamentally it looks like the balance has seriously shifted from the early days of Garrosh's tenure as Warchief. When he started, he got the Alliance on its heels while the Horde pushed forward. But now, there's been a massive backward swing, and the Horde is left trying to pick up the pieces. The Alliance then has a major choice to make. Do they take this time to consolidate and reinforce their own territories, or do they try to establish a permanent domination of the Horde. Some, like Jaina, have lost all faith in the Horde's ability to coexist peacefully, and believe that by allowing them to rebuild, they are only ensuring another Warchief Hellscream some time later. But Varian has a different outlook, and is seeking to establish more of the kind of cooperation that existed when Thrall was Warchief - but this time, with a little more transparency and fairness. Varian values restraint, but his critics would call it hesitation. The Alliance has great power now, and could very likely crush the Horde if they wished, but instead, they are hoping that a healthy Horde will mean a peaceful Horde, and a potential ally for the other, far greater threats when they show up.

Only time will tell which course is wiser.

A Quick Guide to the Iron Horde and the Orcs of Draenor

Given that we're dealing with a parallel universe, it's possible that Orcish history was quite different than it was in our universe. The official story ever since Warcraft III was that before the corruption of Mannoroth, the Orcs were a fundamentally peaceful people. I think that we're getting a somewhat different story these days, but one that's a bit more realistic. The Orcs weren't peaceful, but they weren't uncontrollably aggressive.

The Horde itself may actually have existed in one form or another long before the arrival of the Burning Legion. The Orcs are a diverse people, but it's perfectly understandable that they would have some framework by which to unite and fend off the Ogres, Arrakoa, Botani, or whatever else might be causing them trouble.

Ner'zhul was generally respected by all the Orcs - a kind of Orcish Pope, in a way - despite the fact that he belonged to only one of the many clans. It was around Ner'zhul (and standing behind him, Gul'dan) that the Horde of our universe coalesced. One could even argue that Ner'zhul was the first Warchief, though I believe that the title and position did not truly exist until Gul'dan's Shadow Council elevated Blackhand, who would later by usurped by Orgrim Doomhammer, who would pass the mantle on to Thrall, who would unfortunately name Garrosh as his replacement, who was overthrown by Vol'jin, which is where we are today.

But the Iron Horde had a different history. Garrosh engineered its creation so that his father - or rather, the man who shared a name and face with his father - would be its leader. So who are all these people?

The Warsong Clan:

At the core of the Iron Horde is the Warsong Clan. Grommash led the Warsong, but when he rose to the position of Warchief, he left behind his clan to the strange prophet Garrosh. Garrosh now rules the Warsong in Nagrand from the city of Grommashar. Much as he had pushed the non-Orc and non-Tauren from the heart of Orgrimmar, Garrosh has decreed that only the Warsong and the Burning Blade can stay in Nagrand. The Warsong are the elite warriors of the Iron Horde, and its most fervent supporters.

The Shadowmoon Clan:

The Shadowmoon Clan are deeply in tune with the magic of the spirits. Their leader is Ner'zhul. When Grommash and Garrosh approached Ner'zhul, they leveled a massive threat - either they could find a source of power to contribute to the Iron Horde's cause and join them, or they could be destroyed. Out of desperation and pride, Ner'zhul broke a centuries-old law, taking upon himself the void power of the Dark Star - the Naaru K'ara, who had been injured in the arrival on Draenor, and had gone into its dark cycle. Wielding the terrible power of the Dark Star, Ner'zhul's Shadowmoon Clan threatens to overrun the vast Draenei population in Shadowmoon Valley.

The Thunderlord Clan:

Frostfire Ridge is home to the Frostwolf Clan, but it has also always been home to the Thunderlord Clan - a clan of talented hunters and rock-climbers. The Thunderlords have long been rivals to the Frostwolves, and they have seen the Iron Horde as a chance to get the edge over the Frostwolves once and for all.

The Blackrock Clan:

Located in northern Gorgrond, the Blackrock Clan has become the main industrial force within the Iron Horde. They have great numbers and a great deal of experience not only mining their mineral-rich homeland, but also dealing with the angry giants - ancestors of the Ogres who sort of progress from the Ogron to the Gronnlings, then the Gronn, and then the Fomor. Blackhand essentially acts as the Iron Horde's chief industrial foreman, putting into practice the many schematics and blueprints that Garrosh brought with him.

The Shattered Hand:

Not so much a clan as a kind of gang, the Shattered Hand is a collection of outlaws and escaped slaves. Clanless, they flock to the banner of Kargath Bladefist, who escaped his bonds as a gladiator slave to the Ogres by tearing off his own hand and replacing it with a massive blade. The Shattered Hand largely survives in the dark and mysterious forests in the Spires of Arak, and is full of desperate and dangerous Orcs.

The Bleeding Hollow Clan:

We actually don't get to see much of the Bleeding Hollow just yet, as we leave Tanaan Jungle pretty shortly after closing the Dark Portal. The Bleeding Hollow practice a very dangerous kind of shamanism that involves blood magic. They are led by Kilrogg Deadeye, who, according to the ways of the clan, tore out one of his eyes in order to get a vision of his own demise (man, I guess they should hang out with the Shattered Hand and make a big "self-mutilation club.")

The Burning Blade Clan:

The Burning Blade is one of the smaller clans in the Iron Horde, but they are peerless warriors who use some kind of shamanistic magic that combines with their skill at arms to make them extra-deadly. Notably, these are the only other clan that Garrosh felt worthy of remaining in Nagrand.

Non-Iron Horde Orcs:

That pretty much outlines who is in the Iron Horde. The Iron Horde is present in just about every zone, though to varying degrees. But not every Orc has joined up. Who's out?

The Frostwolf Clan:

I don't know what it says that the Frostwolves joined our Horde but not the Iron Horde, but it could have something to do with Garrosh preventing them. Still, it seems the the Frostwolves really would prefer peace and not the endless drumbeat of war - or at least they'd rather fight real threats, like the Ogres, rather than get involved in some pointless aggression against the Draenei or some other world they had never heard of. The Frostwolves are definitely on the defense, but they are brave warriors who are deeply held together by bonds of family and real honor.

The Laughing Skull Clan:

Perhaps too crazy even for the Iron Horde, the Laughing Skull Clan lives in the jungles of Southern Gorgrond. They seem to have adapted their culture to that extraordinarily dangerous part of Draenor, but given their rivalry with the Blackrock (and perhaps the Thunderlords, given how close they are,) they make for convenient allies.

The Shadowmoon Dissenters:

Not all of the Shadowmoon Clan has joined up with the Iron Horde. Many were horrified by what Ner'zhul had done, breaking the ancient laws. Chief amongst them is Rulkan, Ner'zhul's wife. These outcasts have holed up in Windreaver's Rise in Shadowmoon Valley, and seek aid from the Draenei and the Alliance in saving them from their own vengeful clan-mates.

The Shadow Council:

While it has its share of Ogres and Draenei (given that Draenei is essentially a political name, one might as well just call them Sargerai and leave it at that,) the Shadow Council is primarily Orcs, led by Gul'dan. There's no mention of the Stormreaver Clan here, which in the old lore was a clan Gul'dan founded to give himself prestige enough to deal on equal footing with the other orc warlords. Without the support of the Iron Horde, the Shadow Council has been forced to operate more openly, with many Legion-affiliated demons being summoned into Draenor to attempt to take the world directly.

Who's Been Left Out?:

So who are we missing? It's certainly possible that a lot of the Orc clans we're familiar with have shifted and changed over the course of the past few decades. Just as Theramore became a new human nation (sadly gone now - I'd really like to see them establish some new little quest hub where they're attempting to rebuild,) it's totally possible that some of the clans that we're familiar with just don't exist yet. The other possibility is that the clans never would have existed in this parallel universe anyway.

The Twilight's Hammer Clan:

Cho'gall is certainly a figure in Draenor, but it's in his previous position as one of the top Warlocks in the Shadow Council. Essentially, he and Teron'gor (aka Teron Gorefiend, pre-Death Knight conversion) are Gul'dan's main lieutenants. I believe that in the original lore, Twilight's Hammer was actually one of the Orc clans of the Horde, but Cho'gall took it over and dialed the insanity up to eleven, and post-Second War, he started recruiting non-Horde races to join. Now, there could totally just be a retcon here, where Twilight's Hammer was never a clan, or perhaps that he would form it later on.

The Bonechewer Clan:

No Bonechewers here. It's possible that the Bonechewer Clan came about only after Draenor was devastated by Warlock magic. Scary as they are, there doesn't seem to be any cannibalism in any of the Orcish culture.

The Dragonmaw Clan:

There really don't seem to be Dragons anywhere in Draenor, except for the Fae Drakes used by the Draenei. Honestly I have no idea how this fits into the lore, as I had always assumed Fae Drakes were native to Azeroth and affiliated with the Night Elves. How those Fae Drakes got there is a mystery, and probably one we won't get an answer for. The simplest explanation for the absence of the Dragonmaw is that they just didn't exist yet at this time. The grey skin of the Dragonmaw suggests that they might have been an off-shoot of the Blackrock Clan (never understood why Saurfang has the typical Fel-green skin while the Orcs in the conveniently-named Blackrock Mountain have grey skin - probably just an oversight or some retcon mix-ups.)

Transitioning From Warlords

The trajectory of Warlords of Draenor seems to be more or less set. Blizzard has raised the possibility that there might only be two raid tiers in the expansion, which I honestly think is a very strong indicator that that will be the case - Blizzard has a history of trimming down what they have announced, but I don't think they'd have said anything on the subject if they really intend for there to be a tier between Blackhand and Grommash.

I could be wrong, of course, and it's possible that Blizzard's dungeon design team is already working on something to use as a middle tier, but is hedging its bets. Still, I think that they are planning to have a new expansion out soon enough that two raid tiers will fill in the time for Warlords. I would not be surprised if, given how long it has taken for Warlords to come out, they may very well be scaling Warlords down in order to make sure that the next one comes out quicker.

Why they are doing this, I'm not sure. While I love time-travel stories, I know there has been some grumbling about the extraordinarily complicated justification for the Warlords story (a straight time-travel story, though it would have "changing history" implications might have been easier, or a straight "parallel universe" story set on a different Draenor that nevertheless is at the same point in history as Outland,) and there's certainly a lot of disappointment that we're following up a major chunk of Mists of Pandaria that was about all Orcs, all the time, with an expansion that is laser-focused on the Orcs.

I think there's enough worthwhile stuff in Warlords that I'm excited to play through it, but I'm also kind of chomping at the bit for other stuff. Most of the zones in Draenor are gorgeous (stand-outs for me are Spires of Arak and Shadowmoon Valley,) and I'm very happy to see the Draenei playing a major role (though it's frustrating that they're not the Exodar Draenei. Really hope that Yrel becomes a kind of recurring character and isn't just put in mothballs after Warlords.) And actually, despite my Orc fatigue, it is kind of cool to see the individual character and personalities of the various Orc clans. I'd love to some day do the same with the human kingdoms, but I'm not going to hold my breath. (Ok, granted Stormwind, Gilneas, Lordaeron, and Dalaran have kind of gotten that.)

Blizzard claims that their new philosophy for expansions has been to have one lead into the next. BC and Wrath were hardly connected other than that the headlining villains from each of them were fan-favorites from Warcraft III. But there were hints at Cataclysm in both BC and Wrath, with the Nether/Twilight Dragons. Mists brought center-stage the Alliance/Horde conflict that had blown into full-out war during Cataclysm, and obviously Warlords follows very directly from Garrosh's defeat in Orgrimmar.

It will be hard to predict where we will go from Warlords, because we really don't know what the expansion is going to look like when all the pieces have fallen into place. Having played on the Beta since day one, I often have to remind myself that the expansion doesn't actually even begin for nearly three months, so I'm kind of jumping the gun.

But we know that demons are going to play a big role in the final raid, which could suggest we get a big Legion-themed expansion. Granted, the demons in Warlords are from the alternate-universe Legion, and I suspect that with very few characters excepted, we're going to be returning to the main timeline's figures. So is the Legion a feint?

On the other hand, it's possible that while we won't be facing the B-Universe's Legion, the presence of demons is going to push us toward confronting our own. Still, I'm skeptical that we'll be heading off to Argus or some such place immediately after spending so much time on another non-Azeroth world.

To me, the most obvious direction would be to finally have our long-awaited Azshara/South Seas expansion, but only if Azshara has retained her ties to the Burning Legion. If Azshara has totally abandoned demons in favor of Old Gods, then it's possible that such an expansion would be a wild left-turn. That's something I'd be fine with, but it doesn't really gel with what Blizzard has been saying.

The other alternative is that the whole Kairoz/Infinite Dragonflight thread will be picked up once more. But I really don't know what that expansion would be like. Blizzard's going to have to tread carefully with these guys. When you have something like a dungeon, you can isolate a single event - the Culling of Stratholme, the Opening of the Dark Portal, etc. These dungeons have basically been pass/fail. Either you succeed, and history goes on as it ought to, or you fail, and... well, you run back from the graveyard and try again. But having an entire expansion of "making sure history goes as it should" would be extremely constricting, plot-wise. I could see alternate versions of various zones smooshed together to make a kind of crazy-looking continent with some as-yet unrevealed part of the Caverns of Time at its center (preferably looking something like the End of Time in Chrono Trigger,) but in order to avoid all the paradox stuff, you'd probably have to stick to the multiverse established in Warlords, which then has the problem of making stakes difficult to establish. After all, if you save this Lordaeron from the Scourge, is it really a victory? Or are there an infinite number of other Lordaerons (including our own) that get overrun.

There's very little that I can see coming in Warlords that would point to an Old Gods or Emerald Dream expansion, and beyond those four possibilities, the really obvious ones have kind of run out. Granted, as I pointed out in an article not too long ago, there are certainly some less obvious alternatives. The question then, is how we're going to lead in. Siege of Orgrimmar has a very strong tie with the subject matter of Warlords of Draenor, but we've never seen a connection that intense before. If it's that strong again, we'd almost have to have a Legion-themed expansion, but perhaps they'll dial back a bit.

It is, of course, very early to make any solid predictions. Perhaps it's even too early to speculate. Still, given that they are already working on those new zones, it's pretty clear that the expansion to follow Warlords has already been decided upon. Hopefully they made the decision after getting the reaction to Warlords, so they could anticipate what the players want more of (hint: not Orcs.)

New Classes - Coming From a Different Angle

Nothing gets the blood of an altoholic pumping like the idea of a new class. New abilities, new specs, new visuals, new flavor - a new perspective on Azeroth. As I'm sure anyone who reads this blog is aware, I am often happy to speculate on new classes (it's usually Demon Hunters, but not always.) Usually, I look at the lore and try to figure out what's missing from there. Adding a new class is, of course, a much bigger project than a new race. Blizzard basically just had to build new models and a couple of zones, and bam: playable Goblins are just part of the game now. But the Death Knight, introduced nearly six years ago, needs the same kind of care and maintenance that any class requires.

Lore's an important part in adding to the game. DKs were a well-established presence in Warcraft, going back as far as WCII, though the modern, Scourge DK came with WCIII (along with about 75% of the stuff in WoW.) Monks were a bit more of a stretch, but we did have the Brewmaster character in the Frozen Throne, and it wasn't a huge leap to extrapolate on that, making Brewmasters essentially the "drunken boxing" style of Kung Fu monk.

But beyond lore, there's also just flavor - filling archetypes that transcend Warcraft. Death Knights filled a niche that hadn't been filled - they were the first class to be able to apply diseases to enemies (at the time, only some Priests, depending on race, got Devouring Plague, and Infected Wounds didn't exist yet.) More importantly, it was also the first heavily-armored, tanking-capable class to have a "dark" theme, with Paladins and Druids as clear "good guy" classes and Warriors being strictly neutral.

Likewise, Monks finally filled the niche of the unarmed-fighter, and the flavor thankfully allowed us to get all three major group roles out of the class.

So what little niches need to be explored for a new class? In some areas, there might be already something that fills that niche, but is strange in its isolation. Ultimately, we have a pretty good spread already, but there are a few places in which to expand.

1. Ranged Weapon Classes

Before Mists of Pandaria, Guns, Bows, and Crossbows were all available to Rogues and Warriors (technically I think you can still equip them, but you have to put away your melee weapons to do so, making them useless.) There were four kinds of ranged weapons - those previous three and Thrown weapons. Everyone had a ranged slot, which meant that those classes would take along their ranged weapons for the stats and Hunters would carry around some melee weapons as well.

In the interest of simplifying, the ranged weapon was gotten rid of. Everyone basically just has the weapons they actually use, and Hunter get to equip their ranged weapons in the main-hand slot. Wands (which were the one thing cloth classes put in their ranged slot) became melee weapons and Relics (which were used by Paladins, Shamans, Druids, and Death Knights) were gotten rid of as well. Overall, this simplification has been a good thing for the game, and has made gearing up slightly less onerous.

The weird consequence, however, is that Hunters now have three entire weapon types all to themselves. There's not a single class other than them that actually uses these weapons.

The lore problem is that just about every potential class that is seen using ranged weapons is funneled into the "hunter" category. The Farstrider rangers clearly are Hunters, as are the Ironforge Riflemen. Beastmasters are Hunters (even though you never see Rexxar wielding a bow.) Shadow Hunters are, I suppose, Hunters. The point here is that you could probably find a different niche for a class that uses ranged weapons.

With Hunters using Focus (for quite some time now, actually,) the idea of Hunters as being magical has kind of faded away. In Warlords, if I recall correctly, "Arcane Shot," which was there sort of to justify the use of Mana, is going to be only for Survival. Hunters are being focused more on the physical and mundane. This then seems like a great opportunity to open up a class that focuses more on magic while shooting arrows, bolts, or bullets.

2. More Ranged/Melee Hybrids

One of the oddities of WoW is that there are tons of tank/dps, heal/dps, or tank/heal/dps hybrids, but there are only two classes that can be both melee DPS and ranged DPS. Shamans can sort of shift around their priorities to serve either function - both Enhancement and Elemental use Lightning Bolt and Shocks, and they have a signature lava spell, but they play very differently. Druids became almost entirely different classes, with Feral functioning somewhat like a Rogue and Balance using a totally unique Eclipse mechanic.

Admittedly, I think the best place to expand these options would be if we got fourth specs for the various classes (other than Druids, who are obviously all right already.) Ranged specs for pretty much all the melee classes could work (perhaps not Monks.) Rogues and Warriors could use "hunter weapons," while Paladins and DKs could become spell casters (the latter fulfilling the "Necromancer" archetype by focusing far more on summoning undead minions - like a cross between Beast Mastery and Demonology.)

Hunter also flirted with the idea of having a melee spec back in vanilla, but it never really materialized, even though it seems like something that could work.

Either way, this might be something to bear in mind when designing a new class as well - providing a variety of options, which would of course then appeal to a wider group of players.

3. Pure DPS: Never Again

WoW launched with four classes that could only be DPS. They're lovely classes, but they're also kind of a pain. With Pure DPS you have a couple problems:

The first is that if it's a new class, you can be assured that a lot of players leveling up during that expansion are going to be playing that class. If it's pure DPS, getting a dungeon group together will be a nightmare. Even the DK, who was a Tank/DPS hybrid, caused problems here, because you'd have groups forming without healers.

The second is that when you have three specs that all do the same basic thing, it becomes very hard to design them with any distinction. Mages have an elemental theme that thankfully leads naturally to different mechanics, though it took them a while to figure out what to do with Arcane. Warlocks needed a huge overhaul in order to bring some spec identity - previously every spec would basically revolve around Immolate, Corruption, and your Curse/Bane, then filler. Hunters are getting differentiated a bit more in Warlords, largely by cutting some shared abilities. Rogues are still very similar across the specs, though in fairness I haven't yet tried out Combat on the beta (because yuck! Combat!)

4. Spreading around the classic wizard magic

There's really only one class in the game that does magic in the classic "white hair, pointy hat with stars on it, has a talking owl friend" way. The only class that comes anywhere near the Mage in terms of wizardry is the Warlock, which then of course is also in the same niche - in fact, no two classes are closer together - cloth-wearing pure DPS casters who use literally the exact same gear. It's no wonder that there's such a rivalry.

Many "power archetypes" have a light-armored/heavy-armored, ranged/melee variant. Priest and Paladins are both practitioners of Holy magic. Shamans and Druids are both nature-based, even if they are pleasantly distinct visions of nature. Warlocks and Death Knights both tap into dark powers to use Shadow magic against their foes. And Rogues, Warriors, and Hunters are all somewhat practical, using good old steel and wood to fight their fights.

There's not really any other "Arcane" based class. Yes, Balance druids use Arcane magic, but flavor-wise, it's a very different thing, and is more like they're drawing on the Holy/Natural power of the stars, instead of manipulating the underlying energy of the universe.

5. Figuring out a new Role

This one's a real dangerous idea that threatens to take us down the rabbit hole. Many RPGs have more than just three group roles. A common addition is the "Support" role. This is the type of class that is less about their own performance, and is more about enhancing the performance of others. The classic example here is the Bard.

The thing is, I'm not sure this role would really fit, mechanically. First off, I think there's a lot of overlap with healers, as a role that has you focusing on your allies rather than your enemies. Additionally, Blizzard sort of tried that in vanilla. Paladins and Shamans were really brought more for their buffs than anything else. Paladins would basically spend most of their time refreshing Blessings on other players (the Blessings used to be very complicated - there were like seven of them, and they had a five-minute duration, and at least in vanilla, you had to cast them each individually per player. There were add ons to help you coordinate with other paladins.) Mechanically it was just not very compelling.

The other issue is that the culture of the game will make things rough for buffers. So much of the way players judge each other is in damage and healing meters. If you're running a raid and there's a Bard who's only doing a third of the DPS as the Rogue next to him, some jerk will kick him, even though the reason that Rogue's DPS has been shooting so high is because the Bard has been channeling his "Song of Triumph" on him. Unfortunately, the culture of the game has a tendency to ignore nuance, which is also somewhat natural when you're in a group of 25 people. As a support class, you're volunteering to make your contribution harder to quantify and less visible.

So What Does That Leave Us With?

The game as it stands could probably stick with the classes it has and be ok. The way that raiding and dungeon-running and everything works is fine. But new features get people excited about the game, and there's no more exciting feature than a new class. It's a delicate move, fitting a new class into a ten-year-old game, but I think that it's in the best interests of the game makers, and the players, to get more options as time goes by. Certainly, it should be done with care. If you add too many too quickly, you risk throwing the game balance entirely off. But the current rate of about one every other expansion seems to be ok. The DK certainly had its hiccups, but by Cataclysm (or really even just late Wrath) it was pretty well-settled. The Monk was, surprisingly, in great shape once it went live (the only balance issue was perhaps the damage output while healing.) As long as they do it carefully and take it slow, Blizzard can certainly fit more classes into the game as time goes on. And I hope they do.

The Enduring Mystery of the Infinite Dragonflight

The Infinite Dragonflight is perhaps the most confounding and confusing set of villains in Warcraft for the very simple reason that time travel always makes things more complicated. But I happen to be a lover of time-travel shenanigans. (Incidentally, Doctor Who is back, and Peter Capaldi is great!)

The nature of the Infinite Dragonflight seemed relatively straightforward when they were first introduced in the Burning Crusade. They seemed to be trying to sabotage the success of the Third War by changing the past - either killing Thrall before he could become Warchief and lead his people to join with the Alliance and Night Elves, or preventing the Horde from ever getting to Azeroth in the first place, which would of course would mean that the Alliance would never form, and the Orcs might never redeem themselves. Their interference in the actual Battle of Mount Hyjal was nowhere to be seen, and it's here that some of the gameplay and story kind of butt heads.

There was always something a little tricky about it, though. The Infinites attempted to stop the opening of the Dark Portal, which in a vacuum seems like a pretty noble thing to do. Likewise, the Infinites seemed very invested in preventing Arthas from diving down the slippery slope at Stratholme. In some ways, the Infinites almost seemed to be trying to do the right thing, but in a way that changed history, and thus had the potential to cause terrible chaos.

Our last interaction with the Infintes was in End Time - a post-apocalyptic future in which Deathwing had succeeded in destroying all life on Azeroth, including himself. It was there that we faced Muruzond, and the truth of the Infinites was confirmed. Nozdormu and the Bronze Dragonflight (perhaps all of it) would one day become the Infinite Dragonflight. Nozdormu watched - even aided us - as we killed his future self, and he was there to provide his own eulogy. Just as Aman'thul had shown him when he was made Aspect of Time, Nozdormu now saw his death for the first of two times with his own eyes, and with solemnity and a little Tralfamadorian wisdom, accepted its eventuality.

All of this made some sort of sense (at least for those who are used to the logical gymnastics required for time-travel stories.) There was definitely a big loose thread, which was that we had defeated Deathwing and prevented End Time, which would seem to have erased the reality in which we killed Muruzond.

Well, kids, things just got a whole hell of a lot more complicated.

Spoilers for Warlords of Draenor and the Hellscream short story to follow.

Character Models Implemented and other Beta News

In the latest Beta build, the five remaining model revamps for 6.0 have finally been implemented. Male Humans, Male Night Elves, Female Tauren, and both Trolls are now updated in the Beta. Like most of the models, these are not entirely finalized yet, but we are getting to see some of the animation.

Blood Elves still have their original BC models, and will not be updated until a later patch, though it's most likely they will come soon. I expect them to be along by 6.1.

As someone whose main has been a male human paladin since vanilla (ok, there was a time in BC when my main was the Undead rogue and in Mists he's kind of shared that status with the DK,) it was with great anticipation and nervousness that I checked out my guy's new look.

The male human has long been a focus of complaints, though frankly, I never really understood why it was so reviled in comparison to, say, the female troll. The new model look significantly more modern. At the moment, a lot of the expressions on the faces look a bit similar, but then again, that was the case for the old models as well. I think that the whole "same face" thing is blown a little out of proportion, but I'll be relatively content if my guy winds up looking roughly the way he does in the beta. The only really weird thing is that I feel like my old model has lighter hair. Luckily, that's a quick fix in the barber shop.

Human males in particular have got great facial animations, sometimes raising an eyebrow or smirking a little with certain emotes. I also tested out the Male Troll and Male Night Elf. The troll likewise is very expressive now - really the only complaint I have about the troll is that the two-tone white/blue hair seems to have been either consolidated into a simple blue or a simple grey. The Night Elf (which we have not yet had an Artcraft for) seems like it needs the most polish, and the face seems a little stiff when emoting, compared to the other very expressive new models (again, male humans look wonderful when emoting.)

Running and casting animations also feel a lot smoother. Forgive the favoritism here, as human male is the most important of these revamps to me, but it's great to see that humans actually look like they're running when they do. No longer are their arms glued to their sides at the elbow. Oh! And their absurd forearms have been dialed back a bit so that they have wrists and joints and all that.

I'm not sure that my guy really looks that much like he did, but this was one of the models getting a pretty extensive revamp, so that's to be expected a little.

I've been going with a different haircut and facial hair option lately, but here's a look at Jarsus with his original coif on the new model (also, yes, that sword model is bugged. It should be pointed in the opposite direction. It looks fine when I'm holding it.)

In other Beta news:

The log-in screen has been implemented. In the grand tradition of vanilla and BC, the Warlords log-in screen shows the Red Dark Portal (Draenor side.) There's actually  pretty cool animation where it activates when you first get to the screen. Additionally, the character-select background settings for Dwarves, Night Elves, Undead, Orcs, and Tauren have all been updated a little, adding more modern visual effects, like fog and a glowing purple lantern in the Undead one or a more detailed battlefield for the Orcs. The Tauren have had their second relocation (after their select screen was changed during Cataclysm,) and they appear to be on some rise in Thunder Bluff, perhaps.

A lot of voice-acting has been added to the game. So far I've heard new voices for Maraad, Yrel, Cordana Felsong, Baros Alexander, and several of the Arrakoa Outcast NPCs, as well as a new generic Arrakoa Outcast NPC voice. Additionally, Soulbinder Tulaani (an NPC in Talador who can become a follower) and one of the Rangari (also a follower, I believe a character from Gorgrond) have unique voices. I can only assume other figures like Khadgar and Durotan will have their own as well. Hopefully Thrall will get some new ones, because I'm a little sick of "Hello, friend. What is it you wish?" (For those of you who started playing in Cataclysm or later, back when Thrall was Warchief and in Orgrimmar, that was just one of his emotes. Another used to be "Welcome to Orgrimmar, have you come to serve the Horde?" but given that Thrall hasn't really been in Orgrimmar since then, it doesn't really work.

Garrisons seem to be in the late pupal stage of development, and are just about ready to come out of their cocoon. Most of the buildings have some kind of interactive function, like daily dungeon quests from the Inn or tasks to gather armor scraps at the Armory. I have to say, there are enough interesting buildings that I actually do anticipate it being difficult to decide what to get, which is a good sign.

Professions still need a little implementation. I can't get any new Engineering recipes. Also, the Enchanter NPC at my garrison is ignoring me.

Gear in dungeons and raids has not been implemented, or at least has not been added to the Dungeon Journal.

As usual, there are a couple bugs here and there (sadly one that is preventing me from progressing through Spires of Arak on my Paladin.) But I can see why they were confident enough to announce a release date this month. I am very confident that everything will be in place for November 13th.

I'm eager for November to get here. Not just so that I can play the expansion for real, but also so that I can delete this massive second copy of the game from my poor, overcrowded hard drive (though I hope I have my new computer by then.)

"Hellscream" Sorts Everything Out

WoW's official website has a new short story up titled Hellscream, and boy howdy does it clear some ambiguities up nicely. Honestly I suspect that it may have been written specifically for that purpose, but it's actually pretty entertaining, and lets you get into the heads of the two Hellscreams.

But many of the lingering questions about Warlords of Draenor are now clarified decisively. Spoilers to follow!