This is going to be a pretty spoileriffic discussion of Legion stuff, though it's going to be mostly speculation. I'll start with a bit of spoiler-free background.
Genn Greymane is oddly both one of the Alliance's oldest and newest leaders. Way back in the era of the Second War, Anduin Lothar - fleeing from a Horde-occupied Stormwind - was working to rally the other human nations to the cause of defeating the Horde. He found his most reliable ally in the altogether good guy, King Terenas of Lordaeron. Terenas championed Lothar's cause, pledging his kingdom - the largest human kingdom other than the devastated Stormwind - to provide a nice strong base of force upon which to build the Alliance. The other kingdoms - Kul Tiras, Dalaran, Alterac, Stromgarde, would join relatively eagerly (though Alterac would sell out the Alliance once things turned difficult to save their own skins - which is why you don't see a lot of Perenolde kings running around these days.) However, for Gilneas, this was a bit of a conundrum.
The very character of Gilneas was one of independence. They industrialized far sooner than the rest of the human kingdoms, achieving something of an 18th or even 19th century technological level while the rest were still limited to swords and arrows (not that they haven't made those work in Warcraft's lovely schizo tech setting.) Gilneas was relatively isolated on a peninsula. They weren't quite the naval superpower that Kul Tiras was, but they had a strong navy. Genn, whose father Archibald had instilled in him self-reliance as a core value, was extremely skeptical of this "Alliance" Lothar and Menethil were proposing. He felt that he could defend his lands against this "Horde" threat, and that it wasn't his concern if they were attacking other people.
Still, they managed to get him to commit at least a token force. But once the war was finished, Terenas advocated putting the Orcs in internment camps rather than just slaughtering them en masse. (Of course, the camps were really the lesser of two evils, and one that the Orcs uses as its only real rallying cry to make themselves seem the victims of the Alliance.) Genn had no interest in allowing the beasts to live - especially if the constituent nations of the Alliance were all going to have to shoulder the cost of maintaining these camps and providing land for them. So Genn had a new solution that (he thought) would be a nice permanent solution to all of the Orc/Alliance problems. He built the Greymane Wall, intending to simply let the rest of the world deal with its own problems while he worried about his own.
Isolated for decades, Gilneas had three major problems to deal with. First, there was the Northgate Rebellion - a direct reaction to Darius Crowley's loss of essentially all of his land now that it was cut off by the wall. Second, the Worgen began to rampage through the country (secretly a Forsaken plot, actually.) Finally, when the Cataclysm shattered the Greymane Wall, the Forsaken invaded, which ended with the evacuation of most of the Gilneans from their country (many of whom had been turned into Worgen by then, including Genn himself.)
Out of necessity, as well as a respect for the Night Elves who understood the nature of their curse and aided them in controlling it, Gilneas re-joined the Alliance.
We haven't actually seen much of them since, outside of the occasional NPC. But thing will be changing in Legion.
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Taking Another Shot at Vengeance
Well, in this long series of "breakdown" posts for the various specs (and yes, I realize that I haven't done all of them yet, especially healing ones,) I made a (if I say so myself) valiant attempt at figuring out Vengeance, but there wasn't really enough there to put it all together.
There's a new Alpha build out now, and while the biggest difference I can detect is that there seem to be a lot of different spell icons, I think we're starting to get a real sense of what the spec is supposed to play like.
First off, it seems that the spec is going to use a different primary resource than Havoc. So in place of Fury, you'll instead have Pain, thus making Vengeance the most emo spec in the game! I don't know if Pain will automatically generate from damage taken (which would make a lot of sense,) though I think if it did that it would be dangerously close to Rage. If not, I think you'll just generate it a lot slower than you do Fury in Havoc spec.
It looks like parrying, healing, and straight damage reduction are big themes for the spec. Vengeance will wind up being probably the most mobile tank spec as well (though Warriors might remain close.) So let's get into the abilities. Some of these abilities might actually be for Havoc - there's still two versions of Toss Glaive, for example, so I'm going to try to keep this to things that look like core rotational abilities.
Demon Spikes is an active mitigation ability. It costs 100 Pain (which I assume is the full amount) and has two charges on a 15-second recharge. It increases your parry chance by 20% and reduces the damage you take by 8% (though I don't know if this is before or after baseline mastery.) It lasts 6 seconds.
Demonic Wards gives you your crit immunity and boss-hitting expertise. It also reduces magical damage taken by 30% and increases your stamina by 20%
Fiery Brand has a 30-yard range and a 45-second cooldown. It deals fire damage to the target and reduces the damage they do to you by 40% for 10 seconds.
Immolation Aura has a 10 second cooldown, dealing a burst of fire damage to enemies around you and then continues to damage them over 6 seconds.
Infernal Strike has a 30-yard range and 2 charges on a 15-second recharge. You leap to a targeted location and deal fire damage to enemies within 6 yards.
Mastery: Fel Blood reduces the damage you take while Demon Spikes is up, and it also increases attack power (like all tank masteries.)
Metamorphosis has a 3-minute cooldown, transforming you into a demon that has 30% more health and takes 30% less damage for 10 seconds. While it's up, you also automatically have Immolation Aura up.
Shattered Souls is the same as for Havoc, causing enemies you kill that yield experience/honor to drop a soul fragment nearby. Running over it will heal you, and if it's a demon that you killed, you'll also get a damage buff for a few seconds.
Shear is a melee strike with a 3-second cooldown, dealing moderate damage and spawning a soul fragment. It also generates 5 Pain.
Sigils are a few different spells. You place a sigil on the ground that activates after a couple seconds, affecting targets standing inside. Sigil of Flames deals fire damage over time. Sigil of Chains snares targets, and Sigil of Silence silences them. They each have a 1-minute cooldown (not sure if it's shared) and a 30-yard range.
Soul Cleave costs 400 Pain (guess it might go up to 1000?) and deals high damage to all targets in front of you and consumes all soul fragments nearby, each healing you for 2%, as well as an additional 10% of your max health regardless of soul fragments.
Throw Glaive has a 30-yard range and no cooldown, dealing light damage to a target and bouncing to up to two additional targets.
Felblade is a melee attack with a 10.5 second cooldown. You deal major fire damage to the target and generate 20 Pain.
So here's what I'm seeing: you have Demon Spikes as the cheaper active mitigation option - something you'll probably want to maintain as much uptime on as possible. Fiery Brand works a bit as a quick cooldown - obviously most effective against single powerful attackers. So let's talk rotation:
Active Mitigation:
1. Use Soul Cleave if your health is low - you may want to save this for emergencies, stacking up Pain and Soul Fragments for it.
2. Demon Spikes will probably be your default AM ability.
Threat/Resource Generation:
To be fair, we don't really know how Pain is going to work. It seems unlikely that you'll only get it through abilities, since there are only two that generate it and the cost of the spenders is so high. It might be that you'll mostly get it through taking damage or something akin to that.
1. Felblade on cooldown.
2. Shear (every other GCD.)
3. Immolation Aura - possibly worth it even if you're in single target situations.
4. Throw Glaive - if you don't have anything better to do - though this will probably be mainly for pulling - sort of like how Avenger's Shield used to be before Cataclysm.
Sigil of Flame coupled with Immolation Aura and Infernal Strike should make it a lot easier to pick up packs of adds. The cooldown in addition to the resource cost for Demon Spikes means you might actually find yourself using Soul Cleave more frequently than I'd predicted, but it really remains to be seen how quickly you can generate Pain. Clearly, it's got to be enough for them to justify a cooldown on Demon Spikes.
While I'm not as confident in this analysis of the spec as I've been with existing ones, I do think that we've now got a real idea of how Demon Hunters are going to be expected to tank.
There's a new Alpha build out now, and while the biggest difference I can detect is that there seem to be a lot of different spell icons, I think we're starting to get a real sense of what the spec is supposed to play like.
First off, it seems that the spec is going to use a different primary resource than Havoc. So in place of Fury, you'll instead have Pain, thus making Vengeance the most emo spec in the game! I don't know if Pain will automatically generate from damage taken (which would make a lot of sense,) though I think if it did that it would be dangerously close to Rage. If not, I think you'll just generate it a lot slower than you do Fury in Havoc spec.
It looks like parrying, healing, and straight damage reduction are big themes for the spec. Vengeance will wind up being probably the most mobile tank spec as well (though Warriors might remain close.) So let's get into the abilities. Some of these abilities might actually be for Havoc - there's still two versions of Toss Glaive, for example, so I'm going to try to keep this to things that look like core rotational abilities.
Demon Spikes is an active mitigation ability. It costs 100 Pain (which I assume is the full amount) and has two charges on a 15-second recharge. It increases your parry chance by 20% and reduces the damage you take by 8% (though I don't know if this is before or after baseline mastery.) It lasts 6 seconds.
Demonic Wards gives you your crit immunity and boss-hitting expertise. It also reduces magical damage taken by 30% and increases your stamina by 20%
Fiery Brand has a 30-yard range and a 45-second cooldown. It deals fire damage to the target and reduces the damage they do to you by 40% for 10 seconds.
Immolation Aura has a 10 second cooldown, dealing a burst of fire damage to enemies around you and then continues to damage them over 6 seconds.
Infernal Strike has a 30-yard range and 2 charges on a 15-second recharge. You leap to a targeted location and deal fire damage to enemies within 6 yards.
Mastery: Fel Blood reduces the damage you take while Demon Spikes is up, and it also increases attack power (like all tank masteries.)
Metamorphosis has a 3-minute cooldown, transforming you into a demon that has 30% more health and takes 30% less damage for 10 seconds. While it's up, you also automatically have Immolation Aura up.
Shattered Souls is the same as for Havoc, causing enemies you kill that yield experience/honor to drop a soul fragment nearby. Running over it will heal you, and if it's a demon that you killed, you'll also get a damage buff for a few seconds.
Shear is a melee strike with a 3-second cooldown, dealing moderate damage and spawning a soul fragment. It also generates 5 Pain.
Sigils are a few different spells. You place a sigil on the ground that activates after a couple seconds, affecting targets standing inside. Sigil of Flames deals fire damage over time. Sigil of Chains snares targets, and Sigil of Silence silences them. They each have a 1-minute cooldown (not sure if it's shared) and a 30-yard range.
Soul Cleave costs 400 Pain (guess it might go up to 1000?) and deals high damage to all targets in front of you and consumes all soul fragments nearby, each healing you for 2%, as well as an additional 10% of your max health regardless of soul fragments.
Throw Glaive has a 30-yard range and no cooldown, dealing light damage to a target and bouncing to up to two additional targets.
Felblade is a melee attack with a 10.5 second cooldown. You deal major fire damage to the target and generate 20 Pain.
So here's what I'm seeing: you have Demon Spikes as the cheaper active mitigation option - something you'll probably want to maintain as much uptime on as possible. Fiery Brand works a bit as a quick cooldown - obviously most effective against single powerful attackers. So let's talk rotation:
Active Mitigation:
1. Use Soul Cleave if your health is low - you may want to save this for emergencies, stacking up Pain and Soul Fragments for it.
2. Demon Spikes will probably be your default AM ability.
Threat/Resource Generation:
To be fair, we don't really know how Pain is going to work. It seems unlikely that you'll only get it through abilities, since there are only two that generate it and the cost of the spenders is so high. It might be that you'll mostly get it through taking damage or something akin to that.
1. Felblade on cooldown.
2. Shear (every other GCD.)
3. Immolation Aura - possibly worth it even if you're in single target situations.
4. Throw Glaive - if you don't have anything better to do - though this will probably be mainly for pulling - sort of like how Avenger's Shield used to be before Cataclysm.
Sigil of Flame coupled with Immolation Aura and Infernal Strike should make it a lot easier to pick up packs of adds. The cooldown in addition to the resource cost for Demon Spikes means you might actually find yourself using Soul Cleave more frequently than I'd predicted, but it really remains to be seen how quickly you can generate Pain. Clearly, it's got to be enough for them to justify a cooldown on Demon Spikes.
While I'm not as confident in this analysis of the spec as I've been with existing ones, I do think that we've now got a real idea of how Demon Hunters are going to be expected to tank.
Legion Alpha Coming Back Today
So while I've been shooting/clawing things in Heroes of the Storm, the Alpha test for World of Warcraft: Legion is due to start up again today.
Hopefully this also means a new build with new content to test. While there's been a fair amount of pretty-polished-for-technically-pre-beta stuff tested already, there have been some notable gaps, like one or two missing specs for most classes, or in the case of Shamans, all three.
I'm sure we'll be getting more info very soon, but my wishlist for this build is:
Vengeance Demon Hunters - I want to see how they're really going to work.
A New Zone: Either Azsuna or Val'sharah would be good, as those are the other two level-up zones before Suramar.
More specs implemented: Many classes only have had only one available spec to test. I think the most radical redesigns were mostly implemented already, though one that hasn't that I'm eager to hear about is Demonology.
A working Transmog system: Apparently up until this point, trying to use the new wardrobe feature just crashes the game client. So that seems like a good thing to work on fixing.
More Dungeons: I believe only Black Rook Hold and Halls of Valor have been playable. One that I'm very curious about is the Violet Hold. I wonder if it will be a direct revamp (small room with waves of trash) or if it will be a totally different dungeon. I'm assuming the former.
I'll comment on what shows up, but I'd recommend checking out WoWHead and MMO-Champion to get all the latest info.
Hopefully this also means a new build with new content to test. While there's been a fair amount of pretty-polished-for-technically-pre-beta stuff tested already, there have been some notable gaps, like one or two missing specs for most classes, or in the case of Shamans, all three.
I'm sure we'll be getting more info very soon, but my wishlist for this build is:
Vengeance Demon Hunters - I want to see how they're really going to work.
A New Zone: Either Azsuna or Val'sharah would be good, as those are the other two level-up zones before Suramar.
More specs implemented: Many classes only have had only one available spec to test. I think the most radical redesigns were mostly implemented already, though one that hasn't that I'm eager to hear about is Demonology.
A working Transmog system: Apparently up until this point, trying to use the new wardrobe feature just crashes the game client. So that seems like a good thing to work on fixing.
More Dungeons: I believe only Black Rook Hold and Halls of Valor have been playable. One that I'm very curious about is the Violet Hold. I wonder if it will be a direct revamp (small room with waves of trash) or if it will be a totally different dungeon. I'm assuming the former.
I'll comment on what shows up, but I'd recommend checking out WoWHead and MMO-Champion to get all the latest info.
Greymane in Heroes of the Storm
Well, obviously I was going to get Greymane for Heroes of the Storm. He's a Worgen, and uses that as a core part of his gameplay.
Greymane is a hybrid assassin, functioning both at range and in melee. You switch between these by switching between the human form (armed with a pistol and a sword) and Worgen form (claws.) Each of your abilities changes when you switch forms, except heroics, one of which always puts you in human form and the other always in Worgen.
While in Worgen form, you do extra damage with basic attacks.
Much like the Butcher, Greymane might fool you into thinking he's tankier than he actually is while in Worgen form. Essentially, his melee form is more of a high-risk, high reward kind of state, as he doesn't have the survivability of a warrior, but you'll be able to put out some really nasty damage.
Q: In human form, this is Gilnean Cocktail. You throw a bottle (basically a molotov cocktail) as a skill shot. If the bottle hits a target, it will deal light damage but then deal higher damage in a cone to enemies behind the target
In worgen form, this is Razor Swipe, which sends you forward a very short distance and deals damage to all enemies around you.
W: Inner Beast, which is used in both forms. This increases your attack speed by 50% for 3 seconds, but each basic attack will refresh the duration. You'll want to use this as much as possible, but especially when you're beginning a fight that you expect to last a while, as you'll be able to keep this refreshed as long as you can keep attacking.
E: This lets you switch between forms, but also works as a movement ability.
In human form, it's Darkflight, which sends you at the target and transforms you into a Worgen while dealing damage to the target.
In worgen form, it's Disengage, which sends you in the direction you aim it and then transforms you into a human.
R:
Go For the Throat has you leap at a target and deal a large amount of damage to it. If you kill a hero with this, you will be able to use the ability again within the next ten seconds without worrying about the cooldown.
Marked for the Kill starts has you shoot the target with your pistol, marking them and making them vulnerable for 5 seconds. While the mark is up, you can hit it again to transform into a Worgen and leap at the target to deal more damage to it.
Analysis:
The obvious strength to Greymane is his versatility (and the awesomeness of being a werewolf.) In the very little experience I've had with the character, I tend to stay in human form most of the time, but when I have the advantage, I can shift into worgen form and really devastate things. Still, just having to be in melee range makes you vulnerable, so I recommend only going worgen when you're ready for a takedown. Luckily, Disengage is a great escape move.
Inner Beast is pretty easy to maintain if you can stand still and attack, and the cooldown's short enough that I'd say in most cases you just want to pop it once you get into a fight. But it's only basic attacks that refresh it, so you'll definitely want to try using it when you're able to stand still for a bit.
Worgen form inherently increases your basic attacks by a significant 40%, so if you're attacking buildings without much need to dodge enemy attacks, I recommend going Worgen to take them down that much quicker.
Greymane is a hybrid assassin, functioning both at range and in melee. You switch between these by switching between the human form (armed with a pistol and a sword) and Worgen form (claws.) Each of your abilities changes when you switch forms, except heroics, one of which always puts you in human form and the other always in Worgen.
While in Worgen form, you do extra damage with basic attacks.
Much like the Butcher, Greymane might fool you into thinking he's tankier than he actually is while in Worgen form. Essentially, his melee form is more of a high-risk, high reward kind of state, as he doesn't have the survivability of a warrior, but you'll be able to put out some really nasty damage.
Q: In human form, this is Gilnean Cocktail. You throw a bottle (basically a molotov cocktail) as a skill shot. If the bottle hits a target, it will deal light damage but then deal higher damage in a cone to enemies behind the target
In worgen form, this is Razor Swipe, which sends you forward a very short distance and deals damage to all enemies around you.
W: Inner Beast, which is used in both forms. This increases your attack speed by 50% for 3 seconds, but each basic attack will refresh the duration. You'll want to use this as much as possible, but especially when you're beginning a fight that you expect to last a while, as you'll be able to keep this refreshed as long as you can keep attacking.
E: This lets you switch between forms, but also works as a movement ability.
In human form, it's Darkflight, which sends you at the target and transforms you into a Worgen while dealing damage to the target.
In worgen form, it's Disengage, which sends you in the direction you aim it and then transforms you into a human.
R:
Go For the Throat has you leap at a target and deal a large amount of damage to it. If you kill a hero with this, you will be able to use the ability again within the next ten seconds without worrying about the cooldown.
Marked for the Kill starts has you shoot the target with your pistol, marking them and making them vulnerable for 5 seconds. While the mark is up, you can hit it again to transform into a Worgen and leap at the target to deal more damage to it.
Analysis:
The obvious strength to Greymane is his versatility (and the awesomeness of being a werewolf.) In the very little experience I've had with the character, I tend to stay in human form most of the time, but when I have the advantage, I can shift into worgen form and really devastate things. Still, just having to be in melee range makes you vulnerable, so I recommend only going worgen when you're ready for a takedown. Luckily, Disengage is a great escape move.
Inner Beast is pretty easy to maintain if you can stand still and attack, and the cooldown's short enough that I'd say in most cases you just want to pop it once you get into a fight. But it's only basic attacks that refresh it, so you'll definitely want to try using it when you're able to stand still for a bit.
Worgen form inherently increases your basic attacks by a significant 40%, so if you're attacking buildings without much need to dodge enemy attacks, I recommend going Worgen to take them down that much quicker.
Monday, January 11, 2016
The Fate and Culpability of Arthas
It has been a long time since the true death of Arthas Menethil. The Icecrown Citadel raid in which we faced him was released late in 2009, and I believe that gating kept players from actually getting to him until 2010.
Arthas was basically the Darth Vader of Warcraft. He began with a great deal of promise - the heir to the beloved King Terenas and a Paladin training under Uther the Lightbringer himself. A childhood friend of Varian's - a surrogate brother, really, whose family took in the boy who was far too young to be a king in exile - and the man who, probably, would have been Jaina Proudmoore's husband eventually, Arthas "should" have been one of Azeroth's most beloved heroes.
But his fate was the opposite. After taking up Frostmourne, Arthas walked a path that made him the most infamous human in the entire Warcraft universe, and one of the deadliest villains Azeroth would ever face. His rule of the Scourge was not just potentially world-ending, but also cruel, twisting other former heroes like himself into monstrous butchers who turned on their own friends and family.
But how much of it was really his fault?
Our exposure to Arthas before he became the Lich King takes place within Warcraft III - first the original game, Reign of Chaos, and then the expansion, the Frozen Throne. When we meet Arthas, he seems mostly benign - a little cocky, but pretty dedicated to serving the Light and keeping his people safe.
But thanks to Kel'thuzad, the horrors of the Plague of Undeath are unleashed on Lordaeron, and while Arthas and Jaina quickly deal with the necromancer, it is not enough to stop the onslaught. Arthas comes to the city of Stratholme, and this is really the big turning point for him. Seeing that the infected grain has made it to the city, Arthas decides that they must put down the citizens of the city before they arise as undead enemies.
Jaina leaves him, and Arthas perhaps arrogantly disbands the Knights of the Silver Hand when Uther refuses to assist him in the cull. Arthas goes ahead with it, meeting the Dreadlord Mal'ganis, who taunts him into traveling to Northrend.
Here, Arthas' obsession becomes more troubling. In particular, when he is called back by his father, he has a group of mercenaries burn his ships, and then blames the act on them, using his army to silence them before they can protest. Finally, in his last confrontation with Mal'ganis, he finds the runesword Frostmourne and, against the dire warnings of his friend Muradin Bronzebeard, he takes the sword, accepting the curse it bears in order to defeat the demon.
After this point, though, to what extent can we blame Arthas for his actions? Frostmourne is a trap - created by the Lich King in order to anoint someone as his champion. While it does, yes, allow Arthas to defeat Mal'ganis, the true effect is that it frees the Lich King from the Burning Legion's control. Very abruptly, Arthas goes from fighting the Scourge to being its most important leader. But because the sword has stolen his very soul, the Arthas we see is kind of just a shell.
"Soul" is one of those concepts that we all kind of understand, but have different conceptions of it. In a fantasy world like Warcraft, one's soul has more clear and studied properties. It seems that in Warcraft, the Soul is kind of the substance of a person's free will. I don't know if it is one's consciousness as well (which is my general interpretation of the word,) but the most important idea here is that Arthas loses some fundamental part of his being when his soul is taken by Frostmourne.
Yet he doesn't seem to be a total puppet. The Lich King uses Arthas' natural ingenuity and egoism to make him into a fearsome death knight. One interpretation of Frostmourne's effect is that it stole the good half of Arthas' personality. His conscience is utterly gone (something he even remarks upon to Kel'thuzad's ghost as the undead campaign begins in WCIII,) but he still seems to think and feel the way he did before his transformation in all other respects.
So really, the question is this: After getting Frostmourne, is Arthas truly Arthas? Or is he just an animated corpse that has the intelligence and knowledge of the person who once lived within that skin?
Things get far more complicated, of course, after the Frozen Throne campaign. Arthas is recalled to Icecrown to stop Illidan's assault on the Throne. After his victory, he shatters the Throne to retrieve the armor to which the Lich King is bound. Placing the Crown of Domination on his head, Arthas becomes the new Lich King.
But this fusion of personalities - the incorporeal presence of Ner'zhul with the fully-functional body of Arthas - has always been kind of a mystery. In the Arthas novel, it's suggested that shortly after this fusion, Arthas' personality overwhelms and consumes that of Ner'zhul - if the old Orc Shaman exists in any form afterwards, he could only be a helpless observer. This is further complicated by the idea that the Lich King might actually be a separate entity from both Arthas and Ner'zhul, which now exists in conjunction with Bolvar. If that's the case, we really don't have any clue to where this unaffiliated Lich King entity came from. Perhaps it was from Kil'jaeden's demonic magic that birthed him, yet the Pure Lich King seems to have nothing but disdain for the Legion.
When Frostmourne is shattered, the thousands of souls taken by it - most importantly that of King Terenas - escape, and they subdue Arthas to allow the freshly-resurrected heroes (us) to deliver the killing blow. The helmet falls from him and we hear Arthas' last words spoken to the ghost of his father - that he sees only darkness before him.
A grim fate to be certain. Later, while Sylvanas drifts through the void of death, she seems to see Arthas there (before she is resurrected by the Val'kyr.) It may indeed be the Void - the dark dimension that Ner'zhul drew his power from, and that exists outside even the Twisting Nether.
Arthas' crimes were many, but if it wasn't really him committing them after taking up Frostmourne, does he deserve this fate? Certainly the burning of the ships and the betrayal of the mercenaries were both pretty horrible acts, but an eternity adrift in nothingness? That seems too harsh. The genocidal march through Quel'Thalas and the ravaging of his own Lordaeron were acts committed after the very thing that should bear punishment - his soul - was not longer in control of his actions.
Arthas should perhaps be forgiven for these crimes for the same reason we make exceptions in the real world for people who commit crimes because of mental illness. They literally don't have control of their bodies, or they are operating under convincing hallucinations that affect their judgment. Arthas wasn't at the wheel, as it were, when he was slaughtering people throughout Lordaeron.
On top of all this, there's another complication, but it's one that I don't want to get into until we have a spoiler break. Arthas wasn't just driven mad like Deathwing, and he didn't undergo some kind of nihilist epiphany like Sargeras. Arthas had his self-control wrenched away from him. Yes, he took up Frostmourne voluntarily, but he did so out of a misguided attempt to protect his own people. Arthas was the Lich King's victim, perhaps more than he was the Lich King himself.
In addition... (Legion Spoilers)
Arthas was basically the Darth Vader of Warcraft. He began with a great deal of promise - the heir to the beloved King Terenas and a Paladin training under Uther the Lightbringer himself. A childhood friend of Varian's - a surrogate brother, really, whose family took in the boy who was far too young to be a king in exile - and the man who, probably, would have been Jaina Proudmoore's husband eventually, Arthas "should" have been one of Azeroth's most beloved heroes.
But his fate was the opposite. After taking up Frostmourne, Arthas walked a path that made him the most infamous human in the entire Warcraft universe, and one of the deadliest villains Azeroth would ever face. His rule of the Scourge was not just potentially world-ending, but also cruel, twisting other former heroes like himself into monstrous butchers who turned on their own friends and family.
But how much of it was really his fault?
Our exposure to Arthas before he became the Lich King takes place within Warcraft III - first the original game, Reign of Chaos, and then the expansion, the Frozen Throne. When we meet Arthas, he seems mostly benign - a little cocky, but pretty dedicated to serving the Light and keeping his people safe.
But thanks to Kel'thuzad, the horrors of the Plague of Undeath are unleashed on Lordaeron, and while Arthas and Jaina quickly deal with the necromancer, it is not enough to stop the onslaught. Arthas comes to the city of Stratholme, and this is really the big turning point for him. Seeing that the infected grain has made it to the city, Arthas decides that they must put down the citizens of the city before they arise as undead enemies.
Jaina leaves him, and Arthas perhaps arrogantly disbands the Knights of the Silver Hand when Uther refuses to assist him in the cull. Arthas goes ahead with it, meeting the Dreadlord Mal'ganis, who taunts him into traveling to Northrend.
Here, Arthas' obsession becomes more troubling. In particular, when he is called back by his father, he has a group of mercenaries burn his ships, and then blames the act on them, using his army to silence them before they can protest. Finally, in his last confrontation with Mal'ganis, he finds the runesword Frostmourne and, against the dire warnings of his friend Muradin Bronzebeard, he takes the sword, accepting the curse it bears in order to defeat the demon.
After this point, though, to what extent can we blame Arthas for his actions? Frostmourne is a trap - created by the Lich King in order to anoint someone as his champion. While it does, yes, allow Arthas to defeat Mal'ganis, the true effect is that it frees the Lich King from the Burning Legion's control. Very abruptly, Arthas goes from fighting the Scourge to being its most important leader. But because the sword has stolen his very soul, the Arthas we see is kind of just a shell.
"Soul" is one of those concepts that we all kind of understand, but have different conceptions of it. In a fantasy world like Warcraft, one's soul has more clear and studied properties. It seems that in Warcraft, the Soul is kind of the substance of a person's free will. I don't know if it is one's consciousness as well (which is my general interpretation of the word,) but the most important idea here is that Arthas loses some fundamental part of his being when his soul is taken by Frostmourne.
Yet he doesn't seem to be a total puppet. The Lich King uses Arthas' natural ingenuity and egoism to make him into a fearsome death knight. One interpretation of Frostmourne's effect is that it stole the good half of Arthas' personality. His conscience is utterly gone (something he even remarks upon to Kel'thuzad's ghost as the undead campaign begins in WCIII,) but he still seems to think and feel the way he did before his transformation in all other respects.
So really, the question is this: After getting Frostmourne, is Arthas truly Arthas? Or is he just an animated corpse that has the intelligence and knowledge of the person who once lived within that skin?
Things get far more complicated, of course, after the Frozen Throne campaign. Arthas is recalled to Icecrown to stop Illidan's assault on the Throne. After his victory, he shatters the Throne to retrieve the armor to which the Lich King is bound. Placing the Crown of Domination on his head, Arthas becomes the new Lich King.
But this fusion of personalities - the incorporeal presence of Ner'zhul with the fully-functional body of Arthas - has always been kind of a mystery. In the Arthas novel, it's suggested that shortly after this fusion, Arthas' personality overwhelms and consumes that of Ner'zhul - if the old Orc Shaman exists in any form afterwards, he could only be a helpless observer. This is further complicated by the idea that the Lich King might actually be a separate entity from both Arthas and Ner'zhul, which now exists in conjunction with Bolvar. If that's the case, we really don't have any clue to where this unaffiliated Lich King entity came from. Perhaps it was from Kil'jaeden's demonic magic that birthed him, yet the Pure Lich King seems to have nothing but disdain for the Legion.
When Frostmourne is shattered, the thousands of souls taken by it - most importantly that of King Terenas - escape, and they subdue Arthas to allow the freshly-resurrected heroes (us) to deliver the killing blow. The helmet falls from him and we hear Arthas' last words spoken to the ghost of his father - that he sees only darkness before him.
A grim fate to be certain. Later, while Sylvanas drifts through the void of death, she seems to see Arthas there (before she is resurrected by the Val'kyr.) It may indeed be the Void - the dark dimension that Ner'zhul drew his power from, and that exists outside even the Twisting Nether.
Arthas' crimes were many, but if it wasn't really him committing them after taking up Frostmourne, does he deserve this fate? Certainly the burning of the ships and the betrayal of the mercenaries were both pretty horrible acts, but an eternity adrift in nothingness? That seems too harsh. The genocidal march through Quel'Thalas and the ravaging of his own Lordaeron were acts committed after the very thing that should bear punishment - his soul - was not longer in control of his actions.
Arthas should perhaps be forgiven for these crimes for the same reason we make exceptions in the real world for people who commit crimes because of mental illness. They literally don't have control of their bodies, or they are operating under convincing hallucinations that affect their judgment. Arthas wasn't at the wheel, as it were, when he was slaughtering people throughout Lordaeron.
On top of all this, there's another complication, but it's one that I don't want to get into until we have a spoiler break. Arthas wasn't just driven mad like Deathwing, and he didn't undergo some kind of nihilist epiphany like Sargeras. Arthas had his self-control wrenched away from him. Yes, he took up Frostmourne voluntarily, but he did so out of a misguided attempt to protect his own people. Arthas was the Lich King's victim, perhaps more than he was the Lich King himself.
In addition... (Legion Spoilers)
Friday, January 8, 2016
The Economics of Hearthstone vs Magic the Gathering
With only my 6-year-old laptop and my brand-new iPhone, my gaming options while home for the holiday were fairly limited to the mobile platform. I found myself playing a lot of Hearthstone (and Fallout Shelter, which is fun, but in a kind of skinner-box way that is more about being OCD than really strategizing.)
I grew up playing Magic the Gathering, and while I always played more out of a sense of self-expression than real competitive edge (I created a Vampire deck back when there was only one or two vampire cards that came out every two or three blocks - before they became the default non-Zombie humanoid black creature type.)
But Magic was always a TCG - trading card game. When I first started playing, I made some really bad trades because hey, I was a kid and thought that a big 6/6 creature had to be more valuable than something silly like a Sol Ring (which is one of those cards they don't reprint because it's super-powerful, despite being kind of prosaic.)
Hearthstone owes a ton to Magic in its design. It was relatively easy for me to pick up because, for the most part, Hearthstone is "Magic, but simpler (usually.)"
But I think the really big difference is the way you put together your collection.
I'm usually pretty opposed to Free-to-Play models, because generally they're pay-to-win. Hearthstone skates pretty close to that, to be honest, but there are a few ways that it manages not to quite go over the edge.
The first way is that it's pretty easy to earn enough gold to buy packs. Daily quests will award 30-60 gold, and every three wins will get you an extra 10, which you'll get while working on said quests. So if you play regularly, you can earn a new pack every two days, or sometimes even more frequently.
That's on top of the Tavern Brawls, which often come with pre-made decks, meaning that if you play well (and are lucky) you'll have just as good a chance as your opponent, even if they've got an enormous collection.
The game was designed from the ground up to make sure that other players couldn't screw you. Individual cards aren't for sale (unless you count the rewards for Adventures, which comes with fun unique challenges that admittedly don't have a huge amount of replay value.) But because you can't trade cards, you do find yourself at the mercy of RNG with card packs. If you want to use the crafting system to make Legendary cards, you're either going to need to burn through a lot of cards or... well, hope that you get lucky with your next pack.
This does mean that "net-decking" is much more difficult. If you insist on getting all the specific cards to put such a deck together, you might need to drop big bucks to get the dust.
But I also think that fewer decks are unbeatable. A large part of that is because of the way that minions work. In Magic, as long as your opponent doesn't have spells that can kill specific creatures or wipe the board clean, you can summon your weak little 1/1 creature that has a powerful effect and simply leave them on the board, untouchable. However, in Hearthstone, if you summon someone like Baron Rivendare to make insane use of Deathrattle cards, I can always smack that guy with my minions, wearing him down over time.
Basically, those big strategy-making cards are far more vulnerable. Contrast that with Magic, where not only can creatures abstain from combat, but you can also have artifacts, enchantments, or even lands that really need to be dealt with using specific strategies or spells.
Hearthstone is unstable by design, forcing you to build your deck around themes rather than individual cards. And as a result, I believe it's easier for a casual player with somewhat less awesome cards to be able to give a good fight and sometimes win against some tournament-level stuff.
Of course, it might also be because the game is relatively new. Over time, Magic adopted special formats to ensure that players started on a relatively even level - having formats where only cards from recent blocks could be played. People haven't had the time to amass enormous collections from which they can pick only the most overpowered cards. So it's possible that the somewhat egalitarian environment of the game might only be temporary.
It'll be interesting to see.
I grew up playing Magic the Gathering, and while I always played more out of a sense of self-expression than real competitive edge (I created a Vampire deck back when there was only one or two vampire cards that came out every two or three blocks - before they became the default non-Zombie humanoid black creature type.)
But Magic was always a TCG - trading card game. When I first started playing, I made some really bad trades because hey, I was a kid and thought that a big 6/6 creature had to be more valuable than something silly like a Sol Ring (which is one of those cards they don't reprint because it's super-powerful, despite being kind of prosaic.)
Hearthstone owes a ton to Magic in its design. It was relatively easy for me to pick up because, for the most part, Hearthstone is "Magic, but simpler (usually.)"
But I think the really big difference is the way you put together your collection.
I'm usually pretty opposed to Free-to-Play models, because generally they're pay-to-win. Hearthstone skates pretty close to that, to be honest, but there are a few ways that it manages not to quite go over the edge.
The first way is that it's pretty easy to earn enough gold to buy packs. Daily quests will award 30-60 gold, and every three wins will get you an extra 10, which you'll get while working on said quests. So if you play regularly, you can earn a new pack every two days, or sometimes even more frequently.
That's on top of the Tavern Brawls, which often come with pre-made decks, meaning that if you play well (and are lucky) you'll have just as good a chance as your opponent, even if they've got an enormous collection.
The game was designed from the ground up to make sure that other players couldn't screw you. Individual cards aren't for sale (unless you count the rewards for Adventures, which comes with fun unique challenges that admittedly don't have a huge amount of replay value.) But because you can't trade cards, you do find yourself at the mercy of RNG with card packs. If you want to use the crafting system to make Legendary cards, you're either going to need to burn through a lot of cards or... well, hope that you get lucky with your next pack.
This does mean that "net-decking" is much more difficult. If you insist on getting all the specific cards to put such a deck together, you might need to drop big bucks to get the dust.
But I also think that fewer decks are unbeatable. A large part of that is because of the way that minions work. In Magic, as long as your opponent doesn't have spells that can kill specific creatures or wipe the board clean, you can summon your weak little 1/1 creature that has a powerful effect and simply leave them on the board, untouchable. However, in Hearthstone, if you summon someone like Baron Rivendare to make insane use of Deathrattle cards, I can always smack that guy with my minions, wearing him down over time.
Basically, those big strategy-making cards are far more vulnerable. Contrast that with Magic, where not only can creatures abstain from combat, but you can also have artifacts, enchantments, or even lands that really need to be dealt with using specific strategies or spells.
Hearthstone is unstable by design, forcing you to build your deck around themes rather than individual cards. And as a result, I believe it's easier for a casual player with somewhat less awesome cards to be able to give a good fight and sometimes win against some tournament-level stuff.
Of course, it might also be because the game is relatively new. Over time, Magic adopted special formats to ensure that players started on a relatively even level - having formats where only cards from recent blocks could be played. People haven't had the time to amass enormous collections from which they can pick only the most overpowered cards. So it's possible that the somewhat egalitarian environment of the game might only be temporary.
It'll be interesting to see.
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Legion Check-In
I was going to call this an "update" but realized that might be misconstrued to imply that there was a new Alpha (or even a Beta) build up.
In terms of Blizzard's promise that the Legion beta would begin before the end of 2015, I would say they kinda-sorta delivered. They half-delivered, given that Alpha is the first letter of the greek alphabet and Beta is the second. So, half of two is one.
Still, what's up looks pretty good. We've seen a good portion of the specs playable there, and the Alpha was extended beyond the usual Friends-and-Family to various games journalists. As far as I know the general public hasn't gotten any invites, but it's still much more (intentionally) public than other Alphas have been.
I suspect that by the time they turn it into a true Beta, with random schmoes like you or me logging on, we might see a far more complete build than we've seen in previous tests. Recall, for instance, that when the Warlords beta launched, only Shadowmoon and Frostfire were open for testing, whereas they're already in that state now, plus two dungeons are open for testing as well, not to mention the many artifact scenarios that are open along with several class halls, and so presumably the beta will have more parts opened up.
Blizzard gave themselves the deadline of September 21st as the latest time for release, but you'll note that that's the first day of fall, which implies that the release is slated for summer of '16. That could, technically speaking, come as early as June 21st.
The question, then, is whether it could come in the spring.
Blizzard is clearly not holding themselves to such a release. I think the real question is how much this "Alpha" can count against the time required for a rigorous Beta test. As far as I understand, the questing in both Stormheim and Highmountain is entirely open for testing, and while there are a couple of placeholder models, and they might decide they need to go back and redesign some things, it's possible that they're more in the "sift through for bugs" type of testing there.
I believe previous tests have taken 4-5 months, but again, we have to wonder how much this "Alpha" will count against that time. Obviously, we shouldn't consider these durations hard and fast rules, but they might be a good indicator of what to expect.
In terms of player goodwill, getting Legion out asap would be in their best interests. The "shorter expansion" model only works if that final raid tier really doesn't stretch out too much. In order to simply match the usual period of "final tier" to next expansion, they need to release around June. But in order to justify the truncated Warlords expansion, they need to push it up even further, because otherwise this simply means that shorter expansions mean proportionally more time spent in the end-of-expansion doldrums.
Testing and implementing new content can be very unpredictable from our perspective, but given what I've seen them come out with before this holiday break they're taking (and I certainly won't begrudge them a little break for the holidays,) I think it's possible for them to release earlier than the summer. How much earlier? Well, I'd still wager that it's not going to be until late spring. If we assume that the test goes into full-on beta mode when they're back from the break, and that we even count the previous Alpha testing as equivalent to a month of beta testing, that still means that we probably wouldn't see a release until late April.
That said, if they could pull it off, I would be pretty happy with an April or May release. But we'll really need to keep a close eye on the progress over the next few months. If they have all the zones open for testing before the end of January, that'll bode well. But even then, there can always be big hurdles to jump. Legion is not only adding a new class, but also a fairly complex new artifact system, plus a PvP talent system, and so there will probably be a whole lot of effort required to balance all of these things out. Not to mention the level-scaling zones.
In terms of Blizzard's promise that the Legion beta would begin before the end of 2015, I would say they kinda-sorta delivered. They half-delivered, given that Alpha is the first letter of the greek alphabet and Beta is the second. So, half of two is one.
Still, what's up looks pretty good. We've seen a good portion of the specs playable there, and the Alpha was extended beyond the usual Friends-and-Family to various games journalists. As far as I know the general public hasn't gotten any invites, but it's still much more (intentionally) public than other Alphas have been.
I suspect that by the time they turn it into a true Beta, with random schmoes like you or me logging on, we might see a far more complete build than we've seen in previous tests. Recall, for instance, that when the Warlords beta launched, only Shadowmoon and Frostfire were open for testing, whereas they're already in that state now, plus two dungeons are open for testing as well, not to mention the many artifact scenarios that are open along with several class halls, and so presumably the beta will have more parts opened up.
Blizzard gave themselves the deadline of September 21st as the latest time for release, but you'll note that that's the first day of fall, which implies that the release is slated for summer of '16. That could, technically speaking, come as early as June 21st.
The question, then, is whether it could come in the spring.
Blizzard is clearly not holding themselves to such a release. I think the real question is how much this "Alpha" can count against the time required for a rigorous Beta test. As far as I understand, the questing in both Stormheim and Highmountain is entirely open for testing, and while there are a couple of placeholder models, and they might decide they need to go back and redesign some things, it's possible that they're more in the "sift through for bugs" type of testing there.
I believe previous tests have taken 4-5 months, but again, we have to wonder how much this "Alpha" will count against that time. Obviously, we shouldn't consider these durations hard and fast rules, but they might be a good indicator of what to expect.
In terms of player goodwill, getting Legion out asap would be in their best interests. The "shorter expansion" model only works if that final raid tier really doesn't stretch out too much. In order to simply match the usual period of "final tier" to next expansion, they need to release around June. But in order to justify the truncated Warlords expansion, they need to push it up even further, because otherwise this simply means that shorter expansions mean proportionally more time spent in the end-of-expansion doldrums.
Testing and implementing new content can be very unpredictable from our perspective, but given what I've seen them come out with before this holiday break they're taking (and I certainly won't begrudge them a little break for the holidays,) I think it's possible for them to release earlier than the summer. How much earlier? Well, I'd still wager that it's not going to be until late spring. If we assume that the test goes into full-on beta mode when they're back from the break, and that we even count the previous Alpha testing as equivalent to a month of beta testing, that still means that we probably wouldn't see a release until late April.
That said, if they could pull it off, I would be pretty happy with an April or May release. But we'll really need to keep a close eye on the progress over the next few months. If they have all the zones open for testing before the end of January, that'll bode well. But even then, there can always be big hurdles to jump. Legion is not only adding a new class, but also a fairly complex new artifact system, plus a PvP talent system, and so there will probably be a whole lot of effort required to balance all of these things out. Not to mention the level-scaling zones.
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