If you were going to talk about the most player-requested "sub-races," the feature that would come to form eventually as Allied Races, I think that you would probably list Mag'har Orcs, Dark Iron Dwarves, and probably the most requested: High Elves.
After all, High Elves have been around since Warcraft II. It wasn't until the Frozen Throne expansion that we started to see Blood Elves as a thing. With Mag'har and Dark Irons coming in 8.0, this is the one that is probably most requested, but also probably the least likely to actually happen.
Because there's a big, tentacled elephant in the room.
Void Elves are, of course, former High Elves, as well as former Blood Elves. The Alliance has a race of elves from Quel'thalas with the lithe elf look, as opposed to the brawnier Night Elf/Nightborne look.
Allied races are all based on existing races, and while we're going to see more physiological variation with the Zandalari Trolls and Kul Tiran humans, most of them are, cosmetically, mainly defined by a new color palette. Lightforged Draenei go from the blue-on-blue scheme of the standard Exodar residents and replaces it with gold-on-grey.
The Void Elves take the Blood Elves, who tend to have pink skin and green eyes, and turns them blue or purple with blue eyes. It's a pretty radical and instantly-recognizable departure from the standard Blood Elf model.
High Elves have two problems, though one might be a symptom of the other.
The first is that they just look too damned similar to Blood Elves. The only real visible difference is that High Elves have blue eyes while Blood Elves have green. And with Blood Elves getting holy-themed golden eyes as an option in 8.0, even that distinction may collapse.
Lore-wise, the High Elves are still permitted to commune with the Sunwell - Quel'danas, post demon invasion, is neutral territory because Lor'themar doesn't want to be held responsible for allowing his politically opposed kinsmen devolve horribly into Wretched. The Void Elves don't need that connection, as they sate their magic addiction by channeling the Void, and indeed, they are not permitted to visit the Sunwell's font of now both Arcane and Holy magic, for fear of tainting it.
So presumably, with the Holy magic coming from the Sunwell now, High Elves would have an equal chance to derive those holy-golden eyes to complement their arcane-blue ones, which would make some indistinguishable visually from some Blood Elves. Granted, in a post-Pandaren WoW, I don't know how much of a problem that is.
The other big problem is that the Alliance already has Void Elves. Now, certainly, the very existence of Allied Races means that Blizzard clearly doesn't have a problem with factions having two races that look very similar to one another, and so the notion of High Elves and Void Elves existing together on the Alliance is not inherently absurd. But on the other hand, this would mean not only a fifth Elf race, but also a third race from Quel'thalas.
If they ever decide to make, say, Wildhammer Dwarves or Grimtotem Tauren as a playable race, this would be a great time to add in High Elves, but at the moment, Quel'thalas has enough going on.
So is it likely? I think not. But on the other hand, would it be such a bad thing?
I'll just come out and say that I've never been much of a fan of playing elf characters for whatever reason. I don't know - something about the arrogance and the pretty-boy looks probably clashes with some element of my personality that formed from always being a big, stocky, hairy guy. But I'm clearly a minority, as people freaking love playing elves (we've got two in my D&D group.)
I guarantee you that if they added High Elves, even with Void Elves already existing, you'd get a ton of players making High Elf characters.
And I think the challenge of giving them a distinctive visual look from Blood Elves might produce some cool ideas. What if male High Elves were able to grow full beards? You could really play with the idea that High Elves, unlike both Blood and Void Elves, have spent far more time with humanity, perhaps adopting some of their styles and looks.
Likewise, you might imagine that the High Elves had taken more of an effort to reconnect with the Night Elves. Perhaps these Highborne descendants look at what has happened with the Blood Elves and have decided that they really want to explore a connection to nature through Druidism.
Lastly, I think there's the potential for a really interesting plot development:
Silvermoon has been Horde territory since Burning Crusade, but that was thanks to the fact that the vast majority of Blood Elves resented the Alliance enough to join the Horde. The High Elves are a fragmentary remnant of Alliance loyalists, but now they have the Void Elves - exiles who were brought into the Alliance by Alleria. If Quel'dorei and Ren'dorei were to move in concert, they might be able to challenge Sin'dorei dominance of Quel'thalas.
Now, I'm not advocating taking Silvermoon away from the Horde. But what if it were to become a neutral, Sanctuary city?
The Draenei and Blood Elf starting zones got essentially no change during Cataclysm, and they definitely show their age. They're also in this bizarre state where they're connected to the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor lore-wise, but are actually on the Burning Crusade/Outland world servers.
I don't know what kind of plot would justify it, but what if these zones were to be remade, and part of that remake would show the progress of time. Imagine a Silvermoon rebuilt thanks to the defeat of the Scourge, but in this case, the western half of the city (which is currently in ruins) is now the Ren'dorei/Quel'dorei district.
If Battle for Azeroth is meant to "resolve" the Alliance/Horde conflict, then maybe the elves of Quel'thalas could have something of a rapprochement, or at least a very shaky peace agreement. And I'd love to see the subtle distinctions between what the three groups in the city want out of their districts.
And then, of course, you'd get something that I'm always a fan of - a city of intrigue. It'd be like Berlin during the Cold War, but you know, fantasy and not real so less horrible!
So you wind up pleasing a big part of the fanbase (and pleasing the other parts because that first group will finally shut up) and then have a really cool story hook for the future.
I've really kind of talked myself into this as a good idea...
Saturday, April 7, 2018
Friday, April 6, 2018
Azshara's Place in Battle for Azeroth and What Comes After
In an interview, encounter designer Morgan Day mentioned that Azshara will be the "Gul'dan" of Battle for Azeroth - presumably meaning that she will be the final boss of BFA's first big raid. This opens up a whole lot of questions.
At the moment, the only raid we have confirmed, other than the one that we know solely as "the one with Azshara in it" is Uldir. With eight bosses, Uldir is actually just as big or even bigger than some existing full tier raids (Trial of the Crusader had 5, Firelands 7, and Dragon Soul 8.) Still, as the first raid of the expansion, under the model they've used since Mists of Pandaria, the first raid is meant as something of a warm-up, putting Uldir in the same category as Mogu'shan Vaults, Highmaul, and Emerald Nightmare.
Of course, with the removal of tier sets for raiding, there's actually not much that defines a non-tier raid from a true tier raid. The only real distinction will be the item level of rewards.
On the other hand, I suspect that we'll get a couple of larger raids - with 10 or more bosses - that would fit the traditional "tier raid" model. Clearly Azshara's raid will be one of them.
But there has always been a question since BFA was announced as to what role the villains would play within it.
It would not have been so crazy to thin that Azshara could be BFA's final boss, but instead she seems to be a villain we deal with early in the expansion. So who does that leave?
Well, as much as I've focused on the likelihood that the Old Gods are deeply involved (no pun intended) in this conflict, I do think that, given the emphasis the expansion is putting on the Alliance/Horde conflict, it would be odd not to address that in a raid setting.
The real question, then, is how one does major PvE content that has you fighting the opposite faction. We've had instances in the past, particularly in Wrath of the Lich King, where we get a mirrored experience - the Nexus has a heroic-only boss from the opposite faction, Trial of the Champion and Trial of the Crusader has a single fight against opposite-faction champions, and Icecrown Citadel has the gunship battle - but in each of these cases, this has served as a distraction from the larger challenge.
Because in storytelling terms, the other faction has always been more of a rival than an antagonist (well, maybe not always, but since WCIII.)
There have been some mentions that the Siege of Boralus dungeon will have the Alliance defending the city while the Horde invades, though that doesn't really jive with the bosses for it in the dungeon journal, which suggests more of a collaboration between one of the Proudmoores' rival families and the Naga. Perhaps the invasion is actually just how the Horde gets there and then inadvertently winds up saving the very city they had come to capture.
Still, we've come a very long way since Warcraft I, which was written to have different story endings depending on which side you had chosen. Only later were the two campaigns stitched together to form a single canon of the First War.
It would be very hard to make Sylvanas and Anduin the final bosses of Battle for Azeroth, unless you were to suggest that while one faction was killing the other's leader, they left their own undefended, which would mean we'd need a fifth Warchief and the Wrynn line would be extinguished.
But as long as we're talking final bosses, let's talk potential final bosses:
Anduin Wrynn: It would be really freaking sad to see the most idealistic faction leader, and one who has only just become an adult, either put in a position where both factions would turn on him, like Garrosh, or for him to be cut down by the Horde. Frankly, unless the Horde truly believes in total eradication of the Alliance (which I think goes farther than what most actually want,) Anduin is the kind of leader the Horde would want in the Alliance - one who will take opportunities for peace and be able to see their side of the issues.
Sylvanas Windrunner: As much as I don't want her to just turn into a raid boss, I can't say it wouldn't be justified. Sylvanas has arguably crossed the villain threshold many times already, and her protestations of "only trying to save her people" are hard to listen to when "saving them" means enslaving or slaughtering others. But we already fought Garrosh - do we really want every other Warchief to be a raid boss?
Anduin and/or Sylvanas Together: If they had totally different final raids for Alliance and Horde (but mechanically identical? For balance) facing the other faction's leader could make sense, but again you have the issue of upheaval once again so soon after both factions' leaders just died at the beginning of Legion.
Others, like Nathanos and Genn: If we're sticking with the divided raid, it could make sense to make the factions fight a particularly militant member of the other side. There's less upheaval, but still a focus on faction conflict.
N'zoth: Ok, moving on to serious faction-agnostic threats, we've got to come out and talk about N'zoth. There's absolutely Old God stuff happening in a bunch of Battle for Azeroth content, and it's not all around G'huun. When you consider that Kul Tiras and Zandalar are both being sought out largely for their naval prowess, the God of the Deep would be a pretty logical big bad. As a master manipulator, it could even be that he's pushing the conflict forward. And with Azeroth wounded, N'zoth, as the last totally healthy Old God, is probably in the best position to push his advantage.
Azshara: We've had raid bosses come back in the past - both Kil'jaeden and Archimonde are the final bosses of two raids each - but it's very unlikely this would happen in the same expansion. Kael'thas and Anub'arak managed to do the same-expansion Dungeon-and-Raid thing (actually, you can count the Lich King for that too, though you don't come anywhere near even hurting the Lich King in the Halls of Reflection encounter,) but for full-fledged raid fights, I think it's very unlikely we'll see Azshara as the final boss of two during BFA itself.
Azeroth: Man, what a crazy twist that would be - to have us fight Azeroth the Titan. Maybe we'd need to do it to cleanse her of Old God corruption? This one's a stretch, but not outside the total realm of possibility.
The Lich King: Ok, this one's probably not inside that realm, at least for BFA. I would not be shocked to see the expansion that follows BFA to feature the Scourge, but for BFA we're only getting a few references to necromancy and the Shadowlands in Drustvar and possibly with our interaction with Bwonsamdi in Nazmir.
At the moment, the only raid we have confirmed, other than the one that we know solely as "the one with Azshara in it" is Uldir. With eight bosses, Uldir is actually just as big or even bigger than some existing full tier raids (Trial of the Crusader had 5, Firelands 7, and Dragon Soul 8.) Still, as the first raid of the expansion, under the model they've used since Mists of Pandaria, the first raid is meant as something of a warm-up, putting Uldir in the same category as Mogu'shan Vaults, Highmaul, and Emerald Nightmare.
Of course, with the removal of tier sets for raiding, there's actually not much that defines a non-tier raid from a true tier raid. The only real distinction will be the item level of rewards.
On the other hand, I suspect that we'll get a couple of larger raids - with 10 or more bosses - that would fit the traditional "tier raid" model. Clearly Azshara's raid will be one of them.
But there has always been a question since BFA was announced as to what role the villains would play within it.
It would not have been so crazy to thin that Azshara could be BFA's final boss, but instead she seems to be a villain we deal with early in the expansion. So who does that leave?
Well, as much as I've focused on the likelihood that the Old Gods are deeply involved (no pun intended) in this conflict, I do think that, given the emphasis the expansion is putting on the Alliance/Horde conflict, it would be odd not to address that in a raid setting.
The real question, then, is how one does major PvE content that has you fighting the opposite faction. We've had instances in the past, particularly in Wrath of the Lich King, where we get a mirrored experience - the Nexus has a heroic-only boss from the opposite faction, Trial of the Champion and Trial of the Crusader has a single fight against opposite-faction champions, and Icecrown Citadel has the gunship battle - but in each of these cases, this has served as a distraction from the larger challenge.
Because in storytelling terms, the other faction has always been more of a rival than an antagonist (well, maybe not always, but since WCIII.)
There have been some mentions that the Siege of Boralus dungeon will have the Alliance defending the city while the Horde invades, though that doesn't really jive with the bosses for it in the dungeon journal, which suggests more of a collaboration between one of the Proudmoores' rival families and the Naga. Perhaps the invasion is actually just how the Horde gets there and then inadvertently winds up saving the very city they had come to capture.
Still, we've come a very long way since Warcraft I, which was written to have different story endings depending on which side you had chosen. Only later were the two campaigns stitched together to form a single canon of the First War.
It would be very hard to make Sylvanas and Anduin the final bosses of Battle for Azeroth, unless you were to suggest that while one faction was killing the other's leader, they left their own undefended, which would mean we'd need a fifth Warchief and the Wrynn line would be extinguished.
But as long as we're talking final bosses, let's talk potential final bosses:
Anduin Wrynn: It would be really freaking sad to see the most idealistic faction leader, and one who has only just become an adult, either put in a position where both factions would turn on him, like Garrosh, or for him to be cut down by the Horde. Frankly, unless the Horde truly believes in total eradication of the Alliance (which I think goes farther than what most actually want,) Anduin is the kind of leader the Horde would want in the Alliance - one who will take opportunities for peace and be able to see their side of the issues.
Sylvanas Windrunner: As much as I don't want her to just turn into a raid boss, I can't say it wouldn't be justified. Sylvanas has arguably crossed the villain threshold many times already, and her protestations of "only trying to save her people" are hard to listen to when "saving them" means enslaving or slaughtering others. But we already fought Garrosh - do we really want every other Warchief to be a raid boss?
Anduin and/or Sylvanas Together: If they had totally different final raids for Alliance and Horde (but mechanically identical? For balance) facing the other faction's leader could make sense, but again you have the issue of upheaval once again so soon after both factions' leaders just died at the beginning of Legion.
Others, like Nathanos and Genn: If we're sticking with the divided raid, it could make sense to make the factions fight a particularly militant member of the other side. There's less upheaval, but still a focus on faction conflict.
N'zoth: Ok, moving on to serious faction-agnostic threats, we've got to come out and talk about N'zoth. There's absolutely Old God stuff happening in a bunch of Battle for Azeroth content, and it's not all around G'huun. When you consider that Kul Tiras and Zandalar are both being sought out largely for their naval prowess, the God of the Deep would be a pretty logical big bad. As a master manipulator, it could even be that he's pushing the conflict forward. And with Azeroth wounded, N'zoth, as the last totally healthy Old God, is probably in the best position to push his advantage.
Azshara: We've had raid bosses come back in the past - both Kil'jaeden and Archimonde are the final bosses of two raids each - but it's very unlikely this would happen in the same expansion. Kael'thas and Anub'arak managed to do the same-expansion Dungeon-and-Raid thing (actually, you can count the Lich King for that too, though you don't come anywhere near even hurting the Lich King in the Halls of Reflection encounter,) but for full-fledged raid fights, I think it's very unlikely we'll see Azshara as the final boss of two during BFA itself.
Azeroth: Man, what a crazy twist that would be - to have us fight Azeroth the Titan. Maybe we'd need to do it to cleanse her of Old God corruption? This one's a stretch, but not outside the total realm of possibility.
The Lich King: Ok, this one's probably not inside that realm, at least for BFA. I would not be shocked to see the expansion that follows BFA to feature the Scourge, but for BFA we're only getting a few references to necromancy and the Shadowlands in Drustvar and possibly with our interaction with Bwonsamdi in Nazmir.
Thursday, April 5, 2018
Mag'har Orcs and Dark Iron Dwarves Coming in 8.0, Zandalari Trolls and Kul Tiran Humans Later
Well, despite Zandalari being in the announcement trailer, it looks like the Horde will be getting Mag'har Orcs first.
Given that Dark Irons and Mag'har were two of the oldest requested "sub-races" (sorry High Elves. Enjoy the void!) it's probably not such a bad thing to see these guys coming together. Obviously, KT Humans and Zandalari fit corresponding roles in the expansion, so it also makes sense to get these guys at the same time.
I believe the intent is that completing the War Campaign (a big max-level quest chain,) will be what unlocks Mag'har and Dark Irons.
Regarding the inhabitants of the two continents, my guess would be that we'll get them fairly early. I would predict we'll get them in 8.1, given that their models are already mostly in-game.
It also looks like there will be greater variation in models. Much as Orcs are going to get the option to change their posture in barber shop (I'd assume this applies to Mag'har as well,) it appears that Kul Tiran Humans will be able to go for either bulky or skinny physiques (I assume this means that if you want medium, you'll have to go with your standard Stormwind human.)
Additionally, they've announced the class options for these two next races:
Dark Iron Dwarves: Warrior, Paladin, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Shaman, Mage, Warlock, Monk
Notably, I don't see Death Knight on this list, which I thought had previously been suggested. While the Dark Irons were certainly around to be turned by the Lich King, it sounds likely that they don't intend to add new Death Knight races in the future, which I think is a damned shame, but maybe they'll change their minds!
Mag'har Orcs: Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Shaman, Mage, Monk
So here we see the standard Orcs minus Warlocks (which makes sense, as that's the main thing that makes the Mag'har - not hanging around with Warlocks) but adds Priests, which is presumably due to the Shadowmoon Clan, who have a more Priestly culture (including Shadow Priests.) I might quibble with Mages, given that standard Orcs didn't get those until Cataclysm, which I figured was justified by the fact that they were hanging out with a bunch of Trolls, Undead, and Blood Elves, which the Mag'har from Draenor B weren't.
What I find kind of interesting about these two additions is that both Dark Irons and the former Iron Horde Orcs have a history of heavy industry. Granted, in the latter case they were merely copying the industrial power of the existing Horde, but it's clear that at least the Blackrock really dove in headfirst at the whole industrialized warfare thing.
Given that Dark Irons and Mag'har were two of the oldest requested "sub-races" (sorry High Elves. Enjoy the void!) it's probably not such a bad thing to see these guys coming together. Obviously, KT Humans and Zandalari fit corresponding roles in the expansion, so it also makes sense to get these guys at the same time.
I believe the intent is that completing the War Campaign (a big max-level quest chain,) will be what unlocks Mag'har and Dark Irons.
Regarding the inhabitants of the two continents, my guess would be that we'll get them fairly early. I would predict we'll get them in 8.1, given that their models are already mostly in-game.
It also looks like there will be greater variation in models. Much as Orcs are going to get the option to change their posture in barber shop (I'd assume this applies to Mag'har as well,) it appears that Kul Tiran Humans will be able to go for either bulky or skinny physiques (I assume this means that if you want medium, you'll have to go with your standard Stormwind human.)
Additionally, they've announced the class options for these two next races:
Dark Iron Dwarves: Warrior, Paladin, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Shaman, Mage, Warlock, Monk
Notably, I don't see Death Knight on this list, which I thought had previously been suggested. While the Dark Irons were certainly around to be turned by the Lich King, it sounds likely that they don't intend to add new Death Knight races in the future, which I think is a damned shame, but maybe they'll change their minds!
Mag'har Orcs: Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Shaman, Mage, Monk
So here we see the standard Orcs minus Warlocks (which makes sense, as that's the main thing that makes the Mag'har - not hanging around with Warlocks) but adds Priests, which is presumably due to the Shadowmoon Clan, who have a more Priestly culture (including Shadow Priests.) I might quibble with Mages, given that standard Orcs didn't get those until Cataclysm, which I figured was justified by the fact that they were hanging out with a bunch of Trolls, Undead, and Blood Elves, which the Mag'har from Draenor B weren't.
What I find kind of interesting about these two additions is that both Dark Irons and the former Iron Horde Orcs have a history of heavy industry. Granted, in the latter case they were merely copying the industrial power of the existing Horde, but it's clear that at least the Blackrock really dove in headfirst at the whole industrialized warfare thing.
A Survey of BFA's Zones
While I haven't quested through every zone in Battle for Azeroth, I've taken at the least a brief look at each of them. While I'd be surprised if they didn't add a new zone or two at some point in the expansion (the only expansion that didn't add a new zone or zone-like feature - I'm talking specifically the Molten Front - after the release was Wrath, and even then you did technically have Hrothgar's Landing north of Icecrown) the six zones we're getting at launch are going to be the backbone of the expansion, and where we're going to be spending most of our time.
While on the Alpha you can actually get the quests to go to the other faction's continent earlier, I believe the plan is still to have players level up on their faction's respective continent and then get max-level content on both.
So what do these places look like?
Continent: Kul Tiras:
Overall, the continent of Kul Tiras is probably the more cohesive of the two, with a more consistent sense of atmosphere and place, though this also means that there's less variation in environments. Obviously, the continent can't all be naval-themed (it's not 100% coastline,) and so there are areas with dense forests or wide-open grasslands.
Drustvar:
The first zone that was open for testing, Drustvar is the most densely forested part of Kul Tiras, with a few farms and several villages scattered throughout. Drustvar is certainly the spookiest zone on Kul Tiras, with its main threat of hag-like witches who employ wicker-man like constructs. If you want that low-level D&D feel of being a wandering adventurer going from town to town, fighting monsters, this definitely has that feel. It's not all forests, though, and you'll encounter snowy mountains and ancient ruins as well that tie into the story.
Tiragarde Sound:
This zone is the most nautical-themed of the three, with ports and harbors and the pirate-city of Freehold, which has both its outdoor version and the instance, dungeon version. Here you'll be working to uncover a conspiracy against the Proudmoores. Tiragarde Sound also contains Kul Tiras' capital of Boralus, which is a large port with a massive sea-wall and the home of the Proudmoores. I'll confess that I haven't gotten through the quests here, but given that there are areas of Boralus that hold hostile pirates and gangs, I suspect you'll quest through the city and use it more than just a typical sanctuary hub.
Stromsong Valley:
The largest of Kul Tiras' zones, there is a major quest chain that leads to a dungeon (and I suspect has great importance to the expansion's story,) but beyond that there are several scattered farms in this idyllic grassland where you'll deal with Quilboars, Pirates, Naga, and the Horde, who are all giving the locals varying degrees of trouble.
Continent: Zandalar
Zandalar is where Horde characters will level up, and has more of a tropical feel compared to Kul Tiras' North Atlantic aesthetic. Each of its zones has a highly distinct feel, with bright colors and just a whole mess of dinosaurs.
Nazmir:
Nazmir is a cursed swampland, but also home to several Loa. As you quest through it, you'll encounter depraved Blood Trolls, some of whom seem to be practicing necromancy (in fact, you'll encounter what I believe is the first non-Scourge-associated Lich we've seen in-game.) Nazmir is dark and dangerous and more otherworldly than anything else I've seen in BFA.
Zuldazar:
Zuldazar is the capital city of Zandalar, and while parts of it have the kind of safe urban vibe you'd expect from a capital, the rest of it stretches out into a true questing zone, with different districts and complexes that are beset by villainous threats. There's clearly some intrigue going on here (one quest-giver is a future dungeon boss,) but it's also really just cool to see a Troll city that is not a ruin, and you even get to see the way the other tribes interact with the Zandalari. Unlike Boralus, which is just one part of Tiragarde Sound, Zuldazar has less defined urban borders, such that your journeys into the outlying jungle don't necessarily make it feel as if you left the city behind, as you can find other building complexes out there.
Vol'dun:
This is the zone I've seen the least of, so take it with a grain of salt. This is a desert landscape with dark rock canyons and sandy expanses. Again, I haven't seen the whole zone, but it seems that the main plot involves protecting the local Vulpera fox-people against the Snake-people. I'm curious to see how, and if, this ties into the larger BFA plot, but at least so far, the zone feels less like the kind of endless expanses you'd find in Uldum or Tanaris and more broken up by canyons and cliffs, which is actually probably a better way to do a desert zone.
While on the Alpha you can actually get the quests to go to the other faction's continent earlier, I believe the plan is still to have players level up on their faction's respective continent and then get max-level content on both.
So what do these places look like?
Continent: Kul Tiras:
Overall, the continent of Kul Tiras is probably the more cohesive of the two, with a more consistent sense of atmosphere and place, though this also means that there's less variation in environments. Obviously, the continent can't all be naval-themed (it's not 100% coastline,) and so there are areas with dense forests or wide-open grasslands.
Drustvar:
The first zone that was open for testing, Drustvar is the most densely forested part of Kul Tiras, with a few farms and several villages scattered throughout. Drustvar is certainly the spookiest zone on Kul Tiras, with its main threat of hag-like witches who employ wicker-man like constructs. If you want that low-level D&D feel of being a wandering adventurer going from town to town, fighting monsters, this definitely has that feel. It's not all forests, though, and you'll encounter snowy mountains and ancient ruins as well that tie into the story.
Tiragarde Sound:
This zone is the most nautical-themed of the three, with ports and harbors and the pirate-city of Freehold, which has both its outdoor version and the instance, dungeon version. Here you'll be working to uncover a conspiracy against the Proudmoores. Tiragarde Sound also contains Kul Tiras' capital of Boralus, which is a large port with a massive sea-wall and the home of the Proudmoores. I'll confess that I haven't gotten through the quests here, but given that there are areas of Boralus that hold hostile pirates and gangs, I suspect you'll quest through the city and use it more than just a typical sanctuary hub.
Stromsong Valley:
The largest of Kul Tiras' zones, there is a major quest chain that leads to a dungeon (and I suspect has great importance to the expansion's story,) but beyond that there are several scattered farms in this idyllic grassland where you'll deal with Quilboars, Pirates, Naga, and the Horde, who are all giving the locals varying degrees of trouble.
Continent: Zandalar
Zandalar is where Horde characters will level up, and has more of a tropical feel compared to Kul Tiras' North Atlantic aesthetic. Each of its zones has a highly distinct feel, with bright colors and just a whole mess of dinosaurs.
Nazmir:
Nazmir is a cursed swampland, but also home to several Loa. As you quest through it, you'll encounter depraved Blood Trolls, some of whom seem to be practicing necromancy (in fact, you'll encounter what I believe is the first non-Scourge-associated Lich we've seen in-game.) Nazmir is dark and dangerous and more otherworldly than anything else I've seen in BFA.
Zuldazar:
Zuldazar is the capital city of Zandalar, and while parts of it have the kind of safe urban vibe you'd expect from a capital, the rest of it stretches out into a true questing zone, with different districts and complexes that are beset by villainous threats. There's clearly some intrigue going on here (one quest-giver is a future dungeon boss,) but it's also really just cool to see a Troll city that is not a ruin, and you even get to see the way the other tribes interact with the Zandalari. Unlike Boralus, which is just one part of Tiragarde Sound, Zuldazar has less defined urban borders, such that your journeys into the outlying jungle don't necessarily make it feel as if you left the city behind, as you can find other building complexes out there.
Vol'dun:
This is the zone I've seen the least of, so take it with a grain of salt. This is a desert landscape with dark rock canyons and sandy expanses. Again, I haven't seen the whole zone, but it seems that the main plot involves protecting the local Vulpera fox-people against the Snake-people. I'm curious to see how, and if, this ties into the larger BFA plot, but at least so far, the zone feels less like the kind of endless expanses you'd find in Uldum or Tanaris and more broken up by canyons and cliffs, which is actually probably a better way to do a desert zone.
Battle for Azeroth Drops August 14th
I think this is the earliest we've ever gotten an expansion in the 2-year cycle. Battle for Azeroth will be arriving very much in the middle of summer, only four months from now.
Playing on the Alpha, I'm eager to see how the expansion progresses.
My general impressions of the Alpha are perhaps mixed - there is clearly a new design philosophy regarding quests. Zone stories, depending on the zone, are far less linear, which gives you more of an open-world gameplay design - with the good and bad that comes with it. The good, of course, means that you can really choose where you want to go and what you want to do. The bad, I think, is that the zones feel a bit less unified in the stories they're telling.
Now granted, the only zone I've really completed is Drustvar (although apparently I actually missed a side quest chain involving pirates) and that does, in fact, have a pretty solid story throughout. Tiragarde and Stormsong Valley feel a bit more disjointed, but again, some people might prefer that, as it gives you the freedom to choose what kind of questing you want to do and where.
I have not seen as much of Zandalar, but I have done a bit of each zone (though only a few quests in Zuldazar and Vol'dun.) I do think Zandalar shows greater environmental variation, but I can't really judge it on story compared to Kul Tiras.
At this point, there's plenty of content that works fine, but when it comes to voice acting and cinematics, it's clear that there's polish left to be applied.
Anyway, the other thing to think about is that we now know how much time we have left for Legion stuff. Obviously most will still be accessible later on, but there are a few things (I'm thinking primarily challenge artifact appearances) that are going away. I got Kruul down to 10% one time! Must keep trying!
Now, the fact that BFA drops in August means we're likely to see the pre-patch in July or even late June.
Playing on the Alpha, I'm eager to see how the expansion progresses.
My general impressions of the Alpha are perhaps mixed - there is clearly a new design philosophy regarding quests. Zone stories, depending on the zone, are far less linear, which gives you more of an open-world gameplay design - with the good and bad that comes with it. The good, of course, means that you can really choose where you want to go and what you want to do. The bad, I think, is that the zones feel a bit less unified in the stories they're telling.
Now granted, the only zone I've really completed is Drustvar (although apparently I actually missed a side quest chain involving pirates) and that does, in fact, have a pretty solid story throughout. Tiragarde and Stormsong Valley feel a bit more disjointed, but again, some people might prefer that, as it gives you the freedom to choose what kind of questing you want to do and where.
I have not seen as much of Zandalar, but I have done a bit of each zone (though only a few quests in Zuldazar and Vol'dun.) I do think Zandalar shows greater environmental variation, but I can't really judge it on story compared to Kul Tiras.
At this point, there's plenty of content that works fine, but when it comes to voice acting and cinematics, it's clear that there's polish left to be applied.
Anyway, the other thing to think about is that we now know how much time we have left for Legion stuff. Obviously most will still be accessible later on, but there are a few things (I'm thinking primarily challenge artifact appearances) that are going away. I got Kruul down to 10% one time! Must keep trying!
Now, the fact that BFA drops in August means we're likely to see the pre-patch in July or even late June.
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Stormsong Valley First Impressions
With a new build finally allowing Mac users restored access to the Alpha/Beta/Gamma/whatever, I was able to take the Death Knight I'd played through Drustvar up north to Stormsong Valley.
While Drustvar is composed of dark forests and snowy mountains, and Tiragarde Sound is a sea-soaked area of pirates and docks, Stormsong Valley is, at first glance, an idyllic grassland. Imagine the Valley of the Four Winds, but far larger, such that as you ride out into the fields, it seems as if they go on for miles.
More than Tiragarde and even Drustvar, the quests really flow you in a clear direction, at least for part of the zone. The quests that lead up to the Shrine of the Storm have you investigating the odd culture of the Tidesages - a group of priests who bless Kul Tiran ships so that they can withstand any storm on the ocean.
The quests for the zone actually begin in Boralus, where you visit an abbey for the Tidesages within the city. It becomes clear immediately that there's something off about these priests.
Once you go into the zone proper, you find that it's actually more complicated than it first seems - there are some Tidesages who are genuinely benevolent (as far as I can tell, at least,) but it becomes very clear not too far into the quests that many of them, including Lord Stormsong, are actually practicing very Lovecraftian void magic. Not only are they allied with faceless N'raqi, but many of them transform into Kith'tir - humanoids with a serious case of tentacle-face (if you are familiar with Mind Flayers, aka Ilithids, in D&D, that's more or less what these are.)
While it currently lacks voice acting and there are some regions where the terrain geometry is flawed, this is likely to be a very cinematic questchain.
In fact, the Shrine of the Storm is built on an island that is quite massive - while the main plot sends you into a 5-player dungeon, I could certainly imagine a raid finding a place in this island. It seems clear to me that there's got to be at least one raid on Kul Tiras, and this is the best candidate I've seen so far.
But there's still plenty of the zone for me to see - I could see a quest chain like this, perhaps with a bit more branching elaboration - as being the main quest for a Legion-style zone. I'll be very curious to see how well the rest of the zone ties together. Drustvar, by comparison, is very unified in its story, while Tiragarde seems to send you all over the place.
Monday, April 2, 2018
The Lich King as the Mind of the Scourge and the Scourge's Mind as a Magnet
In what might be the last (at least for now) of the Chronicle books published by Blizzard, we get a history of the world of Warcraft from the Third War through Cataclysm. That's right, we move past the RTS games and into the areas where our own players have made an impact on the world. There's a bit of controversy surrounding the fact that there are certain instances that have been declared, canonically, the victory of one faction or another. Many are common sense (there's a lot more Horde adventurers near the Wailing Caverns) while others might disappoint or elate you.
Anyway, I'm not here to argue that.
The thing I was perhaps most eager to find out when reading Chronicle III was to learn the exact nature of the Lich King. The official story has always held that when Ner'zhul fled the collapsing Draenor (literally in the moments it was becoming Outland,) he was captured by Kil'jaeden and subsequently tortured as his body was destroyed and his soul was bound to the armor that would be his "body" and later be worn by Arthas, as well as the sword Frostmourne.
From there, the spirit of Ner'zhul practiced necromancy, serving the Legion as Lich King until he could wrest enough control to outmaneuver the Dreadlords sent to hold his leash.
In Chronicle I, we found out that Odyn had made a deal with a powerful entity from the Shadowlands, giving him his eye for knowledge of necromancy so that he could create the Val'kyr, thus creating his undying army of Valarjar (I find it fascinating that this form of necromancy seems perfectly compatible with holy magic. This raises the question: is a priest or paladin who resurrects or redeems a fallen ally technically performing holy necromancy?)
The huge theory - the world-shaking one on part with the theory that Azeroth was a Titan (which was confirmed, of course) - is that it was possible that this entity was, in fact, the Lich King.
After all, the Lich King has always sort of seemed to have one identity too many: Ner'zhul was the first, and then Arthas fused with him. But by killing Arthas, one would think that there was no more real Lich King corrupter to contend with - both Ner'zhul and Arthas were gone. Yet while Bolvar initially billed himself as the Jailor of the Damned - perhaps a new entity that would take the Lich King's place - it now seems as if he has embraced this identity as the Lich King - he even sounds like Arthas did when he was on the Frozen Throne. It's almost as if the Lich King had already existed, and Ner'zhul, Arthas, and now Bolvar were all just different hosts, of a sort, for the Lich King to use as a physical form.
I liked the theory, but I think we're going to have to set it aside, sadly.
The explanation for Ner'zhul's transformation - from duped Shaman to desperate portal-maker into brilliant mastermind manipulator - is that the Lich King grows more powerful as more beings - particularly intelligent beings - are under his command. Ghouls and skeletons don't possess much intellect, and while they serve quite well as foot soldiers, the control of Liches and Death Knights does far more to empower the Lich King. It was this expansion of Ner'zhul's mind that allowed him to outmaneuver the famously devious Nathrezim.
And actually, this could sort of explain the continuity of identity between the three Lich Kings - it may be that while the person who wears the crown (or is the crown, in the case of Ner'zhul) has a great deal of sway, the Lich King may, in fact, really be more of a hive mind - the nexus point of all Scourge thought.
In a bizarre way, this makes the Scourge almost democratic - they are united in will because each individual with enough intelligence to have a will contributes to the very sovereign that commands them. There's something weirdly symbiotic about that. Of course, that collectivism goes both ways, and even if some Death Knight's opinions on one manner or another are taken into account in the Lich King's consciousness, the signal goes back down to the Death Knight, ensuring that dissent is extinguished in the name of a kind of dark consensus. Essentially, it is terribly difficult to resist the collective will of the Scourge once you are made a part of it, and once you submit, your own will becomes part of the collective will that indoctrinates the next victim/recruit. It's like if you had a big pile of magnets - eventually as a couple start to line up, the rest are going to twist around until they all line up. You might toss one in turned so that its polarity is opposite the rest of them, but it will probably be (literally) turned to the direction of the others, and now its own magnetic force will reinforce the very polarity that pointed it in that direction.
Now imagine that North over South is Good and South over North is Evil. With enough evil, everything gets turned to evil, but likewise, with enough good, the whole of the Scourge would turn toward good.
The Knights of the Ebon Blade had their "magnetic" connection severed, allowing them to make their own decisions, but also preventing them from influencing the will of the Scourge. Of course, the Scourge was so massive that even such powerful individuals as the Ebon Blade Death Knights probably could not have exerted much influence - and even then, the feedback loop of consensus breeding greater fervor for the Scourge's general MO - i.e. murder and mayhem - really had the larger effect of making the Ebon Blade knights into killing machines.
But that raises some interesting questions about the modern Scourge:
First off, as the one with the crown, Bolvar presumably has a privileged degree of influence on the mind of the Lich King. He also seems to be gradually reabsorbing the Ebon Blade into the Scourge - the Death Knight campaign begins with the Knights generally distrusting the Lich King but willing to engage in a strategic alliance, but by the end of it, the Deathlord (i.e. you) is referred to by Darion Mograine as "the Lich King's Champion."
But what if that's a good thing?
Let's imagine that the war in Northrend actually depleted the Scourge to a fraction of its former size - Arthas was probably willing to give up a lot of his troops, as once he secured the heroes of Azeroth to be his champions, it would be trivial to slay and raise new subjects. But Arthas winds up being miraculously (literally) defeated, meaning that all the sacrifices the Scourge made to lure the champions up to the Frozen Throne only succeeded in shrinking their numbers.
From there, Bolvar, who seems to have very different motivations from a post-brainwash Arthas, takes the Throne, and having proved his own remarkable will, starts to change the sort of mental polarity of the Scourge. There's little enough of a pushback (after the destruction of so much of the Scourge) and Bolvar is strong enough of will that he manages to change the character of the Scourge. Now, he's not totally unaffected - he does develop a seriously cruel streak - but he has realigned the Scourge against total global domination.
And now he's seeking to incorporate the Ebon Blade back into the Scourge. Why?
To bolster his happier, friendlier Scourge. If the Scourge is a hive mind, then presumably adding more heroic minds to the mix would, with sufficient saturation and sufficient haste, shift the Scourge into a more heroic entity. The Scourge that Arthas inherited had been an instrument of the Burning Legion, and had not much earlier been in a state where it needed to expand constantly in order to survive (and the Legion was happy to have it expand indefinitely like a cancer, even if it burned out after consuming its host, aka the living world.) That message was on something of a feedback loop, and only through the efforts of very strong will did it shift from that nature - Ner'zhul was able to direct it toward more subtle actions and Arthas forced it to act strategically. But it took the shock of losing a huge number of its forces as well as seeing Arthas killed for the hive mind to truly reset into something malleable.
But even if Bolvar was able to exert a great deal of control over the Scourge, there were still enough intelligent beings in the hive mind that were still set to the old ways. Bolvar demonstrated tremendous will to resist the mental current toward apocalyptic violence, but now, perhaps, he's looking to get others who have a more altruistic and, you know, non-apocalyptic ambition into the system to keep the flow heading in a more productive direction.
Anyway, I'm not here to argue that.
The thing I was perhaps most eager to find out when reading Chronicle III was to learn the exact nature of the Lich King. The official story has always held that when Ner'zhul fled the collapsing Draenor (literally in the moments it was becoming Outland,) he was captured by Kil'jaeden and subsequently tortured as his body was destroyed and his soul was bound to the armor that would be his "body" and later be worn by Arthas, as well as the sword Frostmourne.
From there, the spirit of Ner'zhul practiced necromancy, serving the Legion as Lich King until he could wrest enough control to outmaneuver the Dreadlords sent to hold his leash.
In Chronicle I, we found out that Odyn had made a deal with a powerful entity from the Shadowlands, giving him his eye for knowledge of necromancy so that he could create the Val'kyr, thus creating his undying army of Valarjar (I find it fascinating that this form of necromancy seems perfectly compatible with holy magic. This raises the question: is a priest or paladin who resurrects or redeems a fallen ally technically performing holy necromancy?)
The huge theory - the world-shaking one on part with the theory that Azeroth was a Titan (which was confirmed, of course) - is that it was possible that this entity was, in fact, the Lich King.
After all, the Lich King has always sort of seemed to have one identity too many: Ner'zhul was the first, and then Arthas fused with him. But by killing Arthas, one would think that there was no more real Lich King corrupter to contend with - both Ner'zhul and Arthas were gone. Yet while Bolvar initially billed himself as the Jailor of the Damned - perhaps a new entity that would take the Lich King's place - it now seems as if he has embraced this identity as the Lich King - he even sounds like Arthas did when he was on the Frozen Throne. It's almost as if the Lich King had already existed, and Ner'zhul, Arthas, and now Bolvar were all just different hosts, of a sort, for the Lich King to use as a physical form.
I liked the theory, but I think we're going to have to set it aside, sadly.
The explanation for Ner'zhul's transformation - from duped Shaman to desperate portal-maker into brilliant mastermind manipulator - is that the Lich King grows more powerful as more beings - particularly intelligent beings - are under his command. Ghouls and skeletons don't possess much intellect, and while they serve quite well as foot soldiers, the control of Liches and Death Knights does far more to empower the Lich King. It was this expansion of Ner'zhul's mind that allowed him to outmaneuver the famously devious Nathrezim.
And actually, this could sort of explain the continuity of identity between the three Lich Kings - it may be that while the person who wears the crown (or is the crown, in the case of Ner'zhul) has a great deal of sway, the Lich King may, in fact, really be more of a hive mind - the nexus point of all Scourge thought.
In a bizarre way, this makes the Scourge almost democratic - they are united in will because each individual with enough intelligence to have a will contributes to the very sovereign that commands them. There's something weirdly symbiotic about that. Of course, that collectivism goes both ways, and even if some Death Knight's opinions on one manner or another are taken into account in the Lich King's consciousness, the signal goes back down to the Death Knight, ensuring that dissent is extinguished in the name of a kind of dark consensus. Essentially, it is terribly difficult to resist the collective will of the Scourge once you are made a part of it, and once you submit, your own will becomes part of the collective will that indoctrinates the next victim/recruit. It's like if you had a big pile of magnets - eventually as a couple start to line up, the rest are going to twist around until they all line up. You might toss one in turned so that its polarity is opposite the rest of them, but it will probably be (literally) turned to the direction of the others, and now its own magnetic force will reinforce the very polarity that pointed it in that direction.
Now imagine that North over South is Good and South over North is Evil. With enough evil, everything gets turned to evil, but likewise, with enough good, the whole of the Scourge would turn toward good.
The Knights of the Ebon Blade had their "magnetic" connection severed, allowing them to make their own decisions, but also preventing them from influencing the will of the Scourge. Of course, the Scourge was so massive that even such powerful individuals as the Ebon Blade Death Knights probably could not have exerted much influence - and even then, the feedback loop of consensus breeding greater fervor for the Scourge's general MO - i.e. murder and mayhem - really had the larger effect of making the Ebon Blade knights into killing machines.
But that raises some interesting questions about the modern Scourge:
First off, as the one with the crown, Bolvar presumably has a privileged degree of influence on the mind of the Lich King. He also seems to be gradually reabsorbing the Ebon Blade into the Scourge - the Death Knight campaign begins with the Knights generally distrusting the Lich King but willing to engage in a strategic alliance, but by the end of it, the Deathlord (i.e. you) is referred to by Darion Mograine as "the Lich King's Champion."
But what if that's a good thing?
Let's imagine that the war in Northrend actually depleted the Scourge to a fraction of its former size - Arthas was probably willing to give up a lot of his troops, as once he secured the heroes of Azeroth to be his champions, it would be trivial to slay and raise new subjects. But Arthas winds up being miraculously (literally) defeated, meaning that all the sacrifices the Scourge made to lure the champions up to the Frozen Throne only succeeded in shrinking their numbers.
From there, Bolvar, who seems to have very different motivations from a post-brainwash Arthas, takes the Throne, and having proved his own remarkable will, starts to change the sort of mental polarity of the Scourge. There's little enough of a pushback (after the destruction of so much of the Scourge) and Bolvar is strong enough of will that he manages to change the character of the Scourge. Now, he's not totally unaffected - he does develop a seriously cruel streak - but he has realigned the Scourge against total global domination.
And now he's seeking to incorporate the Ebon Blade back into the Scourge. Why?
To bolster his happier, friendlier Scourge. If the Scourge is a hive mind, then presumably adding more heroic minds to the mix would, with sufficient saturation and sufficient haste, shift the Scourge into a more heroic entity. The Scourge that Arthas inherited had been an instrument of the Burning Legion, and had not much earlier been in a state where it needed to expand constantly in order to survive (and the Legion was happy to have it expand indefinitely like a cancer, even if it burned out after consuming its host, aka the living world.) That message was on something of a feedback loop, and only through the efforts of very strong will did it shift from that nature - Ner'zhul was able to direct it toward more subtle actions and Arthas forced it to act strategically. But it took the shock of losing a huge number of its forces as well as seeing Arthas killed for the hive mind to truly reset into something malleable.
But even if Bolvar was able to exert a great deal of control over the Scourge, there were still enough intelligent beings in the hive mind that were still set to the old ways. Bolvar demonstrated tremendous will to resist the mental current toward apocalyptic violence, but now, perhaps, he's looking to get others who have a more altruistic and, you know, non-apocalyptic ambition into the system to keep the flow heading in a more productive direction.
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