You never know when you've dealt with a time-traveler.
In most portrayals of time-travel in fiction (whether it is even metaphysically possible is something that is still up for debate) a time-traveler experiences their own life in a linear progression like anyone else - their sojourns into the past or the future are almost like simply traveling to another place. The key difference is that an outside observer will perceive that person as not going through linear time, but rather popping into existence at one moment and then blinking out in another, even potentially arriving at the same general place at the same time - in a case like this, the time traveler will perceive this as two separate events, while an outside observer will witness one event with two versions of the traveler.
While we've done a little bit of time-traveling in WoW (we'll have to address Warlords a little further down) we generally experience time as a steady progression, always moving forward at a rate of one day per day. Events happen in order, and while there's a big old Warlords-sized caveat to this, we more or less see history moving forward into the future in the same way you'd typically experience it.
The Bronze Dragonflight is far more comfortable with jumping around in time. In the early quests you thankfully don't have to do anymore to get attuned to the original Caverns of Time dungeons, one of the bronze dragons (in high elf form) directs you to speak to a younger version of himself as if this were the most normal thing in the world. We can assume that this guy might remember talking to us when he was younger, and that somewhere in there he traveled back in time, aged a little, found himself in the same place and time he had been before, saw us show up, and directed us to take part in the conversation that, from his perspective, was years in the past and not like a minute into the future.
The biggest villains to the Bronze Dragonflight are the Infinite Dragons, and we got confirmation in Cataclysm that the Infinite Dragons are, in fact, those very same Bronze Dragons. The Infinites are future versions of the Bronze dragons - ones who have been, allegedly, corrupted.
That means that the very bronze dragons who we aid in defending the timeways will, one day, become the very menace that they have enlisted us to oppose. The only individual for whom we have seen both versions is in fact the Bronze Dragon Aspect, Nozdormu, who at some point will become Murozond. With Cataclysm timewalker dungeons this week, you might actually be fighting him around now.
Upon witnessing his own death in the End Time dungeon, Nozdormu reveals that this is the fate that was shown to him when Aman'thul imbued him with his powers. The intention, supposedly, was to humble him. Even with his power over time, he would eventually die.
Yet in a sense, I wonder if it was exactly mortality that he was being warned about or if it was something else entirely. Murozond represents the opposite of Nozdormu's purpose. The Infinites are all about changing the past. We get a clue from Murozond why they might be doing this - he claims that allowing Deathwing to destroy all life on the surface of the world could prevent the "True End Time," which is so horrific he doesn't even want to describe it.
What is this "True End Time?" My best guess would be a world in which the Old Gods succeed in corrupting Azeroth's World Soul and birth their Dark Titan. One would think that allowing Deathwing to succeed would hasten this plan, rather than preventing it, which makes Murozond's claims ring false. On the other hand, one could imagine that Murozond has been fooled - the Old Gods are master manipulators, after all.
Still, what if Murozond's intentions were not what they seemed?
At the time, the story went that Murozond was preventing the Bronzes from accessing other Timeways, intent on preventing the plan to retrieve the Dragon Soul before it was corrupted into the Demon Soul. Basically, Murozond forced all time travel to route through the End Time, and in order to get anywhere else, we would have to go through him. We wind up doing this, which then allows us to go back to the War of the Ancients, where we successfully retrieve the Dragon Soul and then aid Thrall in taking it to Wyrmrest Temple. It would seem that Murozond failed.
But what if he didn't?
Consider this: Murozond dies in the End Time. That is the death that Nozdormu already knew was going to happen - it's fate.
But what that really means is that the personal future - the vision granted to Nozdormu by the Titans - has been fulfilled. And as far as we know, that means that Nozdormu no longer knows any more about the rest of his fate than we do.
Yes, we know Murozond will die. But we don't know how much older Murozond was than the Nozdormu that we interacted with in Cataclysm. He - in both forms - is a time-traveler, and also, as a dragon, doesn't seem to age (or at least ages at a far slower rate - we do know that Senegos is seriously affected by his extreme age, but certainly the Aspects would be older than him, as there weren't any true dragons before them.) So Nozdormu could live another ten thousand years before he even becomes Murozond, and then Murozond could live another ten thousand years before he dies in the End Time.
Without knowing the entirety of Murozond's personal history, killing him has done nothing to actually prevent the acts that he had, from his perspective, already done. For all we know, Murozond had already spread the Infinite corruption throughout his flight and sent his agents all over the timeline to manipulate causality and by the time he got to End Time, he was already satisfied with his victory, and was simply accepting this fate because, well, he'd won.
There's another possibility:
While the Bronze dragons were charged with protecting the one true timeline, that implies that there are multiple timelines. We've already seen the War of the Ancients changed - with people like Rhonin, Broxigar, and Krasus showing up back then (there are even hidden quests in the Black Rook Hold scenario during the Light's Heart quest chain where you find them back then.)
The End Time does not actually wind up happening, because our actions within it allow us to travel back, retrieve the Dragon Soul, and kill Deathwing before he can pull it off.
When you kill Murozond, he does not leave a corpse. His body fades away. Why is that?
Well, by killing him, we open up the timeways he had blocked and are thus able to take the actions that prevent the timeline in which he died from ever happening.
So is he even dead?
Again, even if he is, our killing him at some unknown point in his personal future (it would be the end, but we don't know how far that is from Nozdormu's current age) doesn't really prevent him from doing any of the things he would have already done. But this might mean that even this death is something he managed to escape.
And then, there's another possibility:
What if Murozond isn't Nozdormu?
The time-travel in WoW was the messy kind - each action overwriting previous history, allowing for complex paradoxes to occur.
But when we traveled to a version of Draenor 35 years in the past, we had none of those problems. Why? Because that Draenor was a wholly separate Draenor.
And it wasn't a branching timeline, because the changes that Garrosh made to that timeline could not account for other changes - like the fact that there had never been any Garrosh B, the fact that Rulkan was alive, or other subtle differences that could not be accounted for.
What this tells us is that there are actually myriad, potentially infinite universes out there, and that each has its own version of reality. Presumably many are very, very similar, but have slight differences.
In fact, it's even possible that we didn't truly travel through time at all when we went to Draenor - time might have been moving at a just slightly different speed there (this would probably happen in a universe with a slightly different speed of light, for example) and thus our universe and that one were 35 years out of sync (a pretty tiny amount of time given how old planets and universes are.)
But regardless, the fact that there are all these universes was actually a big part of Kairoz' plan. Kairoz, a Bronze Dragon who helped break Garrosh out of prison and was aided by members of the Infinite Dragonflight, had a very different vision than Garrosh's Iron Horde.
Kairoz instead imagined that Draenor B would only be the first stop on their trip - that they would go to a Draenor C and then a Draenor D and so on and so forth, each time recruiting the same orcs to form an ever-larger, every more unstoppable Horde. An Infinite Horde, as it were.
And Infinite was literal - they would keep traveling to other universes and adding to their forces, creating a force that could rival just about anything in the universe - even the Burning Legion.
Kairoz supposedly had this idea on his own, but given his allies (sadly not seen in-game. I would have loved to see Infinite Dragons doing stuff on Draenor) and even his choice of words (he claims that he would become Infinite just before Garrosh kills him) it really seems like this is part of something larger.
So what if, then, the Infinite Dragonflight is not the Bronze flight's future? What if, instead, the Infinite Dragonflight is actually something very similar to what Kairoz planned, only rather than Orcs, Murozond goes around recruiting dragons?
Nozdormu believes that the vision he received from Aman'thul was meant to humble him - to remind him of his own mortality. But what if the real message was "this is your enemy."
Without the ability to look throughout all of time - an ability that the Bronze Dragons lost when they poured their power into the Dragon Soul to kill Deathwing - we have no way of knowing just how far the damage wrought by the Infinites extends. Our greatest victory against them has been killing their leader presumably after a very long life of doing exactly what he planned, and in a future that either no longer exists or is part of a separate universe from our own.
We have our Bronze Aspect now de-powered and resigned to a fate of corruption and eventual death.
And for all the damage they have done, the Infinite Dragonflight has literally not even started.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Thursday, November 24, 2016
Suramar's Last 10,000 Years
Ah, fantasy timelines. When you consider how powerful the United States has become in only 240 years, and how much stuff has happened in the last 100 (or even the last 25,) it does sometimes make you wonder why fantasy writers tend to make such broad, sweeping periods of time the norm.
I'm totally guilty of this in my own writing and setting-creation. For example, in my D&D setting, one of the shorter-lived empires in its history lasted three thousand years. Three thousand years ago, the Roman Empire didn't even exist yet.
Anyway, one reason for these extended time periods is that fantasy often has races that live longer than humans. You figure that if everything - maturation process, when they start having kids, and how long they live - is longer, that a civilization will develop slower. I'm not sure I actually believe that (if people live longer, they have more time to learn about their society and then take action to change it - notice how after the industrial revolution our culture has changed at a far quicker rate?) But there's a certain logic to it - we can attribute these longer-lived races as more culturally patient and bound by tradition.
In the Warcraft setting, the Night Elves are some of the longest-living people (the Eredar/Draenei are clearly the longest-lived) and as such, the huge event that happened ten thousand years ago - the War of the Ancients - is remembered personally by some of its most important figures. We hang out with Malfurion, Tyrande, Jerrod Shadowsong, and we've recently interacted with Azshara and Illidan.
Now, we don't actually know exactly what a normal lifespan was for Night Elves before the War of the Ancients. Until the Third War, the Night Elves were granted immortality by the blessings of the World Tree Nordrassil (and I could be wrong, but I think that the tree's gradual recovery has restored this gift - though strictly speaking it's more agelessness than real immortality.)
The story of Suramar, and specifically Suramar City, is a little different. We know that Grand Magistrix Elisande was in charge there during the War of the Ancients, and she remains in control of the city now.
What's interesting is that back then, she was vehemently opposed to the Burning Legion. She knew that Azshara and her demonic allies would strike against them if they opposed her, so she basically turned the city into one of those crazy underground fallout shelter bunkers. The shield that locked Suramar away was meant to be, and was mostly, impenetrable. Until Gul'dan managed to project himself through and threaten them into submission, the barrier let absolutely nothing through - not even light.
The lack of starlight and moonlight (and I guess sunlight...) was obviously a spiritual problem for the Night Elves, but it was also a serious practical one. There weren't really any farms inside the city - not any that produced real food, anyway. So the residents of Suramar used the Nightwell to fuel themselves. And elves have a tendency to become dependent on arcane magic.
Which actually makes sense, given that the very thing that turned the Dark Trolls into the first Night Elves was the blood of a titan - the Well of Eternity. Titans are beings of the Arcane, and thus, so are elves, really.
What I really wonder about, though, is what those ten thousand years were like.
As with anything in WoW, we can assume that what we see in game is a kind of representation of something that's probably supposed to be larger. The Eastern Kingdoms are supposed to be a massive continent, presumably the size of South America or Africa, but in-game it is represented by something closer to the size of Manhattan.
So that's to say that Suramar City is probably a lot bigger, lore-wise, than what we see in the game.
Still, even if we assume that it's the size of New York, imagine being trapped there for ten thousand years.
Now, I know plenty of people who wouldn't mind staying specifically in New York for that long (it is a pretty amazing city, and this is coming from a proud Bostonian) but imagine also that there's no sky - no day and night cycle. And there is, practically speaking, no outside world. One of the things that makes NYC so great is how people from everywhere in the world come and contribute to its big melting pot of culture. One gets the impression that Suramar was a similar cultural nexus for the Night Elf civilization.
We know that when Gul'dan showed up to threaten Elisande with the wrath of the Legion, she dropped the shields and capitulated to him. That's an interesting about-face.
Now it could be that she decided she didn't have the right hand to play. The shield had worked ten thousand years earlier, but that clearly wasn't going to help now that the Legion had found a way to at least communicate with them inside.
But I also wonder if there was something else going on.
The Night Elf society our player characters come from is a pretty egalitarian one. There aren't really socioeconomic classes. But one of the reasons for this is that they literally exiled the upper class. The Highborne who had not been killed or turned into Naga or Satyrs - the ones that joined the rebellion or at least surrendered - basically threw a big tantrum when Malfurion outlawed the use of Arcane magic, nearly destroying Ashenvale. So they were sent off, either to Feralas or to form Quel'thalas and actually physically change into the new High Elf (much later Blood Elf) race.
The point is, the classes really kind of just separated, and the High Elves and Night Elves were both in single socio-economic class societies.
Suramar bubbled itself away before that social change.
In Suramar, we get a very clear sense that there's a nice part of town and a less nice part of town (granted, the "less nice" side is still freaking gorgeous.) There are social elites who are more concerned with politics than the plight of the people on the west side who are under constant threat of withering due to the limited rations of arcwine.
Now, obviously, there's a clear reason why things in the city have gotten worse in the last few months - the Legion patrols the streets, with massive demons walking alongside Duskwatch officers.
But are we to believe that Elisande was this ideal leader beforehand, and that she has just made this sudden turn into evil?
Suramar is a city under occupation, and Thalyssra and the player character have been putting together an underground resistance. But while there are certainly demons to kill in Suramar, the main rank-and-file that the resistance is forced to fight are the collaborators.
To be sure, a lot of people become collaborators not out of some deep evil, but from a desire to maintain order, fearful that open opposition would lead to chaos that would just make things worse. But you also have to wonder - Elisande and her city's leadership chose to lock away the city rather than fight against Azshara and the Legion. I'd bet that not everyone was happy with that.
So how long has Suramar been under this authoritarian regime? Was this all such a recent development, or did the infrastructure of this occupation exist long before Gul'dan showed up?
I'm totally guilty of this in my own writing and setting-creation. For example, in my D&D setting, one of the shorter-lived empires in its history lasted three thousand years. Three thousand years ago, the Roman Empire didn't even exist yet.
Anyway, one reason for these extended time periods is that fantasy often has races that live longer than humans. You figure that if everything - maturation process, when they start having kids, and how long they live - is longer, that a civilization will develop slower. I'm not sure I actually believe that (if people live longer, they have more time to learn about their society and then take action to change it - notice how after the industrial revolution our culture has changed at a far quicker rate?) But there's a certain logic to it - we can attribute these longer-lived races as more culturally patient and bound by tradition.
In the Warcraft setting, the Night Elves are some of the longest-living people (the Eredar/Draenei are clearly the longest-lived) and as such, the huge event that happened ten thousand years ago - the War of the Ancients - is remembered personally by some of its most important figures. We hang out with Malfurion, Tyrande, Jerrod Shadowsong, and we've recently interacted with Azshara and Illidan.
Now, we don't actually know exactly what a normal lifespan was for Night Elves before the War of the Ancients. Until the Third War, the Night Elves were granted immortality by the blessings of the World Tree Nordrassil (and I could be wrong, but I think that the tree's gradual recovery has restored this gift - though strictly speaking it's more agelessness than real immortality.)
The story of Suramar, and specifically Suramar City, is a little different. We know that Grand Magistrix Elisande was in charge there during the War of the Ancients, and she remains in control of the city now.
What's interesting is that back then, she was vehemently opposed to the Burning Legion. She knew that Azshara and her demonic allies would strike against them if they opposed her, so she basically turned the city into one of those crazy underground fallout shelter bunkers. The shield that locked Suramar away was meant to be, and was mostly, impenetrable. Until Gul'dan managed to project himself through and threaten them into submission, the barrier let absolutely nothing through - not even light.
The lack of starlight and moonlight (and I guess sunlight...) was obviously a spiritual problem for the Night Elves, but it was also a serious practical one. There weren't really any farms inside the city - not any that produced real food, anyway. So the residents of Suramar used the Nightwell to fuel themselves. And elves have a tendency to become dependent on arcane magic.
Which actually makes sense, given that the very thing that turned the Dark Trolls into the first Night Elves was the blood of a titan - the Well of Eternity. Titans are beings of the Arcane, and thus, so are elves, really.
What I really wonder about, though, is what those ten thousand years were like.
As with anything in WoW, we can assume that what we see in game is a kind of representation of something that's probably supposed to be larger. The Eastern Kingdoms are supposed to be a massive continent, presumably the size of South America or Africa, but in-game it is represented by something closer to the size of Manhattan.
So that's to say that Suramar City is probably a lot bigger, lore-wise, than what we see in the game.
Still, even if we assume that it's the size of New York, imagine being trapped there for ten thousand years.
Now, I know plenty of people who wouldn't mind staying specifically in New York for that long (it is a pretty amazing city, and this is coming from a proud Bostonian) but imagine also that there's no sky - no day and night cycle. And there is, practically speaking, no outside world. One of the things that makes NYC so great is how people from everywhere in the world come and contribute to its big melting pot of culture. One gets the impression that Suramar was a similar cultural nexus for the Night Elf civilization.
We know that when Gul'dan showed up to threaten Elisande with the wrath of the Legion, she dropped the shields and capitulated to him. That's an interesting about-face.
Now it could be that she decided she didn't have the right hand to play. The shield had worked ten thousand years earlier, but that clearly wasn't going to help now that the Legion had found a way to at least communicate with them inside.
But I also wonder if there was something else going on.
The Night Elf society our player characters come from is a pretty egalitarian one. There aren't really socioeconomic classes. But one of the reasons for this is that they literally exiled the upper class. The Highborne who had not been killed or turned into Naga or Satyrs - the ones that joined the rebellion or at least surrendered - basically threw a big tantrum when Malfurion outlawed the use of Arcane magic, nearly destroying Ashenvale. So they were sent off, either to Feralas or to form Quel'thalas and actually physically change into the new High Elf (much later Blood Elf) race.
The point is, the classes really kind of just separated, and the High Elves and Night Elves were both in single socio-economic class societies.
Suramar bubbled itself away before that social change.
In Suramar, we get a very clear sense that there's a nice part of town and a less nice part of town (granted, the "less nice" side is still freaking gorgeous.) There are social elites who are more concerned with politics than the plight of the people on the west side who are under constant threat of withering due to the limited rations of arcwine.
Now, obviously, there's a clear reason why things in the city have gotten worse in the last few months - the Legion patrols the streets, with massive demons walking alongside Duskwatch officers.
But are we to believe that Elisande was this ideal leader beforehand, and that she has just made this sudden turn into evil?
Suramar is a city under occupation, and Thalyssra and the player character have been putting together an underground resistance. But while there are certainly demons to kill in Suramar, the main rank-and-file that the resistance is forced to fight are the collaborators.
To be sure, a lot of people become collaborators not out of some deep evil, but from a desire to maintain order, fearful that open opposition would lead to chaos that would just make things worse. But you also have to wonder - Elisande and her city's leadership chose to lock away the city rather than fight against Azshara and the Legion. I'd bet that not everyone was happy with that.
So how long has Suramar been under this authoritarian regime? Was this all such a recent development, or did the infrastructure of this occupation exist long before Gul'dan showed up?
The Home Front During Legion
From a game mechanics perspective, it makes total sense that you aren't seeing Legion invasions in every zone on Azeroth at all times right now. These areas are sort of "set in the past" and have to be for a player who is leveling up through them.
In the pre-expansion event, we saw several familiar zones getting hit with demonic invasions, and lorewise, we can assume that these attacks are continuing - in fact, they're probably having a harder time dealing with it given that the greatest heroes of Azeroth are all focusing on the Broken Isles situation.
Legion has really put the Horde/Alliance conflict on the back burner, which is actually a pretty big relief - the Legion's a big enough threat to deal with. But what I find interesting is how the two factions both lost their main leaders, and we're only getting glimpses of the resulting dynamics.
Let's start with the Horde.
We actually get a bunch of Sylvanas in Stormheim, but what is odd is that she doesn't even act like the leader of the Forsaken, much less the Horde entire. She has given herself a secret mission - so secret that she doesn't even tell us about it. So even after Greymane attacks her and her forces in the area, she compounds the fact that she left Orgrimmar (which probably needs someone handling the Horde's main strategy) but also abandons her own guard to strike a deal with Helya (we don't really know what the deal is - like what she agreed to in order to get that evil magic lantern thing.) She's the leader of this enormous coalition of powerful nations that really needs someone to lead them in war against the demonic onslaught (you know, like, a Warchief) but all we have seen her do is engage in her own schemes.
Basically, it's not looking like a good start for Warchief Sylvanas.
There are also a number of crises within the Horde leadership beyond her. Right now it seems like Saurfang is serving as the main representative for the Orcs. Thrall, much like his creator/voice actor Chris Metzen, is retired, and presumably is not interested in returning to any sort of leadership position. Indeed, Thrall seems to have lost some of his connection to the elements after using magic during a Mak'gora with Garrosh. My Tauren is fighting using the Doomhammer, so... do I get to claim that I'm a better shaman than Thrall? Cool!
The Darkspear Trolls have been on a freaking roller coaster. First they're accepted into the Horde, their leader is best buds with the Warchief. Then Garrosh comes to power and suddenly they're the pariahs. Then Vol'jin leads his rebellion and becomes Warchief, and the Darkspear find their fortunes reversed as they have a sudden position of great influence. Then Vol'jin dies.
Here's the thing: while there are people like Saurfang or Eitrigg who are in positions to lead the Orcs even after someone like Garrosh is deposed, can you name someone who can lead the Darkspear? As far as we know, the tribe is totally leaderless. Vol'jin inherited his position from his father, but Vol'jin wasn't a dad, so...
Basically, things must be chaos in Orgrimmar right now.
The Alliance is not quite as fractured, but it does have its issues.
Varian had earned a lot of respect from the other Alliance leaders, but Anduin has been a pretty popular figure as well, and he has provided continuity for the leadership of Stormwind.
Anduin is not exactly inexperienced, but he is certainly young. Still, at least he's staying in the capital and delegating. That said, it's not entirely clear that he has control over the Alliance (in fact, we don't know that he is technically High King yet.)
Greymane's actions in Stormheim clearly had support of the Alliance military (Admiral Rodgers was just as eager to strike against Sylvanas as Greymane) but one wonders if Anduin knew that Greymane was certain to attack Sylvanas when given the opportunity.
If Greymane's actions were contrary to Anduin's wishes, we haven't seen him suffer any consequences for it. While he gets away with it, I doubt that there will be much tension between the old wolf and the young lion, but if Anduin starts exercising his authority (again, an authority we're not entirely sure he has) there could be some big tensions inside the Alliance.
With Malfurion safe and having triumphed against the Nightmare, Tyrande is now leading the Alliance forces to assist the Nightfallen in liberating Suramar. The Horde sent (I believe - only on these quests on one character yet) Lor'themar Theron, who has shown himself to be pretty capable of working with the Alliance, and so far the tensions have been minor on that front.
The real Alliance leader to watch, though, is Velen. Velen underwent a horrific trauma pretty recently - being forced to watch his own son die at our hands during the invasion of the Exodar. (Given that his son became a demon, we don't know how permanent that death was, but either way it was a pretty bad day for Velen.)
We know that he's having the Exodar repaired with the intention of returning to Argus, and now that we know that we're going to Argus in 7.3, I imagine that Velen will be there with us (we might even take the Exodar to get there.)
Velen is the oldest leader of any of the playable races - in fact, there's some artifact lore about the Skull of the Man'ari that implies that he and Kil'jaeden were leading the Eredar for a very long time before Sargeras even showed up.
Velen has embodied the idea of having the patience of a saint - he basically acts with total benevolence, the way you'd hope a holy man would. His convictions do make him scary, though, like in Bloodmyst Isle (when's the last time you did those quests? Pro-tip: don't. Quest design has come a long, long way since Burning Crusade) when he commands you to basically kill every Blood Elf on the island.
But even when he has ordered some pretty extreme actions, he's always been calm and practical and wise.
Now? Now he's angry. And I think that we're going to see a very different Velen moving forward from here.
In the pre-expansion event, we saw several familiar zones getting hit with demonic invasions, and lorewise, we can assume that these attacks are continuing - in fact, they're probably having a harder time dealing with it given that the greatest heroes of Azeroth are all focusing on the Broken Isles situation.
Legion has really put the Horde/Alliance conflict on the back burner, which is actually a pretty big relief - the Legion's a big enough threat to deal with. But what I find interesting is how the two factions both lost their main leaders, and we're only getting glimpses of the resulting dynamics.
Let's start with the Horde.
We actually get a bunch of Sylvanas in Stormheim, but what is odd is that she doesn't even act like the leader of the Forsaken, much less the Horde entire. She has given herself a secret mission - so secret that she doesn't even tell us about it. So even after Greymane attacks her and her forces in the area, she compounds the fact that she left Orgrimmar (which probably needs someone handling the Horde's main strategy) but also abandons her own guard to strike a deal with Helya (we don't really know what the deal is - like what she agreed to in order to get that evil magic lantern thing.) She's the leader of this enormous coalition of powerful nations that really needs someone to lead them in war against the demonic onslaught (you know, like, a Warchief) but all we have seen her do is engage in her own schemes.
Basically, it's not looking like a good start for Warchief Sylvanas.
There are also a number of crises within the Horde leadership beyond her. Right now it seems like Saurfang is serving as the main representative for the Orcs. Thrall, much like his creator/voice actor Chris Metzen, is retired, and presumably is not interested in returning to any sort of leadership position. Indeed, Thrall seems to have lost some of his connection to the elements after using magic during a Mak'gora with Garrosh. My Tauren is fighting using the Doomhammer, so... do I get to claim that I'm a better shaman than Thrall? Cool!
The Darkspear Trolls have been on a freaking roller coaster. First they're accepted into the Horde, their leader is best buds with the Warchief. Then Garrosh comes to power and suddenly they're the pariahs. Then Vol'jin leads his rebellion and becomes Warchief, and the Darkspear find their fortunes reversed as they have a sudden position of great influence. Then Vol'jin dies.
Here's the thing: while there are people like Saurfang or Eitrigg who are in positions to lead the Orcs even after someone like Garrosh is deposed, can you name someone who can lead the Darkspear? As far as we know, the tribe is totally leaderless. Vol'jin inherited his position from his father, but Vol'jin wasn't a dad, so...
Basically, things must be chaos in Orgrimmar right now.
The Alliance is not quite as fractured, but it does have its issues.
Varian had earned a lot of respect from the other Alliance leaders, but Anduin has been a pretty popular figure as well, and he has provided continuity for the leadership of Stormwind.
Anduin is not exactly inexperienced, but he is certainly young. Still, at least he's staying in the capital and delegating. That said, it's not entirely clear that he has control over the Alliance (in fact, we don't know that he is technically High King yet.)
Greymane's actions in Stormheim clearly had support of the Alliance military (Admiral Rodgers was just as eager to strike against Sylvanas as Greymane) but one wonders if Anduin knew that Greymane was certain to attack Sylvanas when given the opportunity.
If Greymane's actions were contrary to Anduin's wishes, we haven't seen him suffer any consequences for it. While he gets away with it, I doubt that there will be much tension between the old wolf and the young lion, but if Anduin starts exercising his authority (again, an authority we're not entirely sure he has) there could be some big tensions inside the Alliance.
With Malfurion safe and having triumphed against the Nightmare, Tyrande is now leading the Alliance forces to assist the Nightfallen in liberating Suramar. The Horde sent (I believe - only on these quests on one character yet) Lor'themar Theron, who has shown himself to be pretty capable of working with the Alliance, and so far the tensions have been minor on that front.
The real Alliance leader to watch, though, is Velen. Velen underwent a horrific trauma pretty recently - being forced to watch his own son die at our hands during the invasion of the Exodar. (Given that his son became a demon, we don't know how permanent that death was, but either way it was a pretty bad day for Velen.)
We know that he's having the Exodar repaired with the intention of returning to Argus, and now that we know that we're going to Argus in 7.3, I imagine that Velen will be there with us (we might even take the Exodar to get there.)
Velen is the oldest leader of any of the playable races - in fact, there's some artifact lore about the Skull of the Man'ari that implies that he and Kil'jaeden were leading the Eredar for a very long time before Sargeras even showed up.
Velen has embodied the idea of having the patience of a saint - he basically acts with total benevolence, the way you'd hope a holy man would. His convictions do make him scary, though, like in Bloodmyst Isle (when's the last time you did those quests? Pro-tip: don't. Quest design has come a long, long way since Burning Crusade) when he commands you to basically kill every Blood Elf on the island.
But even when he has ordered some pretty extreme actions, he's always been calm and practical and wise.
Now? Now he's angry. And I think that we're going to see a very different Velen moving forward from here.
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
So, About the "Tier 3" Artifact Appearances
Unless the fix for Withered J'im came in before the weekly reset, if you have been downing world bosses every week, you should be able to get the Unleashed Monstrosities achievement today, with the Soultakers popping up in Stormheim (note that if you're a Death Knight, you can also get the Frost DK hidden appearance off them. I believe it's a guaranteed drop. I ran the bosses as Frost just in case that mattered. You need to loot it off their bodies.)
Now, if you, like I did, sprinted back to your Order Hall, eager to try out the new artifact appearance that you just theoretically unlocked thanks to that achievement, I've got bad news for you.
These "third tier" artifact appearances are all locked behind the Balance of Power quest chain (which can't be completed yet, as it apparently requires you to do some Nighthold as well.)
Personally I'm a little upset about this: the artifact appearances are pretty limited already, and putting not just one appearance/tint but a whole row of four behind this chain is pretty frustrating. The worst part of it is definitely that there's nothing in the game's UI to warn you about this. On the artifact altar thingie (whatever your class uses) it simply says that you unlock that square by getting this achievement.
Again, it wouldn't be such a big deal if there were more looks you could unlock in simpler ways.
I'd still recommend getting the achievement - world bosses drop very nice gear and you might get that achievement eventually. Still, regardless of whether Blizzard posted about this before (as some on the forums say they did,) I think making it clear within the game would have been smart.
Now, if you, like I did, sprinted back to your Order Hall, eager to try out the new artifact appearance that you just theoretically unlocked thanks to that achievement, I've got bad news for you.
These "third tier" artifact appearances are all locked behind the Balance of Power quest chain (which can't be completed yet, as it apparently requires you to do some Nighthold as well.)
Personally I'm a little upset about this: the artifact appearances are pretty limited already, and putting not just one appearance/tint but a whole row of four behind this chain is pretty frustrating. The worst part of it is definitely that there's nothing in the game's UI to warn you about this. On the artifact altar thingie (whatever your class uses) it simply says that you unlock that square by getting this achievement.
Again, it wouldn't be such a big deal if there were more looks you could unlock in simpler ways.
I'd still recommend getting the achievement - world bosses drop very nice gear and you might get that achievement eventually. Still, regardless of whether Blizzard posted about this before (as some on the forums say they did,) I think making it clear within the game would have been smart.
Finally Saw the Warcraft Movie
So, video game movie adaptations are basically guaranteed not to be good movies. There was a lot of hope for Warcraft to change this trend, employing a popular up-and-coming director and adapting a series that I'd wager is a bit more popular than, say, Silent Hill.
Sadly, I don't think that this really changes the trend - but not for lack of trying.
Warcraft, the film, roughly adapts the events of the First War. A lot of the elements we're familiar with are in play, along with some adjustments that came to the lore after the first game.
One of the challenges to the film of course is that they need to condense a ton of lore into something that can be digested as a film. So we have, for example, Grom Hellscream show up in a bunch of battles, but we never hear him say a word because frankly there isn't enough room for him as a character. We also see the Draenor-side of the Dark Portal being opened using the life energy of caged Draenei, but the Draenei are never identified by name and the movie doesn't spend any time on them - and that's for the best. World building is all well and good (I'd consider it one of the main appeals to fantasy) but movies have a very limited time to tell their stories.
Visually, it's a mixed bag. I think the Orcs wind up looking pretty decent, though one wonders what a fully-animated film might have been like. The fact that CGI Orcs are interacting with live-action actors really draws attention to the CGI nature, which is a shame because I do think they put in a lot of effort to make the orcs look good.
The art design goes a bit too shiny for the Human stuff if you as me - I get that it's trying to represent the look of the game world, but I think we were all expecting more of a Minas Tirith in the Lord of the Rings movies feel. This is a bit, well, Disneyland.
Most of this stuff I'd forgive, but the biggest problem the movie has is that the characters don't really do much with what they've got. There's one big exception: Ben Foster as Medivh plays him not only as the powerful wizard who is secretly corrupted by demons, but also brings a kind of world-weary sarcasm to it. He is introduced wearing not his classic raven-feather robes, but shirtless and working on a giant golem. He seems more like an eccentric artist guy you might know who has a history of drug problems and has probably been through a lot more bad stuff than he's told you about.
But unfortunately, no one else really finds much to do with their characters. Anduin Lothar is the dutiful hero, Llane the calm and reasonable king. Khadgar is given some weird backstory about having been given to the Kirin Tor as a child and then running away but still practicing magic. Durotan is the One Sane Man in the Horde, though he only ever seems to convince Orgrim (sort of.) Gul'dan is just nasty and evil, but that's appropriate.
Still, I'd say that if you just want to eat some popcorn and have fun spotting the more obscure references (some people ride past a dungeon meeting stone at one point,) the movie is perfectly adequate. This isn't going to be getting a Criterion edition any time soon (then again, Armageddon did) but if you just want to see some crazy fantasy action, it's worth a watch.
My advice for lore-sticklers though - don't worry too much about specifics. With one exception, most of the significant developments from the First War are accounted for. I do wonder, if they were to make more movies, if they could even get to the Third War. I personally think the story of Arthas is one of the most compelling things they've done in Warcraft and I'd really enjoy seeing it on screen (even flawed like this movie was,) but I don't know how likely that is, as there's still a lot of ground to cover and I don't know how eager they are to make more of these.
Sadly, I don't think that this really changes the trend - but not for lack of trying.
Warcraft, the film, roughly adapts the events of the First War. A lot of the elements we're familiar with are in play, along with some adjustments that came to the lore after the first game.
One of the challenges to the film of course is that they need to condense a ton of lore into something that can be digested as a film. So we have, for example, Grom Hellscream show up in a bunch of battles, but we never hear him say a word because frankly there isn't enough room for him as a character. We also see the Draenor-side of the Dark Portal being opened using the life energy of caged Draenei, but the Draenei are never identified by name and the movie doesn't spend any time on them - and that's for the best. World building is all well and good (I'd consider it one of the main appeals to fantasy) but movies have a very limited time to tell their stories.
Visually, it's a mixed bag. I think the Orcs wind up looking pretty decent, though one wonders what a fully-animated film might have been like. The fact that CGI Orcs are interacting with live-action actors really draws attention to the CGI nature, which is a shame because I do think they put in a lot of effort to make the orcs look good.
The art design goes a bit too shiny for the Human stuff if you as me - I get that it's trying to represent the look of the game world, but I think we were all expecting more of a Minas Tirith in the Lord of the Rings movies feel. This is a bit, well, Disneyland.
Most of this stuff I'd forgive, but the biggest problem the movie has is that the characters don't really do much with what they've got. There's one big exception: Ben Foster as Medivh plays him not only as the powerful wizard who is secretly corrupted by demons, but also brings a kind of world-weary sarcasm to it. He is introduced wearing not his classic raven-feather robes, but shirtless and working on a giant golem. He seems more like an eccentric artist guy you might know who has a history of drug problems and has probably been through a lot more bad stuff than he's told you about.
But unfortunately, no one else really finds much to do with their characters. Anduin Lothar is the dutiful hero, Llane the calm and reasonable king. Khadgar is given some weird backstory about having been given to the Kirin Tor as a child and then running away but still practicing magic. Durotan is the One Sane Man in the Horde, though he only ever seems to convince Orgrim (sort of.) Gul'dan is just nasty and evil, but that's appropriate.
Still, I'd say that if you just want to eat some popcorn and have fun spotting the more obscure references (some people ride past a dungeon meeting stone at one point,) the movie is perfectly adequate. This isn't going to be getting a Criterion edition any time soon (then again, Armageddon did) but if you just want to see some crazy fantasy action, it's worth a watch.
My advice for lore-sticklers though - don't worry too much about specifics. With one exception, most of the significant developments from the First War are accounted for. I do wonder, if they were to make more movies, if they could even get to the Third War. I personally think the story of Arthas is one of the most compelling things they've done in Warcraft and I'd really enjoy seeing it on screen (even flawed like this movie was,) but I don't know how likely that is, as there's still a lot of ground to cover and I don't know how eager they are to make more of these.
Monday, November 21, 2016
What Happened to the Inhabitants of the Pantheon?
This is going to be even more speculation-heavy than most of my lore posts, because even with Chronicle, we really don't get a lot of detail on what the Titans were like before they were, well, Titans.
One of, if not the biggest reveal in Chronicle was that all of the Titans in the Warcraft universe were once something called World Souls, and that Azeroth is one of these future Titans. These World Souls develop over a long period of time and, until relatively recently (in the cosmic timeline,) they had help.
According to Chronicle, Aman'thul was the leader of the Pantheon partially because he was also the first Titan to emerge. He traveled the universe and eventually discovered another planet that had a similar World Soul within it. He cultivated life on that planet and prepared the world for its metamorphosis into a Titan.
Over time, the Titans grew in number, with Aman'thul joined by Eonar, Khaz'goroth, Golganneth, Aggramar, Norgannon, and good old Sargeras.
The seven Titans went around to every world and did the same basic thing - they would cultivate life and ensure that the planet was healthy and in good order, and then they would wait and see if the planet ever became a Titan. Not every planet did so - most planets were just your normal hunks of rock floating in space, but the Titans were fine with creating or cultivating life on these worlds - they were happy to see the world filled with life. It's likely that Draenor was such a world, and also Argus.
In fact, there's an interesting thing to note about Draenor. While the world is considered, generally, to be more "savage" than Azeroth, the elementals are far more harmonious and cooperative. The reason for this is that there is a fifth element called Spirit (or Chi if you're Pandaren) that kind of catalyzes friendly interactions between the elements. However, this is also apparently used by Titans to grow, and because Azeroth is destined to be such a powerful Titan, she drew in the vast majority of the Spirit, thus leaving the elementals in total chaos. The lack of spirit may actually be the only reason the Titans even knew there was a World Soul inside of the planet - in usual cases, they just sort of act as if there is one just in case.
So here's what I wonder about:
The Titans created sapient life on these planets - certainly in the case of Azeroth, but also probably on other worlds (the Gronn and Botani on Draenor are probably both Titan creations.) It stands to reason that there were intelligent creatures living on the planets that the Titans emerged from.
So what happened to those planets? And what happened to those people?
We generally see the Titans as humanoid, even though they are so vast that a humanoid shape doesn't even really make sense (consider that we have feet and legs because we generally have a ground to stand on - that's harder when you're so big that outer space is basically the only place you can fit.) It's possible that this is really a kind of visual metaphor - we think of the Titans as looking humanoid because it makes it easier to think of them as intelligent beings that way.
So when Aman'thul reached down and plucked Y'shaarj out of the surface of Azeroth, was there really a human-looking hand, or was it something a lot harder to comprehend?
It wouldn't shock me to find out that the Titans actually sort of stay planets - that we're really talking about these big spherical balls that are going around in space. But I'm also not sure if that's what they're really going for.
Really, the question is: is each World Soul a planet, or is it simply inside a planet? When Aman'thul emerged, did the planet he had been in change shape, turning into a massive humanoid? Did that planet experience a massive apocalyptic destruction as the Titan climbed out? Or is there still a planet Aman'thul out there that just happens to be empty of its World Soul but is otherwise fine (setting aside the likely possibility that such a planet would be one of Sargeras' first stops on the Burning Crusade.)
And if there were people on that planet, what happens to them?
The revelation that Azeroth is a Titan does really raise the stakes in an interesting way. We certainly want to prevent her from being destroyed by Sargeras (assuming that's actually what he wants to do, and there's some serious reason to doubt that) or corrupted by the Old Gods. But what about the Titans' plan? Is that something that we would actually want to happen?
Azeroth is either going to emerge very soon, or it will be some event that is referred to but doesn't happen as long as the game is still around. But when it does happen (if it does happen,) are the people on Azeroth going to be ok?
There are two scenarios - one is that the planet cracks like an egg and the Titan steps out, leaving everyone on the planet either dead or living in an Outland-like ruin of a world. The other is that the Titan sort of spiritually leaves the planet - there's still a physical world there that is unharmed, but her power has completely left it. That is probably the best one could wish for, but it does raise some interesting questions about just what Azeroth would be like without the Titan inside it.
Of course, I suppose there's a third option - that Titans never really leave their planets, and that instead the planets just become Titans. There is a description of Sargeras in which his skin is described as being something like a landscape (that is now erupting with Fel Volcanos.)
So will we instead start to see maps of Azeroth where the Eastern Kingdoms are just below the collarbone? Will sailors need to be careful to navigate around her arms? This absurdity is a big reason why I suspect the humanoid shapes are more metaphorical.
But the other question this raises is: what happened to the people living on the other Titans? If we assume that the birth of a Titan is not a horrifying apocalypse for anyone living on that world, does that mean that while Aggramar was visiting Sargeras to try and talk him into listening to him about Azeroth, there were a huge number of people witnessing that event and were also snuffed out when Sargeras killed Aggramar?
I honestly don't think we'll see this for ourselves - I would guess that while Azeroth might be conscious and intelligent even before she "hatches" (a lot like Wrathion was,) she probably has a remaining gestation period in the millions of years range.
But given that there are all these world Sargeras is destroying, with vast populations upon them, perhaps his turn against the Pantheon was more than the death of several god-like beings, but also entire species, cultures, and histories.
One of, if not the biggest reveal in Chronicle was that all of the Titans in the Warcraft universe were once something called World Souls, and that Azeroth is one of these future Titans. These World Souls develop over a long period of time and, until relatively recently (in the cosmic timeline,) they had help.
According to Chronicle, Aman'thul was the leader of the Pantheon partially because he was also the first Titan to emerge. He traveled the universe and eventually discovered another planet that had a similar World Soul within it. He cultivated life on that planet and prepared the world for its metamorphosis into a Titan.
Over time, the Titans grew in number, with Aman'thul joined by Eonar, Khaz'goroth, Golganneth, Aggramar, Norgannon, and good old Sargeras.
The seven Titans went around to every world and did the same basic thing - they would cultivate life and ensure that the planet was healthy and in good order, and then they would wait and see if the planet ever became a Titan. Not every planet did so - most planets were just your normal hunks of rock floating in space, but the Titans were fine with creating or cultivating life on these worlds - they were happy to see the world filled with life. It's likely that Draenor was such a world, and also Argus.
In fact, there's an interesting thing to note about Draenor. While the world is considered, generally, to be more "savage" than Azeroth, the elementals are far more harmonious and cooperative. The reason for this is that there is a fifth element called Spirit (or Chi if you're Pandaren) that kind of catalyzes friendly interactions between the elements. However, this is also apparently used by Titans to grow, and because Azeroth is destined to be such a powerful Titan, she drew in the vast majority of the Spirit, thus leaving the elementals in total chaos. The lack of spirit may actually be the only reason the Titans even knew there was a World Soul inside of the planet - in usual cases, they just sort of act as if there is one just in case.
So here's what I wonder about:
The Titans created sapient life on these planets - certainly in the case of Azeroth, but also probably on other worlds (the Gronn and Botani on Draenor are probably both Titan creations.) It stands to reason that there were intelligent creatures living on the planets that the Titans emerged from.
So what happened to those planets? And what happened to those people?
We generally see the Titans as humanoid, even though they are so vast that a humanoid shape doesn't even really make sense (consider that we have feet and legs because we generally have a ground to stand on - that's harder when you're so big that outer space is basically the only place you can fit.) It's possible that this is really a kind of visual metaphor - we think of the Titans as looking humanoid because it makes it easier to think of them as intelligent beings that way.
So when Aman'thul reached down and plucked Y'shaarj out of the surface of Azeroth, was there really a human-looking hand, or was it something a lot harder to comprehend?
It wouldn't shock me to find out that the Titans actually sort of stay planets - that we're really talking about these big spherical balls that are going around in space. But I'm also not sure if that's what they're really going for.
Really, the question is: is each World Soul a planet, or is it simply inside a planet? When Aman'thul emerged, did the planet he had been in change shape, turning into a massive humanoid? Did that planet experience a massive apocalyptic destruction as the Titan climbed out? Or is there still a planet Aman'thul out there that just happens to be empty of its World Soul but is otherwise fine (setting aside the likely possibility that such a planet would be one of Sargeras' first stops on the Burning Crusade.)
And if there were people on that planet, what happens to them?
The revelation that Azeroth is a Titan does really raise the stakes in an interesting way. We certainly want to prevent her from being destroyed by Sargeras (assuming that's actually what he wants to do, and there's some serious reason to doubt that) or corrupted by the Old Gods. But what about the Titans' plan? Is that something that we would actually want to happen?
Azeroth is either going to emerge very soon, or it will be some event that is referred to but doesn't happen as long as the game is still around. But when it does happen (if it does happen,) are the people on Azeroth going to be ok?
There are two scenarios - one is that the planet cracks like an egg and the Titan steps out, leaving everyone on the planet either dead or living in an Outland-like ruin of a world. The other is that the Titan sort of spiritually leaves the planet - there's still a physical world there that is unharmed, but her power has completely left it. That is probably the best one could wish for, but it does raise some interesting questions about just what Azeroth would be like without the Titan inside it.
Of course, I suppose there's a third option - that Titans never really leave their planets, and that instead the planets just become Titans. There is a description of Sargeras in which his skin is described as being something like a landscape (that is now erupting with Fel Volcanos.)
So will we instead start to see maps of Azeroth where the Eastern Kingdoms are just below the collarbone? Will sailors need to be careful to navigate around her arms? This absurdity is a big reason why I suspect the humanoid shapes are more metaphorical.
But the other question this raises is: what happened to the people living on the other Titans? If we assume that the birth of a Titan is not a horrifying apocalypse for anyone living on that world, does that mean that while Aggramar was visiting Sargeras to try and talk him into listening to him about Azeroth, there were a huge number of people witnessing that event and were also snuffed out when Sargeras killed Aggramar?
I honestly don't think we'll see this for ourselves - I would guess that while Azeroth might be conscious and intelligent even before she "hatches" (a lot like Wrathion was,) she probably has a remaining gestation period in the millions of years range.
But given that there are all these world Sargeras is destroying, with vast populations upon them, perhaps his turn against the Pantheon was more than the death of several god-like beings, but also entire species, cultures, and histories.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
When to Work Hard on Other Alts
So: Title of the Blog, meaning that even in this relatively early part of the expansion, I'm pretty focused on getting a lot of characters geared up and making sure they're doing well.
In Legion, more than any expansion before, I've felt compelled to get many characters up to the level cap as quickly as possible. In fact, having dinged 110 on my Druid last night, I only have my Priest left at this point (and I'm eager to level him as I find Shadow a lot more fun now than it used to be - he's done Val'sharah and is level 102.)
One thing I will say though is that after finishing their class campaigns (which is sort of the new level cap - not having a third relic slot in your artifact is a pretty big loss of power, and obviously the class campaigns are pretty exciting to complete) a lot of my characters are sitting somewhat idle. In fact, my Monk just hit 10 artifact knowledge and aside from world bosses, he's basically run one timewalker since finishing his class campaign.
My Paladin, Death Knight, Demon Hunter, and Shaman (the latter being over on the Horde side) have been getting a decent amount of attention, while the other classes (even my Rogue, who has jockeyed for "Horde main" with my Shaman for years) are mostly sitting in their order halls, maybe heading out to do world quests if they run out of resources to pay for artifact knowledge.
There is a big advantage to this approach - once you break an alt out and start playing it again, you'll be able to unlock artifact traits at a really fast rate. While I'm still mostly a Frost Mage stalwart, I'm considering plunking some power into Felo'melorn to see what all the fuss is about - and I just got a nice Fire relic for him.
But there's definitely a lot of remaining motivation to play one's main (or in my case, my top clique of alts.) One big reason is artifact power - while my Paladin is actually only six traits away from getting all 34 regular ones, the fact that there's this constant progression in power really gets you motivated to keep plunking away.
One thing I do wonder about is whether I'll feel motivated to level up same-class alts. My Tauren Paladin, for instance, is mainspecced Ret. But at this point, it would probably be way easier to simply use my rather vast artifact knowledge on my main to fill in the Ashbringer with traits (in fact, I've already gotten two major traits from tossing low-AP "scraps" to this other artifact.
In prior expansions, there tended to be a kind of plateau of power that you hit - if you weren't in some powerful raiding guild going into Mythics or some such thing, you basically got to a point where you had everything you could get out of LFR, or whatever profitable world content there was (like getting those empowered apexis crystal things in Tanaan Jungle) and then you'd sort of be at this point where there wasn't really all that much to do to empower you character.
In Legion, first you've got artifact power, which you can basically always use more of (after unlocking all 34 traits, there's a kind of paragon trait that will very gradually increase your power further and has I think 20 ranks,) but there's also warforged and titanforged gear to consider. And that's not to mention legendary items.
All of this is a good problem to have - one of WoW's biggest issues in the past has been "content lulls," but here there's a lot of motivation to keep working on all of this (though we're still only two and a half months in.) It does mean that some of your alts might be hanging out in their class halls for a while. If your main has more Blood of Sargeras than they know what to do with, you can at least send boxes of order resources to them! And they're account wide, so you can send them cross-realm and cross-faction!
In Legion, more than any expansion before, I've felt compelled to get many characters up to the level cap as quickly as possible. In fact, having dinged 110 on my Druid last night, I only have my Priest left at this point (and I'm eager to level him as I find Shadow a lot more fun now than it used to be - he's done Val'sharah and is level 102.)
One thing I will say though is that after finishing their class campaigns (which is sort of the new level cap - not having a third relic slot in your artifact is a pretty big loss of power, and obviously the class campaigns are pretty exciting to complete) a lot of my characters are sitting somewhat idle. In fact, my Monk just hit 10 artifact knowledge and aside from world bosses, he's basically run one timewalker since finishing his class campaign.
My Paladin, Death Knight, Demon Hunter, and Shaman (the latter being over on the Horde side) have been getting a decent amount of attention, while the other classes (even my Rogue, who has jockeyed for "Horde main" with my Shaman for years) are mostly sitting in their order halls, maybe heading out to do world quests if they run out of resources to pay for artifact knowledge.
There is a big advantage to this approach - once you break an alt out and start playing it again, you'll be able to unlock artifact traits at a really fast rate. While I'm still mostly a Frost Mage stalwart, I'm considering plunking some power into Felo'melorn to see what all the fuss is about - and I just got a nice Fire relic for him.
But there's definitely a lot of remaining motivation to play one's main (or in my case, my top clique of alts.) One big reason is artifact power - while my Paladin is actually only six traits away from getting all 34 regular ones, the fact that there's this constant progression in power really gets you motivated to keep plunking away.
One thing I do wonder about is whether I'll feel motivated to level up same-class alts. My Tauren Paladin, for instance, is mainspecced Ret. But at this point, it would probably be way easier to simply use my rather vast artifact knowledge on my main to fill in the Ashbringer with traits (in fact, I've already gotten two major traits from tossing low-AP "scraps" to this other artifact.
In prior expansions, there tended to be a kind of plateau of power that you hit - if you weren't in some powerful raiding guild going into Mythics or some such thing, you basically got to a point where you had everything you could get out of LFR, or whatever profitable world content there was (like getting those empowered apexis crystal things in Tanaan Jungle) and then you'd sort of be at this point where there wasn't really all that much to do to empower you character.
In Legion, first you've got artifact power, which you can basically always use more of (after unlocking all 34 traits, there's a kind of paragon trait that will very gradually increase your power further and has I think 20 ranks,) but there's also warforged and titanforged gear to consider. And that's not to mention legendary items.
All of this is a good problem to have - one of WoW's biggest issues in the past has been "content lulls," but here there's a lot of motivation to keep working on all of this (though we're still only two and a half months in.) It does mean that some of your alts might be hanging out in their class halls for a while. If your main has more Blood of Sargeras than they know what to do with, you can at least send boxes of order resources to them! And they're account wide, so you can send them cross-realm and cross-faction!
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