Horde warriors are more likely to display their rage, bloodlust, and other aggressive emotions much more freely. Of course, it's possible that a Horde warrior could have a collection of stuffed animals, write poetry, and even play hopscotch with children, but their rage lurks deep within, and the essence of their profession is to let it loose.
Alliance warriors tend to focus more on training and weapon mastery, sometimes downplaying their rage so much that you hardly even see it. Some warriors like this (even in the Horde sometimes) may be so stoic that even they do not believe that they have any emotions whatsoever, although I doubt anyone who watched them fight could really agree. Something's got to make you willing to put on all that armor and risk death every day.
The Warrior is not merely a well-trained fighter who loves his weapons and armor and takes great care to wield them well -inside each one is a boiling cauldron of rage and passion. By and large, warriors feel at home on the battlefield because it is the one place where they can express themselves, where they can finally let go of all the restraint society imposes on them and unleash all their emotions. Without his raging passion, a person would be much better suited to some calmer form of work -it is this unquenchable fire which sustains a warrior, driving him into action in the midst of mortal peril.
Orcs
The image of the orc warrior calls to mind the blood-red-eyed growling monstrosity roaring with demonic bloodthirstiness and wielding his great axes with abandon in his single-minded pursuit of nothing but death and destruction. For a time, while under the control of the Burning Legion, many orcish warriors were like this, but now even the wildest of barbarians remembers the need to rein in the anger from time to time. Orc warriors (or, at least many of them) are a civilized people when all is said and done, though you might not know it if you only saw them in battle.
Grom Hellscream is probably the most famous orcish warrior, a blademaster who combined immense skill with unbridled passion for the fight. Durotan, Thrall's father, was the very image of the restrained warrior who put the reasons for fighting above the passion of battle itself.
Trolls
Trolls are most likely to blend voodoo beliefs and ritual in with their battle. Their religion is savage and primal, and it fuels their fury with beliefs about revenge, death, and the desires of the spirits. They do not have the demon-possessed history of the orcs, but they are sometimes equally viscous. They are well known as berserkers who get more and more dangerous the more wounded and cornered they become.
The most famous troll warriors are Vol'jin, leader of the Darkspear tribe, and Zul'jin, ruler of the Amani trolls in Zul'Aman, although both of them are witch-doctors in addition to being warriors. Vol'jin is by far the more approachable of the two, known for his wisdom and intelligence. Zul'jin on the other hand is well known for his all-consuming hatred of the blood elves and anyone associated with them. Any troll warrior is likely to follow their example of intense cunning, likely with a good mix of voodoo rituals and ruthlessness thrown in too.
Tauren
Regardless of their immense size, and the apparent limitlessness of their battle fury, the tauren are among the least likely to be totally consumed by rage in battle. At all times they are connected to the earth and are intensely aware of practical concerns as well as bloody ones. A tauren warrior's sense of spirituality and religion is almost diametrically opposed to that of the trolls, and he fights to bring natural order to the chaos, even if outwardly he seems like a giant savage monster to some.
One of the most famous tauren warriors is Tagar, Cairne Bloodhoof's second in command, who helped guide and command the tauren in times of crisis. Cairne himself could also be considered a warrior, though he may also be a druid or something else instead.
Additional notes
Of course there are blood elf warriors in the Warcraft setting, but for various reasons none of them are player characters, so we won't touch on them in this article except to suggest that someone who wants to play a warrior-like blood elf choose a paladin, a rogue, or perhaps best of all, a death knight, for a similar type of character archetype.
Also, keep in mind that none of what I say in this or any other article is the one-and-only truth. This is not the one true way to roleplay -rather it is a proposed standard based on lore and common sense, to which you are welcome to contribute your own ideas and or disagreements in the comments below. These are places to begin when you think about how your race and class interact to make your character who he or she is, not limitations I'm trying to impose upon your creativity. Perhaps these articles can help you think of a reason why your character is different from the standard case. In fact, many of the most interesting characters will break these molds even as they to conform to the same lore and common sense they are based upon.
Undead
Many Forsaken warriors remember a lot of what being a human or elven warrior used to be, with all their talk about honor, justice, the glory of Lordaeron and all that. They may have been called Knights or Champions at one point, or they might have just been regular old guards and soldiers, but now all that has faded away for most of them.
Who's to say what really remains? Do Forsaken warriors feel anger and rage the same way a living person might? Undoubtedly, many are driven by a desire for vengeance against the Scourge and perhaps even humanity as well. But this rage likely does not burn in them the same way that an orc's might -rather it is cold and calculating. An undead warrior's rage not unbridled passion or anger so much as it is almost intellectual, so very sharp and chilling that it cuts like a scalpel.
Tags: warrior
Mar 17, 2009
Look fat with 2H mace
Those who have played female Tauren since World of Warcraft classic will recognize this as the latest iteration of the old and equally annoying "I can't get into Molten Core!" bug. Now, while I personally have no intention whatsoever of entering Wintergrasp (which, given my previous track record on such resolutions, means that one of my more sadistic friends will make sure I get stuck there within 2 weeks), I realize that there may be people among the remaining 18 worldwide players with an itch to go an ungainly killin' spree. If I were you, I would plan on being solidly part of the defense for the time being.
It's hard not to notice that female Tauren have unusual difficulty fitting through things that even male Tauren can fit through, but player Astirid from the beta forums seems to have nailed the problem; with respect to model height, female Tauren are actually the tallest models in the game (male Tauren are wider but not actually taller). This cements my belief that nobody on the development team is playing a giant heifer. I find this intolerable, this is racism, this is not to be borne. Dare I say it, this will not stand. And neither can we going through the Undercity elevator or that stupid gun shop next to the auction house in Orgrimmar.
Important news for all 20 of you playing female Tauren out there (of whom Robin Torres and I are two, so I guess it's for the other 18); beware the port to Lake Wintergrasp from Dalaran when your faction controls the fortress. Our reader Amalline wrote in to let us know that an unfortunate bug from the beta concerning the room you're ported to has made its way to the live realms. And by "unfortunate bug," I mean "hilarious joke for all those of you not playing female Tauren" -you can't get out the door.
It's hard not to notice that female Tauren have unusual difficulty fitting through things that even male Tauren can fit through, but player Astirid from the beta forums seems to have nailed the problem; with respect to model height, female Tauren are actually the tallest models in the game (male Tauren are wider but not actually taller). This cements my belief that nobody on the development team is playing a giant heifer. I find this intolerable, this is racism, this is not to be borne. Dare I say it, this will not stand. And neither can we going through the Undercity elevator or that stupid gun shop next to the auction house in Orgrimmar.
Important news for all 20 of you playing female Tauren out there (of whom Robin Torres and I are two, so I guess it's for the other 18); beware the port to Lake Wintergrasp from Dalaran when your faction controls the fortress. Our reader Amalline wrote in to let us know that an unfortunate bug from the beta concerning the room you're ported to has made its way to the live realms. And by "unfortunate bug," I mean "hilarious joke for all those of you not playing female Tauren" -you can't get out the door.
The world first level 80 is Nymh
Wrath of the Lich King has only been live for a little under a week, and already players are tearing through its many challenges. Blizzard once said that players have a voracious appetite for new content, as soon as something is released they need to start on something else. Wrath has really driven that point home.
The first of many firsts was Nymh, world first player to level 80. WoW Insider had an opportunity to talk to him directly about his journey to level 80, and just what inspired it. Read on to see what he (and we) had to say!
WoW Insider: Hi, Nymh! Thank you for doing this, and congratulations again on being the world first level 80. First, why don't you tell us a little about yourself. I'm sure you've had to do this in all of your interviews already, but once more can't hurt!
Nymh: Hello! In short, I'm 21 and I'm actually working for the French Administration.
WoW Insider: Now, why you decide to do this? Was it your goal to be world first or just to level as quickly as possible?
Nymh: It was not really intended! The original goal was to find a way to level as fast as possible, because I knew it was not possible for me to stay awake for days without sleeping. I had a good template and a good spot to grind that I found on beta, and I calculated that it would take something like 28 hours to go to 80. Definitely, a world first was something I could reach, but it was not really expected.
WoW Insider: You've mentioned that you only really play WoW for the raid content, and don't particularly like questing or leveling up. What will you be doing until people start to catch up to you? Grinding reputation? Tradeskills? Just taking a few days off of the game?
Nymh: Well, my guildies leveled really fast too, we've actually already have cleared all the 10 players raids (except Malygos), and we will start 25 player raids tonight! So the wait was not terrible, but to answer your question, I spend a lot of time...answering questions!
WoW Insider: Obviously there are some people who have been rather negative about your world first, but we've seen a lot of people congratulating you on it, too. Would you say the overall reaction is more positive or more negative in general? How do you feel about the "get a life" comments?
Nymh: I think it is globally equal, maybe more positive than negative, but I do not really pay attention to comments...I've not done this to be recognized, I've done this for myself and my guild. So I really don't care about people saying I should get a life or stuff like that, because they really don't know me and saying things like that just because I was able to grind 27 hours is really stupid.
WoW Insider: Do your friends and guildmates that helped you get to 80 want to add anything, especially your healer? It was really nice of them to help you out, and I definitely think they deserve some time in the spotlight as well.
Pavelomm: Thanks to Nymh for the challenge, and to everyone for your consideration. Thanks for all of the encouraging whispers during the performance. Moreover, of course, thanks to all people on forums or in whispers who seemed so worried about my real life. I accept all sort of presents, my bank account number is 0439...
See ya!
WoW Insider: Any last words from you, Nymh? Either about the leveling process, or something else entirely? Any questions that we at WoW Insider can answer for you since you were so kind as to do this for us?
Nymh: Well, if you know the next numbers at the euromillions...
WoW Insider: Zach Yonzon, one of our Warlocks on staff, was curious about the spec that you used. Did you custom build your version of SL/SL to help your leveling grind along, or is it a spec you feel will be viable past that? Will you continue to use it? Do you think it would have performed well if you didn't have a healer on your side?
Nymh: The original idea of the spec was from Jynxx, Fusion guild, she made a post about a spec that has no downtime, can pull any number of mobs...I tested it and that really was the case, and I was asking myself, "What if I found a spot with unlimited numbers of monsters to pull..." I found Drakil'Jin ruins 2 hours after. Since then, the Drakil'jin Ruins have been hotfixed by Blizzard so the mobs do not give any XP.
I planned to grind as 21/41/0, but I changed my mind few hours before and decided to take Metamorphosis instead, because I had no use for Siphon Life thanks to my healer. I respecced at level 77 to take Grim Reach, Empowered Corruption and Shadow Mastery, it was way more useful than the Meta at that level.
This spec works wonders for farming/questing/grinding. I'm pretty sure it kicks ass in PvP too, as I was ganked by many Horde players on beta but I've never died with this spec. Without Pavelomm, I would be forced to use Siphon Life, sometimes AOE fear...I think I would have grinded the 10 levels in about 40 hours instead of 26.
WoW Insider: Are you happy with the speed that you leveled, or at all disappointed? Do you think it was too easy to just grind mobs?
Nymh: I'm perfectly happy with my grinding speed. It was better than what I planned in the beginning. It was not really "easy," you have to consider that I was Sunwell geared (2000 spell power fully buffed definitely helps kill things faster), I hardly spammed my keyboard for 26 hours. I had the perfect spec for it...It is not something everyone could have done.
WoW Insider: Did you keep track of how much money you made grinding those trolls? I'm sure your bags get pretty full after 26 hours of nonstop killing. Did you even bother with looting?
Nymh: No loot! No time. But I made some calculations. I have killed about 20,000 trolls, and would have been looting between 5 and 22 silver...I guess I would have made more than 5k gold with all the loot (greens/whites/greys included).
The first of many firsts was Nymh, world first player to level 80. WoW Insider had an opportunity to talk to him directly about his journey to level 80, and just what inspired it. Read on to see what he (and we) had to say!
WoW Insider: Hi, Nymh! Thank you for doing this, and congratulations again on being the world first level 80. First, why don't you tell us a little about yourself. I'm sure you've had to do this in all of your interviews already, but once more can't hurt!
Nymh: Hello! In short, I'm 21 and I'm actually working for the French Administration.
WoW Insider: Now, why you decide to do this? Was it your goal to be world first or just to level as quickly as possible?
Nymh: It was not really intended! The original goal was to find a way to level as fast as possible, because I knew it was not possible for me to stay awake for days without sleeping. I had a good template and a good spot to grind that I found on beta, and I calculated that it would take something like 28 hours to go to 80. Definitely, a world first was something I could reach, but it was not really expected.
WoW Insider: You've mentioned that you only really play WoW for the raid content, and don't particularly like questing or leveling up. What will you be doing until people start to catch up to you? Grinding reputation? Tradeskills? Just taking a few days off of the game?
Nymh: Well, my guildies leveled really fast too, we've actually already have cleared all the 10 players raids (except Malygos), and we will start 25 player raids tonight! So the wait was not terrible, but to answer your question, I spend a lot of time...answering questions!
WoW Insider: Obviously there are some people who have been rather negative about your world first, but we've seen a lot of people congratulating you on it, too. Would you say the overall reaction is more positive or more negative in general? How do you feel about the "get a life" comments?
Nymh: I think it is globally equal, maybe more positive than negative, but I do not really pay attention to comments...I've not done this to be recognized, I've done this for myself and my guild. So I really don't care about people saying I should get a life or stuff like that, because they really don't know me and saying things like that just because I was able to grind 27 hours is really stupid.
WoW Insider: Do your friends and guildmates that helped you get to 80 want to add anything, especially your healer? It was really nice of them to help you out, and I definitely think they deserve some time in the spotlight as well.
Pavelomm: Thanks to Nymh for the challenge, and to everyone for your consideration. Thanks for all of the encouraging whispers during the performance. Moreover, of course, thanks to all people on forums or in whispers who seemed so worried about my real life. I accept all sort of presents, my bank account number is 0439...
See ya!
WoW Insider: Any last words from you, Nymh? Either about the leveling process, or something else entirely? Any questions that we at WoW Insider can answer for you since you were so kind as to do this for us?
Nymh: Well, if you know the next numbers at the euromillions...
WoW Insider: Zach Yonzon, one of our Warlocks on staff, was curious about the spec that you used. Did you custom build your version of SL/SL to help your leveling grind along, or is it a spec you feel will be viable past that? Will you continue to use it? Do you think it would have performed well if you didn't have a healer on your side?
Nymh: The original idea of the spec was from Jynxx, Fusion guild, she made a post about a spec that has no downtime, can pull any number of mobs...I tested it and that really was the case, and I was asking myself, "What if I found a spot with unlimited numbers of monsters to pull..." I found Drakil'Jin ruins 2 hours after. Since then, the Drakil'jin Ruins have been hotfixed by Blizzard so the mobs do not give any XP.
I planned to grind as 21/41/0, but I changed my mind few hours before and decided to take Metamorphosis instead, because I had no use for Siphon Life thanks to my healer. I respecced at level 77 to take Grim Reach, Empowered Corruption and Shadow Mastery, it was way more useful than the Meta at that level.
This spec works wonders for farming/questing/grinding. I'm pretty sure it kicks ass in PvP too, as I was ganked by many Horde players on beta but I've never died with this spec. Without Pavelomm, I would be forced to use Siphon Life, sometimes AOE fear...I think I would have grinded the 10 levels in about 40 hours instead of 26.
WoW Insider: Are you happy with the speed that you leveled, or at all disappointed? Do you think it was too easy to just grind mobs?
Nymh: I'm perfectly happy with my grinding speed. It was better than what I planned in the beginning. It was not really "easy," you have to consider that I was Sunwell geared (2000 spell power fully buffed definitely helps kill things faster), I hardly spammed my keyboard for 26 hours. I had the perfect spec for it...It is not something everyone could have done.
WoW Insider: Did you keep track of how much money you made grinding those trolls? I'm sure your bags get pretty full after 26 hours of nonstop killing. Did you even bother with looting?
Nymh: No loot! No time. But I made some calculations. I have killed about 20,000 trolls, and would have been looting between 5 and 22 silver...I guess I would have made more than 5k gold with all the loot (greens/whites/greys included).
ninjas and Nodes
What's the fairest/easiest way to go about divvying up loot when there are people waiting for it? Personally, I'm kind of a fan of the "every many for himself" idea -even though it leads to people AoEing a certain area to try and tag a mob and brings frustration to almost everyone, it at least presents a solid rule: first to hit the mob gets to keep it. If possible, I think Blizzard should always make the quest item lootable by as many people as possible, so we can all get on with our business instead of fighting with each other. But if they do want to make us work for an item, I'd rather it'd be first tag, first served -at least then there's no confusion.
This week's question for you, our readers, comes from an anonymous asker. He wants to know what the best option is for a widespread problem in this time of high realm populations and camped quests aplenty:
There's been a lot of talk on your blog about people ninjaing spawns but I'm not entirely sure that it's as cut and dried as that. Consider this: I was in the Borean Tundra and had to kill the mob on the island that's up the top of the steps. when I arrived there were around 10 other ‘toons all waiting around. I had no idea who was there first, who might be grouped, or anything else about them. The first thing I did was /s ‘group?', at which point someone invited me, and I grouped with them. Second time it spawned one of us tagged it, I looted, disbanded the group and left. Did I ninja it? If so, how was I supposed to have acted? With new people coming all the time, no knowledge of who had been there longest and no visible queueing system I'm not sure how else to behave. Thoughts?
A little more analysis after the break, and don't forget to post your own answer in the comments below. If you've got a question for our readers, send it to ask@wowinsider.com, and we'll ask it for you.
Previously on Ask WoW Insider...
This is one of the oldest problems in MMOs -it's called "camping" when there are too many players and too few quest targets to go around, and back in the day, Everquest and other early MMOs turned camping into an art form -people used to wait for hours to get a mob, and even then, once you "tagged" it, others could still steal it away. Blizzard has made progress on the issue with the "tagging" system, and the fact that they've built a mechanic that spawns mobs faster the more players there are in the area, but obviously it's still an issue in some cases.
The single best thing I've seen on the realms lately is the loot that drops for everyone to pick up -sometimes, when you kill a quest mob, a clickable piece of loot drops that even people who didn't kill the mob can pick up. But obviously that can't always be how it's done, and thus, we get situations like the one above. What do you do then?
This week's question for you, our readers, comes from an anonymous asker. He wants to know what the best option is for a widespread problem in this time of high realm populations and camped quests aplenty:
There's been a lot of talk on your blog about people ninjaing spawns but I'm not entirely sure that it's as cut and dried as that. Consider this: I was in the Borean Tundra and had to kill the mob on the island that's up the top of the steps. when I arrived there were around 10 other ‘toons all waiting around. I had no idea who was there first, who might be grouped, or anything else about them. The first thing I did was /s ‘group?', at which point someone invited me, and I grouped with them. Second time it spawned one of us tagged it, I looted, disbanded the group and left. Did I ninja it? If so, how was I supposed to have acted? With new people coming all the time, no knowledge of who had been there longest and no visible queueing system I'm not sure how else to behave. Thoughts?
A little more analysis after the break, and don't forget to post your own answer in the comments below. If you've got a question for our readers, send it to ask@wowinsider.com, and we'll ask it for you.
Previously on Ask WoW Insider...
This is one of the oldest problems in MMOs -it's called "camping" when there are too many players and too few quest targets to go around, and back in the day, Everquest and other early MMOs turned camping into an art form -people used to wait for hours to get a mob, and even then, once you "tagged" it, others could still steal it away. Blizzard has made progress on the issue with the "tagging" system, and the fact that they've built a mechanic that spawns mobs faster the more players there are in the area, but obviously it's still an issue in some cases.
The single best thing I've seen on the realms lately is the loot that drops for everyone to pick up -sometimes, when you kill a quest mob, a clickable piece of loot drops that even people who didn't kill the mob can pick up. But obviously that can't always be how it's done, and thus, we get situations like the one above. What do you do then?
Playing Wrath for hours
As our commenters point out, this story's been picked up by English news sites around the net, including The Local, Mail Online, and the Times Online. Additionally, the use of "Halland," below, is sic -Google's translator spelled it that way, not us.
Here's the text of the article, translated into English by Google Translator:
A 15-year-old boy in Halland was taken to hospital after having spent a day in front of the new World of Warcraft. Food-and lack of sleep in front of the computer led to that he was cramping. Now warns his father others.
- We were terrified proposed, but he is out of danger," said the father to the newspaper.
The diagnosis was that the boy was eliminated in a combination of concentrated gaming, sleep deprivation and poor nutrition. The boy had to stay overnight and take back their lost sleep.
Now, the two parents that the boy must limit their time in front of the computer. They have talked with friends who also will cut down on their computer gaming.
At the same time, teenagers around the world to play World of Warcraft as never before. The latest version of the game expected to hit all-time Sales for the game.
- I want to warn other young people and parents, "says the father to the Evening Post.
The boy and his six friends met on Saturday night to play the nysläppta Wrath of the Lich King. In one day, it was only two hours sleep and a small breakfast in front of the computer. At 14 o'clock on Sunday, the boy collapsed.
Seizures reminded on an epileptic seizure as the family alerted SOS. The boy was taken by ambulance to Halmstads hospital where he received his fluid and nutrition drip.
Here's the text of the article, translated into English by Google Translator:
A 15-year-old boy in Halland was taken to hospital after having spent a day in front of the new World of Warcraft. Food-and lack of sleep in front of the computer led to that he was cramping. Now warns his father others.
- We were terrified proposed, but he is out of danger," said the father to the newspaper.
The diagnosis was that the boy was eliminated in a combination of concentrated gaming, sleep deprivation and poor nutrition. The boy had to stay overnight and take back their lost sleep.
Now, the two parents that the boy must limit their time in front of the computer. They have talked with friends who also will cut down on their computer gaming.
At the same time, teenagers around the world to play World of Warcraft as never before. The latest version of the game expected to hit all-time Sales for the game.
- I want to warn other young people and parents, "says the father to the Evening Post.
The boy and his six friends met on Saturday night to play the nysläppta Wrath of the Lich King. In one day, it was only two hours sleep and a small breakfast in front of the computer. At 14 o'clock on Sunday, the boy collapsed.
Seizures reminded on an epileptic seizure as the family alerted SOS. The boy was taken by ambulance to Halmstads hospital where he received his fluid and nutrition drip.
Wrath of the Lich King is finally here
What about the duel between Thrall and Garrosh? Why are they fighting?
Thrall is kind of a wuss and is often to slow to act. Garrosh is a jerk and doesn't think at all before he acts. Garrosh got annoyed with Thrall's hesitation to send troops to Northrend, Thrall wouldn't budge on the issue until they thought it over, Garrosh challenges Thrall's authority and drags him into a duel over it. It's just the result of the massive mess that is current Orcish society.
Personally, I'm tired of Outland and demons and fantasy-tech and I'm glad to see Warcraft going gothic again, buuuut there's one thing that I love about Outland and I'm hoping it's not gone forever. Ethereals are, like, totally awesome, and my favourite unplayable race in WoW. The question I have is, do we see these guys anywhere in Wrath? And if not, do you think that we'll see them ever again?
They're in Wrath but in a very, very limited capacity. It's not the Consortium either, it's the Ethereum. I really liked the ethereals too, so I'm kind of sad they didn't come to Northrend en masse. At least one Ethereal town would've been neat. It's about time the Goblins had some real competition. Cooler, classier, smarter competition. Hell, let's just trade out the Steamwheedle Cartel for the Consortium. Sounds good to me.
In the Pre-Wrath Event Thrall loses to Garrosh Hellscream in a fight in front of high ranking members of the horde. What does this mean in terms of political standing and succession in the horde? If Garrosh had killed Thrall would Garrosh been the new warchief? How do politics work in the Horde?
Technically Thrall didn't lose, the duel was interrupted by the Scourge. He probably was going to lose, though. In the New Horde, we can't really be sure what would happen. In the Old Horde, Garrosh would most probably become the new Warchief. In the New Horde, while Garrosh as Warchief would get a lot of support from a portion of the Orcs, it'd probably cause a civil war or schism in the Horde. People like Saurfang would not tolerate that nonsense, but there are still a lot of Orcs that long for the days of old when they could just slaughter things for a living.
I doubt Sylvanas, the Blood Elves, et cetera would be happy about Garrosh as Warchief, either. Hell, if Garrosh killed Thrall, Saurfang might just Mortal Strike him into a fine mist before he could even try to claim Warchief. We can't really say for sure. The Horde's entire society is screwed up right now. Considering Thrall keeps people like Nazgrel around as his advisors, maybe the Horde wouldn't have blinked at all and welcomed their warlord with open arms.
Just how much Old God love are we going to see in the expansion? They've got to be one of the most compelling forces at work in the WoW universe and it'd be a real treat to see Yogg-Saron manipulating the scenes against the good guys and Arthas.
Yogg-Saron is an everpresent...presence. You feel his influence all over Northrend, and his ties are everywhere. Despite that, he somehow manages to be a little more behind-the-scenes. The Scourge is up in your face and at the top of your mind, but Yogg-Saron's influence is always right there. Those of you with tradeskills that involve using metals, you've been directly exposed to Yogg-Saron. It's called Saronite for a reason. I imagine he'll be a more direct threat once he's actually in-game in whatever raid zone is on the horizon, but right now it's primarily a "presence" and not an "oh shi-" kind of thing.
I very highly recommend running Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom as soon as you're high enough level. Not only is it just a beautiful instance, it's a good look at what the Nerubians were, have become, and at what lies beneath the kingdom. Plus, the last boss is the most awesome 5-man boss I've ever seen. Seriously. Go do it.
I was working on the exploration achievements when ( came across an island in Hillsbrad named "Purgation Isle" with level 58 elite undead. Any lore on it?
Nope, not really. It's a neat place so that's kind of a shame, but there's really nothing specific about it. It was populated with elites for the quest chain at level 60 that upgraded your dungeon tier set. You just kill the dudes and loot their junk. We can make guesses as to what's there, but that doesn't make it canon, you know? Maybe it was a little abbey, or a special little graveyard, or maybe an ice cream parlor.
Tags: wrath of the Lich King
Thrall is kind of a wuss and is often to slow to act. Garrosh is a jerk and doesn't think at all before he acts. Garrosh got annoyed with Thrall's hesitation to send troops to Northrend, Thrall wouldn't budge on the issue until they thought it over, Garrosh challenges Thrall's authority and drags him into a duel over it. It's just the result of the massive mess that is current Orcish society.
Personally, I'm tired of Outland and demons and fantasy-tech and I'm glad to see Warcraft going gothic again, buuuut there's one thing that I love about Outland and I'm hoping it's not gone forever. Ethereals are, like, totally awesome, and my favourite unplayable race in WoW. The question I have is, do we see these guys anywhere in Wrath? And if not, do you think that we'll see them ever again?
They're in Wrath but in a very, very limited capacity. It's not the Consortium either, it's the Ethereum. I really liked the ethereals too, so I'm kind of sad they didn't come to Northrend en masse. At least one Ethereal town would've been neat. It's about time the Goblins had some real competition. Cooler, classier, smarter competition. Hell, let's just trade out the Steamwheedle Cartel for the Consortium. Sounds good to me.
In the Pre-Wrath Event Thrall loses to Garrosh Hellscream in a fight in front of high ranking members of the horde. What does this mean in terms of political standing and succession in the horde? If Garrosh had killed Thrall would Garrosh been the new warchief? How do politics work in the Horde?
Technically Thrall didn't lose, the duel was interrupted by the Scourge. He probably was going to lose, though. In the New Horde, we can't really be sure what would happen. In the Old Horde, Garrosh would most probably become the new Warchief. In the New Horde, while Garrosh as Warchief would get a lot of support from a portion of the Orcs, it'd probably cause a civil war or schism in the Horde. People like Saurfang would not tolerate that nonsense, but there are still a lot of Orcs that long for the days of old when they could just slaughter things for a living.
I doubt Sylvanas, the Blood Elves, et cetera would be happy about Garrosh as Warchief, either. Hell, if Garrosh killed Thrall, Saurfang might just Mortal Strike him into a fine mist before he could even try to claim Warchief. We can't really say for sure. The Horde's entire society is screwed up right now. Considering Thrall keeps people like Nazgrel around as his advisors, maybe the Horde wouldn't have blinked at all and welcomed their warlord with open arms.
Just how much Old God love are we going to see in the expansion? They've got to be one of the most compelling forces at work in the WoW universe and it'd be a real treat to see Yogg-Saron manipulating the scenes against the good guys and Arthas.
Yogg-Saron is an everpresent...presence. You feel his influence all over Northrend, and his ties are everywhere. Despite that, he somehow manages to be a little more behind-the-scenes. The Scourge is up in your face and at the top of your mind, but Yogg-Saron's influence is always right there. Those of you with tradeskills that involve using metals, you've been directly exposed to Yogg-Saron. It's called Saronite for a reason. I imagine he'll be a more direct threat once he's actually in-game in whatever raid zone is on the horizon, but right now it's primarily a "presence" and not an "oh shi-" kind of thing.
I very highly recommend running Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom as soon as you're high enough level. Not only is it just a beautiful instance, it's a good look at what the Nerubians were, have become, and at what lies beneath the kingdom. Plus, the last boss is the most awesome 5-man boss I've ever seen. Seriously. Go do it.
I was working on the exploration achievements when ( came across an island in Hillsbrad named "Purgation Isle" with level 58 elite undead. Any lore on it?
Nope, not really. It's a neat place so that's kind of a shame, but there's really nothing specific about it. It was populated with elites for the quest chain at level 60 that upgraded your dungeon tier set. You just kill the dudes and loot their junk. We can make guesses as to what's there, but that doesn't make it canon, you know? Maybe it was a little abbey, or a special little graveyard, or maybe an ice cream parlor.
Tags: wrath of the Lich King
The ins and outs of guild leadership
Hello, Scott. I'm a long-time reader, long-time guild leader, first-time send-question-in . . .er.
Anyway! I run a . . . not sure what you'd consider 'small,' so let's say small (around 30 people) RP guild on Moon Guard. How feasible would it be for small, semi-unscheduled, IC raids (Naxx10 and other 10-mans) in Wrath? I know it'd be hard to do in fights, but do you think a small(ish) roleplay guild could pull it off?
I will say up front, Maciah, that unless Blizzard decides to buff some of the early raids cheap wow gold, you will have a much easier time succeeding with this type of raiding in Wrath than you did in early TBC. By all accounts (which are admittedly few at this point), Naxxramas, the Obsidian Sanctum, and the Eye of Eternity are far easier than Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, and Magtheridon.
It seems like quite a few players are in a hurry these days. They're in a hurry to be the first of their class or race to hit 80, or in a hurry to be the first on their server to clear a raid. They use the most effective method of gaining experience over time, ignoring all other options until they achieve their goal. In this environment, the role-players are definitely a breath of fresh air. This week's e-mail comes from a reader who wants to know whether "IC raiding" -or raiding in character -will be possible in this expansion.
Some people aren't happy about that, but I think it's a great thing. Five-player dungeons have always been trivially easy, and even in Heroic mode they never presented a terribly difficult challenge -why should the first raids of an expansion suddenly take months of effort to clear? Why not increase the difficulty over a curve instead of over a cliff? There are, after all, plenty of achievements to earn if you want to make the existing raids harder for yourself.
Do role-players ever use add-ons? It's easier to raid without add-ons than it used to be, but they can still help a great deal. That's another situation to consider.
I'm a little wary of your plan to run these raids "semi-unscheduled." It really depends on how active those 30 members are. If you can consistently field 10 balanced classes (who aren't abstaining for RP reasons), then you can probably get away without an official schedule. But even then, it can be frustrating for members who really want to see these raids. They might feel like they have to be online every single night in case a raid occurs, and that's not really a healthy situation. Even a vague statement like "we'll only raid on Sunday, Monday, and Thursday nights" can help people to plan out their week.
Even so, to clear the raids in WotLK, you can't waltz in expecting free epics. Before you clear these raids and have them on farm, you need to encourage your role-players to treat the run as a life-or-death situation. Use whatever lore you need to accomplish this -but make sure the result is that they focus on the job at hand rather than any character-specific conflicts between raid members. Also make sure the direness of the situation encourages them to come prepared with all the proper consumables, reagents, etc.
As a raid leader, you have two options. You can go into the raid blind, knowing very little of the dangers and challenges that you'll face. This is probably more realistic from an RP perspective, and it certainly makes things exciting. However, it could also be a bit frustrating if the raid is wiping frequently. So you could also come up with a plausible reason for your raid leader to know something about the bosses ahead of time. I don't know the lore enough to even attempt at coming up with such a reason, so I'll leave that to the experts.
Anyway! I run a . . . not sure what you'd consider 'small,' so let's say small (around 30 people) RP guild on Moon Guard. How feasible would it be for small, semi-unscheduled, IC raids (Naxx10 and other 10-mans) in Wrath? I know it'd be hard to do in fights, but do you think a small(ish) roleplay guild could pull it off?
I will say up front, Maciah, that unless Blizzard decides to buff some of the early raids cheap wow gold, you will have a much easier time succeeding with this type of raiding in Wrath than you did in early TBC. By all accounts (which are admittedly few at this point), Naxxramas, the Obsidian Sanctum, and the Eye of Eternity are far easier than Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, and Magtheridon.
It seems like quite a few players are in a hurry these days. They're in a hurry to be the first of their class or race to hit 80, or in a hurry to be the first on their server to clear a raid. They use the most effective method of gaining experience over time, ignoring all other options until they achieve their goal. In this environment, the role-players are definitely a breath of fresh air. This week's e-mail comes from a reader who wants to know whether "IC raiding" -or raiding in character -will be possible in this expansion.
Some people aren't happy about that, but I think it's a great thing. Five-player dungeons have always been trivially easy, and even in Heroic mode they never presented a terribly difficult challenge -why should the first raids of an expansion suddenly take months of effort to clear? Why not increase the difficulty over a curve instead of over a cliff? There are, after all, plenty of achievements to earn if you want to make the existing raids harder for yourself.
Do role-players ever use add-ons? It's easier to raid without add-ons than it used to be, but they can still help a great deal. That's another situation to consider.
I'm a little wary of your plan to run these raids "semi-unscheduled." It really depends on how active those 30 members are. If you can consistently field 10 balanced classes (who aren't abstaining for RP reasons), then you can probably get away without an official schedule. But even then, it can be frustrating for members who really want to see these raids. They might feel like they have to be online every single night in case a raid occurs, and that's not really a healthy situation. Even a vague statement like "we'll only raid on Sunday, Monday, and Thursday nights" can help people to plan out their week.
Even so, to clear the raids in WotLK, you can't waltz in expecting free epics. Before you clear these raids and have them on farm, you need to encourage your role-players to treat the run as a life-or-death situation. Use whatever lore you need to accomplish this -but make sure the result is that they focus on the job at hand rather than any character-specific conflicts between raid members. Also make sure the direness of the situation encourages them to come prepared with all the proper consumables, reagents, etc.
As a raid leader, you have two options. You can go into the raid blind, knowing very little of the dangers and challenges that you'll face. This is probably more realistic from an RP perspective, and it certainly makes things exciting. However, it could also be a bit frustrating if the raid is wiping frequently. So you could also come up with a plausible reason for your raid leader to know something about the bosses ahead of time. I don't know the lore enough to even attempt at coming up with such a reason, so I'll leave that to the experts.
Wrath of the Launch King
And we answered emails, including whether a listener should play through his Warlock or Death Knight, and the perils of going after Mr. Pinchy. Don't forget, if you'd like to send us email, the address is theshow AT wowinsider.com -drop a note, and you might hear it live on the show next Saturday, which we'll stream right on our Ustream page.
And finally, we're back up and running at full steam -as of right now, every way you need to listen to the show should be completely fixed and functioning. So if you've got iTunes, head over to our iTunes page to subscribe to the show and make sure to leave a review while you're there. Or, you can even listen to the show right over there on our sidebar -you'll get a new show there every Monday.
This past week on our podcast, Wrath was the topic -getting it, playing it, loving it, hating it. Our own co-lead Dan O'Halloran and rogue blogger Chase Christian joined us, and we talked Wrath of the Lich King. Dan was at the midnight launch in Anaheim, so we asked him about that -not only were there about 2000 people (and 100 Blizzard employees there), but there was a bubble sword and a hot dog-on-a-stick stand, so listen in for that. And we talked about what the starting zones were like (including two don't-miss quests in Howling Fjord) and our main annoyances with the game so far (none of which include, surprisingly, lag -despite the queues, Blizzard has really kept the game alive).
And finally, we're back up and running at full steam -as of right now, every way you need to listen to the show should be completely fixed and functioning. So if you've got iTunes, head over to our iTunes page to subscribe to the show and make sure to leave a review while you're there. Or, you can even listen to the show right over there on our sidebar -you'll get a new show there every Monday.
This past week on our podcast, Wrath was the topic -getting it, playing it, loving it, hating it. Our own co-lead Dan O'Halloran and rogue blogger Chase Christian joined us, and we talked Wrath of the Lich King. Dan was at the midnight launch in Anaheim, so we asked him about that -not only were there about 2000 people (and 100 Blizzard employees there), but there was a bubble sword and a hot dog-on-a-stick stand, so listen in for that. And we talked about what the starting zones were like (including two don't-miss quests in Howling Fjord) and our main annoyances with the game so far (none of which include, surprisingly, lag -despite the queues, Blizzard has really kept the game alive).
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