Blizzcon, Day 2: Lore & Quests
A large number of unfinished stories from the original World of Warcraft game will be advanced in the new expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.
“We felt that Northrend and all that was the next break for an expansion,” Blizzard creative head Chris Metzen said at Saturday afternoon’s Blizzcon Lore & Quests panel.
The Wrath of the Lich King expansion will feature plenty of dwarves and steamtech, but otherwise, less of the non-standard fantasy elements found in the Burning Crusade expansion.
“With Outland, we kinda wanted to push the boundaries a little bit,” Metzen said.
Although the big boss of the expansion, Illidan Stormrage, is in the game, the threat of the Burning Legion continues. So more Legion content is coming in an upcoming patch, probably in the form of one of the other portals on Outland opening to a new world, where the remaining heroes of Warcraft II are fighting a major Legion threat.
“We definitely think the Legion story line isn’t done yet,” he said.
Before Northrend becomes available, “there will be some sort of inciting event,” Metzen said, “Where Arthas finally makes his move.”
But despite having a common foe, look for the Alliance and Horde to be at each others’ throats, thanks to the orc hero introduced in the Burning Crusade, Garrosh Hellscream.
“There will be a conflict,” quest designer Alex Afrasiabi said. “It will escalate.”
Other Warcraft heroes, including Sylvanas, Bolvar Fordragon, Brann Bronzebeard, Tirion Fordring and the new Order of the Silver Hand will also appear and play a major part in the story.
Garrosh Hellscream, who founds Warsong Hold in the western starting zone of Borean Tundra, is “problematic,” Metzen said, because they don’t want to deprive Horde players of the great quest content introducing the character in Nagrand in Outland.
“Garrosh is actually pretty aggressive, probably more a little more aggressive than Thrall would have wanted,” Metzen said.
As Sylvanas prepares to release her new plague on Arthas’ Scourge armies — a story line that will run throughout the expansion — the Forsaken for the first time will get their own new Warcraft-style buildings and units.
Tirion’s story, including the formation of a new order of knights to replace the one disbanded by Arthas in Warcraft III: The Reign of Chaos, will also further the Ashbringer story.
And finally, the new expansion “will be the first time we see Brann [Bronzebeard] in WoW,” Afrasiabi said. “He’ll have an interesting, tumultuous story line.”
“We decided we’ve got to get this guy into the campaign,” Metzen said. Brann will play a part in continuing the Titan/origin of the dwarves story. For the first time, the Explorers League will be a faction characters can gain reputation with.
New races will also appear, including the bison-like offshoot of the Tauren, the Taunka. Instead of living in harmony with nature, the Taunka, who live in a much more brutal environment than the Tauren homeland of Mulgore, subjugate nature and elementals. Metzen referred to them as “anti-rangers” and said they wouldn’t necessarily be hostile to Tauren, but they would definitely have a very different world view.
The Tuskarr will also reappear, fleshed out and given a culture and identity. The nomadic hunters, found initially in Borean Tundra, hunt orca whales and erect Easter Island-style giant walrus heads to mark their domain.
“They were kind of a joke when we were designing Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne,” Metzen said. With all of the darkness in Northrend, “the Tuskarr served as a nice pressure release.”
Inspired by a drawing in the Magic & Mayhem pen and paper Warcraft game book, the Iron Dwarves will be another product of the Titan influence on the world, and will carve magical runes into their metallic bodies.
“They’re ill-tempered,” Metzen said. “They’re very powerful, very ancient.”
The gigantic vampiric Viking berserkers found in Howling Fjord — the southeastern starting zone — will also be tied into the lore of the Titans.
“Your initial questing will introduce you to all these races and more,” Afrasiabi said.
“We’re always keen on bringing the story more to the forefront,” Metzen said.
As opposed to having the main villains of Outland be something only high-end raiders get to see, players will get to meet Arthas the Lich King early and often.
“Arthas thinks using you guys on your own cities is pretty funny,” Metzen said. It’s what the original Lich King did to Arthas, turning him into the weapon that brought down Lordaeron, but “it remains to be seen how it’s going to pan out.”
“Along the way, we’re definitely going to be battling Arthas,” Afrasiabi said. “He’s going to be out there, on the front lines.”
“It’s not just some end boss in a dungeon you’ll never get to,” said Metzen, whose WoW character is only level 68. “I’m pretty nervous that I’ll never get to see Illidan.”
The Titan, dragon and Old God story lines are all important in Northrend.
After completing the early 40s dungeon, Uldaman, players were sent to Uldum in the Tanaris Desert, which is just a door. The developers are talking about making Uldum a five-person dungeon, possibly coming out before Wrath of the Lich King is released.
“But we’re definitely doing Uldwar.”
Whereas Uldaman and Uldum are in ruins, Uldwar in the Storm Peaks of northern Northrend is something different.
“It’s a Titan city that was never broken,” Metzen said, comparing it to the Titan version of Olympus, nestled in the clouds, and filled with Titans and their servants, who send out Titan Harbingers into the world they shaped long ago.
“Imagine you spent all that time building a planet and seeing how whacked-out it’s become. I’d be pissed. ‘Crystal spaceships?'”
The nether dragons of Outland herald the return of the blue dragonflight. Malygos, the Aspect of Magic, was hurt during the long-ago War of the Ancients, as told in the novels of the same name, but now the mixture of draconic and arcane energies represented by the nether dragons have begun to heal the great blue dragon. And the last thing he remembers were Highborne elves almost destroying the world using mortal magic.
“He sees a lot of mages running around, right?” Metzen said. “Malygos has decided to declare war on mortal magic.”
The red dragonflight will also step to the fore in Northrend, attempting to defend the mortals, even as the Kirin-Tor move the wizard city of Dalaran to the skies above the continent, where it will serve as the capital city of the expansion.
“We’ve actually had that plan for a long time,” Metzen said.
A familiar face from the novels, Rhonin the mage, will rule Dalaran.
“There’s a lot of characters from the fiction coming to the fore,” Metzen said.
Many of the problems facing dragons stem back to what’s going on in the Emerald Dream, he said, but that won’t be addressed or explained any time soon.
Metzen also hopes to make a Warcraft II character, Garona, more significant soon, but has not settled on how.
“I think it’d be cool if we could find Thrall a mate one day,” he said.
Finally, an old god stirs beneath the ruins of Azjol-Nerub, much like the one beneath the southern city of Ahn’Qiraj.
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