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The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You’re playing the game, you’re fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

Well, after last weeks extensive look into dwarven politics we’re closing in on finishing off the Alliance. So far we’ve seen the night elves, the gnomes, and the dwarves – today we’ll take a brief look at the Alliance race that hasn’t had much to say since Burning Crusade: the Draenei.

Luckily Matthew Rossi has already written up an excellent post on the history of the draenei and their otherworldly origins. This post explains the corruption of the eredar at the hands of Sargeras, and the lone faction of eredar that escaped to become what we know as the draenei today. It’s only been a couple of years at best from a timeline standpoint since the blue-skinned aliens made a smashing debut on Azeroth, yet they’ve been largely absent from the war efforts in Northrend — what’s left for the draenei, and what does their future with the Alliance hold?

The draenei race is quite possibly the most peaceful race the Alliance has on their side. While the other races of the Alliance are prone to conflicts and struggles over petty disagreements, the draenei only seem to strike out in defense. Their arrival on Azeroth wasn’t pretty — they ended up tearing up the landscape over on Azuremyst and Bloodmyst isles. While they were of course concerned about their fellow survivors, they were just as concerned with what they’d done to the land and the creatures on it — as a society concerned with not only the Light of the naaru, but the elements of shamanism, the last thing they wanted to do was wreak havoc on a new world, especially since they’d just left a dying world behind.

Continue reading Know Your Lore: Current Alliance politics — the Draenei

Filed under: Lore, Know your Lore

Know Your Lore: Current Alliance politics — the Draenei originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 05 Jun 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Know Your Lore: The Draenei

Filed under: Lore, Know your Lore

Know Your Lore: The Draenei originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome back to Know Your Lore, WoW.com’s column about the story behind the game we all play.

We talked last week about Quel’Delar, a sword of emerging lore, and the week before that we covered Darion Mograine, a pivotal figure to Death Knights and part of the reason we’re fighting in Northrend. This week, however, we’re kicking our look at the lore of Wrath of the Lich King in the caboose with a look at possibly the most reviled orc to ever live. Sure, he probably wasn’t the most evil orc ever (Gul’dan wins that one in a walk, boy howdy) but for sheer staying power and for having a role in the genocide of the orcs against the draenei, the sundering of Draenor into Outland, and for being the first Lich King, you really have to hand it to Ner’zhul. Here’s an orc who manages to pop up a lot in the lore.

If you did the Howling Fjord quests for the Alliance and made the mistake of walking too close to a certain King of the Liches (and other undead things) he delivers a line of dialog that perfectly explains why we’re talking about Ner’zhul today. Before Arthas, there was Ner’zhul. Like Arthas, Ner’zhul wanted to save his people, to be a hero, to be respected and powerful. Like Arthas, Ner’zhul lost sight of the truth as he sought to achieve his goals. Unlike Arthas, however, Ner’zhul turned his face away from ultimate evil once he recognized it for what it was… but too late, far too late, and found himself damned for his hubris, forced to watch his apprentice do every evil thing he himself had refused to do.

It was the first prison for Ner’zhul, but it would not be the last.

Continue reading Know Your Lore: Ner’zhul

Filed under: Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Expansions, Features, The Burning Crusade, Lore, Know your Lore, Wrath of the Lich King

Know Your Lore: Ner’zhul originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com’s daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today.

I might be wrong with this one, but I think World of Warcraft is just a game. I mean, it’s something we all do in our spare time, and have fun with, right?

And it doesn’t really matter, because at the end of the day everything is just pixels on the screen.

But maybe I’m off base here, and WoW isn’t a game. Maybe it’s real. What is real? Is there a spoon? I see dead people.

Retadinman asked…

“Why are draenei hated so much? The “lorelol” retcon wasn’t really that big, but since my main character and posting avatar on the Forums (who are the same) are draenei, I get a lot of hate. Why is this?“

Continue reading The Queue: It’s just a game

Filed under: The Queue

The Queue: It’s just a game originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We recently spoke to Garrosh Hellscream, leader of the Horde’s Warsong Offensive, and he shed light on several key issues, including moral dilemmas, basic campfires, faction changes, draenei donk, and the merits of getting eaten by sharks. In this installment of Ask A Faction Leader, we’ll be sitting with venerable draenei leader Prophet Velen.

Dear Velen,

Being a prophet, you are probably aware of forthcoming cataclysm. With Thunder Bluff built on 4 mesas, I am worried about safety of the city and its citizens. Since you guys possess some kind of expertise in crashing things (specifically capital cities) I was wondering if you could lend some advice for case it gets struck down.

Best Regards,
Baine Bloodhoof

Velen replies:

Ah, it’s good to see Horde leaders initiating a rapport. While I’m certainly not an architect or artificer — trades better left to younger and stronger draenei — I have been around for quite a while, so I can give some advice regarding the construction of your city.

Continue reading Ask a Faction Leader: Prophet Velen

Filed under: The Burning Crusade, Lore, Interviews, Cataclysm

Ask a Faction Leader: Prophet Velen originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Our favorite DIY web series star Felicia Day showed up on network television last night, and you can watch the result after the break below. She appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s late night show to promote the release of The Guild’s new retail DVD, in stores right now. I watched it in HDTV on my regular television, and it was a pretty surreal experience: this is the Internet gaming culture moving mainstream as we watch it. Sure, it’s just Fallon (and he’s made a commitment to gaming and its culture already), but to have people talking this frankly and honestly about the gaming experience on network television is a nice step forward.

The two chat about their first meeting, where Felicia helped Fallon roll up a draenei, as well as Dr. Horrible and how all of The Guild DVDs are made. And at the end of the interview, Fallon even hooks her up with some tickets to a NY show. Looks like it was a lot of fun, and it’s great to see someone who’s worked so hard on something they love get a nice bit of recognition for it.

Update: Sorry, forgot that Hulu only works in the US. Here’s another video that should work outside the States.

Continue reading Felicia Day on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Filed under: Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, News items

Felicia Day on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fortunately, as granular and strange as Blizzard’s bugs are, their fixes are just as minute: tree druids will be happy to see that, since patch 3.2, their treeform now actually moves correctly after Levitate is cast on it. It’s a small change, sure, but every little bit helps with immersion. Maybe someday we’ll see mounts do it, too.

Filed under: Druid, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Humor

Patch 3.2.2: The clucking draenei (and the levitating tree) originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the big things announced at BlizzCon were the new class and race combinations. These were originally datamined from patch 3.2.2 and include everything from Gnome Priests and Goblin Rogues to Worgen Druids. I’m especially excited about the last one.

For years, the race you played has been indelibly linked with the class and defined how you play the game. Say, for example, you like playing Night Elves, you’re limited class-wise to rolling Druid, Priests, Hunters, Rogues and Warriors. On the other hand, if it’s a specific class then you are sometimes limited to a particular race. So Draenei are the only Alliance race which can current become Shamans while the same is true, Horde-side, for Blood Elves becoming Paladins.

From a lore perspective, there is little preventing any of these combos. This is especially true as Azeroth expands and the game evolves. But readers, this is new territory for us, as WoW becomes more open. What do you think of the possibility of lore-centric or even playable class and race combinations?

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Shaman, Patches, Blizzard, Breakfast topics, Expansions, Draenei, Blood Elves, Lore, Classes, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm

Breakfast Topic: What do you think of new race and class combos? originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today I am pleased to announce something even bigger than a new WoW expansion. In fact, it has nothing to do with WoW at all, but it’s still something every single person reading this blog will want to know about. It’s something that will bring excitement to all of our lives. Our inner children will burst forth in joy at this announcement. This is something that’s 17 years in the making, folks. That’s probably longer than some of you have been alive.

Yes, that’s right. Don’t Copy That Floppy is getting a sequel.

Naix asked…

“Will we ever see each faction get their own special class again like the Paladin and Shaman?”

Continue reading The Queue: I’m back. It’s me, DP.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Queue

The Queue: I’m back. It’s me, DP. originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Videogamer.com has a nice long interview with World of Warcraft Producer Tom Chilton about everything from patch 3.2 and the Argent Tournament to the future of the game at large. They caught up with him at the Warcraft Regional Finals 2009 tournament in Germany this past week, and in part one, he talks about the upcoming patch and what Blizzard is expecting to get out of it. He says the Isle of Conquest battleground is their most “epic-feeling” instanced PvP setting since Alterac Valley, and that they want it to feel nuts, with players fighting each other via air and land. He also mentions Arena, and says that it was originally designed to be “a fun side PvP activity” that they went a little overboard with during Burning Crusade. Finally, he talks about twinks, and says that neither Blizzard nor twinks, apparently, want to see other players crushed by those who have the time or money to max out their low level characters. Even twinks, says Chilton, want to see competition against each other, and the option to turn XP off will let them do that. I’m not sure I agree with that last one — many twinks seem to beef their characters up just for the chance to lay waste to “normal” players, but Chilton says Blizzard believes otherwise.

The second part of the interview is more general — he talks a little bit about the next expansion (with the same speculation we’ve already heard: Gilneas, the Maelstrom, the Emerald Dream), and says that designing a race is tougher on artists, but designing a class is tougher on designers. He admits that because we had a new class in Wrath, it’s unlikely we’ll see another class so soon in the next expansion, but “not impossible” of course. And he does note that Blizzard tries to “pre-seed” the races before they use them as playable races, so if they are adding in races, chances are we’ve already seen them (which, you may note, wasn’t strictly true with the Draenei in BC). Finally, he talks about the future of Blizzard’s MMO in general, and says it’s still wide open to them: they plan for the game to last for years, and what they do between now and then, whether that be more expansions, microtransactions, or even a free-to-play model, will have to depend on what they want to do at the time.

Very interesting interview. Chilton doesn’t really reveal anything, but you do get the sense that save for a very skeleton plan of one or two years in the future, Blizzard is really playing it fast and loose with World of Warcraft. Even he admits that the game may look very different, depending on how things go, in another four years from now.

Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Events, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items, Instances, Expansions, Raiding, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Battlegrounds

Tom Chilton talks about 3.2 and the future of World of Warcraft originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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