The official WoW website has put up a preview for issue 16 of the World of Warcraft comic. I have to say, this one doesn’t look nearly as facepalm inducing as the last few. In fact, aside from a few art oddities (did Valeera just trip up there?), it looks like a pretty good start for this arc.
It looks like this arc is not only focused on Garona‘s half human, quarter orc, quarter draenei son, but a few other things, too. It looks like this arc will focus somewhat on Fandral Staghelm and the state of Teldrassil, what’s happened to Ahn’qiraj since we were there last and potentially the relationship between King Varian and Valeera. To avoid spoilers, I’ll stick a few more things behind the cut below.
It seems that C’Thun is actually dead dead, and we didn’t just poke his eyeball with a sharp stick. I guess the Titans couldn’t fit in his stomach.. Luckily, us adventurers are tiny and tasty. That raises a question though… what will happen down there when the corpse rots away? Part of it is still visible in the comic, and according to the Halls of Stone, killing the Old Gods entirely would be a Really Bad Thing ™. Will Kalimdor collapse when C’Thun starts to rot away, or are we ignoring that tidbit for gameplay convenience? Or maybe the Titans convinced themselves killing the Old Gods would be catastrophic, because they couldn’t figure out how to do it…
We also see the return of Cho’gall, one of the few intelligent ogres in Warcraft lore. Cho’gall was more or less the right hand of Gul’dan for a very long time, and while he was presumed dead for awhile, it seems he only faked his death to escape and fight another day. It’ll be interesting to see if the Twilight’s Hammer gets a real, true villain role in the future, rather than being silly cultists we smash en masse when we’re bored. It’ll be very, very interesting if we need to make a return trip to Ahn’qiraj one day to stop Cho’gall’s machinations, if he isn’t defeated in the comic itself.
Overall, I think this arc very much hints to the Maelstrom and the Emerald Dream as the next expansion if it follows the trend of the last arc, playing into the game as it was all resolved.
Castro World of Warcraft
Remember those World of Warcraft steins you thought were way too expensive and passed on buying? There’s another one. Three Point Entertainment has released a new stein, this one featuring everyone’s favorite bad guy, the Lich King himself, brandishing Frostmourne and leading an army of the Undead in the way he’s apt to do. We have to admit, it does look cool and all, but at $90, we’ll be drinking our ale from the usual sippy-cup, thanks.
And just in case you happen to be burdened with too much money in this horrendous economy, you can get a “Legendary Collection” version for $175 that’s signed by the artist, is limited to only 750 steins worldwide, and includes “premium hand painting throughout.” No idea why you’d want your hands painted, but if you’re really spending $175 on a World of Warcraft mug, you’re already nuts.
The new steins start shipping in late April and May. Considering all of the bailouts lately, your house will probably have regained its value enough for you to afford one of these, right? We say go for it.
Kocherberg World of Warcraft
There’s a cloud of gloom hanging over our collective
Paladin heads over here at WoW Insider, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that
Divine Plea still works. Even with the 50% healing penalty,
Divine Plea is still a critical spell that’s used without much of a second thought. Now it’s just used a tiny, tiny bit less. Of course, Ghostcrawler also mentioned in
his explanation of the new mana regeneration changes that they’re going to nerf
Divine Illumination for
“non-tanking Paladins,” too. So yes, there’s that cloud.
Here’s the thing, though… that change will hurt Retribution Paladins more than it will Holy Paladins. Retribution Paladins rely on the synergy of Divine Illumination and Seal of Blood / of the Martyr in addition to Judgements of the Wise, Replenishment, and Divine Plea. We’ll probably have to see exactly what the incoming nerf looks like before we panic, but considering how Paladins have a history of getting beaten by the nerf bat, it’s not an altogether rosy proposition. In fact, I think Paladins are probably going to get nerfed beyond the current Divine Plea and the future Divine Illumination. My thoughts after the jump.
Arenas. That’s it. I predict that Paladins are going to get beaten to a pulp with the nerf bat because Paladin representation in high rated Arena play is exceptional right now. Even though Paladin representation in raids or ability to heal in raids is about on par with other classes, the fact that our survivability and fast, big heals are dominant in the Arena environment spells inevitable doom. Blizzard has a history of nerfing Paladins when they’re on the rise. Remember the nerf to Blessing of Freedom? The nerf to Blessing of Sacrifice? That was directly because of Arenas.
In fact, Kalgan’s post back in 2007 is somewhat telling of Blizzard’s attitude towards balance. He said that Paladins were “grossly over-represented” at that time, even though this was merely the beginning of Season 1. Those nerfs led to Paladins becoming the worst represented class in the 3v3 (the format of professional Arena play) months later (2nd worst in 2v2 and 2nd best in 5v5). I think Blizzard has improved a lot in their attitude and sensibilities since then, but the stigma remains.
Unless the other classes — even at least the healing classes — start catching up in Arena repesentation soon, Paladins are going to get whacked by the nerf bat. Mark my words. It will have little to do with mana regeneration, it will have little to do with raid superiority. It will have everything to do with Paladins making up a full quarter of the top classes in Arena play. Guess what? Survival Hunters make up a fifth of that. So they’re going to get nerfed, too. This is part of Blizzard’s struggle to keep all classes balanced in all aspects of the game. It’s an impossible task, but you have to hand it to them for trying. In the meantime, I’ll leave you a word of advice. Panic.
Catherine World of Warcraft
