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Lorecrafted is one of my favorite blogs these days. If you’ve been reading this site for awhile, you probably know that one of the things I enjoy most is geeking out about lore, both positively and negatively. I love picking things apart, speculating on random story snippets, and all of that sort of thing. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to spend much quality time with Know Your Lore due to other commitments, so Lorecrafted replaces that void in my life at least a little bit.

Just recently, Greyseer (the author behind Lorecrafted), finished up a three part speculation series on what he would like to see come out of a Maelstrom expansion. Reading over it, you realize just how many different forces could be at play in the expansion. I don’t think everything will play out the way that he thinks they’ll play out, but that just lends more weight to just how much could happen in the Maelstrom.

There are plenty of people that think Warcraft dies with Arthas, but when you look at the game world beyond the events of Warcraft III, Arthas is actually relatively small character. He’s not even the most dangerous thing Azeroth has seen. The threats that lie within the Maelstrom have proved themselves to be far more destructive… as in, caused Azeroth to sunder into the various pieces that make up the world today. Let’s see the Lich King do that.

The Maelstrom opens up opportunities for not only new stories and characters, but the return of some old ones. The Emerald Dream will most definitely play a role, which means Malfurion, Ysera, and that whole crew. Maybe we’ll finally get to see Fandral Staghelm’s true face: Is he good, evil, or something in between? Queen Azshara will definitely make an appearance, as well as Neptulon. Considering the Maelstrom is home to the Tomb of Sargeras and the Well of Eternity, which was the portal through which Sargeras would enter our world, we’ll probably see a significant amount of Burning Legion involvement, too.

Greyseer also suggests we might see the return of Maiev Shadowsong in a fairly significant role, which would please me to no end. She’s been one of my favorite Warcraft personas since she made her first appearance in Warcraft III. The death of Illidan is a fairly fitting end to her story, but I still think she’s a character that can be taken much farther. She’s a person who literally had everything taken away from her by her own people. That’s harsh! I’d love to see what she does with her life now that Illidan has been dealt with. Does she fight the good fight against the Legion and whatever else the Maelstrom throws at us? Does she reject the Night Elves and go and do her own thing as a neutral character/faction?

Greyseer and I probably wouldn’t agree on everything we expect will happen in the Maelstrom, but reading what he writes about the topics certainly makes you think, and if his ideas get people to start speculating on their own, he’s done a good job. Go give his posts a read, he lays them out in the format of a progressing expansion: the launch, patch 4.1 and patch 4.2, then patch 4.3 and patch 4.4.

Castille World of Warcraft patch-4.0.1, patch-4.0.2

As dear Wryxian announced earlier today, we’re getting a new build on the PTR. The unofficial notes for this build are already making the rounds, and they’re… not very interesting! Perhaps the most notable change is that the change to mount casting speed, previously only applied to ground mounts, now affects flying mounts as well.

When the casting time change to ground mounts in Patch 3.2 was announced, Eliah Hecht, Michael Gray and I had a long debate about why they wouldn’t have applied the change to flying mounts as well. We ended up coming to the conclusion that they were avoiding it for PvP reasons; only needing to be out of combat for a second and a half to mount up and zoom off to escape a fight that’s not going your way would be a little… cheap. The outlier here was the Druid Flight Form, which is an instant cast spell. Everyone but Druids hate that though, right? It’s pretty freaking annoying when you get into a scuffle, you gain the upper hand, and then the Druid just runs in circles like a headless boomkin spamming their flight button and hoping it eventually takes. So we figured that didn’t count. It was a perfect example of why being able to fly away quickly was a bad thing.

Boy, are our faces red. Flying mounts get the 1.5s cast time now as well. Sometimes trying to figure out Blizzard’s reasoning doesn’t really pay off. I’m not going to complain that much, though. I certainly appreciate being able to get into the air faster!

Kocherberg World of Warcraft

The schedule for the 2009 San Diego Comic Con is finally starting to emerge, and Blizzard has now confirmed details of its presence there.

It looks like Blizzard is going to be running a panel on Thursday, July 23rd (the first officlal day of the con, which this year is July 23rd to 26th) with Chris Metzen and a host of people associated with Blizzard products from Upper Deck, Wildstorm, Tokyopop, and J!nx. Interestingly, Nick Carpenter, the creative director for Blizzard cinematics, is also going to be there, so it looks like this might be a particularly good opportunity to get information about Blizzard’s lore and art direction, on top of the Warcraft comics, minis, and cards. I’ve included the full list of panel attendees behind the cut, and as of now the panel looks to be scheduled in Room 6BCF.

If anyone’s interested in what the Blizzard Comic Con panel was like last year and the nature of the questions answered, here’s our 2008 write-up. Do we have any readers who are going to Comic Con this year?

Moderator: Cory Jones, director of Blizzard’s global business development and licensing.
Chris Metzen, Blizzard senior vice president of creative development.
Nick Carpenter, Blizzard cinematic creative director.
Hank Kanalz, vice president/GM of Wildstorm and World of Warcraft monthly editor.
Troy Lewter, editor of the Tokyopop Warcraft manga.
Scott Gaeta, director of Upper Deck new product development and organized play.
Margeaux Doremus Sullivan, Upper Deck brand manager on World of Warcraft minis.
Sean Gailey, J!nx creative director.

MMOvalue MMOPRG News, World of Warcraft wildstorm-comics

The Onion, the well-known and consistently hilarious parody news site, has turned its eyes toward World of Warcraft once again. In the past, they have introduced us to geek love in WoW and the World of World of Warcraft, and this time, they introduce us to the world of Raiding via nerd columnist Larry Groznic, who has previously written on his mastery of Quotes from Monty Python’s Holy Grail and the merits of Weird Al Yankovic’s Wikipedia entry.

Larry’s rant to an under performing guild member, while somewhat anachronistic (it focuses on a Zul’Aman raid) manages to poke fun at classic raid leader nerd rage, hilariously nonsensical guild names, perennial altoholics, and quite a few other WoW foibles. It may even hit too close to home for some of the people who might recognize some of themselves or others in Larry or his chosen victim. But hey, if we can’t laugh at ourselves, who can we laugh at? The Onion’s done it again, and it’s worth a read.

MMOvalue World of Warcraft Humor, instances

The chances to head off to BlizzCon are coming fast nowadays — Nvidia is the latest company in on the race, as they’re offering up an all expenses paid trip to Anaheim in August for the winner and a guest to experience Blizzard’s big show. To enter, they say you have to buy a qualifying Nvidia card, and then use the promo code inside the package to enter. Which might make you think, as we did, that it’s a pretty lousy deal — you have to buy a new graphics card just for a chance to win? But their official rules say “no purchase necessary,” So we did the work for you: if you want to enter without buying a card, you have to send a letter or postcard to “NVIDIA “BlizzCon 2009″ Sweepstakes – Entries by Mail (USA & Canada), NVIDIA Corporation, 2701 San Tomas Expressway, Santa Clara, CA 95050, U.S.A,” and include your full name, your email address, mailing addresses, your telephone number, and “a short paragraph (100 to 250 words), written or typed in English, stating why you like or have an interest in the ‘World of Warcraft’ game or Nvidia or its products.”

Not exactly a lot of fun, but then again, it’s cheaper than buying a new graphics card, and their rules say that mail-in entries have the same chance at winning that the coupon codes do. We’re behind you, readers — we hope you win.

And if you do make it to BlizzCon, keep an eye out for WoW.com — we’re gonna have a nice big shindig on Thursday night (location still TBA, but soon!), and we’d love for you to be there.

MMOvalue World of Warcraft blizzcon, Contests, Tips

I was just bemoaning that we haven’t gotten a chance to see patch 3.2′s new raid content yet. It looks like that chance will come sooner than I expected: tomorrow night!

Daelo has just posted a testing schedule for Trial of the Crusader (a.k.a. Crusader’s Coliseum).

North American realms: Lord Jaraxxus, Thursday, July 9, starting at 7 PM EDT
European realms: Eydis Darkbane and Fjola Lightbane, Thursday, July 9, starting at 19:00 CEST
Both of these fights will be available in normal mode (10 or 25) only, not heroic. The new 5-man, Trial of the Champion, will be open “later in the PTR cycle.”

He also notes that Koralon, the new Vault boss, will be up, and you’ll be able to access it if your side has Wintergrasp. Tanking and DPS Patchwerks will make a return. Unlike the patch 3.1 PTR tanking Patchwerk, this one just hits really hard (“as hard as Algalon”), all the time (instead of ramping his damage up over time).

Oh, and one more thing: there is, apparently, no trash at all in this raid. Woot?

Catalans World of Warcraft bosses, raiding

One of the more controversial parts of the Patch 3.2 PTR was the decision to remove the 2v2 bracket from serious arena play. In the 3.2 patch notes thus far it was said that “The newest season of Arena gear can only be purchased if you meet the requirements with your 3 or 5-player team rating. Rating requirements from 2-player teams can still be used to purchase the previous season of gear.”

That effectively killed off the 2v2 bracket.

However today, Blizzard has done an about face on the issue. Sort of. Not that this is a bad thing, mind you. They’re listening to feedback and this patch is in testing. The fact that they’re willing to make such a major change based on feedback they’ve received is a great thing.

So as of today, your 2v2 rating will count towards your ability to purchase gear, etc… It will mean something. However the following exceptions apply:

The current season’s weapons will not be available for purchase with your 2v2 rating
The current season’s shoulders will not be available for purchase with your 2v2 rating
Your 2v2 rating will not count towards the Gladiator title/rewards
The full announcement after the break.

The full announcement from Bornakk:

After further consideration, and after hearing from many players, we are going to change how we approach the 2 vs. 2 arena bracket in Arena Season 7. We still think the 3 vs. 3 and 5 vs. 5 brackets will ultimately offer the best play experience, especially for very competitive gamers for whom game class balance issues are most noticeable. However, we recognize that many players just prefer to play in the 2 vs. 2 bracket and will miss the chance to earn the current season’s gear. Therefore, we are going to still allow the 2 vs. 2 bracket to grant access to the current season of gear with three important exceptions: the current season’s weapons will not be available for purchase, the current season’s shoulder armor will not be available for purchase, and players will not qualify for the Gladiator title/rewards unless you earn the appropriate rating in the 3 vs. 3 or 5 vs. 5 bracket. We look forward to the changes in the next major content patch and hope to have a great next Arena Season.

Castres World of Warcraft wow-patch-3.2, wow-patch-news

This morning’s EU loot card giveaway had over 1500 entries! Not bad for the hottest day of the year and midweek! I’m quite impressed and there were some pretty funny comments in there as well. A lot of people want the giant, er, male rooster.

Well we /rolled and came up with three lucky winners who will be receiving an email shortly. You might want to check out Turpster’s informative video post from this last night which walks you through how redeem loot cards as well as gratuiteous scenes of a giant chicken being ridden by a gnome. Definitely NSFW.

So, without further a do, /drumroll. The lucky winners are:

Max is the proud owner of the must-have chicken mount El Pollo Grande
Chickyhines can now bash the Ogre Pinata to his heart’s content
Maephisto has bagged the groovy Path of Cenarius
Congratulations to all and thanks once again to Tom at Upper Deck International’s UK office.

Catherine World of Warcraft Contests