Cataclysm

[Simond]

The following is a partly political broadcast on behalf of the Forsaken:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDTvRaIuoz4

 

[Lakov_Sanite]

 

"We'd NEVER use the plague without Garrosh' orders"

"What kind of question is that? Of COURSE we're deploying the plague!"

[Paelos]

For warriors, Gag Order finally got more interesting for tanking. It now lowers your heroic throw cooldown by 30s, which makes it a must have for any dungeon tanking spec. Also, I believe they nerfed damage shield by making it scale off of strength instead of AP, making it less cool. Safeguard still sucks.

Also, plate specialization for tanks is  , considering we never downgraded anyway.

[ezrast]

Heh, I was thinking the same thing about cloth specialization.

[WindupAtheist]

The following is a partly political broadcast on behalf of the Forsaken:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDTvRaIuoz4

Sylvanas is officially taking up the position that her kingdom and people are the continuation of Lordaeron. Fucking awesome. Here's a brief list of shit off the top of my head that the Horde never gets to complain about ever again.

1) Orcish internment camps
2) Thrall's whole upbringing
3) Garithos fucking over the Blood Elves
4) Garithos in general

Fuck you, that was all Lordaeron, take it up with the Forsaken.

Also, I absolutely LOVE the implications of the second speech. So the Forsaken attack Gilneas out of the blue, get beaten by level 10 worgen newbies, and resort to plaguing the whole place rotten rather than just sucking up their defeat. What happened to the poor victimized Forsaken who never wanted to hurt anyone but the Lich King, and their plague that Sylvanas hardly knew about, which was only cooked up as a defensive weapon against the Scarlet Crusade anyway?

Oh yeah, that was never the way it was.

[Paelos]

They will rationalize it away WuA; they are unwavering in their ability to deny logic.

[kaid]

For warriors, Gag Order finally got more interesting for tanking. It now lowers your heroic throw cooldown by 30s, which makes it a must have for any dungeon tanking spec. Also, I believe they nerfed damage shield by making it scale off of strength instead of AP, making it less cool. Safeguard still sucks.

Also, plate specialization for tanks is  , considering we never downgraded anyway.

The damage shield thing may wind up being a wash given the itemization changes for pure abilities. You get a LOT more str/agil whatever on items than what you currently see and with the last update on beta damage shield gets a bigger percentage than it does on live. Its probably a buff or a wash I doubt it will be a loss in damage.

Just checked the numbers.

# Damage Shield  is now a Tier 4 talent, down from Tier 6. Now causes damage equal to 20/40% of your Strength. (Old - 10/20% of your attack power)

This indeed should be a wash. We get 2 attack power per str so with the change in percentages it should in theory work out to be almost dead even with the current levels and maybe more due to increase in the attribute itemization.

[Paelos]

You lose out the damage from the armor > AP talent and the battle shout though.

[Ingmar]

Battle Shout increases strength and agility in Cataclysm, it is now the same buff as Strength of Earth or that DK horn thing.

[koro]

Looks like all our alts are going to have to stomach the grind to 80 in Northrend every time:

In the next beta build the minimum level for entering and questing in Mount Hyjal and Vashj'ir will change from level 78 to level 80. All associated creature will have their levels increased to match the new flow.

Additionally, after careful review and consideration we've decided to increase the hit point values of level 80+ Cataclysm creatures. The new hit point values are roughly double their previous values.

Level 80 (OLD)
16400

Level 80 (NEW)
31000

Players will also now need to be level 80 in order to use the Dungeon Finder System for Throne of Tides and Blackrock Caverns.

http://blue.mmo-champion.com/t/26262766074/upcoming-level-and-zone-changes/

[Ingmar]

As long as they still do the xp speedup that they gave to TBC, it won't be too bad. With heirlooms you can already hit 80 before Icecrown or Storm Peaks if you don't skip stuff. I usually just skip there as soon as I hit 77 and the quests open up though.

[koro]

I hope that while they do that, they still have Cata-itemized BoE greens that start at 77 or 78 to help fill in the gaps, since some of the Wrath quested stuffs lasts a hell of a long time if you have no dungeons to run.

[Simond]

They will rationalize it away WuA; they are unwavering in their ability to deny logic.

That reminds me - there's a rumour about the event that supposedly turned the Horde/Alliance cold war hot.

The Alliance landed an army in Theramore, used it to attack the southern Barrens, razed Camp Taurajo and were only stopped (accidentally) from their planned assaults on Thunder Bluff and Orgrimmar by the cataclysm itself. Everything that's happened since - the invasion of Gilneas, the night elves having the living shit kicked out of them all over Ashenvale and Stonetalon, Stromgarde being turned, Southshore being turned into green goo, etc. - is the Horde's reaction to the Alliance assault.

[Musashi]

You lose out the damage from the armor > AP talent and the battle shout though.

But it now works with Kings.

[WindupAtheist]

event that supposedly turned the Horde/Alliance cold war hot

Uh... Wrynn declared war as soon as he got a close look at Undercity and leapt to a bunch of completely correct conclusions about the Forsaken. Fighting was already underway before the Lich King died. Broken Front? Hello?

Also, Gilneas hasn't had contact with anyone since the days when the Horde worked for the Burning Legion, the Alliance was led by Lordaeron, and the Scourge didn't exist yet. Attacking them because you're at war with the modern Alliance is a ridiculous dick move.

[kildorn]

event that supposedly turned the Horde/Alliance cold war hot

Uh... Wrynn declared war as soon as he got a close look at Undercity and leapt to a bunch of completely correct conclusions about the Forsaken. Fighting was already underway before the Lich King died. Broken Front? Hello?

Also, Gilneas hasn't had contact with anyone since the days when the Horde worked for the Burning Legion, the Alliance was led by Lordaeron, and the Scourge didn't exist yet. Attacking them because you're at war with the modern Alliance is a ridiculous dick move.

It fits in the context of the Horde completely not getting that the Forsaken are trying to kill EVERYONE.

Alliance shows up, kicks in Forsaken's door for a gigantic dick move, King Douche also goes all LOLORCS while he's there.

Alliance decides it's totally the horde's fault (because, well, KingDouche never listens to PrincessActuallyNotADesbisableMainCharacter), attacks Horde.

Forsaken goes "we're helping, seriously!" and tries to eradicate random bystanders. Because, well, the forsaken are EVIL.

[Fordel]

The Horde/Garrosh is having a large manifest destiny thing going on with Kalimdor. I mean that literally, a bunch of horde NPC's actually say "it is our manifest destiny to rule all of Kalimdor!". 

[Simond]

Well, it did all belong to the trolls originally....

[Lakov_Sanite]

Originally, everything belonged to the trolls.

[Fordel]

Originally, everything belonged to the Old Gods too. 


The Trolls are also not the Hordes favorite member race currently either 

[Paelos]

Originally the world was formless and void...

[Merusk]

It fits in the context of the Horde completely not getting that the Forsaken are trying to kill EVERYONE.
...

Forsaken goes "we're helping, seriously!" and tries to eradicate random bystanders. Because, well, the forsaken are EVIL.

You're missing WUA's point. To wit: There's many a Forsaken player who has insisted long and loudly over the years that neither of these are the case.

[Pezzle]

Forsaken should never have been playable. 

It would kick ass if all those forsaken characters were deleted.  Better yet, convert them into monsters for players to farm. 

[AutomaticZen]

The following is a partly political broadcast on behalf of the Forsaken:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDTvRaIuoz4

Sylvanas is officially taking up the position that her kingdom and people are the continuation of Lordaeron. Fucking awesome. Here's a brief list of shit off the top of my head that the Horde never gets to complain about ever again.

1) Orcish internment camps
2) Thrall's whole upbringing
3) Garithos fucking over the Blood Elves
4) Garithos in general

Fuck you, that was all Lordaeron, take it up with the Forsaken.

Also, I absolutely LOVE the implications of the second speech. So the Forsaken attack Gilneas out of the blue, get beaten by level 10 worgen newbies, and resort to plaguing the whole place rotten rather than just sucking up their defeat. What happened to the poor victimized Forsaken who never wanted to hurt anyone but the Lich King, and their plague that Sylvanas hardly knew about, which was only cooked up as a defensive weapon against the Scarlet Crusade anyway?

Oh yeah, that was never the way it was.

It's all good.  We can hash it out while Garrosh crushes Wrynn's skull under his meaty boot.

[caladein]

The Forsaken are evil insofar as they will punch anyone in the way of getting what they want, Big Bad or Innocent Bystander.

I much prefer that to Varian and Garrosh constantly channeling Marcus Fenix.

[Lakov_Sanite]

FWIW 90% of all forsaken players are happy with the forsaken being evil. 1 out of 10 you get some tortured rp'er that wants to be good.

[Draegan]

Damn lore-freaks.

[Minvaren]

Is there a readable, chronological version of the official WoW lore?  I enjoy the backstory, but being casual and not playing TBC much, it seems to skip about.

[Typhon]

[...], it seems to skip about.

lol, I don't know why it would seem like that

[Ratman_tf]

FWIW 90% of all forsaken players are happy with the forsaken being evil. 1 out of 10 you get some tortured rp'er that wants to be good.

I was cool with the Blood Elves all being stuck up bastards, and then Blizz pussied out by making Kael'thas a flat out bad guy and raid boss. 

[Fordel]

Is there a readable, chronological version of the official WoW lore?  I enjoy the backstory, but being casual and not playing TBC much, it seems to skip about.

Nope.



Seriously, Warcraft lore is not deep, or even consistent with it self. It's entirely at the mercy of gameplay and when it isn't they fuck it up regardless because the people who are in charge of it are not very good at their jobs. Hell, it is only relatively recently that they established and actual 'story team' or whatever they call it.

Before that it was just Metzen writing out whichever fan fiction caught his eye at the moment.


It's what makes all our lol-lore arguments even more retarded then they already are. 

[SurfD]

Ok, I can not WAIT to fight this boss.   Simply imagining a model to go with the voice makes me giggle hysterically.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2wEcyo7o-Q&feature=channel

[WindupAtheist]

The Forsaken are evil insofar as they will punch anyone in the way of getting what they want, Big Bad or Innocent Bystander.

I much prefer that to Varian and Garrosh constantly channeling Marcus Fenix.

Yeah, the Forsaken are real subtle and nuanced with their whole mustache-twirling "No we won't use the plague. OF COURSE I WAS LYING, USE THE PLAGUE!" routine and Garrosh's for-the-slow-kids speech directly comparing Sylvanas to the Lich King. I haven't seen an evil so thoughtfully shaded since...

[Lakov_Sanite]

Ok, I can not WAIT to fight this boss.   Simply imagining a model to go with the voice makes me giggle hysterically.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2wEcyo7o-Q&feature=channel

oh god....

[koro]

Is there a readable, chronological version of the official WoW lore?  I enjoy the backstory, but being casual and not playing TBC much, it seems to skip about.

Nope.



Seriously, Warcraft lore is not deep, or even consistent with it self. It's entirely at the mercy of gameplay and when it isn't they fuck it up regardless because the people who are in charge of it are not very good at their jobs. Hell, it is only relatively recently that they established and actual 'story team' or whatever they call it.

Before that it was just Metzen writing out whichever fan fiction caught his eye at the moment.


It's what makes all our lol-lore arguments even more retarded then they already are.  

It doesn't help that a lot of the "lore" is generated via comic books and novels (that, unlike the Star Wars EU, are all considered canon), which tends to lead to kind of "wtf" moments, like the game assuming you already knew all the Kalecgos/Anveena/Dar'Khan backstory in advance. It'll probably have something similar in Cataclysm, when people start wondering why Staghelm is suddenly evil/dead.