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World of Warcraft's expansion lore needs addendums to understand?

Michael Zenke — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Lore

The blogger who's titled himself "Lume the Mad" (ahem) has an interesting take on the lore surrounding World of Warcraft's lore for the Burning Crusade as a whole, and the patch 2.4 content drop in specific. According to Lume, Blizzard needs to make a better effort in the future towards keeping everything in-game. As it stands, the final encounter in the Sunwell dungeon is nigh-incomprehensible if you're only using in-game references. The final interplay between Kalecgos, Aveena, and Kil'jaeden is perfectly understandable if you follow WoW Insider's excellent "Know Your Lore" series, but otherwise you'd have to read a few graphic novels to get the full effect of the dungeon's climax.

Lume compares this storytelling to the way that the television show Lost approaches lore. There are pieces of story spread around various types of media - videogames, books, websites, podcasts - all of which expand on the Lost world. The key is that none of these 'extra' components are integral to the television show's story. They enhance, rather than prop up, elements of the show's plot. In WoW, that's not the case - you need to read these manga, effectively, to really get what's going on. As we look forward to seeing a lot of Arthas in Wrath of the Lich King, let's hope the company keeps in mind what players have and haven't seen to date in-game.

World of Warcraft's expansion lore needs addendums to understand? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Behind the scenes with the men who brought you Sunwell

Chris Chester — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, Expansions, Interviews, Patches

The Blizzard team has learned a lot from their experience with The Burning Crusade, and in a recent interview posted on their official page, producer J. Allen Brack and art director Chris Robinson lay out exactly which of these lessons they're following through on for the new Sunwell Plateau instances and Wrath of the Lich King further down the road. They talk about how Sunwell is really the pinnacle of the Blood Elf design style and how players will see many design parallels with their starting zone.

As for WotLK, one of the cooler design changes they mentioned is more closely integrating the main story-arc into the leveling experience. Brack mentions how with WotLK, Arthas will play a more visible role in the lives of players, even well before they ever reach the level 80 cap. Similarly, he also discusses how the element of snow in the expansion is being used as much as a story-telling device as an aesthetic one, trying to get players to feel the isolation and despair inherent in the Northrend zone. It's pretty fascinating, as both Brack and Robinson are more forthcoming than usual, perhaps because it's an in-house interview.

Behind the scenes with the men who brought you Sunwell originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cinemassively: Sunwell trailer spoof

Moo Money — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Video, Events, in-game, Cinemassively, Machinima, Humor

World of Warcraft machinima favorite, Ian Beckman, has created a parody version of the Blizzard trailer for Sunwell. In his world, everything is "awesome," "cool," "fun," and "happy." Don't worry about it being all rainbows and puppies, though. There's actually a story behind it.

Blizzard's version, however, is awesome on it's own. Kael'thas Sunstrider determines that the Sunwell will make his people sick, so he sets out to destroy it, not realizing how dependant everyone is on it. Seeking guidance, he turns to Illidan Stormrage, and from there, lives are changed forever.

Does your ideal patch 2.4 contain fury, or a pool of awesome?

Cinemassively: Sunwell trailer spoof originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW News Special Edition: Patch 2.4

Krystalle Voecks — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:15:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Betas, Fantasy, Patches, News items

There's been a great deal of World of Warcraft news to come out since last night's announcement of the 2.4 patch going live on the test realms. While character transfer is currently either suspended or overburdened and timing out on the US side of the house, there are still those poking around in the back end and discovering all manner of interesting tidbits. For those of you who spend the lion's share of time in Azeroth, we've compiled a truly massive newspost to give you all the latest and greatest!

We'll kick off our roundup with all the news and a fantastic first-look gallery from our sister site, WoW Insider. For those hungry for even more news, check out the extended coverage from all over the web after the jump!

WoW Insider