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Filed under: Druid, (Druid) Shifting Perspectives

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.

It's good to be Horde. All over the world of Azeroth, the Horde is conquering new territory, claiming new land and expanding far, far beyond the few holdings it had in vanilla World of Warcraft. Back then, the Horde merely eked out an existence, defending small outposts where it could. Sylvanas and her Forsaken stayed by and large in Tirisfal Glades, with a tiny outpost in Silverpine and a slightly larger one in Hillsbrad Foothills. The tauren stayed largely confined to Mulgore, with a few settlements to the south and southeast. The trolls took refuge in Orgrimmar, with no real land to call their own save one tiny village on the coast and another small outpost in Stranglethorn Vale.

Now, the Horde is branching out in a major way. Sylvanas has dominated the forests of Silverpine and the rolling farmlands of Hillsbrad and is working her way east through the Western Plaguelands. The trolls have taken back the Echo Isles, and the orcs of Orgimmar are claiming new land to the north and the east, moving in a tidal wave of barbaric conquering. The Horde is flush with the glorious victories in Northrend, eagerly seeking more territory. In Cataclysm, it's very, very good to be Horde.

Or so popular opinion states.

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Filed under: Lore, Know your Lore

Throughout the Mists of Pandaria beta, players have been commending Blizzard on just how much emotion you can see in pandaren emotes and animations. These guys actually get into what's going on, as opposed to most of the current player races, which lack much facial rigging at all.

That emotion extends to the male pandaren voice emotes, which were added to the game files in the latest Mists beta patch. MMO-Champion's video, embedded above, displays all of these emotes quite well. Who knew pandaren were so good at begging for mercy?

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It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

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Filed under: Mists of Pandaria

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today.

Damn, dude, twins? My wizard knows how to party.

HobMeadows asked:

What would be the fastest, most efficient way for a solo guildmaster to level their guild from 1 to 2? Does anyone have experience with this and if so, what was your process?

I'm almost at 2 full bars (out of 5), and inviting a bunch of people to my guild is not a fair option because I'll be moving off of my server literally within moments of hitting level 2. I've heard battlegrounds are a fast, efficient method, but can anyone make some suggestions?

Provided you're level-capped, quests and dailies are your best bet to make it there as fast as possible. High-level BGs give good rep, but questing is more efficient. Cap out your daily quest turn-ins every day, and you should be at level 2 before you know it.

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Filed under: The Queue

Sunday Morning Funnies is your weekly list of WoW-related web comics.

This week, we've got comics about the upcoming expansion, Mists of Pandaria, as well as a couple of comics about Blizzard's latest release, Diablo III, that weren't to be missed from your usual favorites.

Know of a WoW-related comic that recently updated after a hiatus that isn't on this list or a new one that has never been featured? Let me know in the comments section!

• Looking for Group #565 and #566
• Guilded Age Chapter 16 Page 19, 20, 21, 22
• From Draenor With Love The Lord of Terror
• Away From Reality Resting the Wyrm and Implausible Denial

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Humor, Comics, Sunday Morning Funnies

OK, I'll admit this looks like it's about to become a gruesome reminder for Azerothian parents to always secure the door to your hovel when leaving for a day's adventuring. But in fact, this vicious tiger is simply a Pandarian social worker, here to remove an innocent baby tauren from its hookah- and hooch-contaminated home and reassign it to some loving adoptive NPCs who actually spend some time at home. (Thanks to Tillamooke of The Kalimdor Inquisition on Maelstrom [US-H] for the screenshot!)

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Want to see your own screenshot here? Send it to aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com. We strongly prefer full-sized pictures with no UI or names showing. Include "Azeroth" in the subject line to ensure your submission dodges email spam filters; if you'd like to be credited, also include your name, guild and realm.

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Filed under: Around Azeroth

I wasn't sold on the Bilgewater Goblins initially. When they and the worgen were announced in the run-up to Cataclysm, I had to wonder if there was any compelling reason to play what felt like a green gnome over a badass werewolf. (Yes, I was young and foolish in those days.) That changed quickly when I hit the beta and found them to be a hopelessly endearing race despite (or perhaps because of) their fairly amoral approach to life. I loved the little details in their towns, from the empty Chinese take-out boxes scattered around their inns to the little dinghies that fly underpants in place of flags.

Credit where credit's due -- most of this is the work of the Blizzard props team. These folks are also the reasons that Gilneas is so magnificently creepy, with its creaky windows, flapping sheets, and papers drifting across lonely towns. What little details do you particularly enjoy about the race you play as a main?

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Filed under: Breakfast Topics

For hunters in vanilla WoW, it was the pinnacle of weapons -- a bow with incredibly powerful stats. But Rhok'delar wasn't without its issues, mainly concerning the ability to change the bow into a staff but not being able to use both staff and bow at the same time. This was eventually changed so that hunters could have both Rhok'delar and its counterpart, Lok'delar, Stave of the Ancient Keepers, after completing the Rhok'delar quest chain. And if that weren't enough, hunters also could obtain the Ancient Sinew Wrapped Lamia, an at the time unheard of 24-slot bag perfect for carrying around all the ammo a hunter could ask for.

Though all three of these items were only of epic quality, like Benediction, Rhok'delar represented a legendary test of skills for the player who tried to obtain it. Although Benediction only had one event for priests to frantically heal through, Rhok'delar contained four of these trials, all of which had to be completed without even a pet to assist. It was a brutal test of shooting, traps and hunter cunning, but those who completed the chain were richly rewarded.

And it all began with one unassuming petrified leaf, found in the fiery depths of Molten Core.

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Filed under: Lore

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Filed under: Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, (Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors, Mists of Pandaria

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Filed under: All the World's a Stage (Roleplaying)