Around Azeroth: How the mighty have fallen
by Krystalle Voecks 
Nov 28th 2007 at 10:00AM
I think this shot perfectly captures the attention to detail of The Burning Crusade. I love how little things like this immerse you in a wider, more colourful world than just what the player would normally see doing quests. Obviously this is natural selection at work; you've got to be a pretty dumb dragon to fly into the spikes of the Blade's Edge Mountains at speed!
We have to admit, we've flown a little too close to those spikes ourselves, but spiking yourself on them takes some real talent! If you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world, tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com. You could find your pictures and story featured next on Around Azeroth!
Filed under: Screenshots, Around Azeroth
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Buuty Nov 28th 2007 10:04AM
Um...those dragons didn't fly there themselves. Gruul, you know...the Dragonkiller....killed them. Doesn't anyone follow the story (questlines) anymore?
Razhlok Nov 28th 2007 10:19AM
I was thinking the exact same thing. I thought it was pretty obvious how those dragons got there even withOUT reading the text to the fantasitc quest series in BEM. Just based on his name: Gruul the Dragonkiller.
Buuty Nov 28th 2007 10:09AM
From the quest Showdown: "Baron Sablemane yells: "Your father destroyed my children and left their bodies impaled upon the rocky blades at Dragons' End. For this, you will die! Enough of this farce. Prepare to face my full wrath!"
He then kills Goc, son of Gruul.
Crianas Nov 28th 2007 10:47AM
Not to mention that no dragon I've ever seen flies stomach first into things. Because that's aerodynamic.
Still, their presence is neat. Would be funny if they were skinnable or something. Maybe Gruul never looted them.
Athmeno Nov 28th 2007 10:46AM
My bad. I haven't quested yet in Blade's Edge; I was saving the quests up for when I was 70. (I'm a bit of a gold whore like that.)
Obviously I should get to reading more lore. Because that's another aspect of the game that I think is often missed: "Hand in, 10G 79S, useless junk to vendorize, kthxbye..."
Minibro Nov 28th 2007 10:53AM
Yeah, I think you got nailed there. I believe the whole "impaled on thorns" thing is taken from the shrike, a bird "which is known for its habit of catching insects, small birds or mammals and impaling their bodies on thorns" (wikipedia). I agree with your kudos to Blizzard on picking up this particularly evocative image though - I saw a couple of birds that way when I was a kid and it's pretty difficult to forget.
Ayalafatalis Nov 28th 2007 12:24PM
Yea, the dragons are quite possible one of the most memorable things I've seen in the game. Lore builds dragons up as these all powerful beings-- and even if you don't play the game, you know dragons in other pieces of fiction/legend are nothing to sneeze at.
To see them impaled all over the place is just...humbling?
I wish I could see Gruul at work, putting fresh bodies on the spikes. Now THAT would be really killer.
Buuty Nov 28th 2007 11:07AM
I didn't mean to come across so condescending. It is still a great shot. It is just that this is all part of an awesome quest and people should know about it and do it.
Athmeno Nov 28th 2007 11:23AM
Hey, no, it's a valid point. Admittedly I was being a little bit juvenile with the caption. But your point remains: it's worth paying attention to the lore and the quest text in WoW. For someone who cut their teeth on the likes of Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate, I tend perhaps more than most to pay attention to quests. It's easy to forget the lore and ignore the effort put into the writing itself, and see WoW as a numbers game, all about the grind.
I think I'll attack this quest first today. If it's half as über as it sounds, I shall quite enjoy it. : )
Nick Nov 30th 2007 10:31AM
I've always just kinda wondered why those things are still in "just killed" pristine shape. Honestly, they are dead, and my guess is they have been for some time. Let's say Grull killed them JUST before we had a chance to explore the outlands and start giving him shit, that means that the dragons have been there at LEAST 10 months. Honestly, they should be decaying or something.
Kristy Nov 30th 2007 3:23AM
I knew about these dragons. I flew up to investigate the dead dragons, when I got to a 70 and had my flying mount.
Matt Nov 28th 2007 4:59PM
If Gruul's supposed to be so tough, why does he go down like a punk? :D
matrix_dragon Nov 28th 2007 6:45PM
Gruul with a good stack of growth on possible 1 shot a dragom like those.