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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsOfficial Ulduar cinematic revealed
by Alex Ziebart 
Apr 13th 2009 at 10:05PM
The first thing that struck me is the new face on Jaina. It looks... unpleasant. That's just me, though! It might just take some time to get used to it. Beyond that, the trailer is very very cool, and keeps the Alliance/Horde conflict in the forefront despite the departure from it for the raid zone. It reinforces my thoughts that Varian's hatred of the Horde is never going to be repaired until Garrosh is out of the picture. It also displays that the war on Ulduar isn't being supported by either the Horde or the Alliance: We're in this thing on our own. I also seem to hate Rhonin much less when Blizzard is writing his dialogue.
Thanks to everyone who wrote in about this!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 6)
Bjara Apr 14th 2009 12:49AM
This was pretty much awesome, but I'm not a big fan of Jaina's new face either -- it looks kinda like she just dove face-first into the makeup counter or something, I dunno. Other than that, though, I like the lore and stuff behind it. Good times!
K-OSS Apr 14th 2009 1:32AM
As someone who enjoys playing on both sides of the field, Wrynn really irked me after the Wrathgate, his bold headed-ness is somewhat detestable for royalty, but his anger is justified. What sights to behold in the Undercity is reason enough for anyone who witnessed Lordaeron in its prime to be angry. Topple that with what he dealt with over the plotline of the comics... I can't blame him for being vengeful really. But he's got to use that noodle!
Garrosh on the other hand just frightens me. His over-eagerness to result to such brutal tactics of the old horde makes me hope that Thrall and Saurfang the Elder seriously put that boys head straight before he ventures too far into the darker parts of his father's legacy. Gromm too had a tendency to let the bloodlust get the better of him, but at least he could see the wisdom in Thrall's methods.
The fact that Blizz is taking the time to build up a story that stretches over the entire course of the expansion along with developing the plotlines for each part is absolutely delightful. It gives the world a more realistic feel beyond that of "Okay, now this is the new bad thing. Go kill the new bad thing." which at times was really what I disliked about The Burning Crusade. The Black Temple was a good start, but Illidan honestly never felt like a threat, more so that he just wanted the damn alliance and horde to get off his porch.
Kylenne Apr 14th 2009 2:13AM
It's true, Illidan just wanted us to get off his lawn.
You know how crazy old men are.
The Big G Apr 14th 2009 1:38AM
I've played both Alli and Horde and I try to see myself as a neutral fanboy and try not to put favs into this.
Great trailer. Seeing Brann run out Ulduar like a bat out of hell was hilarious. Then OMG Mary sue....I mean Rhonin has a voice. Lolz i do agree watching this makes me actually respect him....a little.
Nice to see Varain has his comic sword, but someone needs to let him Garosh duel to the death, both the Horde and the Alliance will be better off. Because we all know that Yogg Saron, Arthas, and every other WOTLK raid baddie are laughing their asses off at Varain's and Garrosh's stupidity.
ALso this pretty much confirms Jaina and THrall are doing the horizontal tango. lolz
tdotchristiian Apr 14th 2009 2:21AM
Funnily enough, the rating at the start of the video DOES say "Suggestive Themes"..
Also, this is awesome. I'm Alliance, and Varian annoys me with his "ORCS DIE LOLOLOL", but Garrosh? Ugh. x.x
Kylenne Apr 14th 2009 2:12AM
LOL, Rhonin Sue. Breaking up Varian and Garrosh? LMAO.
Seriously, why are we even being sent into Ulduar? Rhonin Sue could go in there and take out Yogg Saron singlehandedly and then knock out another set of twins with Vareesa on its corpse. And then Arthas would crap his pants and surrender immediately.
...crap, I hope I just didn't give someone ideas.
Walynds Apr 15th 2009 5:50AM
Thrall deserves a GIANT kick up the arse for taking Garrosh with him! Take Saurfang and his 35k cleaves and we will see how tough Wrynn is then.
In addition its quite amusing the 2 warriors in the room pick a fisht with each other, they would get pwnt by any one else in the room.
Great Trailer
Kerebos Apr 14th 2009 10:36AM
I disagree. You forget, it's Patch 3.1 and warriors can no break the pally bubbles. :D
Kerebos Apr 14th 2009 10:37AM
NOW BREAK**
Stupid non-ability to edit comments...
AyaJulia Apr 14th 2009 2:47AM
Honestly, I need to see what Garrosh has done RIGHT by Thrall since Thrall found out his best friend had a son still living in Garadar. All I've seen since then is Thrall and Garrosh butting heads. I've always felt like Thrall's been an awesome character, one of my favorites in fact... but I need to see him jump in between Wrynn and Garrosh, a blade at each one's throat, turned to Garrosh telling him it's his head if he doesn't stfu.
So yeah, he needs to be less complacent about Garrosh. :\ Blizz is turning my favorite character into a pansy. This isn't him.
mayjest Apr 14th 2009 3:00AM
Unfortunately, as awesome as this cinematic is, and as much as the dynamic between the leaders of the Alliance and Horde is getting interesting, I'll put money on there being absolutely no evidence of this in game. Nothing. If we're very very lucky, there might be a quest from Rhonin asking us to go to Ulduar... but that'll be it.
In my opinion, if there's one great dissapointmed in the end game, it's that Blizzard seems to have forgotten about plot. They realised that keep all the good plot points to the end game meant that the majority of players missed out, so they moved a lot of plot development to the levelling areas... then they seem to have forgotten to add some more plot to the end game as well. Backstories like this, giving us a reason to go into these raids are awesome. I just wish they were in game, not out here.
Isa Apr 14th 2009 3:20AM
Referencing Varian: http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=13231
Alliance readying an attack on some Scourge. Horde saw Alliance, said RED=DEAD! Horde's ambush caused both armies to wipe out, giving the Scourge a victory and some new recruits.
chained Apr 14th 2009 4:14AM
I really enjoyed the political backstory. Blizz is going the right way in order to create tension between the Horde and the Alliance. When i saw Jaina's face I thought if was due to lack of sleep and stress I guess.
Shionia Apr 14th 2009 4:20AM
Jaina may look a bit harsh, but I'm glad she no longer looks or talks like a high school debutante ( *coughHyjal*) : for the first time I actually believed that she's a powerful mage.
lolret Apr 14th 2009 4:23AM
This trailer is really undermining Thrall's ability as an effective leader. He can't even control his own minions (even if Garrosh is a nutjob as we all know)
uncaringbear Apr 14th 2009 4:45AM
This whole "kinder" and "gentler" Thrall thing is a bit long in the tooth now. I would have paid good money to see Garrosh totally smash Wrynn's ugly mug.
uncaringbear Apr 14th 2009 4:55AM
Nice cinematic. I think Blizz did the right thing to use the game engine and models as the basis for the animation, rather than use high end rendering and models.
Jaina's new face looks great, and gives her just enough character to separate her from the rest of the generic looking humans.
Varian, on the other hand, looks like he ate way too many tacos the night before, and is now regretting it.
Ragehorn Apr 14th 2009 5:04AM
Varian's hairdo is just a bit.... lol.
Lemons Apr 14th 2009 5:53AM
Just noticing that eh?
Thyrial Apr 14th 2009 5:49AM
Absolutely loved it O_O
It's funny... I'm alliance, always have been and never been a big horde fan. That said however I am as annoyed with Varian's lack of compromise as I am with Garrosh's. I swear those two are like 2 sides of the same coin. There's just no reasoning with them. I DO like Varian being a badass and not backing down but really now... Hi big evil god of death that could make Arthas look like a nice guy if he got free is getting free... Let's kill each other! @_@
The really surprising part for me, and I honestly can't believe I am about to say this, is that Rhonin was friggin awesome.