Tuesday Morning Post: Varian Wrynn is my copilot in Patch 3.1 edition
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Apr 14th 2009 at 3:30AM
But hey, only some of us are lore nerds, and I'm sure a lot of you are here looking for some prime patch 3.1 gameplay and feature information, what with extended maintenance and said patch 3.1 going live today. Luckily, you're in luck. You lucky person you. Expect loads of patch 3.1 information articles and roundups as the day progresses, including dual spec information and galleries showcasing the new sights and sounds of the new patch.
In the meantime, you can start your reading with our official constantly updated Guide to Patch 3.1 and this roundup of some of the hottest news from the past week:
Hot News
- The Final official Patch 3.1 patch notes are here. We also have the latest patch note changes as well.
- Chances are you'll want to do some Argent Tournament playing sooner or later, and we have daily quest guides ready to help you out. Check out the Edge of Winter, Learning the Reins, Jack Me Some Lumber, A Chip Off The Ulduar Block, and A Valiant's Field Training.
- We've rounded up a bit of what we know and don't know about the Ulduar Dungeon.
- Tom Chilton talks a bit about patch 3.1
- Congratulations to our first Guild of the Month, Holy Crusade of Bleeding Hollow.
- Find out why an expansion announcement might be coming sooner than you think.\
- Don't panic, the Activision-Blizzard merge really isn't that bad.
- Ghostcrawler recently answered some questions about general class balance.
- Looks like the 3.2 planning may already be underway. Could a dual wield focused tree be coming for Death Knights?
- The Light and How to Swing it has a Patch 3.1 Paladin review.
- Shifting Perspectives has a Druid-focused Ulduar review.
- Encrypted Text philosophizes about Rogue weaponry.
- Totem Talk talks Patch 3.1 Shaman Gear.
- The Care And Feeding of Warriors is just waiting for the Patch.
- The Hunter DPS Clinic is open!
- Arcane Brilliance continues to look at Professions for Mages.
- Spiritual Guidance discusses dual-speccing Shadow in patch 3.1
- Raid RX discusses Healing Ulduar.
- Insider Trader looks at Patch 3.1.
- Ready Check is preparing for Ulduar's Bosses.
- Speaking of Ulduar, who gets Valanyr anyway?
- Vaneras offers some clarity regarding Patch 3.1 Emblem drops. Of course, the explanation still doesn't sit well with some.
- The Overachiever helps you go Insane in the Membrane.
- Time is Money discusses Auction House Basics.
- Allison discusses the lessons of pugging 25-man Naxxramas.
- The Blues are offering more teasing about old world phasing. Could this be hinting at new 3.2 content or an old world expansion?
- BRK has left the building, but his memory remains.
- The WoW Insider fan art contest is still accepting submissions!
- PETA decided to hold a rally against seal killing in WoW. The results were probably about what you'd expect.
- WoW Rookie discusses online shorthand.
- The Neilsens offer some interesting numbers on WoW demographics.
- Author Christie Golden chats about Arthas, the new Warcraft book coming on April 21st.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Realm Status, Odds and ends, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Tasteofchaos Apr 14th 2009 3:39AM
Awesome, I'm so excited for Ulduar.
RetPallyJil Apr 14th 2009 5:29AM
Yeah, because the Royal Apothecary Society is hidden away in a dark corner.
Come on. The Horde leaders have to had known; they just didn't want to lose their (until the Blood Elves) only ally in the Eastern Kingdoms, so they turned their oh-so-noble eyes the other way.
You didn't see Thrall running around yelling OMG O NOES OMG I R STOOPID! when word of the Wrathgate hit town, did you?
No, you did not.
AyaJulia Apr 14th 2009 12:10PM
/facepalm....
Yes, the RAS is right under the nose of the leaders. YES, THEY KNEW THE RAS WAS DEVELOPING A PLAGUE. We've been helping them do it since level EIGHT ffs.
The plague was supposed to only affect the scourge, not the living. This was the betrayal. Putress and his crew made it lethal to scourge and living alike, and deployed it against both scourge and living armies, killing both sides. -This- is what the leaders of the Horde didn't know about.
totemhealer Apr 14th 2009 3:40AM
I've noticed that Blizzard has decided to make the Alliance a darker, more menacing faction, and that is reflected in the look and demeanor of King Varian Wynn. I for one applaud the decision. For the longest, WoW has made the Alliance the 'Face' faction, while the horde were the 'heels', to borrow a wrestling term. I hope Blizzard continues to make the perceved morality more balanced among the factions.
Cal Apr 14th 2009 4:20AM
Alliance have always been pretty dark when you get into their lore. It's a shame that those quest chains are such pains that most people avoided doing them even during Classic-era.
Outright evil among the Horde (in the WoW-era) is pretty much limited to the Blood Elves pre-Sunwell (and that gets handwaved away with M'uru allowing himself to be taken) and the Hand of Vengeance.
The Horde is essentially made up of exiled groups trying to avoid annihilation.
The "good" races on Alliance: Gnomes, Night Elves, and the Draenei; usually have made some horrible decision in their past that has basically screwed their capital/planet/universe respectively.
It's one of the things I like about WoW's lore is that ostensible bad guys are actually the good guys.
Wallert Apr 14th 2009 4:35AM
Wait what?
Judging the horde by wow era and the alliance by the past? That's just silly-you guys actually have wow era evil, where as there's none i'm aware of alliance side.
As for your history...You really think you have the moral high ground there?
Really?
Nagi Apr 14th 2009 4:57AM
@ Wallert
Thing is, we can really only judge the Horde by their WoW-era actions because the WoW Horde and the pro-WoW Horde are really two entirely different factions related by name alone. Pre-WoW Horde was a mindless marauding murdertrain operated by the Burning Legion. WoW Horde is a ragtag band of well-meaning misfits (plus the Forsaken) trying to carve out a home for themselves under the leadership of each race's most civil leader. I think this is the reason most Horde fans get so worked up about characters like Wrynn: the Horde pre-WoW =/= the Horde as of WoW, they're completely separate entities for all intents and purposes, yet the more zealous Alliance characters judge one by the other's actions.
I agree with you that it's similarly unfair to judge, say, the draenei by the actions of the eredar, or the modern day night elves by the actions of those who would become the highbourne, but that's still a two-way street. The orcs of Thrall's Orgrimmar, the blood elves of Theron's Silvermoon, and the trolls of Vol'jin's Darkspear tribe should not be judged by the actions of the Legion, Kael'thas, and the Amani respectively. Even though there are orcs in Orgrimmar and blood elves in Silvermoon that did aid in their races' more nefarious deeds, they also repented and did what they could to DEFEAT those same evils (and no doubt, Darnassus and the Exodar hold many very similar people, with both races being or having been functionally immortal and thus likely participants in such long-ago events).
Neither the Horde nor the Alliance is perfect and free of sin. Unfortunately, WoW has done a miserable job of portraying the Alliance's side of it up until now (in big part because only Horde players get to see it; Alliance players don't much interact with the spies and saboteurs setting up camp in Horde territories for the purposes of raid and ruin, like the Theramore ships in Durotar or the spies ringing the Horde camps in Dustwallow). Wrynn's really the first overt symbol of Alliance corruption, and it's about damn time (even if he is a poorly-written character).
RetPallyJil Apr 14th 2009 5:01AM
Yeah, you guys just let the Forsaken torture people in the middle of a capital city.
You're all great guys, I'm sure.
Nagi Apr 14th 2009 5:13AM
@ RetPallyJil
Somehow I'd be genuinely surprised if, lore-wise, any of the Horde's leadership has been in the Undercity at all aside from Thrall helping to retake it post-Wrathgate.
It's like the Ebon Blade's activities in Acherus: if either the Horde or the Alliance saw what they were doing up there, they'd flip their shit and shoot the whole thing down. I'd imagine Thrall, Cairne, & Co. would do the same thing to Sylvanas if they caught a glimpse of the Royal Apothecary Society.
wallert Apr 14th 2009 5:22AM
@Nagi
Good points all. I still won't trust you to cover my back (well until you kick out the forsaken...), but i'm willing to agree that neither side is squeaky clean, that Varian's a pillock and that you guy's might even be nice ^^.
On a side note this looks like reasonable and correctly spelt discussion on the internet-what's gone wrong?.
Charlie Apr 14th 2009 6:10AM
I agree and disagree with the sentiments about the New Horde.
Thrall is an enigmatic leader, and a great one for the Horde. But the horde still hold true their hatred of the alliance much like varian of alliance.
Biggest example of this is the quest in Icecrown, about finding out what happened in the Broken Front that leads to the PvP Daily. The Alliance were making a (seemingly successful) charge to take the first gate in northrend past the wrathgate. However, horde scouts spotted them and cornered them between them and the scourge, wiping out both factions.
This kind of breeding hatred is present between both groups. It's leaders differ greatly though. Thrall & Jaina vs Garrosh & Varian essentially. There are sentiments for peace in both camps, just as there are senitments for war.
In the end, no one is innocent. Most have commited major horrors against each other (save, lets say, taurens and gnomes. they keep to themselves most of the time). The only true righteous ones are the Argent Crusade, but even they have a counter (Ebon Blade).
All in All blizzard has done a very good job with the "Focusing on Arthas is the only thing keeping the two factions from going into all out war on another" thing.
Silkath Apr 14th 2009 6:58AM
Why is everyone so anti-Forsaken? The vast majority of the Forsaken were basically peasants who were infected by the original plague through no fault of their own. Sure we became mindless servants of the Lich King but then we broke free. Simply being Undead does not necessarily make us evil. There are some among the Forsaken who do commit horrific crimes but the same is true of all the factions (I distinctly remember being asked to torture someone by a HUMAN.)
Sylvanas was a great hero to her people before falling to the Lich King, she was a champion of good. Now she is a banshee she is trying to lead a her people (who have suffered far more than any other faction through no fault of their own) through some troubled times. There is a significant human faction dedicated to wiping us out. You can understand why we might be a little unsociable but to claim that all Forsaken are evil is naive and narrow-minded.
Try wiping the slate clean post Sylvanas breaking away from the Scourge. Have we really commited crimes greater than any other race in that time?
Moy Apr 14th 2009 8:19AM
@Silkath
Well, I did eat that gnome's tasty eyeballs and use his stomach to make a whoopie cushion. But everybody in the magic quarter thought it was hilarious!
Gulbrandt Apr 14th 2009 9:03AM
@RetPallyJil:
To be fair, the orcs, trolls and tauren don't trust the Forsaken at all, and the Forsaken don't trust them. They have only a weak semblance of trust with the Blood Elves, probably because Sylvanas was a High Elf Ranger in life.
The Forsaken have always been trying to test this concoction or another on various targets throughout all of the Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdork, Outland, and Northrend. It's been a constant theme. (There was even a theme of a possible alliance between the Forsaken and Grimtotem. XP)
Basically, doing the quests for the Horde makes one certain that the distrust was very well-placed indeed.
NathanTB Apr 14th 2009 10:43AM
I'm really kind of surprised every time I see the push to recommend one faction over the other as the "good" vs "bad" guys. One of the greatest things I've ever seen with the Warcraft universe is the moral ambiguity that's present in every race, that makes them feel real, that makes me feel like I'm not just trying to play a multi-faceted character in a world of Mary Sues.
There is no race that has a blanket pass on only doing the right thing, or the villainous. You look at the lore, you can find a high and a low for each one, and likely if you take a character of any substantial amount of story, you can find their good and bad too.
Knob Apr 14th 2009 3:44AM
Varian and Garrosh are both retards, and although their hot-headedness will bring about the Horde v Alliance conflict we always wanted, it is stupid that they choose to be so stubborn at a time like this.
Garrosh will even bring about a Horde civil war. :(
Balius Apr 14th 2009 3:59AM
I hope there is a Horde civil war...I want to stab Garrosh in the face.
Plastic Rat Apr 14th 2009 4:09AM
Mind if I shoot him in the face afterwards?
Wallert Apr 14th 2009 4:10AM
I think the wrath gate was a loss of trust-from the alliance perspective i didn't like you, and knew that you'd gut me as soon as look at me-But i also believed you had a form of honour, and that if a union was formed I could count on you to watch my back till the fight was done.
At the wrath gate we lost men because we were betrayed by the horde (Whether deliberate or because you can't spot traitors in your own ranks makes little difference), and since then its impossible for us to trust or ever rely on you again.
Right thats my little lore view over-Bring it. I'll see you at wintergrasp.
Lemons Apr 14th 2009 5:07AM
Yes, anyone with a brain knows they're both retarded...I think that's the point.