Cataclysm Press Event: New lore details revealed
by Anne Stickney 
Jun 13th 2010 at 4:30AM
He's not quite dead-dead, only mostly dead, and new information from a Cataclysm press release event confirms it -- Cho'gall is back. The folks over at World of Raids have released a ton of new Cataclysm information including a good chunk of lore info. Here are some of the highlights:
- Cho'gall is not only alive, he's the last boss in Grim Batol: Bastion of Twilight, the new entry-level raid for the expansion.
- Upon defeating Cho'gall on heroic mode, the floor beneath you will collapse and you will fall into a cavern of flowing lava that hides a "horrifying secret," according to Lead World Designer Alex Afrasiabi.
- Uldum was locked away by a Titan mechanic that created a projection of a large, impassible mountain -- the Cataclysm destroyed the machine and opened access to Uldum.
- Thereazane the Stonemother will be present and involved in a reputation grind similar to the Sons of Hodir.
- Reports state that one of the bosses in Skywall: Vortex Pinnacle is an elemental lord. Given that Skywall is the Elemental Plane of Air, this can only mean Al'Akir the Windlord.
- Garrosh is the "acting" Warchief of the Horde. Implying "temporary." Everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
- The Valley of Wisdom in Orgrimmar is now the Tauren district.
- Garrosh's stronghold is not in the Valley of Wisdom; it's at the center of Orgrimmar.
- The Park district in Stormwind has been destroyed, largely because Deathwing wasn't exactly happy about his daughter's head hanging from the rafters.
- The Forsaken have set up a foothold in Silverpine Forest and have rebuilt many areas, to provide a base of operations for assaulting Gilneas. The current reason for the attacks is because Gilneas is strategically valuable to the Horde.
- Less of a lore note, more of an immersion note: New music will be added for all of the cities, and a large portion of the game world.
Plenty to look forward to, but the most interesting change is to the Archaeology profession. Since Path of the Titans is being scrapped, Archaeology is no longer involved with it. Instead, players will use Archaeology to "dig into the lore of the game" as a new vehicle for storytelling purposes. There are two types of "artifacts" players can uncover. The first will be a lore or story artifact, while the second type can reward items -- cosmetic or fun, with the occasional rare useable weapon. Archaeology will not provide any "must-have" items, so those that don't feel like grinding out another secondary profession can skip it entirely. However, it sounds like Blizzard is taking another step towards making the story and lore of the Warcraft world a more interactive experience.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Boreddruid Jun 13th 2010 4:35AM
I thought ALL Elemental Lords were evil.
brian Jun 13th 2010 7:14AM
They're not, really. They're pretty much Chaotic and/or Neutral.
The only reason we think of them as evil is because of the chaos that happened after the Old Gods got them to start duking it out. Having the elements in a heated war with each other isn't good for anyone.
Siddaru Jun 13th 2010 11:47PM
The elements are the elements. Fire consumes and destroys everything around it to become bigger and bigger, so that's how Ragnaros acts. Water acquiesces to its surroundings and nurtures life, but is powerful and can crush anything that tries to hold it back, so that's how Neptulon acts. Storms come and go somewhat randomly and incite chaos wherever they are, so that's how Al'Akir acts.
Therazane, being the earth, is very peaceful and nurturing, and only powerful in her unyielding solidarity. She's always been an ally to mortals.
jsin1276 Jun 13th 2010 4:43AM
A lot of good information and makes me even look more forward to BlizzCon this year.
dAnixx Jun 13th 2010 4:50AM
Garrosh's stronghold is not in the Valley of Wisdom; it's at the center of Orgrimmar.
A metaphor?
Anne Stickney Jun 13th 2010 4:53AM
He's not really smart. He just thinks the world should revolve around him.
blado111 Jun 13th 2010 9:17AM
Garrosh's New Groove?
thegatherer Jun 13th 2010 12:20PM
All the better to beat him with....errr...
But really, shouldn't that make it easier to get to him for FTA?
Pwnzoar Jun 13th 2010 12:54PM
No, what should make it easier to get FTA is the fact that little to no Horde members are going to try to stop you. In fact, we might even give you some extra heals to help you out.
notBowen Jun 13th 2010 4:50AM
Path of the Titans scrapped? I seem to have missed this particular bit of news.
That is rather disappointing.
Malvyn Jun 13th 2010 5:12AM
I agree. I was looking forward to something new and interesting to do, that would provide much less "you must have this this and this to be the best at this" style of charchter customization.
Path of the titans and the new profession seemed like it would give charchters a chance to move in lots of different directions... of separate but relatively equal.
I'm disappointed.
Anne Stickney Jun 13th 2010 5:17AM
On the one hand, I'm disappointed - it sounded really interesting. On the other hand, I'd rather they scrap something that isn't working, as opposed to half-heartedly "fixing" it in a way that guarantees we'd see patch after patch addressing "problems" with a mechanic that never worked quite like they wanted in the first place.
Eddy Jun 15th 2010 10:03AM
Honestly, I would really love a whole activity in the game that lets me progress with something like digging into the lore without having to tie it into group content. Lore achievements that really mean something besides just doing quests. I think that would really suit how I play the game, and I'm sure there are a lot of people who will find it to be perfect.
ash Jun 15th 2010 8:40PM
Yeah, I think if the way archeology is developed provides a way for people who are into to lore to benefit then I think that would be cool. Right now there is no purpose for reading lore unless you want to and many people I know just skip through quest to do the objectives and get to end game. While the reward does not have to be uber, the idea that you get something for actually paying attention to the storyline instead of rushing ahead into end game is very appealing to me.
Codie Jun 13th 2010 4:53AM
So Cho'gal never fused with C'thun?
cygnus Jun 13th 2010 2:06PM
The last thing blizz checks while constructing WoW is the lore. They could have rendered Cho'gal as a female for all they care.
TR Jun 13th 2010 11:02PM
@cygnus
Don't get me started. In many ways, they're brilliant with consitency (Gryan Stoutmantle, Young/Old Blanchy, to name a couple), but sometimes they get sloppy enough with lore that I'm waiting for the "It was his evil twin" or "It was all a (no, not Emerald) dream/nightmare" rationale. I'm betting the Just Bugs Me page tvtropes.org is lengthy.
Me: "What the.... how...?"
NPC: "Oh that? A mage did it."
nonentity Jun 13th 2010 4:59AM
Really interested in what the "horrifying secret" will be.
It's under Grim Batol so....
another Twilight dragon? A huge cache of Twilight Dragon eggs?
The skeletons of Alexstraszas consorts from her time of captivity there?
Some other left over from the Dragonmaw occupation? Doesn't exactly sound "horrifying" to me.
Maybe Med'an, being captured and tortured and stripped of his power etc.?
Now that Cho'Gall will appear Med'an also ought to but he hasn't been announced yet. Has he been captured during the time of the comics and the Cataclysm? Maybe killed?
Or will it be Garona who's down there, maybe being transformed into something hideous Element-related?
Or maybe Deathwing himself? We fall down and see and are at the mercy of Deathwing. That'd be horrifying.
gnoka Jun 13th 2010 9:58AM
I think it will have something to do with all the shadows and curses the Dark-Iron dwarves left behind. In all this news on Grim Batol being used by Twilights, they don't really mention what happened to them
kingoflemurs Jun 23rd 2010 7:57AM
Another old god.