Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
The latest patch 5.2 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBlizzard Publishing announces two new Pandaren stories and more
by Anne Stickney 
Oct 22nd 2011 at 9:30AM
The second story is called Quest for Pandaria, a four part novella by author Sarah Pine. It will be released on Blizzard's website much like the leader short stories, and it takes up the story after the Shattering and brings it up to speed. Sarah Pine was the winner of the first Blizzard creating writing contest with her story In the Shadow of the Sun, about Lor'themar Theron, and she's also penned the leader short story Garrosh Hellscream: Heart of War.
Other interesting tidbits from the panel include a heads up on the Curse of the Worgen graphic novel by Mickey Neilson and James Waugh, which includes five extra pages of story. Those five pages? They're really important, if you like keeping track of the lore -- they tell the story of Velinde Starsong and the Scythe of Elune, which players experienced in World of Warcraft itself. On top of that, Christie Golden is still diligently working on Tides of War, the Jaina Proudmoore novel which will presumably tie into the Pandaria expansion.
It's nice to see that the upcoming expansion will see as much attention to story detail as Cataclysm – and that the precedent set by the leader short stories will continue on with more lore on the official Blizzard website as time goes on.
The news is out -- we'll be playing Mists of Pandaria! Find out what's in store with an all-new talent system, peek over our shoulder at our Pandaren hands-on, and get ready to battle your companion pets against others. It's all here right at WoW Insider!Filed under: Lore, BlizzCon, Mists of Pandaria
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
ash.p.liu Oct 23rd 2011 10:14AM
@ajdavidson: I think you confuse the right of freedom with the rights granted by a purchase of a WoW subscription.
You are certainly granted the right to your opinion and your ability to express it through the right of freedom of speech, bestowed upon you by the American Constitution. You are further entitled the freedom to express your approval or disapproval of Blizzard's direction of the game through continuing or discontinuing your subscription.
None of this, however, is granted through your rights as a purchaser of a WoW subscription. Through the Terms of Agreement, you pay solely for access to Blizzard's WoW servers, which they can take down for any reason at any time. You do not pay to own your characters, for Blizzard to develop Nagas or Ethereals or Satyr as playable races, or for them to write in Turalyon or write out Rhonin. You are also certainly not granted a right to be "rewarded" for your history of payments with your continued subscription unless by doing so you are taking part in a specific marketing promotion or rewards program, such as the Annual Pass.
In short, paying grants you access to WoW servers. Being an American citizen grants you freedom of speech and freedom of discontinuing your patronage. Neither grants you the right to make Blizzard accept your agenda as their own.
ajdavidson Oct 23rd 2011 12:27PM
@ash.p.liu
Thats what Netflix thought. In short we have a lot to say as customers. Thats free market 101. Customer is king. We have all the power because we know they don't have any servers without us. And we each are free to decide what our payment means to us and what we expect for it and how, when, and where to voice what we feel about it. Even you. What you don't have the right to do is tell other people what their payments mean to them. Why would you even want to?
ash.p.liu Oct 23rd 2011 1:13PM
I am simply stating that there is a difference between what your payment "means" to someone and what your payment legally grants you. I continue to pay Blizzard because I enjoy the level of their service, the efforts they go to listen to the myriad types of players in their customer base and integrate ideas they think are worthwhile into their design process, and the core gameplay mechanics that are the foundation of the game. Continuing to pay means, for me, that I enjoy the way Blizzard is designing the game.
I am not telling dartht8ter what his payment should mean to him. However, saying "We paid for an expansion based on playable arakkoas and nagas to be developed", as he did, is simply absurd. I might love my death knight's easy-mode dps and continue to pay *because* of that, but I am not paying *for* that, if you get the difference, since all I'm actually paying for is server access. Otherwise, I could say that I've been paying for Blizzard to develop WoW for the Nintendo 3DS and include a My Little Pony theme park in Orgrimmar, and will sue because neither of them have been implemented.
TLDR: What the Blizzard designers do is not in the contract you sign when you agree to hand over your money.