Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Is Jaina going to keep the peace?
by Adam Holisky 
Nov 3rd 2011 at 11:00AM
Let's just get down to business today, where I get to present my own tinfoil hat look at lore.
Yous95 asked:
With the incoming destruction of Theramore by the Horde, can we no longer expect Jaina to remain the honest peace broker that she has been thus far?
My feeling is that Jaina is going to realize that the current Horde are not the ones she has supported in the past and that it's time for some heavy-handed diplomacy. Of course, there's no telling what Blizzard might do. Maybe Jaina will end up a prisoner of war ... Think about how much that would push the storyline through in MoP, especially if Thrall comes back and openly opposes Garrosh over her imprisonment.
Aftermathmatical asked:
So I know we dont get Tauren rogues, they are just too big and heavy to sneak around in the shadows unseen and since there is no other race that big-
Wait. Big. Fat. Rogue. Pandas. What??
The Pandarens might be big and fat, but they are stealthy and quiet. That's a much more important quality than the size of their stomach. Remember, it's what's on the inside that counts.
The more you know.
David asked:
Do you think, with MoP, we'll see the towns/cities ruined by Deathwing restored? For instance, Booty Bay, Menethil Harbor, the park of Stormwind, etc. I know it didn't make sense to devote dev hours to incrementally fixing all this while Cataclysm was in progress, but in the virtual world of Warcraft, we do see repairs taking place.
Blizzard said a while ago that it's looking at eventually fixing up the damage caused by Deathwing. And yes, I wouldn't be surprised to see some progress happen in Azeroth in patch 5.0 (we already know this will be the "content" patch, as we've seen in previous expansions). I also think if it happens, we're going to see a selected distribution of resources, particularly on the Alliance side. There's only so much lumber to go around, after all.
That being said, we have seen no official work yet on this.
OUFanInKansas asked:
So, what is your pick for the new feature in the Mists of Pandaria trailer most likely to get cut (like Path of the Titans got axed from Cataclysm) prior to release?
Nothing. There really isn't a grab bag of features here, and there's not any one thing Blizzard could really cut. Each feature is clearly part of an overall long term strategy. For instance, Challenge Modes look to be the new hardcore I'm better than you thing; Pet Battles are the answer to Why have non-combat pets? Everything fits and creates a great holistic system, and I just don't see any avenue for cuts.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column. Leave your questions in the comments, and we'll do our best to answer 'em!
Filed under: The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 17)
Noyou Nov 3rd 2011 9:23PM
We have the scenarios thing now. That's exactly what the Thrall questline was. It was instance in the sense that it was phased. The only thing you didn't have was a queue for it. There was a good deal of phasing in cata. So I think that part of it will be an easy transition. I also think at some point in MoP we will have PvP scenarios as well.
Sarog Nov 3rd 2011 11:09AM
Theramore's been far from a peaceful state this expansion. Unless Jaina completely lost control of her military at Northwatch, she's already given up on the peace that her father's death bought her.
Boobah Nov 3rd 2011 2:56PM
From what I gathered, most of the forces staging from Theramore (and Northwatch) are Stormwind troops, so it's not as if Jaina's going on the offensive.
On the other hand, with Theramore acting as Varian's forward base in Kalimdor, either Jaina's given up on any immediate peace with Garrosh's Horde, or she doesn't actually control Theramore in any meaningful way, not any longer. With the lack of a Cataclysm update for Dustwallow, aside from the new road, we don't really know.
thedoctor2031 Nov 3rd 2011 11:10AM
Also, do you think blizzard will ever re-implement pre-dungeon or even dungeon sets acquired through questing and gathering materials?
ravyncat Nov 3rd 2011 11:11AM
I will be very upset if Jaina is kidnapped and becomes someone some man--whether it is Thrall or Varian or both--has to save.
I HATE that helpless woman trope more than any other story device.
She is one of the--if not THE--most powerful mages in Azeroth right now. I want to see her be strong and badass on her own.
/rant
thedoctor2031 Nov 3rd 2011 11:13AM
I would love if there was some bad-ass cut scene where Thrall is getting really pissed and coming to save her and he arrives to find her already broken out of her cage and he quails at how pissed off she is.
RS Nov 3rd 2011 11:16AM
Jaina comments as Thrall busts in: "Aren't you a little small to be a Kro'Kron?".
The Dewd Nov 3rd 2011 11:23AM
@RS - Yes, yes I am.
OT: Given the fact that they finally started to give her some backbone at the end of Wrath, once she dealt with the fact that the man she loved was killed by the Lich King (see: Darth Vader killing Anakin), I'd hope that this is the next step in her evolution as a character. Maybe they could do it like the old quest in WPL where whossname escorts the players, instead of us escorting HER.
Nina Katarina Nov 3rd 2011 11:22AM
If you've ever tried to kill Jaina from the Horde-side you'll find her to be a fun faction leader fight. We had three teams of warlocks chain-summoning folks two floors down, after she teleported them hither and yon. Shouts of, "OK, I have aggro...what the...?"
Unfortunately she doesn't drop much, I was hoping for one of those Unsent Love Letters.
RS Nov 3rd 2011 11:25AM
lol, wasn't going there, but yep that fits!
Amaxe Nov 3rd 2011 11:35AM
"I would love if there was some bad-ass cut scene where Thrall is getting really pissed and coming to save her and he arrives to find her already broken out of her cage and he quails at how pissed off she is."
Kind of like how we "rescue" Fanny from the ogres in the Twilight Highlands?
Daniel Whitcomb Nov 3rd 2011 11:42AM
Agreed. Hell, I'd love to see her tell off Thrall specifically.
"Seriously, I sacrificed my own father for peace with the Horde, and THIS is what I get?"
Dankie Nov 3rd 2011 11:54AM
Considering she's getting her own book prior to or just at MoP launch, I seriously doubt they're gonna paint her with the pink brush of damsel in distress. Christine Golden's the one writing it and so far her characterization of Jaina has been fairly strong.
She's had her moments of regret over Arthas but never once have we seen her cry, break down, or become a willy-nilly wishy-washy namsy-pamsy. In the Shattering novel she stood up to Wrynn forcefully, was clever with Baine and Anduin - and seemed like a powerful mage. That's her to a T, right?
And though the lead quest designer may be male, they have to keep her character to Canon. Without Canon, we get mixed signals that can be detrimental to the franchise. They don't wanna ruin the franchise, thus they cannot ruin Jaina Proudmore.
Never fear, Blizzard seems to love strong women. Just look at Kerrigan and Sylvanas.
Michael Martine Nov 3rd 2011 11:54AM
I want to see Jaina go nuclear. I want to piles of crispy burnt Horde bodies. I want to see her take out Garrosh herself and leave nothing of him behind except a smoking crater.
That would be epic.
Glory to the Alliance!
Grovinofdarkhour Nov 3rd 2011 12:28PM
http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/26/the-queue-back-in-the-land-of-weather/comments/34960624/
Glaras Nov 3rd 2011 12:29PM
Here's what I'm afraid will happen: They're going to give us some bs quest chain that sends us to Theramore to "help defend the city" that will entail "kill X " followed by "Burn X Horde Deiges", and then we'll get rushed through a portal to Stormwind to report to Varian that "all is lost". Varian will nerdrage for a minute, swear bloody vengeance, and then send us back to see what happened to Jaina. In other words, we're going to get Anderholed. Again.
Now, continuing the usual pattern of the last several patches of having the Alliance be a punching bag for the Horde, we'll get back to find out that Jaina has been captured. We'll do some kind of "follow Thrall as he visits the Horde leaders", and watch cutscenes of Thrall exhorting the rest to oppose Garrosh at a council... where after the obligatory insults against Thrall's lack of balls, Garrosh will release Jaina with the warning that she'd better never come back to Kalimdor. Jaina ports us back to Stormwind, where she's taken up residence in the mage quarter while acting as an "advisor" to Varian -- who will be getting an injection of Royal Backbone to turn him into something that looks more like a real king.
Meanwhile, we'll get sent to Pandaria because -- this time! -- we can't let the Horde take over that whole continent.
I'd prefer Jaina going nuke, but I'm lacking a little faith in the developers actually giving us that. No, I'm not bitter or anything.
Ullaana Nov 3rd 2011 12:30PM
@Michael Martine,
Maybe she should just take out Garrosh's "Palace" and leave a smoking crater in the heart of Orgrimmar as a lesson. Bwah-ha-ha.
Tirrimas Nov 3rd 2011 12:53PM
@Michael Martine:
I'm Horde, and I approve of this message.
B1ue Nov 3rd 2011 10:36PM
@Dankie
Actually, in ICC Alliance side, Jaina does get a bit weepy, and she refers to Varian as her king. The lore enthuiasts in the audience said, "Say what now?", and my personal respect for her character (or at least, the way Blizz has handled her character) died a bit.
That said, she held off the Lich King with her staff and metaphorically backhanded Varian, telling him to sit in his corner while the grownups wrapped up the Undercity crisis. If she's captured by Garrosh, it's because she wanted to be captured.
Verine Nov 4th 2011 9:57AM
If she can summon 5-6 water elementals at the same time (Battle for the Undercity) surely she can long range chain pyroblast the Valley of Strength.