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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsMists of Pandaria: Siege of Orgrimmar
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 19th 2012 at 3:02AM
The format of how Blizzard tells its story will change in this expansion, too. Mists of Pandaria itself, the game that comes in the box, will be a full, contained story. The entire arc of Mists of Pandaria will be there when you install the game, before any content patches at all. The content patches will be treated as sequels to that story. We will arrive on Pandaria when we install the game, have our adventures, and then see that story end. When the first patch hits, we will see Pandaria begin to be truly ravaged by our war.
While the steps taking us there are still unknown, Metzen did reveal that the war waged in those patches will reach a massive conclusion: We will lay siege to Orgrimmar to remove the mantle of warchief from Garrosh Hellscream's shoulders. It didn't sound as if it would be an Alliance-only venture, so it seems the new Warchief of the Horde will get a little too Old School Grom for their taste. However, there is a possibility that the Horde will get to deal a similar blow of their own ... Knowing the fate of Garrosh Hellscream, it's possible nobody is safe this expansion.
Filed under: News items, Mists of Pandaria
Reader Comments (Page 8 of 13)
Murdertime Mar 19th 2012 4:08AM
The issue with putting Thrall back on the throne is the same reason he's off it.
Because Varian against Thrall doesn't look good. Thrall talking about peace and Varian punching orcish babies.
With Varian and Garrosh, they could both happily punch babies together.
Omegan01 Mar 19th 2012 4:13AM
I vote for Jorin Deadeye.
Possum Mar 19th 2012 4:42AM
Well Saurfang's family was recently murdered so it's not like he's busy..
Killik Mar 19th 2012 6:47AM
I'd bet on a return for Varok Saurfang. Maybe that's just because I'm hoping.
Although I do hope Garrosh doesn't die. I've grown to like the big lug, even though he's almost got me killed so many times.
Ata Mar 19th 2012 4:28AM
This one single thing made staying up late for the info dump -totally worth it-.
ravyncat Mar 19th 2012 5:30AM
I am interested to see what Garrosh will do to earn this. My guess is that he is going to do something horrible that no sane person would tolerate. Up until now he has been an ass, but not really evil--and to be honest--not a terrible War Chief. Not a great one either, but the Horde expanded a lot of territory under him.
My bet is that he gets possessed and completely taken over by Dark Sha due to his own emotional insecurity and anger or something.
Murdertime Mar 19th 2012 6:03AM
The latter is probably it. He gets possessed by the biggest, meanest Sha ever, conjured up by the Alliance and the Hordes war in Pandaria.
Killik Mar 19th 2012 6:48AM
Yep, can see that happening.
Dude Mar 19th 2012 6:51AM
Looks like Jaina is getting off'd.
Killik Mar 19th 2012 7:12AM
What, before her book comes out?
Luotian Mar 19th 2012 9:50AM
Oh! Oh, I like that last idea quite a bit because it makes perfect sense. Garrosh is not someone who has ever been in control of his emotions and the manifestation of those as something that could control him and potential wipe out Ogr...now that's something I could get behind regardless of who was going to be my new warchief (pleasebeBainepleasebeBainepleasebeBainepleasebeBainepleasebeBaine). That's just cool.
Make it so, Blizz.
xenothaulus Mar 19th 2012 6:01AM
FOR VOL'JIN!
Suzaku Mar 19th 2012 6:11AM
Maybe Rexxar will become the new warchief... He can rule from the Valley of Honor.
His friendship with Chen Stormstout would be a perfect way to introduce him back into the plot!
j.f.excelsior Mar 19th 2012 6:13AM
Here's to all the players who whine about alliance players STILL whining about Horde bias:
First and foremost: we don't know much yet how the the events of de-throning Garrosh are going to unfold - what leads up to it and what will happen before and after the expansion's story culminates.
BUT: the fact that one of the two factions are already - in this very post - discussing and speculation on the future lore development as a result of this little piece of information is, unfortunately for alliance players, yet another evidence of a story development where one side is clearly the focus of attention.
And to all those who argues that the scores are even out on faction bias because Garrosh is a Horde leader and will get removed, you've all completely missed the whole point of the Horde vs. Alliance favoritism discussion and are not even worthy of participating in it anymore. So stay out. Please.
Killik Mar 19th 2012 10:15AM
I understand where you're coming from. I invite you to consider the alternative scenario - would the Horde marching through Stormwind and deposing King Wrynn make you feel better about playing Alliance?
If your answer is "yes" I suspect you are in a minority.
If your answer is "that depends on how it's handled" then congratulations. Look again at what you wrote - we don't have enough nearly information to tell how this story will be told. It could be the awesome moment the Alliance finally stops simply reacting, kicks down the bad guy's door and takes him out... or it could be crap.
If your answer is "no" then may I sincerely wish you the best of luck with the many, many unfair obstacles life is going to throw at you.
Glaras Mar 19th 2012 3:11PM
And I invite you to consider that "alternative" is not a binary choice. Why is "the alternative" a mirror operation by the Horde against the Alliance?
I also want to say that the meat of your message is "wait and see". Which is very familiar to the Alliance.
Killik Mar 19th 2012 6:58PM
My point being that the opposite of a Horde-favouring scenario would clearly be an Alliance-favouring one. Except that somehow it's not.
Glaras Mar 19th 2012 11:15PM
I know you're going to think I'm nitpicking or playing with semantics, but I'm really not. The problem is that the term "Horde-favoring" and "Alliance-favoring" only has any real meaning if all else is equal. Let me illustrate:
Horde gets a scenario where they will besiege Stormwind. Players get a quest in Orgrimmar to report to Grom'Gol, and a special phased zeppelin ride has the player form up with elite Korkon troops for the ride south across the waves. Pep talk from an Orc general ensues, explaining that with the Alliance in disarray, now is the time, the die is cast, blah blah, and you land in STV. Your next quests involve an amphibious assault (quest) up the coast to Westfall to setup a forward staging area (quest). After fighting off elements of Stormwind's military who have been skirmishing with the Defias (quest), you take part in a bombing mission (quest) to destroy Stormwind's port (you can see it from Westfall's northerns shore, if you've never been there). You then get a quest to advance with ground units into Elwynn Forest (quest), and use demolishers to destroy Goldshire (quest, and no one from the Alliance will blame you), setting the rubble ablaze. After reporting your actions back to the staging area (in order to allow the phased version of a destroyed Goldshire to become persistent), you advance on the gates of the city. Four more quests have you breaching the walls, burning down the trade district, fighting your way to the keep, where you kill Wrynn on the steps, right below that damned statue of himself he had put up. AFter a hearty Loktar cheer, you get ported back to Orgrimmar, a conquering hero.
Alliance gets a scenario where they will besiege Orgrimmar. The breadcrumb quest in Stormwind leads you to a mage portal located a few steps from the questgiver, and you are ported to Durotar, right in front of the gates. The Alliance general makes a shouted challenges to the orcs, and a squad of Korkon ride out to get cut to pieces by NElf NPC archers. Similar to the Battle for Undercity, the general calls out again about the carnage about to take place for 5 minutes before the event starts. Then it's a foot charge through the gates, among piles of Alliance infantry, killing the odd orc/troll/tauren NPC. The general leads you to Garrosh's throne room, and you get buffed to absolute immortality so that you can join in the fight, slaughtering piles of Horde while the general runs back and forth killing other NPCs for a few minutes before Garrosh makes his appearance. You engage him along with other Alliance NPCs, and after suffering enough of Garrosh's inane dialog, the fight abruptly stops when Vol'jin appears, and shoots Garrosh dead. The obligatory speech ensues about how Vol'jin "warned Garrosh that this day would come". Then he thanks all the Alliance for putting an end to this idiot's rule. Thrall then enters the room and after a token protest, accepts the Warchief title back. He then tells the Alliance that they can leave, and be confident that better days are ahead. A portal opens, allowing you to port back to Stormwind to receive your reward from King Chin, who otherwise doesn't move a muscle.
Under your use of the terms, Killik, these are both equal events, one favoring the Horde and the other Alliance. But the *quality* of these two scenarios is vastly different, with the Horde in-game experience being far superior. This is the crux of Alliance discontent. And we've been told over and over "wait and see", and we keep getting experiences that compare to the Horde's in about the same manner as above.
Killik Mar 20th 2012 8:07AM
Nah, I don't think you're nitpicking and I upvoted your analysis of the Alliance situation further down this thread. I don't think your concerns are groundless. Perhaps I haven't communicated my point effectively enough.
To be explicit: There can be NO shared Alliance/Horde plot development that can't be interpreted as favouring the Horde by a sufficiently determined observer. None whatsoever.
The Alliance deposing the Horde's chief is, on the face of it, as feelgood a moment as the Alliance has had in years. Yet you've devoted not inconsiderable time and energy to conjuring a scenario where the Horde side is executed to perfection while the Alliance side of the tale is a horrible botch job.
I'm not saying the Alliance doesn't have legitimate complaints about Cataclysm storytelling (Gilneas, in particular, seems like an insult). Heck, I'm not saying that the Siege of Orgrimmar is a guaranteed, sure-fire Alliance humdinger (My bugbear: Why would they leave after defeating Garrosh - did Velen drop a contact lens on the way there and they have to go look for it?) But the 'Horde has always been the favoured child' argument has attained such a level of truthiness these days that it genuinely irks me.
We don't have this information. We won't have it for months. Why create an overblown scenario from what little we have, that then makes you terribly unhappy, then run around complaining about its unfairness? Is it that you like to feel aggrieved? Why not wait until they mess it up and THEN feel aggrieved? Are things *always* terrible? Always?
Killik Mar 20th 2012 8:29AM
As an aside, a month or so ago, I found myself in a back-and-forth with a guy who sincerely argued that the pre-Cataclysm levelling system blatantly favoured the Horde.
His main thrust was that the Horde's quests were far harder (often red when acquired), more grindy and the densely-packed mobs meant much greater danger of death than equivalent level Alliance quests. This, he said, and without trolling, meant that Horde players were forced to group up to complete standard, non-group quests.
This, in turn, toughened up the players, fostering greater martial spirit and a willingness to co-operate that gave the Horde a tremendous advantage at end-game.
And, thusly, he argued that inferior gameplay is a sign of developer favour. Black is white and left is right, eh? At a certain point, you just have to throw up your hands and walk away.
BTW: I have no idea on whether he was even right about Horde quests being harder. I certainly found it hard to level my first, Horde, character. But I was a Tauren Warrior who favoured cloth gear 'of the Wolf' because I thought it made me a sort of Bruce Lee with Wolverine's healing factor.