Posts with tag cairne

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

Last week, we talked about the orcs' history and culture before the dawn of the Horde period. Now, if you've read Christie Golden's Rise of the Horde (and if not, you should), then you know the outline of what came next. We're going to talk about that more next week, but this week, I wanted to touch upon something else.

What's interesting to me is how the story of the Horde's creation, which is certainly a grand and sweeping tale of betrayals, madness, and ultimately despair, is also a story of how two orcs met, fell in love, and pledged to each other despite the chaos of the dawning nightmare of Gul'dan's Horde. In light of Nyorloth's post discussing favorite relationships in Warcraft lore, it's hard not to think about Draka, daughter of Zuura and Kelkar, and Durotan, son of Geyah and Garad. Their lives would be spent as witnesses to the end of one way of life and the birth of a darker, more terrible chapter than their people had ever known.

This got me thinking about my favorite relationships in the game. These aren't all romantic ones. There are friendships, familial relationships, even enmity. Hating someone still counts as a relationship, after all, if you relate to one another.

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

He befriends those who might be his enemies, yet he is unafraid to strike down those who harm his people, his students, even his allies. Elderly, he has but recently become a druid; his meteoric rise to the rank of Archdruid is a testament to his strength of character and his sincere desire to achieve balance in all things. A childhood friend of Cairne Bloodhoof, in that worthy's death, he has become the Old Bull of his people, even as Cairne's son Baine has taken the role of leader.

Today, while Baine rules, it is Hamuul Runetotem who is the heart of the shu'halo, the tauren people. And he does not like what he is seeing.

Stevie Nix - Baine Bloodhoof: As Our Fathers Before Us

Hamuul shook his head as if to clear it. "We existed in a time before the coming of the orcs, if you'll remember. Your father may have owed a debt to Thrall for all he did for our people, but this is a new Horde. I have heard whispers of other tauren. Some are wondering if this Horde is really something we should be a part of anymore." He snorted. "The Horde has done much and we owe much to it, but you must admit that their sentiments are not completely without merit."

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Hammul does not pretend to perfection, and while he is wise, he admits to all the shocks that flesh is heir to and all the emotion a shu'halo can face dealing with the chaos of the world while attempting to honor the Earthmother.

The tauren have witnessed great change within their own society and culture with the coming of the cataclysm, from political upheaval and great sadness to unbearable loss. With the death of Cairne Bloodhoof, the tauren people turned to his son, Baine, with reverence and hope that he would lead in his father's footsteps and be as great a high chieftain. With the ascension of Garrosh Hellscream to warchief and the bonds that held the orcs and the tauren together stretching thinner, Baine must work through his troubles and the troubles of the tauren people and help hold the Horde together.

Baine Bloodhoof: As Our Fathers Before Us by Stevie Nix (not Stevie Nicks) begins with Durotar in dire straights. The goblins, now fully members of the Horde, have gummed up the Southfury river and made the water undrinkable. Garrosh has come to Mulgore to work with the tauren to begin water shipments to Durotar of fresh, clean water. Attacks on these water caravans, now frequent, pose a huge threat to the survivability of Orgrimmar. Hamuul Runetotem does not let his emotions get in the way as he confides in Baine that his love for Garrosh is lax. Baine insists that despite Garrosh's foolishness, the tauren are to remain as members of the Horde, just as his father had wanted.

Check out the full story, Baine Bloodhoof: As Our Fathers Before Us, for some intriguing and action-packed new lore about our favorite tauren's son and his rise to chieftain.

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

And now at last, our series detailing the years between Warcraft III and World of Warcraft ends, as it must, with the story of the greatest warrior the New Horde has ever seen.

After the supposed peace proposal led to a trap that might have captured Thrall had Rexxar not insisted he take the Warchief's place, Thrall decided that the usual paths of protocol could not be trusted. He had to contact Jaina Proudmoore directly. Rexxar would go directly to Theramore Island to meet with Jaina and discover what was behind these attacks. If Rexxar thought that Thrall's strange attachment to the human woman whose forces had seemingly tried to kill him six or seven times by this point was odd, he still went.

Depending on how much you know about Horde lore, you may believe that Cairne was killed in cold blood by the evil despot Garrosh. Or you may believe the up-and-coming Garrosh was cruelly betrayed by a Horde member and framed for the murder of the gentle tauren leader.

This video sheds some interesting light on The Fall of Cairne. It sticks relatively close to the lore of the game, and it does a good job of presenting "the other side of the story."

There are two things that hold back my unmitigated love of this video. First, the vocals seem a little tinny in places. This is a challenge a lot of dialogue-driven movies have, since it can be hard to get audio compression just right. Second, the storyline feels a little decompressed; there are a few reaction and framing shots that could be a little shorter.

I adore this choice of topic, though, and I hope to see Captlightning keep going.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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While Love is in the Air on the calendar, the air is full of grumbles in game as people discover that not only has the holiday changed on them, but a lot of bugs and anachronisms have popped up. Among the most dire:

• Quests for the faction leader gifts currently point to faction leaders who died in the Cataclysm, including Cairne and Magni.
• The dailies and main quest chain currently do not function for level 81-85 characters, leaving anyone who has a new 85 or just didn't get around to doing the quests in previous years unable to finish their achievements.
• It's hard or impossible to buy certain special vendor items due to errors that show up when you click on them.
• Apothecary Hummel is sometimes not showing up in the LFD tool for level 81-85 characters.

Blizzard is aware of these bugs, and blue poster Nephadne has posted a list of FAQs on the customer service forums that address many of the changes and bugs, including workarounds for the latter two issues listed above. She's also assured everyone that these bugs will be fixed either with hotfixes or when patch 4.0.6 drops. Read on after the break for the full text of Nephandra's FAQ.

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

The son is not the father, but the son does not try to be. Baine, son of Cairne, now leads the tauren of Mulgore from Thunder Bluff. While we take no praise away from the old bull, now is the time to acknowledge the new, to celebrate the spirit and strength of Baine. Growing to adulthood in the shadow of so great a figure, Baine has grown from a callow youth to a steady leader and finally to the shu'halo who planned and executed the deliverance of his people from Magatha and her Grimtotem.

It was Baine who defeated the rebel tribe of Grimtotems and yet showed mercy when his father's ultimate murderer came under his judgment. It was Baine who chose to forgo revenge for Garrosh Hellscream's role in his people's loss, in his own bereavement. He could have challenged Garrosh, and without any elder crones to poison the orc warchief's weapon, he most likely could have crushed Hellscream under his furious hooves. He chose not to. He chose his people's benefit, and the benefit of the Horde they are the heart and soul of, over the vengeance he could have sought. He chose others over himself.

Baine Bloodhoof learned his lessons at his father's side, yes. But do not take away from him his stepping out from such a great shadow. It was Baine who in the hour of greatest need stepped forth into An'she's light, saved his people, saved his father's dream, and preserved bonds of fellowship that would not have been hard to tear asunder.

Let us celebrate the life of Baine of the Bloodhoof tauren.

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

All hail the father of the tauren nation: Cairne of the Bloodhoof, who brought his people from The Barrens to Mulgore, whose alliance with the young orc shaman Thrall led his people into the Horde, wise guide and visionary who saw the way for his people to live free of constant war with the centaur. Powerful in war, wise in his restraint, at one with the spirits of the land and the ancestors of the shu'halo. Beloved chieftain. Today, one of your many sons and daughters salutes you.

We have indeed spoken of you before. But it moots us to revisit you, brave and wizened as you are, for the future comes and those of us who have seen it already know what mourning is. Great have you been in war and in peace. Were it not for you, we would never have found our home in Thunder Bluff, would never have joined the Horde, would never have fought beside the mortal races against Archimonde and his defiling army of demons. When we were on the edge of destruction, and the centaurs hurled waves of bodies against us, you fought for us.

Brave one, we will always remember you, first among us, best among us. Ish-ne-alo por-ah -- may the Earthmother smile upon you. Let us tell tales of the life of Cairne.

Christie Golden's The Shattering, followup to The New York Times best-selling Arthas, is thankfully just as good (if not better) than its predecessor. We've given you a spoiler-free review, and now it's time to dive into the meat and potatoes, the spoilery goodness contained within the crunchy hardcover shell.

The Shattering covers a lot of ground, but you should know ahead of time that the main players in this story are orcs, tauren, humans and dwarves. The other races are mentioned only in passing or have very minor roles, but that's OK. There's a lot here to love, and we finally have clarification on some rumors that we've heard second- and third-hand for a year now.

Rather than going in full chronological order, I've instead divided the summary by character, so you can follow each of their particular storylines. Today's summary is for Thrall.

Remember, this summary is full of spoilers, so don't read it if you don't want the book spoiled!

It looks like the fans followed through, after all, and we finally get to see the Battlecry mosaic much sooner than I'd previously thought. The completed mosaic reveals a truly awesome piece of art by Wei Wang depicting all the current faction leaders. By awesome I mean truly mind-blowing, and Blizzard has high resolution versions of both the mosaic and the actual painting available for download in different versions. The full mosaic, for example, can be viewed in all its 14400 x 6150 pixel glory. Arguably the best version is the dual screen wallpaper which shows the most detail, although there are also much smaller versions for mobile phones.

The Battlecry mosaic is comprised of 20,000 player-submitted pictures called out by Blizzard as part of the World of Warcraft 5th Anniversary celebration. Each section of the multi-part mosaic unlocked various content over the past few months, which included sneak peeks at conceptual art and even a piece of the game's musical score. The final artwork is arguably the best and coolest rendition of all the faction leaders so far, including a dual-wielding Magni Bronzebeard in armor that's significantly different from what he's wearing in-game, which may or may not hint at a possible model change come Cataclysm. Congratulations to all the fans who contributed to the mosaic!

There's quite a few Tauren fans on the WoW.com staff, and we've been having quite a few conversations about the new Tauren lore and their place in Cataclysm, so you can bet this new discovery has us all atwitter. What could it mean though? There's a few possibilities.

15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.

Are server firsts worth pushing for – really pushing for, as in four hours a night, five times a week, for a month and a half? For Havoc-A of Cairne, time had no bearing as they raced from Karazhan to Illidan a mere six weeks after forming their guild. They pushed through the content so quickly that some members were still sporting blues when they first met Illidan. The team racked up a list of server firsts during its ascent: first Illidan kill, first off-hand Warglaive (maybe a server first Legendary), first Zul'Aman bear mount, and Alliance firsts for Azgalor, Archimonde and last half of Black Temple bosses.

Now that the guild has had time to come down from the high, we wondered, do they think it was all worth it? Signs point to yes: the guild's GM, Meliadoul, is still waxing rhapsodic over the team's accomplishments, the bonds formed and the pride that carried them forward as a group. 15 Minutes of Fame visited with Meliadoul to find out the root of Havoc's need for speed.

Arrowd of the US Cairne server has a question: How do you keep leveling without getting bored, abandoning a character, or rerolling? She says that she's had around 14 characters, and she's never managed to stick with one past about level 45. She always gets bored, and she wonders if there is a way to avoid it.

Now as I've mentioned before, I've leveled a lot of characters myself, and have a few 70s, but even I can sometimes get a little bit tired of the grind, and sometimes even I need to make up goals to keep myself focused. Sometimes I even need it for my level 70s if I'm running low on gold or raiding supplies. In that way, I can definitely feel where she's coming from, but I do (usually) manage to keep myself motivated.

Sometimes, for me, the Motivation is pretty simple. For example, on that Shaman I'm leveling, what keeps me going is the prospect of getting some sweet Dual Wield action going. I'm actually having a lot of fun with her, so I don't need to focus on it too hard, but the idea of imagining her with 2 axes enchanted with Windfury is a mental picture that is too awesome to put into words. I mean, we're talking cover of a Dragonforce album awesome.

So now I turn the question over to the rest of you. Whether it be leveling on a lowbie or grinding on a 70, how do you keep yourself motivation when the going gets tough and you get tired out? Is it the promise of a new skill? A new piece of gear? What keeps you charged up and logged in?