Posts with tag jaina-proudmoore

I haven't played the pre-expansion event yet, but I heard Jaina Proudmoore is having a really bad week in it. Apparently someone threw a surprise party at her house and left the place trashed, then when she went to the salon later they completely botched her dye job. I feel so bad for her! The poor girl just hasn't been able to catch a break since that awful mess with Arthas. Still, trying to go three shades lighter all in one go ... She brought that one on herself.

Anyway, in honor of the Mists of Pandaria pre-expansion event, I thought it fitting to feature Lady Jaina Proudmoore for this week's transmog outfit. Sadly, Jaina's new, unique model can't be replicated by players, but you can get pretty close to making her old one.

The latest WoW novel, Tides of War, sees its official release date today. The book, penned by Christie Golden, tells the story of the Horde's attack on Theramore as seen through the eyes of Jaina Proudmoore.

We'll be able to experience that attack first-hand in game via the Theramore scenario, which should show up in game in the next few weeks. If you want a sneak peek, though, or further elaboration on what exactly Garrosh Hellscream is up to and what happens to Jaina and the people of Theranore, you can pick up this novel.

For more information, be sure to check out our spoiler-free review of the book, as well as our interview with author Christie Golden. You can find the book at most major bookstores, as well as online on Amazon in Hardcover or Kindle editions.

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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.

Well, this has certainly been a week, hasn't it? Mists of Pandaria will officially be out and in your hands on Sept. 25. In the tidbits I've discussed here and there regarding Mists of Pandaria, I've pointed out time and time again that the lore we will see with this expansion will all be new. Does it tie into old lore and events that have been set up in prior expansions? Absolutely. Will we be dealing with villains from days of old? ... Not so much. This isn't something to be annoyed about; it's something that we should embrace. The continuation of a story is always a good thing. For a story as massive as Warcraft's, it's about time we had a shot of new lore added into the mix.

The best part about the lore in Mists is that because it's all so very new, everyone will be on roughly the same page headed into the expansion. For players who know the lore inside and out, this will all be new material to learn. For new players just looking to get into the lore, you'll be on the same page -- looking at brand new material and figuring it all out. There are a few story threads that have been picked up, but by and large, everything on Pandaria originated on Pandaria.

So how do you get started processing all that stuff? Let's take a look, minus the spoilers. Sorry, guys -- you will eventually get more Pandaria info than you can shake a stick at, but it's going to be September before I start throwing it at you with unbridled glee.

Simon and Schuster has posted an excerpt from Christie Golden's upcoming World of Warcraft novel: Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War. Like The Shattering did for Cataclysm, Tides of War is expected to be the story that sets the foundation for the Mists of Pandaria lore.

As we've reported before, Blizzard announced the book will be released at the end of August, which coincides with Simon and Schuster's release date of "on or around August 28th." You can preorder Tides of War now.

We've reprinted the entire excerpt and description after the break.

It's official: Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War will be released in late August, putting it smack-dab around the same time that the Mists of Pandaria cinematic will be shown at Gamescom and fueling my rampant suspicions that we're going to see an August release date for Mists of Pandaria itself. You can even preorder your copy or pick up an unabridged audio version.

We're reproducing the announcement in full, which you can also read at the official site.

King Varian Wrynn is a jerk. He's angry, he's rude, he's deliberately inflammatory. Despite the moments of kindness we've seen from Varian, they're just small moments. Yes, he let Saurfang retrieve the body of his son for Alliance players in Icecrown Citadel to witness. But he still holds a deep and unmitigated hatred for the Horde and everyone in it, including Thrall. He will quite happily talk about scouring the Undercity and purging it of all Forsaken, and he seems to be of the opinion that the only good orc for the most part is a dead one.

But his attitude issues aren't limited to the Horde. He is endlessly frustrated and angry with Jaina Proudmoore and her insistence on diplomatic attempts. He was brusque, rude, and outright against letting the worgen join the Alliance when they were desperate for help. His anger even extends to his son Anduin Wrynn, who has done nothing to outright offend his father other than following the path of a priest rather than a warrior. Varian has even gone so far as to hurt his son, nearly breaking Anduin's arm in an attempt to force him to stay put and keep him from leaving to study with the Prophet Velen.

And yet, there is something so inherently fascinating about Varian Wrynn that I cannot tear my eyes away.

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

Last week, Tom Chilton revealed that Mists would have no dedicated world PvP zone like Wintergrasp or Tol Barad. Instead, Blizzard wants to encourage a more natural style of world PvP. It wants players to duke it out in actual questing zones. On PvP realms, it wants players to be free to attack towns and cities without overwhelming NPC intervention.

Since we're reviving WoW Archivist here at WoW Insider after a seven-month hiatus, now seemed like a good time to revisit the earliest days of world PvP.

It's no secret that world PvP has had a rough journey throughout WoW's history. Blizzard did all it could to discourage the wild Southshore vs. Tarren Mill clashes that made Hillsbrad Foothills a laggy, unplayable mess, often crashing the Eastern Kingdoms servers entirely. In patch 1.12, the developers gave us new objectives to fight over in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands, far away from where new players were leveling.

Ultimately, those objectives failed to capture much interest. Players mocked the Silithyst PvP objective as "sandlol." Further experiments in The Burning Crusade were only moderately more successful. In Wrath, Blizzard added the Wintergrasp PvP zone, and that has been the company's primary world PvP model through the last two expansions.

Before all of that, however, when the game was still so young that the vast majority of the playerbase hadn't yet reached level 60, there were raids on the Crossroads, in the heart of the infamous Barrens. And they were glorious.

Wowhead News has datamined the latest beta patch and discovered an update to Jaina Proudmoore's look. Her hair has mostly turned white, presumably due to traumatic events and not to age. The hair matches what we've seen in previous art that accompanied the spoilerific Battle of Theramore voice clips. A closer view of her full body, which you can see using Wowhead's model viewer, shows that her robes are rather tattered as well.

Jaina has changed her appearance before. Back in patch 3.3, she went from looking like a random human to getting her own model -- a much-needed change, but no in-game event was the basis for the update. In Mists of Pandaria, however, the events at Theramore seem to have put Jaina through enough to make her look rather battleworn.

The Battle of Theramore isn't officially implemented on beta servers yet. Sapperwix says there will be no new content with today's beta build, only the temporary removal of the Jade Forest, so it will be some time before we see this new Jaina in action.

What do you think of Jaina's new look?

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It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

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We've known for a while that sometime during or before Mists of Pandaria there would be a Horde attack on Theramore and that it would tie into the Jaina Proudmoore book coming out this summer. The map files for the Battle for Theramore are in the MoP beta right now, and the latest beta patch added even more juicy Theramore info. This time, it's voice clips for Jaina and various other characters involved in the battle, courtesy of Wowhead News.

The video and transcript is after the cut -- but beware of spoilers!

The cover to the upcoming World of Warcraft novel, Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War, has been revealed, thanks to Scrolls of Lore. Christie Golden, author of The Shattering and Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects (among others), wrote Jaina's story this time around. Of note on the cover is Jaina's white hair, which has been said by Blizzard in the past to indicate extreme power or a physical embodiment of the horror of Theramore's destruction. Could we be seeing Jaina flip out and go all white-haired Super Jaina Z? Is her white hair a mark of the trauma of seeing Theramore destroyed?

Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War is releasing later this year. Check out Scrolls of Lore for the full cover picture.

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It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

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