A class? For me?? Thoughts on Classes in WOW (part 1)

Recently I've been doing a lot of thinking of the future.

Now I'm not a fortune teller, nor do I have the power to look into crystal balls like a wizard to see what lies ahead for the future of wow, but one thing that did come to mind as of late has been the inclusion of classes in the game.

Now there are many out there would argue against getting new shinys in the game like a class. Mostly because of the huge amount of time, and work that goes into the class. The class cause much drama  a bound such as balance amongst players and exisiting classes as it is. There are plenty of blogs that discuss these ideas in detail so I won't bother to go into it here.

Instead I'm going to list some of the ideas for what kinds of new classes we could expect to see in the future of wow. With that in mind, all of this is purely opinion and based on things I've seen in other games along with ideas that just popped up into my head along the way. Don't take this personal


First we got the Dark Ranger:
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1282729-Dark-Ranger-%28xpost-from-r-wow%29-April-fools-joke-Looks-awfully-legit!!!

Now if you look at the sight that I listed above you'll see that it looks like this use to be an april fools joke that Blizzard had posted back in the day, but lets look at some of the hard facts about this class to begin with.

The first one is that it does exist in the Warcraft universe. One of the most iconic characters Sylvannis Windrunner is a Dark ranger and she's got plenty of her former rangers wondering around the world as we speak. So they do exist in the lore and have been there since Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne. The class would be a good change of pace since we've had a lot of melee classes show up as of late, and this one would fit the bill for filling in some other spots as well.

The would use mail which means they can fill in that gap in the WOW universe as only shamans and Hunters have that. They can use bows, which makes all the ranged weapons that were once Hunter friendly now can find new homes in the holsters of these dark warriors. And they are just bad ass looking. I mean come on! Look at the pic.

The only bad thing about these that I can think of is that they are a lot like hunters in terms of ideas for specs. Lets face it, they may not have the Hunters pets with them, but I wouldn't be shocked if they are able to summon them during fights. Also the dark powers are close to those of the Death Knights/Warlocks in terms of useage. I'm sure they would summon the dead (again minions) and perhaps would cast bolts of shadows as part of the rotation of shooting arrows. They are very similar.

Now does that mean that they can't be different? I'm saying that though it would work Blizzard would have to be sure they are quite different so they don't look like a hybrid of Hunter/DK mix in there.

Upcoming thoughts on Siege of Org.

"I answer....TO NO ONE!!"

With those powerful words the Warchief of the True Horde cast the dead heart of an Old God into the sacred waters of the Vale. There the heart completely destroyed the once beautiful shrine that was the center of Pandaria itself. The monster that is Garrosh Hellscream has made a move that has turned him into a villain.

Just like his father before him the son will now walk the footsteps of hatred.

The changes of Garrosh going from once possible warmonger to outright monster are quite drastict in the year following his assension to warchief. It was a large change for the charcater and for me seeing the true transformation of him is quite exciting to see.

Now I've discussed about the things that makes Garrosh a great villain. He's brash, foolish, and power hungry. He strives to make things his, and create a world for his people. The now dubbed True Horde. Those who would be loyal to him and obey his every whim. He does not expect trivial upstarts in his ranks he expects to be obeyed through fear and power alone.

Something that has been shown to not work in the past.

Like many villains before him, Garrosh's rise through fear is an on going pattern in the Warcraft Universe. From the great Arthas whose icy reign as the Lich King was fueled by hatred and violence. To the mogu themselves. A race that allowed thier own fears and works to drive them to do terrible deeds in the name of thier creators the Titans. But from each turn we see how those reigns have ended in terrible bloodshed and lose. The once mighty empires crumble before the feat of the oppressed. As Lorewalker Cho says in many questlines those who rule through fear only do so as long as those people lack courage. Well now with plenty of reason to stop Hellscream the Horde and Alliance now make thier ways to the shores of the Barrens to do battle with the upstart Warchief.

But with the on coming seige I can't help but pity the foolish creature. Sure he's murdered hundreds cause countless more tredgides that I'm sure I'm not aware of, but the monster that we will face in the raid is proving to be a sad creature to behold. I remember there were many comments about the character of Garrosh being a weak person on the inside. He has much shame and must do things to prove for himself that he is worthy of the mantle left behind by the father who helped the orcs rid themselves of the chains of Demon blood pacts.

The orc warrior though has proven that as a leader he is quite rash. Amongst his many endevours he has not taken the lessions of others into account. The wisdom of the other leaders of the Horde are a prime example as the monster has shown that he only seems to listen to the voices in his head. (aka his own) and does not wish for anyone to see him as weak.

And that I think is where the impending change in the character occured. He doesn't want to be weak he wants to be strong. That is the orc way. Strength and Honor is the battle cry for many orcs and obviously though Honor means something different for the Warchief. For him, honor is nothing to him. For him, honor is slaying his oppounent using any means to do so. That is the war he wishes to bring to Azeroth. Total war. No strings attached, no sense of mercy or means of allowing retaliation. That is why he as a warrior uses so many things at his diposal. Everything is a tool to Garrosh. The people he leads are examples. I'm sure that no matter how many die in Garrosh's name he does not care about them dying, nor does he mourn.

For him, it is mearly a sacrifice for the greatest good of all. Conquest. Glory. And destruction.

The crazy thing though that I find the most interesting is that Garrosh is in control of himself. He isn't being fed whispers from the Old Gods, or being manipulated by others with strings on his shoulders. (as far as I'm aware of anyways). Even Blizzard tweeted that Garrosh was in control of the heart of  Y'Shaarj. I even remember telling some of my friends this prediction from the get go. Garrosh is a weak soul he will fall to corruption. But that isn't the case here. He is in charge of the power. Somehow the monster truely became a literal one and controls the powers of an Old God. A terrible thought when you think about it.

The Old Gods themselves were terrible creatures. We see them throughout the Warcraft lore in various places and in Pandaria we saw what the 'heads' of Y'Shaarj have wrought forth onto the contenant. They brought forth the negitive emotions and the Sha were created from the Old God's dead body to corupt the land itself. Imagine what would happen if someone who was fully in control of that power was capable of doing.

You see for me the upcoming raid still has many lingering questions about the Warchief, but the one that most intrigues me the most is the orcs fate. What will happen to him once we beat him in the raid. There are little in terms of spoilers out there that I have found and its still a mystery to me what will happen to the Horde once this is all over with. The Alliance too has a stake in this and thier choices once the usurper is taken down still remains to be seen. There are many things to look forward too once this patch rolls out in the coming weeks.

We shall see what perils the Blizzard team have in store for us.

Leader Profile: Lady Sylvanas Windrunner

 

 

Welcome Ladies and Gents to the first Leader Profile. In these blogs I'll be going through various leaders in the World of Warcraft Universe and giving my opinions on them and what makes these leaders tick. Today we take a look at woman who is very unique in the simple fake that she has seen what happens when you die. And what hell awaits her at the end of her undead life.

 

 

The Dark Lady, for those who do not play WOW, is undead. Yes. Despite her sexy costume and armor she is actually a former ranger risen from the grave. Her striking appearance in wow itself was quite a memorable one as she made her debut back in Warcraft 3 when she tried to stop the Death Knight Arthas from destroying the city of Silvermoon. Because of her constant annoyance Arthas took no pity on her and raised her as a banshee to serve the Lich King.

 

Eventually she broke free from control and her life was a miserable thing. As she often said "What joy is there in this curse" And with those words she set forth to free others from the Lich Kings control. She was able to form the Forsaken and group of Undead who were freed from Ner'zhuls grasp and establish themselves in the world of Azeroth.

 

But revenge fueled her and she sought retribution against Arthas for the state of her life. So her goals were like a pulled back bowstring. And her arrow was set on piercing the heart of Arthas's cold chest with pure hatred.

 

 But once the Lich King was dead, what would the fallen warrior do then? What filled her life then. She was still undead, and could not contemplate what to make of her unlife. She made a journey to Northrend to seek out death and met the val'kyr instead. Who offered her a chance to live instead.

 

She took it.

 

 

 

 

From there the Banshee Queen became something different. Her people would not be squandered for the sake of Garrosh's war. She chose to use her people wisely and began to expand the horizon in which the Forsaken controlled. With her guidance her people were able to conquer a good portion of the former kingdom of Lorderon and fortify it so that they would have a home of their own.

 

 

But in the wake of these changes there came about a new aggression in the Queen. Her tactics in war became different. She used the plague that had caused ruin to her allies, The Horde, and the Alliance back in Northrend. Despite being told by both Garrrosh and Thrall that the production of the plague was not to be done. They still used it regardless. She took actions against the Death Knight Koltira when he made a truce with the Alliance and took him beneath the Undercity to turn him into an agent for the Forsaken. Her pact with the Val'kyr made it so she could raise the dead like Arthas had and she began to "recruit" new forms of Forsaken from corpses. Even to the point of going after her allies fallen during the Siege of Orgrimar.

 

These new tactics bring to mind what exactly the Dark Lady is cooking in her mind. Surely the events of death are a great reason to change ones life, but this seems very strange for the Queen. Often I saw her as a character that despite the rage that consumed her whole she had a solid mind for military matters and the like.

 

But as time goes on her actions in creating a new Undead army do raise eyebrows amongst many in the Azeroth. From what has been hinted her actions are being looked upon by the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade, but no actions have been shown otherwise. That makes me wonder if they fear Sylvanas? Or perhaps they wait for proof of her being corrupted in some way.

 

The fact that her goals seem to be expanding the Forsakens home only brings more ideas to the fact that maybe the Lich King had more influence in her then we thought.

 

But whether she is a Savior or a Harold of Damnation is to be seen. The future and expansions of Warcraft could very well bring a swift end to the former Ranger-General and that she may end up in the same boots as the one who brought her back to life. If that's to be, then she will face the eternal darkness that Arthas now resides in. Where no one will hear her wails and sorrows.

 

Ahead of the Game: My thoughts on transmog helmets in Blizzstore

Transmog in of itself is quite a welcome tool into the world of Warcraft. Lets face it, for a long time the idea of having gear that looked like it had come from a bargain bin was never fun. Back in the day I had tons of screenshots that depicted me in mismatching armor of various sets, shapes and sizes (sadly I lost them during a recent computer update. Sad  face)

But with the transmog comes great...er, transmognifigy...(hey it was worth a shot.) Responsibility. There are many facets of the system that while they cane be really cool, can be exploited in some way.

That's where my gripe with the Tranmogs helms in the Blizz store come into play

You see, when I first saw the helmets my initial reaction wasn't that of uber bliss. I find they are quite nifty but they aren't in my menu of wants. But knowing that and some of the knowledge I've read up on the helmets there are people out there who in fact do like these helms and for some reason chose to buy them.

But each of the helms shown above (minus the horse of course) are $15 a pop. They don't come in a set of 3 or any sort of deal where you buy all three at a discount. 15 dollars...I think that's too much.

Given that this is Blizzards first time to offer something like this before, lets take a look at another game that has an established game shop. Guild Wars 2.

When you look at GW2 you can see how they have a ton of various items, ranging from weapon skins, to full armor sets. The range of prices is quite different, but the one thing to note is that there are full sets of armor that are priced at $10. These armor sets are actually quite interesting to look at and again are purely cosmetic just like the helms from blizzard.

But with that being said, its hard to look at the $15 benchmark from blizzard and ask what were you thinking? Because none of the helms have any special procs or any other sort of changes too them that make the $15 mark worth it. So it's hard to look at them and see how the pricetag is worth the helm.

I can't even think of any logical reasons why the pricetag is what it is. You can pay for several months of subscription for the amount you use for all three helms.

To sum this up, the helms are not priced currectly. Even though this is Blizzards first attempt to make transmogs on there store, they will need to seriously need to rethink the prices they intend on putting on the store. Because if the wave of $15 helms continue they will never make any sort of profit from them.

The War of Warcraft: What is the Meaning of War?

 

There is many things that WOW has shown over the years. How the MMO genure has changed over time, how community and social interactions in gaming have changed and several other things that this game has shown many people throughout its history. But there is one thing that is has shown that has not changed at all since its birth.

 

And that simple thing is War.

 

War is an constent in the World of Warcraft (no pun inteneded) This very simple concept of death, destruction and mayham stems from the same things that make war a part of society today. And how many people will continue to fuel war in life.

The fact that the war hasn't changed is something of a interesting quality of Warcraft. Sure the sides have changed along with the faces of who leads the fights in this constent attempt at dominance and bloodshed but War in itself has become the same thing it always has been.

A conflict of interest.

War in itself it internal. That's where war starts. It comes from the idea that what I think is right should be what everyone thinks. This goes the same for the creatures of warcraft. The current war between the alliance and Horde has steamed from this idea of being right in the world. Finding a place in it and making it a home. War is fueled by the Pride of many individuals in this universe and many see nothing but obsitcals in there way when it comes to dealing with War.

The war brewing views of both sides of this conflict are both right and wrong in many aspects. The Alliance is a group that looks to bring peace to the world. It believes that it is in the right to stop the Horde whom they believe to be the source of conflict in this world. They fight the Horde because of the conflict of interest that has come from various parts of the current history. This including the Purge Of Dalaran, the attack on Theremore, and even the constent fighting that has occurred on the shores of Pandaria.

 

The Horde believes itself to be right as well. Though that's only for part of the Horde at this moment. With Garrosh Hellscreams campaign becoming a total massicure he is literally tearing his own Horde apart and turning it into a war machine. Many of the factions that may have once sided with him are now starting to rebel against the Warchief now turned Tyrant. Though Garrosh's motives for doing this are just as "right" as the Alliance. He belives that the Horde deserves a spot in this world. To make this world its own so the Horde can prosper and have a future worth having instead of stumbling for resources and other petty things. So Garrosh will do everything to get this simple act done. He will destroy anyone who stands in his way of achieveing a goal he believes to be right

 

And that is what this war boils down to. Who is right? For many though War is never a simple thing. Because at the end of the day the simple frame of mind is that whichever side your on you believe yourself to be in the right of the war. The simple truth is though is that at the end of the day the person who stands victourious on the battlefield alive is usually the one who is "right"

 

But then I have to ask the simple question of what if this person was actually wrong?