I recently had the occasion to visit Wow.com and read up on a good deal of the lore that has been released for the upcoming Fall of the Lich King. If you aren’t bothered by stern spoilers, then this is the site for you.  The sheer mountain of information offered by researchers Michael Sacco, Alex Ziebart, and Adam Holisky put a very nice ribbon around the Patch 3.3 package.

Two groups that have yet to be totally defined are of course the new Goblins presented in Cataclysm, and the Worgen, whom we at Thalanaar have been carefully weaving into our expanded guild history as the descendants of the Shadowleaves, the guardians of Queen Azshara’s most powerful treasures, cursed for what she perceived as their betrayal when they fled Eldre’thalas as it was falling to the Maelstrom, and the evils it released into the world.

Our lore holds that the Shadowleaves regrouped at Uldum to return to Eldre’thalas in force, and recover the beleaguered city, but Azshara’s curse sent them into the throes of chaos, and for the next ten thousand years, history forgot their noble calling.  Now, in the shadow of their stronghold behind the Greymane Wall, the Forsaken have forced them to re-emerge, and the druids have called upon their former allies to rejoin the Alliance, freed from Argual to fight once more.

It will be interesting to see what the new lore does for us.  Presently the Ashen Verdict is just another parallel to the history we have already been running.  Their task to create a new weapon to combat the Frostmourne will lead to the creation of Shadowmourne–not quite the Redeemer we perceived, but the advent of Ebon Blade wisdom into the Argent Crusade has resulted in this unexpected turn.  Meanwhile, the more likely Redeemer would have been Quel’Delar, but that blade has been shattered by its former master.  The hilt and pieces are scattered across Icecrown, but can be recovered by a crafty master, who would conceivably become the savior of us all.

• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this post
• Recommend on Facebook
• share via Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet about it
• Subscribe to the comments on this post

Thalanaar has been watching the development of the new Patch 3.3 content along with every other entity in the World of Warcraft gaming community. Like them, we’ve seen mixed emotions about the new Greed for Disenchant button, and the new cross-realm Dungeon Finder system. While the new Dungeon Finder offers fantastic abilities for players to run and experience new content like never before, in a very high-impact atmosphere, it also offers new complications and new pitfalls which are hard to explain, and difficult to overcome.

We can’t address the current computerized invitation system. If everyone isn’t ready to go when the computer tries to assemble the list, the group is counted as ‘nonviable,’ and the players go back in the LFG pool. And we can’t address the restriction on cross-realm trading; there is a very good reason it is set up that way.

But we can address the human element that occurs, once a group gets underway.

To that end, in our Progression forums we have included our own version of an “Angie’s List” to rate your experiences in new and old content, and your experiences with individual players, servers and groups. If you have a good experience with a random group, and would like to mention names, specific dungeons or new tricks, you are encouraged to share them. Please, if you have a bad experience, keep any references confined to the facts. We’re doing this to make the experience better for everyone, not to single out bad eggs.

This system will be evolving with polls, questionaires and a new listing system that will be divided by server and realm battlegroup, and updated regularly, and if it takes off the way we’re hoping it will, we will post it on its own website, with its own ratings program and links to the Armory and gear scoring systems that have already revolutionized the way we play.

But please remember, this is a game played in fun. Please be polite, and honest, and if you must offer a negative, do it with the intentions of making the system a better one for your fellow players. This is not a way to get back at someone for having a bad day, and abusers will find themselves restricted to moderator-approved posting, or restricted from posting completely.

• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this post
• Recommend on Facebook
• share via Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet about it
• Subscribe to the comments on this post

Patch 3.3.0 was released this morning, and amidst a flurry of rumors, ideas, fears and hopes, we… waited a really long time. The server was down until well after 7pm, after an apparent Battlenet issue prevented members from logging in.

This latest installment of the World of Warcraft “Wrath of the Lich King” storyline has the heroes of the Horde and the Alliance forced to come together at Arthas’ door, where they must journey into the Icecrown Citadel itself, and face the fallen Prince of Lordaeron.

In the Patch trailer, Arthas is confronted by the spirit of his own father, who claims it is time for Arthas to face his time of judgment. But in the end, Arthas merely reaches out and takes up Frostmourne, …and the spirits are silent once again.

Other fan-created trailers displaying the scene outside the Icecrown Citadel point out another very different surprise. The heroes of the Horde and the Alliance who fell at the Wrathgate stand flanking Arthas, apparently ready to face their former friends and family to defend their new master.

This most recent installment of the Wrath storyline is supposed to be the last before Cataclysm is released next year, however as the makers from Blizzard Entertainment have been suggesting, the world of Azeroth is going to begin to change even now, as Deathwing stirs beneath the Grim Batol, and Ragnaros strains against his prison in the Molten Core.

• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this post
• Recommend on Facebook
• share via Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet about it
• Subscribe to the comments on this post