WoW WOTLK the WARCRAFT universe

There are many battles and destructions in Azeroth – the story of Warcraft is all-encompassing.

Blizzard has done great things with the new release of the Warcraft universe. Never has the fictional world of an online game been so popular as with the title World of Warcraft. The number of players has risen to no less than eleven million people all over the world, who play in the areas of Northend, Kalimdor or Azeroth, among others. However, the whole thing didn’t start with the online game WoW, but in 1994 with the strategy game Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Due to its success, the developers expanded the series with various elements in the following years. Two more parts including addons followed and continued to tell the story of the peoples of Azeroth.

The storyline reached its temporary climax in 2004, with the announcement of the online role-playing game World of Warcraft. The developers had developed a gigantic universe from the stories of the Warcraft parts. The problem: In WoW WOTLK, millions of players experience the same story. However, they do so with the most diverse prerequisites: Players with level 5 are in the same world as players with level 80. For both, it should be a complex world; they should experience the events in a comprehensible way and be guided through the story without prior knowledge. It goes without saying that this undertaking is not always easy for the developers. The following paragraphs will tell you what mistakes can happen and how the various storylines are integrated into the story.

 

 

The secret to Varian Wrynn

For a long time he was lost, his return gives you the player a mystery.

Already at the release of World of Warcraft there was a mystery to solve for players of the faction Alliance. The former king of Stormwind, Varian Wrynn, had disappeared without a trace. Young human warriors encountered the Brotherhood of Defias in many quests during the first few levels. The gang of thieves was branded responsible for the disappearance and kept human helpers busy for almost 40 levels. After completing several lengthy quests with long runs as a player, it eventually turned out that the Defias were indeed responsible for the kidnapping of King Varian Wrynn.

Unsolved mysteries

But here the investigations were finished for you as a player. The mystery was solved, you were thanked, and that was the end of the matter. Curious players, however, were able to find the kidnapped King Wrynn: On an island east of Theramore, where he was held in a basement prison by Nagas. However, he could not be freed. Many players hoped for the first expansion The Burning Crusade and the continuation of the story. But it wasn’t until WoW Wrath of the Lich King that the story continued. During a two-day event, the lost king returned, put the invading Scourge to flight, and took his place on the throne. But where did he come from so suddenly? The developers have solved the answer to this question “externally”. In a comic series tells the story that World of Warcraft players could not experience.

The escape of a king

Shortly after the Third War, Wrynn was surprised and kidnapped by the Defias while crossing to Theramore. He was held prisoner on Alcaz Island until he finally managed to escape. But on the arduous journey through the water, he lost his memory and was found badly injured by an orc on the coast of Durotar, just defeating a crocodile with only a stick. The orcs captured him and enslaved him as a gladiator for arena fights.

Wrynn met two other slaves in his captivity. The night elf Valeera Sanguinar and the dwarf Broll Bearmantle. Both helped him regain his memory, and recurring visions gave Wrynn clues to his past as king. Eventually, Wrynn and Bearmantle managed to escape with the help of a spell while standing before Hamuul Runentotem in Thunderrock. Tyrande Whisperwind welcomed them for a meal and then sent them to Theramore. Jaina Splendor Sea also helped Wrynn remember his past, and he was finally able to return to his throne.

„I’m Lo’gosh“

All these events remain hidden from World of Warcraft players. Not even Wrynn himself provides information about his fate, confusing players who approach him with a comment. “I’m Varian – but I’m also Lo’gosh.” Lo’gosh was the name given to him by the orcs who imprisoned him as a gladiator. Since The Burning Crusade, in principle, the quest series around the Defias are also obsolete. But Blizzard uses a little trick in this case. Whoever decides to start again with a human alliance terror today is no longer looking for a conspiracy. This helps to gather evidence that accuses the Defias of kidnapping the king.

What happened?

The small Return of the King event during Wrath of the Lich King was a disappointment for many players. There were many requests for a more grandiose event in the public forums. It was expected that there would be raids by Alliance players to free the king from his imprisonment. Unfortunately, very little of this was realized. In the US public forum, Blizzard employee Tseric commented on the comparably unspectacular return of the king. They wanted to avoid players feeling forced to return to areas they already knew in the old world.

Of course, this argument is not plausible, but it is undisputed that there were many other areas in Wrath of the Lich King that the developers had to focus on to maintain the continuity of the new events. And after all, the Stormwind King hasn’t completely disappeared; as in the comic, he has resumed his position in the Human Capital after long years.

The Draenei Evolution

Players of Warcraft III – The Frozen Throne already knew the Draenei before they first appeared in World of Warcraft. In the prequel to WoW, Illidan encounters this race in “Outworld” (now known as Outland), which settled on the Hellfire Peninsula. They were small, walked hunched over, and truly looked like they were from another planet. Also, in World of Warcraft – already in WoW Classic times – this kind of draenei could be observed for a long time. In a camp in the swamps of misery.

When Blizzard announced that the Draenei would be the new playable race of the Alliance in The Burning Crusade, an outcry went through the community. These ugly creatures on the side of the shining Alliance? The developers must have had similar thoughts, because the playable Draenei had nothing at all in common with their rotten relatives – they were graceful and radiant. When the background story of the new race became public, it raised further questions, because it also contained numerous misunderstandings.

Aliens in Azeroth

According to Blizzard, the Draenei were originally the powerful Eredar, native to the planet Argus. They attracted the attention of the leader of the Burning Legion: Sargeras. He seduced two of the three Eredar leaders, Archimonde and Kil’Jaeden, and they joined him. If you remember them from Warcraft III, you will see great similarities between their demonic appearance and that of the (playable) draenei. According to the story, under the influence of Sargera, the Eredar turned into demons – called Eredar.

Who is the evil one now?

For players, this means that both demons and the peaceful people of Argus are called Eredar. Moreover, the demonic Eredar and the playable Draenei look confusingly similar. At the same time, there is no similarity between the Warcraft III draenei and the WoW draenei. The Draenei of the Swamps of Sorrow (whose path to Azeroth was never clarified), were eventually made “Shattered” for the sake of understanding. According to recent history, they mutated through devil magic. However, there is still a risk of confusion between them and the “lost” draenei – also from the Swamps of Misery – who were unable to save their spirits but look visually like the draenei from Warcraft III.

What exactly happened?

With this story, the developers involuntarily proved that very human mistakes also happen to them. Chris Metzen, creative designer at Blizzard, spoke to the WoW community about the problem child Draenei. It was just his fault for mixing up the history and appearance of the Draenei like that. He had simply forgotten parts of the story he had written himself. Working with his team, however, he concluded that the “new” Draenei story was more coherent for World of Warcraft. The players’ association has not yet reached a consensus on this point. And there is still a lively discussion on the forums about the Draenei’s raison d’être and their story.

What brings orcs to Undercity

Like the human horde’s hunt for Defias, players of an Undead are occupied with a single topic for most of their leveling time. The royal apothecary association of Undercity and their field tests with the in-house plague. After 40 levels, the gameplay ends for the time being, but reaches its climax a bit later in the cold Northrend. Here, players of the Horde meet the Association again and help them wreak havoc one more time. The showdown takes place for both factions. After a series of quests at the Wrathgate in Dragonblight, it’s on. Putress, Grand Apothecary of the Royal Apothecary Society of Undercity, assassinates the Lich King and the orcs and humans present in Dragonblight. At the same time, the then captain of Undercity, Varimathras, betrays the Forsaken people and seizes control of the city. In the Battle for Undercity, Thrall and Sylvanas finally succeed in defeating Varimathras.

Unclear balance of power

The consequences of the battle for Undercity are still felt by Undead and Horde players today: Varimatra’s followers had run and organized the complex city for years. However, the demon uprising left Undercity briefly defenseless. Warchief Thrall, after defeating Varimathras, decided to send his bodyguard, the Kor’kron, to Undercity to keep order. The Kor’kron remained in the Undercity permanently and have since kept an eye on the mysterious undead who continue their research here.

Sylvanas, new ruler of Undercity, accepted these circumstances for the sake of peace. The disappearance of Varimathras and the appearance of the new guards is a direct result of the quest series and the events at the Wrath Gate, which should only be accessible to players of level 74 or higher. However, even if you enter Undercity as a level 1 character, you will no longer encounter the formidable monstrosities under Varimathras, but rather the Kor’kron.When you search for Varimathras in the King’s Quarter, Bragor Bloodfist tells you that he is “on his way” on behalf of his queen, Sylvanas. One orc further, will confuse you even more – Varimathras is “um… gone”.

The new supervisory staff

If you ask the guards themselves about their mission, you won’t get sufficient answers either. The orcs claim that they are in Lower Town for support. Since many Forsaken have stationed themselves in the Port of Vengeance in Northrend. In the English voice-over of the game, however, the answer is quite different. There, the guards explain that the Forsaken need supervision. They also give the hint that if they had paid more attention earlier, “the events” at the Wrath Gate might never have happened. From a purely logical point of view, a small continuity problem arises here, because a low-level character still has the whole story with the plague and the attack ahead of him.

He doesn’t know about Putress’ betrayal yet but is already informed about it by master apothecary Faranell when he addresses him. Despite all this, as a player, you’ll be doing the same quests as before the master apothecary’s betrayal, and in Northrend, too. The player will experience the same battle for Undercity as a surprise event for him.

What happened?

The consequences that Blizzard had to draw from the quest series “The Battle for Undercity” posed some problems. A complete redesign of Undercity would have been too costly and technically almost impossible to implement. With the help of the phasing system, Undercity would have become even emptier for a large part of the players than it already is today, because only those players would have been able to see each other who had either completed the quest series or those who had yet to do so. On the other hand, however, the events were not to remain without consequences. Blizzard finally decided in favor of the high-level characters after some problems, since most players had already experienced this story with a level 80 character anyway.