BlizzCon pt. 2

So, after the welcome speech (during which we got to see the awesome trailer for the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, I think you can download it now from the WoW website), Kevin and I headed over to the gaming stations for StarCraft: Ghost. 

If you've read anything about the controls on the latest build of Ghost, I can confirm: they suck.  Using the X-Box controls, I got jack and squat for accuracy.  I was never any good at video games anyways though, so I don't really mind all that much.  We played in a gaming mode called Mobile Conflict in which one team has to take control of a hovering Factory, bring it to the ground, and hold it for several minutes (I think).  The way everyone played it, you would think it was Deathmatch.  I tried out most of the character classes for the Terrans (except Firebat) and I was satisfyingly able to suck it up on each one.  I wasn't able to try out many vehicles, just the new Stinger jeep (it looks sort of like a puma).  Kevin found one of the new Grizzly flying fortresses and rained fiery death upon our opponents while I fell off cliffs and shot at my feet.  He also somehow figured out how to land the damn Factory (which is still a mystery to me), and we ended up winning the match, but through no contribution of my own.  Overall, this could become a really fun multiplayer game if they fix the control issues. [Also an aside for you GameCube fans, it seems that they're no longer releasing Ghost for the GC.  I was a very sad panda.]

A word of advice to anyone looking to gain sustenance at a convention sometime in the future: go outside and find something.  Just like a theme park, they donkey punch you in your wallet.  Not that I actually followed this advice.  I wasn't going to leave my precious BlizzCon!

So after lunch (during which, I got to see one of the "chefs" pick up a pan full of freshly baked frozen pizzas wearing only plastic sanitary gloves, and somehow still keep a straight face), we headed off to our first panel, already in progress.  The panel discussion was on the StarCraft: Ghost multiplayer, which I just got done describing, so I won't go into much detail.  Suffice it to say that the vehicles rock (the Siege Tank has a handy dandy little targeting system that shows the exact trajectory of your projectile.  AHHHHH MOTHERLAND!!).  Here are some pictures of the Zergling, the Hydralisk, the Infested Marine (yes, you can make him explode), and the Mutalisk (if you get good enough with this little fella, you can swoop down, pick up marines, and devour them whole).

Next, we went to the Quest and Lore Panel.  Now, prior to coming to BlizzCon, I had never heard of Chris Metzen.  It just never occurred to me that one guy wrote the stories of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo.  Well, he did, and I got to see him and be amazed.  When he talks, you can almost see him moving things around in his head, clearing paths, and dragging information from some deep cerebral storage cellar.  He's just got that much crap in his head.  I could listen to this guy talk for weeks straight, but then again, I'm a sucker for fake history.

The Quest and Lore Panel mostly consisted of Chris explaining the story of the Burning Crusade, along with backstory of the Warcraft world.  There were about five other guys up there with him, but they may as well have taken lunch that hour.  They chimed in every once in a while, when Chris realized that he was rambling, but they seemed to have that same glazed-over look in their eyes that everyone else in the room did.

Now, if you're the kind of person that doesn't care about the lore of WoW or wants to be surprised, you can skip this paragraph.  This is going to be kind of long winded, but here goes... The Burning Crusade refers to the mission of wholesale slaughter that the Burning Legion has been given.  Like everyone who has played Warcraft 3 knows, the Burning Legion is out to burn all of creation to cinders and ash.  A little complication has arisen in this mission though.  A tiny little world called Azeroth has managed to turn back the Legion's invasion not once, but twice.  You can imagine how pissed they are now.  In all of recorded Creation, no one has ever stopped the advance of the Legion, and these little shits did it twice!  So now, with one wary eye on Azeroth, they have decided to mop up with the rest of Creation, gather up as many resources as possible, and hit Azeroth with everything they have.  Somehow (the details of which we weren't told) the heroes of Azeroth catch wind of their plan and decide to do something while they still have time.  For those of you that played the expansion to Warcraft 2, you'll remember that Ner'zul, the leader of the Horde in Draenor, planned an escape for the orcs from that world by means of several portals that he opened.  With the Alliance advancing, the best course of action seemed to be to get the hell out of Dodge.  Unfortunately, the opening of so many portals in such close proximity caused the planet to rip apart.  The five leaders of the Alliance contingent on Draenor selflessly decided to destroy the Dark Portal that lead to Azeroth, lest the resulting explosion carry through the portal and annihilate their world too.  You can see their statues now in the Valley of Heroes in Stormwind.  Ever since then, as far as the lore goes (not including the Warcraft 3 expansion), it's been assumed that the planet Draenor is space dust, and the five heroes of the alliance are dead.  Well, it isn't and they're not.  Pieces of Draenor (now called Outland) drift through the Twisting Nether, and all five (at this point in the story development) of those heroes are alive and ready to kick ass once again.  Fast forward to the present.  Both the Horde and the Alliance have decided that they have had enough of the Legion's shenanigans.  They're going to open up the Dark Portal again, and they're going to take the fight to Legion for once.  Using Outland as a staging point, they're going to travel through Ner'zul's other portals to the other worlds that the Burning Legion is in the process of destroying.  On a commentary note, I got a little shiver at this point as I began to majorly Geek Out (TM).  It suddenly occurred to me where they were taking this license, and I liked it.  A lot.  Warcraft is about to get a hell of a lot bigger.  Plus, the psychological effect of no longer being the one that's being hunted by the Legion had a tremendous effect on me.  These bastards are going to get their's.  Back to the story.  Now, there's one person that's already in Outland that might have a little problem with the Alliance and Horde's plan.  Our favorite Night Elf / Demon Illidan Stormrage is not happy.  In the Warcraft 3 expansion, he closed all those portals that Ner'zul opened up so that the Legion couldn't come find him, and he is sure as hell not going to let these pissants come in and open them again.  That's right guys, you get to open up a can on Illidan, Kael'Thas Sunstrider, and the previously-thought dead Dreadlord Magtheridon.  I realize from what I've said that it sounds like that the Alliance and Horde are working together on this one.  The developers assured us that this was definitely not the case.  If anything, the war between them is only going to intensify.  Without the stabilizing influences of Jaina Proudmoore and Thrall, this war is going to ramp up really fast.  But what about the new Horde race, the Blood Elves?  What's their story?  Well, ever since the deathknight Arthas ravaged their land and corrupted their beloved Sunwell, they have been slowly rebuilding their land of Quel'Thalas.  [Interestingly enough, the Blood Elves were not able to heal the thin strip of land that Arthas and the Scourge traveled on to reach the Sunwell, and it will still be there when the game goes live.]  With the help of Illidan, they have been able to slake their addiction to magical energy by tapping demonic forces.  This has had a profound effect on them.  They're no longer the happy blonde people of the previous games.  They're aggressive, cruel, and single-minded in their quest for more power.  They've rebuilt their white and golden towers, but the beauty of the land is only skin deep.  Their demonic green eyes tell all.  As Chris Metzen said, they're traveling down a path from which they will never return.  Their ultimate goal is to rejoin Illidan and Kael'Thas in Outland, which they view as a kind of Eden, and they'll do anything to get there.  Unfortunately for them, they can no longer rely on their allies in the Alliance.  The Humans and Dwarves can sense that something is not quite right about their old friends. The Night Elves won't touch them with a ten foot pole, for they can smell the demon taint on their skins.  So that leaves only the Horde, which they reluctantly must cozy up to.  Now, the Blood Elves have no love for the Trolls or the Orcs, but they're willing to grit their teeth if it means that they'll help them open the Dark Portal again.  This is definitely an alliance of convenience, make no mistake.  Despite this, perhaps the Blood Elves' greatest ally is the leader of the Forsaken, the banshee Sylvannas Windrunner.  She still loves her former people and will be their best way into the Horde.  On Saturday, at the same panel, someone asked what the Blood Elves would do once they got to Outland in the game.  Would they leave the Horde?  After jokingly admitting that they never thought about that, Chris said the Blood Elves might be a little surprised at what Kael'Thas and his buddies have been up to since they've been away.  So who knows what that means.

Phew.  That's a lot of writing.  I'll post more a little later. 

Until then take care,
Sean