A panel of Blizzard storytellers and quest designers talk about the future of the Warcraft franchise at BlizzCon.
By Dave 'Fargo' Kosak | Oct. 28, 2005
Not everyone who plays World of Warcraft cares about the backstory, but there's always someone in every group who stops to read the quests or open up those old tomes scattered around the levels. For those who care to investigate, Warcraft has a rich history of characters and conflicts strecthing across several games and even a few novels. The story is tight: a whole team of people works to keep the fiction in line from one game to the next. Heading up this group of modern storytellers is Chris Metzen, who's been in charge of the Warcraft and StarCraft fiction from the very beginnings of the franchises.
At BlizzCon, Metzen and his team held a panel discussion for fans, spilling details about what's to come in the upcoming expansion pack, and dropping more than a few hints about the future of the franchise.
Metzen kicked things off by recapping 'the story so far...' If you haven't read the extensive backstory on the World of Warcraft website, here's a quick one-paragraph summary: At the dawn of time, the whole universe was Chaos, controlled by unchecked elemental forces. Then the Titans came along, bringing order to world after world. They dredged the oceans and formed the land, creating each as a cradle of life. In their travels they also came across opposing forces, forces who worshipped chaos and destruction. The greatest of the Titans rounded them up and imprisoned them. But his grim duty eventually got to him and corrupted him. He decided that the Titans had wasted their time, that creation was a folly, and he became bent on destroying it. He unleashed all of the demons that he'd imprisioned, and they became his army: The Burning Legion. "The Burning Crusade," the title of the expansion pack, is the name for his campaign to destroy all of creation. Tens of thousands of worlds have been undone by the Legion, but only Azeroth has fought back and won. Twice, in fact (once chronicled in the novels, and later as depicted in the Warcraft games.) That's where World of Warcraft picks up.
The expansion pack picks up the trail of this universal conflict. Why go with this theme? Metzen wanted to go big, to kick off a huge story arc that would span years. He wanted to take the conflict to cosmic porportions.
Thus, Burning Crusade allows players to go to The Outland, the remains of the Orc homeworld Draenor. Draenor was ripped apart in Warcraft II because too many portals were opened between it and other worlds, and only the self-sacrificing actions of a few heroes (those characters you see immortalized as giant statues outside of Stormwind) saved Azeroth from being torn apart as well. In Warcraft III, the fallen Night Elf (and half-demon) Illidan discovered The Outland and made it his home, closing all of the other portals. Follow all of this so far?
Good, because in the expansion, heroes can open up portals and take the fight to The Outland. Yes, you'll come toe to toe with
Illidan and his minions, and you'll try to take him down. More importantly, from The Outland, characters will be able to open portals to other worlds that need help fighting the Burning Legion.
Possible Spoiler: Those heroes who sacrificed themselves to save Azeroth by closing the dark portal from the other side
... aren't dead. Yep, players will eventually be able to hook up with them. And Metzen promises that they'll be
badass.
Metzen went on to explain the backstory of the Blood Elves, which we covered in
this profile piece. Afterwards, the floor was opened up for questions from the audience.
Naturally one of the first questions was about the new un-announced Alliance race to be featured in the expansion. Metzen gave no hints, and implied that they're still working out all the details. But he did acknowledge that once everyone hears about the new race, part of it will make sense, and part of it will make everyone go "huh?" ...We can't even speculate. (But it won't be Pandas.)
One gamer asked why the Trolls would ally with the Blood Elves -- or any type of elf, for that matter. "I want that guy escorted out!" Metzen bellowed to laughter from the audience. But then he explained that the Horde is "an alliance of convenience." The Blood Elves hate dealing with the Trolls or the Orcs, but need their help to reach the Outland. And, while he didn't give details, Metzen explained that the Blood Elves have something the Horde desperately needs that helps to hold the fragile truce together. We expect more to be revealed in the game itself.
This led to a short discussion about the nature of The Outland. It's a rogue world, where there are no steady leaders to keep the fighting between the Horde and Alliance in check. The Outland is going to be a violent place, host to tons of conflict.
One question from a fan triggered off a discussion about the Dark Portal. Here, the development team admitted that they're experimenting with the idea of having a world event on all the servers, opening the Dark Portal, shortly before the release of the expansion pack. There's no guarantee that this will happen, but the idea is floating around.
Comedy ensued when a man in a Murloc costume grabbed the microphone and demanded reparitions from the cruel treatment lavished on his people, even to the point of giving "his children" away as a freebie during the event. (Everyone who attended Blizzcon got a code that they could use to unlock a baby Murloc pet in-game.) "When we make that 'Glurbleglurblgerglug' noise, that's not us screaming. That's us crying!" he said. The Murloc got no sympathy from the development team, and one of them pointed out that Blood Elf newbies will have an obligatory "kill a bunch of Murlocs" quest.
Finally, someone asked about
Arthas. When are players going to get to beat him down? Metzen seemd to relish the prospect. "Oh yeah, he's gonna get his!" he said. But it's not going to happen anytime soon. "At level 70? No way!" Metzen said, "The game has to catch up to him." So yeah, that's one massive villain that players won't get to hammer on for quite some time... but he's out there, a looming presence, sneering in the distance. Someday friends! Someday.
