BlizzCast Episode 7
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Crygil: With so much of the focus on Outland last year, what has been going on in Azeroth?
Metzen: Well, all sorts of stuff. By now, everyone playing Wrath of the Lich King has pretty much seen any number of events unfolding in the world of Azeroth.
Specifically, one notable bit would be the return of King Varian from his sojurn as a gladiator, as chronicled in the comic series we've been putting out with Wildstorm. So that's come off pretty cool. We've been very pleased with all that and his (kind of) new arrival on the scene heralds a lot of things.
We are trying to, over time, re-engage the engines of hate and violence between the Alliance and Horde. It has been argued by some that for the past couple of years, under Thrall's leadership, the Horde has had its teeth pulled. Since he is, I guess , I wouldn't say a man of peace, but is very farsighted. Thrall tries to stay away from petty conflicts and tries to say focused on what's going to be best for his people. Like I said, it has been argued by some that it has decreased the sense that the Horde is a very dangerous entity when riled.
So we figured to stir that pot, it would be interesting to reconstruct an Alliance hero that could come packing and really could have a view of the orcs and the Horde that is very dangerous. So Varian could do some very interesting things, over the haul, in terms of escalating the tension between the Alliance and the Horde.
So we have had that going on... What else? Obviously the Lich King has been turning up the heat in anticipation of Wrath of the Lich King. We had the undead plague roll out. That whole event played out and further illustrated that the sense of scale and conflict is still very real with the undead. As that all rolled into Wrath of the Lich King, I think it worked very well as an experiment, as a world event, and as a fictional event. Just to show how much at stake there is, should the undead ever really plague the world.
Other than that I don't know. I mean, there's all sorts of little stories (popping) in what we've started calling (terrestrial) Azeroth. But really, I think the events of Wrath of the Lich King really show all sorts of stuff. Both factions really mobilizing their forces, heading to the north, and the Kirin Tor teleporting Dalaran up above Northrend. These are pretty big events, as the armies move north and attempt to engage the Lich King. I think that's occupied a lot of the (happenings) on Azeroth, specifically during the end events of The Burning Crusade.
