Welcome to the WoWWiki BlizzCon 2013 event coverage page.
- See also the new Warlords of Draenor Portal and
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor product info.
Q & As
- Original BlizzCon 2013 questions from users.
BlizzCon Live Blog Coverage
November 8, 2013BlizzCon WoW News (P1) by Raylan13read more...
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Greetings from Anaheim! We've managed to survive the first bit of BlizzCon and have some great news about the next Warcraft expansion: Warlords of Draenor (ps - The Dark Below was a hoax). I know everyone just wants to get to the meat of the news, so here we go!
Backstory
Remember Garrosh? Yeah, who doesn't? Well, if you thought he would roll over and stay imprisoned indefinitely, you are dead wrong. Garrosh escapes imprisonment and, thanks to a "friend" that can bend time, hops back to where it all began: before the opening of the Dark Portal.
To what end, though? One might think his motives pure (if one hadn't met him) as he wants to prevent the orcs from drinking the blood of Mannoroth. That's all well and good, but his true reason? To unite the orc clans within Draenor, arm them with modern-day technology, and then bring them through a Dark Portal that is tweaked to dump this new Iron Horde into our time. Not to have tea, but to crush the Horde and Alliance.
You may be rolling your eyes and sighing just a touch if you think he'll be the main boss of the expansion again, but fear not: Chris Metzen has been kind enough to shoot that theory down. There is a "man behind the man" that we'll be meeting.
Features
New stuff and systems
- Level cap raised to 100
- New player models
- High priority to keep the soul of the original models
- Higher fidelity
- Greater facial detail
- Garrisons
- WoW version of Player housing!
- Build your own base on Draenor
- Collect followers
- Have them run missions/quests/dungeons, etc.
- Have them gather or craft
- Many ways to collect them
- Level them up through missions
- Increase their gear ilvl once maxed out
- They have abilities and traits
- Customize!
- Integrated directly into the world
- Rewards: epic gear, own piece of land, unique benefits from buildings, limited access to professions you don't have (like placing a mine)
- Garrisons can be expanded over three tiers
- Select which buildings you want
- Building can be upgraded and have specialization when reaching maximum rank (3)
- Example: Inn - find new followers, access to cooking
- Interact with followers and buildings
- Monuments and trophies showcasing things like achievements/kills
- Create or boost a character to level 90
- With purchase, boost a new or existing character to 90
- Inventory updates
- Adding Heirlooms, toys, and maybe tabards to collection panel
- Sortable bags (designate bags for certain items, such as vendor trash, gear, etc.)
- Quest items no longer stored in bags
- Craft directly from the bank
- Adventure Guide
- Reveal opportunities for character progression (better gear, instances, professions, reputation, etc.)
- Next steps to get achievements, explore, finish quest lines, etc.
- New dungeons and raids
- Seven new dungeons (4 leveling, 3 max level)
- Heroic Upper Blackrock Spire
- Bloodmaul Slag Mines
- Located in Frostfire Ridge
- 4 bosses w/non-linear layout
- New PvP
- Ashran island world PvP zone
- Trial of the Gladiator
Draenor
- Homeworld of the orcs before it was shattered into Outland.
- Heart of the draenei civilization
- A brutal, primal world of giants
- 7 new zones
- Goal is to defeat the Iron Horde before they can come through the Dark Portal
Races/Creatures
- No new playable races or classes announced
- New (and some familiar) races and creatures include the following:
- Ogres
- Flying Arakkoa
- Mok'Nathal
- Forelings
- Draenei
- Sabron
- Fara
- Gronn
- Genesaur
- Other Draenor beasts
Orc clans
- Chieftain: Durotan
- Based in Frostfire Ridge
- Snow-covered wastes beneath towering volcanoes
- Frostwolf clan vs. Thunderlord clan
- Their land hosts Bladespire Fortress, former Ogre stronghold (
Horde city)
- Chieftain: Ner'zhul
- Based in Shadowmoon Valley (but not as you know it!)
- Chieftain: Kargath Bladefist
- Based in the Spires of Arak
- Chieftain: Grommash Hellscream
- Based in Nagrand
- Chieftain: Kilrogg Deadeye
- Based in Tanaan Jungle
Continue reading here.
November 8, 2013BlizzCon WoW News (P2) by Raylan13read more...
Comment here!
Continuing our coverage with a semi-late blog Time flies when you're scrambling to different panels for different games - here's some of the info we had yet to blog about, but thanks to our hard working community here, is likely already placed on their respective home pages!
Zones
Frostfire Ridge
- Mostly wintery hills and jagged peaks with occasional volcanoes
Horde role is evict the ogres from Bladespire Fortress
- This stronghold will serve as the main Horde hub
- Home of the Frostwolf clan and their rivals, the Thunderlord clan
Gorgrond
- Dry, desolate desert of stone and steam vents
- Home of the Blackrock clan who will try to harness the steam vents to build thier machines of war
Tanaan Jungle
- Lush jungle that would be laid waste and transformed into the Hellfire Peninsula in the original timeline
- Home of the Bleeding Hollow clan
Shadowmoon Valley
- Rolling, moonlit hills
Alliance role is to save Karabor (we know it as the Black Temple today)
- This is a draenei holy temple and will serve as the main Alliance hub
- Home of the Shadowmoon Clan
Spires of Arak
- Center of the Arakkoa civilization
- So far we don't know much about what this zone looks like
- Home of the Shattered Hand clan
Nagrand
- Green plains and rolling hills
- Home of the Warsong clan
Talador
- Autumnal forest, similar to Eversong Woods
- Center of the draenei civilization and the great city of Shattrath
- Also contains the shrine of Auchindoun that is most sacred to the draenei
- So far no orc clan has appeared to try to settle here
Dungeons
Bloodmaul Slag Mines
- Located in Frostfire Ridge
- Designed to have four bosses in a non-linear layout
- Story: Cruel ogre slavers operate within a sweltering volcano; the objective is to liberate captive Frostwolf clan orcs and draenei to stage a revolt
Raiding
Flex raid is the future and Blizzard will be expanding on it with a new raid system:
- Raid Finder: 10-20 man flex raids
- Normal raids: 10-20 man flex raids
- Heroic: 10-20 man flex raids
- Mythic: 20 man raids (non-flex)
Blackrock Foundry
- Located in Gorgrond
- First raid for level 100 players with 10 bosses and non-linear like Ulduar
- Story: Dismantle the foundry, destroy the Iron Horde's war machines, and defeat Warlord Blackhand of the Blackrock clan
PvP
Zone
Ashran, a small island to the east, will be the PvP zone. It is described as "how old Alterac Valley was"
- Staging area near the Dark Portal
- Faction bases and hotspots, with real-time monitoring of important areas
- Described as a PvP "sandbox"
Battlegrounds
Though the same system will remain in place regarding farming honor for gear, they're adding in a "bonus random" component as well, meaning the gear you're working for? It may be rewarded to you earlier.
Arena
Event Photos
See more media in BlizzCon 2013 gallery.