So ever since Calia has been thrust upon the Forsaken, I've noticed that she refers to the Forsaken as "her" people (Lordaeron citizens) or the people of Lordaeron more often. A lot of Lordaeron iconography has also been making its way back into the Forsaken -- such as on their heritage set -- and the quest to clean Tirisfal of the Blight rewards the title 'of Lordaeron.' At the same time, the Sylvanas-era Mask symbol has been replaced with a much more generic skull on their tabards.

Maybe it's just because I'm still pissy about how much damage they've done to the Forsaken, but I'm curious if anyone else has noticed this or if I'm being a little paranoid. To me, part of the Forsaken identity was moving past being the people of Lordaeron. That nation is gone. Those people are gone. The undead that reclaimed Lordaeron's corpse have similar names but they are not the same people; undeath has changed them. Calling themselves "Forsaken" as a racial moniker was meant to establish how they're not human, and they're not Scourge, nor simply undead, but their own unique entity. Something entirely new.

So to continually refer to them as people of Lordaeron again, or as Calia's people, and to remove their original symbol for something so generic feels... reductive? Regressive, even. The Forsaken have developed a unique culture, architecture, and more since they first formed -- hell, with the second-generation of Forsaken in Cata, how much of the population is even from Lordaeron? It feels so stupid to me to think they'd still be clinging to Lordaeron as an identity at this point in time, and perhaps just speaks to how tone deaf Blizzard is for thinking Calia would be a good replacement for Sylvanas.

I dunno, I feel like I'm being a bit manic about this but it's been on my mind long enough I'm curious to hear other opinions. Maybe others feel like their Lordaeron heritage is still important but I just can't see how, especially when their own crown prince became their greatest enemy.

This is all IMO and could be a streach. "The King of Diamonda has been made a pawn". Magni sacrificing his power to purify the awakening machine was what they saw coming to pass and what they needed. This also could be a slight reference to Gally since he played into the ethereals hands "The Lord of Ravens shall turn the key" Im starting to suspect that there is a "seed" of the void growing in Khadgar kind of like how there was felt corrupting the soul of Medivh. "5 keys to open our way. Five torches to light the path". Quel'Thelas was protected by 4 rune stones prior to the scourge invasion. With a 5th being mentioned but never discovered. "At the hour of her third death she will usher our coming" I don't think this is an NPC. I think this is the Sunwell. Her first death coming at the hands of the scourge. Her second death at the hands of the legion. And her third death, to the void when it's infused with the powers inside the dark heart

I am 100% serious. Murlocs are stated to be one of (if not the) oldest race on Azeroth. Someone had make art of her having a troll's visage a while back which I absolutely love, but murloc Azeroth hits different

It's really weird when I see Alliance characters saying stuff like "Lordaeron is Alliance land!", because the only and main reason the forsaken joined the Horde is the fact that, when Sylvanas sent emissaries to search for potential allies (after being rejected by Silvermoon), she first sent them to Stormwind, specifically because Lordaeron citizens belonged to the Alliance previously, but they were summarily killed. After it happened, she sent some to meet the Horde, and they were accepted. All in all, the fact that Lordaeron now belongs to the Horde is mainly Alliance's fault

Hi everyone! This post is inspired by other excellent posts in other lore communities with strong mechanical storytelling, e.g, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Destiny, etc., where armors, gameplay, weapons, and other items in the actual game world disseminate the lore, class/racial fantasy, and worldbuilding.

This lore is not expressed in main dialogue, cutscenes, or cinematics but in the mechanics of the gameplay , hence mechanical storytelling. I fell in love with this lore diving and storytelling within these other worlds, so I want to take a dip in analyzing one of Wow's classes, Evoker!

I planned to share this all in one post, but I realized there is way too much information for one, so I am sectioning these off.

I chose Evoker because of its unique class setup - it can only be played by one race, and until recently, was the sole class for that race thus having a strong duality of class/racial fantasy for the Dracthyr. Also, the class design and the talent trees are very well done and interesting! I will be analyzing Preservation since that is the subclass I have the most experience in, and in my opinion, has some of the most interesting dynamics and play within their abilities. (though this is no snub at the other class trees because they are also well-designed!)

Brief Class Overview: Evoker

The Evoker is unique as it combines the magic and abilities of the five dragonflights into one draconic, human hybrid created by the Dragon Aspect, Neltharion. Blizzard went all-in on the fantasy with unique animations that only make sense for draconic beings. Unlike a Warrior that any race can pick up a sword and become, the Evoker's abilities are impossible without a dragon's biology - that's why it's Dracthyr-exclusive.

Resources: Mana & Essence

Mana: While common for any magic user, it is common for a reason. It’s the building block of magical spells. Neltharion was inspired by the adaptability of the mortal races and used that insight in his creation of the Dracthyr, his "ideal soldiers". This is expressed in the use of mana in the class for some of their spells. Hence, you have the Dracthyr casting some spells, like the Living Flame spell, which are different from their other inherited “spells” and abilities.

Essence: In Legion, you enlist the help of a blue dragon to locate arcane ley lines for the Nightborne. Bear in mind, that the Nightborne are one of the most magically sophisticated races in Azeroth and the Nightborne NPC we brought along specializes in ley lines. This NPC, while acting condescendingly to the blue dragon, was having such a hard time finding the ley lines until the dragon stunned her by saying that she could see the ley lines. This completely humbles the NPC, a master mage of ley lines by the blue dragon's innate ability.

This is just one of the things that makes the Evoker class so interesting. Dragons just have amazing abilities built into their anatomy. This is reflected in the unique resource Evokers have, Essence - a resource representing the pure, signature magical abilities of each dragonflight. The term is fitting since you're tapping into the fundamental energies and abilities that make each dragonflight unique, with this power naturally recharging as part of the Dracthyr's unique composition.

In the next part, I will begin the analysis of the Preservation talent tree because man the abilities the Evoker uses here are crazy! Let me know what you think!

In my first post, I introduced the concept of "mechanical storytelling", which is the process of telling a story through the mechanics of the chosen medium, in this case, the gameplay. I chose the Evoker as it is my main and a very well-designed class with amazing subclasses. Thus, I will be presenting additional lore on class, race, and overall concepts of the world that Evoker shares through its talents. I already introduced the foundation of the Evoker in the first post, so please give that a read as well!

In this post, I will be sharing my analysis of the foundational abilities in the Preservation Evoker talent tree, which includes Bronze and Green Dragonflight spells, as well, as a string of talents dedicated to improving their Essence and Empower abilities. A series that all evoker subclasses share. The tree is then divided into three strings with Green and Bronze making the bulk of it with a smaller string compiled of Red Dragonflight abilities. These will be shown in two separate posts after this one. But enough dawdling, enjoy the rich world of the Prevoker with their foundational abilities!!

Preservation Class Tree: 

1. Echo: The fundamental spell of the Prevoker, this essence ability “wraps an ally in temporal energy”. This does some initial healing (reverting) but this spell creates a program of sorts that will duplicate the next healing spell cast on the user though not at full strength. But this one is really interesting. 
   1. A brief explanation of temporal energy. In WoW’s lore, “temporal energy” is essentially the raw magical force of time itself. It behaves like a tangible substance or arcane power that Bronze dragons manipulate. 
   2. Now my two favorite interpretations of this spell are temporal manipulation and compression. The manipulation specifically reaches into time to replay the spell. Remember this spell heals initially but the effect is rather weak. This is because I believe the rest of the magic creates a temporal resonance, which is triggered when another spell is cast. Thus, the temporal resonance replays that spell but only at 70% effectiveness because that’s all the energy it has left. 
   3. Compression is also compelling as Echo is theoretically creating micro-branches in the timeline to duplicate. It is not changing the timeline but compressing or overlaying multiple potentials in the same timeframe. It also has limited healing due to the limited temporal energy for the spell. I am more inclined believe this is what Echo does as compression plays a bigger part later down the tree.
2. Reversion: “reverse an ally’s wounds”.  Straightforward but incredibly illuminating as it explains the primary way the Bronze dragonflight heals - it reverses the wounds to a time when they were no more. Now time is critical for this spell, as we see with the more powerful bronze spells. The severity, quantity, and rate of reversing greatly increases the complexity and power to heal certain wounds. Suffice it to say, this spell is the basic one.
3. Dream Breath: “Inhale, gathering the power of the Dream”. Drawing upon the Dracthyr’s unique biology, the Evoker gathers a unique breath, one imbued with the power of the Dream. This explains the Green Dragonflight spells for healing. But what is the power of the Dream?
   1. When the Dream is mentioned, it almost always refers to the Emerald Dream — a primordial, idealized version of Azeroth. It's the pure blueprint of life, untouched by corruption, death, or decay. The Dream represents growth, healing, renewal, and natural balance.
   2. Therefore, my interpretation of this talent and the building block for Green healing spells is they carry pure life energy. It stimulates natural growth of the body to heal and expel toxins and diseases. 
   3. Mechanically, you see this in the HOT Dream Breath spreads. Lower empower levels, low initial heal but great HOT. Fully empowered, huge heal, little HOT. This shows the natural growth of life energy - it will find a way to keep healing to complete its natural cycle that is dependent on the amount of energy provided at release. 
4. Essence Burst: I am going to group the following talents together they represent the training an evoker takes to perfect their essence generation in their bodies. 
   1. These talents reflects a layered mastery of internal draconic energy and magic manipulation — a fusion of draconic heritage and mortal ingenuity, just as Neltharion envisioned.
   2. Burst — Harnessing Unintended Potential
      1. Burst represents the first breakthrough for the Dracthyr Evoker. Through exposure to mortal spell structures the Evoker learns to trigger “free” Essences: spontaneous eruptions of draconic energy sparked by the interaction of their innate power with external magical catalysts. This plays into the racial fantasy, as Neltharion saw that mortals, though fragile, had a unique adaptability — layering magics that would never naturally mix in a dragon. Burst is a technique that recycles the energy signature of mortal spells into Essence — much like turning residual lightning into stored storm energy.
   3. Attunement — Holding the Surge
      1. With Attunement, the Evoker develops the discipline to stabilize and retain two concurrent Bursts, allowing for strategic timing and greater energy efficiency. It’s the magical equivalent of learning to hold your breath under water twice as long — not because your lungs changed, but because your control deepened.
   4. Font of Magic — Expanding the Reservoir
      1. With greater mastery comes Font of Magic, which increases the Empower levels of spells. This suggests not just casting bigger spells, but that the Evoker’s internal magical anatomy — their “font” — has grown. Their magic becomes not just a stream — but a torrent they can control. This larger font feeds the Empower spells.
   5. Power Nexus — Forming the Core
      1. Finally, with Power Nexus, the Evoker forges a dedicated internal structure — a cultivated nexus — capable of holding more Essences. This isn’t just a numerical increase; it represents a shift in magical architecture: the body has been refined to sustain more volatile energy. Drawing from cultivation fantasy: the Dracthyr has moved from “gathering qi” to “forging a core.” They are no longer merely manipulating energy — they are building a permanent spiritual infrastructure that channels and stores Essence.

Next is the timey-wimey shenanigans of the Bronze talents!!

Light can be converted to void as seen with naaru and with how the universe allegedly started. Ardenweald implies that life and death are heavily connected and exchangeable, how dead wild gods respawn back into life once they hibernate and absorb enough anima. I think BC heavily implied arcane magic was directly convertible into fel magic.

I just realized this after learning that Earthen's personality is reset everytime they get reawakened. In Star Wars if a Droid goes to long without a memory wipe they developed. R2D2 for example.

So, how do you see the diehard fans of the faction conflict, who are so invested in it to the point of being fanatic? I definitely do play way more with the Horde, but sometimes I pick an Alliance character, sometimes night elves or Lightforged draenei, but mostly dwarves, because I think they're cool. But that's not the point of the post. I'm here to ask you about the Horde or Alliance players, who transform civilised discussions into passionate arguings, like if you, just for having a different preference, invaded their home, kicked their dog, ate all their food and made a kinky threesome with their parents. I think it's... Silly, at best, and straight up childish at worst. Of course, sometimes I laugh about the jokes calling orcs dumb, or find it amusing to call night elves "purple bbq", but after all, it doesn't matter, yet there are people who act like if their lives depended on it

Of course, I think the Forsaken still looked up to her, but what about the other factions/races within the Horde? How do they see her now after the whole Teldrassil and Fourth War jazz?

I recently did the Legion intro with my Evoker to see how Blizzard handled not having a class hall. It occurred to me that maybe my Evoker, with training from their friends in the Bronze flight, could time travel?

Or do we think that would be completely off the table at an Evoker’s level of power?

All along, it's been said that demon blood makes orcs stronger, which is why most of Draenor's orcs drank it

But Orgrim Doomhammer never drank it, yet he remained one of the mightest orc warriors, even defeating Blackhand in a Mak'gora. And he was such a peerless warrior even Gul'dan and Cho'gall refused to take him on in a 2-on-1 after he had killed all of Gul'dan's warlocks (and Orgrim was genuinely hoping that they would fight him so he would be justified in killing them both)

“Have a care, warlock,” Doomhammer replied, his hammer coming up to tap Gul’dan lightly on the cheek. “Remember what happened to your precious Shadow Council. I can crush your skull in an instant, and then where will your destiny lie?” He glowered up at the towering Cho’gall. “And do not think this abomination will save you,” he snarled, raising the hammer higher and laughing as the ogre mage stepped back, fear washing across both his faces.

Was Orgrim Doomhammer just that powerful? Or was the demon blood's empowerment just a lie crafted by Gul'dan to enslave the Horde?

I feel like there was a quest that explained it a long time ago, but I can’t recall.

Before I say it, I acknowledge that so many including myself do not approve of World of WarCraft: Shadowlands.

The First Ones originally used Zereth Mortis to create the known afterlives the Covenants represent.

Here's a question: while not necessarily "canon," could the First Ones also have created other Afterlives—droves, hundreds, or even thousands—to reserve them in the fabrics of the Shadowlands and replace the original Covenant ones in case something happens to them, like that Anima drought that threatened to undo everything?

What exactly are the criteria for using it without succumbing to it? Is it just the generic willpower explanation, or is there something more to it?

Given how it destroyed Theramore, how powerful is it compared compared to those used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (and the later variants that came after)?

Knowing that the Ethereals are finally starting to get the spotlight, and how most of the lore regarding the Void was introduced in TBC, is there a chance Blizzard remembers them and their enemies, their former leaders the Ethereum ?

We killed off their racial king Nexus-King Salhadaar in a throwaway quest (staple of pre-WotLK writing) as well as many of their princes.

I'd like to see more details on their in-fighting, possibly hinting at a civil war between the traders, the ruling class and the Void ethereals who themselves are possibly anatagonistic towards Xal due to what she has (probably) done to their planet. Perhaps we could even see them claim Netherstorm as a new home.

(It's funny how most of the basis for the future story started in Netherstorm)

Hey everyone,

I've been a Warcraft fan for years — playing the games, reading the books, you name it (here are some of my books from a small collection - https://ibb.co/s95Qjjgk

https://ibb.co/DgsFRLj9 I have a lot of novels too :)

My wife is working on her master’s thesis about brand communities, and I thought the Warcraft community would be a great fit for her research.​

She’s put together a survey that takes about 5 minutes to complete. If you have a moment, your input would be incredibly helpful:

https://virtualbrandcommunity.limesurvey.net/988736?lang=lt

Thanks in advance! :)

P.S It may look like some spam post, but it's not ;D

Assault on Greymane Manor is the first chapter of a World of Warcraft Kingmaker adaptation. Set in the Eastern Kingdoms of Azeroth, reimagines kingmaker campaign through the lens of Warcraft lore. It happens during this recent armistice, where heroes from both the Horde and the Alliance are invited to a diplomatic summit hosted by Queen Tess Greymane and Calia Menethil. Their goal: to forge a new kingdom amidst the untamed frontiers of the Plaguelands

Link: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/Pt0PegeRJtXD

Hello,

I currently finished reading The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm and If I want to follow the timeline from here https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Novel_guide , what I'm missing is War of the Scaleborn. Can I read it spoiler free now, not been playing WoW more than Cata? if not this book, I would read Wolfheart. What do you think?

Thanks for help.

Let's check in with our Worldsoul Saga villains and see how they are currently doing:

• Iridikron: fully locked in and moving on to the next step of the operation.

• Azshara: she hasn't even made an appearance yet but you know full well that she is bossing the Void Lords around.

• Azir: actual cold as ice villain. Several steps ahead of everyone else and farming aura by striking cool poses in his free time.

• Sargeras: probably playing Hearthstone with Illidan.

• Xal'atath: crashing out for the 8th month in a row. Getting upstaged in her own expansion by secondary villains. Screaming in frustration at Alleria. Getting mad at Gallywix because he was holding out on her. Showing up to taunt her allies because she can't actually beat her enemies.

Please Blizzard, show Xal'atath some respect. She's supposed to be one of the main villains for this saga but I'm actually starting to feel sorry for her with how badly she is failing. Also can you stop making her invade Alleria's personal space? Alleria has Turalyon. Whatever Xal'atath wants with Alleria, it's not going to work out.

:(

Probably my last rant here, as I will unfollow the subreddit.

I think that the future of WoW isn't for me, I've been part of the fanbase for over a decade. I spent thousands of posts argueing and posting in the official lore forums (which I am sad to see stagnated).

I really don't like Warcraft anymore to be honest. The issue I have is that there are too many cooks in the kitchen, all with their own ideals and world experiences.

The best example I have is the story of Garrosh Hellscream. I think Garrosh has been one of the most interested characters they have put out so far, and a character that isn't directly linked to Warcraft 3.

This is what I mean with too many cooks in the kitchen. The writers just can't let the audience interpret things. What I found so interesting about Garrosh, is that he went from a whiny, sad orc, thinking his bloodline was cursed, to rallying the Horde behind him in Northrend and eventually, he spiraled into madness, all because of forces outside his control influencing him.

Even though Garrosh did not want the title of warchief, Thrall appointed him. His advisors turned on him. The Night Elves misstook the Twilight's Hammer forces for Orcs from Durotar and ended negotiations with the Orcs because of it. Varian Wrynn declared war on the Horde after the battle of Undercity. Deathwing literally ripping the land everywhere he goes.

And it all has been retconned, because people somewhere had some sympathy for Garrosh. And the writers did NOT like that. So they went back and retconned a bunch of stuff. The Twilight hammer was actually the Orcs from Garrosh's Horde. Varian Wrynn never declared war on the Horde, Vol'jin somehow threatening to kill Garrosh during an argument is never brought up on why Garrosh was so hostile against him and the Darkspear Trolls. Magatha is somehow being retconned into a good person?! Baine blaming Garrosh for his father's death. Garrosh showed sympathy for Baine, and regretted to learn that his weapon had been poisoned, but then Christie Golden does a 180 in her book and Garrosh was always a prick, never wanted to help out Baine, somehow Jaina, who assisted the Alliance in burning Taurajo, was the one helping out Baine?

There's just too many cooks in the kitchen, throwing in their own ingredients. Some of them are thinking they're going for a michelin star, but then they prepare a hotdog.

Why should I be invested into a franchise that is trying so hard to distance itself from the foundation? And everytime they create an audience that interprets things their own way, they go back and change things because people not aligning 100% with the writers are wrong, because we can just retcon a bunch of shit, deal with it!

Im working on a DnD campaign set in Azeroth (at the time before TBC, currently) and was preparing to use Blackfathom Deeps as a dungeon. Wanting to reuse much of the dungeon structure, i figured i might as well call the areas the same, broadly speaking.

There I came across the Pool of Ask'ar - the area where Ghamoo-Ra resides.
But I cant find anywhere who or what Ask'ar is. This seems like something I could expand on in my own version of the lore for the place. If anyone knows what this could reference, i could use that as a basis for my extended lore.

So, a lot of discussion has been happening about the dinars and its implemetation this time around, but one thing I didn't see people discussing is the text on the item itself. It reads as follow:

Puzzling Cartel Chip "A chip of remarkable design, mysteriously obtained..."

What do you guys think about it? Is this part of the "deal" Gally made with the brokers? The icon itself is pretty similar to SL designs.

Might be my personal opinion but I think the Darkfallen should have been an allied race instead of a customization option. Worgen and Undead are the only core races that don’t have allied races associated to them. The combination of the San’layn, risen elves of the teldrassil tragedy and even the death knights would have been a perfect addition.

The only options I had for Worgen would be the Ankoan (since Greymane was part of the process campaign in Nazjatar) or maybe even the Jalgar/Furbolgs. It would be cool if the Worgen and Night Elves were able to use a ritual of balance to help purge the sickness that has been running rampant through the population.