Tomas Hernandez is owner of Blizzplanet.com since 2003. I post news about World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard Careers, and the Warcraft film.
Blizzplanet is a leading fansite covering news about upcoming Blizzard Entertainment licensed products. I also post previews and reviews. I have interviewed book writers and Blizzard game developers.
I was previously an employee of the OGaming Network (2003), and IncGamers (2008-2010). I was a guest newsposter for GosuGamers (World of Warcraft) a few years ago and for Diablofans.com (formerly Diablo3.com)
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Blizzard Entertainment will publish the World of Warcraft online comics of the three most recent expansions: Warlords of Draenor, Legion, and Battle for Azeroth in the upcoming The World of Warcraft: Comic Collection: Volume One — available now for pre-order.
The collection description doesn’t mention the title of the comics it collects, but mentions Jaina Proudmoore, Magni, and Gul’dan.
From the front cover, it is evident that “Son of the Wolf” — by Robert Brooks (writer) and Nesskain (artist) — is one of them.
“What is the price of peace? This is a question that Anduin Wrynn must answer as war against an ancient foe begins anew and hidden enemies threaten his very life. In “Anduin: Son of the Wolf,” a letter from Anduin’s father, King Varian, speaks of ill times ahead, prompting the young ruler to ponder leadership and responsibility. Anduin must face his fears and decide if he can defend Azeroth while still keeping true to his beliefs.”
The Jaina Proudmoore comic was titled “Reunion” — by Andrew Robinson (writer) and Linda Cavallini, Emanuele Tenderini (artists).
Jaina Proudmoore went unseen on Azeroth while the Alliance and the Horde finally defeated the Burning Legion for good. Now, after much soul-searching, she finds herself in the ruins of Theramore, the city she once ruled. Here, she reflects bitterly on how her hopes and actions for a lasting peace with the Horde have led only to betrayal, heartbreak, and disaster. Particularly haunted by her part in her father’s death, she believes it is only a matter of time before the Horde breaks another hard-won treaty. She decides to return home—to the island of Kul Tiras—to confront her past.
The Magni comic was titled “The Speaker” — by Matt Burns (writer) and Suqling (artist).
The war with the Legion has left a terrible wound in Azeroth, one keenly felt by Magni Bronzebeard. He can no longer speak to the world’s spirit; he can only hear her screams. Plagued by doubt, Magni journeys to Silithus, desperate to find of a way to rekindle his connection with the world.
For Gul’dan, I assume they refer to the Warlords of Draenor comic rather than the Twilight of Suramar comic; but likely both might be available in the collection. The Gul’dan comic was titled “Gul’dan and the Stranger” — by Micky Neilson (writer) and Alex Horley (artist).
The drums of war have begun to sound for Draenor’s orcs, and the power-mad warlock Gul’dan is the latest to play them. Brimming with fel energy, Gul’dan is convinced that his people will gain glory and strength if they only kneel to the demonic Burning Legion. But a hooded stranger has recently arrived in Gul’dan’s camp with a somewhat… contradictory vision.
The stranger has walked in places where terrifying war machines will soon shake the earth. From the smoldering ridges of Gorgrond to the hunting grounds of Nagrand, he watches over the orcish ranks, stoking their dreams of a united Horde: pure, free, and utterly dominant. And he has a message for Gul’dan.
The collection is slated to ship on June 16, 2020. Feel free to explore previous novels, comics, and audiobooks released in recent years at the Blizzplanet Store.
World of Warcraft Classic peaked to over a million views on Twitch this past week, and Activision Blizzard has touted increase of subscriptions. At this point, it is unknown what the future will look like for World of Warcraft Classic. Will players continue to play Classic? What will happen after players have conquered Molten Core, Naxxramas, and Onyxia’s Lair many times over?
So far a developer played around with the idea to have The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King re-released. The question is whether the WoW Classic servers will remain so forever, while WoW: The Burning Crusade servers are opened parallel to the WoW Classic servers — separating both servers as standalone communities; or whether WoW Classic will become WoW Classic: The Burning Crusade.
Is there room for WoW Classic, World of Warcraft: BFA successors, and a third World of Warcraft? Now that would be royally unprecedented.
What would be the third World of Warcraft? Probably something set in the far future. Something set in the far past. Or… something akin to WoW Classic but how WoW Classic would look like if the Horde had never crossed over into Azeroth.
Ahhh… but that is not just an idea. It has already happened in the World of Warcraft lore. Blizzard has just not capitalized on that. Yet.
When Blizzard Entertainment launched World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, Garrosh Hellscream and Kairoz the bronze dragon had timetraveled to an alternate timeline where Garrosh had never been born.
Garrosh killed Kairoz as he didn’t want to be the dragon’s puppet. Garrosh wanted to live in this timeline doing whatever he wanted rather than follow the commands of his dragon master.
After killing Kairoz, Garrosh paid a visit to his father Grom Hellscream, and revealed to him he was his son from an alternate timeline’s future.
Garrosh told Grom not to drink from Mannoroth’s blood, and then we watched the Warlords of Draenor cinematic where Garrosh pushed Grom away when Mannoroth died — giving us a deja vu of the Warcraft III cinematic where Grom died.
Elgato announced the Elgato Game Capture 4k60 Pro MK.2 at GamesCom 2019, and it is already available to preorder for $249.99. The item ships on August 29, 2019.
The PCIe card offers 4K resolution HDR game capture, and vibrant HDR10 imaging for Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, PS4 Pro and Xbox One X.
The World of Warcraft Classic team answered questions submitted by fans at the latest Reddit AMA. These were the developers and community manager in attendance:
Back in October 2004, WCRadio launched as the first Warcraft podcast produced by its founder Athalus, and later a group of young players who joined the station to host various shows. World of Warcraft launched a couple of weeks after the show first aired, providing plenty of topics to discuss. They were linked often by Blizzard Entertainment as an approved radio show. WCRadio spawned popular online personalities like Athalus and Totalbiscuit. The community lasted and thrived until January 31, 2010 when the final show was aired.
The Warcraft lore features a massive collection of printed media that have delighted fans over the past two decades. The first printed Warcraft novel was Warcraft: Day of the Dragon by Richard A. Knaak — originally published on February 2001.
Nowdays, there are over twenty of these Warcraft novels, comic books, graphic novels, and compendiums such as the Warcraft Chronicles series. However, there is much more out there than physical paperback/hardcover books, or digital books (Kindle). Blizzard Entertainment has eventually added audiobooks to the Audible collection.
Let’s take a look at what is out there available at the reach of your fingertips. Perfect to listen to while driving, or traveling to lighten up your downtime. Follow the link to listen to an audio sample or to purchase.
Trivia:
Christie Golden is the narrator and writer of the following audiobooks: Lord of the Clans, Rise of the Horde, and Arthas, Rise of the Lich King.
Josh Keaton (voice of Anduin Wrynn in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth) is the narrator of Christie Golden’s World of Warcraft: Before the Storm.
Community Manager Kaivax posted the 8.2.5 Patch Notes listing all the content players may expect in Battle for Azeroth.
A new content update for World of Warcraft is in development and will soon be available on the Public Test Realms (PTR). While not all features will be fully functional and available for testing, here’s a look at some of the new content coming in this version.
Worgen and Goblin Character Model Updates
First introduced in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, worgen and goblins are getting a long-anticipated suite of visual improvements to their character models. These updates include every aspect of how the worgen and goblins look—from their faces to their animations.
Celebrate 15 Years of World of Warcraft
This November marks the 15th anniversary of World of Warcraft, and we have some special things planned to celebrate the occasion. Players who log in during the event period will receive a celebration package in the mail with a Lil’ Nefarian pet and some other in-game goodies. Throughout the duration of the event, you’ll be able to participate in three unique raids with iconic encounters from past expansions along with an old-school-inspired Alterac Valley battleground. Players who defeat all nine bosses in the raid wings will receive the Obsidian Worldbreaker, a Black Dragonflight mount inspired by Deathwing. Players who participate in Alterac Valley and complete an achievement can earn two new mounts: the Stormpike Battle Ram (Alliance) and the Frostwolf Snarler (Horde).
A Fuzzy, Buzzy Mount
Stormsong’s Beekeepers have discovered a new hive in town. Alliance players can work with Barry to locate the hive and court the favor of the Hivemother in order to earn this mount.
New Timewalking Raid: Firelands
When Cataclysm Timewalking is active, max-level players will be able to form a raid group and enter the Sulfuron Spire once more. As with previous Timewalking raids (Black Temple, Ulduar), your gear and power are scaled to the challenge, and all the bosses and rewards you expect lie in wait.
Introducing Party Sync
During this PTR we’re experimenting with a new mode that makes it easier for players in a party to do quests and play together: Party Sync. When players activate Party Sync, everyone in the party becomes aligned to the same quest state, including phases. By mousing over a quest in your tracker, you can see who is on the quest, what their progress is, and who’s ready to turn in the quest. There’s something else we’re going to try out on the PTR, a “replay” quest feature. This will allow players who have already completed certain quests to replay those quests with their friends for rewards that are appropriate to their current level, regardless of the original level of the quest.
We’re also relaxing level restrictions on queueing for instanced content with your friends. This allows lower-level players to queue for content in their level range, and higher-level players can choose to join them by having their level scaled down while they’re in the instance. This feature will be available for dungeon instances for PTR Week 1, with PvP instances being flagged in the following weeks. Please note that unlike Timewalking, when your level is scaled down via Party Sync you will temporarily lose access to abilities and powers (such as Azerite traits) with requirements that exceed your reduced level.
Recruit A Friend Returns
Coming in 8.2.5 is a revamped Recruit A Friend system. If you have active game time you’ll be able to recruit your friends—both brand-new to the game and returning champions—to share in your adventures. To do so, you’ll be able to use a new URL generation tool to create a custom link to give to your friends. By following the link, you’ll be connected to each other and will be able to see if they have purchased game time, resulting in rewards for you! For each month your recruits have active game time, you’ll earn a new reward such as unique pets, mounts, game time and more. These rewards unlock per month and scale with how many months your recruits have subscribed for. And, of course, with Party Sync you’ll be able to journey with your friends on any of your characters. We’ll have more information about Recruit A Friend rewards when we get closer to its release.
Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you on the 8.2.5 PTR!
The latest Patch introduces a new 8.2.5 Wrathion questline which starts from the Earthen Guardian NPC. He can be found near the flightpath master at the Port of Zandalar (Horde), or the Tradeswind Market (Alliance). Ebonhorn’s mind is under assault by the Old god N’zoth at the Chamber of the Heart. Kalecgos has summoned you to come to the Chamber to assist Ebonhorn. You are sent into a journey to the Veiled Stair in Pandaria to search the whereabouts of Wrathion from one of his servants.
The World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Patch 8.2.5 introduces new worgen and goblin models. The basic shape of the hairstyles and ears are basically the same except more realistic color/brightness. In the video below, I show the before and after patch 8.2.5 models.
In World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Patch 8.2.5 the Orgrimmar Embassy and Stormwind Embassy have been changed. The faction leaders are no longer present there. Instead, the Pandaren leaders of the Alliance and Horde are present there for the appropriate embassy.
Blizzard Entertainment will publish the World of Warcraft online comics of the three most recent expansions: Warlords of Draenor, Legion, and Battle for Azeroth in the upcoming The World of Warcraft: Comic Collection: Volume One — available now for pre-order.
