Ion: Hello, BlizzCon! It’s such an honor to be here with all of you. Thank you for coming. Thank you for tuning in online. I couldn’t be more excited, on behalf of the entire World of Warcraft team, to share with you what we have been working on pretty much since the moment Legion came out: The next chapter in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth.
And I know, every BlizzCon is special, and I am a bit biased here, but there is something particularly special about WoW expansion announcements at BlizzCon. So this is going to be a good day. So I know you have a lot of questions after what you have seen, and so we are going to try to walk you through a whirlwind tour of what this expansion has to offer. The setting, the story, the characters, the features, the systems, and more.
So without further ado, let me introduce our creative director Alex Afrasiabi to tell you about the world of Battle for Azeroth.
Battle for Azeroth
Alex: Thank you, Ion. Nice shirt. This is the new shirt. Hello, BlizzCon. It’s good to see you all again. We are here today, to talk about the Battle for Azeroth, and prepare you for the coming war. Right now, we have all seen that incredible cinematic.
We are from the get-go: battle lines are drawn, and what I like best about that cinematic (and it does so many things, so well) is that it reinforces the foundations of Warcraft; because whether we are fighting the Burning Legion, the Scourge, Old gods, Dragon Aspects, Elemental Lords, or yes… timetraveling Orcs, our hearts and minds are with our factions.
We do what we do in this worlds, first and foremost, for the HORDE! … and for the ALLIANCE! — and that makes us the champions of Azeroth. The greatest hope the world has ever known, and also its biggest threat. But this is WoW. We don’t just get to watch awesome cinematics. We get to live them. Because to get to the Battle for Azeroth, you are going to have to go through the battle for Lordaeron.
Like the Broken Shore, we will pick up where the cinematic left off; and what goes down that day will change Warcraft history forever. Now some of you might be asking: Hey, Alex. Why would the Alliance attack the Undercity? It is a good question. It is a good question. Here is a better question: why would the Horde burn down Teldrassil?
Did Teldrassil fall first, and lead to the attack of Undercity; or was the burning of Teldrassil a response to the bold Alliance attack on Lordaeron? You will find out. Think about this: the stage is set for an Alliance-controlled Eastern Kingdoms, and a Horde-controlled Kalimdor with one great big sea separating the two continents — which leads us to our search for allies. In our quest for victory, we will seek out the Kul’Tirans as the Alliance, and the Zandalari as the Horde. Coincidentally, both of these nations have extremely powerful navys; which we are going to need to span that great sea. Let me leave you with this thought: no matter who fired the first shot, we are in an all-out war. It is our duty as Alliance, as Horde, to defend our people, our families, and our homes. This is the Battle for Azeroth.
So to recap: the Alliance and the Horde are in an all-out war. All hatreds have reignited. It is both factions strike at each other’s hearts. Now with the world divided, we seek out lost territories, and new powerful resources; and with no external threats, we turn our fury to each other. We fight for our faction’s survival, and our place in this world; and to win this war, we are going to need all that help we can get — which leads us to find new and old allies alike; and THAT… takes us to Kul’Tiras and Zandalar; which opens up two new continents to the game; which we are going to take a look at right now.
Alright, starting with Kul’Tiras for the Alliance. Kul’Tiras was founded 3,000 years ago when a group of Gilneans left the old empire to explore the Great Sea. They came upon this cold, mountainous island, rich in natural resources, and decided to settle in. Never in the course of the next 25,000 years, the Kul’Tirans built the most powerful navy on Azeroth. A navy that the Alliance really, really wants.
Today, Kul’Tiras is ruled by 4 houses, which we will find out are in a bit of trouble; and before we can get the Kul’Tirans to join our side, we are going to need to help them with their problems. Lastly, Kul’Tiras is broken up into three main regions: we have Tiragarde Sound in the middle, the Drustvar in the southwest, and Stormsong Valley in the north.
Let’s take a look at the zones of Kul’Tiras.
NEXT: ZONES OF KUL’TIRAS
| WORLD OF WARCRAFT: BATTLE FOR AZEROTH PANEL TRANSCRIPT | |||
| 1. Battle for Azeroth | 2. Zones of Kul'Tiras | 3. Zones of Zandalar | 4. Zone Flow |
| 5. Allied Races | 6. Leveling Improvements | 7. Heart of Azeroth | 8. Island Expeditions |
| 9. Warfronts | 10. Battlegrounds & Arenas | 11. World PvP | 12. Dungeons & Raids |
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