Portergauge

Obsessed with Blizzard showing off the warrior tier set on the widest character possible

We know this isn't the case because nobody in the zone is aware of the Lightbloom prior to our arrival at Shaladrassil's roots during the leveling story.

If the yellow skybox throughout the zone was intended to be a new phenomenon, they would have commented on it.

Looking back at the TWW launch cinematic too, Orweyna's segment is very clearly in Harandar, but the lighting looks nothing like how it does in Midnight.

I do wonder if they intended it to be like this at some point in development, and I wonder why it changed so much.

It's also weird because when you go to the Lightbloom beneath Shaladrassil, it uses the skybox and the haze from Eversong with that sickly yellow to show how dominant the Light is.

But then the rest of the zone is basically the same exact yellow lighting, so it's a bit moot lol

I've never been someone who uses Inky Black Potions often, since I always prefer the lighting of a given zone as intended.

...but I think Harandar might be my big exception. Between the lighting of the Cradle and the bioluminescent plants, it feels like it's SUPPOSED to be dark.

I wrote a little short story a while back about my Man'ari character Tsao-Lon, and the first steps he took towards becoming a shaman.

It's only *slightly* proof-read since I wrote it in a travel-induced fervor, but I had fun and figured I would share it.
gelbin-mekkatwerk.tumblr.com/post/8106652...

Omg he’s even a shadow priest as a middle ground between my disc priest and your warlock

He works so well as a fish out of water, not just because of his unique nature as a dreadlord but how, in contrast to the four faith-based stories we just leveled through, he is the ONLY one with that kind of determined belief in the entire zone (aside from Arator, who he clearly doubts)

I've decided my Blood Knight is an incredibly reluctant ally to Astalor, as the only other person in Silvermoon who isn't lame.

They're like the only two gay people in the workplace who can't stand each other, but have to work together because everyone else is so much worse.

I know it was already pretty obvious that Harandar was originally intended for TWW and not Midnight, but some of the world quest dialogue makes it *really* obvious lol

I wonder if it's just a coincidence that the 'Alnscorned' manifestation in Orweyna's short story uses a Sha model.

Everyone has their favorite main story character or racial leader in WoW, but what I want to know is: what are people's Warcraft Glup Shittos?

Give me your obscure, "only mattered 10 years ago" one-off characters that you love in WoW.

the way you nailed the tone here so perfectly, you absolutely have experience with these kinds of men 😭

would you say it's... exquisite....

Me and my chud son who I love

I took care of her with my handy elven SHOTGUN not long after though

The faction tagging in the Horde area of Silvermoon is a bit finnicky, so my draenei friend and I found afk spots in the part of the city with good music

The quote for getting a perfect score lmao

Sadly though, we still brutalize and murder civilians (while letting the fel-wielding nobles off scot free) so I can't really call it massively improved from beta lol

They also added a cute little minigame where you don a disguise and have to play the role of a temp worker for angry lounge guests lol

The Murder Row dungeon quests got some very small changes, having Belath talk more about the *dangers* of fel magic instead of calling them foolish for fearing the Void.

Doesn't change the overall issues with the dungeon, but they're nice little framing changes.

The dungeon also now ends with the gloom over Windrunner Village totally cleared, so I guess it was just the haunting causing all of that very cool atmosphere lol

Sadly the rest of the dungeon is exactly the same as from testing though. We kill the Forsaken entirely unprompted, and are more understanding of a dragonhawk than these actual living people lol

Lirath's voice acting also just has such an uncomfortable disdain in Sylvanas' wing.

Little lore books got added to the Windrunner Spire dungeon, one from each sibling.

Vereesa's especially is SO heartbreaking, and I love how simply it's written compared to the flowery words of the others.

He is! He shows up at Light's Hope during the Arator questline

Of all of Vol'jin's old plotlines, his treatment of the Amani is perhaps his least ideal moment lol, so having Rokhan *bond* with the Amani instead would be a great way to fully step out of his shadow.

It'd be the perfect way to re-center the Darkspear in the Troll Unity plot.

It would really suck if, after all the work done in 12.0 Zul'Aman to center the Amani around their own motives again instead of the Zandalari's, if they got roped into a "Talanji unites the trolls!" plot.

If anything, I would hope *Rokhan* will be the one to finally unite them.

I love Talanji so much as an individual but she did a LOT of damage to the overarching troll narrative, and I hope they fix it rather than double down.

They are not outright evil anymore, but the Zandalari should still be positioned as a (newly) well-meaning but arrogant Empire.

That said, I absolutely DO want to see the wider troll cast in 12.1.

I really hope they handle Talanji carefully though, because 12.0 Zul'Aman has done a great job re-positioning the Zandalari as an antagonistic force, which Talanji's story has a... complex relationship with.

Maybe hot take: I'm honestly glad that Talanji was NOT in Zul'Aman for 12.0, and we instead got Liadrin.

I think for a first introduction to the Amani as a proper group, it was much better to stay focused on exploring the local conflict with the Blood Elves before anything else.