Patch 3.2 Revelation

I have figured out what this patch, "Call of The Crusade", is all about.

At first I thought it was about nerfing the everliving crap out of WoW. Levels of riding cheaper and at earlier levels. Higher level badges from every instance. New Heirloom items to increase your alt's leveling speed. New epic gems to boost everyone's abilities.

Or I thought maybe this patch was about the Ravasaur. After 4+ years of the Wintersaber being available to the Alliance the Horde can finally earn a Ravasaur. It's certainly what Kuan and Viljo are spending the most effort working on.

But then I realized that the new dungeon/instance is the main focus, but not in the way that we all think. Most people think of the new dungeon and think of all the amazing gear that will drop from it. However they are not looking closely at the arena itself.

The Trial of the Crusader is just one big arena. You fight multiple bosses, but you never move, they all come to you. On the west side are the big gates where the enemies/opponents come in. On the east side is Tirion Fordring and some of his Argent Crusade people. On the north side is the Alliance contingent led by Varian Wrynn and Jaina Proudmoore. On the south side is the Horde contingent led by Thrall and Garrosh Hellscream. And all of these people watch and cheer as you fight. At the start of the fights there is some banter where Varian insults the Horde and Jaina tries to calm him and Garrosh and Thrall are complimentary to the fighters in the ring. Well that is what happens if you're Horde anyway.

Think about this situation. You're in an arena, fighting, and Thrall and Varian are watching you. They were both slave gladiators. Thrall grew up trained to fight in the Durnhold arena for humans to watch. Varian got amnesia and was forced to fight in various arenas in Kalimdor, mostly in Horde cities. This situation has got to be bringing back unpleasant memories for both of them. It's not like either of them were given a choice to fight like we were. They were both just forced into the arena and basically told fight or die.

Both Thrall and Varian fought themselves free of their slavery and have clearly gone on to greater things. But Thrall went to get Shaman training and then came back and decimated Durnhold before he led the Orcs to Kalimdor and formed the new Horde. I think that he has made peace with his past. Varian on the other hand hasn't had time to make peace with anything. He still hates all of the Horde.

So I am sure that at some point Varian is going to lose it. Maybe it will be at the end of the 10/25 man raid. He'll just go crazy (crazier) and leap down into the arena to start attacking the raid. Honestly he doesn't seem all that stable to start with and I think that watching a Horde raid succeed will just make him totally lose it.

So there it is: the major revelation for Call of the Crusade is that Varian is a crazy war-hungry former gladiator. When he sees a Horde raid succeed his Post Traumatic Shock will kick in and he'll leap down and try to massacre them.