Darkspear Rebellion: Orgrimmar

Orgrimmar is not a friendly place right now if you're not an orc. In fact Garrosh has made it a mighty uncomfortable place for anyone but the Kor'kron.

Gamon is getting pushed around.

But outside of Org is even worse.

The Darkspear are preparing for the assault, but any of them that got caught by Garrosh are facing the firing squad.

Garrosh is also being a dick to the goblins too. Really not that smart to piss off the people who have explosives.

I'm pretty disappointed to see Zaela outside Org. I really would expect her to not be on Garrosh's side as soon as she sees him with Sha affects.

Morn will be happy to go bitch slap Garrosh, but it's a bit sad to see the state the Org is in these days.

Battle for Sen'jin, and Kuan's UI

so I realized a couple days ago I haven't really put any pics into the little rotating slideshow on the left of the blog layout, and set about to find some likely candidates.  I've been slacking on the screenshots lately, it seems.

That said, I found this great screenshot of Kuanchichi and Mornara defending Sen'jin Village as part of the Darkspear Rebellion storyline.  or, it would be great, if 40% of Kuan's screen area wasn't covered in stuff.

(FWIW the two gaps at the bottom get focus target and tooltips, respectively.)  I've been thinking the two chat windows need to be moved, and thus the buttons rearranged, for a while.  Seeing this screenshot makes me think I need a change even more.

Anyhow I think the screenshot is still cool.  Mornara is holding them back while Kuanchichi zaps them all with Chain Lightning from the center of his totems.   ...you just can't see all of "them" becuase of the buttons...

Story Progression in Pandaria

Patch 5.3 is here. We've got a bunch of new things. Heroic Scenarios, entirely new Scenarios, new battle ground, and new story.

I've tried a few heroic scenarios so far. As one guildie put it, we're just killing raid trash. They don't seem particularly difficult, as long as you know what you're doing. The heroic scenarios easier to do if you have either a tank or a healer in the group, but you'll have a harder time getting the timed extra Valor Points if you don't go with three dps. Basically the heroic scenarios are now a pretty speedy way to get your Valor.

I've done all four of the new scenarios on heroic. They are interesting in terms of the story they advance. It's nice to see the Alliance get some character development, both for King Varian and for Moira Bronzebeard, regent of the Darkirons. Conversely it's both sad and enlightening to see the way that the Horde is being driven apart. Garrosh is after power for the Horde and the orcs from any source. And not only that but he is trying to apply the orcs' cultural values to the other races.

The new story is all about Vol'jin finally being over Garrosh. Well, he was over Garrosh at the start of Cata, but now he's recovered from the assassination attempt. Now Vol'jin has organized the trolls and is actively rebelling against Garrosh. He fully intends to carry out his threat to shoot Garrosh in the back once everyone sees what a terrible leader he is.

Garrosh is, of course, trying to suppress this rebellion. He's got the Troll section of Orgrimmar under martial law. There are Kor'kron enforcers stationed everywhere. If you try to buy anything the vendor they will suggest you go else where, and glance meaningfully at the enforcers.

There is also a set of battles happening in the Northern Barrens and Sen'jin Village. Garrosh is trying to amass supplies to fortify Org, and Vol'jin is trying to get those supplies instead. The player is sent to help Vol'jin's efforts. The Horde get to defend Sen'jin and raid Northern Barrens.

The Alliance also have the Northern Barrens raiding going on. They are basically there because it's sound strategy. Either they help overthrow Garrosh and the Horde is nicer to deal with and peace (or at least a cease-fire) is possible. Or they help weaken Garrosh who has to put more effort into putting down his rebellion. Either way the Horde is weakened by their civil war.

I'm enjoying both the Throne of Thunder and the Darkspear Rebellion. But there is one issue. One huge issue.

I have been playing wow for almost eight years now. Most of that time has been spent as part of the Horde. I've been playing Mornara since Wrath, with her as my main and tanking roughly since the Argent Tournament came out. Before that I mostly played my Troll mage Viljo, but did a bunch of dabbling with my Belf priestess Teltanara from the time that Burning Crusade came out.

I've learned through many years of repetition that there certain sounds that mean I've failed. I strongly associate failure with the sound of any member of the Horde dying. But it is worst with Orcs, Trolls, Undead, and Blood Elf death cries. Since DraNgNon plays Kuan, the male Troll Shaman, as her main I'm really sensitized to look around and try to figure out what messed up whenever I hear a male troll die.

Back to Throne of Thunder and the Darkspear Rebellion. ToT has the first three bosses entirely Troll themed. Technically they are Zandalari Trolls, but I still remember raiding Zul'Gurub when it was a 20man. The Zandalari are supposed to be our friends! It hurts that after all the help I gave them destroying Hakkar they are now working with the Thunder King to kill me.

Meanwhile the Darkspear Rebellion is part rebellion but mostly civil war within the Horde. I'm out in the Northern Barrens cutting down Orcs and Goblins. I absolutely flinch every time an Orc dies by my hand.