Once upon a time (specifically, in January 2006), I picked up a copy of what was then not-yet-known as Vanilla WoW with a Best Buy gift card, because my friend had played it all during Christmas Break, and by then I just
had to see for myself what was so damn interesting. Then, some stuff happened, and before I knew it, I had 4 level 60s, and the first expansion was coming out.
Now, I have 5 level 70s, and another expansion is on the way. I've leveled, specced, rerolled, respecced, grinded honor, grinded mats, raided, joined guilds, left guilds, created guilds, RPed, farmed exotic pets, all to throw it away and do it all over again. I've gone to Blizzcon and lined up at midnight openings. I've "quit" twice and come back twice. But the one thing I have not done is gained an understanding of the lore. I hadn't played the Warcraft series, so although I love the richness and depth of the Warcraft universe, I simply don't know it that well.
This is my attempt to organize the lore in a way that makes sense to me.
The BeginningThe world was created by Titans shaping order out of chaos. The Twisted Nether housed malicious demons (including the Eredar sorcerers, like Prince, and the Nathrezim or dreadlords, like Varimanthras) so the Pantheon of the Titans appointed Sargeras to fight them back. He was eventually depressed and overwhelmed by evil and decided that it was the natural order of the universe and that the Pantheon was responsible for life's problems. So he freed all the Eredar and dreadlords and raised his army, the Burning Legion. Kil'jaeden and Archimonde of the Eredar became commanders of his army, Kil'jaeden subdued the dreadlords, commanded by Tichondrius (who was killed by Illidan after consuming the skull of Gul'dan), and Archimonde subdued the pit lords, led by Mannoroth (killed by Grom Hellscream).
While all this was going on, the Titans came upon a world called Azeroth, run by elementals worshipping Old Gods. The elemental lords are:
- Therazane the Earthmother (who looks like Princess in Maraudon)
- Al'Akir the Windlord (his son, Thunderaan, was killed by Ragnaros in an internal power dispute, but his essence was bound to an amulet, which was then broken and kept by Garr and Geddon. When you get both pieces and kill Thunderaan, you get his sword, Thunderfury).
- Neptulon (who controls the Hydraxis Warlords and fights Ragnaros for power), and
- Ragnaros (who was summoned by Emperor Thaurissan in an attempt to win the war against the Wildhammer and Ironforge clans, but instead ended up creating Blackrock Mountain and enslaving the Dark Iron dwarves).
The Titans defeated them and banished them to the astral plane. They also chained the Old Gods under the earth (only C'Thun is alive and on Azeroth now, although Hakkar may also be one). After that, they raised the earthen, made one continent (Kalimdor) and made the Well of Eternity in the middle, from which all life was to spring. They also empowered the leaders of the five dragonflights to watch over the world:
- Nozdormu (bronze), Time
- Alexstrasza (red) Life
- Ysera (green) Dreams
- Malygos (blue) Magic
- Neltharion (black) Earth
In time, the Night Elves settled around the Well and became immortal. They found demigods such as Cenarius (the son of Malorne and Elune) and began to study druidism. Then their queen Azshara and her Highborne servants began to study the secrets of the Well and discovered magic. They became haughty, withdrawn, and reckless.
The War of the AncientsSargeras persuaded Azshara to help him invade Azeroth. She opened a portal in the middle of the Well and the Legion poured through. Malfurion, Illidan, and Tyrande set out to find Cenarius to enlist some help, and he promised to enlist the dragonflights. However in the middle of the assault, Neltharion started burning up and went crazy (possibly because he was corrupted by the whisperings of the Old Gods imprisoned beneath the earth). He renamed himself Deathwing and drove the other flights off the field. In desperation, Malfurion determined to destroy the Well. Illidan, addicted to the magic, abandoned them and went to warn Azshara. Malfurion and Tyrande stormed the palace and they fought a battle which tore the Well apart. It blasted the continent open, the Well became the Maelstrom, and the Highborne were dragged into it, to become naga. They made a new city underwater, called Nazjatar. Illidan, however, escaped with vials of the Well's water.
The surviving night elves landed on Hyjal, on which they found Illidan had made a new well. Malfurion decided to imprison him and set Maeiv Shadowsong to be his jailor. Over time, they rebuilt. The dragonflights emerged from hiding, and agreed that the new Well needed to be safeguarded, so they planted the World Tree (Nordrassil) over it. Ysera bound the tree to the Emerald Dream and the druids to it, as well. Druids must hibernate to reestablish their pact with the Dream. Also, as long as the tree is alive, the night elves will remain immortal. The reason they are not is because Malfurion used the tree against Archimonde in the Battle of Mount Hyjal.
The remaining Highborne, led by Dath'Remar Sunstrider, who were still addicted to magic, were proving to be troublesome and rebellious, so Malfurion exiled them. They sailed to the other world and became the Sin'dorei, with one of Illidan's vials. Malfurion went into hibernation, leaving Tyrande, the High Priestess of Elune, to guard the elves.
The New WorldThe remaining High Elves went to Tirisfal and unsuccessfully lived there for a while, and then finally founded Quel'Thalas. They made a Sunwell from one of the vials. However, the nation of Amani forest trolls waged a war against them. They beat them back once, but the trolls began to wage war against them again, and this time, they needed help. So their leader Anasterion turned to the fledgling human nation, based at Strom and led by the Arathor, Thoradin. The elves trained 100 humans in the practice of magic, and together the elves and human armies crushed the Amani war machine. The Amani empire was crushed.
Aside: troll history. Long ago there was only the Zandalar, the most civilized and peaceful tribe. They fought the elves (which were probably descended from trolls by contact with the Well of Eternity) and the Quraji. Eventually they split up in the Gurubashi (jungle) and Amani (forest) trolls and the empires were split further when the continent was split apart. The Gurubashi turned to worship of the Old God Hakkar to help them increase their lands. The small Darkspear tribe broke away, went to Kalimdor, met Thrall, and they and their leader was captured by murlocs. Thrall broke free but Sen'jin, the leader, died. Thrall offered the trolls a place in the new Horde. The Amani fought the elves, and when the elves and humans joined an "Alliance," they joined the "Horde" under Zul'jin.
The 100 mages gave rise to a new generation of heedless magic users who went out and built Dalaran. Their magic attracted the Burning Legion, who started showing up in small numbers in Dalaran. The mages went to the elves and together they decided to empower one person to fight the Legion, while keeping the fact that the Legion was in Dalaran a secret. These are the Guardians of Tirisfal.
The human empires continued to grow. Gilneas, Alterac, and Kul Tiras all sprang up. Kul Tiras became strong as a fishing and merchant empire. However, the Arathor nation broke up. The lords of Strom went north and founded Lordaeron. The Arathi heirs went south and founded Stormwind in a land called Azeroth. Storm became its own empire named Stromgarde.
One of the guardians, Aegwynn, became very powerful and questioned the rule of the male Council of Tirisfal. She hunted the demons all the way to Northrend, where she found them enslaving dragons. With the dragons' help, she defeated them but Sargeras showed up. She battled with him and beat him easily, but he transferred his essence into her body. When the Council decreed that her time as a Guardian was over, she didn't trust them to choose a successor so she gave birth to her own, a son by Aran, the court conjurer of Azeroth. The son, Medivh, was left in the court of Azeroth, where he befriended Llane Wrynn, the prince, and Anduin Lothar, one of the last heirs of the Arathi. When he turned 14 the cosmic power inside him manifested and conflicted with Sargeras, and he fell catatonic. When he woke up, his friends had become regents of Azeroth.
Also, the dwarves emerged during this time. The sundering of the world caused them to go deep into their kingdoms (Uldum, Uldaman). When they came out, the Uldaman dwarves went to Khaz Modan and founded a new city, Ironforge. When the High King Anvilmar died, three factions warred over the city. The Bronzebeard, led by
Thane Madoran, banished the Wildhamer, led by Thane Khardros, and the Dark Iron, led by Thaurissan. The Wildhammer went to Grim Batol and took up residence there, but the Dark Iron dwarves launched an attack on both kingdoms. The queen Modgud fought the Wildhammer king and killed him, but she was defeated and her soldiers destroyed. Thaurissan was then turned on by both armies, and trying to call upon magic to help him, he called up Ragnaros, which ended up making Blackrock Mountain and enslaving his people.
The Wildhammer eventually went to Aerie Peak, and the Ironforge dwarves built the Thandol span to retain relations with them.
Ride of the Horde
Kil'jaeden was looking for a way to weaken Azeroth for a second Burning Legion invasion, and he found the planet Draenor, inhabited by orcs and draenei. He began to infect the mind of the elder shaman Ner'zhul, but he wasn't willing enough. Gul'dan, his apprentice, was, however, and he made a backroom deal with Kil'jaeden in order to get the power promised to Ner'zhul. Gul'dan formed the Shadow Council to teach warlock magic to the orcs, which eventually ruined the planet. He read from the Cipher of Damnation and tore Draenor away from its connection to the elemental spirits, so elementals still run amok in Shadowmoon Valley. Then he slaughtered the draenei at the Temple of Karabor and made it his base, renaming it the Black Temple. Then, Gul'dan convinced all the orc chieftains, led by Grom Hellscream of the Warsong clan, to drink the blood of Mannoroth, whom the Shadow Council had summoned. Only Durotan of the Frostwolf clan did not drink, the others did and bound themselves to the Legion.
Then, the orcs, with Rend Blackhand at the lead, slaughtered almost all the draenei on the planet.
Sargeras, in the body of Medivh, promised to make Gul'dan a god if he led the orcs to Azeroth and found the undersea tomb where Aegwynn had hidden Sargeras' mortal body. The deal was too good to pass up. Gul'dan and Medivh opened the Dark Portal. Durotan still warned of trouble, but Gul'dan exiled him to the new world and then slaughtered his entire family except for a son, which was taken by a human and raised in captivity (Thrall). Then they invaded Azeroth and clashed with the Kingdom of Stormwind.
Llane Wrynn wanted to hold his position at Stormwind, but Lothar, with the help of Khadgar (Medivh's apprentice from Dalaran) and the half-orc assassin Garona Halfocen (who was actually sent to kill Medivh from Gul'dan to spy on him) managed to find out that Medivh was behind the invasion, and they went to Karazhan to kill him.
This was bad for Gul'dan, as he still did not know the location of the tomb, so he tried to enter Medivh's mind, but was in there when Khadgar struck the final blow, which sent him into a coma. Upon awakening, he found that Orgrim Doomhammer had killed the Shadow Council and Blackhand. Fearful for his life and deprived of his toadies, Gul'dan promised to raise a new army to replace the slaughtered warlocks. He killed his own acolytes and put their spirits into the bodies of fallen Stormwind soldiers, creating the first Death Knights. Doomhammer led these forces to beseige Stormwind. Llane was killed by Garona.
With the Stormwind lands in ruin and the city keep besieged, Lothar sailed across the world and united all the humans under his banner, becoming Supreme Commander of the Alliance forces. Even the dwarves of Ironforge and the elves of Quel'Thalas (under Anesterion) joined to help. Uther the Lightbringer, Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, and Turalyon were all leaders in the army.
The battle raged everywhere. The Horde even managed to turn the Demon Soul (the artifact that all the dragons put their essence into) against Alexzstraza and force her dragons to war with them. But at the crucial moment, Gul'dan's followers split oversea to find the tomb, Doomhammer's best chance was gone, and he had to retreat. Gul'dan raised the island from the sea but was torn apart by the crazed spirits in the tomb. Doomhammer's people crushed Gul'dan's forces and the rebellion, but they were beaten back to Blackrock Spire. The portal was cut off, and the remaining orcs were rounded up into internment camps.
Back on Draenor, Ner'zhul wanted to open portals to other worlds, but he needed powerful artifacts from Azeroth to do it. He sent Grom Hellscream and Kilrogg Deadeye to get them. Turalyon and the Archmage Khadgar went through the portal after them, and they fought in Hellfire Peninsula. Howerver, opening the portals would tear Draenor apart. Khadgar, Alleria Windrunner, and Turalyon destroyed the portal from their side, so that nothing could go through, even though it means they will be stuck there. Grom and Kilrogg, realizing that their race would be doomed, took their orcs and fled to Azeroth before the portal collapsed.
Ner'zhul went into the Twisted Nether but Kil'jaeden was waiting for him and none too pleased about his recent defeat. Ner'zhul was tortured and torn apart and his spirit placed in a block of ice. He was to serve his purpose, for the orcs are still bound to the legion, and if he succeeded, he could have a new body. His followers were turned into Lich sorcerers and his coffin cast into Northrend, where it came to resemble a throne. The Lich King's psychic powers grew and he found he could control the people of Northrend and also cause a plague which turned people into zombies. Tichondrius, the dread lord, was set to police Ner'zhul.
Some orcs led by Nekros took over Alexzstraza at Grim Batol using the demon soul, but she was freed by Alliance resistance led by Rhonin the mage. His orcs were also interned. Meanwhile, Blackmoore was molding the boy Thrall to be a weapon for him, but Thrall escaped and searched for others of his kind. Eventually he found Grom Hellscream, who with his Warsong clan was trying to run resistance against the enslavement of his people. He could not combat the lethargy from being removed from their warlock power source. He also found the remnants of the Frostwolf clan and realized he is Durotan's son. He took up his place as the new leader of the clan and Warchief of the Horde. He also found Ogrim Doomhammer. They laid waste to Durnholde, but Doomhammer died in the fray. Thrall took his hammer and, with the aid of Grom, starting laying waste to the internment camps.
In the meantime, the Lich King was finding opposition from the spider city of Azjol-Nerub. The spiders were immune to mind control and plague, but eventually he wore them down. He could raise their dead as undead and use them against their forces. He also adopted their architectural style.
Kel'Thuzad, a member of the Kirin'Tor who studied necromancy, heard Kel'Thuzad's call, and left his life to travel to Northrend and offer his services. He was then charged with forming a religion that worshipped the Lich King. He founded the Cult of the Damned, and they brought the plague cauldrons to Lordaeron to infect the people and turn them into zombies. That army was called the Scourge.
The Alliance was starting to fracture -- the tax money to rebuild Stormwind and to keep up and camps was making people unhappy. Also the elves had rescinded, although King Magni Bronzebeard was still loyal because the Alliance had saved Khaz Modan from the Horde. King Terenas of Lordaeron had a son named Arthas, a paladin of the Silver Hand. In his youth, he fought the Scourge, but was traumatized by seeing the corrupted grain turn citizens into undead. He killed off the citizens of Stratholme before they could become undead. He wanted to pursue the dreadlord Mal'Ganis into Northrend. Mal'Ganis was part of the plan to turn Arthas, by aking him obsessed with killing him. After killing Kel'Thuzad, but went to Northrend, picked up the Frostmourne sword and his spirit was torn apart. He was resurrected as a death knight and led the Scourge against his own people, killing his father.
Kel'Thuzad said he had to be resurrected, so Arthas fought all the way to Quel'thalas to dip his body in the Sunwell. He wiped out the elven nation in the process, killed Sylvanas Windrunner the Ranger-General of Silvermoon, and raised her as a banshee. In the aftermath of the Scourge invasion, Kael'thas had to blow up the Sunwell to get ride of the remaining Scourge. Then they went to Dalaran where they found the spellbook of Medivh, which allowed them to summon Archimonde. Archimonde appeared and made off for the World Tree. Medivh, come back as a herald of woe, came to warn the world of what was to come, but he had to trick Thrall and Jaina to Kalimdor. Jaina was born in the kingdom of Kul Tiras and her father was the grand admiral of the Alliance. She had been studying at Dalaran with Kael'thas and Arthas. On the way, Grom Hellscream and his people fell to bloodlust and killed Cenarius, but he redeemed himself by helping Thrall defeat Mannoroth, thus ending the blood pact once and for all.
Battle of Mount Hyjal
Meanwhile, Tyrande had woken up Malfurion and set Illidan free, to help in the fight against the Legion. Together, the elves, the humans and orcs battled to reinforce the tree. Malfurion unleashed its power to defeat Archimonde.
Illidan had fled and eaten the skull of Gul'dan. However, he was contacted by Kil'jaeden and told to destroy the Lich King, which was growing too powerful. He called in some debts and with Lady Vashj's help, found the Tomb of Sargeras and the Eye of Sargeras. Then he went to Dalaran and started a huge spell which would destroy the Frozen Throne, but was interrupted by Tyrande and Malfurion. Knowing Kil'jaeden would be displeased, he fled to Outland, pursued by Maeiv.
Kael'thas, the last of the Sunstrider dynasty, had studied in Dalaran and was away when the Scourge laid waste to his home. He took his forces and rushed to fight the undead. Meeting up with Maeiv and Tyrande, who were looking for Illidan, he mentions that Illidan might be at Dalaran (which is how they found him), but their caravan was attacked by undead. Tyrande was swept away in the river. They met up with Malfurion and stopped Illidan, he was furious that Tyrande might be dead, and Kael mentions that no one saw her die. Both brothers left to find her, with Maeiv on their tail.
He then joins with the Alliance forces to fight the Scourge, but the Alliance use them as cannon fodder and reprimand them taking help from Lady Vashj. They actually arrest him for consorting with naga, but Vashj frees him and tells him that his people will be left magic starved in the wake of the Sunwell. He has no choice but to go to Outland with her, help break Illidan out of prison, and set themselves up as the new rulers of Outland. He renamed his people Blood Elves. Illidan knew he had to fight the Lich King again to appease Kil'jaeden.
Ner'zhul, knowing he needed help, called Arthas back to him. Sylvanas' renegade undead, renamed the Forsaken, had retaken Lordaeron and were waging war against Arthas's minions. Arthas leaves to get to Northrend, gets there before Illidan, shatters the throne, dons the armor and becomes the new Lich King, fused with Ner'zhul. He defeats Illidan, who goes back to Outland to hide out.
Thrall settles into Durotar with the Darkspear trolls and the tauren warriors under Cairne Bloodhoof. Jaina settles into Theramore. But when her father's fleet arrives (having fled Lordaeron before Arthas razed it, and looking for survivors), they vow to drive the orcs out. Jaina allies with the orcs to defeat her father, and the two sides hold a tenuous peace.
Burning Crusade
The draenei are actually eredar who did not want to be enslaved to the Legion and were helped by the Naaru. Led by Velen, they boarded the Dimensional Ship (named Osho'gun) and went to Draenor. It crash landed and all the Naaru inside it died, except for K'ure, who is still in there, almost dead. Tempest Keep is a Naaru fortress that was taken over by Blood Elves, and they captured Mu'ru and are channeling his magic to power the blood elves. Velen stole part of it, but the blood elves misconfigured it, so that it crashed into Azeroth.
Kael'thas is now operating for his own needs, and has made a pact with the Burning Legion. The Scryers has noted that his quest for power will doom their people, and has defected. This led to the defeat of the siege of Shattrath. Now, however, he wants to reinvigorate the Sunwell to summon Kil'jaeden and has stolen Mu'ru.
The essence of the Sunwell was put into a magical construct, a woman named Anveena Teague. She is now staying at Silvermoon under the reagent lord Lor'themar Theron of Silvermoon. But Kael'thas stole her and she is now in Sunwell Plateau helping him summon Kil'jaeden.
First of all, being able to root indoors is nice, even though as a healer I rarely bother to do it. That means that Nature's Grasp, which is now baseline and works in all forms, also works indoors, which is very useful in heroics. Now that Healing Touch is castable in tree form, I find myself using it a bit more, but it does make Natural Shapeshifter rather useless -- except that you need it to get to Master Shapeshifter, which is well worth the investment. The only complaint I have about the new talents is that since Tree of Life no longer grants extra spirit, I find myself having less spirit than I'm used to and having to scramble to find it on my gear instead. I'm not too worried about it, since I never seem to run out of mana anyway, but since Improved Tree of Life grants extra healing power based on spirit, it's still a very important stat. I did pick up Living Seed (since Regrowth crits all the time now, it's pretty much a guaranteed application, and works kind of like Prayer of Mending except that it doesn't jump around) and Replenish, but not Gift of the Earthmother. I can see where it would be useful, but I just don't have enough points to go around. I'm hoping that with some haste gear, the lack of this talent won't matter too much. Wild Growth is, definitely, one of the best things about new resto. It heals for about twice as much as Circle of Healing over its full duration; if you can manage to pop it on two or more groups in a raid, I'd think that the days of druid healers bottoming out the meters is a thing of the past.
