The Stars Align!

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RazorclawX
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by RazorclawX »

There was nothing special about that guy.
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Thalraxal
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Re: The Stars Align!

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"Some makrura are aiding the naga in their war on all land dwellers" -Naturalist Bite

Rokmar the Crackler was once a simple makrura until he was warped and twisted by the energies unleashed upon Draenor's destruction, granting him size and strength well beyond that of his regular kin. The naga, upon their arrival in the Zangarmarsh region, thought this was totally awesome and enslaved Rokmar. The enslaved Rokmar was, in turn, used to capture and enslave even more of Zangarmarsh's inhabitants. Rokmar, far too gone to be saved, was eventually killed by adventurers by request of the Cenarion Expedition.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by IskatuMesk »

To think Lords of Game Testing 2 is still about that high rez.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by Thalraxal »

Blackrock Depths drives one to drink. Thankfully, it contains a bar for that very reason.

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"I can't stand the idea of those Dark Iron dwarves drinking my family's drink!" -Ragnar Thunderbrew

Hurley Blackbreath was rogue, scoundrel, occasional brewer, and professional drunk. He lived in the Grim Guzzler, the famous bar located in Shadowforge City. Legend has it that Hurley has only left the bar once in the last decade: to steal a copy of the legendary recipe for Thunderbrew Lager, one of the most iconic (and best) brews brewed by the Thunderbrew Clan.

In order to reclaim the stolen recipe, Ragnar Thunderbrew hired a group of adventurers to find Hurley, and reclaim the stolen Thunderbrew lager recipe. The adventurers were able to force Hurley out of hiding by destroying his stockpile of Thunderbrew Lager, after which they likely killed him in order to pry the recipe from his cold, dead hands.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by IskatuMesk »

The BRD bar. Oh dear, the tears.
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Re: The Stars Align!

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The tears of players is one of the main ingredients in Dark Iron Ale.

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"Historically the greatest danger to my people has been from the marsh walkers." -Khn'nix

The Black Stalker was the brood mother of all marsh walkers living in Zangarmarash. She was likely a hardy survive from before Draenor's destruction, and has since enabled her species to flourish in Outland. As apex predators, marsh walkers routinely fed on just about anything living in the marsh: from sporebats, nether rays, dreanei, makrura, and sporelings. Sporelings, however, were apparently particularly delicious to the marsh walkers, and the Black Stalker in particular was known to only leave her home in the Underbog to hunt for them.

To end the Black Stalker's endless campaign of terror against them, the sporeling Khn'nix sent adventurers into the Underbog to kill her, and bring back her brain as proof of the deed. More recently (due to the rise of LFD, and Blizzard's decision to put all dungeon-related quests inside of dungeons), Khn'nix has subcontracted T'shu to hand out his quest for him. Either way, the Black Stalker is likely dead, and brainless, having been killed by adventurers.
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Re: The Stars Align!

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"This royal family would be a fascinating subject to study, were the prospect not suicidal!" -Brann Bronzebeard

You know what? I'm totally with Brann on this one. Princess Huhuran was a royal silithid wasp found within the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj.

Killed by adventurers wearing sufficient protective gear.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by RazorclawX »

Clearly a hunter pet.
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-- Razorclaw X
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by Thalraxal »

RazorclawX wrote:Clearly a hunter pet.
Once bug royalty, now hunter pet. How the mighty have fallen.

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"You will die in the name of Lady Vashj!"

High Warlord Naj'entus was the naga commander in charge of the naga forces who remained within the Black Temple, specifically its sewers. He was likely present in the battle where Illidan and his allies defeated Magtheridon and claimed the Black Temple for themselves. He has likely remained in the Karabor sewers ever since.

By virtue of being voiced by Micheal McConnohie, I will post his voice overs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NQlSFQ1zt0

Despite his best efforts to kill them, and avenge the death of Lady Vashj, High Warlord Nej'entus was killed by adventurers when they stormed the Black Temple.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by IskatuMesk »

I can never get over just how bad blizzard writing is. Some people can look past the fact they haven't tried to produce a plot for their games since the consoles, but the dialogue is at the very least cringeworthy at any given interval, vomit-inducing normally. It's kind of sad, because they sometimes have a few voice actors who sound like they might be able to carry it, but they always sound so bored with the writing. Sc2 in particular is really bad for that, as is bosses like this.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by Thalraxal »

I think you can only write so many boss taunts before going mad.

I find Blizzard's writing quality tends to go up, down, and down a lot. For me though, rock bottom would be Diablo 3. Any of the Skeleton King's dialogue really.

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"Ramstein hunger for flesh!"

Ramstein the Gorger was a vicious and cruel abomination assembled by the Scourge from the corpses of the slain. It was responsible for numerous atrocities committed by the Scourge, not to mention having personally slain thousands of warriors, including the human ranger, Nathanos Marris. Due to Ramstein's immense power, it was later tasked with guarding the entrance to Baron Rivendare's lair, the Slaughter House deep within Stratholme.

Ramstein was eventually killed by agents of the Horde, at the request of Nathanos Blightcaller, seeking to avenge his own death at the abomination's hands. It was later reassembled, however, and continued to guard the Stratholme Slaughter House until it was destroyed by agents of the Argent Crusade.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by IskatuMesk »

Boss dialogue is pretty easy to write, even in large quantities. You just have to be prepared to give them a reason to be X instead of Y. Given that I doubt the average raid has more than 2 days of development time behind actually building it, that was clearly never on their plate.

D3 in general is really cringey from what HKS showed me. All of act 3... ugh...
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Re: The Stars Align!

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Ah, yes. They really sold me on Azmodan being the greatest of Hell's generals there. Image

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"The Consortium is not to be underestimated. We need something more than that shield to stop the group's incursions." -Nexus-Prince Shaffar

Tavarok was once an ordinary colossus of Draenor, until he got roped into one of the Kael'thas' crazier projects and was enslaved and corrupted by Pathaleon the Calculator. As the colossi are apparently able to absorb ambient magic and transform it into a crystalline structure, they apparently can function effectively as mana batteries. For that reason, Kael'thas and Pathaleon dispatched Tavarok to the ruins of Auchindoun, in order to absorb some of the ambient arcane magical energies that still remained deep within the shattered necropolis of the draenei.

However, the magic within the Mana Tombs had a strange effect on Tavarok, effectively purifying him of Pathaleon's corruption, and freeing him from the control of the blood elves. Now with his free will restored, Tavarok has decided to remain within the Mana Tombs and continue to absorb its magics. They were apparently delicious.

Nexus-Prince Shaffar, convinced of the immense wealth and power that must still remain hidden within the Mana Tombs and the ruins of Auchindoun, would later make the Mana-Tombs his base of operations. Fortifying it with anti-ethereal wards, in order to prevent his rivals from the Consortium from attacking him, he was also able to make use of Tavarok's presence as a second line of defence against would-be intruders, as the Consortium was more than happy to employ organic monstrosities to attack Shaffar's people.

Tavarok was eventually destroyed by these horrid flesh-creatures, and his heart was removed to provide the Consortium scientist, Mamdy the "Ologist", with a sample of Tavarok's crystalline structure.
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Re: The Stars Align!

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"Rise up, Atal'ai! Rise up!" -Jammal'an the Prophet

Ogom the Wretched was the undead bodyguard of Jammal'an the Prophet, the leader of the Atal'ai. I have no idea why he'd get a day of his own, since he's like half a boss fight, since you always fight him alongside Jammal'an. Probably less, I think Jammal'an is the bigger threat in the fight so that might make him like three eights of a boss fight at best.

Anyway. Ogom the Wretched was likely a member of the Atal'ai before his death and subsequent transformation into some type of zombie. Perhaps his undead state is a reward for his loyalty, or perhaps punishment for traitorous acts against the Atal'ai. Who knows? He was likely destroyed by adventurers when adventurer's stormed his master's sanctum within the Temple of Atal'Hakkar, the Lair of the Chosen, to kill him. In the end, Ogom the Wretched failed in his task to protect his master, as those same adventurers took Jammal'an's head as proof of his death.
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Re: The Stars Align!

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"I don't think I need to tell you that Drakkisath is not to be taken lightly. I let the thousands dead by his hand do the talking."

Following the defeat of the Orcish Horde at the end of the Second War, the Dark Iron dwarves thought they finally had a chance to take back control of Blackrock Spire. The remaining orcs were weak and lethargic, it'd be a simple task to drive them out and reclaim the upper levels of their mighty mountain fortress. Much to their dismay, the black dragon, Nefarian, thought that the upper reaches of the mountain would make for a fantastic new home for himself. By the time they were ready to act, Nefarian had already staked out his new laboratory, intimidated/recruited the remnants of the Old Horde into his army, tastefully redecorated the place, and were already mustering forces to drive them out of their own mountain.

Leading these efforts was Lord Valthalak, a powerful drakonid warlock, except he was killed by adventurers. His successor, General Drakkisath, a powerful dragonspawn warrior, was quick to prove himself a worthy replacement, and converted his former commander's rooms into a kennel for their new captured corehound watchdog. While his master was busy creating new abominations of magic and science, Drakkisath waged war against the Dark Irons. Soon, his forces were poised to drive the Dark Irons out of Blackrock Mountain, and destroy their master, Ragnaros. However, in a fortunate stroke of luck, the Dark Iron nation suffered a series of blows at the hands of adventurers that effectively crippled them, making Drakkisath's own plans somewhat moot. First, a hit squad of adventurers sent by King Magni Bronzebeard to "rescue" his daughter attempted to infiltrate Shadowforge City, which resulted in the assassination of the Dark Iron Emperor, Emperor Thaurissan. Following that, a group of forty adventurers assaulted Ragnaros in his lair, the Molten Core, and destroyed him, banishing him back to the Firelands. These two events effectively crippled the Dark Iron resistance, and accomplished all of Drakkisath's goals. Naturally, this meant something terrible was going to happen.

Turned out that hit-squad of adventurers who tried to "rescue" Moira Bronzebeard from Emperor Thaurissan's "vile clutches" had managed to rescue a captured human marshal that the Dark Irons were holding captive before they assassinated the emperor. Turned out that marshal had found evidence revealing that the Black Dragonflight had secretly been controlling the government of Stormwind. In one fell swoop, this explained both the presence of a black dragon on all of Stormwind's coinage, as well as just about every ill that had befallen the kingdom in recent years. Except for the loss of Kurzen's Expedition, they had nothing to do with that. While Stormwind's ire was mostly focused on Nefarian's sister, Onyxia, it turned out that Drakkisath's blood could serve as the key ingredient in the creation of the Drakefire Amulet, a magical amulet that would allow adventures entry into Onyxia's lair. General Drakkisath was killed by adventurers, but his blood still flows in the Drakefire Amulet.

In time, his master was defeated and killed, and then relocated his operations deeper into Blackrock Mountain, abandoning the upper reaches. More recently, Upper Blackrock Spire has become a base for the Ironmarch, the Iron Horde's expeditionary force into Azeroth. As a result, General Drakkisath has been removed from the game, and his effective replacement, is much more interested in dropping a giant bomb into the heart of Blackrock Mountain than sitting in his old throne room.
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