The Queue: Alarak is a nerd
@AlexZiebart
Welcome back to The Queue, our daily Q&A feature for all of Blizzard’s games! Have a question for the Blizzard Watch staff? Leave it in the comments!
You’ll notice when you do Broken Shore that Greymane ( and Vol’jin ) mentions that “This isn’t the same Legion we’ve fought before.” This statement confuses the heck out of me.
I thought the point that Blizzard has been underscoring over and over since Hellfire Citadel came out is that this IS the same Legion we’ve fought before. It’s exactly the same Legion we fought before. Every demon lord we’ve ever slain is back again to get vengeance on us. Nothing we managed to do to them mattered.
But now, in-universe characters are telling us that something has changed, that this Legion is different.
What gives? Are Greymane and Vol’jin both merely referring to the “new” magitech the Legion is bringing with them this time around ( it’s not actually new; they were using it on Marduum during the events of Black Temple, but this is the first time they’ve employed it on Azeroth ), or is there some other major point that I’ve somehow missed?
I really think people are overthinking this. I never got the impression Greymane/Vol’jin meant they were a completely different entity from the Legion which showed up in prior wars. Rather, they’re fighting differently than before, more dedicated than before, bringing more resources to bear than before. The Legion has invaded before, yes, but they never brought in their ships, the sheer number of mag’har shock troops, eredar commanders, inquisitors — they’ve brought in resources, soldiers, and weapons Azeroth has never witnessed before.
Azeroth has faced down the Burning Legion multiple times already. But this time, something is different: The Legion is pulling out all the stops. People who’ve seen those prior invasions and thought they were bad are seeing the Legion’s show of force on the Broken Isle and realizing those previous invasions were childs play in comparison to what the Burning Legion can actually bring to bear. It’s like every previous invasion was just a game, but now the Legion is taking it seriously, and our leaders are having a hard time coming to terms with that. As bad as those previous invasions were, they weren’t even taking it seriously? And if they’re taking it seriously now … why?
I never glitched into the catacombs of Karazhan pre-Legion, so does anybody know if the “official” version that is part of some artifact quests is a pretty close match for what used to be there (aside from all the treasure and other aesthetics)? Do we still see the upside-down sinners, for example?
Would be sad if Blizz went from the creepy, mysterious old version to just an underground treasure cellar…
The areas we explore in Legion are nothing like the old catacombs. Really, they have nothing in common. I’m not sure they even occupy the same space. If I remember correctly, the gate people used to glitch into the catacombs was off to the left when facing Karazhan’s front door. The area used in certain artifact quests is a cellar door off to the right and slightly to the back of the tower.
Did they say in the Heroes video if Zarya will be a warrior?
During the Gamescom preview, the developers did indeed say Zarya will be a Warrior. Specifically, she’s categorized as a Ranged Warrior. She’ll be the first Ranged Warrior in the game, unless you count Rexxar … but I don’t, because everyone knows Misha is the important part of that arrangement, and Misha is Melee.
Is the scaling system in the invasions representative of the scaling we’re see in Legion, or will that be tighter since there is less of a level gap. I die on my lvl 100 toons in the invasions, but not nearly as much as I did on my level 90 rogue last night. I eventually would just stand back and sharuken toss, because any time I went close I would almost immediately die. And I don’t just mean the stage 4 boss, but the others in stages 2 and 3.
How mobs scale to your level here are representative of how it works in Legion, but the damage being thrown around is not. The damage dealt by the invasion bosses is insane – and mostly directed in melee range. These bosses will gladly one- or two-shot anyone and everyone in melee range regardless of your level. Obviously, random questing mobs in Legion will not be two-shotting you.
Another consideration from this event is some of the bosses have abilities which make other players “red” meaning you can accidentally attack them, or if you’ve been turned red, they can attack you. Sure, the boss’s damage is scaling down for my level 40 Monk. You know what isn’t scaling down, though? A Hunter’s Barrage when the boss makes me attackable by other players. That Barrage kills the crap out of me and the Hunter wasn’t even trying to hurt me!
Who is this Alarak fellow in the new HotS video? I mean, I get he’s from SC2, but from what xpac?
Alarak is from Legacy of the Void. He was part of the Tal’darim — Protoss who’d split off from the Khala and didn’t buy into the tenets of Protoss society at large. Instead, the Tal’darim were vicious and cult-like, having dedicated their service to Amon, the Space Old God. Alarak eventually decided Amon was a bunch of phooey and took his crew, left the Tal’darim, and helped Artanis defeat Amon.
Basically, in my cynical opinion, the Tal’darim are Dark Templars but not nearly as interesting and Alarak is a Sith Lord to Artanis’s Jedi. While Artanis is going on about unity and cooperation to take down Amon, Alarak is being an edgelord and trying to seize power to be in a stronger personal position after Amon has fallen. Alarak even uses Sith Force Lightning.
Does using the coalesced fel also change the appearance of the weapon, like the crafted weapons from WoD, or just the iLvl?
Just the ilevel.
Paladin are former Priests who transitioned to a holy warrior that uses their physical prowess and the light to imbue their attacks. What would happen if a Shadow Priest tried to become a Paladin? Would they function the same, only having their physical strength enhanced with the power of the Void?
Those are only the original Paladins. New Paladins are trained as Paladins, not Priests. It’s possible most of the original Paladins were a bit crap because they didn’t have extensive training in that sort of combat. If a Shadow Priest tried to become a Paladin … they couldn’t, because Paladins wield (and are empowered by) the Light. A Shadow Priest who decides to go melee would be something else. Paladin has a narrow definition in Warcraft. Who knows if the Void can even be used in that way.
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