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When are you coming back Nag?

Confirmed

NY Times wrote:

Online Game With Millions of Players to Expand
By SETH SCHIESEL
Published: May 9, 2006

LOS ANGELES, May 10 � When the makers of World of Warcraft, the phenomenally successful online game, announced last year that they would release a major expansion of its virtual world in late 2006, the game�s millions of players began anxiously awaiting details.

The Draenei, the new race unveiled in the expansion of World of Warcraft, are descended from the same demonic race that produced some of the game's most fearsome foes.

Today, as the video game industry gathers here for E3, the top annual game convention, those players will start getting answers. In the biggest piece of news, Blizzard Entertainment, the company behind the game, plans to announce that in the expansion, to be called The Burning Crusade, players will be able to join an otherworldly species called the Draenei.

Much of the storyline in World of Warcraft, which now has more than 6 million paying subscribers worldwide, revolves around the strife between two competing factions, the Alliance and the Horde. Players can join either side of the fantasy conflict; the Alliance includes races like human, dwarves and gnomes, while the Horde includes orcs, trolls and the undead.

Blizzard announced last year that in the expansion it would add a new race called the Blood Elves to the Horde, but the identity of the new Alliance race has been a closely-guarded secret until today. On Web message boards, players have spilled hundreds of thousands of words debating what the new Alliance race would be.

In the Burning Crusade, much of the action will take place on a planet called Draenor. The Draenei are the remnants of a once-thriving culture there that was mostly destroyed by orcs after the orcs were corrupted by the demons of the Burning Legion � the big bad guys in the game, who oppose both the Alliance and the Horde.

In a twist, the Draenei are descended from the same demonic race, the Eredar, that produced some of Warcraft�s most fearsome foes, like the demon Archimonde.

�Lots of players have wanted to play demons, and Draenei are the closest you can get to looking like an Eredar,� Jeff Kaplan, one of the game�s top designers, said in an interview. �They have these cool forehead features, and one of the customization features is switching around these facial features and the tendrils hanging beneath the chin and so on.�

In addition to being able to test-play the Draenei, attendees at the convention this week, formally known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo, will get their first peek at the Nether Drakes, which are among several flying beasts that players will be able to mount in Burning Crusade.

Attendees will also be able to try out Naxxramas, the next big dungeon in the game, which is expected to be added free next month.

Some1 wrote:

Sigh, Blizzard just completely mangled the "history" of a series who's storyline is one of its main selling points.

Read the part about the interdimensional ship though. I have to agree with most of the morons on the general forums. Go spacepallies.

Mabey they plan a merger with Warhammer 40,000 down the road

Some1 wrote:

...Read the part about the interdimensional ship though. I have to agree with most of the morons on the general forums. Go spacepallies.

I don't see anything in the official material talking about a "ship." Maybe I missed it, but all it talks about is traveling around the universe.. there's no reason they couldn't do that via magic, which has a well established history in Warcraft. Hell the entire series revolves around extra-terrestrial invaders

India pop dance ftw.

The Draenei dance looks alot like the Tunak Tunak dance

(Please don't ask me how I found the Tunak Tunak Tun.)

Actually that's just wild speculation and loose connections.

Also could someone post this association on the WoW forums for me please? I let my account drop again.

Last edited by Some1 (2006-05-11 8:21 pm)

WoW always had hints of SciFi, I guess they aren't just hints anymore.

anyone notice how he deflected the comment about BElfs being paladins and Draeni being shamans near the end?

Last edited by ChronoTriggerXP (2006-05-12 3:50 am)

groid wrote:

It's in the updated FAQ.  They hate the Orcs cause them Orcs tried to killem all.....and they hate the Blood Elves because they shot down their Magic Mystery Ship.

Well then a giant *LOL* at Blizzard.

Alliance get Protoss! woot!

Just wondering, who likes BElf over Draenei (how do you abbreviate that)?

Yeah, I mean, I never really was a fan of the Belfs so I was just wondering if anyone preferred them.