It’s that time of the year again. The time when Blizzard releases a new cinematic and we’re all left standing in awe over how awesome it is. Moments ago we had the pleasure of seeing the cinematic trailer for the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Warlords of Draenor. The action of the trailer as well as the expansion itself takes place on Draenor, the home planet of both the Orcs and the Draenei. While the latter are definitely an interesting race in their own right, the story focuses on the Orcs. It seems that Garrosh Hellscream went back into the past and changed the course of history in a big way while also changing pretty much all the World of Warcraft lore in the process.
The Warlords of Draenor cinematic kicks off by showing Gul’dan as he is offering the blood of Mannoroth to Grom Hellscream and the other orc chieftains. This is one of the biggest events in Warcraft lore and it led to the orcs becoming more powerful and filled with bloodlust, but also dooming them to servitude under Mannoroth and the Burning Legion. However, as seen in the trailer, Grom doesn’t drink the blood, thus preventing the events I just described from ever happening. His decision was undoubtedly influenced by Garrosh who is seen in the background during the ceremony. Moreover, the two also planned the destruction of Mannoroth who originally died much later by the hand of Grom and Thrall in a completely badass Warcraft 3 cinematic.
So now everything has changed and the orcs never become enslaved by the Burning Legion, which means that they don’t have to invade Azeroth anymore. But that doesn’t mean they don’t want to. The cinematic ends by showing the Dark Portal which was under construction at the time and hints that the invasion might still occur after all. I don’t know about you, but I find all of this to be very exciting. I’ve lost my faith in World of Warcraft and the universe’s lore a long time ago, but now Warlords of Draenor has sparked my interest again. This definitely seems like the best expansion pack since Wrath of the Lich King and miles ahead of Mists of Pandaria. As Chris Metzen himself puts it: “The age of the whimsical panda sadly is over, the Warcraft of old is back and it is as savage of ever.” I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say ” Hell, it’s about time!”
Aside from revealing this completely epic trailer, Blizzard also announced that the release date for Warlords of Draenor is November 13th. So, is anyone as excited for Warlords of Draenor as I am?