Sunday, September 12, 2010

For the Darkspears!

The Darkspear Trolls are kind of the bastard stepchild of the Horde.  They were kicked out of Stranglethorn Vale by their own race, they had a home until Zalazane took over, and Vol'jin now hangs around in Orgrimmar as Gilligan to Thrall's Skipper.  ("Right-o, Little Buddy!")  At least he got to hang around with the Wrathgate event, whereas Loth'remar wasn't even invited to the party.  I guess Sylvanas was afraid he'd try to pull rank on her or something.

Well, Vol'jin finally got up the gumption to go after Zalazane and kick him out of the Echo Isles.  He sent out requests for aid to anyone and everyone in the Horde, and we came by the thousand.  When Quintalan made it to Sen'jin Village, the crowd had noticeably thinned, which was just the way he liked it.

Nothing like the sight of your character leading
a pack of Troll Volunteers into Sen'jin Village.
(Venomhide Raptor Not Included.)


The Retaking the Echo Isles event was part Wrathgate, part BG, part Raid, and thoroughly enjoyable.  Sure, you're buffed to the point where you won't take any damage, but you actually get to participate as part of a group in one of these Lore events, not as a single toon.  This was a real undertaking, and Vol'jin and Co. impart a degree of seriousness to the event that is very welcome.  The entire event could have turned into an excuse for bad puns and terrible jokes, but by keeping the tone serious I think Blizz hit this out of the park.

When Vol'jin asked for the aid of the spirits in his undertaking, he made it plain his motives were for his people.  In that respect, it was an eerie echo of the end of the Wrathgate event, where an inconsolable Thrall is in the throne room of the Undercity, and he's talking to Saurfang the Elder about how all his hopes for his people have just been dashed.  Vol'jin, like Thrall, is thinking about his people first, the way a good leader should.  It's a lesson that Varian and Garrosh --and to a lesser extent Sylvanas-- have yet to learn.

It would not surprise me in the least that a major theme of Cataclysm is one that was learned at the end of the Battle of Mount Hyjal:  we have to all hang together, or we will most assuredly all hang separately.  To that end, history points out that people on rival factions who have fought together for a common cause do not think of themselves as enemies.  If Blizz wants to emulate history a bit, all of those people who fought in Northrend alongside the Argent Crusade are the perfect group to stand up to the ongoing war between the factions, saying that the fighting has to stop if the mortal races are going to save the world from Deathwing.

1 comment:

  1. Nothing was better than the frog-chucking. That would have been a cool trinket!

    ReplyDelete