Silithus 1.8 preview

[Itzena]

Hm...on rereading the preview:

All new triggered outdoor raid content!

Ring war?

[Runnen]

Holy crap! Now that's good to know. I always assumed the Quiraj were these Anubis dudes but I guess maybe they simply are golems used as sentries to defend the Scarab Wall around Ahn'Quiraj (since that is where they used to be).

[Ukerric]

Originally Posted by Zinke

Some Nerubian ancestor race? Would tie in with the egyptian themes prevalent in both Nerubian stuff and in silithus.

From in-game books and lore, it seems that there should be a "cousin" empire to the Nerubians, and Silithus looks like it is.

Looks like, because the Nerubians and Silithids really don't look much like cousins, or close cousins at any rate. Apart from being insects. But then, as the Night Elves and Trolls are remote cousins if we trust the texts, anything can happen.

Of course, once we've thoroughly creamed the Twilight Hammer, we'll probably find that they were in fact defending the old gods' promised realm against the silithid alien invasion, and we've just opened the Scarab gate.

Or something like that.

[Runnen]

These look pretty awesome too, remind me of the Obsidian Statues in the Scourge armies in Frozen Throne campaign.

http://www.wowguru.com/db/image.php?...ile=ahnquiraj9

[Vorge]

Faction is not end-game content.

-V

[MinionOfCthulhu]

Originally Posted by Runnen

These look pretty awesome too, remind me of the Obsidian Statues in the Scourge armies in Frozen Throne campaign.

http://www.wowguru.com/db/image.php?...ile=ahnquiraj9

http://www.battle.net/war3/undead/units/destroyer.shtml
That's exactly what they are.
Dissapointingly, they use the animations for dragonkin. I've noticed Blizzard enjoys doing that. There are models for Chinese dragons, and they look real nice, but since they have the animations of the winged snakes, they look really stupid in motion. And Hakkar's animations are that of the female Nagas.

[Runnen]

Originally Posted by Ukerric

Of course, once we've thoroughly creamed the Twilight Hammer, we'll probably find that they were in fact defending the old gods' promised realm against the silithid alien invasion, and we've just opened the Scarab gate.

Or something like that.

That actually sounds really interesting and is likely what will happen. Though I don't really expect the Twilight's Hammer to come across as the good guys in this, they are probably just trying to use the power of the Quiraj / Silithids in favor of the Old Gods.


And yes, Silithus and Azjol'Nerub are halves of the same ancient civilization, but when the Sundering of the Well occurred and the continents were separated, the Silithids and the Nerubians evolved differently.

What I don't quite understand yet is where the Quiraj fit into this. They are obviously an insectoid species, yet they are rumored to be the overmind behind the Silithids.

The Nerubians have never required an overmind, they were a rather smart and independent civilization right up until they were anihilated by the Lich King back during the War of the Spider.

That means we can theorize one of two things :

1) The Quiraj somehow evolved from the primal Silithids and became a dominant caste over the millenia after the Sundering and the war against the Gurubashi Empire, and are still the dominant species and overmind of Silithus.

2 ) The Quiraj are aliens, like the Creators (Uldaman, Uldum, Uldur), who have engineered the Silithids as a plague to take over Azeroth and terraform it into a world suited for them.

This last theory would contradict the fact that the Nerubians and Silithids are cousins, but as someone else said, that relation could simply mean that both species are insectoid.


And speaking of Nerubians and Azjol'Nerub, I really hope that when they open up Northrend and Azjol'Nerub, they'll put in the Forgotten Ones / Lost Ones, these many-tentacled huge creatures in the abysses below Azjol'Nerub that even the Nerubians were afraid of (You have to kill a few of them in the Frozen Throne campaign).

[Runnen]

Originally Posted by MinionOfCthulhu

And Hakkar's animations are that of the female Nagas.

Well, in Blizzard's defense, Hakkar is a serpentine humanoid, like the Naga.. but I guess it's true they could have made a more unique animation for such an ominous villain.

The Quiraj on this screenshot reminds me of the Aneuk (in EverQuest : Gates of Discord and Omens of War). They don't look much alike, but both species are highly-intelligent and appear relatively frail and physically weak, but are major nukers.

The Quiraj don't look extremely mobile with these little spider legs, but you never know. It would be so cool if the Quiraj could wall up walls or on ceilings, would make for one fun pulling session to pull mobs from all over the rooms!

[oknedark]

Originally Posted by Kasonic

(Blizzard posts news about upcoming new content)

(Everyone ignores it and complains about the lack of X content)

Yea, but the lore / storylines in this game have such potential and are implemented like someone pissing their name in the snow. There's nothing wrong with implenting new content that relates to core or ongoing storylines, make it feel more like 'Azeroth' instead of WoW.

[Wodin]

I was very interested in the triggered raid content and mention of raid content when dealing with the Twilight's Hammer people - considering that 1.9 is supposed to be the big raid payoff and 1.8 supposedly had only the green dragons, it would be very cool if they've pulled a fast one on us and there's some cool new 40-man boss that we didn't even know about.

[RiskyChris]

Is anyone else impressed at the recent influx of updates coming from Blizzard? They really seem to be climbing back on the ball (finally...).

[Runnen]

Yeah I was just thinking that. There was a long, long time of quiet and seemingly inaction from Blizzard after release.. but ever since they released Dire Maul, it's been a non-stop flow every 1.5 / 2 months.

Thinking back to when I started playing, I imagined Ahn'Quiraj and Zul'Gurub would one day open.. one day, years from then... and here they are now, and it doesn't look as if Blizzard intends to stop any time soon.

And even better than that, they seem to be working on making things more and more complicated (in a good way) and actually fun (compare Zul'Gurub to Blackwing Lair)..

[ex-genj]

I also do not see the point of this bug stuff. WRU outlands? Sheesh.

[Mist]

Yeah I agree, fighting giant bugs is not my idea of fantasy adventure.

[Zippygoose]

Agreed.

For some reason fighting bugs just pisses me off.

Any ideas when this is comin out?