World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor

World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor
Developer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Platforms	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Release	Fall 2014
Latest release	6.0.1 (Alpha)
Genre(s)	MMORPG

"When the past and present collide, the fate of all worlds hangs in the balance."

—The Prophet Velen

World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, colloquially referred to as WoD, is the fifth expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft. It was officially announced on November 8, 2013 at BlizzCon 2013. The expansion currently has a tentative release date of fall 2014 (on or before December 20th, 2014), and is available for pre-purchase on Battle.net.

Across Draenor's savage jungles and battle-scarred plains, Azeroth's heroes will engage in a mythic conflict involving mystical draenei champions and mighty orc clans, and cross axes with the likes of Grommash Hellscream, Blackhand, and Ner’zhul at the height of their primal power. Players will need to scour this unwelcoming land in search of allies to help build a desperate defense against the old Horde’s formidable engine of conquest—or else watch their own world’s bloody, war-torn history repeat itself.

Warlords of Draenor is the first expansion pack to exist primarily before the main timeline, and depicts a timeline that branches from the original. It is also the second expansion that is set beyond the world of Azeroth, the first being The Burning Crusade, which featured Outland, the current, shattered incarnation of Draenor.

Warlords of Draenor comes in three version: Standard Edition, Digital Deluxe Edition and Collector's Edition.

On April 3rd, 2014, Blizzard announced that the Warlords of Draenor Friends and Family closed alpha test had begun. Blizzard posted a preview of the patch notes a few hours later.

Story

It is the era of an Old Horde, forged with steel rather than fel blood. A union of great orc clans, the Iron Horde, tramples the planet Draenor beneath terrifying war machines. Azeroth falls next. Worlds uncounted will follow.

You must mount a desperate charge on Draenor – savage home of orcs and adopted bastion of stoic draenei – at this pivotal moment. Your allies are legends from across time; your fortress a foothold in an alien land. Lead the armies of one world against another…before the future itself is unmade.

Following the events of Siege of Orgrimmar, Garrosh Hellscream was imprisoned to be tried in Pandaria. Before the trial can conclude, aided by an ally who can manipulate the timelines, Garrosh escapes to Draenor of the past, and prevents the orcs from ever drinking the blood of Mannoroth, creating an untainted Iron Horde under the leadership of Grommash Hellscream.

Return to the Dark Portal

For both Horde and Alliance players, the campaign starts behind enemy lines in the Tanaan Jungle on Draenor. It’s up to the player and their allies on preventing the seemingly impossible Iron Horde from wreaking havoc in Draenor and eventually to Azeroth.

Once on Draenor, adventurers will face the might of great orc warlords such as Grommash Hellscream and Kilrogg Deadeye, legends who command a legion of 10,000 orcs from Draenor’s united clans—but you won’t have to take on this desperate mission alone. The ancient draenei champion Vindicator Maraad from Wrath of the Lich King will accompany the Alliance's expedition through the portal, while the Horde's faction rallies behind by Thrall. Your strike on Draenor is practically a suicide mission, but if you can destroy the portal from the other side, you’ll buy your faction—and Azeroth—some much-needed time. . . .

All level-90 players will begin in the Tanaan Jungle (pre-Hellfire Peninsula), and for newly boosted level-90 characters, the quest line will be edited to help you get up to speed and ready for taking on the challenges to come. Also for boosted 90s, insead of gaining all of your skills and abilities right away, you’ll be able to unlock them as you progress and learn your way around your more powerful character—and you’ll need every ounce of your ability to stop the Iron Horde and continue your campaign on Draenor.

Once the threat at the Dark Portal has been (temporarily) dealt with, Alliance and Horde players will go their divergent paths. Each will answer the call of their new allies to engage the native threats of the world and mount a long-term defense against the Iron Horde.

Alliance: Karabor, Shadowmoon Valley

In the aftermath of the Dark Portal strike, Alliance players will be led to the pre-Black Temple, otherwise known as Karabor in search of allies to face the Iron Horde. Once there, you and other travelers will work together to save the draenei holy temple and turn it into a capital city for your faction. Stay alert though, while the Iron Horde lays siege to the temple, Ner’zhul and his nefarious Shadowmoon Orc clan pursue another line of attack that could put the entire world in mortal danger.

Horde: Bladespire Fortress, Frostfire Ridge

Following the assault on the Dark Portal, Horde players will be led to Frostfire Ridge and the aid of the Frostwolf Clan. Once there, you will battle the ogres of Bladespire Fortress to secure a new base of operations in this harsh land. Don’t be fooled by your progress, though—the Thunderlord Clan will be right on their heels to reclaim their lands.

Features

Warlords of Draenor box packaging.

• Level cap raised to 100, new level 100 talents
• New world: Draenor of a parallel past, homeworld of the orcs and the last refuge of the draenei. (7 zones, 1 PvP zone)
• Player character revamp for the pre-Cataclysm races
• Changes to stats - removing hit, expertise, dodge, and parry; and adding new (Tertiary) 'fun' stats such as movement speed and cleave
• Build and upgrade your own garrison
• Dynamic Primary stat on Armor
• Item squish
• Inventory updates
• Group Finder - a new feature to find players and form groups for 5-40 player encounters and other activities. Cross-realm capable.
• Adventurer's Guide - a new feature that will suggest what to do each day and what you might like to do based on your character's gear, progression, and such.
• A level 90 character upgrade—play immediately! Players will be able to instantly boost one character to level 90, which may be a pre-existing or a newly created character.
• New permanent ability bonuses
• Refined quest log and system with hundreds of new quests
• 8 new dungeons, 3 for leveling and 3 for max-level, as well as a revamped Upper Blackrock Spire
• Restructured raid difficulty structure, with expanded use of 5.4's Flexible Raid scaling technology:
  • Raid size changes.
  • Raid Finder (10-25 players).
  • Normal (10-25 players, roughly equivalent to 5.4's Flexible difficulty).
  • Heroic (10-25 players, roughly equivalent to 5.4's Normal difficulty).
  • Mythic (20 players, roughly equivalent to 5.4's Heroic difficulty).
• PvP
  • Upgrades to battleground systems, including objective displays, scoreboard upgrades and new rewards
  • Ashran - a new sandbox PvP zone featuring bases, vehicles and quests in an uncapped and dynamically changing battle
  • Skirmishes readded for 2v2s and 3v3s
  • War Game changes
    • Tournament Mode gear available just for War Games
    • Others in the organizing player's party can spectate the match
• All mounts will work as ground mounts.

Ability bonuses and changes

See also: World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor class changes

Warlords of Draenor introduces a new bonus system that rewards players with powerful perks as they level up to the new cap. At every level from 91 to 100, characters will earn a major permanent boost to one of their their key spells and abilities (e.g. a Fire mage might earn a +50% damage boost to [Pyroblast] or +30% boost to [Scorch]). Players will also unlock a new talent tier once they’ve achieved level 100, rewarding each class with three potent new abilities to choose from.

Stat changes and squish

See also: Attributes in Warlords of Draenor, Item squish

One of our goals for Warlords of Draenor is to make the act of finding and collecting loot even more exciting for players. With that in mind, we’re adding some fun new stats to gear, such as Movement Speed and Cleave, which gives you a chance to do extra damage or healing to additional nearby targets. In addition, we’ll be retiring a few stats that players don’t find very enjoyable to manage, such as Hit and Expertise. We’re also making improvements to armor itemization that will make it easier to share armor pieces across classes. We’ll have more details to share as development continues.

Additionally, an item squish will take place, scaling back the stats of all players and creatures, so players go from having 500,000 health doing 100,000 damage in their main nukes, down to something more reasonable like 50,000 health and 10,000 damage. The relative power level between players and creatures will not change, so if players can kill a mob in five seconds before the squish, they can kill the same mob in five seconds after the squish. The squish will also not compromise the ability of players to solo old content.

Interface changes

The new inventory system.

The new Heirloom interface.

The new Toy Box interface.

Questing

The quest UI will be updated to make it easier on knowing just where to go and what to do. The quest log will now show which quests fall into the main story of Warlords and quests that are side quests so players won't miss out and enjoy the content of the expansion before moving onto the next area. There may still be some surprises along the way, and not everything will be listed, so as to avoid spoiling all the fun!

The map will show where to go in order to continue the main storyline, as well as indicating bonus objectives. Bonus objectives will no longer have any accompanying text, merely a list of objectives. This will help to distinguish the main quests from bonus objectives.

Inventory changes

A number of improvements to the inventory system will be made, adding features to remove some of the clutter.

• Quest Items: Quest items will no longer occupy space in the player's inventory, and will instead be moved to the Quest UI.
• Sortable Bags: The player will be able to designate bags for carrying certain types of items, allowing for significantly improved organization and sorting.
  • Bags can be designated for particular types of items such as armor, consumables, gray items, etc.
  • In addition, borders of item icons will be colored to indicate item quality, and gray items (that can be safely sold to a vendor) will have a gold coin icon.
  • Newly acquired items will have a white border to allow for easy location.
• Craft Directly from the Bank: Players will be able to craft directly from the bank without needing to go through the effort of going to the bank and collecting ingredients for what needs to be crafted.

Collections

Heirlooms and fun toy items accumulated over the course of your travels will now reside in the Collections system, so they'll no longer take up valuable inventory space. Once obtained, the item will be accessible by all characters on the account. Want to complete the collection? Like the Mounts tab and Pet Journal, items that have not been unlocked will show information on how the item can be obtained. The Collections system is broken down into two main parts:

• Heirlooms are now truly cross-realm and account-bound. All characters on any given account (new and old) will be able to summon the heirlooms that have been unlocked straight into their inventories!
• Toy Box: You’ll now be able to collect all of your favorite toys and fun items without the guilt of having to delete them for additional inventory space. Puntable Marmot, I’m looking at you.

Adventure Guide

The Adventure Guide is a new feature which provides a convenient overview of appropriate and progressive content for the character. Suggestions will be tailored to the character's favored types of play, and will include level- and gear-appropriate instances and zones, as a way of guiding the player to both challenging content and the optimum path to gear upgrades.

As well as providing a few recommended picks, the Guide presents a larger lists of possible activities, rated by color to indicate the estimated difficulty for the character. The Guide will cover areas including dungeons, raids, battlegrounds, scenarios, zones such as the Timeless Isle (and possibly other zones while levelling) and even the Brawler's Guild.

Player character revamp

Main article: Player character revamp

As we’ve released new World of Warcraft content and expansions, we’ve received feedback that some of the earlier player character models and animations are no longer measuring up to the quality of the newer races. Because Warlords of Draenor takes players back to the homeland of the orcs—one of WoW's original playable races—it felt like a great time to update not just the orcs, but other playable races that could use a refresh.

We know that many of you already strongly identify with the look of your current character, so we’re dedicating a lot of time and resources to make sure these updates capture each race’s iconic identity and personality. We’re still in the process of determining which races will be available upon the expansion’s release, but our goal is to update all eight of the original World of Warcraft playable races, along with the draenei and blood elves, over the course of the expansion launch and subsequent content updates.

New zones

File:WorldMap-Draenor.png

Map of Draenor

Main article: Draenor

The expansion sends players to Draenor as it existed before it shattered into the realm World of Warcraft players know as Outland—and while some of the names of these places might be familiar, we’re building them all from scratch for the expansion.

• Frostfire Ridge (??): Horde's entry point to Draenor. Across snow-covered wastes and beneath towering volcanoes, heroes of the Frostwolf clan and the Horde unite to repel invaders from their homeland.
  • Bladespire Citadel: Horde's capital city.
• Shadowmoon Valley (??): Alliance's entry point to Draenor. Amid rolling moonlit hills, the draenei at the holy temple of Karabor unite with the Alliance in a desperate fight for survival against the Iron Horde and Shadowmoon clan.
  • Karabor: Alliance's capital city.
• Gorgrond (??): Deep within the desert canyons of Gorgrond, an arsenal of massive siege weapons built by the Blackrock clan is about to be unleashed upon the whole of Draenor.
• Talador (??): In the shadow of a besieged Shattrath City, the Auchenai Soulpriests actively seek to safeguard the countless draenei souls inside Auchindoun from a terrible demonic threat.
  • Unnamed Shattrath Raid: Seen in an early map shown at the BlizzCon 2013 art panel. Not one of the 6.0 raids, not clear if it was cancelled or just scheduled for a later patch.
• Spires of Arak (??): At the height of their power, the regal arrakoa plot atop their high peaks, well out of the reach of the brutal Shattered Hand orcs and the wingless outcasts below.
• Nagrand (??): Among the fertile hills and outcroppings of Nagrand, the bloodied wolf-riders of the Warsong clan remain a threat not to be trifled with.
• Tanaan Jungle (??): Within the overgrown jungle home of the Bleeding Hollow clan, a Dark Portal is under construction . . . and an Iron Horde army makes grim preparations to conquer Azeroth.
• Ashran (PvP zone)
• Farahlon (??): Will be released later during the expansion's patch cycle.
• The Chronal Spire: Seen on an early map of Draenor at the BlizzCon 2013 art panel. Located on the border between Talador, Tanaan Jungle and Shadowmoon. Labelled as "entry way to Draenor".

Dungeon, raid and scenario content

At BlizzCon 2013, the following information was released:

We’re planning 6 new 5-player dungeons for the launch of Warlords of Draenor, along with a revamped version of the classic Blackrock Spire. One of our goals is to make sure we’re giving players a good mix of “level-up” Dungeons along with some new, unexplored Dungeons to delve into at max level. The expansion will also give players a chance to earn awesome transmogrifiable weapons and other unique rewards in Challenge Mode Dungeons. We’re also planning a wide variety of Scenarios for launch, along with Heroic Scenarios for those who enjoy the extra challenge.

On the Raiding front, we’re planning 2 new raid instances around launch, as well as new world bosses. We’ll also continue to provide players with a wide variety of raiding options. In addition to offering four tiers of difficulty as in Patch 5.4, we're also extending our Flexible Raid scaling technology to Normal difficulty raiding. We’ll have more details to share as development continues.

Proving Grounds

At the February 2014 press event, it was revealed that getting silver in a specific role would be one of the requirements to queue for a random Heroic at max level:

Crucible Silver Medal required for LFD/LFR | 2014-02-22 07:11 |  Watcher

To at least get everyone on the same page in terms of information, since a summary of a translated version of a translation of a few sentences in a single interview may not be the best foundation for a 24-page discussion, here's an overview of our current thinking:

• We will have Normal and Heroic versions of our max-level dungeons. (Note that we did not have Normal level 90 dungeons in Mists.)
• There will be no special requirement other than basic level/ilvl requirements on queuing for Normal dungeons or LFR.
• Level-up quest gear will get you into Normal dungeons/scenarios, and Normal dungeon/scenario gear will get you into LFR.
• Heroic dungeons will be more challenging than the Normal version (not brutally difficult, mind you -- just somewhat more demanding).
• You will need a Silver Proving Grounds medal in a given role in order to queue for random matchmaking for a Heroic Warlords dungeon. If you form a premade group, you can zone in regardless and no such requirement applies.

In the past, challenging content and random matchmaking have often not gone so well together. Relying on item level does nothing to prevent a random group from getting, for example, a tank who may literally have never tanked before. Everyone has to learn somewhere, but we'd rather not have that learning come at other players' expense. One option would be to require a full premade group to do Heroic Dungeons, as we do with Heroic Scenarios, but that would present a very high barrier to entry (finding 4 other people with rigid role requirements is much harder than finding 2 other people with no role requirements). This solution represents a compromise in order to allow the content to see a broader reach via matchmaking, while minimizing frustration.

And yes, we realize that by formally using Proving Grounds as a qualification, it will be incumbent upon us to further refine their balance and mechanics. We'll be updating them for Warlords, and we're confident that we can make them a fair test of baseline ability within a given role.

View original post

Expanding upon the above, it has been stated that in Warlords of Draenor the Proving Grounds will tell failing players what they did wrong, making it something of a teaching tool rather than simply a test.

Instanced content

Scenarios	Dungeons	Raids
...	Bloodmaul Slag Mines Blackrock Depot Auchindoun Arakkoa Spires Shadowmoon Burial Grounds Iron Barracks Upper Blackrock Spire (updated)	Highmaul Blackrock Foundry World bosses

Player versus player content

Warlords of Draenor will feature a new world PvP zone that hurls Horde and Alliance players into an epic conflict fighting for control of strategic fortresses on Draenor. This new area will be seamlessly instanced, with the goal of providing better performance and a more balanced PvP experience than was possible in WoW’s earlier world PvP zones. Blizzard also plans on making several major PvP-related UI improvements, including updates to help PvPers track and communicate with their team about objectives in Battlegrounds, along with enhancements to Arena and Rated Battleground enemy unit frames designed to relay key information more clearly.

Early plans for the improved battleground scoreboard

Battleground score, UI improvements, and updated rewards

The battleground scoreboard is being updated to provide better insight into your performance in battlegrounds. A new stat called Battleground Score will take into account objective-based gameplay you engage in, such as returning flags, interrupting objective captures, healing, doing damage, and more.

In addition, flag timers and other objective timers will also be viewable on the map, complete with an additional animation. This will make it easier to identify the time until an objective is captured for players on either side to defend or attack to disrupt the capture.

To the victors go the spoils . . . and we’re upping the ante in battlegrounds even further. Winning in battlegrounds could garner players extra random rewards such as a PvP set item, a random bind-on-equip item, consumables, and more.

Ashran

For players looking to engage in PvP combat on an epic scale, Warlords of Draenor introduces a new world PvP zone off of the north east coast of Tanaan Jungle. This new experience involves a raging battle that has no distinct beginning or end—instead, it offers constantly evolving objectives for participants to take part in. There will be items to gather, creatures to summon, and tons of action on multiple levels. While you can enter the fray sooner than level 100, you may find yourself biting off more than you can chew—enter at your own risk!

When first joining the battle, you’ll be presented with objectives based on the current status of the battle. The closer you get to your opponent’s base, the more difficult your tasks will become. Objectives will change at a moment’s notice based on events within the zone, and you may quickly find yourself switching from offense to rebuilding your fortress and gathering the materials needed to do so. There will also be faction-based vehicles—and some Iron Horde war machines—at your team’s disposal.

To provide a truly epic world PvP experience, the number of players and the amount of faction members allowed in the zone won’t be capped. Don’t worry, though—with cross-realm technology, the pool of potential allies (and enemies) is wider than ever.

Crowd control and diminishing returns

One other big takeaway from Mists of Pandaria is that there is currently simply too much crowd control (CC) in the game, especially when it comes to PvP. To address that, we knew that we needed an across-the-board disarmament. Here's a summary of the player-cast CC changes:

• Removed Silence effects from interrupts. Silence effects still exist, but are never attached to an interrupt.
• Removed all Disarms.
• Reduced the number of Diminishing Returns (DR) categories.
• All Roots now share the same DR category.
  • Exception: Roots on Charge-type abilities have no DR category, but have a very short duration instead.
• All Stuns now share the same DR category.
• All Incapacitate (sometimes called "mesmerize") effects now share the same DR category and have been merged with the Horror DR category.
• Removed the ability to make cast-time CC spells instant with a cooldown.
• Removed many CC spells entirely, and increased the cooldowns and restrictions on others.
  • Pet-cast CC is more limited, and in many cases has been removed.
  • [Cyclone] can now be dispelled by immunities and [Mass Dispel].
  • PvP trinkets now grant immunity to reapplication of an effect from the same spell cast when they break abilities with persistent effects, like [Solar Beam].
  • Long fears are now shorter in PvP due to the added benefit of a fear changing the players position.

Additionally, we've significantly reduced the number of throughput-increasing cooldowns and procs in order to further reduce burst damage.

Questing and leveling

A whole world’s worth of rewards awaits as you brave the unforgiving wilds of Draenor. Taking a cue from the Timeless Isle, Warlords of Draenor will strike a balance between traditional questing and discovery. Each quest will have its own unique reward, but this time around, you’ll also have a chance to earn a rare or even an epic item, adding an element of surprise when you’re turning in quests. New quest UI improvements will help guide you on your journey and help you identify larger story arcs in zones as well as side quests.

Across Draenor you’ll also encounter rare spawns and personal Scenarios, and all manner of skirmishes and points of interest that will dot your path to level 100. And as you earn levels, you’ll receive bonuses to existing spells and abilities, capped off with a new talent tier at max level.

Garrison

Main article: Garrison

As you progress toward level 100, you’ll also open up the opportunity to create your very own Garrison—one of Warlords of Draenor’s biggest new features.

To establish a foothold on Draenor and bolster your faction’s defenses against the formidable Iron Horde, each player will need to build and manage their own Garrison, a customizable fortress that serves as your personal base of operations throughout the course of the expansion. As you complete quests and win allies to your cause, your Garrison will expand and you’ll be able to choose which upgrades you’d like to construct from a variety of options. You’ll also meet and recruit NPC allies and followers who will join you at the Garrison, each providing different benefits.

For example, a miner rescued from a dungeon might take up residence and help gather Mining resources. A heroic warrior you quarter might embark upon quests at your command, with a chance to return with valuable treasures. Other characters might provide you with quests that expand upon their own stories or lead you to valuable assets in your campaign.

When it comes time to upgrade your Garrison, you might choose to build a Barracks to send more followers on missions simultaneously, an Inn to provide new recruits, or an Infirmary to speed up injured followers’ recovery time between assignments. You may instead decide to build a Smithy and recruit a Blacksmith to research new plans and craft valuable resources (such as those with daily cooldowns). You’ll also be able to invite friends to visit your Garrison to trade resources and see how your home base stacks up against their own.

Level 90 character upgrade

Why are you giving everyone a level-90 character boost?

World of Warcraft is constantly evolving, and these days players engage with the game in a wider variety of ways than ever. Some enjoy the process of exploring the world and leveling up. Others enjoy the challenge of raiding. Many simply enjoy playing with their friends, wherever they may be. One of our primary goals with Warlords of Draenor is to empower WoW players to quickly and easily be able to participate in the content they’re most interested in, and giving everyone a level-90 character upgrade right out of the gate helps make that possible.

One common piece of feedback we’ve received from new players and those who’ve taken an extended break from the game is that World of Warcraft requires a significant time investment before they’re able to “catch up” and play with high-level friends. Design changes such as speeding up the leveling curve and features like the popular Scroll of Resurrection and Recruit-a-Friend system have proven very popular, but the issues’s only getting more challenging with each patch and expansion we release. By giving players the option to boost a character to be ready for the latest expansion content, we hope to remove some of these entry barriers and make it so anyone can pick up and enjoy Warlords of Draenor right away, no matter how much World of Warcraft they’ve played in the past.

It’s been a while since I’ve played WoW—will I know what to do with a level-90 character?

At the start of the new expansion, players will be thrust into an exciting introductory experience involving a desperate strike against the orc forces on Draenor. During this opening sequence, new and returning players will have an opportunity to get up to speed on the game before diving into their faction’s starting zone content—similar to the Death Knight starting experience in Wrath of the Lich King. We’ve also recently added features such as Proving Grounds, which help players learn how to tank, heal, and deal damage in dungeons in a solo “teaching” environment, to help ease the learning curve and prepare players for battle as quickly, efficiently, and enjoyably as possible.

How will the included level-90 character upgrade work?

In regions where players purchase World of Warcraft expansions, each World of Warcraft account that you upgrade to the Warlords of Draenor expansion will receive one level-90 character boost (to be used once the expansion releases). You don’t need to decide which character to boost immediately. You can also create a level-1 character from scratch and then use the upgrade on that if you wish. The boosted character will also receive a level-appropriate set of gear (along with some other assistance) to make sure you’re set for adventuring. We’ll have more details to share as development continues.

For regions where players do not purchase expansions (including China, Korea, and Taiwan), we’ll have more information to share on our plans in the future. In the meantime, our goal for all regions remains the same—to give players a way to get straight to the action in Draenor.

Prominent figures

Among the many figures confirmed to have major roles in the Warlords of Draenor story arc are:

Garrosh Hellscream

After escaping from captivity in Pandaria, Garrosh will return and go back in time, along with Zaela. He will alter the history of Draenor by supplying the clans of the Old Horde (now dubbed the Iron Horde) with current technology and making them refuse to drink the demon blood. He will be a major antagonist of the story arc.

Kairoz

A bronze dragon responsible for Garrosh's escape from prison, as well as establishing the timeway bridge between altered past Draenor and present Azeroth through the Dark Portal, for reasons unknown.

Kargath Bladefist

• Clan: Shattered Hand
• Territory: Spires of Arak

Kargath Bladefist leads an army of sadists simply by being the most hate-filled orc to ever attach a scythe to the stump of his severed wrist. Initiates of Kargath’s clan, the Shattered Hand, emulate their chieftain’s vicious body modification, but it’s only the first of many opportunities for new scars, both on their own bodies and in the sculpting clay of their foes’ flesh.

Blackhand

• Clan: Blackrock
• Territory: Gorgrond

A power-mad and tactically brilliant weaponmaster, Blackhand has both the ambition to rule and the cruelty to maintain his hold on the conquered. Under his leadership, the bold orcs of the Blackrock clan arm an entire world with the strength of steel. Blackrock slaves labor whip-crack to whip-crack on frightful siege engines—weapons that will inevitably be turned against the slaves’ families, neighbors, and homes.

Kilrogg

• Clan: Bleeding Hollow
• Territory: Tanaan Jungle

After seeing his own death during a vision quest, Kilrogg “Deadeye” embraced the finality of fate, and tore his left eyeball free in a brutally symbolic gesture. Members of Kilrogg’s clan, the Bleeding Hollow, imbue themselves with berserk fury, slather their weapons in hallucinogenic venom, and stalk prey from the treetops, branding their victims’ final moments with visions of pure horror.

Ner'zhul

• Clan: Shadowmoon
• Territory: Shadowmoon Valley

Though Ner’zhul is contemplative and forward-thinking, his vision of a united orcish culture has been eclipsed by the manipulations of his apprentice, Gul’dan, and the bloody reality of the rising Iron Horde. His clan, the Shadowmoon, has always looked reverently to the stars to guide their fellows. Today, the mysticism of these death-sages nudges Draenor closer to obliteration.

Gul'dan

• Clan: Stormreaver
• Territory: Shadowmoon Valley

Indebted to a demonic lord and pitted against the mentor he betrayed, Gul’dan is one of a handful of fel orcs on Draenor, his visage and shamanic power twisted balefully by demonic communion. The outcasts he leads, the Stormreaver clan, now fight to wrest their “rightful” place in the Iron Horde from Gul’dan’s former master Ner’zhul . . . and to tempt a great army of orcs into infernal corruption.

Grommash

• Clan: Warsong
• Territory: Nagrand

A passionate voice of pride and fury, Grommash Hellscream acknowledges only pronouncements made in the language of swinging axes. His clan, the Warsong, is a nomadic group of deadeyed archers and bellowing wolfriders who gather at the vanguard of the Iron Horde, razing their enemies’ lands and homes to embers, then stamping those embers into ash.

Durotan

• Clan: Frostwolf
• Territory: Frostfire Ridge

Loyal to his allies and terrifying to his enemies, Durotan has led the Frostwolf clan to a life in one of the most hostile lands imaginable. Durotan’s people rejected the Iron Horde’s call for orcish unity to focus on their own survival. They now subsist in the biting cold of Frostfire Ridge by cloaking themselves in furs and taming the massive frostwolves that accompany them, snarling and howling, in battle after battle.

Velen

As the ancient leader of the draenei, the prophet Velen has spent hundreds of human lifetimes carefully weighing and recording the futures he foresees so that creation itself does not fall. Velen’s guidance preserved his people during an exodus from their homeworld, Argus, but his wisdom is in question after the arrival of the Iron Horde on Draenor. What value is a prophet whose visions cannot prevent calamity?

Khadgar

Perhaps the most accomplished of all living wizards, Khadgar was an apprentice to the Guardian Medivh until he helped defeat his master and destroy the Dark Portal created to summon the orcs to Azeroth. Though cursed with frailty and age, Khadgar nevertheless remains an exemplar for the Alliance, leading counterattacks against the Burning Legion and all who would threaten his world with annihilation.

Maraad

A wandering warrior of faith, Vindicator Maraad is a pillar of draenei society. After prevailing against evil in the Northrend campaign, this hammer-wielding paladin began instructing the other races of the Alliance in the ways of the Light. Exposure to Azeroth’s myriad dangers has left Maraad prone to action above meditation—he will strike while others tarry.

Yrel

Yrel is a female draenei paladin. She is mentioned to start out as an ordinary character that will rise to become a hero and an important figure for her people in the storyline, in a manner similiar to Joan of Arc.

Factions and organizations

Iron Horde

The main antagonist faction of Warlords of Draenor, the Iron Horde is a union of the uncorrupted orcish clans of a parallel Draenor, as a result of Garrosh Hellscream's interference with the timeline.

New creatures

Humanoid

• Saberon
• Flying arakkoa
• Genasaur

Beast

• Fungal whale
• Hippo
• Dragonfly
• Chimera

Demon

• Void giant

Unknown

• Fara

• Foreling

Gallery

Zones

• 

  Spires of Arak

• Arrak Landscape Color.jpg

  Spires of Arak

• 

  Spires of Arak screenshot

• 

  Frostfire Ridge screenshot

• 

  Nagrand

• 

  Nagrand

• 

  Tanaan Jungle

• 

  Tanaan Jungle

• 

  Shadowmoon Valley

• 

  Shadowmoon Valley screenshot

• 

  Zangarmarsh

• 

  Zangar Sea

• 
• Warlords landscape art02.jpg
• 
• 

  Auchindoun concept

• 

  Draenei temple interior

• 

  An arakkoa dwelling concept

Creatures

• 

  Chimaera

• 

  Dragonfly

• 

  A savage elekk

• 

  Fungal whale

• 

  Genasaur

• 

  Enslaved Gronn

• Spiked gronn concept1.jpg

  Gronn concepts

• Spiked gronn concept2.jpg
• Spiked gronn concept3.jpg
• 

  Hippo

• 

  A savage jungle plant

• 

  Ogre

• 
• 
• 
• 

  Orc Grenadier

• 

  Saberon

• 

  A savage tallstrider?

• 

  Toucan bird

• 

  A savage wolf?

Miscellaneous

• 

  Durotan art

• Nerzhul WoD.jpg

  Ner'zhul art

• 

  Orgrim Doomhammer art

• 

  Iron Horde siege weapons

• 

  Iron Horde ship

• 

  Very early look at the layout of Draenor

Wallpaper

• 

Videos

• Announcement Trailer
• Faction Zones Feature
• Remaking a World
• Frostfire Ridge Zone Preview
• Shadowmoon Valley Zone Preview
• Gorgrond Zone Preview
• Talador Zone Preview
• Raid and Dungeon Preview
• Garrison Preview
• New Character Models and Animations
• 39 Facts About Warlords of Draenor

Notes

• Character model updates have been announced for all the classic races. The current plan is to update the original 8 races as well as the blood elves and draenei. After that is complete they will revisit the Cataclysm races (worgen and goblins) for another look and determine if they require graphical updates to match the quality of the pandaren models.
• In addition to the player character revamp, the expansion will also see updated models for races such as the arrakoa.
• The initial concept for the game was that Garrosh would go to Outland as it currently exists and would use a horn to resurrect the fallen warlords and invade Azeroth. The idea was changed in order to give players a new setting.
• According to Tom Chilton, the developers first began discussing Warlords of Draenor "a couple months before the launch of Mists of Pandaria" (roughly July 2012). It wasn't announced until November 8th 2013, more than a year later.
• The game was available for play by attendees at the 2013 Blizzcon.

External links

Pre Order World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Here(Official Expansion Site) 

World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor (Official Expansion Site) 

Press Release - Warlords of Draenor 

In-depth

Warlords of Draenor: A Look at PvP (Blog Article) 

Warlords of Draenor: Dungeons and Raids (Blog Article) 

Warlords of Draenor: UI Improvements (Blog Article) 

Warlords of Draenor: Journey into Draenor (Blog Article) 

Warlords of Draenor: Adventuring from 90 to 100 (Blog Article) 

Warlords of Draenor: Take Charge of Your Garrison (Blog Article) 

World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor BlizzCon 2013 FAQ (Blog Article) 

Gear Changes in Warlords of Draenor - World of Warcraft forums 

Fansites

Wowhead - Blizzcon 2013 

MMO-Champion - Blizzcon 2013 Recap 

ru:World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor