What Will Be Left?

Short post today. I have a few ill-formed thoughts to get off my chest. They're responses to recent reading, in general. That is to say, this stuff is everywhere. No one particular article is causing this reaction. In fact, I suspect it is in the deluge itself that we will find my spark of motivation.

I can't help but read yet another article about what to expect in MoP without asking: "What will be left?" I've been doing this blogging thing for a good handful of years now. I started in TBC. This will be my, what, third expansion? Yeah, that sounds about right. And I swear that I've never seen such extensive pre-expansion coverage.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I'm not saying it's a particularly good thing, either. I've always refused to blog about things that might happen, preferring instead to apply my brain only when something makes it live. Again, I'm not saying this is the right way to be, it's just how I've been. It's hard for me to get amped about "maybes." My heart has been broken by devs too often in the past. I'm a cautious lover.

Again, I ask, "What will be left?" When I break my self-imposed silence? When I'm ready to dig in? When I find the familiar comfort of commitment?

The answer, staring back at me in each of these pre-x-pac articles, is nothing. It will all have been covered. No stone unturned, as they say.

Especially warlocks. There are some wonderful new bloggers. The coverage is much, much better than when I showed up in TBC (or at least it seems that way... maybe I've just learned where to look). What's more, warlocks have been so starved for changes to discuss over the last expansion, they can't help but devour all of the new information. We've had nothing to talk about for so long. Is it any wonder there will only be rehashing left when the changes go live?

I don't think it'll stop me from rehashing. In fact, I'll probably pretend like it's all new to me because, honestly, it is. Not only do I not write about potential changes, I don't really read about them as well. I skim. I get the general idea, but I don't let it close to my heart. If I seem clueless when this stuff drops, it's probably because I am.

In other, semi-related news, I liked the cinematic. There has been a lot of criticism leveled at it, but I think it was perfect. Very "Orcs and Humans," which I think is a promising direction in which to head. Oh yeah, and toss in a panda.

Sure, I wouldn't have minded a dragon-elf-in-metal-bikini tease. Or maybe even some Jaina Proudmoore tears face time. Perhaps it's misogynistic of me (or maybe I've been reading too much Rivs), but women generally make things more fun. Take that as you will.

I find myself a bit glad they didn't try to go with some big baddy. I know it makes for a more focused expansion when you have a meanie to fix in your sights. Personally, I thought Deathwing fell flat because the Lich King was such a great villain. Sure, I mean, Deathwing was cool... but how do you top Arthas? If you're a fan of Warcraft (in general, not just WoW), the LK was the ultimate bad guy. Blizz can pull old gods out of hat, spawn a flight of evil dragons, take us to a cosmic alternate realm of demons... it won't top the LK. Arthas was one of us. Anything else is just impersonal.

Maybe if Jaina went evil now and we could kill her...