Deathwing and interaction with players

We have yet to see patch 3.3 which will bring us the final installment of the Wrath of the Lich King story but we can already say with conviction that Blizzard has learned from their lesson with Illidan in The Burning Crusade. In TBC, only a small percentage of the players really got to see Illidan and also the bigger baddie Kil’jaeden because you had to be a raider to see them and how they fit in with the whole story. In Wrath of the Lich King, players get to see the Lich King in various stages of the leveling process through Northrend. The earliest I know of is a quest in Gjalerbron in Howling Fjord but even earlier if you’re a Death Knight.

Grim Batol

CM Zarhym mentions that they want something similar for Deathwing in the Cataclysm expansion. They want characters leveling through the changed Azeroth (whether it be the 1-55 or 78-85 zones) to know who Deathwing is and his history. After all, it’s only right for players to know more about the guy who altered Azeroth’s landscape forever. In this sense he’s more badass than the Lich King and after reading a bit about his story it seems like he could be a more interesting foe. Being an ancient figure in the Warcraft lore, it’s quite a shame that the average WoW player probably doesn’t know as much about such a powerful being as he/she does the Lich King (as I said I had to do more reading to know more about Deathwing).

Zarhym also mentions that while they want players to feel more involved with Deathwing’s story, it will be in a much different way than the Lich King. He won’t be as directly involved as the Lich King who appears in front of the players many many times. If you think about it, it kinda makes sense because there aren’t as many circumstances where you could fit a badass dragon in various areas of the leveling process. It probably would seem shocking to see Deathwing in all his power as you quest through the lands. as Zarhym puts it, “your jaw will turn to molten liquid before it could drop to the floor”. That’s definitely not the feeling we get when we see the Lich King face to face.

I’m excited about this. We finally see some of the dragon aspects in the game like Malygos and Alexstrasza in WoTLK and also the whole thing with Wyrmrest Accord and even a sneak peak at Deathwing’s Twilight Dragons. It’s actually the perfect thing to set up the Cataclysm. And we finally get to see the guy hiding in Grim Batol after all these years!