Man, it's been a month since I last posted! Time has just flown by for me lately. I wish I had my stuff together to show you all the neat things I've been making, but I don't, so today you're getting another post about WoW. Last time I blogged, I was excited about patch 5.3 and the continuation of the story of the Horde rebellion. With the Siege of Orgrimmar on the test realms, I had some predictions/hopes for the upcoming coup d'etat. However, after reading Wowhead's latest report on the PTR, it's clear that Blizzard doesn't intend to grant me my silent wishes. (Warning, spoilers lay ahead.)
Let me start by saying that I don't like Garrosh. He's woefully arrogant, brash, and power-hungry. However, that didn't stop Thrall in all his wisdom from naming him Warchief. Why? Surely Thrall saw all that, and he didn't just promote Garrosh because he's the son of Grom and rightful heir of the Warsong Clan? No, I really think Thrall appointed Garrosh as Warchief of the Horde because he saw potential for true greatness and leadership in him.
WHAAATTT!?
Hear me out; there are several Horde quests where you get to interact with Garrosh and see that he isn't just a mindless warmonger. The first quest I'll mention is The Warchief Cometh, where Garrosh warns Sylvanas, albeit tactlessly, about the dangers of the path she is treading with the Val'kyr. Another quest that comes to mind is To Be Horde in Stonetalon Mountains. When Overlord Krom'gar sends out that bomb, Garrosh tells him that murdering innocents is not honorable, that the end does not justify the means. As a rule, Garrosh is against total war, as is evidenced by the fact that he forbids Sylvanas to use the plague. He has access to a chemical weapon that would grant complete victory over the Gilneans, yet he does not take advantage of it. Once again, in Breath of Darkest Shadow, he makes the distinction between honorably defeating one's enemies and straight-up slaughter when he tells Ishi, "Control your hatred, Ishi. There is killing, and then there is murder."
Okay, so Garrosh isn't all bad. That doesn't make up for the atrocities he's committed so far this expansion, so what's the point? My point in showing you all this is to set you up for how I believe the Siege of Orgrimmar should end. Garrosh is the son of Grom Hellscream, who as you know, was the first orc to partake of the demon blood that corrupted the original Horde. Along the way, he realized his mistakes, and gave his life to free the orcs from the blood curse by defeating the demon Mannoroth. I think it would be fitting if, near the end of the Garrosh encounter, Garrosh overcomes the hold the Sha has on him, and sacrifices himself to help the raid party defeat the Heart of Y'shaarj. That way Garrosh, like his father before him, could be redeemed and remembered as a hero instead of dying as a villain. It would have some pretty awesome symmetry, I think. However, that's just not going to happen, at least if the audio files from the PTR are to be believed. With his dying breath, Garrosh still claims that ruling the world is his destiny. The audio files seem to reveal that he has no remorse for what he's done. I guess at least I can hold out hope that he's going to drop a legendary Sha-touched Gorehowl or something. That would be spectacular, and it would help make up for the injustice of having Gorehowl drop as a lowly purple in Kara.
Another disappointment that I have about the upcoming raid is that we have to fight General Nazgrim. He turned a blind eye to the secret missives that Vol'jin was sending me during the Dominance Offensive campaign. While he never really gave his consent, he certainly did nothing to stop me from aiding Vol'jin in setting up a rebellion. I'd really hoped that he'd be fighting along side us to overthrow Garrosh, but instead, he stands between us and the Warchief. I've gotten pretty attached to Nazgrim, as attached as I can be to a fictional character, anyway; I've fought beside him for three expansions now. I watched him get promoted from Sergeant to Legionnaire to General, so it makes me sad that he has to die. I'll be honest, I nearly cried when I heard the soundbite from his death, where he tells us that we fought an honorable fight, and that he was glad that he died by our hands. If I ever participate in the Siege, I will surely do a /mourn for Nazgrim.
But anyway, enough with the WoW talk for now, I have stuff to do! TTFN, ta-ta for now!
