Latest PTR build has the new Warlock questline come with a bunch of new trainer NPCs stationed in the capital cities https://twitter.com/Portergauge/status/1673925288726781952. Some of them have very interesting lore implications :
Mag’har trainer is a Shadowmoon Orc named Grimroz Darkwhisper
HM Tauren trainer is a Bloodtotem Tauren named Se’tah Bloodtotem
Apparently 2 Kul Tiran trainers : a Tidesage named Lorraine Darktide, and a Drust-themed guy named Jaxos Widdowson
Draenei trainer is a Broken named Soulspeaker Niir
Mulgore Tauren trainer is a Grimtotem/former Grimtotem Tauren named Tihkan Soultotem (Grimtotem warpaints + he’s found in Magatha’s old tent. The Tauren initiate in the Darkmoon Faire questline also refers to his cousin being a Grimtotem).
So the idea is that each of these races have the ways of the Warlock represented in their societies through a specific group : Shadowmoon clan, Grimtotem tribe, Bloodtotem tribe, Tidesages, Broken
The Shadowmoon guy is the first named Shadowmoon NPC since the AU Mag’har joined the Horde. Theoretically, they should be Void-based warlocks.
The Bloodtotem NPC confirms that there’s still a group of Bloodtotem in the Highmountain coalition (and so, subsequently, in the Horde). She’s clearly Fel-themed : maybe she had made the full transition to Feltotem and somehow was (partly) cleansed off the corruption ?
I suspect the Tidesage Warlocks would be Void-based too, given that their vulnerability to the Old Gods’ whispers was an important part of their characterization in BFA. As for that Jaxos Widdowson fellow… His Drust themes and the fact that he’s named “Widdowson” make me think that he might be the son of a Drustvar Witch (the Heartsbane Coven was made up of widows iirc). How cool would that be ???
The Grimtotem NPC may hint that we’ll FINALLY get to meet Jevan’s Horde Grimtotem and maybe even get the Grimtotem warpaints customization option.
The Draenei trainer being a Broken probably plays on their connection to Outland : I guess they may directly tap into the pure Fel energies of the Twisting Nether (there was already a Broken Warlock trainer in Shattrath after all).
They should definitely be given some dialogues to further confirm and explore all of this
Ugh, that is annoying. Look Blizzard, if you want to go all in with draenei warlocks make the trainer an ACTUAL DRAENEI instead of using Broken as the “oh warlocks/shaman are not actually truly well represented in draenei society so we will use Broken instead.” Or heck, use both of them.
? Broken ARE part of the Draenei society. They rejoined their kin in TBC and brought their cultural specificities with them. That’s literally the lore justification as to why Draenei can be shamans.
Except it doesnt. At least not on its own. If anything it was more due to Sethe curse being empowered by it.
Yes and it is precisely this reason I am annoyed by it. This is Blizzard short hand for saying “yes Broken are part of Draenei society again, but they are the outcasts. The non-light user. We tolerate them because they are useful and not because we want to properly reintegrate them into society.”.(honestly this is a questline the draenei should have had years ago but I digress)
And the main different to the draenei shaman is we have draenei shaman trainers as well. This showed that the draenei shaman were also being part of Draenei society. Using a Broken as a trainer feels like Blizzard trying to eat their cake and have it to by saying “see we added draenei warlocks but not really planning on doing much to represent what it means to draenei society. And we will just hid it using this broken.”
Ei lets be honest, it is just another one of those lore thing Blizzard forgot. Regardless, proper usage of fel does not make one a broken. It would make them an eredar.
Well… techincally Man’ari Eredar.
Which Man’ari is seen more around the Burning Legion but few like Jaraxxus still called themselves Eredar. The term is mostly to identify they’re demons.
However wouldn’t that mean Lightforged Draenei should be Lightforged Eredar?-- Oh mimiron, i’m rambling.
It’s annoying, but it does make sense. A draenei warlock isn’t going to be a common thing. Not impossible obviously. Also I’m not mad about more Broken representation because they look awesome and I still wish we got them over LF Draenei. Though I wish they used the new model they made for them back in Legion.
Was kind of hoping we would see a zandalari and pandaren npc as well but I guess not.
I am glad to see the Bloodtotem were not totally wiped out. Cool to see they were brought into the fold. I guess the red war paint made that sort of possible, but this is pretty solid confirmation.
I think it’s safe to say the community has some sway here. The Orc Priest situation was the most blatant example of them hurriedly reimagining something because players on the PTR (correctly) pointed out that the original version sucked. More recently there’s the Alextrasza fiasco.
I wonder if a Night Elf Warlock trainer would be put in Darnassus for people leveling on Teldrassil. Or if a Night Elf Warlock trainer would be put in the basement with the other Stormwind Warlock trainers. Or if there even will be a Night Elf Warlock trainer at all.
