Orgrim Doomhammer is arguably my favorite Orc from the old lore. He was the best friend of Durotan and the right-hand of the first Warchief of the Horde, Blackhand, whom he slew in a Mak’gora. Orgrim became the second Warchief, and under his rule, the Horde scoured the Shadow Council, laid waste to the lands of Khaz’modan, and fought a long, bloody war against the Alliance of Lordaeron. He also slew my favorite Human from the old lore: Anduin Lothar.
When I heard Orgrim was going to make an appearance back in WoD, I was beyond excited. Alas, Blizzard handled his character quite poorly, which was widely criticized by lore-buffs back in the day. They made some small changes in response to this, but it was less than a half-measure and still didn’t do justice to the character. In any case, the purpose of this post is not to bash WoW lore from over a decade ago. I did want to provide a brief synopsis of Doomhammer’s backstory, though, since I’m aware he isn’t a widely known character. With that done, onto the matter at hand. I’m an Orc fan. Plain and simple. I won’t try to hide it. I want more Orc things in WoW. So, I have a couple of recommendations for Blizzard, and I hope this gets back to them.
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My first recommendation is a new, unique WoD timewalking reward. That reward would be the original Doomhammer with the sigil of the Blackrock Clan emblazoned on either side. It could even have the knife attachment that features in many artistic renditions of Orgrim and his familial Hammer. I’d suggest making it a two-handed weapon rather than one-handed. This is because it was originally wielded by a long line of warriors, and I feel it should be accessible to those of the warrior class in-game (not exclusively, though). You could also make a one-handed variant, mind you. Anyhow, the reason I think this would be neat is because the Doomhammer of WoD inexplicably disappeared back in the day after Doomhammer was killed. No explanation was ever given as to its whereabouts, and nobody was really set to inherit it, as Doomhammer had no known living relatives or protege. Putting it up as a timewalking reward would be an interesting, albeit questionably canonical, way of explaining what happened to it while also giving avid lore buffs, as well as fans of the Orc race, a small gift.
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My second suggestion would be to finally unlock the Blackrock Orc Skin that has been in the files since, I believe, Classic. You know the one. It’s the same one all the orcs of the Dark Horde use in Blackrock Mountain. (Midnight Spoiler Warning - Do not read anything after this if you do not want story spoilers) I know we’ll be seeing a flashback cutscene of the Battle of Blackrock Mountain in Midnight, which will feature previously discussed characters like Orgrim Doomhammer and Anduin Lothar, and I think that unlocking the skin color for players would be a neat reward for orcs to get after they finish watching the cutscene. Canonically speaking, we should already have it, as Garrosh pardoned large swaths of the Dark Horde and allowed them into the New Horde.
Before I bring this to a close, something I want to address is any criticism that might be made against this post using a “we should get more than this” argument. My fellow orc fans, I know you crave more. WoW has handled us quite poorly over the years, and while bringing back the Kosh’hargh in our heritage questline was a massive win, many of us still feel underserved. Unfortunately, this is a natural, unavoidable phenomenon. There are many races in this game, and it’s pretty much impossible to give each the time they deserve all the time. On occasion, or even for large swaths of time, we will have to be the underrepresented so that others can get their time in the limelight. As it stands, it feels like we are far away from orcs being the center of attention again. Who knows, we may never be. In any case, I am not going to clamor for more right now, because I know it’s not going to happen. Keeping my expectations low and trying to promote more attainable goals is a more pragmatic approach than asking for the impossible.
Aka’magosh, my fellow orcs! Stay strong!