SPOILERS: Shadowlands Lore Thread

[Nerovar]

There's Portals to Oribos in Stormwind/Orgrimmar, someone's bound to be curious enough to step through them, right?

It used to be that portals were very rare, unsafe (to the point of being almost banned) and pretty much existed mostly for gameplay reasons (in the case of permanent city portals). They apparently forgot about that at some point.

Also portals generally use ley lines which shouldn't exist in the Shadowlands.

Also you'd think that portals to literal fucking hell wouldn't be open to the general public (but maybe that's just me).

[bagina]

It used to be that portals were very rare, unsafe (to the point of being almost banned) and pretty much existed mostly for gameplay reasons (in the case of permanent city portals). They apparently forgot about that at some point.

Also portals generally use ley lines which shouldn't exist in the Shadowlands.

Also you'd think that portals to literal fucking hell wouldn't be open to the general public (but maybe that's just me).

Exactly. Any random peasant can just waltz in. Doesn't matter that the realm is pretty much a warzone right now. Those people are detriment to themselves and the military personnel in SL. That's an equivalent of letting some old lady walk around a battlefield, ridiculous. Oribos citizens apparently don't care either and let anyone in indiscriminately. All in the name of forcing some shitty OCs.

[Syegfryed]

Thrall doesn't summon Elemental beings if that's what you're referring, he just appears to channel electricity through the chains binding him - whether or not this is tantamount to a Shamanic Call is unknown, but it does seem to show that at least some of his Shamanic powers are still available to him (and potent enough to stun 4 Mawsworn at once). The fact that a charred totem connected to Thrall was also found does appear to point to a return of Thrall's powers within Torghast.

i understand that there is 2 different things, the shaman power, inherent, and the power he get by invoking the elementals to ain/empower him, if he can do both, or the first one is the thing.

which lead tot he question why he didn't eletrocute the ones who got him, or why he didn't use his powers all the questline of the maw.

[Maljinwo]

The fact that a no name old lady can travel to the Shadowlands like it's nothing sounds so stupid

[Eapoe]

It is fascinating though how Sylvanas has grown more and more evil while becoming less and less threatening as she goes.

Personality-wise she seemed to be the most evil in Cata, whereas now that we know for a fact she has allied with a ancient eldritch being who subjugates innocent souls forever to eventually commit omnicide she suddenly acts like she has a conscience.

Makes me wonder whether it is intentional or not, or whether the writers are just weirdly trying to balance her evil acts by making her personality seem less evil.

The eldritch type horrors in WoW are the Old Gods and are pretty much enemies of the Jailer.

[Nerovar]

Exactly. Any random peasant can just waltz in. Doesn't matter that the realm is pretty much a warzone right now. Those people are detriment to themselves and the military personnel in SL. That's an equivalent of letting some old lady walk around a battlefield, ridiculous. Oribos citizens apparently don't care either and let anyone in indiscriminately. All in the name of forcing some shitty OCs.

Gotta have your shitty fanfiction promoted somehow even if it's in an expansion set in the afterlife. /shrug

[Soon-TM]

I saw an interesting theory that those we rescued may in fact be agents of the Jailer. Jaina doesn't have her necklace, Thrall using shaman powers seemingly out of nowhere. I'd like to believe the theory but I doubt it's anything more than Blizzard handwaving.

Now that would be an interesting plot twist, but it's beyond Danuser & co.'s writing skills.

[Aucald]

i understand that there is 2 different things, the shaman power, inherent, and the power he get by invoking the elementals to ain/empower him, if he can do both, or the first one is the thing.

which lead tot he question why he didn't eletrocute the ones who got him, or why he didn't use his powers all the questline of the maw.

Given the narrative of his plight, I would imagine that at that time he couldn't will himself out of his funk to wield his powers - but after some serious physical and psychological torture in Toghast he may well have moved past that prior stumbling block. The twin terrors of desperation and righteous anger have a way of producing epiphanies of all kinds. Guess we'll see if this was a one-off thing or a sign that Thrall is slowly coming back into his own after a long bout of depression.

[Mehrunes]

It used to be that portals were very rare, unsafe (to the point of being almost banned) and pretty much existed mostly for gameplay reasons (in the case of permanent city portals). They apparently forgot about that at some point.

Also portals generally use ley lines which shouldn't exist in the Shadowlands.

Also you'd think that portals to literal fucking hell wouldn't be open to the general public (but maybe that's just me).

The whole building shouldn't be open to the general public in-lore. And anyone allowed in should be screened. It's the single largest security of Orgrimmar/Stormwind right now and it makes no sense there are no countermeasures in place.

[Syegfryed]

The whole building shouldn't be open to the general public in-lore. And anyone allowed in should be screened. It's the single largest security of Orgrimmar/Stormwind right now and it makes no sense there are no countermeasures in place.

well there is guards there, i imagine they will block any civilian who try to pass, only adventures seem to enter it anyway, but indeed it should not be so accessible

The orgrimmar is on a terrible location, is right in the front gates

[Sondrelk]

I imagine the reason the old lady is there is because she came along with the younger one who is indeed a mage

Getting into Oribos doesn't seem to be too difficult, and likely just requires talking to an Ebon Blade emissary to attune your portals, explaining why "anyone" can enter.

As for the portal room I imagine the portals are only active constantly as a player convenience. The short story Elegy gave a pretty good indication of how casual portals worked. You just have a specialized portal mage on standby to briefly open a portal to wherever, meaning that having all the portal mages in one place is not really a massive problem.

- - - Updated - - -

I imagine the reason the old lady is there is because she came along with the younger one who is indeed a mage

Getting into Oribos doesn't seem to be too difficult, and likely just requires talking to an Ebon Blade emissary to attune your portals, explaining why "anyone" can enter.

As for the portal room I imagine the portals are only active constantly as a player convenience. The short story Elegy gave a pretty good indication of how casual portals worked. You just have a specialized portal mage on standby to briefly open a portal to wherever, meaning that having all the portal mages in one place is not really a massive problem.

[Ophenia]

"Oh no. We're stuck on a hostile planet in a different timeline and we had to destroy the portal that got us here. Anyways, let's open up a portal and bring in some peasants to build our Garrison."

Definitely the best part of WoD. Was really worth spending that much time explaining us it was impossible to go back to our homeplanet and how even reaching this point required a shitload of magic when Khadgar the dude can open a time-space-reality portal with a 2-seconds cast. I facepalm'd hard at the time.

[Nerovar]

Definitely the best part of WoD. Was really worth spending that much time explaining us it was impossible to go back to our homeplanet and how even reaching this point required a shitload of magic when Khadgar the dude can open a time-space-reality portal with a 2-seconds cast. I facepalm'd hard at the time.

Seems to be the new standard now. Not that anyone cares.

[huth]

Seems to be the new standard now. Not that anyone cares.

Not really. It was never stated that we can't return from the Shadowlands. What Bolvar did warn us about was that we're going into unknown territory and our options for retreat were unknown.

[Nerovar]

Not really. It was never stated that we can't return from the Shadowlands. What Bolvar did warn us about was that we're going into unknown territory and our options for retreat were unknown.

It's literally the same retarded reasoning. Oh no, we could only enter realm X through object Y but now that we're here we can just plant our flag on the ground and open up portals back to Azeroth in case anyone needs to take a shit. Give me a break. How can anyone take this seriously? It's so obviously self-defeating.

"Perhaps your efforts would benefit from creating a tether to the mortal plane. The map table in this chamber was put in place long ago by the First Ones, the wise architects of all you see. If you have a memento from your homeworld, place it there. The table's magic can establish a connection."

"By affixing the Helm here, you gave us a tether to Azeroth that served to bring a few of us across the veil. But you, and other heroes who join us, require a stronger connection. Our acolytes can open portals back."

Funnily enough, due to their incessant retconning the Helm of Domination isn't even from Azeroth so not even the internal logic makes any sense. It truly is a comedy.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

Funnily enough, due to their incessant retconning the Helm of Domination isn't even from Azeroth so not even the internal logic makes any sense. It truly is a comedy.

Was the Helm ever said to be from Azeroth? I thought the retconning went from Kil'jaeden created it, then the Dreadlords made it, and then finally the Runecarver? And I wouldn't even call it a retcon given their connection to the Shadowlands and how much they lie.

[Wazooty]

The dreadlords proposed the idea to kil jaeden. Of course, they were playing him. He did try to fix the problem in TFT after all.

[Nerovar]

Was the Helm ever said to be from Azeroth? I thought the retconning went from Kil'jaeden created it, then the Dreadlords made it, and then finally the Runecarver?

It wasn't said. But in the past we didn't strictly know where it was created so there was some plausible deniability. Now that we know that the Helm was made in the Shadowlands, it doesn't really make any sense to claim that it has any big connection to Azeroth. It was just there for a time.

And I wouldn't even call it a retcon given their connection to the Shadowlands and how much they lie.

Well, their connection to the Shadowlands is also a retcon so I don't really know what you're getting at. They used to be "just" a demonic race that is very gifted when it comes to deception and using shadow magic (and shadow magic isn't even remotely tied to the Shadowlands anymore).

[TickTickTick]

As a Horde Druid who joined Night Fae, I just don't understand what the Heart of the Forest is anymore. At this point half of my covenant's base is Night Elves.

Part of the covenant campaign was working with a night elf who hates me, to find a night elf who hates me even more, which ends up with saving night elf souls (other souls don't deserve to be saved i guess?). These souls are taken to Ardenweald, without facing judgement (I'm aware the Arbiter is... not working at the moment. Shouldn't then these souls be placed in Oribos to await their judgement?).

Then you receive quests from Ysera to go to the Maw and save more Night Elf souls. So at this point there are more Night Elves in the Heart than actual Night Fae. All of these elves tell me that, even though I saved them, they still hate me and can't forgive.

Winter Queen doesn't even care about this it seems. Ysera seems to be deciding who deserves to be saved and is acting as the Arbiter too. So in short, I'm being told to go save these particular souls, don't care about other souls, witness Night Fae covenant becoming Night Elf covenant, all while continiously being told how terrible I am.

[Soon-TM]

It would certainly have been more interesting if the customary portals to Org/SW weren't canon. It's already the third time they pull this "hey folks, you are trapped in this strange land for who knows how long" !@#$ - only to open a stable portal 5 minutes later. Having portals make their way into canon is just stupid at this point.