According to the Blizzard China team, NetEase commemorated the new deal between the two companies by unveiling a 15 meter long (~49 feet) Lightforged Gorehowl sculpture at the Lujiazui Waterfront Park in Shanghai. The hulking statue will be on display from 10AM – 10 PM local time from July 4 through July 7 for fans looking to visit.
In Warcraft lore, Gorehowl is a legendary two-handed axe wielded by the orcish Hellscream family. In the games, Gorehowl was originally wielded by Grommash Hellscream before being passed on to his son, Garrosh, who wielded it through the Mists of Pandaria expansion before discarding it for an Old God replica of the weapon called Xal’atoh, Desecrated Image of Gorehowl. Players can acquire their own version of Gorehowl from the final boss of Karazhan, Prince Malchezaar, though canonically it’s not actually the Gorehowl weapon.
The statue is celebrating the return of World of Warcraft to China which is scheduled co commence this summer. The popular MMORPG was taken offline in China last year after Blizzard and NetEase failed to reach a new agreement. NetEase had originally built a replica of the Gorehowl weapon back during the Warlords of Draenor expansion release in 2014, but dismantled it after the two failed to come to an agreement. The new “Lightforged” variant of Gorehowl that is now on display represents a resurrection of sorts, which is fitting for the new agreement.
The first 5,000 visitors to the site each day can complete a “photo-taking quest” to earn a commemorative inflatable Gorehowl to help them remember the event.
The next World of Warcraft expansion, The War Within, is set to release next month on August 26. The MMORPG will become available again in China on August 1, just in time for players to reacquaint themselves ahead of the expansion launch.
