Alex Afrasiabi

Alex Afrasiabi (alias Furor, or Valnoth on the forums) is the former Senior Creative Director for World of Warcraft. He was terminated by Blizzard Entertainment in June 2020 following internal reports of sexual misconduct dating back to at least 2013. In 2021, Afrasiabi was named in a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard regarding his and others' behavior while employed.

Alex was once leader of a EverQuest guild named Fires of Heaven (now a World of Warcraft guild on Hyjal-US). He was hired on 14 March 2004 at Blizzard as an Associate Quest Designer for World of Warcraft and rose through the ranks over the years to become Senior Creative Director. He created many signature quests such as the Thunderfury questchain, Bingles' Missing Supplies, Mor'ladim, and the tribute mechanics in Dire Maul. He also oversaw the creation of the Death Knight starting area in Wrath of the Lich King.

Following Wrath of the Lich King, Afrasiabi transferred to the team. Titan was ultimately canceled and Afrasiabi rejoined the World of Warcraft team until he was terminated from Blizzard in June 2020 for sexual harassment.

• World of Warcraft (2004) - Quest Designer
• World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (2007) - Lead Quest Designer
• World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (2008) - Lead World Designer
• World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor (2014) - Creative Director
• World of Warcraft: Legion (2016) - Creative Director

There were many references to Afrasiabi, and his characters Furor Planedefiler and Kariel in Warcraft, usually referencing "Foror". "Tigule" is a reference to Jeffrey Kaplan, whose alias is Tigole. Afrasiabi and Kaplan were both members of high-end guilds, explaining the many references to "Tigule and Foror". These references were either changed or outright removed following Afrasiabi's allegations of misconduct becoming public.

• Fras Siabi
• Fras Siabi, Fras Siabi's Advertisement, The Great Fras Siabi, The Great Fras Siabi (Classic), Siabi's Premium Tobacco, Fras Siabi's Postbox, Fras Siabi's Postbox Key, Fras Siabi's Smoked Cologne, Fras Siabi's Cigar Cutter, Fras Siabi's Barely Bigger Beer, Fras' Special Pipe Blend, Fras Siabi's Premium Tobacco

• Kariel
• Kariel, Pathstalker Kariel, Kariel Winthalus, Skeletal Remains of Kariel Winthalus, Kariel Whisperwind

• Foror
• Foror's Compendium of Dragon Slaying, Foror's Eyepatch, Tigule and Foror's Strawberry Ice Cream, Autographed Picture of Foror & Tigule, Brain Freeze (Heroes of Azeroth) (flavor text)

• Other
• ,, Shard of Afrasa, Stillpine Ambassador Frasaboo

• Testing items
• Alex's Ring of Audacity, Foror's Crate of Endless Resist Gear Storage, Foror's Wipe Neutralizer, Peep's Whistle

Virtually all of these references (except most of the testing items) were renamed in July 2021, after it was revealed that he had a history of sexually harassing coworkers during his time at Blizzard. This has also sparked a policy for Overwatch to stop naming characters after Blizzard employees, though it's not hard to imagine that this will likely apply to all Blizzard franchises.

• Afrasiabi is Iranian-American.
• The first quest Afrasiabi designed in World of Warcraft was Bingles' Missing Supplies.
• Afrasiabi remembers "freaking" about having to create some of the early quests in Elwynn Forest. He felt like he had to create something amazing and decided to name the quest giver "something awesome", resulting in Falkhaan Isenstrider.

• Alex Afrasiabi on IMDB