1. #1
    Deleted

    Fully Explorable Ocean?

    With stuff like Battle-Field Barrens and Timeless Isle, it's quite clear that Blizzard are trying to introduce some dynamic content into WoW as well as a renewed sense of exploration. I think this will certainly continue into the next expansion. And I think that if we are indeed going up against Azshara next expansion, that the Great and South Seas will be the perfect next step after the Timeless Isle.

    In an Azshara expansion it would be logical for much of the action to take place in island zones like Kul'tiras, Zandalar and the Broken Isles etc. however these zones would be spread across an area which may well be bigger than the rest of Azeroth put together. This would cause the same sort of problem we got with Cataclysm, with the world feeling disjointed. So I think it would be good to have a fully explorable ocean, navigable by aquatic and/or flying mounts, personal boats or Guild Ships. Split into two mega-zones, the South Seas and the Great Sea the Ocean would be filled with random events like pirate ships, krakens, storms, sunken wrecks etc.

    Hidden Islands could also be a cool feature. Not proper zones in their own right, but just small little pieces of land with say a troll village, or Highborn Ruins, with their own discoverable little events and treasure chests. If Blizzard ensured they were suitably hidden and out of the way, these islands could still be discovered well into the patch cycle of the expansion. Discovering them on your own without looking things up on wowpedia would provide hours of content. Some islands could come with their own little scenarios even.

    (P.S Before anyone says, yes this is similar to what they're planning in AC4, but hey it's not like AC has Krakens :P).

  2. #2
    Blizzard would have to come up with a way to make underwater battles interesting. Especially for melee dps. The Vashj zone is boring because underwater fighting is just not as fun as ground level fighting.

  3. #3
    I like this idea and I hope if it's south seas it happens (and I think it will).

    Blizz themselves said Cata felt disjointed because the zones were seperated and it was just "pop through a portal and reach the zone", if they add the ability to fly over/swim through the ocean to the next island it would really help with the immersion and general feel.

  4. #4
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by wych View Post
    I like this idea and I hope if it's south seas it happens (and I think it will).

    Blizz themselves said Cata felt disjointed because the zones were seperated and it was just "pop through a portal and reach the zone", if they add the ability to fly over/swim through the ocean to the next island it would really help with the immersion and general feel.
    I agree, but the zones themselves were some of the best ever made imo.

    VashJir, Deepholm, Uldum, frickin awesome.

  5. #5
    Deleted
    I would enjoy a large continent-like sea connecting different zone-like islands or island groups.

    To move across this sea, you could use your own boat mount. In addition to the actual zones (islands), the sea itself could be relatively shallow and mostly contain beautiful environment design rather than intricate and time-consuming quest design, which you could dive into to find content such as rare bosses, hidden treasures, gathering nodes, and so on.


    Last edited by mmocf747bdc2eb; 2013-10-06 at 10:36 AM.

  6. #6
    Deleted
    That's a cool map . I'd add Nazjatar in there as well, but otherwise very good.

  7. #7
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Protar View Post
    That's a cool map . I'd add Nazjatar in there as well, but otherwise very good.
    Nazjatar is built around the walls of the Rift.

  8. #8
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Mojo Risin View Post
    Nazjatar is built around the walls of the Rift.
    Well to be pedantic I'm pretty sure that all comes from the RPG which is non-canon.

    A Rift zone would probably be the Rift of Aln imo, and I think it'd be better if Nazjatar was a separate zone to that. I'd put it directly to the west of the Maelstrom.

  9. #9
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    I like the idea, and honestly its been something that I've been thinking about myself. I can't tell what the next expansion will be, but recently I've been thinking that an oceanic Azshara/Old God expansion would be what I'd like to see most. It's not about me preferring the lore or anything; while I care about the lore of the villains I'm fighting and the zones I'm questing in, I have little to no preference of the lore of one villain or setting over another. The reason I'd like an ocean expansion is because of the possibility that there'd be neat island zones, one or two underwater zones, and everything would be connected by one big ocean super-zone, and that zone as well as the leveling zones would be filled with content like you mentioned. I feel like the ocean/island zones, if done right, can provide a huge sense of scale and can have a lot of exploration content in them.

    Of course, I don't what the next expansion will be or what it will have in it, so this is all just hopeful speculation for me at the moment.

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