Nexus, a fanmade expansion idea. Discussion thread

[Golden Yak]

I'm just gonna say it - I'm jealous of your maps, and always have been.

There. I said it.

I'm very interested to see another take on K'aresh and what it's like both pre-Void destruction and in its current state. The Dunes of Na'karat with the concept of the Lightstorms seems interesting. It seems obvious in hindsight, but if unfettered Void energy can be harmful and destructive then there's no reason to assume the same is untrue of its opposite. The Light could have its own geography and dangers just as the Twisting Nether and the Void do, and a region where they intersect with elements of material reality/Netherspace could be spectacular. I also like the aesthetic the artwork for the Forlorn Canyon suggests, with huge carvings hinting at the achievements of an ancient race that have now fallen to ruin.

Also like the concept of the Forges of Infinity - I loved Ulduar and the Storm Peaks with the vast Titan complex there, I love the idea of huge zone-spanning cities and machines, the ethereal could be spectacular. Particularly if some evil reality warping force is pouring into it and twisting the machinery into something truly unnatural.

I'd love to hear about ideas for creatures and other sentient races that may have lived on K'aresh, and what form they have now! I'm also interested in the constellar angle, Harbaron in Legion really got my mind buzzing about the lore possibilities of the constellar.

Also

New class: Tinker, a mail-wearing hybrid class with 3 specializations: Demolitionist (Tank), Scrapper (DPS) and Medic (Healer).

*imagines WoW-ing as basically Lt. Morales*
*smiles to death*

[Azalar]

I'm just gonna say it - I'm jealous of your maps, and always have been.

There. I said it.

I'm very interested to see another take on K'aresh and what it's like both pre-Void destruction and in its current state. The Dunes of Na'karat with the concept of the Lightstorms seems interesting. It seems obvious in hindsight, but if unfettered Void energy can be harmful and destructive then there's no reason to assume the same is untrue of its opposite. The Light could have its own geography and dangers just as the Twisting Nether and the Void do, and a region where they intersect with elements of material reality/Netherspace could be spectacular. I also like the aesthetic the artwork for the Forlorn Canyon suggests, with huge carvings hinting at the achievements of an ancient race that have now fallen to ruin.

Also like the concept of the Forges of Infinity - I loved Ulduar and the Storm Peaks with the vast Titan complex there, I love the idea of huge zone-spanning cities and machines, the ethereal could be spectacular. Particularly if some evil reality warping force is pouring into it and twisting the machinery into something truly unnatural.

I'd love to hear about ideas for creatures and other sentient races that may have lived on K'aresh, and what form they have now! I'm also interested in the constellar angle, Harbaron in Legion really got my mind buzzing about the lore possibilities of the constellar.

Also

*imagines WoW-ing as basically Lt. Morales*
*smiles to death*

I'm humbled to have you, Yak, post here <3

I could share a .psd file with you if you'd like the filters for the maps. It's actually quite a basic technique, nothing truly marvelous.

I feel you've quite taken the grasp of what I wanted to convey with the zones! Indeed, the Dunes of Na'karat, albeit holy, are as dangerous as the prime void found in Velath'nul. And yes, the geography of Light is explored through zones to the southwest whereas the Void lands are found to the northeast.

The Forges of Infinity are a complex so big that is a zone on its own. I love the idea of having such a large indoor area filled with warped adimensional machinery!

To be honest, I've thought relatively little on the flora and fauna, but I'll have to do it so as not to bloat the areas with Ethereals. There are indeed more sentient lifeforms in the planet. About the Constellar, they'll take a major role in the expansion.

Regarding the Tinker, I already have all the three specs planned out. I'm currently iterating on the Scrapper one, though. The Medic spec would be reminiscent of Lt. Morales, yes :P

[Golden Yak]

I could share a .psd file with you if you'd like the filters for the maps. It's actually quite a basic technique, nothing truly marvelous.

It's actually not the texture of them, though that's lovely, its more how believable the geography of the lands appear. Whenever I do a map, I look at it and think that the zones look like samey cartoon blobs. Your zones all look like distinct and realistic chunks of land. Also you've done a ton of awesome looking dungeon maps for Eye of Azshara, which I haven't kept up doing.

I hope you take a stab at filling out the bestiary! I like the theme of exploring a brand new world and discovering all the unique mysteries it offers, and as Hemet Nesingwary will tell you a part of that is fightin' and killin' all the crazy beasties you'll run into.

[Azalar]

It's actually not the texture of them, though that's lovely, its more how believable the geography of the lands appear. Whenever I do a map, I look at it and think that the zones look like samey cartoon blobs. Your zones all look like distinct and realistic chunks of land. Also you've done a ton of awesome looking dungeon maps for Eye of Azshara, which I haven't kept up doing.

I hope you take a stab at filling out the bestiary! I like the theme of exploring a brand new world and discovering all the unique mysteries it offers, and as Hemet Nesingwary will tell you a part of that is fightin' and killin' all the crazy beasties you'll run into.

Regarding landmass shapes, I have a tendency for symmetry and roundness, but the truth is real land is far from symmetrical and round, so I get the zoom at max and randomly add edges here and there with a 3/5px brush.

About lore, I prefer to take a minimalistic approach. I mean, while I know all of the details and mysteries, I don't want to spoil them all to you. That's why I chose to use 'diary' or 'random scrabbling' format for the lore section. I want readers to feel intrigued :P

The bestiary part is by far the hardest. It's an arid/unnatural/mystical/sci-fi theme, but I don't want to fall in the cliché and limit myself to use voidwarped versions of scorpions, jackals and vultures. Real life fauna is okay, but I want the beasts out there to feel truly magical.

[Kokolums]

One of the KEY signature Ethereal technologies are the eco domes. Surely, Ethereals have preserved large amounts of K'aresh flora and fauna in vast eco domes. The ones we see in Netherstorm are likely just a mini version of what they can do. Saadly, I don't see any eco domes in your design, and I bet they exist.

[Azalar]

One of the KEY signature Ethereal technologies are the eco domes. Surely, Ethereals have preserved large amounts of K'aresh flora and fauna in vast eco domes. The ones we see in Netherstorm are likely just a mini version of what they can do. Saadly, I don't see any eco domes in your design, and I bet they exist.

As far as I know, eco-domes are merely an instrument to make such a devastate land as is Netherstorm appealing to foreigners and make a profit off it (as well as preserve the flora and fauna in some way). There will be eco-domes, but I don't want to bloat all the zones with them.

[Deleted]

I like the idea of it, but loathe the idea of tinker class, people have talked about it many times before and still just sounds like a buffed engineer , so unless they remove that prof, it makes no sense for a similar based class.
Love the zone ideas though.
Personally for me, it's a would be nice in two expansions time, they have been hinting far too much about old gods and queen AZ to put them on the hold for another cycle.

[Kokolums]

As far as I know, eco-domes are merely an instrument to make such a devastate land as is Netherstorm appealing to foreigners and make a profit off it (as well as preserve the flora and fauna in some way). There will be eco-domes, but I don't want to bloat all the zones with them.

Actually considering they would likely try to preserve as much of K'aresh as they could, I wouldn't be surprised if they ARE bloated alll over the place. I mean, I would if I was the ethereals. They probably got VERY creative with how eco domes were used. The eco domes in netherstorm are likely very primitive. I imagine they might have done things like preserve a huge chunk of ocean and its just floating the nether it a eco dome bubble or something, you can swim down and fall out the bottom.

[Azalar]

Actually considering they would likely try to preserve as much of K'aresh as they could, I wouldn't be surprised if they ARE bloated alll over the place. I mean, I would if I was the ethereals. They probably got VERY creative with how eco domes were used. The eco domes in netherstorm are likely very primitive. I imagine they might have done things like preserve a huge chunk of ocean and its just floating the nether it a eco dome bubble or something, you can swim down and fall out the bottom.

Eco-domes are a good point nevertheless. I dig the idea of a water bubble eco-dome.

In any case, enveloping the whole planet inside multiple eco-domes would be like... pretty much artificially reviving K'aresh. The problem is there are plenty of threats around, and holding eco-domes all over the place would prove hard. I want to use eco-domes, but not overuse them.

[Kyux]

Love this idea! It looks really fresh and different. It would be a nice break from the Legion and Old God story. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but you did: I miss the exploration theme of MoP. It's cool not just going back to old places but discovering new ones. I love all your ideas!

[Aeluron Lightsong]

The Ethereals are due for a return honestly. As for when that is I dunno.

[yetgdhfgh]

I love how you guys designs the logos they really do look cool

I gotta say i love your ideas

[Explorer]

Something fresh and new indeed! But I'd like to see more connection to Azeroth and it's ongoings, specifically Void Lords and corruption of our Titan.
With that story connection established, this might be one of, if not the best expansion, and if it featured a Void Lord as expansion boss, it would beat Legion, as it will offer us a Titan as a boss.
Idea is that Core of K'aresh is actually a portal to manifest a Void Lord by sucking and destroying a whole planet as a black hole and using that energy to allow Void Lord entrance - the only way for them to appear other than by corrupting a titan, but only works temporarily.

[Azalar]

Something fresh and new indeed! But I'd like to see more connection to Azeroth and it's ongoings, specifically Void Lords and corruption of our Titan.
With that story connection established, this might be one of, if not the best expansion, and if it featured a Void Lord as expansion boss, it would beat Legion, as it will offer us a Titan as a boss.
Idea is that Core of K'aresh is actually a portal to manifest a Void Lord by sucking and destroying a whole planet as a black hole and using that energy to allow Void Lord entrance - the only way for them to appear other than by corrupting a titan, but only works temporarily.

The Core of K'aresh isn't a 'portal', so let's say. K'aresh doesn't host a world soul like Azeroth within it's core. Instead, K'aresh was formed by countless fragments and shards of stars attracted by V'iru over aeons. It is an ancient -and dying- entity from which came both the void lords and the naaru (Xe'ra and Xal'atath hint us of such beings).

[Azalar]

I'm surprised at how very convenient the turn of events in Mac'aree is for this concept to happen.

I've updated the map and made another for dungeons and raids. You'll notice I've also changed some names. I'll now have to update them on this thread and the blog. That'll come soon.

[Deleted]

I personally don't agree they fit thematically in WoW. Sure, there's goblins and gnomes and engineer spec, etc. But IMO the steampunk thing as a class doesn't belong in a swords/magic/dragon fantasy setting. Massively takes away from hunters and warriors who aren't relying on magic for the most part. Why would anyone bring bow & arrows or a melee weapon to a gun fight? Doesn't make sense from a lore PoV that a knight, no matter how skilled with a blade, can hope to defeat something with a machine gun and bombs and the likes.
Yes I'm aware guns already do and have always existed, but Tinker would be a step too far in killing immersion for me. Guns work for other classes from a gameplay perspective, but when you think of a hunter in the lore you don't imagine them firing 100 arrows a minute. Just my opinion.

The map is pretty sick BTW.

I mean, it works fairly well in Guild Wars 2.

[GreenJesus]

It's nice to see an entirely new concept. An expansion like that could very well feel as filler, however, because none of these lands, nor the races we could find there, have any previous importance to us players.

One thing I didn't like is to separate zones per level range. With the scaling tech from Legion, that has turned obsolete.

In terms of gameplay the scaling of levels in each zone has been a godsend, however it can limit storytelling because each zone has to be disjointed from each other since a player can randomly pick the zones he wants to start with. Therefore the zones can't follow a progressive storyline. Blizzard can figure out a way to make it work, but that is one thing I miss in Legion.

[Azalar]

Hey!

I've just added a little more context to K'aresh, building up on professions and a little bit on factions! You can check them here:

8 new factions.
Professions reworked.

I feel like this tiny bit of new information helps give life to the concept.

I'll begin working on Tinkers soon enough.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

In terms of gameplay the scaling of levels in each zone has been a godsend, however it can limit storytelling because each zone has to be disjointed from each other since a player can randomly pick the zones he wants to start with. Therefore the zones can't follow a progressive storyline. Blizzard can figure out a way to make it work, but that is one thing I miss in Legion.

There's also the Order Hall storylines going on, thus the world story was a bit limited.

[Azalar]

So...wait...

This looks like something out of DBZ/Madoka/Other Universal-High-dimensionl shit...

Sadly, though, WOW has been this way since late WoD (Could also say TBC..but...nahh).

I'd say more like alien exotic rather than overwhelmingly high tech. Think about Ulduar and Netherstorm mana forges rather than spaceships.

Also... Update! Posting 2 more new maps
Hope you like them.