Expansion Face-Off - Azshara v Emerald Dream

[Deleted]

Can people stop saying that such and such concept doesn't have enough content to be an expansion? They made an expansion out of Pandas. And it was actually good. WoD is a very niche expansion idea. Azshara deserves her own expansion, N'zoth deserves his, and the Emerald Dream deserves one.

[Golden Yak]

Would of been nice if both expansions were fused together.

Why not fuse them both into 1 expansion?

Nope! Both have enough potential to stand on their own.

I would love to see pre-Sundering Azeroth, but that seems like a huge undertaking, especially if current Azeroth is only 1/3 what is was.

In the event of a Dream expansion, content would take place in Dream locations that are lost in current-day Azeroth. Dream regions representing existing Azeroth locations (Redridge, Ashenvale, etc.) would be enveloped in the influence of the Nightmare and act as impassable barriers (as the ocean and the Nether do for current in-game areas).

people keep saying the emerald dream, i dont think it means what you think it means.

from wowpedia "The Emerald Dream is basically how the world would have been, if intelligent beings had not altered its surface"
good luck making that into an expansion

That's exactly what I think of the Dream as - I could totally make an expansion out of it. Poll seems to be swinging towards Azshara, tho - those who want the Dream, you've got some ground to make up!

I don't think Azshara and N'Zoth should be separate.

We are definitely on the same wave-length there - I think each could carry things alone, but I don't see any reason why they wouldn't work together.

Can people stop saying that such and such concept doesn't have enough content to be an expansion? They made an expansion out of Pandas. And it was actually good. WoD is a very niche expansion idea. Azshara deserves her own expansion, N'zoth deserves his, and the Emerald Dream deserves one.

Yeah, that.

[Fatalfuror]

Can people stop saying that such and such concept doesn't have enough content to be an expansion? They made an expansion out of Pandas. And it was actually good. WoD is a very niche expansion idea. Azshara deserves her own expansion, N'zoth deserves his, and the Emerald Dream deserves one.

MoP had way more than Pandas. Much of it constitutes filler content, though, which doesn't have much effect on the story. Personally, I'm tired of filler content and no-lore bosses taking the spotlight. It's time to churn through some already established stuff with the goal of making something legitimately awesome. Blizzard is being way too protective about "saving" their major content. At this point, it's like they're refusing to progress the storyline because they're afraid they'll run out soon.

Design/development should not be a process ruled by fear.

I mean, can you even think of three INTERESTING raiding tiers that involve only Azshara? Or only N'Zoth? Anyone can pull shit out of their ass and make a raiding tier, but to make something interesting, fun, and engaging - that's something else entirely. Moreover, nobody likes slogging through raiding tiers or dungeons that all have the same look or feel to them, with the same rehashed enemies/plotlines. For instance, I'm sick to death of Orcs already and BRF isn't even out yet. Plus, it's all been fire and brimstone, the same boring ass colors (PLEASE, LET'S PUT SOME MORE RED AND ORANGE AND BROWN IN OUR RAIDS HURR DURR), very similar ability sets, etc. It's BORING. I want some variety!

That's the kind of thing we should be trying to avoid. I want less watered down shit, more awesome stuff.

[Deleted]

I think both are appealing. What if an expac had both elements?

The emerald dream as a dungeon zone, and Azshara as main villain. Once again up to call the Burning Legion.

Playable races: Alliance - High Elves, Horde - Naga

[Demsi]

would like to see the other half of azeroth

[pateuvasiliu]

The Emerald Dream has been fixed long ago.

Get over it people, jeez.

[Eazy]

would like to see the other half of azeroth

There's anything there? I always thought that we see whole Azeroth... I mean it's a map, not a globe. Map is in 2 dimensions, globe is in 3. There's no "other side" of Azeroth, because on the other side of the Lordaeron is Kalimdor.



Just because you see something like that on the map:

It doesn't mean that there is something "on the other side".

I'm highly skeptical about new continents in WoW, maybe isles, but continents?

OT:
I'd rather have burning legion expansion. But if I had to choose I'd choose... Emerald Dream? No. Azshara? No... Both are kinda boring for me. Water vs Trees in dreams.

Just upgrade a little Spider Kingdom and we'll have cool expansion. :-)

[Ragedaug]

Rift of Aln/The Emerald Nightmare (Literally fighting inside the gigantic body of an Old God who has managed to ride the boundary of both worlds - raid bosses would have split abilities depending on whether you were fighting within Azeroth or the Dream - final fight against Core of N'Zoth and the Heart of the Nightmare)

Don't you mean "gigantic body of the old god"? When they talk about "old gods" they are talking about his body parts.

[Deleted]

Azshara, mostly because we will know who is the end boss villain to focus on, flava of the month kind of thing.

[Ragedaug]

There's anything there? I always thought that we see whole Azeroth... I mean it's a map, not a globe. Map is in 2 dimensions, globe is in 3. There's no "other side" of Azeroth, because on the other side of the Lordaeron is Kalimdor.

Red Shirt Guy refuted that point at Blizzcon 2013, which Blizz tended side with that the Ulduar maps aren't 100% representative, as southern Kalimdor and E.K.have equatorial climates, not the colder climates you would see at the south of the southern hemisphere, which theoretically leaves the bottom half of the planet for new content, unless you are trying to say that Pandaria is the south pole.

[Keristrasza]

Go with your hearts, but fwiw - the Emerald Dream represents an unmarred Azeroth as the Titans originally envisioned it, therefore its lands were never affected by the Sundering or the Cataclysm. Regions in the Dream would represent regions of Azeroth that were lost to the Sundering 10,000 years ago. That includes all possible climates you'd find on Azeroth - forests, jungles, mountains, deserts, etc. 'Green' might be a prominent tone, but only in the same way that 'White' was for Northrend.

In addition, the Dream is a plane not bound by mundane physical laws, and would contain geographical wonders not possible in the material universe (think Outland level weirdness, times ten.)

This is my thoughts exactly, just because its the Emerald Dream doesn't mean its going to be 100% green over every square inch. That being said, no one seems to have that issue with the forests that cover 90% of Azeroth already. >_>

[Teriz]

Ironically, i think the Emerald Dream could fit in as a patch for an Azshara expansion.

BTW, if you would like any suggestions Golden Yak, I'd be more than willing to participate.

[Deleted]

An Emerald Dream expansion would be just all... green.

Whereas with the Azshara expansion, we have islands chains, underwater zones, naval combat, and old god infested caverns to explore.

The Emerald Dream doesn't have to be all green, it's pretty much a blank slate, they can come up with whatever they want.

[Deleted]

MoP had way more than Pandas. Much of it constitutes filler content, though, which doesn't have much effect on the story. Personally, I'm tired of filler content and no-lore bosses taking the spotlight. It's time to churn through some already established stuff with the goal of making something legitimately awesome. Blizzard is being way too protective about "saving" their major content. At this point, it's like they're refusing to progress the storyline because they're afraid they'll run out soon.

Design/development should not be a process ruled by fear.

I mean, can you even think of three INTERESTING raiding tiers that involve only Azshara? Or only N'Zoth? Anyone can pull shit out of their ass and make a raiding tier, but to make something interesting, fun, and engaging - that's something else entirely. Moreover, nobody likes slogging through raiding tiers or dungeons that all have the same look or feel to them, with the same rehashed enemies/plotlines. For instance, I'm sick to death of Orcs already and BRF isn't even out yet. Plus, it's all been fire and brimstone, the same boring ass colors (PLEASE, LET'S PUT SOME MORE RED AND ORANGE AND BROWN IN OUR RAIDS HURR DURR), very similar ability sets, etc. It's BORING. I want some variety!

That's the kind of thing we should be trying to avoid. I want less watered down shit, more awesome stuff.

Three Raid tiers based around only Azshara? No. But that does not mean that she does not deserve her own expansion. Just as WOTLK had a tier revolving around the Scourge and it's allies, a tier around the Titans and Old Gods, the Colosseum, and then Icecrown itself. An Azshara expansion could have both Legion and Old God influence, N'zoth could feature without being killed off. There would be pirates, Night Elf ruins, Murlocs, Demons, Old God minions, Trolls.

If I were doing an Azshara expansion the first tier would have fortresses for both the Legion and the Old Gods. The second tier could be Zuldazar, and the third tier Azshara.

[dokilar]

i can honestly say i dont think i would be interested in either. i guess im just a negative nancy though.

[meheez]

I would like to see more open fields and vast locations rather than another island with a volcano/mountain on top. Something deserted, where i couldnt see any mountains in the horizon.

Old school emerald dream glitch had zones that were pretty open (Verdant Fields). So id go with ED.

[Hellspawn]

What I would love to see is most of the sunkend parts of Azeroth come up to the surface again.. Maybe get to Zandalar, raid Azshara and alternate Gul'dan trying to spawn sargeras...

[Lane]

Unless they retcon the amount of land mass lost in the Sundering I still don't see how the Emerald Dream is feasible. It'd have to be extremely limited in scope because in order to remain accurate to the supposedly 80% loss of land mass they'd have to create an 'expansion' that is Kalimdor+EK+Northrend+Pandaria (at least) x 4 in size, which isn't going to happen. And, frankly, if it's not going to be done right it probably shouldn't be done at all. Though, I've often thought a WoW 2.0 that was pre-Sundering could be awesome.

[Golden Yak]

This is my thoughts exactly, just because its the Emerald Dream doesn't mean its going to be 100% green over every square inch. That being said, no one seems to have that issue with the forests that cover 90% of Azeroth already. >_>

This is probably my favorite point ever, actually.

"Emerald Dream is just Azeroth but green, bwuh, boring!" said a million people while playing through Feralas, Ashenvale, Stranglethorn, Elwynn Forest, the Swamps of Sorrow, the Arathi Highlands, Hillsbrad, Hinterlands, Silverpine, Eversong, etc...

Ironically, i think the Emerald Dream could fit in as a patch for an Azshara expansion.

BTW, if you would like any suggestions Golden Yak, I'd be more than willing to participate.

I have a rough idea how each concept would shake out, but people are more than welcome to post their own thoughts, suggestions, and concepts for what each expansion could contain. Either in this thread, or in the expansion thread proper when it comes out.

No promises to anyone, but if a good idea comes up, I'll consider using it and give shout-outs to the poster.

Three Raid tiers based around only Azshara? No. But that does not mean that she does not deserve her own expansion.

I think that Fatalfuror was making the opposite point - one shouldn't feel that Azshara or her forces need to be present in absolutely every raid tier to be the valid enemy for an expansion. New enemies unrelated to Azshara could feature. WoD was brought up as an expansion whose raids feature an excessive amount of Iron Horde.

I like the way MoP did things - while there wasn't a clear enemy at first (though one could argue that Y'Shaarj and the Sha count), there was a hefty variety of raids that all tied together into the greater MoP world.

For either expansion, I'd be going along similar lines - there will be other significant threats that aren't directly related or serving the primary, end-game enemy.

Unless they retcon the amount of land mass lost in the Sundering I still don't see how the Emerald Dream is feasible. It'd have to be extremely limited in scope because in order to remain accurate to the supposedly 80% loss of land mass they'd have to create an 'expansion' that is Kalimdor+EK+Northrend+Pandaria (at least) x 4 in size, which isn't going to happen. And, frankly, if it's not going to be done right it probably shouldn't be done at all. Though, I've often thought a WoW 2.0 that was pre-Sundering could be awesome.

It isn't necessary to depict the entirety of the Dream from coast to coast - as I mentioned earlier, a realistic area can be covered by the expansion content while the remainder is cut off by the Nightmare.

[Hitei]

This is probably my favorite point ever, actually.

"Emerald Dream is just Azeroth but green, bwuh, boring!" said a million people while playing through Feralas, Ashenvale, Stranglethorn, Elwynn Forest, the Swamps of Sorrow, the Arathi Highlands, Hillsbrad, Hinterlands, Silverpine, Eversong, etc...

Forests/green aside, the fact remains that the emerald dream is literally just an untouched Azeroth. Do you really want to play through base 1-60 zones a THIRD time? Only this time, they don't have the influence of sentient life? (e.g. roads, buildings towns, etc) Doesn't particularly sound like an interesting expansion to me.