Table of Contents
1.0 - Introduction
2.0 - Avaloren, the Forgotten Lands
2.1 - Story
3.0 - Patch 11.0.0
3.1 - Crimson Fields
3.2 - Novemor Highlands
3.3 - Cy’alotha
3.3.1 - Grand Theft Speaker
3.4 - Crumblestone Ravines
3.5 - Isle of Decay
3.6 - Endgame (11.0.0)
3.7 - Other Zones
3.7.1.1 - Day of the Caretaker
3.7.2 - Onaari Archipelago
3.7.3.1 - Swamps and Sorrows
3.7.4.1 - Brokefront Mountain
4.1 - Story
4.2 - Lightbreak Pass and Shattered Plateau
4.3 - Currency
5.0 - Patch 11.1.0
5.1 - Story
5.2 - Ashfallen
5.2.1 - Ahn’Mexeth - The Desolated City
5.2.2 - Noxenar’s Assault
5.3 - The Void Expanse
5.3.1 - Entropy of Darkness
5.4 - 11.1.0 Aftermatch
6.0 - Patch 11.1.5
6.1 - Story
6.2 - Vindicaar Rescue Runs
7.0 - Patch 11.2.0
7.1 - Story
7.2 - The Last Bastion
8.0 - Patch 11.3.0
8.1 - Story
8.2 - Reclaiming Karabor
8.3 - City of Light
9.0 - Summary
9.1 - Zones
9.2 - Dungeons
9.3 - Raids
9.4 - Patches
10.0 - Features
10.1 - Earthmother’s Attunement
10.2 - Chromie’s Hearthstone Pocketwatch
11.0 - Few more words
1.0 - Introduction (skip this if you don’t care about technical stuff)
Hi, in this post I want to share with you my idea of how the story of World of Warcraft could progress. I lost my original account on MMO-Champion because of inactivity (I think, it’s been years) but this isn’t my first time making fan content so from the beginning I had really clear goals and I knew what and how to do things. Of course I adjusted some ideas
I created a general concept for this expansion a few years ago, some ideas are even back from WotLK times but most of the stuff relies on newer events from Legion, BfA, Shadowlands and Dragonflight Alpha.
I tried to fit as many details as I possibly could into the current story direction so it doesn't look like full on retcon. Still, some of you may read it as turning the world upside down but in the end I was following Blizzard’s breadcrumbs.
It may look like an excuse but due to recent events tied to post-release Dragonflight story and mainly upcoming 10.0.7 (I'm a bit late on that one) and 10.1 patches I had to speed things up and cut some ideas. For example, at first I tried to do the entire continent using a non-destructive workflow. I made base terrain and started to detail it but issues with external tools and my PC not handling that kind of huge world forced me to focus on separate parts of the world instead. Still, with more time I think I could make this work and end up with procedural textures, vegetation and every means to make it dynamic (seasons, weather and effects).
Entire level design and detailing wasn’t that hard really and it took just a fraction of the entire time spent on this project. Setting things up, “fishing” for assets that I needed from WoW files and incorporating them in Unity was a real pain and took me a huge amount of time. The goal was to use as many assets from the original game as I possibly could. That being said I had to make some recolors, custom assets, textures and particle effects. I barely scratched some zones (like capital city) because they would consume more time than the entire project up to this point. On the other hand, Crimson Fields and other open areas took me just a few hours to make. The Void Expanse in my eyes looks very detailed but it was one of the zones I did quickest, in like 2-3 hours.
I could make this entire post about technical aspects of the project but it’s not the point.
At first I wanted to call it just Forbidden Lands but with the latest revelations and used in game names I decided to change it (but I couldn't care less about naming).
After this long introduction I welcome you to:
2.0 - Avaloren, the Forgotten Lands
2.1 Story
From the perspective of the players, we learn about a hidden continent on the other side of Azeroth. Odyn and Tyr tell us about an ancient race that became dangerous and powerful by using energy directly from Azeroth’s core. Titans tried to stop hurting the world soul by the Avalori (how they called themselves) but mortals didn’t listen. In the meantime, Void Lords send entities called later “Old Gods” to corrupt Avalori. Seeing that, the Titans had no choice but to attack before Azeroth succumbs to the Void. That’s what we know.
In the following years, city-states like Ny’Alotha and Ahn’Kahet temples fell one by one. At this time only the homeland continent of Avaloren remained beyond reach of the Titans and the Void Lords. Fortunately for the mortals they managed to fortify the shores and erect an impenetrable force field around the main city. They used energies that were far beyond their capabilities and destroyed much of the landmass in the process but in time the entire system stabilized. For the Titans it was obvious that without hurting Azeroth itself they couldn’t even scratch the barrier. On the other hand, forces of the Void didn’t cared that much about damage to the planet but their lieutenants were too weak to break through.
Unable to win, both cosmic forces turned against themselves. Avalori thought that their nightmare was over but then the Naaru attacked. Their wrath literally burned to the ground the biggest city beyond the dome and scorched plains around it. To this day this area is barren, lifeless and silhouettes of the victims are burnt on the ruins around. Shortly after that, forces of the Light left and never returned. To this day nobody knows why they attacked so violently and seemingly without reason.
3.0 Patch 11.0.0
3.1 - Zone: Crimson Fields
As a player, we arrive at the shores of Crimson Fields - most-eastern zone of the continent. Along with Titans we start an attack on a recently found weak point in the force field. In the form of a scenario, we land on the shores and make our way up cliffs, destroyed town and finally to the breach.
(All of that should be as scripted as possible to make for a really dynamic, fairly short and full of effects sequence. I didn’t want to compare it to that but it only makes sense to copy the style of Saving Private Ryan.)
It turns out that the fissure in the force field is so small that only humanoids can go through.
Before we move, Chromie appears and tells us that in those strange lands Tyr’s Veil is fading and Bronze Dragonflight finally starts to see all the timelines clearly. He/she gives us Hearthstone Pocketwatch to move through time and space to certain fixed locations and tells us that in time we will know why we received it.
Without any further delay, we are sent to a nearby energy tower that supports the force field in this region. Immediately upon reaching the stairs we are surrounded by mysterious figures and captured. Damaged device that caused the fissure reactivates and closes the gap. It looks like it was trap all along.
We wake up inside the building, not restrained but without weapons and armor. As we come out it turns out that player characters with some npcs were taken to the small settlement in the valley between two mountains up west. There are townsfolk passing by that look like dwarves, gnomes and humans - just slightly different, more… distinguished.
3.1.1 - Cinematic
Players learn there that Avalori, as they call themselves, live under the dome for millenia. They show us their side of the story and it turns out that they lived with Mother Soul (Azeroth) in symbiose. She reached them first, long before Titans and the Void arrived. Avalori thrived under her protection. They never hurt their Mother intentionally (other than erecting that force field) and they believe that others came to take her power for themselves.
Anyhow, Mother’s voice became quieter and a few years ago she went silent. They decided to leave the safety of the force field and investigate. Avalori sent their agents to far corners of the world and realized that many of the outsiders looked almost the same. Still, they were uncovered by the Titan forces that remained on Azeroth and were forced to come back.
Time spent with other races showed that they too care about the world but are highly influenced by so-called cosmic forces. Avalori also learned about the great wound that their Mother suffered.
Children of Azeroth decided that the only way to succeed is to convince other races to their cause. They set a trap and waited because it was only a matter of time when Titans or the Void would attack.
After that, players have free will to do whatever they want and because this is an MMO, we don’t really have a choice but to follow a scripted path.
We leave the valley and before our eyes, spreads the entire continent with Cy’alotha in the middle. Before we are allowed in the city, we’re sent to learn about Avalori’s heritage first.
3.2 Zone: Novemor Highlands
This is a very vast zone that spans across almost the entire continent and is connected to most other zones.
Northern parts are much steeper and rocky. They are covered with dense green grass and occasional groves. Land is often cut by small rapid streams and waterfalls. Some shepherds live here and we visit Alliance Mage Tower in which we can learn about strong ley-lines activities. Other than that it’s mostly wild and peaceful land.
As we go south, the visuals change drastically. Grass is as tall as in the north but the dry climate makes the color palette very brown and yellowish. Also, the difference in heights is much less abrupt. We learn that this is an ancient homeland of the Avalori. Not many people are living here right now but we can find old structures and feel a connection to the land. That is why Horde decides to make their encampment in that zone.
Novemor Highlands is part of endgame activities that I will cover later.
3.2.1 - Dungeon: Ancestors Legacy
We enter one of the tombs in the southern part of the zone to learn more about Avalori history. There is no big bag guy or anything in this instance. We fight ancestor spirits to gain their favors and because they are just bored. I think not every instance needs to have some kind of threat to deal with and this is an example.
3.3 - Zone: Cy’alotha
Now we are free to enter the city. Probably as you already noticed, architecture is strikingly similar to Black Empire of the Old Gods. I always wondered why that kind of creatures had built structures not resembling them at all. I came up with a simple solution that they just do what they do the best - corrupted and adapted things that they took over.
(It’s worth noticing that I really wanted to go full on crazy with custom models etc. but it would take me a month to do that one zone so I cut it eventually. Second thing is that I can’t imagine this zone as a kind of future utopia and even some floating elements are questionable from my point of view. Anyway, I did something just to not leave this zone without a screenshot.)
Storywise, we earn the trust of the people and keep learning about history. Thanks to the advanced technology of Avalori, we can relieve crucial moments in the form of fast scenarios. Still, this is not concrete proof but something that makes us reconsider the past and agenda of cosmic forces.
However, the main goal of this zone is to attune with Earthmother. As I said, she went silent years ago but her power is still in the land around. By this time players could see it as semi-random buffs that increase their strength temporarily while leveling. In Cy’alotha, scholars will guide players through a series of tasks that will eventually give them the ability to make those buffs permanent. It's called Earthmother’s Attunement and will be described later in this post.
By that point, after entering Avaloren, there wasn’t really any serious threat visible inside. Every zone was mostly peaceful and unity between people was strikingly visible. It will stay that way. I don’t plan on adding some separatists, rogue factions etc. Avalori has a very unique society which differs from zone to zone but as players we had enemies within our ranks in every expansion so I don’t think it would be great from a narrative point of view adding them here.
Still, that doesn’t mean there won’t be dangers ahead and it’s also a reason why we are sent to Crumblestone Ravines next.
3.3.1 - Dungeon: Grand Theft Speaker
This is an instance tied to Cy’alotha zone. However it takes place in Crimson Fields, just story progression enables it now.
We are sent at night to the border of the Crimson Fields. Our mission is to kidnap Magni Bronzebeard from the Alliance camp because he is the only person to seemingly have connection with Azeroth. This is a two part dungeon. In the first one, we have to sneak our way into the camp without alarming guards. Of course Magni won't go with us voluntarily so we need to knock him unconscious. Fighting the Speaker alarms the entire camp and upon escaping the dwarf's tent, gauntlet begins. We have to cleave our way to the barrier before more reinforcements arrive. Gauntlet itself is kind of the last boss of the instance.
3.4 - Zone: Crumblestone Ravines
It’s the last of the leveling zones and also most complex in terms of navigation. Players can’t really see much in the distance and have limited travel options. While leveling we will mostly quest in the northwestern part.
Later in the game we visit Rocktop Observatory that safeguards the sky from cosmic threats and will play a role in the next patches.
3.4.1 - Dungeon: Gangrene
In Crumblestone Ravines we encounter the first big enemy of this expansion. Or rather his trail. There is a small part of the zone that is infested by Decay. It is our role to investigate and find the source of the corruption. Subzone looks like a rotten tooth, land is collapsing and covered by fungus. We find out that the corruption originates from an island, over the millenia found its way under the sea floor and reached the mainland. We must go there and stop Decay in its origin.
(In my mind it is a test whether or not players would like a slower pace of questing and travel for a limited time. I think everything comes to scale so for example in Dragonflight we have certain speed and distance between points of interest, then it shouldn’t bother players to move 5 times slower in 5 times smaller area. It all depends on quality of activities and their density. Big advantage of this idea is that all that work on detailed zones wouldn’t be wasted. For me, a perfect example of questing was Talador in WoD and players didn’t really need fast flying mounts to enjoy gameplay. Another example is Grizzly Hills where distances were larger but it just added up to the general feeling of this zone. Exactly opposite to Azure Span, where level design is beautiful and entire feeling of that zone for me is perfect but also ruined by dragonriding and not much activities to begin with.)
3.5 - Zone: Isle of Decay
It's mostly home to the first raid of the expansion. Other than that there will be some introductory quests that explain the story but not much more. Lorewise as Isle itself is not under the barrier, the entire raid is treated as a very fast expedition so its members are not vulnerable for too long. For me the consequence of that is there can't be any daily activities there or constant presence of camps. Also the Isle is too far away from the mainland so traveling there would be irritating.
3.5.1 - Lore
We learn that the source of corruption is the 6th (or rather first) Dragon Aspect - Cerezath. Brother of Alexstrasza and Ysera was Tyr’s failed attempt to harness decay magic in order to deal with Galakrond’s threat. The dragon himself had great potential but couldn't fully control his powers. Tyr tried to revert all alterations that he did to Cerezath but was unsuccessful. Titan Watcher couldn’t let the violent nature of the dragon be unsupervised so he decided to kill him. Aspect of Decay learned about this plan and tried to escape with his consort - Gerathea. Unfortunately, Tyr caught up with them some time after. After a long battle, Titan Watcher struck Gerathea with a piercing blow. She tried to fly over a great energy dome nearby but her wound was too serious. Cerezath’s consort fell from the sky, breaking the tallest peak on the mysterious continent that reached far above the dome. She crashed in the southern part of Crimson Fields and her remains are there to this day.
Seeing as she dies, Cerezath directed all his power and fury at Tyr. It was too much even for Titan Watcher as he fell under the might of Decay. However, this attack drained all of Dragon Aspect’s vitality. Vulnerable, he was overpowered by remaining titan forces. Left without their leader, they were unable to finish Cerezath so they decided to build a prison around the battlefield. They couldn’t know that Aspect of Decay was far too powerful and eventually he will break free.
Tyr was carried from the battlefield unconscious and barely alive. He never healed back and returned to fortify Cerezath’s prison as just a few months after those events, he battled Galakrond with allied proto drakes and later died from the hand of Loken.
(From a technical standpoint, Avalori were unaware of dragons, as their isolation preceded creation of the Aspects.)
3.5.2 - Raid: Source of Decay
Small landing party tries to locate the origin of corruption that started to desecrate Crumblestone. Raid lands on the island behind the barrier and as we progress, it turns out to be some kind of titan facility overtaken by Decay.
Raid itself will be somewhat short, 5-6 bosses instance. Worth noticing are:
Amalgamation of Foulness - flora and fauna of the island became corrupted and started to merge together into hybrid organisms. Biggest of them is said Amalgamation - towering over the surrounding zone. At first he is unable to move, stationary (like Kil’Jaeden or Ragnaros when we first saw them) but as the fight progresses, this creation divides into smaller mobs. It would be nice if this was done in such a manner that players can decide/trigger those subdivisions so it’s up to them if they want to fight bigger amalgam spawns or waves of smaller ones. Another idea worth mentioning is that a raid could gather random mobs around the area before the pull and make some kind of hard mode (like ICC ones).
Watcher Krexes - Titanic construct left behind to ensure that Aspect of Decay will never break free. As everything around him, he slowly became corrupted. In Watcher’s mind, he was still a jailer and everything was under control but in reality Krexes was long gone.
When it comes to fighting, I would like to see some mechanics that include corrupted order magic that tries to… order the decay. That would result in very chaotic skills that make the boss vulnerable.
Cerezath, Aspect of Decay - Dragon left in some kind of semi-stasis. He is frozen in place but clearly aware of everything. As the Watcher falls, Cerezath starts to move slowly. Entire fight would be centered around breaking him free.
I don’t want to make it trivial or similar to other fights like Valithria from ICC but lorewise it will be only logical to help him instead of killing. I thought about healing abilities hurting him as he is wielder of decay magic so players would need to use their abilities wisely. Better idea in my opinion is when we are not fighting a dragon directly but instead finding balance between breaking the chains, fending off decay amalgams and calming his blood lust. In the end Cerezath starts to control the spread of decay and finally gets his power in check.
After the fight we get a quest to finally bury the dragon's consort - Gerathea. As a parting gift, Cerezath gives us part of his powers encased in a stone in order to study and better understand decay magic.
3.6 - Endgame (11.0.0)
As I said before, endgame activities will take place in Novemor Highlands. Alliance and Horde will have their separate hubs that they will develop during the patch. Players will mostly deal with various dynamic events, world bosses, rare elites and treasures - nothing new here.
Hubs will have several buildings to choose from but eventually all of them can be built at the same time. Worth mentioning are:
Zeppelin Tower - helps patrol the skies in order to automatically locate points of interests, enemy infiltrators and other activities.
Seismology Station - gives access to procedurally generated caves that clearing awards players with cosmetic items.
However, I don’t want to make this some kind of mandatory activities. Rather testing bed for some new tech and to be honest time-consumer before next patch.
Also if I was a developer, I would make 11.0.0 really short like 3 months tops. Anyway, I think making the zone, its content and development (like zeppelins for transport) relevant in 11.0.5 and even 11.1.0 is something I would gladly see.
3.7 - Other Zones
As you probably saw, there are some places that weren't covered by the main story. I want to make some room for some side content, funny quests and tons of cosmetic stuff. Not everything needs to revolve around major factions and big events. I wanted a similar approach as in Vanilla where every zone had its own theme.
3.7.1 - Zone: Capital Gardens
It is a place outside the city walls of the capital. Citizens go there to rest, honor their dead and commune with nature. There are some pests or aggravated plants in some places but other than that it's a very peaceful zone.
3.7.1.1 - Dungeon: Day of the Caretaker
Once a year citizens of Avaloren gather in the Capital Gardens to perform tasks to keep the place clean. This time we will help them. List of activities spans from cleaning gardens, pruning some weeds or getting rid of pesky animals.
As it’s an instance, there has to be fighting but I aim for something resembling Karazhan bonus events more than regular “butchering our way through” type of dungeon.
3.7.2 - Zone: Onaari Archipelago
This is the westernmost province of Avaloren. Most of it isn’t covered by the barrier. Still, as it was never populated and posed a threat to either Titans, Naaru or The Void Lords, it wasn’t conquered. Nature here is untouched by anything and it's the last and most primal zone of Azeroth. Imagine how Earth looked millions of years ago and convert it into game world, you will get Onaari Archipelago (yeah, I’m know it's lazy).
3.7.3 - Zone: Xal’ateth Wilds
As Onaari, it's a pretty untouched zone but as it is situated lower than others and practically touches the ocean, it looks very tropical. There are plenty of rivers and waterfalls dropping from the entire continent so it’s also a very humid zone. Zone is all about Explorers League and their talent to get into trouble while collecting rare specimens and doing pointless photos.
3.7.3.1 - Dungeon: Swamps and Sorrows
As it often does, local flora and fauna try to kill us. And this is ok. Sometimes however, it focuses on helpless Explorers League members and who but us are supposed to save them. I want this instance to be a great jungle adventure in which giant plants literally build a very vertical web of roads around tree tops.
3.7.4 - Zone: The Broken Peak
Top of the highest mountain that was destroyed thousands of years ago and landed on its side in the ocean. It's a very unique zone because of how it was formed. Weather is very cold and windy so there are few plants here and only a handful of dwarfish trees. Zone is rocky and difficult to navigate.
3.7.4.1 - Dungeon: Brokefront Mountain
Some Avalori are let in here to challenge themselves and conquer the mountain. Harsh weather, strong winds and hardened elementals stand in our way to show locals that we can survive those conditions too.
4.0 - Patch 11.0.5
4.1 - Story
As we dealt with threat from both Alliance and Horde getting through the barrier, Avalori detected increased activity in before dormant zones - Ashfallen and The Void Expanse. The Council decides that our only hope is to act and not get taken by surprise again. We are sent to border provinces in order to investigate what is happening there.
4.2 - Zones: Lightbreak Pass and Shattered Plateau
Those are zones that border the energy dome from the north and south respectively. Activities in both would be similar. Players will use them to learn and adapt to Light and Void behind the barrier.
Lightbreak Pass is a really dark and gloomy zone on the ground level. It seems like light was sucked from it almost completely. Still, I don’t like for players to wander in darkness or fog but I really liked the feeling of Darkshire when I was leveling my first character and it would be nice to reconstruct that here. We are reminded here that Light itself is a force, a cosmic element and even though Naaru with their Army of the Light are the most potent wielders of it, the Light is neither good nor bad. At the end of zone’s story, we bring back some first sparks of light (literally) and illuminate some fragments of the Lightbreak Pass.
Shattered Plateau is opposite to the Pass. It is a very bright and lively zone. I wanted to create a somewhat open space that resembles a savannah.
Being there we learn that Void is slowly spreading over neighboring lands and most importantly there is some kind of portal being open. As in Lightbreak Pass, also here we see an energy tower that fuels the barrier. However, the tower here was overloaded at first and created massive damage to the land. Wounds healed over the years but recently they are opening again. We must learn what causes that and stop it from spreading.
When creating both zones I aimed to recreate that Vanilla vibes. Nothing fancy, no cosmic stuff but something closer to the Warcraft roots.
4.3 - Currency
This is the first time when we will be able to collect the main resources of the entire expansion - Radiant Azerite and Void-Touched Azerite. Both can be used as resources on their own or be turned into Pure Azerite - currency for almost everything in the game. I would like to make them affordable but not farmable. No one needs another currency that is eaten by inflation. I was thinking about a mechanic that lets us turn a fixed amount of Radiant and Void-Touched variants per week for free into Pure Azerite. Each next refinement would be much less profitable. Both “corrupted” variants still would see some use like for example developing Personal Inhibitor - tabard that makes players more resistant to conditions of the Ashfallen and The Void Expanse so we can spend more time there later on. I specifically chose tabard because I don’t want another item that takes up a slot for the entire patch or expansion.
Content of 11.0.5 is in my eyes an introduction to the real theme of the expansion, its mechanics, currency and features. Iterating over ideas that start here is something I want to see.
I think a maximum of 2 months for this patch should be ok.
5.0 - Patch 11.1.0
5.1 - Story
Our scouting parties didn't entirely go as planned. We learned how to survive in harsh environments of border zones but on the other hand we got the enemy's attention. Old Gods forces were already present in The Void Expanse in some numbers but Ashfallen looked abandoned. Unfortunately, too much resources went into organizing this offensive and Avalori can’t have enemies surrounding them from three sides. We must act now before enemies establish their presence.
5.2 - Zone: Ashfallen
Entire zone is burned to the ground by the Naaru’s light. There is no life there whatsoever and the feeling of emptiness is enhanced by the vastness of this land. From the cavities burns eternal light that radiates around and prevents every light from blooming. The same radiation altered emerging Azerite and stopped it from dissipating.
Cruelty of the Light is magnified by gigantic ruins of Ahn”Mexeth - main temple city of Avaloren. People on the continent aren’t very religious but they feel a special connection to the Earthmother and choose this place to communicate with her.
There will be some homing beacons scattered across the zone and if not destroyed, Light forces will get stronger. It's a kind of mechanic where domination of one side unlocks special activities tied to it. To balance things out, it will be gradually harder with time to maintain that domination. Army of the Light presence will unlock world boss and elite group quests while Avaloren presence will give access to solo daily quests and increased amount of Radiant Azerite to mine.
5.2.1 - Dungeon: Ahn’Mexeth - The Desolated City
This instance comes with patch 11.1.0 and our main goal is to get rid of the Army of the Light garrison that stations there. At the same time we look for Avalori sacred items and ways to reestablish communication with Earthmother.
5.2.2 - Raid: Noxenar’s Assault
As I plan to have two raids in this tier, each of them should have 5-6 bosses at the top.
Noxenar is a Naaru inter-dimensional ship similar to Xenedar but equipped with much bigger offensive potential. It strikes at us when (lorewise) we are far behind enemy lines. So it's a rare situation when players don’t go and try to destroy an external threat but they are prey.
Raid starts when we go do activities similar as in the open world - fight Army of the Light, destroy beacons etc. Main difference is that as it's an instanced version, things go very differently than usual. We are surprised by beacons focusing on one point and opening the portal from which Noxxenar emerges.
Things go very badly from now on. Initial strike kills most of Avalori forces and cuts us from supplies. We are forced to hide in chasms and repel ground assault.
In the meantime Turalyon present aboard Noxenar watches everything from above and his faith slowly fades as the holy aura surrounding him. Yrel, commanding the vessel sees that but she is too slow and Turalyon successfully disengages the engine forcing Noxenar’s emergency landing. Unfortunately for the paladin, he was injured during the crash. We rescue him from lower decks and are told to send an encoded distress signal from the only beacon left intact on the ship.
It’s time to face High Exarch Yrel. She is blinded by her faith in Naaru and rage. The fight itself should be very challenging and dynamic. In the second phase she is additionally empowered by the Shard of Xe’ra that resides atop the balcony of the Noxenar. Not only we are exhausted but our enemy siphons entire light from the surrounding area which changes visuals of the fight to a more dark one. We bring Yrel down to 50% of her HP (a way to show how much stronger than us she is in this scenario) and she enrages.
This starts cinematic:
As Yrel overpowers heroes and is about to strike the final blow, portal from which Noxxenar emerged opens again and Vindicaar shows up. In this moment, a beam of light strucks the battlefield and a mysterious character blocks High Exarch’s attack. It is Velen holding staff with Ata’mal crystal on top. He says just one sentence: “I am disappointed in you” and drains all the Light from surprised Yrel, killing her in the process and releasing accumulated force around the Ashfallen.
After that, we gather the Shard of Xe’ra that starts the quest that will be important later.
5.3 - Zone: The Void Expanse
Zone is much more compact and detailed than Ashfallen. Main differences also explain how cosmic forces (or rather their strongest wielders) work. Naaru does not tolerate opposition. It either fully converts or destroys all living things. Void (Lords) on the other hand slowly corrupts and adapts everything that it can but destroys only when threatened. This dark force doesn't like wasting resources and rushing things.
This is visible in The Void Expanse. Even after millenia, the zone is not yet fully converted and some plants look like barely touched by this magic.
Strangely, the giant void portal seems to suck in the entire zone slowly and destroys everything that it corrupted in the process.
We learn that Old Gods were sent to Azeroth in order to corrupt and take her power for the Void Lords but in time they decided to be better off on their own severing connection with The Void Collective. Now, they are being punished as Dark Ones found their way back to Azeroth and started consuming land of the last Old God (I didn’t come with the name because Blizzard did such a great job with other Old God names so I don’t want to mess this up).
For players this means that we have unexpected allies fighting The Void. It doesn’t mean that we will do quests together with Faceless Ones or anything like that. It’s just a way to finally show in the game the true strength of this cosmic force when it effortlessly fights Old Gods and players on two separate fronts.
Of course if there is Void, there will be Ethereals. The Consortium, starting with a small den, sends players to do weekly tasks for them in exchange for helping us with understanding Void-Touched Azerite and how to purify it. Ethereals have an agenda in this too, because in the past groups like The Shadowguards, succumbed to The Void losing all of their free will.
There is a small part showing Void Elves and Alleria in the zone. At this time we don’t know what they are after, nor we have any quests related to them. Former Ranger-General and her companions appear when players engage rares or world boss and disappear shortly after.
5.3.1 - Raid: Entropy of Darkness
Entire setup is located on the land fragment closest to the portal. I would like to incorporate here some kind of gravity switch that allows players (and most importantly camera) to adjust to slopes so we are not constantly fighting on slopes. I’m aiming for visuals that are similar to warped Moonglade in Emerald Nightmare raid.
Our main goal is to deactivate the Void Portal that is tearing up the land. Most enemies in the first part will be the Shadowguard Ethereals and their leader here - Viceroy Hazem. In that task we will get help from Alleria, her Void Rangers and eventually the Locus-Walker himself. Still, what they were doing here remains somewhat of a mystery. We just know that they are trying to better understand the nature of the Void.
Second to last boss is Dimensius the All-Devouring - Void Lord that was defeated during TBC events. They are powerful entities that in our dimension need to consume matter and energy in order to get stronger. Back in Netherstorm Dimensius was in his very weak state as he just appeared. After his reincarnation in The Void, he had time to consume everything that went through the portal so his power is now much more potent.
The fight itself is focused around us not letting Dimensius consume surrounding objects. For one it limits our space to maneuver and most importantly buffs Void Lord.
Last boss of the raid is Xal’atath - a mysterious entity that was imprisoned in the Legion priest artifact of the same name. It is a very strange encounter because her goal is to enter the portal. Because she is late and the rift is almost closed, Xal’atath needs to channel her energy to open it again. She clearly didn't want to fight us but we left her with no choice. Finally, she overpowers us, goes through the portal and then closes it from behind.
As with Yrel, there is an item on the ground - Azerite Necklace - that begins a series of quests.
Note: At first I wanted to make this new Old God last boss as he betrays us the moment we close the portal. I thought it would be somewhat boring and won’t bring anything to the lore after all. There will be time for him in the next expansions anyway.
5.4 - 11.1.0 Aftermatch
At the end of said quest chain, we learn that Xal’atath was last Avalori Queen and also former Speaker of Azeroth. She left Avaloren in order to find help, better connect with the Earthmother but never returned. Thanks to the Necklace, Magni starts to finally understand Azeroth's voice.
After the events that took place in both raids, we are reintroduced to both Alliance and Horde as they too recognize Light and Void as threats. There are some parties that didn’t agree with this decision and left their respective factions.
Entire lifespan of this patch should be around 7 months
6.0 - Patch 11.1.5
6.1 - Story
After a short questline in which we discuss the need of helping others in similar situations - terrorized by cosmic forces - we decide to use Vindicaar, gather a skeleton crew and launch our first mission.
6.2 - Vindicaar Rescue Runs
This is basically a cosmic Torghast with extra steps. I really liked the idea of a roguelite single player mode but there were two main issues that eventually made me lose interest. First of all there was no opportunity to gear up there. I don’t want to make a solo mode that gives better or equal items as in raids because it’s a MMO game but there should at least be a way to get decent items or currency without being dependent on others. Second issue was that Torghast seemed too monotonous visually. Yes, we were in The Maw but if you want to torture someone, why not make location resembling his favourite tree or angelic shrine and just burn it. I’m just saying…
Storywise, Sons of Lothar gathers again and travels aboard Vindicaar to help others fight cosmic forces. Every crew member has it’s personal motif as to why they are doing that. For example Turalyon, severed from the Light, is seeking for ways to get his faith back as he learned that Naaru are just wielders of this force and not The Light itself. Khadgar with help of Ethereals study arcane magic and investigate how it affected them and their homeworld - K’aresh. Finally, Alleria is hunting down scattered Shadowguard. Danath and Kurdran joined because they felt a heavy burden fighting against Avalori in the first part of the expansion.
Rescue runs are a great way to cheaply develop side, cosmic stories and introduce new characters or facts.
Gameplay is very simple. We choose scenario from Stellar Cartography maps that are currently available and start a semi-procedural instance. Before starting we need to choose 4 companions - npc’s that will help us on the spot. In my opinion a simplified companion system would be enough. Without exping or gearing up npc characters. Focus should be on us, not micromanaging.
As we progress over the weeks, we can upgrade Vindicaar systems as range or capacity for example. That will allow us to collect more objects, find hidden treasures and reach distant worlds.
I would like to make this content viable for the rest of the expansion and just scale up in every patch.
7.0 - Patch 11.2.0
7.1 - Story
After both the northern and southern borders were secured, people of Avaloren started to feel much safer. Suddenly, the barrier surrounding the continent goes down. Separatists from the Horde and the Alliance are responsible for that as they believe in the version of the story that Titans spread. Titanic Assaults begins all over the inner continent (similar to Elemental Storms) and a new set of world quests and rares appears with them. I plan to involve outposts and airships that were used during 11.0.0. so they won't feel like a one-patch thing only.
To help us with overwhelming enemy air forces, Cerezath with other dragons is making his return. He showed Dragon Aspects the true face of the Titans and convinced them to help Avalori. Thanks to that Dragonriding is returning to the game and make players travel much faster.
All of that leads to the siege of the capital city - Cy’alotha.
7.2 - Raid: The Last Bastion
As players we enter the fight zone from outside. We have to deal with towering constructs that are blocking the main gate first. After getting inside the walls, we fight Followers of Order - a group composed of living beings that believe in Titan way’s. Then we go inside the central structure of the city that is located in the middle of the lake. There Mimiron tries to modify the energy generator that fueled the barrier to release a pulse that will end “The Curse of Flesh” once and for all.
Last encounter of the raid is the duo - Tyr and Odyn. During the fight we get confirmation that the Curse of Flesh is something titans came up with and creatures on Azeroth were organic at the beginning. That being said it was way easier to control them as constructs and fight The Void and the Legion. We learn that Keepers see flaws in their way but are created by Titans themselves and are bound to them so they cannot surrender. With the help of Dragon Aspects we defeat both Tyr and Odyn.
I want this raid to be some kind of mixed feeling bag. We were deceived by the Titans, saw some questionable choices but at the end we are witnessing how big of a burden it was for the Keepers. Unfortunately, not everyone can be saved.
This patch is a little distraction from main events, uses existing places (Capital City) and as such I plan for it to be short lived - tops 4 months. At this point, players probably would have enough of Cy’alotha and I don’t want to make a second Siege of Orgrimmar that lasted over a year.
8.0 - Patch 11.3.0
8.1 - Story
Examining the Shard of Xe’ra taken from Yrel’s body, we discover that it can be used to access Noxenar’s communication devices. We start spying on Army of the Light and shortly after that, we learn that they are preparing a full scale assault from Draenor as it is still connected to Azeroth even after The Dark Portal destruction. There is no other choice but to strike first as we did on Argus years ago. Vindicaar is reinforced with alloys from Noxenar and Avalori technology and is ready to go.
We arrive on Draenor and in a short single player scenario have to seize and reprogram portals and communication devices to call reinforcements from Azeroth. It is possible due to Cy’alotha’s main tower connection to the core of Azeroth which acts like a big antenna. Khadgar taps the tower and creates a portal in Auchindoun (as he is expert in portal making since Warcraft 2).
Gameplay wise the entire Talador is our playground. There are rares, world quests and everything else that we should expect.
Main objective is to reclaim Karabor from Light’s followers and Shatrath as their command center.
8.2 - Dungeon: Reclaiming Karabor
This instance starts in the entrance of the Shadowmoon Valley. We gather rebel forces composed of Shadowmoon Clan and Draenei exiles scattered throughout the zone and we march on Karabor. Broken Akama from our timeline leads the assault. As it happens in the Warcraft universe, he faces himself in the form of High Vindicator as the last boss of the instance.
This is a mega-dungeon split into Shadowmoon and Karabor parts. Our goal is to secure the eastern front and get allies in the form of orcish clans.
8.3 - Raid: City of Light
Shattrath is the main base of operations for the entire Army of the Light. We need to take it in order to secure Avaloren and Azeroth. City is highly fortified so we need to fight Lightforged Draenei elites to get through.
Second to last boss is Exarch Hellscream - son of Grommash but not exactly our Garrosh. Yet, he is so similar and eager to die for his beliefs as regular one. So he does.
Last boss of this expansion is A’dal. Most powerful Naaru in Outland and now Draenor. This is a very “unemotional” fight as A’dal shows no connection to us even though we fought for him in Black Temple years ago. It shows us that Naaru has one goal only and doesn't care about mortals.
Turalyon sees how his bellowed Naaru treats us and finally gets clarity. They are only users of Light, most potent, but still users. And even worse, we are just tools in their hands. Paladin at last understands what the Light is. It has now agenda, no interest and no favorites. It just is, as pure as it can be. He is overwhelmed by the Light more so than he had when he first became paladin. Turalyon strikes A’dal with pure Light and stuns him. Beam of holy energy shatters the ceiling of the main room in the Terrace of Light. This makes it possible for the Vindicaar to get a clear shot. Vessel charges all of its energy and strikes A’dal, disintegrating him in the process. As its resources drained, the Vindicaar crashes in Talador.
Raid and expansion ends with Turalyon words about every cosmic power being a threat equal to the Legion itself and now entire Azeroth is enemy of them all.
Note: I’ve chosen Talador and Shattrath because I think they were perfect zones both visually and when it comes to questing. Still, content cut from WoD made them feel very unused and it is a shame to waste that potential. Of course they would need to be altered in some minor ways but most of the job is done.
9.0 - Summary
9.1 - Zones
Crimson Fields
Novemor Highlands
Cy’alotha
Crumblestone Ravines
Lightbreak Pass
Shattered Plateau
Ashfallen
The Void Expanse
Capital Gardens
Onaari Archipelago
Xal’ateth Wilds
The Broken Peak
9.2 - Dungeons
Ancestors Legacy
Brokefront Mountain
Day of the Caretaker
Gangrene
Grand Theft Speaker
Swamps and Sorrows
Ahn’Mexeth - The Desolated City
Reclaiming Karabor
9.3 - Raids
11.0.0 - Source of Decay
11.1.0 - Noxenar’s Assault
11.1.0 - Entropy of Darkness
11.2.0 - The Last Bastion
11.3.0 - City of Light
9.4 - Patches
11.0.0 - Release and Isle of Decay Raid
11.0.5 - Expeditions
11.1.0 - Ashfallen and The Void Expanse Raids, Ahn’Mexeth dungeon
11.1.5 - Vindicaar Rescue Runs
11.2.0 - Cy’alotha Raid
11.3.0 - Shattrath Raid and Karabor Dungeon
10.0 - Features
10.1 - Earthmother’s Attunement
Expansions had their borrowed power before and even Blizzard stated that it’s not a good way to make something meaningful that disappears in the next x-pac. This idea may seem similar to let’s say Legion’s legendary weapons or Heart of Azeroth but its base assumptions are very different.
Imagine that you can develop your talents beyond just the initial tree when you reach max level. Instead of making another system, why not just work on the one that proved fun? Players could not only “find”/learn additional talent points but also talent nodes itself.
I’m not going to draw ugly graph but let’s say that core talents are grouped in the middle and they are the cheapest - this is your base provided in the initial days of the expansions. Of course you will have more choices than points to spend even at the beginning. As time progresses you will find said talent points and nodes to strengthen your character but the further from the middle you go, it will cost more. To the point when you will seriously consider if it’s worth buying one strong talent or 5 basic ones.
Maybe it would be hell to balance out, but WoW was never really balanced so why don’t give players some options.
Also this is easily transferable to next expansions - just give players enough talent points to start with.
Of course there will be need to make some kind of bad-luck protection and ensure that it doesn't feel obligatory to farm certain nodes but I imagine it could be done with simple currency that you can spend on any talent node or to buy points.
Another strong aspect of the system is that items could have certain nodes incorporated inside them to give players more choices than just better stats.
Last thing is that, we finally would have a testing ground for customization. Now we have glyphs that visually alter skills and some talents (like ret paladin 10.0.7) that fully changes how the spec works. And it all could be tuned simply by assigning talent point cost accordingly.
It’s fresh idea but I have some examples to share just to show how it could work:
Retribution Paladin
Talent Node: The old ways
Remember how Hammer of Wrath was like 3.5s cast? Maybe it wouldn’t be fun anymore but thanks to Evokers we have charged skills. This node would change Hammer of Wrath from instant cast to 3s charged cast. Base node simply increases the damage exponentially.
But now it starts to be interesting. Players will be able to choose from several options to further customize that skill. Some will be exclusive and some not.
Examples include:
-Customization Node: AoE
As Hammer of Wrath flies towards the target, it strikes nearby opponents with holy lightning.
-Customization Node: Reduced cast time
Reduce cast time of Hammer of Wrath by 0.5/1./1.5s while its power remains unchanged.
-Customization Node: Weakness
As Hammer of Wrath strikes the opponent, it increases his damage taken by 10% for 5 seconds.
Marksmanship Hunter
Talent Node: All shots are aimed
If Aimed Shot didn’t critically hit the target, it refreshes the cooldown and makes the next one instant.
Warrior
Talent Node: Heroic leaper
Deal X damage to enemies within Y yards. If 4 or more enemies were struck by Heroic Leap, refresh its cooldown.
Those examples might look like talents with extra steps but… they are exactly that. It's a tool to create some options and introduce ideas that weren’t possible before because of heavily limited resources in the form of talent points.
Removing that restriction gives devs the opportunity to make place for hybrid trees like Shockadin or even new raid roles (support anyone?). All of that without the need to create new specs.
10.2 - Chromie’s Hearthstone Pocketwatch
It's a simple mechanic just for the sake of continuity. After all, it would be weird to move freely and interact with npcs that are now our enemies. Pocketwatch sends us to the times in which it wasn’t an issue. It’s like Chromie Timewalking or whatever it’s called but accessible directly from inventory. I know it is not ideal but I think it would work well enough.
Bonus aspect is that Chromie can give us access to some unseen events just by tuning the Pocketwatch, so we can play strange scenarios without consequences.
11.0 - Few more words
Entire project took me like 80 hours of work but it was spread across many months and I never really counted them and kept track. Most of the visual stuff I made in march 2023. Almost half of that time I spent setting up the Unity project, fishing for assets and writing this post. World map itself took me like 3 hours and I did it at the end. I never thought it would be that easy with a good template and I’m pretty happy how it turned out. I’m not a graphic designer so the monkey approach to test filters, layers and mixing paid off better than I expected.
When it comes to lore, as I said, I tried to match it with current stuff but probably there still are some plot holes.
As you probably noticed, english is not my main language but until I realize (or someone will tell me) that the entire post is unreadable I don’t feel the need to apologize for grammar etc.
It was a pretty fun experience to mix writing, level design and map making. Somewhat of a challenge for me but I hope getting through it won't be a challenge for you. Anyway, I’m glad it’s over and I can die peacefully knowing that I made it to the end.
Feel free to comment, suggest or just write how bad and retconned it is. I will try to answer if someone has questions.
As I’m concerned you can share, use or do whatever with that written stuff or screens. I will be glad if anyone will find it useful.
If you want to see some more screens or just check my work visit my Artstation!
Cheers, Sławek!
P.S:Probably I should paste something like this at the end:
World of Warcraft, related trademarks, assets, graphics are registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment and I’m just using it to create fan-fiction content from which I don’t receive any profits.
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Mythic+ Dungeon Adjustments - 27 April
Season 4... Just old dungeons and new ilvl?
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