Reign of Azshara [Fan Expansion Concept]

[Ximothy]

If kul'tiras is alliance only then kezan has to be horde only

Kul Tiras is an Alliance nation, while the Undermine goblins have never been members of the Horde.

Plunder Isles wouldn't have been my first choice, but how Golden Yak describes it makes it seem awesome. In an Azshara expansion I did a few years back, I made the Darkspear Isles a Horde zone, although this was before goblins were playable and I made Undermine neutral.

Incidently, GoldenYak, the old RPG guides had listed three pirate lords, powerful pirates that controlled large parts of the ocean. Wonder if they could be used in pirate related material, it would mean you can use pre existing characters instead of building pirates from scratch.

[Teriz]

Why can't both factions start on Kezan, since its technically neutral territory, pretty close to the Maelstrom, and actually give the Goblins (and possibly the Gnomes) some much needed lore?

[ReleaseDay]

10/10 would be worse than Cata.

Its a fact that an Azshara/TDB expansion is something the players have been longing for for some time now. Also Cata wasnt a bad expansion, alot better than WoD.

[Thimagryn]

Why can't both factions start on Kezan, since its technically neutral territory, pretty close to the Maelstrom, and actually give the Goblins (and possibly the Gnomes) some much needed lore?

Cuz funnelling both Alliance and Horde in the same area has always been a terrible idea for both open world PVP and server congestion problems. It should be treated like the Shattrath or Dalaran of the expansion, not the starting zone.

[Golden Yak]

This is awesome.

One suggestion though, Kezan or Broken Isles would make more sense for the Horde starting zone.

Great the only thing I would change is Kezan for Horde starting zone.

I get this a lot. I understand it, but Kezan is too significant a place to restrict it to a single faction. There's some stuff going down there - crazy stuff. The Alliance have gotta be in on it.

I like it. Maybe optional underwater zones for those who like them?
Also, the best part about your concept is the map you made, it looks like it could be made by blizzard themselves, awesome

Thanks. Each zone is meant to have a few underwater regions that can be avoided or not as a player wishes. I ultimately decided not to do an entire underwater zone, but I enjoyed Vashj'ir myself and am not against them.

still BW cartel got some properities there so if some1 would try to attack/rob Kezan then it's logical that goblins of the Horde would try to protect their properities faster than Alliance would anwser call of neutral goblins.

The goblin cartels have been in communication and planning the Kezan Reclamation Initiative for a while now - the Bilgewater have been part of it and made it clear that they'd have the backing of the Horde in retaking their holdings on Kezan (Gallywix might even have exaggerated a tad - "Close personal friend of the warchief, listens to everything I say, full might of the Horde against anyone who crosses me, etc. etc.).

The other cartels haven't been especially secretive about their own desires either and may have let the Alliance know about the Bilgewater bringing the Horde in - the idea of a massive Horde presence on Kezan alone would be enough to prompt the Alliance to respond, in the interests of establishing their own forces there to keep the Horde in check. That's on top of a desire for many in the Alliance to maintain good business relations with the other cartels.

How do you create the maps and concept artworks? I know a little bit of Photoshop and Illustrator but not enough to make a nankin/pencil drawing go from black/white to full digitally-coloured D:

It's all photoshop - there's lots of resources online, even on YouTube, that can help you improve if you search out the type of art you want to do. Mainly I have a layer for the lineart, and layers beneath it for base color, shading, and hilights.

It's more probable that the goblins of the Horde would be the ones attacking/robbing Kezan.

"Restoring our beloved homeland and reclaiming our proud heritage." -Jastor Gallywix

If kul'tiras is alliance only then kezan has to be horde only

Nope. Plunder Isle is the Horde only place.

Incidently, GoldenYak, the old RPG guides had listed three pirate lords, powerful pirates that controlled large parts of the ocean. Wonder if they could be used in pirate related material, it would mean you can use pre existing characters instead of building pirates from scratch.

The idea behind Warship Adventures is that you'll encounter many of the dangers on the high seas, including various pirate crews. That would be the place to encounter famous pirates - no reason they couldn't bring in some RPG pirates.

Why can't both factions start on Kezan, since its technically neutral territory, pretty close to the Maelstrom, and actually give the Goblins (and possibly the Gnomes) some much needed lore?

I wanted each faction to have their own primary base and their own independant starting event - the Alliance reunite with Kul Tiras while the Horde wipe out the Bloodsail pirates once and for all. I think those are both worthy tasks for each faction to undertake - they'll both be spending some time on Kezan to uncover the history of the goblins (can't really think of how to tie the gnomes into it, but the gnomes of the present will certainly be interested in exploring the place).

[Deleted]

Blizzard, hire him already!

I love your concepts. Awesome! Keep it up!

[Traveler Voltin]

Kul Tiras is an Alliance nation, while the Undermine goblins have never been members of the Horde.

Plunder Isles wouldn't have been my first choice, but how Golden Yak describes it makes it seem awesome. In an Azshara expansion I did a few years back, I made the Darkspear Isles a Horde zone, although this was before goblins were playable and I made Undermine neutral.

Incidently, GoldenYak, the old RPG guides had listed three pirate lords, powerful pirates that controlled large parts of the ocean. Wonder if they could be used in pirate related material, it would mean you can use pre existing characters instead of building pirates from scratch.

So alliance get an important place to them but horde gets a trash place that has no meaning to them.
Alliance bias bs at work i see

[Ximothy]

So alliance get an important place to them but horde gets a trash place that has no meaning to them.
Alliance bias bs at work i see

Think of it like Talador, saving it means more to the Alliance but it's too important to the over all story line to be one faction only.

[Thimagryn]

So alliance get an important place to them but horde gets a trash place that has no meaning to them.
Alliance bias bs at work i see

To be fair, the idea of the Horde conquering the former Bloodsail stronghold and taking it for their own makes a better stronghold than a bunch of troll huts on an island or another redux of Orc huts ala Horde Garrisons. If you used Kezan, then that would be Horde favouritism over the Alliance for taking over an entire neutral hub.

[angelflavor]

If you waited til April, you could have claimed this was a leak lol, but nice amount of work that looks great.

[Deleted]

The goblin cartels have been in communication and planning the Kezan Reclamation Initiative for a while now - the Bilgewater have been part of it and made it clear that they'd have the backing of the Horde in retaking their holdings on Kezan (Gallywix might even have exaggerated a tad - "Close personal friend of the warchief, listens to everything I say, full might of the Horde against anyone who crosses me, etc. etc.).

The other cartels haven't been especially secretive about their own desires either and may have let the Alliance know about the Bilgewater bringing the Horde in - the idea of a massive Horde presence on Kezan alone would be enough to prompt the Alliance to respond, in the interests of establishing their own forces there to keep the Horde in check. That's on top of a desire for many in the Alliance to maintain good business relations with the other cartels.

well, I would make Kezan or maybe even Undermine Horde/neutral zone. Phased as starting Horde zone and then make whole island neutral(with BW Port and some district of Kezan exclusive for Horde) as max level zone for dailies and allow goblins to have something like capital city and allow Alliance to attack Gallywix for achievement.

[Deleted]

WoW! Awesome concept man! Right on! 10/10

[Jtree]

Fantastic. Great world design, plenty of lore, and your artwork is amazing as always.

I have one little, dorky nitpick: Your warlock fourth spec ought to have the proper name from MoP: Dark Apotheosis (RIP)

[Draekan]

Really really nice art! Great concept! Not quite as good as The Spider Kingdom, but there certainly seems to be something there! Keep up the good work!

[Thimagryn]

well, I would make Kezan or maybe even Undermine Horde/neutral zone. Phased as starting Horde zone and then make whole island neutral(with BW Port and some district of Kezan exclusive for Horde) as max level zone for dailies and allow goblins to have something like capital city and allow Alliance to attack Gallywix for achievement.

You'd have a capital city exclusive for this expansion. We've done away with that a long time ago.

[Deleted]

Great ideas, Golden Yak.

I would add "Pirate" as a class.

He would have a parrot pet, would wield swords (only), would wear leather and have the ability to avoid attacks. Optionally, he would have a wooden leg.

Specializations would be:

Tank (Corsair)
DD (Privateer, Melee)
DD (Raider, Melee with permanent Pet)

[Simca]

That logo is really professionally done - by far the best fanmade expansion logo I've seen.

[DenniZ]

Blizz wake the #$%* up and hire this guy.

[zubaja]

Still waiting for detailed maps of the individual zones + stories, because Yak is a genius!

[Golden Yak]

Thanks for all the posts everyone. I appreciate every single one. Gonna try and have more creatures soon. Still aiming for a 'patch update' at the start of march (it'll be mostly lore but I'll have some art for it as well).

Think of it like Talador, saving it means more to the Alliance but it's too important to the over all story line to be one faction only.

Essentially this, yes. I've got big plans for Kezan. Might be more of a Horde focus at first, but the Alliance are already going to have a lot going with Kul Tiras and the night elves' history with Azshara.

Fantastic. Great world design, plenty of lore, and your artwork is amazing as always.

I have one little, dorky nitpick: Your warlock fourth spec ought to have the proper name from MoP: Dark Apotheosis (RIP)

'Apotheosis' might be better, yeah. 'Dark Metamorphosis' just makes me think of Castlevania.

Really really nice art! Great concept! Not quite as good as The Spider Kingdom, but there certainly seems to be something there! Keep up the good work!

I'm intruiged! What element do you think is lacking when compared with Spider Kingdom? Personally I think the RoA concept is much stronger and more original.

Great ideas, Golden Yak.

I would add "Pirate" as a class.

He would have a parrot pet, would wield swords (only), would wear leather and have the ability to avoid attacks. Optionally, he would have a wooden leg.

Specializations would be:

Tank (Corsair)
DD (Privateer, Melee)
DD (Raider, Melee with permanent Pet)

I like having pirates as enemies, but I'm really not sure they'd ever work as an entire class. Most of the dirty fighting tactics I'd have them use are tied up with rogues. Maybe the 4th rogue spec could be Corsair, or something...?

Still waiting for detailed maps of the individual zones + stories, because Yak is a genius!

All of the story for the 'release content' stuff is there, which largely wraps up a lot of the zones. Patch content will add a few more things here and there and bring in new zones with new story.

As for maps, I don't know... the three I did for Spider Kingdom took ne a really long time, and there's like 12 zones in this one... I might do quick concepts like I did for the world map, but I might not bother will full ones.