Reign of Azshara [Fan Expansion Concept]

[Ermelloth]

I'd definitely try it out

[Fahrenheit]

I dig it. Would want playable Naga though. Hey any Blizzard employee that might stumble upon this. I'd gladly pay you guys hundreds of dollars to play as an Alliance Naga and I'd happily sub for another 10 years.

[Deleted]

So basically a jetski mount?! Yes, absolutely. Five stars. Can't believe I didn't think of that.

That's officially in now - jetski mounts can be bought, from someone on Kezan or something.

OMG!! I can't believe you like it! Can you PM your email/ fb so I can send you my sketch? I can't post it here since I'm new :/

[Kuja]

Love the artwork!

[Deleted]

This expansion idea is a very creative and well thought, concept, you should consider once it is completely finished with all the small adjustments done. You should apply it to Blizzard entertainment themselves, who knows they might actually use it, or even get so impressed that they will offer you a job?
It did happen for one guy that made a Youtube video.
Today he is the head of their Cinematic-production.

[SkyTides]

Great concept and presented very well!

I love the map, zones and boats. Will you be drawing any of the bosses/environments?

[Worgslarg]

Have you considered a break from the "everyone gets the same legendary useless item" trend? It would be nice to see some sort of adaptive legendary weapon that would change type/ stats based upon lootspec. There could be a return of the legendary feeling without limiting the legendary to 1-3 people per guild ala cata.

[Deleted]

Otherwise really cool, but leveling in water sucks :l

[Lahis]

Reading this only makes me sad because whatever Blizzard cooks up next, it will not be nearly as good as this :C

[Sharp15]

Apply to blizzard.

[Deleted]

Great concept, really enjoyed reading it. I find the concept of an ocean themed Azshara expansion really intriguing. I loved all the details and the depictions of the races/creatures. The only things I would change are:

- I don't think 4th specs would be a good idea. In my opinion the current classes' 3 specs should be expanded upon instead of adding an extra spec. I Don't really see room for another spec in the themes of the current classes.
- I would like to see new races whatever they are, always liked new races coming with new expansions.
- Don't know if this was mentioned before but I would also like to see the garrison feature used again in the form of a personal ship sailing the oceans. For example, upgrading it from level 1 to 2 would upgrade it from a plain boat to a warship and then to a massive galleon at level 3. Instead of followers you would have your crew. It would be great to have more customization features than garrisons currently do as well, for example a customized flag or racial designs for the ship.

[Cien]

Had my brother not pre-warned me that this was 'concept art' and of course the different title, I would've thought this was official blizzard stuff haha!

It sounds really really good and I only hope some of these points do end up in an Azshara themed expac!

[Andreia]

I never comment here, but this... this is amazing. I followed your Spider Kingdom concept and loved it, I was so upset with Blizzard for not expanding the Nerubians more, there are literally miles upon miles of mazes and caves down there and all we had were two dungeons and a "it was only a setback" Anub'Arak in the Argent Tourney. So annoyed at the time.
But this one takes the hole god-damn cake. I always loved water environments, and Vash'ir was a fuckin' blessing. I was hyped by Hyjal, I swear, that place was teasing me ever since vanilla, but Vash'ir was an amazing zone, a love or hate it type of zone, but still outstanding, different.

I've always talked to my friends about a South Seas expansion for years now, this shit right here would be it, even the story is plausible. And since the terrain was lifted from the sea, people wouldn't be complaining about fighting underwater. Blizzard should hire you for concept art and game design, seriously.

[Deleted]

Nice idea but the land appears to be above water
Unsure if anyone has pointed this out yet but i highly doubt a race which has aqua superiority raise all the land they own to the surface just to face everyone with 2 feet
but again the idea is awesome would love to face the naga more and to dig into the lore of how they was deformed by the old god and such

[Golden Yak]

@Golden Yak. As far as I know, Blizz value more 2d artists. WoW is pretty much low poly with a beautiful 2d textures. Search for the story of Jamaro Kindred or David Luong - the artists that dreamed about working for Blizzard and made it come true.

Certainly you need to be able to texture a 3D model - a lot of their stuff looks like it was painted, but I know that some of their environment stuff was sculpted in high-end 3D first and then detail-captured to create the basic texture. It's probably done with characters as well, certainly in something like Starcraft and HotS. I like to be able to do that sort of thing, I get some good results.

OMG!! I can't believe you like it! Can you PM your email/ fb so I can send you my sketch? I can't post it here since I'm new :/

You can just PM me, I'll post it.

This expansion idea is a very creative and well thought, concept, you should consider once it is completely finished with all the small adjustments done. You should apply it to Blizzard entertainment themselves, who knows they might actually use it, or even get so impressed that they will offer you a job?
It did happen for one guy that made a Youtube video.
Today he is the head of their Cinematic-production.

Food for thought. Thank you.

Great concept and presented very well!

I love the map, zones and boats. Will you be drawing any of the bosses/environments?

Yes, once the basic monsters are done, I want to draw some characters and some zone environment concepts. I've still got about half the bestiary to fill:

http://wow.gamepedia.com/User:Golden...strom_Bestiary

Working on the elementals and the stygians now.

Have you considered a break from the "everyone gets the same legendary useless item" trend? It would be nice to see some sort of adaptive legendary weapon that would change type/ stats based upon lootspec. There could be a return of the legendary feeling without limiting the legendary to 1-3 people per guild ala cata.

I actually liked the slow improvement of a weapon that we did in Pandaria - first the gem specifically for weapons dropped in the toughest raid (of that tier) then further enhancements to it with an extra gem socket.

I was thinking that for the final line of the questchain, you get a Legendary weapon enchantment that has some cool effect, maybe changes the appearance of your weapon or your character's armor, something like the effect of the legendary cloak.

- Don't know if this was mentioned before but I would also like to see the garrison feature used again in the form of a personal ship sailing the oceans. For example, upgrading it from level 1 to 2 would upgrade it from a plain boat to a warship and then to a massive galleon at level 3. Instead of followers you would have your crew. It would be great to have more customization features than garrisons currently do as well, for example a customized flag or racial designs for the ship.

Yep, you're describing my Warship idea!

[Evilfish]

Otherwise really cool, but leveling in water sucks :l

Speak for yourself. Vasj'ir is still my top leveling experience.

[Gadzilla]

No, just no.

[Deleted]

Well in that case, I should get starting on getting to 10 posts xD Thanks!

Also, I would love to have a Calamarai Bodyguard instead of some dwarf dk :P

[xazrael]

Swordmaster Thanatos

Phase 1 - Blades of Ferocious Slumber

Rain of Dreams
Thanatos stops to channel a rain of blades to fall from the sky and strike his foes. Players who are hit by the blades take major damage, and are put into a slumber until the blade's health is reduced by 30%. When that player is freed, they are affected with the "Weakest Link" debuff.

Slumber Blade
Players who run into the range of a Slumber Blade are put into a slumber until the blade's health is reduced by 30%. When that player is freed, they are affected with the "Weakest Link" debuff.

Weakest Link
Players affected attract a large amount of the blades from "Rain of Dreams".

Blunt Strike
Thanatos hits his current target with the large, blunt side of his blade, dealing major damage, and launches the target into the salty waters.

Wide Sweep
Thanatos also hits all targets within 8 yards of his target, resetting this abilities cooldown if at least 5 people are not hit.

Salty Waters
Players in the salty waters, are affected 1 stack of "Fatigue" every 3 seconds. This effect stacks.

Fatigue
Increased damage taken by 1% per stack. This lasts for the remainder of the fight.

Waves
Players hit by passing waves take moderate damage and are stunned for 5 seconds.

Focus Blade
Thanatos focuses on one Slumber Blade and empowers it.

Empowered Slumber Blade
Empowered Slumber Blades grow in size every 5 seconds, and start to pulse, dealing moderate damage every 3 seconds. This effect lasts until the Blade is destroyed

Slumber Zone
Thanatos links together all Slumber Blades, creating Lines of Slumber every 30 seconds.

Lines of Slumber
Players who run into a Line of Slumber take moderate damage and are put into an Endless Sleep

Phase 2 - Rise and Shine (Begins when the boss hits 30% health left)

Endless Blades
Thanatos empowers all remaining Slumber Blades with "Nightmare".

Nightmare
This blade no longer affects players with Slumber, but instead pulses for moderate raid wide damage. These blades cannot be destroyed unless a player hits its weak spot.

Blunt Swipe
Thanatos hits all targets in a cone in front of him with the large, blunt side of his blade, dealing major damage, and launching them into the salty waters. Players that instead hit a Slumber Blade, take moderate damage, and destroy the Slumber Blade.

Sea Serpent
While out in the salty waters, if a player damages the Sea Serpent, they are affected with "Fixated".

Tail Slam
The Sea Serpent will slam his tail at a player with "Fixated", dealing large damage to all players hit by the tail, and interrupting all spellcasts.

Fatigue
Thanatos is affected with a stack of Fatigue every 3 seconds, increasing his damage taken by 1% per stack. Upon reaching every 5th stack, he deals major raid wide damage. When Thanatos reaches 20 stacks of Fatigue, he will begin to cast "Endless Sleep". On MYTHIC difficulty, Thanatos attempts to cast Endless Sleep every 10 stacks of Fatigue, only being able to be interrupted by getting hit by the Sea Serpent.

Endless Sleep
Thanatos puts himself, and all players into an Endless Sleep, where they will rest for all of eternity.



Strategy Does not include Mythic

Phase 1

You will get the first wave of Slumber Blades, and they will be all over the room. This first wave needs to be DPS'd and cleared quickly so you can make room for the raid. You want 2 or 3 players to intentionally run into one of the Slumber Blades, so they get the debuff. Players with this debuff will be responsible for getting future Slumber Blades to spawn away from the raid. With the Slumber Blades grouped up tightly, ranged can AOE nuke down them as the raid sees fit.
The current tank, will get hit with the Blunt Strike, and get launched into the water. It is the tanks responsibility to get through the waters quickly, and reach the rope ladders on the side of the ship. Tank damage at the beginning of the fight is near non existant , but will quickly ramp up depending on how quickly the tanks get back.
When Thanatos empowers a blade, ranged need to switch to it, and prioritize getting it down. If they don't kill it fast enough, the blade might get so large the effect hits the entire raid, and of course, would cause a wipe.
The key to this phase, is maximizing your space, and avoiding the loose slumber blades, and dpsing them down.

Phase 2

Going into this phase, you want the players with the debuff, to strategically start placing the Slumber Blades. Blades that are on top of one another, will only turn into 1 large blade. These cause LoS, so make sure the ranged can stay in LoS of the boss.
You only want maybe 4 or 5 SLumber Blades up, depending on your DPS. If you run out of Slumber Blades, you will have players having to deal with the salty waters, and that cannot happen in this phase. The tanks will have to adjust the angle of the boss so they get launched into a blade. Kill the boss before Endless Sleep, as that is the wipe mechanic.

[Arthas242]

Speak for yourself. Vasj'ir is still my top leveling experience.

Same here, it was by far one of the best zones they ever made. And i loved the 3d movement, if you couldn't handle it then wow was probably to hard for you anyways.