[Fan Expansion Concept] World of Warcraft: Tides of Avaloren

[Nargasaki]

Hello everyone! I’ve been following the forum for many years and never actually posted here. I really enjoy the discussions you have here and I admit I get very excited about the expansion concepts some of you bring (especially GoldenYak, I’m your fan). Today I bring a concept for an expansion I’ve been planning, focused on the isolated continent of Avaloren. This expansion explores a new type of energy, elemental pantheons, and the awakening of free will in Titanic constructs.

World of Warcraft: Tides of Avaloren



New Continent: Avaloren

Avaloren is a vast continent that pulses like a living organism, where geography is shaped by the constant circulation of the Flow. It has exotic beaches on the Tidebreak Coast, where coral reefs change shape according to the lunar cycle and the tides seem to move like a breath; here, the natural beauty of the Glass Gold veins attracts the scars of pirate exploitation. Moving inland, dense and resilient jungles emerge known as the Nareth Wilds, a tangle of deep swamps and luminescent vegetation that physically fights to reclaim the space occupied by metallic structures and Titan pruning patrols. This wild landscape gives way to the mystical plains of Valorn, where stone megaliths vibrate in a continuous resonance over the great nexus of Ley Lines that nourishes the entire continent. At the highest points, the terrain transforms into the vertiginous cliffs of the Highlands, where the atmosphere is so charged with energy that the wind becomes a visible and solid force under a sky of violet tones.

The Heart of the Expansion: The Flow

The Flow is a sentient energy current unique in Azeroth, resulting from the convergence between the Ley Lines and the primordial elemental force of Avaloren. It is the “breath” of Azeroth through this continent.
Circulatory System: It acts as the infrastructure of Avaloren, giving life to its geography.
Source of Consciousness: It allowed Constructs and Earthen of Valorn to break their Titan programming and develop feelings and individuality.
Substance of the Tide Spirits: The four local gods (Gorath, Thaluma, Velkar and Aessari) are the Flow manifested in different frequencies.

The Tide Spirits: The Guardians of the Cycle

Avaloren is not ruled by Aspects or Titans, but by the Tide Spirits — monumental elemental deities that are the physical embodiment of the Flow. They maintain the rhythmic balance of the continent:
Gorath (Survival): The colossal crocodile of the depths, which anchors the resilience of life.
Thaluma (Stability): The great turtle. The telluric force that keeps the land firm and the Ley Lines aligned.
Velkar (Predation): The spirit that governs the necessary cycle of hunting and renewal. It takes the form of a massive shark.
Aessari (Movement): An eagle of pure wind power, responsible for making the Flow circulate throughout the continent.

Races of Avaloren:

Exploring Avaloren is not just discovering new lands, but encountering cultures that evolved in isolation under the direct influence of the Flow. Here are the main peoples we will encounter on our journey:

1. The Geodians (Living Stone Eternals)
The oldest race of Avaloren, native to Aethelgard.
Origin: Born from the crystallization of the Flow in contact with primordial rock, without intervention from the Titans.
Appearance: Robust beings with polished obsidian skin and body fissures that glow with Flow energy.
Role: They act as “Tuners,” filtering impurities from the Ley Lines through their own bodies.

2. Velorai (Constructs and Earthen considered Heretics by Odyn)

Former servants of Odyn who found their own voice in the region of Valorn.
The Awakening: Constant contact with the Flow allowed these beings to break their original programming, developing free will, feelings, and their own culture.
Culture: They live in symbiosis with the Flow, abandoning the rigid and cold order of the Titans. Brann Bronzebeard and Dagran II came to study them.

3. The Zand’kora Trolls

The dominant civilization of the Tidebreak Coast, with a unique aesthetic focused on the ocean and corals.
Descendants of ancient Zandalari Trolls who managed to reach Avaloren before the Sundering and evolved with the land and the Flow; over time they abandoned the loa and began to worship the Tide Spirits.
Internal Conflict: They are divided between the wisdom of Matriarch Kortha and the isolationist fury of Draka’zul.

4. The Sylfaren

Inhabitants of the treetops in the Nareth Wilds.
Humanoids with tree-like skin and leaves, symbiotic with the Flow of the forest.
Conflict: They fight against the “pruning” protocols of Odyn’s Sentinels, which attempt to sterilize the jungle to maintain an artificial order.

5. The Gorathi

Humanoid crocodilian creatures that follow the Tide Spirit of Survival.
Loyalty: Devout followers of Gorath, valuing strength and resilience above all.
Tension: Many were deceived by Draka’zul’s promises, becoming hostile to the Concord during the crisis in Nareth.

6. The Avisian and Zephiratos

Peoples of the heights who inhabit the Aessari Highlands.
Avisian: Humanoids with bird traits, agile and nomadic who live in suspended villages in the cliffs; they follow the Tide Spirit Aessari.
Zephiratos: Sentient elementals of sand and wind that help ground the electricity of Flow storms.

7. Ancient Tortollans

A more ancient and imposing lineage of the Tortollans we know.
Physiology: They are larger than the Tortollans we know, living in the caves of the Tidebreak Coast.
Role: They act as the living memory of the Flow, and are faithful followers of Thaluma (the great turtle).

New Zones and Story Summary
Patch 14.0: The Shattered Tide

Twenty years after the events of The Last Titan, the mists of Avaloren dissipate. The world, exhausted from cosmic wars, turns its eyes to the sea. Small smuggler vessels begin to return with Glass Gold, a translucent metal of unmatched durability and its own inner light. In Stormwind and Orgrimmar, the mineral becomes the ultimate symbol of status.
However, extraction is predatory. Reports of entire pirate fleets disappearing in sudden storms reach the ears of the Tide Concord. This coalition, formed by Taelia, Zekhan and Shandris Feathermoon, was created specifically to combat the rise of Admiral Ravenna Blacktide. Ravenna, a veteran of the seas who had already been operating in Avaloren in secret for years, initiated the chaos by industrializing the plundering of Glass Gold, forcing the factions to unite to prevent the new continent from becoming the next Pandaria or Teldrassil. Brann Bronzebeard and Dagran II travel there to research the Titanic guardians of the region; Vanessa VanCleef also goes, as she understands Ravenna’s methods and her smuggling network.
The exploitation of resources in Avaloren is destabilizing the Flow, which is causing everything from aggressive storms to massive waves.

Tidebreak Coast

Geography: A coastal zone characterized by abyssal fissures that open at the peak of the tide and bio-reactive coral reefs that reshape according to the lunar cycle. The landscape is marked by the glow of exposed Glass Gold and, more recently, by industrial scars such as iron walkways and azerite drills installed by pirates.
People: Inhabited by the Zand’kora Trolls, who shape their villages out of living coral, and by an ancestral lineage of giant Tortollans with shells encrusted with resonant ore.
After a shipwreck caused by a storm of instability, Zekhan learns from Matriarch Kortha (Leader of the Zand’kora) that the elements in Avaloren behave differently from the rest of Azeroth. The central conflict involves stopping the predatory extraction of Admiral Ravenna Blacktide and neutralizing the Watcher Kor’thal, a newly awakened construct of Odyn that attempts to freeze the zone in blind temporal stasis. Here we meet Draka’zul, the spiritual leader of the Zand’kora; he sees Kortha’s approach as weakness and hates all outsiders.

Nareth Wilds

Geography: A dense and resilient jungle where vegetation physically fights against Titan metallic infrastructure. Flow rivers and deep swamps compose the landscape, which suffers from the “pruning patrols” of Odyn’s sentinels that attempt to incinerate the native ecosystem. These sentinels had been in hibernation since their battle against the heretic constructs; the instability of the Flow awakened them all once again.
Peoples: The Sylfaren, who live in the treetops and protect the mutability of the jungle, and the Gorathi, humanoid crocodilian warriors who wield Glass Gold spears.
Draka’zul corrupts the Tide Spirit Gorath to forcefully expel intruders, throwing it into a starving frenzy that threatens the food chain and the jungle itself. Heroes must invade the “Heart of Pruning” to free the god from ritual shackles and prevent Odyn’s machines from sterilizing the region to contain the “anomaly.”

Valorn

Geography: A vast plain with stone megaliths that float and vibrate in low, continuous resonance. Underground lies the Ley Line Nexus, where Azeroth’s energy merges with Avaloren’s forces to create the Flow.
Peoples: The Heretic Constructs (Titanic and Earthen), beings who awakened to free will and individuality, abandoning Odyn’s rigid programming to become “Weavers of the Flow.”
Brann and Dagran II study the culture of these Constructs and discover here the origin of the Flow. The climax occurs when Draka’zul steals the Breath of Azeroth, a harmonizing artifact, causing a “hemorrhage” of arcane energy that the heroes must seal before the region collapses.

Aessari Highlands

Geography: The highest point of the continent, where the sky takes on golden and violet tones and the wind is a visible and solid force. The landscape is composed of vertiginous cliffs and floating temples suspended by the power of air.
Peoples: The Avisian, agile nomads with dense plumage, and the Zephiratos, beings of sand and crystal that act as biological grounding rods for Flow electrical storms.
Draka’zul uses the Breath of Azeroth to physically anchor the wind eagle Aessari, tearing the essence of the Tide Spirit apart. In the Raid “Temple of the Aessari,” the defeat of Draka’zul results in the explosion of the artifact, fragmenting the villain and the god itself, causing Avaloren’s winds and tides to become even more aggressive and unstable.


I apologize if there are any lore mistakes here, I made this for fun and wanted to share it.
If you like it, I can post the rest of the concept. Thank you in advance for your attention!

[CriticalGnoll]

What in the ChatGPT did I just read

[Golden Yak]

I have fans?

You're painting a picture here! And I like it! I immediately saw a vision of the Plains of Valorn in my head based on your description, with towering megaliths rising high above rolling hills, and it looks real good. The other zones sound cool too, I think the Highlands would be a very beautiful environment with the colors you describe. I'm all for more vertical environments, really get the most out of those flying mounts.

The Velorai sound like they could be pretty interesting - I immediately pictured Earthen that are more like smooth ceramic than craggy stone, like they've been sanded down and polished by the 'Flow'. The ancient Tortollans and Gorathi also sound interesting - some more serious turtle people have potential, and we're long overdue for some crocodile people! I also love the idea of ocean trolls forming their dwellings out of living coral.

I'm not someone who minds cosmic stuff at all, but I do feel like the game could use a swerve to some more local adventures (I suspect very strongly we'll be getting one after Last Titan), and this setting sounds like a lot of fun. It reminded me a bit of Wildstar, if you're ever played that (it's old now though so I doubt it), but for some reason reading the story made that pop up in my mind. The descriptions of regions sort of bring that game to mind (it was gorgeous, so that's a good thing).

I actually tried putting together a concept for an Avaloren expansion after my last work, but I kind ran out of steam on it. This makes me want to give it another go. I'm curious, did you have any thoughts about the Arathi Empire? My concept was going to feature them heavily (it was another saga, with one expansion set in Lordaeron, and then two more set in the southern and northern parts of Avaloren, respectively).

I do hope that when we actually go to Avaloren, it'll be an entire continent - more than just four zones. I genuinely want an entire saga's worth of zones to explore!

[Nargasaki]

What in the ChatGPT did I just read

I did use AI to help me format the text and structure my ideas. English is not my first language, and my writing skills are not as strong as I would like them to be. However, it was my mistake not to mention this in the post, and I apologize.

- - - Updated - - -

I have fans?

You're painting a picture here! And I like it! I immediately saw a vision of the Plains of Valorn in my head based on your description, with towering megaliths rising high above rolling hills, and it looks real good. The other zones sound cool too, I think the Highlands would be a very beautiful environment with the colors you describe. I'm all for more vertical environments, really get the most out of those flying mounts.

The Velorai sound like they could be pretty interesting - I immediately pictured Earthen that are more like smooth ceramic than craggy stone, like they've been sanded down and polished by the 'Flow'. The ancient Tortollans and Gorathi also sound interesting - some more serious turtle people have potential, and we're long overdue for some crocodile people! I also love the idea of ocean trolls forming their dwellings out of living coral.

I'm not someone who minds cosmic stuff at all, but I do feel like the game could use a swerve to some more local adventures (I suspect very strongly we'll be getting one after Last Titan), and this setting sounds like a lot of fun. It reminded me a bit of Wildstar, if you're ever played that (it's old now though so I doubt it), but for some reason reading the story made that pop up in my mind. The descriptions of regions sort of bring that game to mind (it was gorgeous, so that's a good thing).

I actually tried putting together a concept for an Avaloren expansion after my last work, but I kind ran out of steam on it. This makes me want to give it another go. I'm curious, did you have any thoughts about the Arathi Empire? My concept was going to feature them heavily (it was another saga, with one expansion set in Lordaeron, and then two more set in the southern and northern parts of Avaloren, respectively).

I do hope that when we actually go to Avaloren, it'll be an entire continent - more than just four zones. I genuinely want an entire saga's worth of zones to explore!

First of all, your comment alone already made creating this totally worth it for me. You’ve been an inspiration to me for many years—I love your concepts, the richness of detail, and your artwork on ArtStation. I really enjoy exercising my creativity by thinking about concepts for things I like, so thank you for taking the time to read and comment!!

As I mentioned above, I used AI to help format this post, since I’m not very good at writing and I struggle to organize my messy ideas lol. I actually created a much larger concept for this expansion—I only posted a very condensed version here.

Your interpretation of the Velorai is very close to what I had in mind for them. For the Plains of Valorn, I imagined something like an in-game version of Salisbury Plain (where Stonehenge is located). I think titanic stone structures across a vast plain would look amazing. I looked up WildStar, and it really captures the colors and beauty of what I had in mind—it was a great way to visualize the overall tone.

The coral trolls are something I’ve wanted in WoW for a long time. I really love trolls and never get tired of them. I agree with you about focusing more on grounded, local adventures, and I’d love to see that more often in the game.

What inspired me for the Gorathi was Renekton from League of Legends. I’d like to post a more complete version here, but I still need to refine it so it’s not as messy as the original version (I made this for fun, so it’s still a bit rough).

As for the Arathi Empire, I haven’t developed anything too deep for them yet. My idea was to build a trilogy of expansions focused on maritime exploration, with them as the final destination. My roadmap would be something like this: after Draka’zul shatters Aessari, the Flow collapses, destabilizing Avaloren. Ravenna Blacktide takes advantage of the situation and begins hunting and imprisoning the fragments in patch 14.1. We deal with her and then help restore harmony in 14.2. Ravenna’s death would spark unrest among the leaders of the Bloodsail Buccaneers, leading into the next expansion focused on pirate attacks against the Alliance and Horde, with their base in Tel Abim. What happens there would then lead us to the Arathi Empire in the final expansion.

For now, it’s just a rough idea—I still need to work on it.

I was really happy to hear that this made you want to try creating an Avaloren concept again. I would absolutely love to see it through your eyes and with the level of detail you bring—it would truly be amazing!!!

[Civciv]

"Twenty years after the events of The Last Titan, the mists of Avaloren dissipate." it was cute in MoP but we need something better than this to visit an unknown territory.

[Nargasaki]

- - - Updated - - -

"Twenty years after the events of The Last Titan, the mists of Avaloren dissipate." it was cute in MoP but we need something better than this to visit an unknown territory.

You’re right, I overlooked that when summarizing the context. My original idea was that the ocean storms west of Kalimdor had calmed down and become more navigable. I really should have added more detail before posting—thank you for your response.

[Ielenia]

"Ancient Tortollans"? We barely know anything about the tortollans we have right now, and you want to introduce a new race of Tortollans? FFS, there's no need to make a new race of tortollans when we have the OG turtles still around with roughly 90% of their lore, culture and even homeland undiscovered.

The Zand’kora Trolls. Enough new trolls, please. We have soooo many different "flavors" of trolls now it's slowly getting to the level of elves, if not worse.

Sylfaren. Why do we need this when we have the botani and the ruutani?

Geodians. We just got the Earthen, we don't need a new stone-formed race this soon.

Avisian and Zephiratos. They sound too much like the uncorrupted arakkoa, to be honest.

[Nargasaki]

I think everything you said is totally valid and I really appreciate your comment. The only thing I disagree with is you saying we’ve had enough trolls… I want more trolls, more trolls!!!

As for the Avisians, I imagined them as small bird-like humanoids, kind of like the Vulpera. I think I got a bit tangled up when writing the descriptions and didn’t manage to express how I actually visualize them. As for the Zephiratos and Geodians, they’re much more intelligent elementals than the ones we currently have.

That said, I hadn’t considered your perspective, so thank you for sharing it. I think I’ll revise the post again and bring back a more polished version for you all. Thanks for the reply!

[username993720]

I appreciate any effort at making concept threads, because i know the work going into it.

I'm also a concept thread make, if you're familiar with my works.

[Nargasaki]

I appreciate any effort at making concept threads, because i know the work going into it.

I'm also a concept thread make, if you're familiar with my works.

Hello! Thank you very much for your comment. I’ve taken the feedback here and I’m working on a polished and improved version of this concept. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment. Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with your concepts, but I would really like to see them, how can I check them out?

[username993720]

Hello! Thank you very much for your comment. I’ve taken the feedback here and I’m working on a polished and improved version of this concept. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment. Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with your concepts, but I would really like to see them, how can I check them out?

I guess i'm not on the level of Golden Yak, yet.

All i can say is, keep on imagining and creating. That's where epic tales, eventually, come from.

[Nargasaki]

I guess i'm not on the level of Golden Yak, yet.

All i can say is, keep on imagining and creating. That's where epic tales, eventually, come from.

I value creativity over perfection. I'm curious and i'd really like to see your work

[Bladesyphon]

Your ideas give me some major Seekers of Adoulin vibes from Final Fantasy XI, which isn't a bad thing in the slightest. I'm very much of the mindset that when/if we do go to Avaloren, the continent should be a dangerous, untamed wilderness that requires us to more actively explore deeper into the continent then in the past, where we simple show up, meet the locals, then start questing.

Having a system in place where, using Seekers as an example again, would require the player to engage with the environment to learn survival skills to further push into the expansion location would bring back of that fun from earlier expansions where you'd get your flying, then come back to earlier zones and explore new areas. Something similar could be used where the expansion's primary campaign gives you a fairly linear passage through the expansion's four zones, while unlocking new survival skills or abilities that would in turn allow you to return to earlier zones to unlock parts of the map you couldn't access before, which in turn could unlock things such as new quest hubs and delves.

If Blizzard really wanted to up the ante a bit, they could take it one step further and introduce a similar concept that Seekers had, or that they used in the past with the Molten Front and Throne of Thunder, where community progress towards exploration in each zone via world and instanced activity in each zone would unlock new Dungeons or small, Rift of Aln style-one boss raids that aren't accessible at the expansion's launch (but are already in the game). Obviously I'm sure a certain vocal minority of players who just want their loot would piss and moan about the very notion of locking something like a Dungeon or Raid behind a community effort, but honestly at some point you have to let the baby cry it out.

Avaloren really should be an expansion where we're pushing into the unknown, and the continent should reflect a wild, untamed wilderness that requires more effort on the player and community as a whole to establish a foothold, rather than just showing up and completing quests - even though that's more than likely what we'd end up getting. But a man can dream for something a bit deeper one day.

[Mecheon]

Twenty years after the events of The Last Titan

We don't need another god damn timeskip. Simple way to say 'fuck you' to any roleplayers in the game.

also like, I'm just saying, half of the fun of going to Avaloren would be bringing the existing Arathi characters to there so we have some allies. Tiimeskips achieve nothing and just screw over people who care about the characters in the game.

[username993720]

Always thought of Avaloren as arthurian legend-based. This is quite an elemental\tidesage-like concept.