Likely future of Arathi Highlands

[Zuben]

I was doing the quests in Arathi Highlands yesterday and noticed this: http://www.wowhead.com/quest=26084

You have served us well here, <name>. Now that we've made our mark, the next phase of our conquest will occur over months rather than minutes.

Imo that's an obvious hint that there will indeed be a patch that will alter the zone. There are less obvious hints as well(like the fall of Danath's statue in Stormwind) and Blizzard did say Stromgarde would see some love in Cataclysm.

Soo... In this thread we strongly assume there will be an Arathi Highlands-patch. When do you think we'll see it? And since Arathi Highlands isn't a highlvl zone do you think it will turn into such? Maybe with extreme phasing have two versions, one for lowbies(the way the zone is atm) and one for highbies? Or will it simply be a patch to add the lowlvl content Blizz didn't have time to include for the expansion's release, thus making the battle for Arathi a lvl 25-30 experience? Discuss.

[Zanardam]

i have the feeling Blizz gonna introduce us a kind of massive high lvl pvp event in different chock point around Azeroth....

my 2 cent.

[MushroomBomb]

Wouldn't surprise me, it's pretty much the least changed zone.

[JohnnyTKF]

I was doing the quests in Arathi Highlands yesterday and noticed this: http://www.wowhead.com/quest=26084

Imo that's an obvious hint that there will indeed be a patch that will alter the zone. There are less obvious hints as well(like the fall of Danath's statue in Stormwind) and Blizzard did say Stromgarde would see some love in Cataclysm.

Soo... In this thread we strongly assume there will be an Arathi Highlands-patch. When do you think we'll see it? And since Arathi Highlands isn't a highlvl zone do you think it will turn into such? Maybe with extreme phasing have two versions, one for lowbies(the way the zone is atm) and one for highbies? Or will it simply be a patch to add the lowlvl content Blizz didn't have time to include for the expansion's release, thus making the battle for Arathi a lvl 25-30 experience? Discuss.

You know? Actually, there was discussion about this on the Official Forums a long, long time ago... But who knows? They COULD revamp it like they did to Dustwallow, but they could also let it rot.

[Zanardam]

Wouldn't surprise me, it's pretty much the least changed zone.

Sillithus want to speak with you in the backstage...

---------- Post added 2010-11-29 at 07:29 PM ----------

The only thing i hate about Dustwallow...its they dont adds any quest related to the new highway from THeramore to the Barren....even the NPC dont talk about it. -.-

[Knighthonor]

What could Blizzard do to this zone that effect high lvl players?

[mordale]

What could Blizzard do to this zone that effect high lvl players?

remake the bg, phased daily quests, or even phased quest chains that move the story along.

[Deleted]

Considering the fact that there's not that much special about the Arathi Highlands (To my knowledge, at least), I'd say that the chances of a big Arathi Highlands patch are unlikely. Personally, I have more of a feeling that it might be a reference to the Arathi Basin battleground. Perhaps Blizzard may do something with that...

[Knighthonor]

Considering the fact that there's not that much special about the Arathi Highlands (To my knowledge, at least), I'd say that the chances of a big Arathi Highlands patch are unlikely. Personally, I have more of a feeling that it might be a reference to the Arathi Basin battleground. Perhaps Blizzard may do something with that...

well the forsaken are back at it again. they got the prince now.

[Awakar]

Imo that's an obvious hint that there will indeed be a patch that will alter the zone. There are less obvious hints as well(like the fall of Danath's statue in Stormwind) and Blizzard did say Stromgarde would see some love in Cataclysm.

I don't think that alludes to anything. Tons of quests have said things like this, it's sort of an excuse for you not seeing things change before your eyes. I doubt Blizzard would have half-assed the zone during development just so they could fix it months later in a patch. If it was going to be changed later, they probably wouldn't have changed anything at all in the zone, like Silithus.

[nnelson54]

Considering the fact that there's not that much special about the Arathi Highlands (To my knowledge, at least), I'd say that the chances of a big Arathi Highlands patch are unlikely.

Arathi Highlands is one of the more important zones in the game from a lore stand point. It's the site of the first Human Empire(Arathor), the site of the first battle between humans and elves(during the Troll Wars) and is the place where the New Horde was pretty much created(when Doomhammer was killed at what would be named Hammerfall in his honor, and gave his hammer and armor to Thrall and made him Warchief). The entire zone is rich in lore and should be so much more.

Unfortunately there's no way they'd just change a little bit about Arathi and then patch the rest in later. It would just make no sense to do that to a low level zone.

[Teddy]

Stromgarde, a new PvP fighting area!!

[mistuhbull]

remote possibility

Phase it in so that for 85s Hammerfall, Refuge Pointe, and the Horde Camp are all substantially built up
Danath Trollbane has returned from Outland to find Arathi and Stromgarde in the midst of a four way conflict between the Horde (who hold the lower eastern side of Stromgarde), Syndicate (who hold the upper east), Ogres (who hold the West), and Alliance (Who hold the Keep and the Trollbane tomb)

4 phase event
p1. both sides fighting against the Syndicate
p2. both sides fighting against the Ogres
p3. Alliance v. Horde
p4. One side has captured Stromgarde (different per server?) and now has it as a questing hub for dailies in Arathi.

Throughout the first three phases there will be a war effort type event going on for turn-ins
p1+2 will be progressed similarly to how IQD worked
p3 will last for X amount of days (weeks?) at the end of which the total supplies gathered by each side will decide the winner
each quest will grant "supplies"

The daily hub will have 3 phases, moving from phase to phase when you gain enough supplies (say, it on average takes 1 month to get to p3)
p1. securing Stromgarde: few quests, clearing out the syndicate/faction/ogre remnants in the city
p2. building stromgarde: more quests, enemies have been moved out of the city but you can still clear em out more. quests about rebuilding the city
p3. Stromgarde is nice now there is now a bank and profession trainers in the city. more quests, baddies farther away.

maybe part, not sure if this would be cool or lame
two weeks after the winners reach p3 the losers can initiate an invasion, this restarts p3 of the retaking event, only this time the losers have X amount of days to surpass the supplies of the winners (these remain constant from when they won). If they can surpass them then it goes back to p3 of retaking stromgarde and the winner is redecided. repeat.

[shadow121292]

remote possibility

Phase it in so that for 85s Hammerfall, Refuge Pointe, and the Horde Camp are all substantially built up
Danath Trollbane has returned from Outland to find Arathi and Stromgarde in the midst of a four way conflict between the Horde (who hold the lower eastern side of Stromgarde), Syndicate (who hold the upper east), Ogres (who hold the West), and Alliance (Who hold the Keep and the Trollbane tomb)

4 phase event
p1. both sides fighting against the Syndicate
p2. both sides fighting against the Ogres
p3. Alliance v. Horde
p4. One side has captured Stromgarde (different per server?) and now has it as a questing hub for dailies in Arathi.

Throughout the first three phases there will be a war effort type event going on for turn-ins
p1+2 will be progressed similarly to how IQD worked
p3 will last for X amount of days (weeks?) at the end of which the total supplies gathered by each side will decide the winner
each quest will grant "supplies"

The daily hub will have 3 phases, moving from phase to phase when you gain enough supplies (say, it on average takes 1 month to get to p3)
p1. securing Stromgarde: few quests, clearing out the syndicate/faction/ogre remnants in the city
p2. building stromgarde: more quests, enemies have been moved out of the city but you can still clear em out more. quests about rebuilding the city
p3. Stromgarde is nice now there is now a bank and profession trainers in the city. more quests, baddies farther away.

maybe part, not sure if this would be cool or lame
two weeks after the winners reach p3 the losers can initiate an invasion, this restarts p3 of the retaking event, only this time the losers have X amount of days to surpass the supplies of the winners (these remain constant from when they won). If they can surpass them then it goes back to p3 of retaking stromgarde and the winner is redecided. repeat.

Its not a bad idea but they need a solid lore ending with one side reclaiming the city so you'd have to decide Horde or Alliance to win the city and thus the crown of Stromgarde.

[mistuhbull]

Its not a bad idea but they need a solid lore ending with one side reclaiming the city so you'd have to decide Horde or Alliance to win the city and thus the crown of Stromgarde.

I realized that as well, but sometimes lore isn't fun gameplay.

resolutions:
1. see which faction held it for longer on majority of servers and make that the decision when the decision has to be made
2. Alliance wins. It's what most people want anyways.

[Dark Side]

The last thing i did before cata hit was kill Forzuk. I then woke up, logged in and killed him again, so to say i agree there was no change to the zone, but oh so much potential. I especially hope for further plot development for the Argus Wake

[tiren]

an 18 quest achievement could also lead you to think there is future plans. by far the lowest quest count for a zone.

[Direfen]

Sillithus want to speak with you in the backstage...

Silithus has already been changed once before. Back in Vanilla Silithus was nothing like it is today. It was half the size, had little to no quests within it, no PvP objective and Ahn Qiraj didn't exist.

As far as I'm aware Arathi Highlands hasn't been touched ever since WoW was released, and the only new addition was the small Forsaken Camp near the Thoradin(?) Wall.

[twinkleblur]

hinterlands...

[Awakar]

Silithus has already been changed once before. Back in Vanilla Silithus was nothing like it is today. It was half the size, had little to no quests within it, no PvP objective and Ahn Qiraj didn't exist.

As far as I'm aware Arathi Highlands hasn't been touched ever since WoW was released, and the only new addition was the small Forsaken Camp near the Thoradin(?) Wall.

Yeah, but Silithus was changed a loooonnng time ago (Vanilla WoW certainly qualifies as such). And it was almost like they never added it to the game in the first place seeing how it was used for virtually nothing before the Ahn'qiraj patch. So yeah, I think Silithus wins out as most unchanged zone that should've been changed. (Stuff like Deadwind Pass/Moonglade don't count).