Hey there, I’m Altielle. You might remember me from such creative ventures as my Inktober drawings 2020-2021 and the Into Abyss exfansion concept. Well I have another doozy for you fine people of Wyrmrest Accord Realm Forums. Yet another exfansion concept! This time around, I decided I wasn’t really vibing with Shadowlands too much and went ahead and made my own idea for an expansion that should have come after BfA.
So if you like reading these kinds of things, make sure you’ve got a comfortable spot in your chair, maybe brush up on your Wrath of the Lich King lore for good measure, and prepare yourself to be taken on a journey, my friend. A journey through World of Warcraft: Death’s Rise.
Introduction
The aftermath of the Fourth War was not a glorious one. There were no peace accords, no healing and renewal. Not even rest. The world remained pierced and bleeding out. N’zoth arose, corpses littered the streets. Carnage and death became the controlling force of the world. Shamans were the first to a strange stirring in the spirits, decay falling over Azeroth like a shroud. Then all of Azeroth began to sense the unsettling eerie calm.
No more warfare. Just a stale gasp of air. Drooling rats with rot and mange across their bodies gnawed on the dead, spreading disease to all corners of the map. Before long citizens of the world would find themselves scratching terrible sores everywhere the rats were spotted. The foul pestilence-ridden cysts oozed with necrotic atrophy.
The birds came next. Ragged crows bearing upon their wings a peculiar dust descended to peck at anything too small to push them away. Pets, children, crops, nothing was spared their hunger. They were everywhere, found in homes, underground, even in the hulls of ships. Killing either pests became a priority, yet upon death they’d burst and leave reeking gore in an area around them. Any poor souls that made contact with the fluids were infected with a plague.
And that is where the final plan was unleashed. In every major population, shambling figures stumbled out of their graveyards. The living dead, tearing their way out of the earth, marched on the free peoples of the world as hidden by hooded figures. Those who died with the plague rose to join the gnashing thralls.
The Argent Crusade sprung into action, recalling a similar, horrific scene to the plague of undeath sent out by the Lich King decades ago. It was inevitable this would happen. There must always be a Lich King, and so long as the Scourge remained a coherent force it would rise again. That day had come. Stretched thin, the paladins did their best to call the heroes of Azeroth to action, cleansing disease and purging undead alike. Yet the worst was to come.
A mist rolled over the cliffs of northern Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Muted shapes hovered up the coasts, growing larger and larger until enormous necropoli crashed out of the fog. Anyone caught up under the floating fortresses on their path would be overwhelmed by a barrage of malevolent artillery. Val’kyr descended to claim those who fell, storing them in the dreaded sky fortresses.
The necropoli came to a stop outside major populations. Durotar, Mulgore, Elwynn and Dun Morogh became the hotspots of organized Scourge attacks. Even when beaten back by heroes, the seemingly indestructible necropoli would merely send invasion forces back down once again upon recovering. It became more than either the Alliance or Horde could sustain, thus they had to organize surgical strikes against the black sky fortresses.
With the assistance of Alexstrasza and the red dragonflight, who has alluded that something is VERY wrong in Northrend, the heroes destroyed the necropoli. The true menace loomed to the north, though. Once again, the living of Azeroth would have to plunge straight into the maw of the damned.
Overview
World of Warcraft: Death’s Rise is my replacement expansion for Shadowlands. Its aim is to keep the scope of the game to Azeroth and the adventures one would have there, as opposed to creating a whole new universe. In addition, it is designed to set a precedent that it is okay to have expansions where most of the world content is revisiting old zones. Players will find themselves in a familiar yet also frighteningly unknown territory as the Scourge rears its skeletal head once more. Lastly, Death’s Rise intends to utilize modern WoW technology to give the game a fresh and RPG-oriented feel.
The primary features of the expansion are:
- Updated Continent: Northrend
- Level squished to 50, level to 60 with new talents
- New Allied Races: Taunka and Mecha-mechagnomes
- Kidding! The other allied race is Prime Worgen
- New Dynamic Environments
- New Zone Battlefields
- New Open World Talents
- New Instanced Content: Torghast
- Updated Artifact System
- New Customization
- And much more!
Content Overview: Northrend
Northrend is an old continent that players are familiar with already. However, the practice of making a new continent in WoW expansion after expansion is unsustainable and there should be nothing wrong with simply revamping zones. Old Northrend will still be accessible via Chromie. Zones will be updated narratively, visually, and mechanically to bring a new experience. As a matter of fact, the continent will engage players by making them want to see what has changed and compare it to the past of Northrend. There is linear leveling progression, but it scales with players if they level above it.
Borean Tundra(48-52) was the heart of the Alliance and Horde’s landing points against the Scourge. During the Northrend Campaign at the time of Arthas, it was one of the most costly battlefields as both factions vied for footholds against the dreaded homeland of the undead. As such, it has become a graveyard zone. The entire zone is littered with monuments to soldiers lost, shallow tombs, and mass graves. Former footholds of the living have fallen into disrepair and were claimed by the Scourge upon their initial resurgence.
With both Warsong Hold and Valiance Keep claimed as new hives of undeath, both factions have to look inward to get to the continent. Alliance enlist the assistance of mechagnomes, who had already been working on a subterranean tube network to connect them to other places of gnomish significance. Alliance will take this railway to the Fizzcrank Bastion, a newly constructed keep of gnomish design that takes advantage of unliving, and therefore unraisable, machines to hold the Scourge at bay. The Horde will access a taunka barge, a massive floating fortress on the coast of Death’s Stand, to launch attacks from.
The main stories include stemming the continually rising tide of undeath to manageable levels, helping the blue dragonflight combat Ethereal and Void influences in the Nexus, and restoring the minds of the mechagnomes forged during the old campaign.
Howling Fjord(48-52)’s vrykul have been through a great cultural renaissance since the campaign. The Alliance and Forsaken decimated their populace, and their fateful allegiance to the Lich King resulted in greater losses. Following his release from Skyhold, Odyn found his warrior children in disarray and descended to straighten their path. As with Borean Tundra, former Horde and Alliance outposts have been converted into bastions of the Scourge, and working with Odyn is the only way to break land in the zone.
There is a portal from Stormheim to Utgarde Keep which players can take to reach Howling Fjord. Much of the vrykul holdings of the zone have either been destroyed or reborn under Odyn’s guidance. Main stories here include dealing with wayward vrykul who remain loyal to Scourge Val’kyr, strange occurrences in Forsaken outposts that aren’t quite Scourge in nature involving San’layn, and a mysterious mist leaking out of the northern border.
Grizzly Hills(51-54) will be one of the most alien zones of the revamp. It is entirely covered in a thick mist. Entering the zone is challenging. All natives claim this occurred not long after Arthas fell on the Frozen Throne, starting small then growing over time. Those who enter can barely see several feet and find the forest twisted. They would find a once well mapped region to have discrepancies. Ponds where there shouldn’t be, mountains where there were plains, structures in large trees.
The fog itself is dangerous. Prolonged time in the fog dulls the mind, increases paranoia and reclusiveness. Those exposed to it long enough eventually vanish into the mists, never to be heard from again. Worse, silhouettes can be found lurking in the pale distance. Familiar wolf-people prowl the fog, somehow able to navigate it with ease and strike when least suspected.
Main stories include working with a mistweaver monk and a druid to “tame” the mist, having weird visions inside it, and facing a new, or to some old, race of worgen with ties to the Scourge-aligned Wolf Cult.
Zul’drak(53-56) has also been claimed by the fog. Following their slaughter at the hands of the Scourge and an ill fated alliance with Zul’s Zandalari, the Drakkari have been broken down by the combined might of their losses and the new fog menace. A new society has arisen, a repentant group of surviving Drakkari attempting to make peace with the loa they have wronged. Those wild gods who survived the sacrifices have created refuges for the trolls and other native races of the area from the mist.
The fog has affected this zone as well, rotting away various pockets of Zul’drak as if thousands of years weathered away the stone structures. There are notable interactions between the loa and the mist, yet the Scourge seems to be working within it as well, and this time they are not intended on raising just trolls from the dead. Stories include a path of redemption for Drakkari with assistance from Zandalari priests, ominous revelations about the fog’s origins, and disrupting Scourge attempts to weaponize it.
Dragonblight(51-55) has suffered since the Scourge’s reawakening. During the Fourth War, the Wyrmrest Accord detected disturbances in the ground beneath the frozen wastes. Alexstrasza sent her daughter Cerastrasza along with a handful of drakes to investigate the event. A battle seemed to have broken out, given tremors in the earth, following the ground giving way. The entire western half of Dragonblight collapsed into Azjol-Nerub.
Thousands of crypt fiends skittered out of the rubble, collecting various dragon skeletons and corpses left behind by the Nexus War and dragging them beneath the crust, including pieces of Galakrond. The implications of the Scourge’s interest in the body are enough to have Alexstrasza desperately searching for mortal aid.
Main stories include a sinister fate for these dragon remnants, a split in nerubian society over whether to turn to Old God influence to fight the Scourge, and an unexpected arrival of the Voidwings who are sneaking around the bodies of the Old God beasts summoned during Deathwing’s assault on Wyrmrest Temple.
Sholazar Basin(56-58) was once a safe haven for the titans’ creations, protected by spires of crystals that regulate the environment. During the Northrend Campaign, Arthas set his eyes upon the basin and sabotaged one of the pillars. All that held the Scourge at bay was the intervention of Freya. When N’zoth arose, the titan keepers had to recall their forces to face off against Old God influence near Ulduar. This left the basin undefended, and the Scourge took advantage of the weakness.
The basin has been divided up, where the Scourge fortified a great deal of the eastern region. A dam has been built, creating a large, festering lake by which they use to forge new creations and plagues of titan origin. On the other side the Frenzyheart and Oracles have banded together to form a resistance, using their combined skills and knowledge of the basin to slow the Scourge advancements.
The main stories of this zone includes a disturbing attempt by the Scourge to incorporate titan technology into its ranks, the Nesingwary Expedition hunting mutated beasts caused by a malfunctioning pillar, and delving into vaults with Wrathion to find the location of the Dragon Isles.
Crystalsong Forest(54-56) is a small zone mostly focused around one or two questlines. Following an encounter with the Voidwings, Alleria Windrunner tracked their leader into the zone. Players help her uncover plots from the Void, then she has encounters with spirits of the Highborne plus a few elfy things, as well as facing off with a cult of San’layn loyal to Sylvanas. It culminates with learning more about Sylvanas and where she ended up after she ragequit being warchief.
Wintergrasp(60) is relatively untouched and still reserved for events. More on it later.
Storm Peaks(57-60) suffered more in the aftermath of N’zoth’s release than the Horde and Alliance were witness to. As the former holding place of Yogg-saron, Ulduar has always been a location of interest to the Old Gods. N’zoth unleashed a powerful assault on Storm Peaks during his rampage across the world. This is why the keepers were nowhere to be found during his assaults on the Vale and Uldum.
A great deal of the zone is the aftermath of a battlefield, with pockets of aqir and other Old God aberrations slinking around in caverns that must be cleansed. Buildings have been torn down and new ones erected, husks of aqir outposts loom frozen on the horizon. It’s possibly a close look at what you would have seen following the end of the war between the titans and the Old Gods.
Main stories here include Scourge marching on the frostborne from Icecrown for unknown purposes, a new development to the Curse of Flesh, and an investigation of the not so certain demise of Yogg-saron that includes finding the surface of its body that supposedly spans all of Northrend.
Ulduar is the neutral capital of the expansion, with updates to the interior, portals, and sub quest lines within the city itself.
Icecrown(57-60) has always been the height of Scourge power, the height of death on Azeroth. Something went wrong on the roof of the world, and it’s quite apparent as players witness the valleys the zone is famous for. The ground has been split open, revealing a gaping maw of darkness all encompassing the lower regions of Icecrown. Spirits of the dead moan from within, and even echoes of Scourge champions long since thought dead crawl out from within.
The zone represents something more like a frozen, evil Thousand Needles now, except there is no bottom. Just empty nothingness that claims the lives of any who dare to delve down. Tendrils of necrotic magic coil out of the fissures, grasping anything still living and pulling it into the pit. The Scourge have built their fortifications around the caverns, creating a complex system of saronite ramparts. Death has never been stronger, and the barrier to the afterlife is thinning.
Main stories include finding out what happened to the Argents stationed in this zone (they’ve all been destroyed), trying to make sense of this cataclysmic maw of death, and the shocking revelation: Bolvar has been usurped by Sylvanas. In addition, death knights have a unique quest line with the Knights of the Ebon Blade where they enter a flashback of them fighting Sylvanas for Bolvar. Allied race death knights get a special interaction with Bolvar where he considers them his vanguard.
Open World Content: Remapping the Frozen Wastes
The open world is a hot topic these days. In modern WoW, it is entirely a vehicle used to get players into the “real” content, that being mythics, raids, and PvP. Players do emissaries and world quests for boosts to stats that help them in the instanced battles. As a result, open world content has taken on this perception of being “chores”. This is not ideal. A game shouldn’t be boring, players shouldn’t find themselves forced to do any content or begrudging about it.
Naturally, you can’t appeal to everyone and make the game exciting all the time, but why not at least try? This expansion seeks to make the open world fun. To be content in its own right that plays will set out from Ulduar to have adventure and find it. The first step into this concept is an overhaul of world quests and emissaries. To begin with, callings would be implemented in emissaries’ place. It is the Shadowlands iteration, which was done well in offering variety and decent rewards, though more relevant rewards besides gold will be added this time.
As far as world quests go, however, they will be more specialized activities. There are three categories of quests for players that change based on their characters: Class, specialization, and race. Class based world quests fulfill a class fantasy, like using control undead as a death knight on an NPC. Specialization world quests utilize the player’s current role to provide meaningful challenges to that spec. A healer would have to heal, DPS would need to deal damage, and a tank would need to take damage or protect others. Lastly, the racial world quests depend on the player’s race and using either racials or a provided extra action to fulfill the race fantasy of their character. The puzzle world quests can stay too, they’re aight.
As a contingency for new races or classes added to the game that aren’t foreseen, generic world quests would be available in place of the more specialized ones. World quests are, however, just tips of the iceberg when it comes to engaging with the outside world.
Environmental Effects
Immersion versus convenience is a bit of a conflicted scale these days. Players sometimes want to go about their business without being bothered by mechanics, yet other times the monotony of zero challenge in the world simply makes players bored. A good balance would be to create challenges whilst also providing players with the opportunities to overcome these challenges in fun ways, making the game convenient once more but still not boring.
To work hand in hand with this idea, environmental effects are an immersive element of a zone that add challenges to players as they adventure across Northrend. In the Shadowlands pre-patch event, Icecrown occasionally was engulfed in a blizzard, representing the harshness of the icy north and players were given the chance to go to a bonfire for a buff that healed them and also reduced frost damage taken.
It was fun. It broke up the monotony of traveling around the zone but didn’t feel like the game was holding players down. This proposed expansion would use the same systems throughout zones. For instance, the fog of Grizzly Hills might thicken at random intervals zone wide, causing players to experience “hallucinations”, suffer damage over time, and have increased casting speed. To combat this they might need to seek out places of tranquility where the mist is more at ease for refuge, find a monk or druid player or NPC to give them a buff, or use flying to soar above the fog.
But players don’t always want to have to deal with this all the time. That’s where mount equipment is given a revamp. Equipment is bound to specific mounts instead of the character and have more benefits, yet also have ways to counteract/negate environmental effects for people who just want to farm materials and do quests.
Developments
Through quests and faction representatives, players can invest in things known as developments. These are construction projects across the continent that add improvements to zones that make life easier. It ranges from bases that come with new daily quests and cosmetics available for purchase after doing said dailies, to creating transport networks to quickly traverse the continent.
It functions a lot like garrisons in that you can fund these developments, find blueprints for them across the world, and upgrade the buildings as well. The difference is garrisons being centralized, instanced zones whereas these development buildings are scattered across the land.
These developments provide three modes of reward for players. One is the visual satisfaction of expanding your faction’s control over Northrend as they battle the Scourge. The other is the mechanical reward of making the open world more rewarding. And then for a personal favorite, it rewards people who play alts. Developments are accessible to alts if they choose to use this expansion’s versions of Threads of Fate.
That is the most exciting prospect of the development, it’s constantly evolving the way players engage with the content even as they level new characters. It provides a sense of pride and accomplishment as players use them on their alts, knowing they are having an easier time than they did the first time they went through the zones. It gives a sense that the world is actually evolving and improving through their influence.
Flying in the expansion is unlocked through developments.
Battlefields
Battlefields are repeatable events that occur in certain zones. In spite of its similarity to the name battlegrounds, battlefields are not PvP oriented activities. They function like open world warfronts where a battle begins that players can join at any time to contribute to. Contributions are not necessarily just killing mobs, either. Players can do mini objectives and contend with dynamic reactions by enemies to curtail their advancements.
In general, there will be a battlefield area with engaging terrain, such as a keep, where players need to advance through it to defeat the final boss. Mini objectives progress the battlefield but can also be lost to AI enemies and dynamic events that can attempt to take back the objective. Players who do these mini objectives are given rewards for completing them, though the rewards are only once per objective per battlefield. However, given the possibility to lose battlefields, the rewards given by mini objectives still manage to respect the time invested into the content by players so that losing isn’t an all or nothing thing.
There aren’t battlefields in every zone, but there are a number to choose from and players can engage in them multiple times a day. Further patches may add more battlefields across the continent. Battlefields reward a currency that can be spent on developments or world talents, more on that below.
- Icecrown: Battle for Aldur’thar
- Aldur’thar is the gateway to western Icecrown and the Frozen Throne itself. In order for forces to continue their assault on the base of Scourge operations, they must assault the fortress. However, since the opening of the fissures below, it has been retrofitted as a much more winding, imposing keep than the old Icecrown boasted. Players must battle their way to the upper spire and defeat one of three commander bosses to capture the base.
- Necromancers roam the battlefield and raise the bodies of players from the dead. Only one per player, risen players are controlled by an AI. Players may stay and be “mind controlled” as they’re resurrected or release spirit any time, in which case a copy will remain but the player will respawn.
- Be careful not to be knocked off the walls or bridges and plummet to your death.
- Commanders: Rampartlord Balargarde, a vargul with a protodrake frostwyrm and a wicked grudge. Azul’methar, a master lich and student of Kel’thuzad himself. Deathroc the Herald, a massive undead bird with a flock of those plague crows from the pre-patch event.
- Storm Peaks: Val’kyr’s Ascent
- Scourge Val’kyr have been spotted circling the altar on top of an abandoned Iron Dwarf citadel near Valkyrion. The vrykul there are still loyal to the Scourge and have marched inside as well. Their best are being raised up as new Val’kyr and must be stopped.
- Powerful vrykul shieldmaidens roam the battlefield, seeking glory. If they kill enough players they ascend to the ranks of Val’kyr and become a greater threat.
- Be careful of outdoor locations, as Val’kyr will abduct you and hurl you to your death.
- Commanders: Skyja the First, a powerful Val’kyr with dangerous new necromantic powers. Signe the Voice, a songstress Val’kyr whose melodies mean death. Kyra the Unending, a Val’kyr warrior with devastating aerial attacks.
- Zul’drak: Defense of Drak’theron Keep
- Drak’theron is under assault by mysterious shades from beyond the mists. Those who fall in combat are taken and lost into the fog. Help slow the advancements of these shadows while a Zandalari priest restores Theron’ja’s connection to the keep and halt the attack.
- There are refugees hiding out in the keep. Keep them safe from the mist beings or they’ll be dragged off, increasing the number of beings spawned.
- Once ground is lost it is overwhelmed by mist. Stay out or lose yourself.
- Commanders: Mistwalker, a translucent being that haunts individuals. Fogreaper, a looming shadow that carves apart those caught in front of it. Shadeshrieker, a wailing being that punishes those who stay together.
- Wintergrasp: Battle of Wintergrasp
- The only PvP battlefield. Wintergrasp is a reimagining of a classic battle from Wrath of the Lich King. It utilizes warfront technology with bases to capture on the way to assuring dominance over the keep, making the battle more dynamic and fast paced than before.
- Horde and Alliance bosses, battle ends when one side defeats the other’s boss.
- Defenders have a big advantage but in order to end the battlefield they must divide their forces to kill the attackers’ boss.
- Battlefield activates on a longer timer of once every few hours.
- Borean Tundra: Death Hordes
- Survive wave after wave of zombies rising out of the tombs of Borean Tundra attacking Amber Keep, a red dragon bastion. Stall them out until reinforcements can arrive and burn the undead out of the nearby tombs.
- Call in strikes from red dragons to thin out the hordes when they become overwhelming.
- Like Aldur’thar, necromancers roam the fields for dead players to resurrect.
- Commanders: Grizzlegrin, a towering abomination that heals from devouring zombie and player alike. Horagos, a frostwyrm with a bone to pick with the red dragons. Garibon the Darkcaller, a necromancer that grows in power the more thralls he raises from the dead.
Open World Talents
Giving players an exciting way to interact with the world always comes at the dangers of throwing off the balance of competitive content. Several times now, in order to prevent fun gimmicks from interfering with competitive play, abilities and items are restricted to outdoors. This takes the concept to another level.
Open world talents are much like the tech tree for the war campaign or the tech tree for visions and the Box of Many Things but taken to an advanced level. Doing outdoor content awards a currency that can be spent to unlock tiers of the talent tree. This talent tree is much like the one players use for their specialization where there will be three choices of talent for each tier in the tree. These talents are meant to have large impacts on rotations and grant players options to experiment with different builds without the punishment of competitive content to cause a fear of “doing it wrong”.
There are three specializations in the talent tree, but unlike classes, players can have all three active. Although they can only unlock one tier of one specialization at a time. There is the combat tree, specializing in rotation altering talents, the travel tree, which adds ways to improve moving around zones and gathering resources, and the “goofy roleplay” tree, which add class fantasy options that are sometimes just glyph-like cosmetics or give special interactions in the world.
Eventually all players, given time, will be able to have access to all talent tiers, a form of “self actualization” where players can feel accomplished and fulfilled when they finally fill in that last box. It is anticipated that players should take around two months to unlock it all if that’s what they’re going for, but alt catch up will be added.
Last note for the open world but mob scaling for item level is GONE. That does nothing but enforce a perception that players are on a treadmill and nothing they do matters. Let their epic gear gained from dungeons mean something.
The Artifacts: Champions of the People
The new artifact system takes heavy inspiration from Legion artifacts, including even order halls. Unlike Legion, which heavily focused on class identity, the campaigns and artifacts revolve around race identity. As loaded of a statement as that is, it’s just that. Players will have weapons and sanctums that revolve around the race they chose to play and enhancing that decision.
Heritage Relics
A continuation of the artifacts, heritage relics see the return of the relic slot once available in previous versions of the game. They are significant relics of a race’s history and have very special and unique cosmetics that apply to a character. An example of such a relic may be the night elves’ Ashes of Teldrassil, an urn that embodies the loss and vengeance of the Kaldorei. Night elf players will be given an urn cosmetic as well as an enhanced Night Warrior starry look. Naturally, all relic appearances may be hidden.
More customization options for these relics can be unlocked through various content, and the appearances are not strictly bound by their first appearance. Different aspects of the relics can be shown and hidden as players see fit. The Ashes of Teldrassil, for instance, may unlock a pair of starry avians that are manifestations of the wisps born from the catastrophe. Players could hide the urn and keep the Night Warrior look and birds, or they may hide the Night Warrior markings and go for the birds and urn. Color variations are available, and appearances may be altered via either an altar in their race’s sanctum or at a barber.
As far as performance goes, heritage relics follow a similar system to artifacts. Upon gaining their relic, players’ racial abilities are enhanced. It is a careful mix of helpful but not so helpful that players feel the need to race change. Examples of this include blood elves’ Arcane Torrent acting as a spell steal rather than a dispel, or Shadowmeld spawning an Avatar of Vengeance that starts off stealthed like the player and then does light damage to single targets.
Leveling one’s heritage relic improves the main racial as well as other racials. Arcane Torrent may burn mana and deal damage based on the amount burned, profession skill boosts may be increased, and gimmicks are made more exciting, such as dead night elves’ wisp forms being allowed to detonate themselves. One note is that racials such as 1% increased haste are not upgraded in any form by relics. This is to combat “Best in Slot” races for certain specs.
Heritage Sites
Heritage Sites are the new Order Hall. They are places of significance to a player’s race that will be their base of operations during the expansion. Some are updated, familiar locations, such as Nordrassil for night elves with structures now built around the boughs, like a tiny Teldrassil. Others are newly discovered, at least to players, locations of significance, such as Daral’nir for worgen players.
The rest of the concept for Heritage Sites is mostly an “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” attitude towards the content there. Order Halls were widely praised by players. So they’ll see a continuation of having questlines from the sites, being used to upgrade relics, and having a mission table with followers.
Allied races may accompany a “parent race” to their relevant site. For instance, Highmountain tauren will join tauren at their order halls. Others may have their own; void elves in Telrogus, Nightborne in Shal’aran, but if resources and time are a concern, two generic faction sites will be made for allied races that don’t have a clear parent race, or for races introduced in later expansions. If a site has an allied race in it, they’ll have their time to shine too.
Heritage Sites can be upgraded via the development feature.
Expanded Avatars
Two new allied races are being added with the expansion. The long requested taunka will be given to the Horde, with assisting them with the new Scourge attacks being their unlock storylines. The Alliance will be discovering an ancient race of kaldorei worgen known as Prime worgen. They’re the first worgen, those created during the War of the Satyr, and have more night elfy influenced features, as well as a night elf non-worgen form.
This expansion will also include a revamp to customization on par with the Shadowlands one, which needs little explanation. In addition, race/class customization combos will be added. Night elf priests can alter their spell effects to be more silver, or a Nightborne warlock will be given an option to make their eyes and hands glowing green. If time permits the races getting more customization in 9.1.5 would get some love but if not it will be shelved until another patch, like it was for real.
Legendaries
Legendary items will also make a return, but it will mostly follow Legion’s 7.3.5 rendition, where you have a chance to earn a legendary every time you do content (callings, raid bosses, final dungeon bosses, etc.) and if you don’t you gain a currency that allows you to fight bad luck and purchase a specific piece after enough effort has been put into getting it.
Instanced Content: Reconquering the Frozen Wastes
It is important that the expansion, while not shying from reusing concepts and zones, creates new things for players to engage with. Instanced content is where this will shine, where new challenges will arise to replace the old ones vanquished by the Horde and Alliance in their last campaign.
Dungeons
- En’kilah Crypts, a horrific catacomb system that runs under En’kilah Citadel. It is where corpses from Borean Tundra are taken, both en masse as well as special corpses of interest. Its unique defense system raises up the corpses held in waiting to swarm any living who try to enter the depths. Heroes will have to face off demented echoes of great champions of the past that were also claimed.
- En’kilah Temple, the center of Scourge mysticism in Borean Tundra. This is a sprawling pyramid in the center of the newly fortified temple city of En’kilah. Heroes must ascend the pyramid, defeating acolytes, necromancers, and even liches as they work their way towards the master of the citadel.
- Westguard Keep lost contact with the Alliance at the start of the Fourth War. Given their lack of resources to respond, Stormwind command listed it as a casualty and continued their efforts elsewhere. Little did they know, the San’layn had infested and taken over the keep, reforming it to become a dark bastion of blood magic and heinous rituals.
- Dragon’s Bane, a haunting cavern under Wyrmrest Temple only recently made accessible through the collapsing of Dragonblight. In this dungeon crypt fiends and necromancers alike perform sinister experiments with dragons’ bones, harvesting Saronite and infusing them with it. The farther heroes delve, the more temple-like the features of the caves become, leading to a mysterious portal guarded by a tormented echo of Malygos, the Spellweaver.
- Shadow of Naxxramas, the remains of the once mighty necropolis of the Scourge. Naxxramas was blown out of the sky by Alexstrasza and the Wyrmrest Accord following Kel’thuzad’s defeat. Even in ruins, the labyrinth of broken walls and lurking terrors is still a place of evil that only the boldest heroes would dare to tread.
- The Nightwalk is a lucid nightmare heroes find themselves falling into while in the fog of Grizzly Hills. It’s a maze of mist that walks between the veil of life and death, giving a glimpse into a strange winter forest with towering trees. Heroes have to face off against Drust, worgen, and blurry, winged figures called Mistwalkers who seem to play with, and destroy, mortal lives for fun.
- Voidwing Lair, a hollowed out tree in Crystalsong Forest where the voidwing flight has taken roost. Inside the dragons gnaw on the arcane latent roots and sap in a desperate attempt to replace their Void infusion with arcane. Instead they are becoming bloated monstrosities of a chaotic magical blend and must be stopped before they become a greater threat to the world.
- The Saronite Hive, a surviving colony of aqir in Storm Peaks that struck a large deposit of Saronite as they tunneled into the earth. The Old God blood infused them with manic power and an eerie ability to perceive into the future.
- Shadowvault Depths, once held by the Knights of the Ebon Blade, was taken by the Scourge and expanded as a new place of power in northern Icecrown. The depths are a lower level of the Shadowvaults that seem to be drawing in the powers leaking out of the fissures in Icecrown and using it for nefarious experiments. At the center is an aberration, a monster of bone and shadow combined.
- Shadowvault Pinnacle, are the upper ramparts of the Shadowvaults. There is a new generation of Val’kyr that look like dark spirit healers stalking the skies and they oversee a malevolent beacon looming out of the fort, channeling the dark energies gathered for some unknown purpose.
Raids
- Cadavicus, the Horrorworks, the facility surrounding Sholazar’s festering lake. Before the champions of Azeroth can press forward onto Icecrown Citadel, they must navigate the dam and its terrible mechanical bowels before a new titan-influenced plague can be unleashed on the world. This 9 boss raid boasts a number of creepy new Scourge creations and some worrisome experiments that extend beyond titans, into that of the Old Gods.
- Onslaught Asylum, one of the last refuges of the Scarlet Crusade. With the death of Abbendis and Mal’ganis vanishing, their power vacuum was infiltrated and used by a sect of San’layn to corrupt and fortify the location. This three boss mini raid, once the harbor in Icecrown, is now a naval island fortress of vampiric Scarlet Crusaders with a taste for sin and blood. Likely opened in a 9.0.5 patch to tide people over to 9.1.
- World Bosses are a little different to the ones of Legion and Battle for Azeroth. They are made more akin to Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, where players must approach it with some tact and can’t just zerg them down. In other words, they are more like raid bosses outside raids rather than rares with really big health pools.
- Angr’nath, a massive jormungar as old as the Black Empire itself. N’zoth’s return awoke the sleeping monstrosity below Storm Peaks, and now it has been charmed by the maddened Xe’kir, a nerubian who gave himself to the Void. He rides the worm as it dives in and out of the mountains east of Dun Niffelem, ravenous and insane from the Void leash. As players face the behemoth, some may have to brave the caverns being carved in the earth as Xe’kir tries to recreate Azjol-nerub.
- Malykriss, the Vile Hold, the most powerful necropolis the Scourge has ever constructed. It was begun during the reign of Arthas, but finished under Sylvanas’ command. Made entirely of saronite, this floating death machine is virtually indestructible and rains necromancy upon the Wrathgate graveyard. Players must find ways to exploit any weakness they can find, including infiltrating the interior, while others battle the risen champions on the ground.
- Lycanthoth the Corruptor is the twisted reflection of Goldrinn the wolf ancient. Somehow he has returned to the world after being cleansed during the Shattering, crawling his way out of the fog in Grizzly Hills and stalking the forests of northern Howling Fjord. The worgen curse propagates all around him, transforming a nearby Vrykul hunting party into his own pack. Even worgen players have a strange feeling around him, and those unafflicted may very well contract the curse during the fight!
Torghast, Tower of the Damned
A new form of content based on a roguelike game. You know it already in Shadowlands, it’s going to make an appearance here because it’s good and fun content.
Following endgame questlines in Icecrown, it is revealed that somehow Sylvanas has used the powers of the Helm of Domination to rupture the space between life and death. Pockets of the afterlife are bleeding out from the epicenter of the Frozen Throne, the most notable being the foggy winter forest phasing through Grizzly Hills and the breaches inside the Icecrown valleys. Bolvar, as the former Jailor of the Damned, can use his connection to the Frozen Throne to channel these leaking energies and intercept Sylvanas’ plans.
A gateway to Torghast is revealed, and players will find themselves delving inside for advantages to gain against the Scourge. The gameplay is not unlike that of the Shadowlands version. Gain powers and ascend floors. As they do so they will be haunted by unknown forces and pursued by a malevolent presence, which demands they leave. The voice becomes more insistent the further up players ascend. They can ascend as many floors as they like before eventually succumbing to the overpowering escalation of effort from the voice to eject them from its tower.
Unlike its Shadowlands iteration, however, Torghast’s reward system is drastically different. It is a decent source of artifact power, but it is filled to the brim with fun cosmetics; mounts, appearances, and pets. The further players ascend the tower, the higher the chance to get rarer cosmetics, incentivizing them to push themselves as hard as they can through the tower. Better yet, rares and bosses have a chance to drop these cosmetics too, so no time invested in the tower is wasted when the ominous voice inevitably unleashes its Terragrue.
The way to be ejected is like the first iteration of the tower. Die enough and the Terragrue is summoned, dying to the Terragrue ejects players. Another soft cap will be implemented as players get higher to avoid players achieving unstoppable power and therefore breaking the game. It will function something like the inevitable demise debuff from the Eye of the Jailer in Shadowlands, either increasing over slow time periods and dealing increasing damage, or increasing at increments as players ascend. This soft cap will take many ascended floors to activate, and really is just meant to keep players from breaking the game.
Torghast functions as a fun alternative endgame instance for solo or group players to casually go through. Obviously a higher item level will help players ascend more floors, giving everyone a reason to actually be trying to increase their player power. In addition, like island expeditions, alts at level 50+ can access the tower as an alternative method for leveling.
Player vs. Player: Right into Her Hands
Faction conflict is integral to the expansion. How so? Because the more you kill each other, the more powerful the Scourge becomes. But who cares, if it’s red it’s dead and Borgosh Thumpgore’s parents were killed by Nathan Lightwalk. PvP has always been about players creating their own challenges amongst each other. It’s about having an evolving clash of tactics and strategies. This expansion seeks to foster that concept, to bring a liveliness to world PvP and the community in general.
World PvP
Part of this idea of creating stories amongst players comes from the world reacting to their choices. The first means of addressing that is the creation of “PvP zoning”. Each zone is broken into smaller unseen zones which react to PvP in war mode. If a player battle occurs where enough players in the sub zone take enough damage from enemy players, then it spawns a battle event.
These battle events are announced to the zone and start an impromptu, open world battleground of sorts relating to the sub zone. It will use varied terrain to provide warpaths for groups of players to take. Some even spawn NPCs to help players in the tug of war. Players in war mode may join a group for the battle from their map when the battle is announced to add ease of access. This group is also listed in the group finder for off-realm players to browse and join.
Random events can occur in these battles, most prominently being the dead rising again like in the Battle for Aldur’thar battlefield. This happens inevitably with all battles that spawn events, and is used as an added thing to consider. Because if players are too overcome by bloodlust both sides may find themselves outnumbered by a growing horde of undead, which grows larger the more it kills both teams.
To incentivize PvPers to engage in these battles, the conclusion will grant honor and conquest on par with finishing a random battleground.
Siege Mode
In the same spirit of these war mode battles, faction leader raids are going to be revamped as well. In both Orgrimmar and Stormwind, the locations in which faction leaders reside will be updated to be more challenging to reach. Stormwind Keep will be completely revamped to be a large castle with proper defenses instead of a hallway with some rooms attached. Grommash Hold will connect to the Underhold. The leaders will dwell at the heart of these new locations.
When enemy players enter these fortresses, it will be announced by a herald in the LocalDefense channel. Something like “Horde infiltrators have been spotted near Stormwind Keep! Defend the king!” If guards inside these forts begin to die at fast rates, it begins siege mode.
Siege mode is a new way to raid an enemy capital and kill a leader. It converts the leaders’ keeps into battlegrounds of sorts, and a stream of guards will spawn from it and advance towards the gates. However, an attacker base will spawn outside the city and begin sending NPC attackers towards the faction leaders as well. Attackers who die respawn at these camps, allowing a sustained battle to continue. The new fortresses the leaders reside in will have barriers and choke points, allowing defenders to have ways to hold up the enemy advance. Naturally, defenders can access portals to the central chambers, allowing them to rally easier, given the attackers have the element of surprise on their side.
The defenders win when they destroy the attacker camp. The attackers win when they defeat the enemy leader. Defeating a faction leader grants battleground equivalent rewards and so is defeating an attack. Like with war mode, spontaneous sieges will create groups in the group finder for off-realm players to join and reinforce, to help the case of faction imbalance on realms. If raid groups already exist in the city, they will be asked if they wish to put their group up in group finder as the defending/attacking group listed.
Amphitheater of Anguish
The Amphitheater of Anguish in Zul’drak will be updated as a PvP capital of sorts. It has access to a bank, auction house, PvP vendors and quest givers, and a portal to and from Ulduar. It will also provide a map to see which zones have active war mode battles in them, and will even open up portals to these zones, only accessible inside war mode, that allow players to quickly join these battles without delay.
The central arena remains and can be used in a free-for-all battle between players. Other smaller side arenas will be added as well for dueling so that PvPers can learn from each other and test their skills. The Amphitheater is intended as a place for the PvP community to grow and strengthen one another, where people interested in PvP can have a sense of belonging that hasn’t been felt in the game in a long time.
As flavor lore for the theater, the mantle of the Prophet of Sseratus and his powers have become one that can be passed down among Drakkari. The current prophet now resides in the amphitheater with the power of a loa, using braziers circling around the area to keep the Grizzly Hills fog at bay and protect those inside. He also offers a unique PvP questline for players to go through that provides unique cosmetic rewards, covering a dubious deal with Hakkar the Soulflayer.
The Amphitheater of Anguish is also added as a map for arenas.
Notes
The first thing to note is that Shadowlands has added some excellent features, as outlined occasionally above. There are others I’d like to include that don’t need sections since everyone knows them already. Chromie time for leveling would be included here. So would the update to druid form selections. The great vault and valor are also to be included in their Shadowlands iterations, but you are allowed to blacklist two gear slots from the vault. I also am content with the way professions were handled, with bonus materials allowing players to circumvent RNG. Only thing I’d take away are legendary bases. They’re just too expensive and I don’t believe gold should be that big of a decider in player power.
Second, I’d like to compile currencies introduced into the expansion, as a way to help readers solidify some of these concepts in their heads.
- Development Resources - Collected exclusively through open world content but dropped by virtually anything in it. These are invested into development features. It can also be used on world talents. The best sources of development resources are through battlefields and callings. Once players have built all development features, they are able to purchase crafting materials or send it to alts but are warned that more developments will be added with each patch.
- Valor - Used in the same way as in Shadowlands: To upgrade mythic gear. Dropped from keys.
- Artifact Power - Dropped from virtually all content and used to level Heritage Relics. Increased by catchup each week.
- Soul Ash - Dropped from Torghast, can be used to purchase specific cosmetics that drop from the tower. That’s it. It should take a good amount of time to buy rarer stuff but there’s enough RNG in the game.
- Whispers of Domination - A residual energy found from severed ties to the Crown of Domination. As the Lich Queen’s powers are stronger than any previous Lich King, the psychic energy can be used to fuel legendary items. Currency used to purchase legendaries, dropped from anything that has a chance to drop a legendary but didn’t. Can be sent to alts.
Future Content
Next to cover is the development cycle. Three more patches are planned for the expansion.
9.1
This first patch would introduce the simple kind of stuff you’d find in an X.1 patch. It would bring a major balancing pass, more customization options and additional battlefields. It will also include a mini zone similar in design to Mechagon that is under Ulduar inside Yogg-Saron’s corpse with a raid taking place inside Yogg-Saron’s brain. This introduces a bit more familiarity to the Old God’s influence on the Lich King in the past, and provides some ominous implications revolving around Old Gods dying.
Finally, there will be a mega dungeon called Spire of the Damned. It is where the magic drawn from the Icecrown fissures is finally unleashed to create a twisted spire out of the ruins of the Argent Tournament Grounds. The tortured souls of the fallen Argent Crusaders cry out for release, and the barrier between life and death seems to blur even more in the zone.
9.2
This patch adds more customization, additional battlefields, and a new battleground. There will be more events and story developments in Icecrown and introduce a zone called the Husk of Teldrassil. Once a symbol of life, Teldrassil has become one of death and the Scourge seems to have taken interest in Sylvanas’ first victory over the living.
The patch adds two more dungeons. One is yet another mega dungeon, the Cathedral of Darkness. It is a daring venture into the spiritual stronghold of the Scourge which eventually sneaks them into Icecrown Citadel itself to deal with the Lich Queen. Instead they find the Frozen Throne vacant, strange new runes carved into a circle around the icy platform. That is when word of val’kyr and darkened spirit healers circling Teldrassil arrives. The next dungeon is Crown of Twilight, a thorny tower that sprang from Aldrassil’s charred stump.
Teldrassil is revamped to be what it was intended back in the day; a 3-dimensional tree zone. Unfortunately, it lacks beauty and greenery thanks to Sylvanas. All that dwells in the cracked boughs are wisps of pure rage and amalgamating corruption, unleashed from the cremation. Players are meant to halt Scourge advancements here, which is headed by San’layn who are having azerite harvested from the roots of the tree and brought to the cave once known as Fel Rock, the entrance to the new raid. Another plot arises, however, as leaders and factions contend with the atrocity of the tree’s burning, including Baine regretting not standing up to Sylvanas further, and Tyrande and Anduin trying to make peace with the spirits of the tree, as they resent the Alliance and Tyrande for failing to protect them.
While seeking atonement, Sylvanas gets the jump on Tyrande and Anduin, using an Old God-corrupted runeblade to rip the powers of the Night Warrior from Tyrande. She then stabs Anduin before Tyrande calls upon the wrath of Elune to sear the Lich Queen with moonlight. Sylvanas survives and flees to Fel Rock.
The raid is Heart of the World Tree, the seared vascular system of Teldrassil where the heroes chase Sylvanas inside. She draws the players and Anduin to the core of the tree, where azerite is loaded into titan-inspired Scourge machines, then activates the curse embedded in Anduin. With azerite empowering the heart, Sylvanas uses the World Tree’s connection to Elune to enact the Night Warrior’s magic on Anduin. The Light in him wanes and turns to darkness, and he becomes Shadowpriest Anduin. The final boss is players trying to stop it but failing in the end. He and Sylvanas vanish while the world holds its breath, wondering what will come next.
9.3
This is where it all comes together. Since Anduin’s transformation, the titan keepers have been in a frenzy, feeling as if the ghosts of all the Old Gods are stirring. Odyn spends many months using his lost eye to peer into the Shadowlands and discovers a dark presence spreading through the afterlife with Anduin at the heart of it.
Odyn decides to make amends with the spirit healers. They ferry his armies and the players to Avernia, the crossroads of the afterlife where all souls go to enter the Shadowlands. It is dark and dreary. Even a benign place critical to the flow of souls to the afterlife seems like a place of misery. The terrain is a violet plains with rocky grey dirt and greek themed buildings. The zone is surrounded by a thick mist and an otherworldly forest that rises beyond sight.
Helya is messing around in this zone as the primary antagonist, though there is no secret Sylvanas is working directly with her. There’s more customization added, a new dungeon in Avernia, incursions into realms of the afterlife to stop Sylvanas’ plans (like Legion invasion points) and the Elysian Hold raid where Helya is vanquished permanently and Alleria helps players put down Sylvanas.
Unfortunately, she seems to have discarded the Crown of Domination by the time players engage her. Where it and Anduin have gone is anyone’s guess. The world is still reeling from the Scourge’s rampage and has little time to worry about that. With Windrunner dead, the weary champions of Azeroth return home, followed by a heartbroken Alleria.
X.X.5 patches include stories, quality of life changes in case I mucked something up, more heritage armor, Legion timewalking, and visual updates to Stormwind and Orgrimmar. At some point battlefields will be given a new currency that allows players to purchase other cosmetics and keep them relevant. Maybe some Scourge incursions into old zones to remind people that this is a global issue.
There you have it. And because this is a thread and I do love having conversations, I’d be delighted to hear your thoughts and opinions.
Better yet! You know those heritage relics and sites I was talking about? I’m but one elf and cannot fathom every single race’s relic and site.
Well, I could and would enjoy every second of it but that’d take a long time. How’d you guys like to come up with some ideas for racial relics and heritage sites?
