Just saw the interview at Eurogamer of Holly Longdale. Looking for more opportunities to grow and bring fun whimsical events for WoW players? How about bringing a haunted house to the Darkmoon Faire? Have it hosted by none other than Bwonsamdi!
“Why did da chicken cross da road mon? Heh heh. To get to Da Other Side!” – Bwonsamdi
Back during The Burning Crusade, Karazhan had an event that lasted for a very limited time. To be honest, it happened only ONCE (at least that I can recall). It was a special event that basically turned Karazhan into a haunted castle run. I think it is long overdue to bring it back, and Bwonsamdi is just the Loa to do it.
I know, a haunted castle seems to be the kind of thing to have around the Hallow’s End event. But isn’t it about time that The Darkmoon Faire got a haunted House, or in this case, castle? I mean c’mon, this is something right up Bwonsamdi’s twisted dark alley! The Jailer is gone, what Bwonsamdi did with Mueh’zala is an open-ended question, and all those corrupted souls from Torghast are unemployed.
A haunted castle run could be added with 3 levels of difficulty: Delve guided by Bwonsamdi himself, standard dungeon, or 10-man raid. Isn’t it about time the DMF’s gets its first true raid!
STOP!!! COMMENT and/or MOVE ON. TLDR CONTENT FOLLOWS!!!
*************** CONCEPT TLDR ***************
So, let’s talk about some fun now and discuss the lore and possible encounters later.
Shooting from the hip here, (the items mentioned DO NOT exist in game, these are my own concepts):
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Mueh’zala (final boss) can drop a Chicken mount (Quest reward) and another color variant of either a Shadehound, Mawrat, or Deathwalker mount (RNG drop, preferably a flying mount since the next suggestion is a ground mount reward).
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The Fallen Charger (replacing Attuman the Huntsman) can drop a color variant of a Gloomcharger mount.
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Color variant pet drops (new pets would be better)
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New toys
- Theotar’s Drifting Parasol: Engineering Plans; functions like Goblin Glider Kit but randomly drifts out of control. Where you end up might be worse than the place you left!
- Sweaty Athletic Socks: Similar to Winter Veil Socks but causes NPC ‘Poison Cloud’ damage and/or Player stuns (vomiting) (PvP restricted).
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New Ghostly (Knight’s/Berserker) Armor Ensemble: (pieces drop off bosses).
- A full set ensemble bonus turns the player into a ghostly blue/red fallen soldier.
- Translucent red and blue ghostly effects are respective to each faction.
- Shows up as a complete ensemble in the ‘Collections/Appearances/Sets’ Tab.
- ‘Ghost Light’ Illusion randomly drops from trash mobs to match weapon/offhand/shield to armor set illusion or can be used separately.
- A full set ensemble bonus turns the player into a ghostly blue/red fallen soldier.
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New foods and food recipes:
- Ghost peppers (example random effects similar to Noggenfogger’s Elixir: Maldraxxus (aquamarine) stylized volley of Spirit Bolts [see Felmouth Frenzy]; or transforms you into a Mawrat/Gromit [allows increased movement speed and/or enhanced jumps, 60 min duration or lasts until cancelled]; and Wailing Banshee [periodically stuns critters/neutral/unfriendly NPCs]. Spirit Bolts and Wailing Banshee have a 60 min effect (120 min during DMF) and scales in damage/effect to the character’s current level (persists through death at least within Karazhan).
- Chicken Mueh’zala recipe: (play on Italian recipe “Chicken Marsala”): turns you into a ghost chicken. (Why? To get to Da Other Side Mon!) Not just another open world cosmetic effect, it can also be used upon death to run back VERY quickly to your group in ANY raid or dungeon).
- Lady Finger Cookies recipe: Allows lockpicking and pickpockets for 10 mins in the open world; or locked chests, diaries, and lockets within Karazhan for extra drop chances on gear and loot; (increased loot for Rogues). Though, you may not like what you find!
- Ghoulash: Do I really need to say this will turn you into a ghoul? Maybe it will involuntarily summon you into a friendly Death Knight’s Army of the Dead (maybe even for an enemy Death Knight like the Fallen Charger, insert achievement)?
- Witch’s Brew recipe: Summons a raid level cauldron for consumable mid-range primary stat buff (scales to match latest expansion/patch content).
- Winter Queen’s Iced Latte: You leave a temporary trail of ice in your wake. Party members that stay within your trail of ice receive increased movement speed equal to yours to keep up with you before it melts.
- Haunted Candy Corn (because its shelf ‘life’ has expired) that turns you into a ghostly child (‘Children of the Corn’ Achievement comes to mind if the whole group takes the ‘buff’ at the same time; yes, I went there).
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Some of the gear drops might be cursed, you won’t know until you put it on.
- Maybe cursed pieces will involuntary apply some random ghostly polymorph effect.
- Haunted Memento style curse.
- (maybe a Cursed Beggar pestering you for Gold).
- You might get possessed and send questionable involuntary whispers to other party members (similar to Xal’atath’s whispers).
- Players can solve a mystery or do a mini questline or ‘escort quest’/ ‘go-fer’ quests within Karazhan to free the armor’s possessing spirit (completable even after full clear). Or maybe the player doesn’t mind cursed armor all that much and decides to roll with it.
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Add DMF items to the loot table.
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Expand the number of books to interact with; and the number of abilities to choose from (similar to Torghast).
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Maybe the mobs can rotate through curses similar to how M+ has affixes.
*************** LORE TLDR ***************
The DMF is an ‘evergreen’ event from one expansion to the next, that said; as many as possible, the benefits and rewards should also be ‘evergreen’ as the game grows with each expansion. The raid overall should be functional as a timewalking raid with the approximate challenge level with respect to gear drops and the Great Vault. The raid should be for fun (entertaining fun, not power base fun), not frustrating; the rewards useful (especially for characters still leveling); and NOT intended for high end progression.
Essentially, this is a haunted house that you might find at any Fair or Carnival. The point should be to make you laugh and put a smile on your face (and not just for the drops). Finishing a raid like this should be a ‘given’ and not a ‘maybe’. Entertainment, humor, and surprises should be the focus. High-end precise mechanics should be an afterthought, but still challenging enough to cause a ‘wipe’. (Imagine an entire raid wiping and having to run back to their bodies as a flock of ghost chickens while being chased by the spirit of Houndmaster Braun from Scarlet Monastery and his hunting dogs).
The lore is open-ended on the struggle between Mueh’zala and Bwonsamdi. The last thing we knew was that, with our help, Bwonsamdi defeated Mueh’zala and became his master. But we don’t know what Bwonsamdi did with him. The possibility of Bwonsamdi imprisoning Mueh’zala in an other-worldly version of Karazhan (BC version) to pay for his crimes is completely plausible along with a few baddies harvested from The Maw. Of course, Mueh’zala would be the raid’s final boss.
*************** ENCOUNTER TLDR ***************
In terms of game mechanics, overhauling Karazhan’s mobs and bosses might seem daunting, but there are many mobs that are easy one for one swaps (Imps for Spriggans and Boggarts; Ethereals for Cartel Brokers; Arcane Constructs for Anima Devourers; etc.). Boss substitutions are easily done in most cases such as: The Fallen Charger rare found in the Maw replacing Attuman the Huntsman; a Riftborn Scavenger replacing Netherspite; and The Curator Construct can be replaced with The Terragrue to protect the castles treasures just to name a few easy options.
- Attuman the Huntsman - Fallen Charger
- Moroes – Crazed and Confused Theotar
- Not truly evil accidentally ended up there via a malfunctioning Blood Mirror (just got to knock some sense back into him).
- Defeat with consumables from the table used at the right time.
- Buffs for players
- Debuffs for Theotar
- Becomes enraged when players use bad table manners (using the table buffs in the wrong order).
- Maiden of Virtue – Mistress of Vices (Forsworn Model)
- Opera Hall – Quasimojo; Ansel & Greta; The Three Blunderbusters
- Quasimojo
- Shaman
- Magistrate Barthilas Model
- Hunchback of Notre Dame Parody
- Quasimojo is misusing Kyrian Bells to wrongfully enthrall his love-interest Emelda.
- DPS race to destroy summoned bells that Quasimojo uses as totems. Failure to destroy bells on time results in a mass stun. At which time Quasimojo commands Emelda to perform a massive AoE attack.
- Quasimojo is misusing Kyrian Bells to wrongfully enthrall his love-interest Emelda.
- Ansel & Greta (with Crone)
- Ansel (warrior), Greta (priest), and Crone (mage).
- Ghostly Child Model (boy and girl) (Crone Model)
- Hansel & Gretel Parody
- TWIST: Children are evil; Crone is Innocent.
- Crone tries to help by shielding 3 random party members via “Mass Barrier’, (but sometimes accidentally polymorphs 1-2 party members)
- Shields are used to absorb Ansel’s Charge at selected targets: ‘Victory Rush’ used against healers, ‘Improved Execute’ used against tanks, and ‘Intervenes’ that protect Greta.
- Healers and Tanks are selected first until dead, then randomly selects DPS.
- If Greta is dead, Ansel will instead replace “Intervene’ with ‘Storm Bolt’ on a random DPS.
- Healers and Tanks are selected first until dead, then randomly selects DPS.
- Shields are used to absorb Ansel’s Charge at selected targets: ‘Victory Rush’ used against healers, ‘Improved Execute’ used against tanks, and ‘Intervenes’ that protect Greta.
- Crone tries to help by shielding 3 random party members via “Mass Barrier’, (but sometimes accidentally polymorphs 1-2 party members)
- TWIST: Children are evil; Crone is Innocent.
- The Three Blunderbusters (Aristos, Pontus, Artemis)
- Marksman Hunter and two Outlaw Rogues
- Dashing Scoundrel Attire (Raid Finder, Normal, Heroic color schemes)
- Three Musketeers Parody
- Really bad marksmen that shoot each other when lined up.
- Shooting each other stuns the accidental target allowing damage dealt.
- Players can line up the boss’s line of fire when they get a ‘Hunter’s Mark’ above their heads.
- Lots of yelling and insults at one another.
- Shooting each other stuns the accidental target allowing damage dealt.
- Really bad marksmen that shoot each other when lined up.
- Quasimojo
- The Curator – The Terragrue (or Shade of Terragrue).
- Shade of Aran – Broker Ve’rayn (she survived your attacks and is sifting through books in the Guardian’s Library looking for a means of escape).
- Terestian Illhoof – Drustvar Druid with Spriggan and Boggart minions.
- Netherspite – Riftborn Scavenger.
- Chess Event – Get rid of the Chess event but keep the pieces. Use the Chess Pieces as a gauntlet CC check encounter. Just as the Horde and Alliance have come together, so to have their respective Chess Pieces… to bash on the players.
- This fight happens in 6 phases (3 phases for Horde and Alliance each).
- Which side starts is random.
- Bishops, Knights, Rooks will be randomly chosen in any combination but always from the same faction.
- B/K/R; B/B/K; B/B/R; B/K/K; K/K/R; B/R/R; K/R/R are all possible.
- Phase one through four alternates between factions: 3 randomly chosen (Bishop, Knight, Rook) and 3 randomly chosen Pawns of the same faction.
- Phase five and six: King, Queen, and the remaining 2 Pawns enter the fight.
- The abilities chosen are based on the existing Chess Pieces and/or their themes without having to swap out existing models. In particular:
- Horde Knights are Wargs and Rooks are Terrorguard demons swapped out for Hunter and Demon Hunter abilities respectively.
- Alliance Knights are Paladin Steeds and Rooks are Water Elementals. The Paladin steeds are an obvious choice, but the Water Elementals a little liberty was taken to extend this to be associated with a Shaman’s ability to summon elementals since Mage abilities are already represented and Shamans are not.
- Ability choices are based on what made more sense as per what is already represented on the chess board without having to rework the Chess Event NPCs.
- One AoE ability and one Single Target ability was assigned to each Bishop/Knight/Rook pair to allow for challenging encounters without being too overwhelming. Kings and Queens were given AoE and Single Target abilities respectively for the same reason.
- Horde Abilities
- King – (Warrior) Always active, grants ‘Recklessness” to all active Pawns for 10 seconds (40 sec CD).
- Pawn buffs occur throughout each phase of the fight.
- When active, Key offensive ability ‘Ravager’.
- Queen - (Warlock) always active, casts ‘Fear’ on one random player.
- When active, Key offensive ability ‘Demon Bolt’.
- Bishop – (Shadow Priest) when active, casts ‘Silence’ one random player each.
- Bishop #1 key AoE offensive ability ‘Shadow Crash’.
- Bishop #2 key Single Target offensive ability ‘Shadow Word: Pain’.
- Knight – (Hunter Pet) when active Summons ‘Ice Trap’ one random location each.
- Hunter Pet #1 key AoE offensive ability ‘Beast Cleave’.
- Hunter Pet #2 key Single Target offensive ability ‘Kill Command’.
- Rook – (Demon Hunter) when active casts ‘Metamorphosis’ at 30% health.
- Demon Hunter #1 key AoE offensive ability ‘Eye Beam’.
- Demon Hunter #2 key Single Target offensive ability ‘Felblade’.
- Pawn – Basic warrior.
- King – (Warrior) Always active, grants ‘Recklessness” to all active Pawns for 10 seconds (40 sec CD).
- Alliance Abilities
- King – (Warrior) Always active, grants ‘Rampage’ to all active Pawns for 10 seconds (40 sec CD).
- Pawn buffs occur throughout each phase of the fight.
- When active, Key offensive ability ‘Odyn’s Fury’.
- Queen – (Arcane Mage) Always active, casts ‘Mass Barrier’ on self and 2 Pawns.
- When active, Key offensive ability ‘Arcane Missiles’.
- Bishop – (Discipline Priest) when active, casts ‘Penance’ one random player each.
- Bishop #1 key AoE offensive ability ‘Divine Star’.
- Bishop #2 key Single Target offensive ability ‘Smite’.
- Knight - (Paladin Steed) when active casts ‘Redemption’ on one random friendly target each.
- Paladin Steed #1 key AoE offensive ability ‘Consecration’.
- Paladin Steed #2 key Single Target offensive ability ‘Blade of Justice’.
- Rook – (Shaman Pet) when active summons ‘Earthgrab Totem’ at one random location each.
- Shaman Pet #1 key AoE offensive ability ‘Icefury’.
- Shaman Pet #2 key Single Target offensive ability ‘Frost Shock’.
- Pawn – Basic warrior.
- King – (Warrior) Always active, grants ‘Rampage’ to all active Pawns for 10 seconds (40 sec CD).
- This fight happens in 6 phases (3 phases for Horde and Alliance each).
- Prince Malchezaar – Mueh’zala
- New fight encounter – No suggestions of my own here
- Drops RNG Mount
- Awards a Chicken Mount (Quest).
- Landro Longshot Model
- Rocket Chicken Model (Dynamic flight)
- Ghostly Chicken (think Sin Runner Blanchy, either red or aquamarine in color)