The Re-Cataclysm 202X: Redesign a Zone!

A. K.A: Wrath of the Lich Queen!

I took a bit of inspiration from the Headcanon thread and faction dancing thread. I think we’re all ready for a redesign of Azeroth and an end to faction war plots. If you had your way, what zones would you redesign and how?

Loch Modan was my first thought. Following the end of the faction war, Horde shaman and druids, as something of a good will gesture (and at the behest of their respective organizations) have made efforts to restore the region to a pre-Twilight spillover stage. The dam is repaired and the Loch is now filled back in with the aid of nature spirits. Old God corruption is out of sight but not out of mind. Even as the forest returns to a healthy seeming state, lingering corruption taints the minds of dreaming denizens and spits out the occasional nightmare creature. Folks looking to reclaim and develop the land task adventurers with finding the source and eliminating it. A prominent side quest would include a group of naturalists attempting to investigate the aggressive behavior of a myth-like thresher maw in the Loch (C’mon folks, it’s obligatory) among other strangely behaving semi-cryptids. The zone is chalk full of Scooby Doo, Stranger Things, and Gravity Falls references.
Bonus points if the Badlands become less, well, bad. Gilnean druids to the south have already terraformed a fair portion of the land. It wouldn’t be out of the question for them to push up and continue on to help out in Loch Modan.

Meanwhile in the Barrens…
Northern and southern Barrens are reconnected. Spanning the divide Deathwing created is a newfangled Goblin tramline, complete with a settlement/ station built over the gap itself. It’s a mad rush to push the tram’s construction through the Barrens from both Gadgetzan (finally and very happily styled in it’s proper Mean Streets incarnation) and Ratchet. Various criminal elements from Gadgetzan are in competition to control the tram and to profit from a hell on wheels built around the construction site, while the newly risen Botani quell the Goblin incursion at every turn. Tauren, Bilgewater Goblins, Druids of the Fang, and even the dreaded centaur tribes also aid in thwarting the Steamwheedle presence, but each side has their own agenda.

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Parallel to any design changes, I’d make Classic, TBC and Wrath in Chromie time have the “old old world” – that means if you choose TBC, you’d have the old Thousand Needles and stuff like that.

I’d also add roving packs of NPCs and mobs to each Chromie time choice, all over the world. So in Wrath, there’d be Scourge invasions kind of like the old Wrath pre-patch event. If you choose MoP, there’d be caravans of Pandaren explorers. Stuff like that.

During Timewalking weeks, there would also be world quests in Chromie time or rares related to these features, stuff like that.

In terms of updates, I’d like to see the dead scar cleaned up and Silvermoon whole again. I’d also love to see a huge Gadgetzan as the OP notes.

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Duskwood, Duskwood, DuskWOOD, DUSKWOOD

Okay in all seriousness, Duskwood is a zone that’s been through a lot since Cata that could use a few changes to reflect that. Most notably is that Darkshire would look very very different. Most of the Night Watch and most of Darkshire’s NPCs are straight up dead, and in Terror by Torchlight it was confirmed that Sarah Ladimore is the new Commander of the Night Watch. From a cozy little town with stubborn natives to near ghost town struggling to survive much like Raven Hill. This would also be a good place to add in our new Allied friends, the Void Elves, helping to rebuild Darkshire and support it in these uncertain times.

Meanwhile, the Twilight Grove should be bustling with druids from the Dreamway, and taking from Gwyneth’s headcanon, refugees from Teldrassil trying to find their way hanging out by the nearest world tree to Stormwind, the closest thing to home for miles upon miles.

In contrast to the struggling state of Darkshire, Raven Hill should be rebuilt better than ever, having been spared the wrath of the Scourge in pre-patch. This would be another good spot for an Allied friend, Kul Tiran thornspeakers looking for a way to set the cemetery’s restless dead to rest, and looking into the rumors that Morbent Fel’s phylactery was never dealt with…

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I demand an updated silvermoon but with the former ruined half becoming infested with those pesky void elves and becoming vaguely lovecraftian/thousand nights desert themed

I call it

The Lost City In The Scar

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Gilneas and Silverpine are merged into one zone with the end goal of an immersive storyline that details the end of the Greymane Monarchy, the rise of a New Gilneas, and the future of the Gilnean people.

Greymane is the reason why Gilneas is in such a bad spot. His rule has been plagued with nothing but mismanagement and mistakes. Northgate remembers.

See a Civil War with support from multiple angles, that ends up with a mostly accepted usurpation and restructuring of an old kingdom into a new republic. If it leads into the Separatist Alliance faction I brought up elsewhere, then good. If it’s self-contained? Fine. At least Gilneas gets a story that isn’t Genn Greymane bending over backwards to be nice to President Disneyland.

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I’d prefer a Velf district in Stormwind: best clubs ever, no paladins allowed.

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The Ghostlands;
While it’s shown some signs of actually healing in the northern parts, the south of the Ghostlands is still plagued by undeath and necrotic magic. However, with easing tensions and an order from the distant spirit of Kael’thas, small pockets of civilization have begun to reemerge in the dark wood… under the banner of the Ren’dorei.

Tensions are still exceptionally high between the Sin’dorei and Ren’dorei, however, with many viewing the not-so-distant presence of their void corrupted brethren being a risk to the Sunwell, let alone the mistrust of bulk of their kind allying heavily with the Alliance. The Ren’dorei, however, seek to use their abilities to finally drive out the remaining scourge and mindless undead from Quel’thalas, proving that their allegiances lie more with their home country rather than just the Alliance.

A reunited Quel’thalas is the will of the late Prince, and a reunited Quel’thalas could stand strong with the allyship of the Shal’dorei.

The zone is now considered neutral with some max level daily quests for Alliance players, but the majority of the zone is still Horde exclusive, exploring the Sin’dorei’s mistrust towards their family, with those quests being doable by new Blood Elves after questing through an updated Sunstrider Isle and Eversong Woods, with max level characters having bonus events/world quests in the zone to unlock cosmetics after completing the chain - themed to Thalassian elves in general.

The exclusive questing hub for the Horde is Goldenmist Village; the only singular Sin’dorei town within the Ghostlands, but one of the few areas that has seen the most regrowth - the sun finally shining once more. Rommath can occasionally be seen within the town, spurring distrust towards the Ren’dorei with common sense; they shouldn’t even be here.

Tranquillien claims neutrality but harbors minimal patience for visiting Alliance. It is mostly for the Horde questing, and has become a trading post between the factions, acting as a stop on the road for traveling merchants.
Elves of all kinds can be seen passing through the now flourishing town, which… has lead to some issues.

The Alliance’s hub is what was Suncrown Village, now renamed Starcrown; small, and built with the Ren’dorei’s starry aesthetics. The Ren’dorei have been forbidden from traveling any further north of the city, and it has been made very clear that any Alliance caught off the main roads are to deal with heavy consequence. Golems announce this on the regular. The Alliance’s daily quests would all be found here.
Magister Umbric can occasionally be seen wandering the streets, warning people to not get to trusting with the Sin’dorei, for they don’t trust them at all yet.

Turning War Mode on in the zone prompts quests in which that mistrust is ramped up to the level of sabotage for the Horde - putting down suspicious void elves and laying claim for any of their successes, and actual conspiracy for the Alliance - sneaking even more North to find weaknesses in Silvermoon’s defenses, and seeing just how reliant on the Sunwell the elves really are. (You know, in case the factions do start fighting again~)
Guards will randomly turn hostile towards Alliance players outside Tranquillien, which is supposed to be neutral, but oops, it isn’t.
wPvP world quests are headed by Rommath and Umbric respectively.

If player housing is introduced, The Ghostlands comes with discounts for Void Elf and Blood Elf players, with instanced plot entrances being within Starcrown (A/H), Goldenmist Village (H), and Tranquillien (H).

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Also,

The Amani want to gank Alliance.

Allied races get starter zones to level through and capital cities.

Horde

  • Nightborne - Suramar, Suramar City.
  • Highmountain Tauren - Highmountain, Thunder Totem.
  • Mag’har - Revamped Iron Horde Barrens with a TRANS KALIMDOR RAILROAD, Underhold with the railroad connecting to it through a tunnel in the Barrens.
  • Zandalari - Zuldazar, Dazar’lor.
  • Vulpera - Vol’dun, a revamped hideaway for a capital, or possibly the pyramid that once housed Mythrax. Would suggest the Sanctum of the Devoted but it doesn’t feel right having their capital city being a sethrak city, even if they’re the good guy sethrak.

Alliance

  • Void elves - Telrogus Rift, a proper city on one of the asteroids. Telrogus Hold or something.
  • Lightforges Draenei - Argus as a sort of training ground, or specifically Mac’aree if Argus is still too dangerous, Vindicaar.
  • Dark Iron Dwarves - Searing Gorge, Blackrock Depths.
  • Kul Tirans - Tiragarde Sound, Boralus.
  • Mechagnomes - Mechagon, Mechagon City.

Feeling cute, might do zone stories later, idk

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Kick all the orcs out of Ashenvale and Darkshore. Maybe I’ll fill this out more.

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The Exodar is updated, which someone will need to correct me, was confirmed in one of the novels I never read to be fixed and hovering above the Azuremyst Isle. So lets get that, cool floaty Exodar and the Azuremyst Isle are revamped into a Night Elf and Draenei starting zones.

With the Exodar being the main hub and the lower area being naturey Night Elf encampment. Similar to the one that’s in Ashenvale but with updated assets from the last few games.

The rest of the zones are updated, maybe boot the Blood Elves out and replace them with anger nature spirits or creepy undead things that made their way across from Darkshore.

Otherwise, that’s really all I’d want.

If Night Elves were to rebuild their capitol it would be cool if they moved into Azuremyst Isles where they can be protected by a spaceship that was conveniently forgotten by Blizz.

I’d also like there to be a larger Lightforge presence, perhaps they have a secluded area in which they train and convert others. Would be interesting as well if there where a handfuls of Night Elf NPCs among them ready to join their fight.

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I’d redesign the Ghostlands.

I would make it show the signs of of the now very different political situation on Azeroth. It would also likely end up making sweeping coverage for the Sindorei rebuilding, the fate of the Amani and the challenges the Sindorei are forced to face.

First part, the rebuilding. The Sindorei, for the most part, have been largely managed to avoid being directly touched by the conflcts since BC. As such, we’d see them rebuilding and reclaiming their Kingdom’s lands. The first third, as such, would involve various odd job quests to help role back the corruption of undeath with a single, hopeful message that things -will- eventually improve.

Middle, the Amani. There will be the remaining bands of Amani rallied under a now would-be Warlord, making rather sad, desperate cries of hate and defiance. For this, we’d see a Zandalari and Darkspear emissary present to help the Sindorei ‘subdue’ the issue present. Over the course, the player would not solely kill the remaining Amani, so much as use their condition and promises of a better life to defect to the Horde before finally aiding a more idealistic, right minded Amni in ousting the Warlord, letting this end off on something resembling a positive note.

Finally, Rendorei. There would be some entitled Void Elves using Alliance resources in a attempt to squat on land that they have no lawful claim to. Their sense of entitlment and refusal to acknowledge they aren’t welcome anymore would be something put frontstage. More importantly, the Rendorei would be shown doing more of what they did in BfA. Rather than helping heal their former homeland, they’d be bitterly applying a new type of corruption (void) just as they were doing on Zandalar. The climax of this would be the players finding that the Rendorei had been let in by Sindorei who were initially sympathetic to their plight, but now needed rescue from their now captors who intend to force the void on them. The end result is the void elves are yeeted from Quel’thalas and it is lore was thoroughly established why most Horde players do not support the pro-Velf message.

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I love the idea of the Ren’dorei claiming part of the Ghostlands and, in a show of good faith and an extending of an Olive branch, Therron grants them permission to stay: close enough to the Sunwell, but far enough to not pose a risk.

The novel Death Rising, as well as some in-game cinematics, explain that Tyrande has led refugees to Nordrassil on Mount Hyjal. I’d love to see this as a phased Mount Hyjal for anyone who has completed Bfa/reached level 50: Hyjal now alliance territory, with new Kaldorei villages, and a real big town all around the Nightwell, with a new Temple of Elune, with darker tones, prominent.

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I’d also love to see this. Ideally, the Exodar and the Vindicaar hovering right next to each other over Azuremist, capital cities to the Draenei and Lightforged Draenei.

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Another idea for the Myst Isles:

The Exodar is gutted entirely - it’s main flying components used to build the Vindicaar, the Exodar will never fly again. Instead, it is gutted for resources, except for the Seat of the Naaru. This area is cleaned up and made a site of holy reverence, akin to what Karabor was for the draenei on Draenor.

Azure Watch becomes a sprawling city, renamed Azureport. It stretches all the way to what was once Odysseus’ Landing, and a large, neutral port is constructed. This port is used by sailors, Horde and Alliance alike, on their way from the now booming economy of Silvermoon (after a reconstruction) to southern Kalimdor. Their past as the Shattered Sun as a foundation, the draenei and blood elves become fast allies and friends.

Ammen Vale becomes a semi-secluded canyon where the krokul are welcomed back to rejoin the larger draenic society. While they’re weary about their uncorrupted kin, the Krokul are happy to not be scattered around the world or confined to the Swamp of Sorrows, so they build a small village of their own. Outsiders are not typically welcome, but they trade their goods and help train new shamans when asked.

Bloodmyst becomes home for a new Auchindoun. The draenei, needing a place for their dead to rest, construct a new mausoleum for their dead here. While it serves as a way to protect draenic souls, it also became the primary way of disposing of the dead to the draenei on Draenor, so they wish to carry on this tradition. The Lightforged, never privy to this custom, take it upon themselves to be the new Wardens of Auchindoun. The Vindicaar is docked somewhere on the island, but the Lightforged use this opportunity to know something else than constant war.

(Getting into kaldorei stuff now so feel free to correct me if it’s wrong!) Silvermyst Isle becomes the temporary seat of power for the kaldorei, establishing a small temple to Elune and using it to coordinate their plans. This partnership between the draenei and kaldorei is strengthened, as the draenei welcome all the kaldorei into the Exodar, Azureport, and Bloodmyst homes as refugees to ease the burden of Stormwind.

The new character questing experience begins in the Exodar, and focuses on learning the draenei’s past, especially on Azeroth. Several holograms are used to bring the new character back to Argus, Draenor (and Outland), and finally Azeroth where they will play out significant events in draenic history. The new character will them embark on a journey around all three islands, helping to build Azureport, New Auchindoun and other establishments that is in the current game.

And flying mounts can be used.

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For any revamp, I’d like for the new design to be made as expac-agnostic as possible, so that it could serve as a new player’s introduction to the game/setting without causing major confusion of the timeline.

Ashenvale:

For my personal ideal revamp, I’d split Ashenvale the zone into “Ashenvale”, comprising of the whole zone west of the Falfarren river and made into an uncontested night elf zone; and “Forest’s Edge” or something, comprising the area east of the Falfarren river, and designed as the dedicated faction-contested zone (it could also be lumped into Azshara or so if necessary).

(If the Horde really needs the extra questing area/xp, I’d have Earthen Ring quests that gave them flight points to two neutral questing areas in Ashenvale proper, but not have full Horde-aligned outposts and leave the roads patrolled by Horde-hostile Sentinels so that it doesn’t appear they can wander around freely outside the Earthen Ring’s areas.)

Both zones would have a canopy layer - a set of paths winding along intertwined branches, mostly just for transportation, but sometimes including its own content (lurking Sentinels hostile to the Horde, harpy nests/villages, owl and/or hippogryph nests, special materials to gather, etc.) As long as we’re going for a “dense spooky forest” theme, I want the forest to factor in more strongly.

Ashenvale proper would focus on local/historically night elven threats, such as naga along the coast, satyrs and other leftover demons, and furbolg tribes as both enemies and allies in the next iteration of the Dartol’s rod questchain.

Orendil Broadleaf would still be collecting medicinal reagents for curing the sick of Astranaar, but this time, the player delivers the reagents to Priestess Relara Whitemoon, who serves as the questgiver of the rest of the chain dedicated to healing other ill citizens in town.

I’d make Zoram’gar outpost an Earthen Ring outpost instead of a Horde base, dedicated to studying Blackfathom Deeps. (I’d either let it keep a neutral flight point, or make a tauren village on northern Stonetalon coast, so Horde wouldn’t lose a flight path location.) This would serve as the PC’s main introduction to the Earthen Ring. I’d also add some draenei shaman and draenei in general to the outpost, showing their expanding presence on the mainland.

I’d include some Gilnean worgen dealing with the feral worgen in the Howling Vale, using Krennan Aranas’ alchemy to give some of them back their minds, and in the process providing lore on the origins of the worgen. (I want the quest to still breadcrumb over to Velinde’s grave in Duskwood, too. I liked those continent-spanning quest chains.)

I’d replace Cata’s volcano in the center of the map with a smoking hill covered in new-growth forest. The quests here are from a mixed Cenarion Circle and Earthen Ring camp nearby, focusing on cleaning up the rare remaining angry elemental and reintroducing the local wildlife back to the area. This would also serve as the PC’s main introduction to the CC.

I’d also include some less combat-heavy quests dealing with the upkeep of shrines to the Ancients across the zone - perhaps culminating in the player witnessing one of the Ancients stop by the shrine, or have the visit be a non-quest random vignette. (As part of this, I’d relocate the Forest Heart to the Shrine of Aessina, to move it out of the now more PVP-focused Forest’s Edge zone/subzone.) Perhaps these quests could copy Cata-Teldrassil’s questchain of collecting moonwell water while telling stories, because I loved the strong cultural themes that chain provided. (And a good way to introduce background lore.)

At the south by the Mor’shan Ramparts, I’d add a giant thorn-filled, vine-y death zone grown by angry druids (and maybe inhabited by Botani) to keep the Horde out. Alliance players would have some quests there to reinforce the wall, fight some Warsong raiders and/or goblin flamethrowers trying to clear a path through it, and perhaps fight some Botani to keep the zone from spreading too far north. In doing so, the player could learn a little about the faction conflict history, and some about the War of Thorns if the game isn’t trying to sweep that monstrosity under the rug instead of handle it. (This area would also tie in to my idea for the Northern Barrens, where the Horde is building a railroad connection up north but face resistance from Sentinels and Botani in the pass.)

Meanwhile, the “Forest’s Edge” zone/subzone would focus on the Alliance/Horde (or, more specifically, the Silverwing/Warsong) back-and-forth struggle, primarily between Forest Song and the Warsong Lumber Camp. In a revamp aimed at including max-level world quests, this area would have a lot of Warmode-specific quests.

(It’s still a bit too close to Orgrimmar in my opinion, but the “Forest’s Edge” idea should give a bit of a land buffer between Orgrimmar and the forested edge of Ashenvale. Ideally, I’d like a revamp to stretch the map and put a sliver of the Barrens between Orgrimmar and the Forest’s Edge subzone, too, but I’m not sure how well that’d turn out.)

…This turned out a lot longer than I thought it would.

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hear me out

new players have to hit 60 in classic before playing retail

it sucked for me now it has to suck for everyone else, frick them!!!

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I’ve done so many revamp ideas for zones it’s unreal, but my biggest idea is for a united Grimrail system across all of Kalimdor, a combined effort of the Mag’har engineers and the gnomes to create a system of unity on Kalimdor. Questlines would span with sub-quests across zones centered around your character traveling with a group of memorable NPCs from the game’s past, working to better the rail system, solve problems, ensure the safe passage of shipments and negotiators. Some of the zones would have climaxes that rely on the presence of the railroad system, like an old fashioned ‘bomb on the bridge across the canyon’ trope climax in Thousand Needles, or a dungeon sub-quest in order to obtain heat-resistant plating located in Blackfuses’ abandoned volcano lab, all for the train so it can cross an overflowing magma field in Un’goro.

The reward at the end being account access to the train system, being able to ride it all over Kalimdor and stop at any point. Stations would be located inside both Orgrimmar and a new outpost for the night elves on Darkshore, and they’d be neutral outposts because of the need for trade. (No, this doesn’t assume the night elves are over Teldrassil, but frankly BfA was a dumb idea anyway so I’ve disregarded this detail to allow for more FUN over stupid lore decisions).

I had it significantly more fleshed out, with pages upon pages of scenario writing, quests, etc., including revamps for each of the zones. Tanaris, for example, being more like Las Vegas in that Gadgetzan has expanded exponentially, but there’s still a large area of desert, and the Thousand Needles has just about dried up (with the breach having been closed due to the flooding of Feralas’s lowlands)

Desolace is almost completely a jungle now with new species popping up of plant and animal alike, as well as the source of a takeover by the botani who escaped the Mag’har scenario, with the saberon who escaped being here as well. The remaining centaur clans actually ask for our help in preventing their homes from being taken over by these otherworldly invaders as they’re completely defeated by them, leading to both remaining clans uniting and the centaur warring to finally reach its conclusion.

Little things like this, really. I want the train to not only be a fun questline that enhances the zones and gives new players a guidepost towards their next objective should they need one, but something fun for RP, something that can provide scenic exposure to the game in a way that isn’t often taken advantage of, and to provide the thrill of an ongoing plot without every zone’s immediate problem having to do with the rail system itself, but many having their own self-contained narrative, so that you get the best of both worlds.

Contained and ongoing narratives, the ability to choose which one you want to follow.

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@Blizzard
More trains pls.

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