Things yet to come from Blizz

Fisherman Bob · September 17, 2005

I spent some time a couple weeks ago exploring future areas on the map that aren't yet open to players. Some of which look nearly complete and I assume we'll be seeing before the expansion pack. Some others, though, have hardly been developed at all and we probably won't be seeing for a long time. The shots I have here are from four places around the world of warcraft. Gilneas, Medehv's Tower, Ahn'Quiraj, and Hyjal.

SPOILER WARNING: If you prefer to be surprised by new content, and would rather look at new instances and zones for the first time on your own character, then you might as well not scroll down. Personally, I wouldn't blame you. I was excited to see a lot of this for the first time on my own character and not from a video or picture.

The first, and most disappointing, is Gilneas. If you aren't familiar with it, that's the name of the zone below Silverpine Forest. It's a human kingdom that had only temporarily allianced itself with the Alliance. After that brief period the ruler of Gilneas, Greymane closed off his country from the rest of the world by constructing a massive wall and gate at the Silverpine Border. These few shots are from the other side of the Greymane Wall. As you can see, it isn't quite finished yet.

http://img319.imageshack.us/img319/6673/g19mp.th.jpg http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/3342/g27ux.th.jpg http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/4029/g35fy.th.jpg http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/2719/g42je.th.jpg http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/2252/g51nq.th.jpg http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/3964/g64lo.th.jpg

The next shots are from Medevh's Tower in Deadwind Pass. It's in the lower west side of the zone if you haven't been there. Nothing really goes on there at the moment. Just a bunch of lvl 60 spirits walking around. I'm not too familiar with the lore of Medivh's Tower. But here's a link on Mevivh if you are curious. Basically, Medivh is a badass mage with the spirit of Sargeras inside him, and his cryb is a really effed up and creepy place. From what I understand it should be divided into two parts. An upper and a lower. The lower being the most freakish part. There's three "portals" there now. One leading inside a crypt, which I haven’t entered yet, one at the base of the tower, and one half way up the tower. The latter is the one I went for. Unfortunately, not only is the portal fake, but the map behind it is too. Invisible wall FTL. Stuck between a gate and an invisible wall I had no choice but to hearth out. I'll go back this next week and go for the crypt. I've read that there is content past the "portal", so I'll be sure to post whatever I find.

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/1889/mt01ak.th.jpg http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/1293/mt18ak.th.jpg http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/3479/mt26lg.th.jpg http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/7082/mt38of.th.jpg http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/798/mt49ej.th.jpg http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/4282/mt51bw.th.jpg http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/563/mt62cl.th.jpg

Ok, now for something a little more interesting. Ahn’Quiraj, the next great thing coming out of Blizz HQ. If you haven’t read Blizz’s new Battle Plan Vol. 2, then here’s the skinny on the AQ. It’s a massive high lvl raid instance that will be the next step after BWL. It will have two parts to it. An outer part which will be a 20 man raid and an inner part which will be a 40 man. Each should be a difficult challenge which I imagine will require a lot of time and effort over many many months to get through successfully, unlike ZG which was mastered by some guilds on the first day lol. The instance is set on the ruins of the once great A'qiri empire. Ahn’Quiraj had become infested with an insect hive, similar to the others found in Feralas and Tanaris. Outer AQ is spread out over the desert and ruins of AQ until you reach the southern most portion of the instance. There you will find what looks like the hatchery for the insects and the broodmare’s that pop ‘em out. This portion is by far one of the best designed areas I have seen in the game. The art in this area is great, and the environmental graphics are nice. Swarms of bugs and a giant creature that pumps out green ooze every few seconds are a couple of the interesting things going on in the background. You can see which areas will more than likely contain the bosses, and I assume that this area in the south will contain the main boss of outer AQ. Inner AQ is contained within the insect hive and most of it is within the tightly constructed insect tunnels that are woven beneath the ground. The entrance to this part I hadn’t yet located before I had a little “accident”. It looks as if some parts of inner AQ may be contained within the ruined temple of AQ, which I could find no formal entrance to from the outside. As this temple isn’t finished yet, it is still possible to walk right into it through the wall. The inside of the temple is massive, easily eclipsing the size of Onyxia’s room and all the rooms I’ve seen so far in MC. It is also possible to walk up the sloped exterior to the top of it, which is were I made my mistake. Unfortunately it is a little more difficult to get down from there than it is to get up. So of course I fell to my death. As a whisp/ghost there is no way back into AQ, so I had to give up this trek and rez at the graveyard.

The last shots are from my favorite area, Hyjal. Home of the World Tree and former residence of Alexstrazsa, leader of the red dragonflight, Hyjal is the next zone to be released within WoW. The entrance to the zone is located in the southern most portion of Winterspring, amidst a labyrinth of tunnels surrounded by elite demons. Its “portal” (which I assume will be removed unless Blizz has decided to make this zone one giant instance) is guarded by a gate barring anyone from entering the zone. As for the lore of the zone, its most important place in WoW history is when Illiad Stormrage, brother of Malfurion, recreated the Well of Eternity at the peak of Mount Hyjal in an attempt to create an opening for the Burning Legion. Alexstrazsa destroyed the well by planting a seed that would grow to become the World Tree. For the most part Hyjal is a beautiful zone that overlooks Felwood. In its center are the charred and decayed remains and scorched earth that was left in the wake of the epic battle of Mount Hyjal. It was here that Archimonde, the leader of the Burning Legions invasion, was destroyed and where the Elves’ connection to the World Tree was severed. The tree still stands at the summit sprouting above the lake that was to be the Well of Eternity. On it hangs a massive skull and spinal cord. As for instances, the only thing there now is a dragons lair. It is similar in appearance to the outside of Ony’s lair, and identical in design on the inside. I didn’t take any shots inside. I kinda forgot to. But it doesn’t matter. It is EXACTLY like Ony’s lair. Like AQ and Medivh’s Tower, I had a little bad luck. There is a point in Hyjal that looks similar to the Gryph point in Desolace. It sits on the mountains edge over looking Felwood. Below you can see nothing but sky and birds. I attempted to get a good shot and ended up slipping off. Let me warn you. It is a REALLY REALLY REALLY long fall from Hyjal to Felwood. The spot where I’m looking out into the sky, the first of the daytime pictures, was were I fell. And of course were I continued my trip the next day.

As for where to go next, I’m thinking the Northern Plaguelands might be a nice place to visit. I know for sure that the two unopened zones flanking the Burning Steppes are undeveloped, so I won’t bother getting in.

Heliacon · September 17, 2005

I've been to the northern Plaguelands once (if it is in fact that zone that was right above Eastern) and when I went, there wasn't a damn thing there. At all. But that was a couple patches ago, so check it out again

dragonlgnd · September 18, 2005

Great write up man. Keep up the good work. See the potential for these places really makes me wonder about the stuff that will be in them

Fisherman Bob · September 18, 2005

Great write up man. Keep up the good work.

Thanks :- )

The best shit coming is in the Caverns of Time, Uldam, and The Emerald Dream. Those are suppose to be the instances where we'll get Artifact items. I assume the next few large raid instances will drop Legendary items like MC drops Epics. I know there's a way in the Caverns, but I have yet to figure out the secret.

siegeman · September 18, 2005

You used to be able to die by th door and sprit rez through it. Yet, as with Old Ironforge, they removed that ability.

Whispera · September 23, 2005

Wow Bob, that stuff is amazing! Very good job indeed. cant wait for those places to go live and stuff, also cant wait for ur next post hehe.

take it easy bud =)

Stormhelm · September 30, 2005

Nice pics Ill try and post my CoT pics seeing as you didnt get in before they closed it

readyakira · October 2, 2005

The Crypt in deadwind pass is enterable. There is nothing down there but it looks like it will be interesting. It looks like the basement in scholo by decor, but that is where the similarities end. I was not able to get (into) the tower either. I have been to all the other places you mentioned even found an undeveloped spot where you can walk thru the terrain and end up popping up in SW!. ZG I had been in during the first stress test, and the instance looks the same as it did then but with mobs now. Exploring was one of my favorite things to do although alot of the areas I used to get to have been closed off by invisible walls now. There is a huge flatland that is undeveloped between redridge,elwynn and the steppes, you used to be able to take that to any of the 3 zones and "pop" in undetected but alot of it is now closed off by the walls.

The medivhs tower sounds to be the most fun. The upper half of the tower should look relativly normal, while the bottom half is supposed to be a mirror image of the top (according to books). This was one of my favorite readings in the WoW literature and I look foward to bringing the wizard to his knees. Awsome screenies, I wish I had some of the old ones I had. I used to have a bunch from caverns of time as well, and haven't tried lately to get back in there but maybe I should.

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