Redesign a Zone

[Wang-argent-dawn]

Let’s say Blizzard is intending to update Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms and you have been given the job to redesign a zone with new stories, quests and areas. What would you like to see?

Here is an example of what I’d do:

Tirisfal Glades - I would invoke the original storyline. The Forsaken are weakened by the Fourth War, they no longer have the Val’kyr and they are spread far too thin. With the destruction of the Crown of Domination - and the zombie apocalypse that followed - things are dire as they were in vanilla. The Scarlet Crusade have retaken their holdings, funded by disgruntled nobles, new recruits and old veterans who blame the Forsaken for all that has happened. They use the crusade as a proxy war to reclaim territory, relics, treasures and otherwise keep the undead occupied.

The Forsaken are leashed by the Horde Councils new decree and cannot use Blight or the Val’kyr. This has caused strife amongst their Horde allies who in turn are unable to compensate with military support. Additionally, the Forsaken are at odds with those within their society who wish to look to the future of technology, science and invention, and those wish to remember their old lives and embrace a new faith as the Kingdom of Lordaeron. The Royal Apothecary Society and the Cult of the Forgotten Shadow as a result are at odds with one another on how the Forsaken should move forward.

Worst still the Chill of Death is an ever growing problem in Forsaken society as the Mindless State effects more as time goes on. Both the Cult and the R.A.S look for ways to curtail this extensional crisis.

Surrounded and outnumbered and curtailed by the Horde, the Forsaken have returned to the necromantic arts. Carts of dead flow into Deathknell each day from across Lordaeron. The dead of the Third War are exhumed from the earth and the mindless Scourge are captured in an attempt to free their minds. They are given a choice - a second chance of life, or to return to the grave.

Along with this story I would add:

• Deathknell - has increased in size, reclaiming the lower portion of the town and adding an inn, stables, tents and an apothecarium. Deathknell would keep to it’s old human look, but you would learn of the cultural clashes between the R.A.S and the cult. Those who want to remember their old Lordaeron lives, and those who wish to become something more. Players awake from graves, seeing bodies being buried in hopes of the tainted earth resurrecting them, and Necromancers trying to free the minds of zombies in the Shadow Grave crypt below. We get to learn about Forsaken free will and choice, the Chill of Death and it’s resulting Rotbrain / Mindless One problem.
• Brill - is rebuilt and stands testament to the ‘new’ Forsaken vision as before. But I would add more such as chapels, additional houses, tents and redesign the area to look more like the original Brill landscape looked in vanilla.
• Solliden’s Farmstead is used by the Scarlet Crusade to feed and supply it’s troops. It is a fortified town that harbours the last stubborn living Lordaeron humans who refuse to leave. We learn about the Alliance using the crusade to fund it’s proxy war off the table, with a dock added to transport both supplies and troops from the bastion to Scarlet Monastery. We learn beyond Solliden is a gateway into the Whispering Forest which acts similarly to Tyr’s Hand for the crusaders in the Plaguelands.
• Agamand Mills - is in the firm grip of the hands of petty Scourge warlords now free from Bolvar’s control. A powerful Necropolis looms overhead and raises the dead - acting as a beacon to the mindless in Lordaeron. Directly undermining Forsaken recruitment and a serious threat to Tirisfal Glades.
• Calston Estate - would be transformed into a Forsaken bastion. The military new recruits from Deathknell come here as they keep watch over encroaching Scarlet and Scourge attacks into Deathknell and the Undercity. We get to learn about the Forsaken army, seeing it’s blend of new and old as Lordaeron footmen and knights work with R.A.S and Deathstalkers. Without the Blight or use of plagues we understand how hard pressed the Forsaken are under the watchful eye of Horde enforcers.
• Garren’s Haunt - the undead Gnoll warbands still harass the Forsaken within the wilds. Stealing corpses for food or acting as petty bandits. From here to Blightwater Lake Scourge and their Gnoll beasts harass Brill and outlying settlements as the Forsaken try to cull, or capture the dead to grow their numbers.
• Scarlet Monastery - still stands as a testament to the stubborn human spirit. We learn the crusaders have mastered the arts of Whitemane, able to resurrect their fallen back to life and keep their long war going. In an ironic twist they are a mirror image to the Forsaken. A dock resides here, and the lower parts of the Scarlet Watch Post have been fortified and expanded as a settlement. Deathstalkers are here, working with the R.A.S to sabotage and instil fear.
• Cold Hearth Manor - has been improved upon and acts as a modern farm growing a variety of mushrooms and herbs for consumption and R.A.S alchemy. We get to learn how the Forsaken are blending their old lives with the new, twisting old professions into darker purposes. It’s outskirts are harassed by undead wildlife, Rotbrains bandits and wandering Scourge.
• Capital City / Undercity - the former ruins of the capital are occupied by much of the civilian population and the Church of the Forgotten Shadow who make this their twisted religious bastion. Dark Rangers have taken a great interest in this faith. The civilians here go about their lives as they tried to do when they were mortal. The Undercity is a different affair, entirely devoted to the scientific and military production. Deathstalkers are their own guild branch, while the cult attempts to create powerful new warriors for the military such as Dark Knights, Lightslayers and so on. The Royal Apothecary Society carries on under Horde scrutiny - withholding it’s sinister projects in secret and promoting technology and alchemical arts that would benefit their allies. Necromancers are also a new guild here, dedicated to the mastery of undeath and bolstering the Forsaken. The Desolate Council is bogged down in bureaucratic affairs and politics, displaying schism and difficulty in keeping all factions happy. The honey moon is over, and each branch wishes to promote it’s vision. It is clear a true leader is needed.
• Balnir Farmstead - and the region around it is expanded to include ruined villages and old Lordaeron. Lots of ghost stories, tragedy, learning of the Forsaken’s origins and so on. The cult work here to try and put these spirits to rest, hoping to finally claim this land for Forsaken inhabitants. Perhaps we see Forsaken undertakings carting in bodies reclaimed.
• Venomweb Vale - lots of spiders. Perhaps the Nerubians are here? The crusade attempt to clear out the spider infested wood for their own gain. We learn of the former Scourge Nerubians making this place their own - now free from the Lich King. Perhaps negotiations are had to join the Forsaken in a mirror of the original Scourge.
• The Bulwark - still acts in as a wall, but struggles to maintain a defense. The Argent Crusade are no more, and the Horde cannot send troops to support. Much of the R.A.S effort is producing constructs such as abominations to bolster the Forsaken against the mindless Scourge and it’s warlords who seek to dominate them.
• Whispering Forest - is greatly expanded upon, adding dotted ruined villages and the the Scarlet Crusade holdouts to the north that supply the Solliden bastion. The Worgen packs are here, along with old magics such as the Drust, witches and corrupted forests. A cold war brews among the Worgen and Forsaken, and both sides struggle against Drust and Scarlet Crusaders.

I have a lot of ideas for many zones, but I’ve already created a massive wall of text fantasy. So I am curious to see what ideas you’d have in your ultimate zone rework.

[Meadowgale-argent-dawn]

Uldum is returned to being a Reliquary/Explorer’s League zone, as was planned in the Cataclysm beta, instead of the extended Indiana Jones parody we got.

That’s all.

[Elenthas-argent-dawn (Elenthas)]

One of the silly BfA table missions has Alterac City being rebuilt into a Forsaken town. As part of the world refresh we’d be turning Alterac into a new Horde questing zone, with Alterac City (Forsaken) as a hub. The main enemies of the zone would be Crushridge Ogre remnants, still sore over the whole “mind control” thing (get over it!!!), and Alteraci Remnants lead by Isiden Perenolde (infected with the Worgen curse during his stay in Gilneas) who have been attacking resource caravans and just generally causing trouble.

The Alteraci Remnants aren’t directly affiliated with the Syndicate, and officially are hostile to one another, though a number of former Syndicate members defected to the Remnants since Isiden is - technically - the heir apparent to the lands. Surprisingly, the Remnants also have some Alteraci Forsaken among their number, so they’ve got a mix of some Worgen, some Undead, and mostly humans.

Officially the Alteraci Remnants are likewise a completely independent entity from the Alliance, but during the questing experience you’d find a surprising amount of Alliance materiel and some cryptic letters that suggest a relationship.

The core questing experience would end with a Siege of Strahnbrad in which Isiden defeated but flees before he dies, allowing for the Remnants to crop up in future stories. He’s not even ‘wrong’ in wanting ‘his’ lands back, technically, but since it was also essentially claimed and annexed by Lordaeron post-Second War, it’s Lordaeronian (aka Forsaken) territory too. No one’s right, no one’s wrong, and they’re gonna keep stabbing each other over it.

Since we’re doing a full world refresh, we’d also add an overworld area of Alterac Valley brought into modern times. With peace upon them, the Frostwolves now have freedom to tend to their lands and recover from the battleground war that seemed endless until the Stormpike Apocalypse.

This would function in a similar manner to the Isle of Quel’danas restoration in which Horde players would be able to contribute (server-wide) with daily/weekly quests towards bits and pieces. The quests here would be representative of some of the BG activities (kill alliance ghosts in towers/bunkers, get some wolves into stables, collect ram leather, collect armour scraps, etc. etc.) and help build up the keep and secure the lands.

Rewards would be entirely cosmetic, purchased with either raw gold or a currency from doing the dailies/weeklies. The area would still be available after its restoration of course, just like IQD is, but progressing it would also open up new amenities (a zeppelin to Orgrimmar, AH, transmog guys, bodyguards while questing in the overworld (limited to Alterac at first, maybe expanded later), a special Horde-only world boss).

Alliance would have a similar open world experience doing similar rebuilding in another ‘open world’ battleground zone - Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, Isle of Conquest, idk, one of those. I’d say WSG but I’m a NElf hater so…

[Tenasa-argent-dawn]

Northern Barrens
I would redesign the Barrens to have a new rail network, using Mag’har Iron Star technology, to get the Horde into a stable resource state where they can link up two cities and bring in new threats, as well as a fun transportation.

New trade has been secured by the Horde with the completion of the Gold Railroad line, securing the region and making settlements like Ratchet, the Crossroads and Nozzlepot’s Outpost flourish.
With the new transport, comes new opportunties as the Horde carefully use the oases to make new farmland and the quick transport bringing more workers.

However, old and new threats still exist, and with them, comes new challenges to compete again.

The main change would be a railroad leading from Talon Gate (Talon Station?), all the way down to a rebuilt Taurajo Village, serving as the new connection from Orgrimmar to Thunderbluff. A bridge has been built over the great Divide, symbolizing the Horde’s unity once more.

> The threats of the area:

• Centaur, no longer large hordes, are now reduced to small groups of raiders that only can make a slim pickings. Not much of a threat anymore, more an annoyance. Think of them like ‘cowboy crimminals’, with them looting Korkron weapons to raid.
• Quilboars, with their thorn growing, seek to collapse the new railway, still able to strike out from their entrenched positions.
• The Botani, escaped when the Mag’har arrived, now use the oases to try and spread growth, with mixed resulted thanks to the lingering effects of the Nightmare.
• The Burning Blade and their demons are still a threat, perhaps striking out in fear that the Horde’s grip on the region will soon wipe them out.

Southern Barrens
Tying with the railway, the Southern Barrens would also be fixed up a bit. The rebuilding of Taurajo, into a proper village, serves as the current end of the line station for the Horde and a trading location for the tauren.
Many old scars still dot the land, and it is now seeking to rebuild and restore the land, with efforts to regrow and repoluate the area with plants and animals, while dealing with various threats around.

The threats of the area:

• The Botani, escaped when the Mag’har arrived, now use the oases to try and spread growth, with mixed resulted thanks to the lingering effects of the Nightmare. On this side of the Barrens, they would be more warped and possibilty corrupted by the Nightmare, threatening to overwhelm the area.
• Quilboars, with their thorn growing, seek to collapse the new railway, still able to strike out from their entrenched positions. However, they are involved in a civil war as Razorfen Downs and Razorfen Kraul constest for the future of the quilboar, with those keeping to traditions (Kraul) and those embracing the Scourge’s methods of plagues and necromancy (Downs)
• Alliance renegades. Having brought crimminals from Stormwind to fight, they now form bandit camps to fight, raid and attack the Horde in the area. Fort Triumph, having been restored by the Alliance, has been converted into a prison for the renegades, nicknamed ‘Fort Treason’ in reference for the crimminals they keep.

[Wang-argent-dawn]

@Elenthas-argent-dawn

The core questing experience would end with a Siege of Strahnbrad in which Isiden defeated but flees before he dies, allowing for the Remnants to crop up in future stories. He’s not even ‘wrong’ in wanting ‘his’ lands back, technically, but since it was also essentially claimed and annexed by Lordaeron post-Second War, it’s Lordaeronian (aka Forsaken) territory too. No one’s right, no one’s wrong, and they’re gonna keep stabbing each other over it.

Some Alterac conflict would be fun, though it makes me wonder if it would be better for the the antagonist be the Syndicate over all, rather than a split faction under Alliance cooperation.

@Tenasa-argent-dawn

Northern Barrens
I would redesign the Barrens to have a new rail network, using Mag’har Iron Star technology, to get the Horde into a stable resource state where they can link up two cities and bring in new threats, as well as a fun transportation.

It would be cool to finally see the train in use, similar to the ettin carriage in Silverpine.

I’d personally fix up the Theramore locations, but this time they’re Kul Tiran as the eternal enemy of the Horde.

[Mucous-argent-dawn]

This is something that I put some thought into, though it’s not something that I’ve considered recently. I put a lot of thought into Ashenvale and the Barrens, though of the three zones, the Northern Barrens is the one that feels the most solid to me.

Premise:

Though skirmishes may occur in the forest of Ashenvale and south of the Great Divide, in the Northern Barrens, the Horde and the Alliance maintain a tenuous peace. In the west, a winding supply route runs from the occupied Mor’shan Rampart to the fortified town of Honor’s Stand, connecting the Alliance’s settlements in the region. In the east, the Sludge Fen has become a site of great industry for the Horde, while shamans strive to cleanse Thorn Hill of its eponymous corruption.

Unfortunately, there are others who call the Barrens home. Those who do not answer to the Alliance or the Horde have banded together, to seize the savannah for themselves. Alone, they never stood a chance. Only together do they have a chance of expelling both factions from the region.

Settlements:

Nozzlepot’s Headquarters, Horde – Under the leadership of the goblin Nozzlepot, the Sludge Fen has been transformed from a crude criminal enterprise into a thriving industrial estate. The day-to-day operations are overseen from Nozzlepot’s Headquarters, but lately, many of the workers have become dissatisfied and have been drawn to a new cause.

The Mor’shan Rampart, Alliance – Since the Horde ceded this border crossing to the Kaldorei, it has become an overgrown extension of Ashenvale, reclaimed by the forest. A winding road through the Dry Hills connects this border crossing to Honor’s Stand but as of late, the local harpies have become increasingly hostile, severing communication between the settlements.

The Crossroads, Horde – Though it has existed at the heart of the region for decades, the Crossroads remains a humble settlement, little more than a waystation for travellers wandering through the Barrens. Yet as of late, it seems that every road that leads through it is plagued by marauders. The Crossroads may struggle to survive, should this continue.

Honor’s Stand, Alliance – Honor’s Stand has prospered and become one of the Alliance’s most important settlements in Kalimdor, since the flooding of the Great Divide. It serves as a central point from which the Alliance can exert authority across the continent, yet it is under threat from the marauding centaurs of the western oases.

Ratchet, Neutral – Since Gazlowe left Steamwheedle for Bilgewater, Ratchet has been lawless. Anyone who has seized leadership has never lasted for long and the goblin town threatens to become as cutthroat as the Undermine. To make matters worse, the invasive saberon terrorise the outskirts of Ratchet, cutting it off from the rest of the Barrens.

Important Locations:

The Great Divide – Further tectonic activity ruptured the springs responsible for the Barren’s oases, leading to the flooding of this volcanic rift. It now carries fresh water from the foot of the Stonetalon Mountains all the way to the Great Sea, with jungle flourishing along its banks.

The Sludge Fen – This entire region is dominated by oil wells, storage tanks and refineries, manned by overworked goblins and peons. Many of them are dissatisfied and have begun to engage in industrial sabotage, at the behest of external forces who want to bring the Horde to its knees.

The Dry Hills – The Gold Road has fallen into disuse and has been replaced by the Dry Road that runs between the Alliance settlements, directly through the Dry Hills. The Witchwing harpies are far from happy about this and to make matters worse, they are being supported by their centaur neighbours.

Dreadmist Peak – Any trace of the Burning Blade was destroyed long ago. Instead, the camp at the hill’s summit has been occupied by the Kolkar clan of centaurs, who use it to meet and coordinate with the witches of the Witchwing harpies and the rabblerousers of the Sludge Fen rebellion.

Thorn Hill – The Razormane tribe of quilboars infest this place. Their thornweavers have summoned a great number of thorns which sap the life from the surrounding area and threaten to keep the Barrens barren. Shamans of the Horde desperately seek to bring an end to this corruption.

The Forgotten Pools – The beginning of the vast jungle found along the length of the Great Divide, inhabited by the Kolkar clan. From here, centaur marauders launch raids on the nearby Honor’s Stand, terrorising its inhabitants and preventing any expansion across the Great Divide.

The Stagnant Oasis – A tribe of saberon that narrowly escaped the destruction of Draenor call this oasis their home. From here, they assault Ratchet and terrorise the route that leads to the Southern Barrens, across a bridge over the Great Divide. Surprisingly, they coexist with the centaur who live here.

The Merchant Coast – These days, the Merchant Coast has become lousy with pirates once more, eager to profit off of Ratchet’s chaotic state of affairs. The first step to halting the goblin town’s descent into anarchy is to bring an end to these corsairs and their plundering of the coastline.

Lushwater Jungle – The oasis might have drained away into the Great Divide, but the land surrounding the Wailing Caverns is more verdant than ever. Here, a great mob of centaur, quilboar, harpies and saberon assembles, so numerous that they threaten to overwhelm the Barrens.

Dungeon:

The Druids of the Fang are long gone. Instead, the Wailing Caverns have become the headquarters of the Throng, a union of the downtrodden tribes and clans that call the Barrens home. This is where their leaders dwell and where they plan their conquest of the region. They will go to any length to free their home of the Horde and the Alliance, and to have a land that is theirs and theirs alone.

Each of the races will have their own boss in the dungeon – a matriarch of the Witchwing harpies, an alpha of the invasive saberon, a chief of the Razormane quilboar, and even a ringleader of the Sludge Fen revolt, bewitched and controlled by the Witchwing matriarch. Leading them all would be an ambitious false khan of the Kolkar clan, claiming leadership over all of the centaurs of the Barrens.

Is this khan solely responsible for the gathering of the Throng, or is someone else behind their rise to prominence? This could lead to a longer storyline, with a greater and more insidious force arranging this uprising in the Barrens. Alternatively, it could end there – not everything has to be orchestrated by a cackling mastermind.

[Skrugbak-argent-dawn (Skrugbak)]

Elwynn Forest, expand on Goldshire make it bigger, add individual houses for each NPC, make the forge bigger and set aside a entire field for the Darkmoon faire, remove the inn, replace it with a farmers market, and maybe a shall house for adventurers to share bunk-beds, no more massive inn infamous for sausage parties of both variety.

Probably also make more tree be cut down randomly in the forest as well as planted saplings next to it to actually show that there’s a lumber operation going on in the east.

[Mithcha-argent-dawn (Mithcha)]

I’d get rid of the silly rift and redesign the Barrens back into what it used to be before Cata. So back into a enjoyable, themetacly appropriate and roleplay useable zone again.

Then i’d take a giant newspaper and smack deathwing on the nose for being a naughty dragon and ruining great zones everywhere.

[Acrona-argent-dawn (Acrona)]

Ashenvale - make it twice bigger and update it to reflect the current timeline more. The Cataclysm revamp made the zone feel too theme parkish to my liking, where between every few feet there’s another attraction, from a furbolg camp to a Horde outpost to burning forest with a fire elemental.

The new quests would be tied to the recovery of the land since the Fourth War, and learning more about the ancient history of the forest though some old elves & Ancient of Lore. Helping the rebuilding efforts of Astranaar - the town could be a bit bigger with some more houses - and some smaller encampments. Plus some tensions with the Horde on the southern mountain border that need to be navigated without sparking yet another war, but also giving a nod to the fact that the nigh elves didn’t sign the faction armistice and are still keen to defend their ancestral lands.

[Levey-argent-dawn (Levey)]

I’m just going to have to insist upon the eastern kingdoms not being composed of vaugely rectangular biomes separated by rivers and conspicuous mountains.