1up briefly talked with Greg Street (Ghostcrawler) about World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. This is the second time I have heard the same song played concerning Outland.
Thus, it seems Blizzard developers are really into this vibe at meetings when jamming ideas for the next expansion.
Greg Street told 1up: “You’re hearing all about Deathwing and all the destruction and then you leave Azeroth and go to Outland and they’re talking about [Burning Crusade boss] Illidan. That’s a little bit of a non-sequitur, particularly for new players. We need to make that whole story a little smoother.”
It’s unknown when the WoW Team plans to rebuild Outland’s quests, but it’s likely happening by the fourth expansion.
Personally, the best way to go about it is to leave current Outland the way it is, and use phase technology to build lvl 58-70 and 85-90 content and as a player’s option (who knows? Through Caverns of Time NPC) switch to Burning Crusade classic content.
However, they do have a point. Players level 1-58 experience this new broken world after Deathwing tore it apart, see Warchief Garrosh’s tattoed body and go to Outland at lvl 58 to find a still not tattoed Garrosh whimpering like a baby girl because his father was such a worthless this and that.
That’s a very big gap right there in continuity, that needs to be corrected somehow. The only problem to that is the loss of nostalgia. Some of us would really love to relive that entire storyline (as an option).
You gotta admit, that entire questline brought joy to Horde players when after doing all the questing you end up coming to Orgrimmar to tell Thrall his grandma Geyah is alive and wishes to meet him.
It was awesome to see Thrall and Drek’Thar arrive to Garodar in Nagrand and march toward Garosh Hellscream to correct his thoughts about his father Grom. One who brought curse to their people by drinking Mannoroth’s blood, but also a true heroe of the Horde who freed the orcs by slaying the demon.
That was probably one of the best stories in the Burning Crusade.
Blizzard is currently facing a point where they got to do something about the continuity issue with Outland.
Right now in Cataclysm, level 58-62 players who wish to finish the quest with Geyah will face a very basic problem … they need to report to Thrall she wants to see him. However, Thrall is no longer in Orgrimmar. He is at the Maelstrom wearing Shaman clothing.
It’s a tough choice for Blizzard. We have heard before their stand against a Classic WoW server, or a Burning Crusade server.
The game needs to keep evolving, but there should be other ways to handle this without losing and replacing old content. Phase technology could be used to switch between past content and new content as a player’s option. Not an easy task either as a developer.
Based on World of Warcraft: Stormrage by New York Times Best Selling author Richard A. Knaak, we could speculate what the next expansion might be like.
In the novel, not only did we learn Malfurion Stormrage was rescued from the Nightmare by Tyrande and Broll Bearmantle, but the one responsible for the Nightmare turned out to be the Satyr Lord Xavius (from the novel Warcraft: War of the Ancients Trilogy).
The novel ended with the Nightmare defeated, but not destroyed for good. An open slate for a possible expansion where we might have to either return to the Emerald Dream, or pay a visit underwater to the Rift of Aln, where the Nightmare originated.
After Deathwing is slain, and one or two expansions forward, Blizzard is going to stumble with the same rock. Players leveling a new character from level 1-58 will come across Twilight’s Hammer and Deathwing related content about a dragon that was already slain. Will all those quests be replaced with new quests themed adequately to the new evil kid on the block?
Will there be a way to re-experience all the Cataclysm content as an option? If something we have learned from Blizzard is that they have learned from each expansion, and keep expanding the game with new features. We will have to sit this one and wait, and cross our fingers that a solution will be implemented.
I might be mistaken (and I should know sometime soon as my Paladin approaches the Outlands in levels) that the whole quest chain has been removed. Or at least part of it.
It’s likely removed. Otherwise, it’s gonna be broken. I mentioned it for the sake of trying to explain how the Cataclysm content and the old Burning Crusade content clashes in terms of contiunity.
Basically:
1. Cataclysm: Tattoed Garrosh in Orgrimmar
2. Self-pity Garrosh in Garodar.
So how do you explain a new lvl 58+ player that Garrosh is in two places at once, back in time when you go to Outland? Only way they can change this is entirely remaking Outland and replacing the old Outland — or the hardest way — use phase technology to keep the old one there (which is likely not gonna happen).
Another way would be creating lvl 58-78 content in Azeroth so that players don’t even need to hit Outland at lvl 58.
Lol, you’re overcomplicating things.
Just replace key characters with new ones.
-Garrosh Hellscream -> Jorin Deadeye
Also, quoting myhself from: https://www.blizzplanet.com/blog/comments/post-cataclysm-outland-the-guardian-interviews-j-allen-brack
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I’ve an idea for this. Most of the “key content” would be kept via “visions” of the past.
Let’s say Illidan’s crimes were so terrible the land itself reproduces “echoes” of those crimes again and again.
The Black Temple? the Shatteed Sun needs you to clean it from an evil resonance, that is just the exact original raid.
With WotLK, this concept can go further, and bring some light into the other zone they didn’t release aside from Azjol-Nerub: the Spirit World. The Scourge would be free, and the “dire future” Uther spoke of would be a reality. Alliance and Horde try to hide the new small Scourge armies from the world, and we must help Bolvar get control of them by killing their leaders.
Meanwhile, the Lich King is a “ghostly echo” that appears at the same places he appeared in the original game.
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I think it’s a good idea :P.