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- Jul 9, 2009
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Did anyone ask for... VANILLA?
Lore:
And as it is BlizzCon and Legion is drawing to a close so must the next expansion start, and our next goal will be to fight the other faction. World of WarCraft Battle for Azeroth will be the next expansion in the game where the Horde will make a new front on Zandalar, seeking to align with the native troll tribe and the Alliance makes it home on the island of Kul'Tiras.
For the Alliance the main hub will be on the islands of Kul'Tiras, in a zone known as Tiragarde Sound, this is the seat of a very familiar family, the Proudmoore's and the house is led by Katherine Proudmoore, the mother of Jaina. She is in a feud with the two other main families of Kul'Tiras, Waycrest from the zone Drustvar and Stormsong who rules over Stormsong Valley. Other than that Katherine is also trying to defend her lands from relentless pirate attacks aimed at her kingdom. These pirates who have preciously remained isolated in their free city have grown bold and dare venture out to raid and plunder, where this bravery came from is for us to discover.
The Horde On the other hand, who will make their way to Zandalar will find that just as Kul'Tiras is plagued by infighting, so too is Zandalar. The Horde will land in Zuldazar, the capital of the Zandalari and the last safe refuge the empire has. Horde members will be greeted there by none other than king Rastakhan and his daughter who will help us explore a plot to overthrow the king. As if that was not trouble enough, we find a host of blood trolls who have come to thrive in the swamp filled zone of Nazmir, which was partially sunk into the water during the Cataclysm. Vol'dun, the final zone and dangerous desert will be the home of a fox-like race known as vulpera which we will need to befriend.
So why do we travel to these places, Kul Tiras and Zandalar? As we saw in the cinematic trailer, the Alliance is assaulting the Undercity and manages to force the Horde out of the Eastern Kingdoms. The Horde, desperate to reclaim their homes seek to gain a powerful navy and where better to find it than in Zandalar. On this island the Zandalari has built the largest navy the world has ever seen. But just like the Horde has lost their grip of the Eastern Kingdoms, so too have the Alliance lost their grip of Kalimdor. With Teldrassil burned to the ground the night elves have been forced to seek refugee elsewhere. The only place left with a navy that could get close to rivalling that Zandalar is Kul'Tiras and that's why the Alliance needs to seek aid from the houses of the island.
But in the aftermath of the Legion invasion the very planet itself has been damaged and Magni, the speaker for Azeroth gives you a brand new artefact amulet known as the "Heart of Azeroth" which is going to replace your current weapon. This amulet will serve as a massive source of power and you will build up its power using something called Azerite, a substance which is pouring out of Azeroth and contains the power of the Titan inside. Your duty is to gather as much of this substance as possible to empower your amulet which will also give nice improvements to your gear.
In the Battle for Azeroth we will also have the oppurtunity for new races, and when I say "races" you probably think to yourself "which two races will they add?" No, my new friend not two, but six. These new "allied aces" as Blizzard calls them will include the Dark Iron dwarves, Alleria's Void elves and Lightforged Draenei for the Alliance. The Horde on the other hand will receive the Highmountain Tauren and the Nightborne elves we encountered on the Broken Isles as well as the Zandalari trolls.
Gameplay:
As we finished with the allied races in the lore section we'll begin with them here. As I said there will be six new "allied races". But they are quite a bit unlike the races you know today. With all other races you can begin straight away when you buy the expansion, the blood elves and Draenei became available for anyone who bought TBC right of the bat and the same was true for every race that followed them, until now that is. Once one of the characters on your account has aligned an "allied race" you are able to play as said race and unlike all other races if you create a new character as these races you will start at level 20 as all of them lack starting zones. And while you are able to race change your character because maybe you're attached to your main or you don't have the time to put in, levelling a "allied race" from 20 to 120 will give you a new transmog gear to match your characters culture.
That brings me perfectly in to the next topic, the max level is now 120. The first 10 levels you will spend in the home zones of your island continent, for Alliance this is Kul'Tiras and for Horde it is Zandalar. Once you have dealt with your own island and reached level 120 the other continent will be unlocked doubling the content you may play through.
But when it comes to levelling it's a bit tragic that the game tells you to get out of a zone when you reach a high enough level. Blizzard wants to make all zones now to scale up to a certain level, so Silverpine Forest may scale between 10-60 and Eastern Plaguelands 50-60 so you are not forced to abandon a story you wish to explore because another zone rewards better xp and loot. Furthermore we all know the drill if you level an alt, when you hit level 58 you go to Hellfire Peninsula and level and when you reach 68 you go to Northrend, but what if instead both continents, Northrend and Outland scaled from 60-80. But this scaling is not really an expansion feature is it? It's more like a game improvement, and that's why that balance change will arrive to the PTR in just a few weeks.
You will also be able to join 3-player skirmishes not much unlike the ones we saw in Mists of Pandaria which will permit you to lay with any desired set of roles, say you want to play with three tanks, you can do that. The difference will be your opponent because while you have varied objectives that differ from time to time you will encounter three AI's that are supposedly far more intelligent than any previous AI who will attempt to complete objectives and try to stop you from completing objectives. And if you prefer you can match wit against 3 other players instead.
But along with these three man skirmishes we will also have larger 20 v 20 man raids, where you will attempt to crush the enemies fortification while at the same time building up a base to give your side resources and troops. A bit like a mix between the garrison and Ashran or like a modern version of the old Altarec Valley.
Lastly we have world PvP, many of us including myself feel trapped at a PvP server because that's where our friends play or maybe we don't want to pay for a server change. Now instead whenever you're in a capital you will be able to flag your character for PvP if you want, this will allow you to attack other players who are also flagged. But if you do flag for PvP, with risks also comes rewards as you will be eligible for bonus rewards spanning from more xp to more reputation and other useful stuff. This will also open up the possibility for adding world PvP events as prior it has been a rather useless idea as those players who are on a PvE realm would in the past have been unable to part take.
Lore:
And as it is BlizzCon and Legion is drawing to a close so must the next expansion start, and our next goal will be to fight the other faction. World of WarCraft Battle for Azeroth will be the next expansion in the game where the Horde will make a new front on Zandalar, seeking to align with the native troll tribe and the Alliance makes it home on the island of Kul'Tiras.
For the Alliance the main hub will be on the islands of Kul'Tiras, in a zone known as Tiragarde Sound, this is the seat of a very familiar family, the Proudmoore's and the house is led by Katherine Proudmoore, the mother of Jaina. She is in a feud with the two other main families of Kul'Tiras, Waycrest from the zone Drustvar and Stormsong who rules over Stormsong Valley. Other than that Katherine is also trying to defend her lands from relentless pirate attacks aimed at her kingdom. These pirates who have preciously remained isolated in their free city have grown bold and dare venture out to raid and plunder, where this bravery came from is for us to discover.
The Horde On the other hand, who will make their way to Zandalar will find that just as Kul'Tiras is plagued by infighting, so too is Zandalar. The Horde will land in Zuldazar, the capital of the Zandalari and the last safe refuge the empire has. Horde members will be greeted there by none other than king Rastakhan and his daughter who will help us explore a plot to overthrow the king. As if that was not trouble enough, we find a host of blood trolls who have come to thrive in the swamp filled zone of Nazmir, which was partially sunk into the water during the Cataclysm. Vol'dun, the final zone and dangerous desert will be the home of a fox-like race known as vulpera which we will need to befriend.
So why do we travel to these places, Kul Tiras and Zandalar? As we saw in the cinematic trailer, the Alliance is assaulting the Undercity and manages to force the Horde out of the Eastern Kingdoms. The Horde, desperate to reclaim their homes seek to gain a powerful navy and where better to find it than in Zandalar. On this island the Zandalari has built the largest navy the world has ever seen. But just like the Horde has lost their grip of the Eastern Kingdoms, so too have the Alliance lost their grip of Kalimdor. With Teldrassil burned to the ground the night elves have been forced to seek refugee elsewhere. The only place left with a navy that could get close to rivalling that Zandalar is Kul'Tiras and that's why the Alliance needs to seek aid from the houses of the island.
But in the aftermath of the Legion invasion the very planet itself has been damaged and Magni, the speaker for Azeroth gives you a brand new artefact amulet known as the "Heart of Azeroth" which is going to replace your current weapon. This amulet will serve as a massive source of power and you will build up its power using something called Azerite, a substance which is pouring out of Azeroth and contains the power of the Titan inside. Your duty is to gather as much of this substance as possible to empower your amulet which will also give nice improvements to your gear.
In the Battle for Azeroth we will also have the oppurtunity for new races, and when I say "races" you probably think to yourself "which two races will they add?" No, my new friend not two, but six. These new "allied aces" as Blizzard calls them will include the Dark Iron dwarves, Alleria's Void elves and Lightforged Draenei for the Alliance. The Horde on the other hand will receive the Highmountain Tauren and the Nightborne elves we encountered on the Broken Isles as well as the Zandalari trolls.
Gameplay:
As we finished with the allied races in the lore section we'll begin with them here. As I said there will be six new "allied races". But they are quite a bit unlike the races you know today. With all other races you can begin straight away when you buy the expansion, the blood elves and Draenei became available for anyone who bought TBC right of the bat and the same was true for every race that followed them, until now that is. Once one of the characters on your account has aligned an "allied race" you are able to play as said race and unlike all other races if you create a new character as these races you will start at level 20 as all of them lack starting zones. And while you are able to race change your character because maybe you're attached to your main or you don't have the time to put in, levelling a "allied race" from 20 to 120 will give you a new transmog gear to match your characters culture.
That brings me perfectly in to the next topic, the max level is now 120. The first 10 levels you will spend in the home zones of your island continent, for Alliance this is Kul'Tiras and for Horde it is Zandalar. Once you have dealt with your own island and reached level 120 the other continent will be unlocked doubling the content you may play through.
But when it comes to levelling it's a bit tragic that the game tells you to get out of a zone when you reach a high enough level. Blizzard wants to make all zones now to scale up to a certain level, so Silverpine Forest may scale between 10-60 and Eastern Plaguelands 50-60 so you are not forced to abandon a story you wish to explore because another zone rewards better xp and loot. Furthermore we all know the drill if you level an alt, when you hit level 58 you go to Hellfire Peninsula and level and when you reach 68 you go to Northrend, but what if instead both continents, Northrend and Outland scaled from 60-80. But this scaling is not really an expansion feature is it? It's more like a game improvement, and that's why that balance change will arrive to the PTR in just a few weeks.
You will also be able to join 3-player skirmishes not much unlike the ones we saw in Mists of Pandaria which will permit you to lay with any desired set of roles, say you want to play with three tanks, you can do that. The difference will be your opponent because while you have varied objectives that differ from time to time you will encounter three AI's that are supposedly far more intelligent than any previous AI who will attempt to complete objectives and try to stop you from completing objectives. And if you prefer you can match wit against 3 other players instead.
But along with these three man skirmishes we will also have larger 20 v 20 man raids, where you will attempt to crush the enemies fortification while at the same time building up a base to give your side resources and troops. A bit like a mix between the garrison and Ashran or like a modern version of the old Altarec Valley.
Lastly we have world PvP, many of us including myself feel trapped at a PvP server because that's where our friends play or maybe we don't want to pay for a server change. Now instead whenever you're in a capital you will be able to flag your character for PvP if you want, this will allow you to attack other players who are also flagged. But if you do flag for PvP, with risks also comes rewards as you will be eligible for bonus rewards spanning from more xp to more reputation and other useful stuff. This will also open up the possibility for adding world PvP events as prior it has been a rather useless idea as those players who are on a PvE realm would in the past have been unable to part take.
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