Dreadly of Nerz'hul asks a question that I'd like to know the answer to, also-- will we ever see new zones in Old Azeroth? I can't say I'm as concerned about this as I was a week or so ago-- the revelation that we'll finally see some new content in Dustwallow Marsh has me content (so to speak) about midlevel content for a while. But it would be interesting to know if Blizzard has any other plans to add on to old Azeroth (either by creating new zones like the Draenei and Blood Elf starting zones, or by developing existing zones like Mount Hyjal and Gilneas).
Bornakk, always the spoilsport, says what you would expect: while it would be cool, there are no plans right now. He also says, however, that Blizzard is "more excited" about working on new continents, like Outland or Northrend, at the moment. As usual, it comes down to the player base-- because Blizzard sees so many characters at 70, they're "more excited" about expanding the endgame than the midgame.
Bad? Good? We do know this: Blizzard has a history of paying attention to what their players do, not necessarily what they ask for. When Molten Core was packed with guilds every weekend, they made more 40 man raids. When Karazhan got super popular, they made Zul'Aman. And hopefully, when Dustwallow Marsh is overrun by players running alts through the middle of the game, Blizzard will finally see how badly players are scrambling for new content in the "old" game.



















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-16-2007 @ 7:40PM
Syung said...
Why don't they make another place like Tanaris? Midgame content all around the map, with a big endgame dungeon in the middle.
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10-16-2007 @ 7:44PM
Urthona said...
AAARGH
I don't WANT new "zones". There are already almost 2 dozen zones to use. Just put in a new questline or two. Some "progressive content". A daily quest. Some rare spawns. A mini-game. SOMETHING.
Give us something substantial to do in Azshara, Stonetalon, Hinterlands, Feralas, etc.
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10-16-2007 @ 7:55PM
Dave said...
I too would be happier if they'd just fix the old and busted zones rather than add new stuff. Dustwallow was one of those kinda zones that just plain didn't do much. It was okay as Horde, but pretty pointless as Alliance.
If they could just revamp a zone every patch, I think we'd have good stuff going on.
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10-16-2007 @ 8:13PM
ninjasuperspy said...
I'll have to throw my hat in with the "new zones" crowd. As much as I'd like to do something with Azshara except looking at the trees and buying my Deepdive Helmet schematic, the sooner they smooth out the blank spots in the map the sooner I can buzz Stormwind in my Gnomish Autogyro.
Not to say they couldn't just add zones in expansions and add Thorium Point/Mudsprocket type things each patch. But small steps, right?
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10-16-2007 @ 8:43PM
Baluki said...
I'll hop on the "refine existing content" bus. I'm pretty sure that they'll be adding a few new "old world" zones in the inevitable Maelstrom expansion, like Gilneas, Kul Tiras, the Isle of Kezan, and so on. But they should be end-game content, not mid-game.
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10-16-2007 @ 9:04PM
Flambeau said...
new zones, or letting players fly in old zones, that's the constant debate. sure either is relatively pointless, but what you have to realise is, the next expansion is gonna be the end all of the game. the only lore left to slaughter will be kil'jaeden and azshara. afetr that it's all made up junk, so sure they could add Grim Batol, and Mt Hyjal and Gilneas, but there really isn't that much they can do with it. Either make it level 80-90, or make it "mid level" there really isn't any point.
another point is what haoppens when they put a level 90 zone next to a level 26 zone. will that level 90 aggro the level 26 from enough of a distance to cause an aggro gank? or will there be a GY that is close enough that just dying and respawning will cause a level 26 to have no chance of ever ressing? then comes teh fun of having no graveyard where one is needed because of this issue (kinda like how 2.2.2 added so many) and the other thing is: deathknights start at 45-50, which means that future "hero classes" may indeed be even higher as a starting zone thus making low level zones only useful for about 10 levels. again if WoW lasts that long.
Now it is currently a stopping block in the current reason flying mounts can't be in azeroth - simply because of all the deadzones they would have to remake. so the thing is even though you want the new zones, they'll have to code the areas to be ready for flying mounts if that ever comes to be, as well as have to force them to NOT be instanced like ghostlands/Azuremyst island, otherwise there will be no way to fly over them.
again what you are asking for isn't something as simple as just creating the zones, sure thats a challenge, but the real challenge is integrating it in so that it is both flyable and accessible.
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10-16-2007 @ 9:09PM
Adam said...
I don't mind the revamping current zones thing but as a lore buff I'd really like a lot of zones that should be there put into the game (like thge article said gilneas and mt hyjal but also places like grim batol and uldum).
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10-16-2007 @ 9:56PM
robodex said...
Oh my god, just open hyjal already. The map is already there. Just add mobs, NPCs and questlines. Geographically, the zone is done.
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10-16-2007 @ 10:50PM
dutchy said...
adding to #7, please do something about Uldum. Right now you finish Uldaman (a feat in itself given the vast difference in levels from the start to the boss), get the discs, travel to southern tanaris, and then it all just ends fairly abruptly.
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10-16-2007 @ 11:06PM
Jason said...
There are many areas in Azeroth now that are unfinished, the airport, azshara battleground, grim batol, timbermaw hold, gilneas, the list goes on and on.
They really need to finish the old world before they start making new ones.
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10-16-2007 @ 11:57PM
ladyshiva said...
I'd buy an "Azeroth Expanded" game. Fix up some empty zones, actually add end game 5 mans and raids back to Azeroth other than Kara (Still dying to run Uldum here!), and patch up the landscape so we can use our flying mounts. Shesh =/ You'd think they would have fixed the world they created first, before jumping to make new ones.
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10-17-2007 @ 2:16AM
Lassirra said...
Of course Blizzard sees a lot of players checking out the end-game action! The game's been out for about 3 years now, and much of the player base has been playing for a substantial amount of time. The game's lifespan (so far) alone works in favor of there being more activity in the later-level content. In addition, the mid-levels are transient. Even the most casual player will eventually leave that content behind as they progress through the game--whether they really want to or not. That doesn't mean that mid-level content should be neglected. I do think something should be added to spice up what has truly become OLD Azeroth. While the changes to leveling speed in the upcoming 2.3 patch are nice, it doesn't fix the problem. It just makes it easier to get past it. As someone who prefers exploring and grinding over questing, I would definitely be in favor of new zones. But I do realize I'm a minority in my love for grinding and general distaste for questing, so simply adding more quests to old zones would likely please more people overall.
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10-17-2007 @ 3:12AM
Enaress said...
I'm still waiting to see if they will add things like Uldum, Grim Batol, that area south of Shadowfang Keep behind the gate, etc. Stuff they forgot.
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10-17-2007 @ 8:10AM
Metaphyzxx said...
Well, on the "more people at 70" note, the main reason you see so many 70's is because that's where all the content goes. Realize, we're excited about the prospect of being able to BLOW THROUGH Vanilla WoW, beacuse all of the good content is in outland. Remember, most people don't touch Azeroth after going to Outland, save for Necessity or for Kara. Yet, look at how many people are excited about new content in Dustwallow...
I say fill in some of the more spartan zones with more quests or quest lines... Desolace, Azshara, Searing Gorge, Blasted Lands. Maybe give us a new zone with mixed level content... I'd love to see what's in Grim Batol or Gilneas.
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10-17-2007 @ 8:14AM
Metaphyzxx said...
#6. You must play a horde character, because what you're describing is the gap between Redridge Mountains (lvl 15-26) and Burning Steppes (55-60). Allies deal with that pretty darn early.
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10-17-2007 @ 9:03AM
Caribbean said...
Gilneas would be sweet. Add quests and maybe an instance in there, put it for 40-50 level characters.
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10-17-2007 @ 9:06AM
ThorinII said...
I agree. They need to finish the areas they started before creating new ones. I don't have a problem with the old zones, just the lack of original content. I wouldn't even mind the messenger quests so much if they fixed the existing zones and let us fly our own mounts to get where we need to go. Even if we had to continue taking boats between continent because of sea storms or something. Being able to fly direct routes from zone to zone would help a LOT. Heck, it might even help if they made the public flight routes more direct. Why can't those things fly in straight lines anyway???
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10-17-2007 @ 9:33AM
FireStar said...
ill do my part an immediately start levelling my low levels once 2.3. Lets flood the old content!!! Maybe i'll actually be able to get a low level group again! :)
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10-17-2007 @ 10:10AM
Malyfactian said...
@15
Tirisfal Glades/Western Plaguelands is an even bigger gap (1-10 / 50-58).
I say, finish the empty zones. The incompleteness & inaccessibility of Gilneas, Grim Batol, Uldum, Hyjal, etc. leaves big gaps in lore, for people who actually care about that sort of thing. If Blizzard didn't want to make these zones playable, they shouldn't have included them in the game at all. The game just looks and feels unfinished because of it.
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10-17-2007 @ 10:40AM
jtrain said...
While I would LOVE to see flying mounts in old Azeroth, I really think it's a pipe dream. Consider that it's not just undeveloped zones you'd need to worry about. What about places like Zul-Farrak? Isn't that open to the sky? How would they deal with that? Put a roof over the whole thing? PVP realms would also be a nightmare. I can already see the group of 12-year old lvl 70's on their netherdrakes one-shotting lvl 20's in the Barrens. That zone is a nightmare as it is. Flying mounts would make it unbearable.
In short, revamp old zones = thumbs up. Flying mounts in Azeroth = not likely.
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