On this special page is an extensive exploration of how the Warcraft team designed the Northrend 5-man instance, Utgarde Keep in the Howling Fjord zone. First they delve into the story elements that ramp up to your introduction to the "impenetrable fortress in the side of a mountain." Upon arriving by boat to Daggercap Bay, you will see the damage wrought by the enormous, native Viking race and their proto-dragon mounts.
Overland quests from there will tell the story of how these Vrykul have used Utgarde Keep as a staging area to wage a battle against what they see as an invading force of Alliance and Horde.
The page goes on to explain other design decisions that will play out in Utgarde: as a "starter" dungeon, it's designed to be finished quickly; it will be more mission based due to the popularity of Old Hillsbrad and Black Morass in Burning Crusade; and you will get glimpses of the end boss before finally encountering him.
The developers also talk about other lessons learned from Burning Crusade that they are applying to Wrath. The Hellfire Peninsula experience has taught them to give players a choice of two starter areas, while the Heroic dungeon experiment has led them to incorporate new bosses and new playable areas to the Heroic versions of Wrath instances.
The article is fascinating combination of a behind-the-scenes look at game design and a sneak peek at what lies ahead in one of Northrend's first instances. Plus, new artwork!
If all this talk of Utgarde Keep has you drooling for more ,check out our previous coverage of the instance with our articles on our first impressions based on Blizzcon demo play, our analysis of the 5-man map and bosses and a video of gameplay also from Blizzcon.
[Thanks Calypso for the tip!]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-01-2007 @ 11:38AM
superfrank said...
BUT BUT BUT
I don't want WOTLK to come out because I'm nowhere near finishing TBC!!
Reply
11-01-2007 @ 12:17PM
pkitty said...
This has been the most exciting news for WotLK. Lots of lore, questing, and inter-weaving storylines. Bravo!
Reply
11-01-2007 @ 1:17PM
braydn said...
don't worry #1, WotLK won't be out for at least 8-9 more months, you've got plenty of time....
Reply
11-01-2007 @ 1:38PM
Ian O'Rourke said...
Plenty of time. It's going to be a while. Probably Christmas 2008 knowing Blizzard.
Reply
11-01-2007 @ 1:52PM
Paul said...
i finally got my main into outland about 6 weeks ago, and am still at level 65, but i am amazed at how well everything is layed out- old azeroth has become a pain to level alts through by comparison.
but if they are learning what worked and didn't from TBC, and i like that SO much better, I can only imagine how awesome WotLK will be
Reply
11-01-2007 @ 4:55PM
Bunkai said...
It would be nice if they would go back and put their new-found knowledge to use in "correcting" the problems with quest direction and solid story-line development in Azeroth. I mean going through Outlands is a night and day difference from Azeroth quests, and I mean that in a good way.
I feel that they are taking the cop-out by just making Azeroth go by faster for all the new players. More XP from kills, smaller gaps between levels, etc. These kinds of fixes are just band-aids to cover the wound that will seemingly never heal.
It's great that they are building on their understanding of what players want and which content appeals the most to people, but IMO... the Old World of Azeroth needs some lovin' in a meaningful way. Otherwise, just let everyone roll at level 58 and do away with it altogether. That's not much different than pushing everyone into the express lane anyway.
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11-02-2007 @ 3:28PM
J said...
@6
Why would Blizzard spend countless time and money to update Azeroth? It would BARELY benefit them at all. It's exactly why they aren't doing any major overhauls to Azeroth. It would be a waste of resources.
Reply
1-03-2008 @ 3:35PM
dpak said...
Because it would give more repeat play potential for those who have been in the game for a long time.
If you already have three 70s, you loath leveling another, to try a diff build/class/race.
if there was more quality injected to the old world, you would not mind it, heck might even look forward to it.
That way, you get NEW content with out leaving wow, and giving you monthly fee to someone else.