In October of 2008, Argent Dawn healers positioned themselves in all the major cities of Azeroth. The healers' warnings sounded apocalyptic: A new invasion was on its way, they said, and the heroes of this world must take heed or bend to the will of the Lich King. A little later, when contaminated grain boxes appeared on the roadside, disaster took its course. The undead scourge brought its plague upon the cities of the world, turning players into plague zombies within ten minutes - which in turn could infect other players.
Table of Contents1
. The iconic pre-event of Wrath of the Lich King2. What makes a good pre-event in WoW?3. Wish events for Shadowlands: death comes to Azeroth4. For the Forsaken. And for the living.5. Battle for Azeroth's Epic FarewellWrath of the Lich King's Iconic Pre-Event
Whileboth players and Argent Dawn healers were able to cure the plague, over time the effectiveness of player healers diminished noticeably. This meant that the Argent healers were left as the only way to remove the disease. Not stupidly, the infested zombie players thus besieged the healers, making it extremely difficult for the brave heroes to rid themselves of the plague. The result was extinct capitals filled only with the shuffling and groaning of the zombies. Small player camps gathered in far-flung hamlets, such as Arathi and the Stoneclaw Mountains, as one would actually expect in the event of a zombie invasion! In the grand finale, when the capitals were even attacked by undead dragons and monstrosities, the players rallied one last time and drove the Scourge back into the sea. Every single champion who played WoW during this time was shown the threat of the Lich King in an absolutely spectacular way, and at the same time given motivation to make the long journey to Northrend - without a half-baked intro quest along the lines of "Champion, we need your help! Carry this crate of bear butts to Northrend so our troops can celebrate National Butt Day!"
03:21WoW: Wrath of the Lich King Cinematic Trailer World of Warcraft from €14.99
What makes a good pre-event in WoW?
Of course, there was also a small drawback, because the plague brought public life in Azeroth to a complete standstill. Flight masters were killed, shopkeepers died like flies and a normal WoW everyday life was unthinkable. Dungeons and raids became a side issue, as just getting there became a gauntlet of unwanted PvP - and to make matters worse, enemies often outnumbered players by a ratio of one to twenty! Many players complained that they could no longer enjoy their hobby as the world literally ended around them. However, this is exactly what makes the Plague so good and made it go down in the history of Azeroth as a legendary ultra-pre-event: We got to feel firsthand what it meant to take on the Lich King. Not through a dozen easily ignored quests and a pet given out as a consolation prize afterwards, but through a massive attack that really affected every inhabitant of Azeroth. All the events after that were nice, but rather mediocre. A dragon making the elements go nuts, or occupying through an alternate timeline full of orcs who know how gears and gunpowder work, is only half as great if there are no real consequences. So let's get to our pipe dream: we want a pre-event for Shadowlands that is as devastating as the zombie plague was back in the day. We want big changes and drama! We want to be blown out of our current rut and really intimidated! We need drastic experiences that hurl us into the shadowlands in an appropriately dramatic way - the damn sky has burst, so make us obligingly clear that from this point on things will absolutely never be the same again!
Having just
used
upour year's supply of exclamation points, we let our imaginations
run wild:
We'll construct a few wishful pre-events that will be quite a sight to behold. As mentioned earlier, we're putting a special emphasis on an impactful experience that will jolt players out of their daily grind and cause an uproar on the servers. Of course, we avoid silly things like "Whoever dies gets their character deleted!" - the purpose of a pre-event is to be fun through increased drama rather than drama through decreased fun. Feel free to tell us if you have any ideas for cool pre-events, because the current WoW (buy now 14,99 € ) can use a little variety. So grab your Cinderbringer and take your Spirit Healer by the hand, because the upcoming Death Safari is going to be wild. During our personal super event in WoW, massive waves of undead attacks would make the two capitals uninhabitable for a long time. Source: buffed
Table of Contents1
. The iconic Wrath of the Lich King pre-event2. What makes a good pre-event in WoW?3. Wish events for Shadowlands: Death comes to Azeroth4. For the Forsaken. And for the living.5. Battle for Azeroth's Epic FarewellWish Events for Shadowlands: Death Comes to Azeroth
Imagine:After Sylvanas destroys the Crown of Dominance, nothing happens for a while. The wound in the skies of Northrend sparkles ominously, but in time normalcy returns. Then the disaster begins, as a strange silence spreads: Your music is replaced in all zones by a faint whisper that drips steadily from your speakers. The sky gradually darkens until the maelstrom you normally see in the black and white world after your death is clearly visible in the sky. Spirits begin to appear in the capitals, faintly and barely visible at first. Over time, however, the apparitions grow stronger and eventually become elite enemies that must be removed in a concerted effort every now and then, or you run the risk of being attacked by an invisible enemy on your way to the blacksmith. If you die, the way back to your body is suddenly much harder, because you have to fight your way through a dozen of the enemies you defeated within the last hour. When every soul ends up in the maw sooner or later, a warm body is suddenly a tempting target for ghosts! Should you not manage to return to your body because you die or can't find the way, there is still the possibility to visit the spirit healers. They now reveal themselves as Kyrians and try to remove your revival sickness, but there are complications. The maw tears at your soul, making the revival sickness twice as bad. Only a small quest for the Kyrians can remove the disease by enlisting the help of the Soul Judge. Not a big collect or kill quest, but just performing a small ritual or helping revive souls whose time has not yet come. Later, the phantoms haunting the capitals are replaced by swirling portals that always spew a plethora of ghosts into the capitals at a certain hour. Once the flow has been pushed back (for example, by defeating ten thousand ghosts), the champions themselves enter the Shadowlands and take out one of the Jailer's army leaders. After that, the activity in the cities returns to normal until the next attack. A variant for a great event would be the recapture of one's own body - whoever dies has to defend himself against the ghosts of his last victims. Source: buffed We summarize: The altered sounds and colors make for a queasy feeling, while the sporadic attacks by strong enemies in the main cities interrupt the daily hustle and bustle, but don't bring it to a halt. Meanwhile, death becomes something unpleasant for players again, as you are confronted with the consequences of your actions: The more and the stronger enemies you kill, the harder the way back to life becomes. The slap on the wrist in the form of the resurrection disease and subsequent quests is also unpleasant and will make for grumbling players, but won't destroy entire gamer evenings. The big break in your WoW routine will be the regular ghost invason, which turns all capitals into war zones for twenty minutes to half an hour. Afterwards, everyone involved will receive a new transmog enchantment for their weapons and items with a crisp new item level. Let the pre-event run for around two to three weeks and you'll enter the Shadowlands with an event that is still relatively harmless, but memorable for the death mechanics that have been altered in interesting ways.
Table of Contents1
. Wrath of the Lich King's iconic pre-event2. What makes a good pre-event in WoW?3. Wish events for Shadowlands: death comes to Azeroth4. For the Forsaken. And for the living.5. Battle for Azeroth's Epic FarewellFor the For
saken.And for the living.
While we previously focused on the Shadowlands and Ghosts aspect, now it's the turn of the consequences of an unleashed Scourge. Imagine this: From one moment to the next, all communication with the outposts in Northrend breaks down. No portals work anymore, no mage can teleport to Northrend. If you travel by ship, you will reach phasing zones that show destroyed outposts and a sea of undead (as always, the bronze dragons provide relief for new players). The last messages reaching the faction leaders contain only three words: "The dead are coming." After a few days, ships and zeppelins reach the capitals, which are so packed with refugees that the transports barely move. The badly injured survivors speak of an unleashed Scourge, and many of the refugees stare at you with a blank ten-thousand-mile stare as they keep repeating the phrase "There must always be a Lich King." Small quests, mostly centered around caring for the wounded and broken, introduce the event. Meanwhile, all hell breaks loose in the Eastern Plaguelands as the Silver Hand fights side-by-side with the Knights of the Black Blade. The conflict that arose between the two orders during Legion is forgotten, as now it's a matter of sheer survival. In hourly quests, players beat back one undead wave after another. Day after day, the attacks grow stronger until they can no longer be dealt with purely mechanically. The Eastern Plaguelands fall to the Scourge. What was previously a place of slow healing turns into an absolute pandemonium of shoulder-to-shoulder skeletons and zombies.
It doesn't matter if they are undead or ghosts, the main thing is to end the world:We plead for an undead attack in WoW so big that the horizon darkens!
Source: buffed
Then come the dead, for the Plaguelands were only a foretaste. Stormwind and Orgrimmar are overrun by undead that rise from the sea, draped in seaweed. The entire Scourge stomped into the northern sea for weeks, along the seabed and directly into the capitals. Bolvar Fordragon leads his four horsemen into battle, side by side with his daughter Taelia Fordragon. The circumstances could be better, but the meeting of the two is touching and elicits a positive emotion from Bolvar for a long time. Just as in the Eastern Plaguelands, the quest-based waves of attacks grow in intensity until public life in the cities collapses and the undead win - this time without phasing! In a lengthy quest series, Stormwind and Orgrimmar are evacuated, causing the capitals to shift to Exodar and Silvermoon for the duration of the event. While the draenei, steeled by their victory against the Legion and supported by their light-forged brothers and sisters, hold the fort, Silvermoon is prepared for war and the Death Lane is closed with a massive force field. The blood elves have a score to settle with the Scourge, and now it is up to them to protect their Horde friends. A magical link is established between the two cities, and the Alliance and Horde confer to form a plan. The Gem of the Crown of Domination is still intact (as we see in the trailer of Shadowlands) and is to become the centerpiece of a new artifact to control the Scourge: the "Scepter of Domination". Both factions equip their armored airships, so the "Orgrimms Hammer" and the newly constructed "Skyfire" make their grand entrance. Calia Menethil is finally the one who, together with the champion, puts the crystal in the staff after a hard fight on the summit of Icecrown. The moment Artha's sister (as a light-forged undead) raises the scepter, the Scourge is destroyed: All non-reasoning undead burst into golden flames in a beautiful spectacle reminiscent of Arthas' speech in the intro to Wrath of the Lich King. Following this, Calia gently places the now useless scepter on the melting throne and nods to Bolvar, saying, "For the Forsaken. And for the living." The Forsaken, like the Knights of the Black Blade, are finally free. Calia also finally made her grand entrance, legitimizing her in the eyes of the Forsaken players not as a dark queen, but as a light one. Calia's gaze then wanders to the wound above Icecrown Citadel and hardens. It's time to judge the traitor queen.
Story-wise, a conclusion to the Scourge story and the final recapture of Icecrown would be an excellent choice for the events leading up to WoW Shadowlands - including Calia's participation, please!
Source: buffed
Let's be clear: an event of this magnitude would be absolutely impossible to implement. Unlike the previous event, this one would completely change the game for weeks before it returns to the WoW we all know. For a lot of players, that would be too much change at once, so the forums would collapse with complaints. Meanwhile, the concept of quests that are child's play at first and then massively increase in difficulty over time would be a nice innovation that would get players out of their usual rut. All in all, this is an event primarily driven by its story, which should shock us and bring us closer to the history of Azeroth. Most importantly, Sylvanas' actions would come with real consequences that aren't removed by simple phasing - at least for a few weeks. Perhaps the most important point, however, is to pick up the player and prepare them for the expansion and the characters acting there through dramatic twists and impactful experiences. Characters like Calia Menethil have only been allowed to adventure in novels and short stories so far. Hey Blizzard: If you're going to set a Lightforged Undead as Queen of the Forsaken and make her a main character in the next expansion, let her do things in the actual game! We want a strong queen! We want to have explained what makes light-forged undead so special! And we especially want to be catapulted into the Shadowlands with an event so bombastic that we retain whiplash from it. Shock us! Fierce!
Table of Contents1
. Wrath of the Lich King's iconic pre-event2. What makes a good pre-event in WoW?3. Wish events for Shadowlands: Death comes to Azeroth4. For the Forsaken. And for the living.5. Battle for Azeroth's epic farewellBattle for Azeroth's epic farewell
.Just like after the end of Legion, it's time to send the heart of Azeroth to the eternal hunting grounds with a dignified farewell. Imagine this: Your Heart of Azeroth is ringing up a storm. On the display, you see that it's Magni Bronzebeard. You're about to hang up the phone in frustration, but you get over yourself. You lift the Heart of Azeroth to your ear and get Mangi's panicked roar blown into your brain: Azeroth's sea level is rising, and Magni doesn't know why! Arriving at the Dark Coast beach, Magni greets you with a loud "Champion! Champion! CHAMPION!" You switch the Heart of Azeroth to super-turbo farewell mode and fire the damn thing far out to sea, where it blows up like bombs, showering everyone present on the beach with a gush of ice-cold water. You stroll out of the frame in slow motion, sunglasses on your nose and a cocktail in hand, while in the background Hamuul Runentotem leads Magni aside and slowly and patiently explains to him how the tide works. Afterwards, you'll receive a daily quest during which you can blow the heart of Azeroth to smithereens in a new and interesting way each time. Meanwhile, in front of the ruins of Lordaeron, a large marquee is set up where Horde and Alliance alike can beat the plague out of Nathanos Pestrufer, who is hung up like a piñata. Then the credits flicker across the screen and all the players clap.
Okay. All right. We admit that the last section wasn't entirely serious - but that doesn't mean it's not one of our absolute wish events for Patch 9.0! All joking aside, even if Battle for Azeroth was so far removed from Legion as an expansion pack that it doesn't even share the same zip code, the expansion deserves a worthy send-off. More importantly, though, we as players deserve a great prelude to Shadowlands. After all, the journey to Shadowlands and the hunt for Sylvanas should keep us busy for at least a year - and for that we need a good pre-event to spread an appropriately excited mood among the players.
We are looking forward to your suggestions. The wackier, the better!
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