Northrend needs to be more epic!
Northrend needs to be more epic!
I like the new content. I really do, but something about it makes it feel “same old, same old” which is kind of annoying.
First off, there’s the Horde arrival into Northrend. The most interesting of the two arrivals is Warsong Hold. The first thoughts on zoning into Borean Tundra can be summed up as “what the heck am I flying into?”. Then you feel a rush of excitement as you look around this really neat orc fort, then disappointment as it ends up being a lot smaller than it looked as you flew into it.
The Howling Fjord one is far worse, you essentially get off the zeppelin like you just arrived at Grom’gol. Boring.
Then there’s the little event that goes on at Warsong Hold. Riflemen appear at the front gate, and waves of flying spider nerubians begin charging the front gate, only to be mowed down by the riflemen. That’s a pretty pointless attack, and only cool for the first 3 waves, then it goes on for another 8 or so.
Vengeance Landing has an event triggered by a quest, where Keleseth from Utgarde Keep shows up with some Vrykul and annihilates some Forsaken archers. Other than that, it’s a pretty safe town.
This pales in comparison to Hellfire Peninsula, where when you first zoned in, you were greeted by a battle going on between the Burning Legion and Horde and Alliance forces. Then when you arrived at your faction’s city, it was being pummeled on occasion by Infernals.
Northrend doesn’t have anything like that, so it’s not as cool aside from the better designed areas. So to beef up the Horde arrivals:
For Warsong Hold, change the way the nerubians attack the town. Make swarms of ground forces attack the front gate, and make the flying nerubians attack through the zeppelin port holes. Move the marksmen inside, and make them fight in there. Also make the attacks happen more often. That way, when you fly into Borean Tundra on the zeppelin, it’s not just a “what am I flying into” feeling, it’s also a “oh crap, we’re under attack” feeling, which seems to be the general thought imposed by the beginning quests.
For Vengeance Landing… Seriously, we should ride a boat in.
Hear me out: First off, there’s the really awesome looking new Forsaken boats. It’d be cool to see them get some real use. Second, it fits the situation at Vengeance Landing better. The Alliance are attacking the Forsaken Naval fleet with a naval fleet of their own. It seems odd to land in Howling Fjord on a zeppelin when there’s actually a naval battle going on. (Aside from the fact that it’s probably safer, but hey, who cares about safe) Put a dock in Tirisfal somewhere (clear out some of those murlocs up north?), and allow Horde players to ride a Forsaken vessel into Howling Fjord, that gets attacked by cannon fire on the way to the dock. Make it more epic!
My thoughts on other cities can be summed up as: Where’s the war? A lot of cities talk about a war going on between this group and that, but there really isn’t anything visible going on.
A good example of an actual battle being fought is Wyrmrest Temple. It’s awesome with the blue dragons constantly flying in and attacking. The same should go for other cities though.
Venomspite in Dragonblight should be constantly getting attacked by groups of Scarlet Onslaught from New Hearthglen.
Taunka’le should be getting swarmed by scourge forces, both Nerubian from the west, and the necromancers and such from the north east.
Agmar’s Hammer should be getting attacked by the nerubians that have taken over Icemist.
New Agamand should be seeing attacks from the vrykul or Alliance on occasion.
These cities talk about being attacked or fighting a war against a certain faction, but they actually feel peaceful. Northrend should be a place where battles are constantly being fought.
Add some fight and some excitement to this expansion Blizzard!
Filed under: World of Warcraft