« Project Lore WotLK Beta Week 2 Wrap Up | Main | It Be Pirate Day In Azeroth an' Outland! »

Designing A Dungeon - PvP Racing Raid

What could be behind this door?

Last week my planned piece was interrupted by news of the awesome Heirloom Items.  The article was almost further delayed by International Talk Like A Pirate Day, but Juggynaut handled that topic.  So without further delay is my first Designing A Dungeon post.

The goal of these posts is to try to come up with creative dungeon ideas, from a gameplay stand point.  Feel free to link in any boss fight designs, lore, art aspects or things of that nature, I will simply be speaking from a overview gameplay standpoint.  That also means that these dungeon ideas won't be concerned with petty details like “guild ruining”, just creative semi-original designs.  If you have encountered a dungeon like the one I am talking about in another game (or perhaps the Wrath of the Lich King beta), by all means mention it!

PvP Racing Raid


I thought of this dungeon shortly after Blackwing Lair was released and yet it still has not been implemented anywhere I know of.  Players who dislike blending of PvE and PvP probably won't be a big fan of this design but I think it sounds like a lot of fun.

The idea is to have a short, linear, indoor, raid instance.  For the sake of the instance's longevity it should be created to be the hardest instance in the game for sometime.  Therefore, it would have to be a launch instance or part of a large content patch.

After downing the “end boss” players will be able to open a gate into a giant PvP Arena - think the Coliseum - to fight an outdoor raid boss.  Here's the catch, the outdoor boss is outside the instance and actually an outdoor boss.  This encounter would naturally have a loot table that is a bit better than the instance and the boss should have a very large model.

The design basically forces raids to race to finish the instance as fast as possible so they can get to the outdoor boss.  The encounter with the outdoor boss would be designed to take a fair amount of time to complete.  This would promote the epic struggle of two or more raids going after the same boss, while having to deal with each other.  That kind of battle is the ultimate goal of the design.

The racing would definitely be an aspect that only very hardcore guilds would concern themselves with but I believe the hardcore deserve a little more “exclusive” content.

Reader Comments (30)

Need a layout area so that ppl can fill in the info more - give others an opportunity to review your ideas and then help with their input on certain situations... Nice Post though - i am intrigued to see what others will offer...

September 19, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterWhytebread

Are they able to constrain an "outdoor" area to prevent summoning or restrict it to those who were "flagged" as having completed the race instance?

If they can't; deal breaker in terms of a balance of force.

September 19, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterKorhel

Hey, ya that sounds like a cool idea and sparked an idea for me. Have the coliseum, but have a select 5 guilds, (I dont know how they would be picked) like underneath, where gladiators would be getting ready and whatnot, and have a series of mobs and boss fights, and the guilds would be racing to the middle, where there would be a gate that could only be opened after killing the last boss, which would lead to a chest of some sort, with some nice loot, or a larger boss with better loot. Just an idea.

September 19, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterJsmblades

What I'd like to see in an instance would be some Warcraft equivalent of racing cars. Like, say you had a time limit to get to -- or away from -- a place. You'd get inside the thing and then have to not only control the direction, but the speed as well. (Of course, there's no way I'd want it to be as difficult as the last 2 Dragonmaw flying quests are. *shudder*)

September 19, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAlayea

i like the actual race car idea. what about the whole "you don't have to be the fastest, but you cant be the slowest" idea. there could be like a 2+ person mount, and something chasing the group/raid. then people could shoot stuff at the other racers to try to preserve themselves.

September 19, 2008 | Unregistered Commentersandwix

This will be awsome.

September 19, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterBill

I'ld really like an instance that would make use of the seige weapons to bring the bosses down using presicious aiming and driving.Most of all,something that isn't as ordinairy as vanillawow,not just tank&dps&heal with some moving etc involved.

September 19, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterReyson

I think that a dungeon that was totaly different than anything else in the game would be realy cool. Of course, that's a really general statement, so let me give you an example. I have an idea for a dungeon that focuses on platforming gameplay. You could jump and maneuver from area to area, defeating mobs as you go. I haven't thought of many details, and i realize that this kind of dungeon wouldn't be fun for everyone, but i would be excited to see an instance with this kind of mechanic in it somewhere.

September 19, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterPurpleLemon

I would LOVE a dungeon where you could use the Siege Weapons, maybe the Scourge has made a HUGE undead monstrosity and plans to release it upon the Alliance and the Horde, however the monster cant be fought on foot, it would just crush people, so you have to get in a catapult/steam tank and have some people flying around and shooting at him, and instead of the normal way mobs attack, just running towards you and hitting you, you actually have to dodge what he throws/swings at you by moving out of the way. I personally would have immense fun flying round and shooting him and instead of everyone getting a catapult or tank of their own people could hop on the sides to help. This would take place in the arena place and below/around the sides of it would be the vehicles. What do you think?

September 19, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterDioxide45

or instead, at the start you pick your vehicle and have to race to the boss before he is released or something and the first person to get across the line gets his group fully ported in with the vehicle they're driving and have to kill him.

September 19, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterDioxide45

OK now I like the Idea of fast pased action so what about this as a 5 man inst.

COT, Battle for stormwind. - dont jump the gun you never go to SW!

OH no! your level 19 selves never actuly completed deadmines, instead the 'time twister char' (whom i will now call bob) has taken control of Vancleaf's PLot and instead of leting you methodicaly work your way through ganked and captured you as pets!

Van cleaf (unknowingly hosting Bob) and a small fleet he has perswaded to his cause now speed towards SW harbor with the intention to leave the city leveled.

The instance should start inside the main chamber of DM but without the boat ofc, and those big ass doors open to reveal ocean!

Here you meet Npc's simalar to those in hillsbrad whom are basicly a taxi ride to the fight. the story explained here too would be a good idea.

nb: at this point you can see the water rushing past the boat...

Ok dragon orbits the boat untill all 5 members are presrent then Y npc trys to sink the ship, they fail and mealry blows the rear cabin off.

Bording action: mhmm hole in the captins quarters, too tempting, all 5 grpies are droped off at this point.

you begin the first stage by opening the captins door, ( give the players a chance to get their bearings). also y npc should surjest comendeering this ship would be a good idea if only you could find another pair of hands.....

OK self 1 is on a lower deck, you must speak to and escort 'them up to the helm. here there should be the captin and boss 1.

ok escort completed, you get a chance to drink up do whatever before telling self 1 to crash this boat into vancleafs ship... SW must be saved at all costs!

(DM boat should come into veiw as well as wesfall coast Moveing at quite a speed untill...)

self 1 crashes the ship, no major damage however conviniantly the mast does fall down creating a hole in the side of ship 2 ( the one we all know from deadmines)

OK fairly linier path arround the inside of the boat , up one floor short inside section loooong outdoor section (cookies floor) where there should be smite and cookies planing to boil your alternate selves inot stew

(these two should apper to have shadow form to reckognizes there new mistirous powers as well as vancleaf.... who should stand like agrual watching selves 2-5 get cooked into a stew

Ok a door opens allowing us to proceed further up, this should be a constant spiral with vaious chambers climbing the inside of the ship untill we reach the bridge of this ship and the evil vertion of cpt greenskin (large room at top with panoramic front veiws)

finaly after deafeating him two waves of trsh should charge into the room on vancleaf's order.

Then its just you and him >.> So vancleaf begins his brotherhood line only then to be cut off by the deep sinister voice of Bob

....who explains why SW deserves it and then disides if his minons cannot dispatch of you then it looks like you shall have to do it himself....mabe even a melodramatic laugh

There is however i feel one final twist that would make it soo complete, is if you got the freeze frame speack then a teleport back to "old DM" with an invisiblity buff.

You watched yourselves loot the corpse BUT we see npc y emote placing the letter on his body, with mabe a one liner like " well, wouldnt want them getting away with it now would we" or "mhmm it would seem your destiny is to vital to be left without this..." they find the letter and run off. at this point the invisiblity buff wears off and the players are left to their own devises stood over vancleaf's corpse =D

I feel that an instance like this could be so much fun! oh and as far a loot goes, what about ninjaing the good stuff from yourself ^^.

I mean common, didnt you always feel like there was somthink wrong about DM like there was more than met the eye about this place?

This is a rougth idea other bosses could include a shreder OFC , cannon/blastmaster X, splet cookie and smite up. let raczor actuly do smg... , other twists: you could die and become a spirt erly on and then you have 'another go' because an npc made a mistake. your past self could be executed but you meet yourselves there so you reach that same point from a diffrent direction after going back in time 5 mins to gain the extra time needed to save them.

I mean the possiblities with Cot instance saving a noobie vertion of yourself is just awsome....

September 19, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterDprower

I myself think that a dungeon that requires the horde and alliance to team up to complete would be an awesome thing...have a 10 man dungeon to start both the horde and the alliance start at there own portals but have areas that would be pvp specific.
Say u down the first boss the game randomly grabs the highest dps from both teams who must then compete to claim a special chest or loot.(or have it randomly pick any class as long as it balanced)
Once the pvp section is over after bosses make an area where both teams must work together to down a 20 man raid boss(make it possible to chat on both teams in dungeon only)
Then after the raid boss is downed equal loot for both sides...open an area that can be a 10v10 battle royal...all pvp before 10v10 will not result in death more of a duel effect.
And for the effort of 10v10 special pvp loot for the winner of the battle..(As for balanced fight..maybe a buff that makes all players equally equipped with with the exact same special pvp armour(dungeon only armour buff)..
Just a crazy idea.....
But man that would be fun

September 19, 2008 | Unregistered Commentergg

I think ited be sweet to have a dungeon lets say you enter like a cave and as soon as you enter you get a debuf that allows you to breath under water for les say an hour and a half and then you drop down into a small pool of water and get sucked into like an underground lake where you cant go to the top then ited be a whole dungeon with the naga

September 19, 2008 | Unregistered Commentersketon

Maybe they could add something similar to that were guilds go into the ciliseum and take turns at waves of mobs each wave would get harder and harder to see which guild could last the longest and at the end have a very good loot otr they could turn it into one of the new achievement awards.

September 19, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterDimak

How about several groups (teams in this case) went into different entrances of the instance and the team that got to the end first would get to fight the outdoor boss?

September 20, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterUltimateWolf

Or instead of teams it could be horde and/vs ali to get to the boss?

September 20, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterUltimateWolf

A town for each faction has the entrence to the dungeon located within. After the 10-man raid zones in, they find themselves in a system of underground caverns crawling with trash mobs and a couple of boss fights. They encounter the last boss of the caverns in a chamber scattered with ruins of another civilization, the centerpiece being a large door behind the boss. After a challenging battle against this boss, the door opens and reveals a portal, though no one can go through until they have looted the item off of the boss that will allow passage.

Once through the portal, they find themselves in a large area covered by a magical dome overhead that not only keeps others out but keeps everyone else inside, making a summons into the area impossible. Trash mobs are abound as they carry items needed to unleash the very large boss being held in stasis. Oh, and then there is the possibility of a raid from the opposite faction being here as well, should they have cleared up to this point.

A graveyard is present here and will allow you the luxury of a corpse run back to rejoin the battle. That is, until either faction releases the boss. Once that happens, only the faction that released the boss can respawn at the graveyard. The others, once dead again, will find themselves way back at the world graveyard.

The boss, once unleashed, will attack everything and everyone, but only the faction who unleashed him will share in the spoils should he be defeated. The other faction, until they are defeated, is free to hinder those who have claimed the boss.

September 20, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterClaxo

Isn't your idea a bit flawed since lets say when a member of any guild gets to the outdoor raid instance its theres and no one else can claim it so what if a guild just get lets say a rogue to scout ahead and claim the outdoor instance seems a bit unfair wouldn't you say so

September 20, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAnanun

I continue to wonder why there isn't an underwater instance in the game. Players could be given a 1hr buff that forces them to move quickly(unless they have scrolls or a warlock or something) and then move deeper and deeper into a huge water filled pit or something.

Water combat has always interested me because of the fact that it is three dimensional, in the way that you can have enemies above and below you instead of just in front and to the sides of you.

September 20, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterDaniel Swiecki

Another good idea, Would be to start it with a Que. Have 2 endgame guilds Que a 10 man raid into it. or 25, whichever. And then they all zone in against another, or multiple other raids. This way they race to the content, and create a FAIR competition to get to the end boss. Also, this would enable the "Arena" to be a locked area, unavailable to summons.

September 20, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterEuthanize

I think, this isn't a new idea or anything. But they should allow you to do instance dungeons, nnot raids, on heroic. Like I personally love deadmines and Stockades and SFK and etc, but after a certain level its pointless. So you should be able to do them, not all epics because they're only 5 man instances, not even raids, but just for fun.

September 20, 2008 | Unregistered Commenteralex fugate

i think there should be an under-magma raiding instance, which would require the use of special siege equipment to breach an under-magma fortress. The breaching of the Outer shell must be extremely coordinated, due to the fact that this fortress must withstand enormous pressures and heat. Once breached, the raid must move on towards the inner core, where they proceed to fight waves of mobs. they will eventually get to a huge dragon encased within hardened magma, and release him. they would proceed to riding him out of the volcano into the night sky, where they would have cannons on the dragon, that would fire a raider onto the traveling phoenix traveling over azeroth, provided that they fire close enough to land on it. they would place ropes once on the phoenix, once enough ropes are in place, the raiders will reel in the phoenix and bring it back to the volcano, where it would be forced to bring the final boss, which would need the special siege weapons to be defeated.
Original enough?

September 20, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterShadyblack

I know WOTLK is creating a new branch of the scarlet crusade called the scarlet onslaught but i think another SM themed instance would be great, i really dont know what you could do in it but you were also asking for lore ideas, i mean i think a 25 man raid on a scarlet citadel would be amazing, maybe some raid only mounted combat for cool factor and then you fight your way through weak low level scarlet initiates towards some elite low level captains, and so forth till you reach the leader of the citadel. I think in the expansion we should have the feeling of being heroes, since we will be taking down the lich king after all i think thats pretty heroic and legendary. So i think destroy maybe a roundabout of 100 lvl 60 scarlet initiates non elite against your raid of 25 mean would be pretty cool, but you know this would probably be either too easy or too hard. but i think the main point that should be put across in the expansion is that our "adveturers" are finally heroes not just guys that go exploring dungeons for gear but legends in the game. i think if you take down arthas your guilds tabard should be displayed somewhere in all the major cities in a special zoned area like the valley of heroes in SW.

September 21, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterChronosai

@ Dioxide45: Siege vs. Deathwing? Check! Or atleast i'd like to see that, tbh.

At any rate, these are all excelent ideas, blizz should definitively venture into some more complex raiding and/or regular 5-man instances as the current recycled bosses are really getting old.

I'm thinking dungeons will keep their linearity, some people already get lost in Kara. But all Blizz is doing is modifying bosses. From what i've seen in WotLK so far, i liked the "ambush" type of encounter, they should explore more in terms of random encounters.

September 21, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterFidel Castor

a boss for a 10man, that casts very powerful AoE and single target lightning spells. The fight would have 2 real phases, basically repeating once.

It would start with him moving around the room, stopping only to cast spells, if someone is on him in melee range, he will contine to move. At some point, if he has been moving too long, he will start channeling an uninterputable AoE that extends slightly out of melee, in which melee would move out.

Once he reaches 75%, he will summon a "Gaurdian". The gaurdian can and should be tanked normally, but the boss will continue to move around the room. Any damage the boss recives is redirected to the Gaurdian, until the gaurdian falls.

After the guardian goes down, phase one continues until 50%, at which he will summon 2 Gaurdians, and allow less time inbetween his AoE channel. If you are unable to kill both gaurdians within a few (2 or 3) minutes, he will summon another gaurdian, and continue doing so until all gaurdians are dead.

After this, the boss will be exhausted (think curator) and will take increased damage, not move, and not cast, dealing regular melee dps for the remainder of the fight.

September 21, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterecca

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>