The Next Expansion: Sacking A Town
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iTZKooPA on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 37 Comments Tags: Isle of Quel'Danas, PvE, PvP, cataclysm, game mechanics, new game mechanics, sacking a town, southshore, tauren mill, the next expansion
iTZKooPA on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 37 Comments Tags: Isle of Quel'Danas, PvE, PvP, cataclysm, game mechanics, new game mechanics, sacking a town, southshore, tauren mill, the next expansion 
Run Ma, It's A Hurricane!The Next Expansion is an ever growing series of articles that focuses on WoW's upcoming third expansion. The column covers news, speculation and even gameplay mechanics that PL's writers would like to see implemented.
The little quip about Southshore vs. Tarren Mill in yesterday's post was no accident. We've discussed the topic at length in the past and it continues to instill a sense of nostalgia whenever it is brought up. Unless you were trying to level during those days it was pure fun. Even most of the lowbies didn't mind, as they got to be a part of the battle (even if it was a small part) and a glimpse of the future. Occasionally the skirmishes became so large, and the resurrection timers so long, that one of the towns (often Tarren Mill due to level differences of the hubs) would be decimated. Crushed, destroyed, void of anything but the corpses of the fallen and the invaders who laid them to rest.
I've been waiting for a Blizzard sanctioned event since. No, I don't count Wintergrasp. What I want is the mix of PvP and PvE that the battles gone bye brought us. If one side dominated the other than it had an adverse affect on one's ability to continue questing in the area. Sure, the NPCs respawned quickly, but when the town was completely sacked they'd fall to another blade in a moment's notice. Not to mention that it was damn near impossible to be questing between the two towns without being ganked.
By binding a PvP/PvE area to the Honor system (sacking a town would give bonus honor to everyone involved) the system could be arbitrarily policed. Upon the battle's completion the town would take time to recuperate. With nothing to kill, and no honor to be gained the opposing faction would be forced to travel to some other land, giving the losers an opportunity to finish and turn in quests. Or they could always prepare a counter-attack.
Unfortunately some people would deem this as too hardcore, since your leveling could come to a crawl. So I'll present another scenario along the same lines that wouldn't be PvP oriented, but pure PvE. One that is a perfect application of Tabula Rasa's invading forces mechanic mixed into the speculated world event for WoW Cataclysm.
With the Naga invading local shorelines the citizens of the areas beg for help, anybody's help. Upon accepting your dispatch you are sent to various shores to clean up the invading forces, driving them back by the dozens. Despite our best efforts the sea beasts overrun the shorelines, pushing further and further in. As time progresses the bustling ports of Menethil Harbor, Southshore, Booty Bay and more are taken by the Naga. With our shipping and supply lines in peril the capital cities have no choice but to attack the Naga's home. It isn't until we breach their final defenses that the Naga swarm retreats back into the ocean to defend their Queen.
Think of it as a reverse Isle of Quel'Danas event. Instead of us opening up content by reclaiming the island, the invasion's progress (which would be an unstoppable force) would reveal new objectives. We'd start off with simple quests to collect information and slaughter the early cannon fodder. Then we would work our way up to Naga Officers (outdoor bosses), staging grounds (5-man dungeons somewhere on the shores) and naval combat (ship to ship battles against the Naga). The aquatic tyranny would not end until we have breached the Maelstrom and located the Naga hideout. The bosses and invading force would then return, leaving the land mostly intact.
What do you think? Would you rather the mix scenario or straight up PvE? Any other ideas out there for a return of TM vs SS style combat? At least these scenarios would finally make the Local Defense channel actually mean something.
Reader Comments (37)
As the naga is invading the lands, the citizens of Southshore is forced to retreat. The horde in Taren Mill see´s this as an oppurtunaty to take revenge on the Alliance, the Alliance has taken some of the towers that are broken in the area as shelter, while the Alliance is trying to take Tarren Mill over and rename it to New Southshore! People of both Alliance and Horde gets Quests to help thier faction in Defence/attack, and kill the invading Naga forces from the seas!
And it will be a daily of killing 20 Nagas and 10 Horde/alliance guys.
And sudently there is the Naga attack (with Q) and a new PvP thingy /with Q)!
i like his idea and about the naga invansion i'd be cool if u got capture and ur screen got foggy like u were druged after that u turn into a naga and u go on capturing ppl or stay out of harms way
You should work for blizzard :D i like ur idea but i think blizz should make it like when AQ came out and the whole server has to participate if they want to keep opening up the events and it would eventually lead to some sort of server wide event where everyone has a part to play in the fight :D just an idea
I like your idea, almost like the Scourge Invasion before Wrath of the Lich King! Anyways, I don't think Blizzard will make a PvE/PvP mix since all of their new stuff (mounts at earlier levels, spells at earlier levels, portals from Outland to capital citys etc etc) is level oriented (don't copy my spelling), because they want new players to come while the old players leave so they would keep a stream of new players coming and thereby secure the games future.
First of all: Love the ''The Next Expansion'' blog series, it brings us many ideas we have forgotten or simply never thought of.
Unfortunatly i don't think things like this will happen, Blizz is kinda slacking lately, or they're just silent untill BlizzCon.. They're (In my oppinion) Putting too much work on instanced stuff like BG's, arenas and raids.. The only progress they've had in open area combat lately was the Scourge Invasion, they gave the players a tool to arrange events like invasions on Goldshire and such, apart from that i don't think they've done much about it.. I like the Naga idea and quite frankly it would be nice.. But the problem about those things is that the hardcore guilds and players do it all too quickly.. It needs to be on it's own timeline, so that players can't do it too quickly.. And it most definatly needs an oppertunity for the lowbies to help.. Something to make them feel usefull. All in all, the post is great, good ideas, but i don't think Blizz is gonna do something like it..
-Lorcán
I do like all the talk about the next expansion but lets not forget that the current expansion still isnt finished! The last boss in the expansion (Arthas?) still hasnt been released
I love the idea of the reverse quel'danas event. I have wanted another epic story to unfold in front of me for quite some time in this game. This would be so awesome if it came to fruition.
@Kynd
I used to play on shadowsong i loved that server it was my home server forever ... until i quit =P but i still miss the game but ill get over it.
Am I the only one that thinks they are rushing the next expansion? Are they really trying to follow through with their "one expansion a year" plan? I'd rather have them draw it out a bit more and balance the classes before adding another 10 levels and a new continent. Hell, I haven't even gotten to see most of Ulduar and there is already a new raid on the way.
rancid@
the next expenchion is atleast 1 year away if blizzar fikkiws the pattern its not bad idea to get the ball rolling now just some scratches renember WOTLK was annouced more then a year before its realese by this time actauly
HMAGGGG!!!!
NAGA INVASION, URRRBODY RUNNN!!!!!
why are you people so excited for this new expansion, its not coming out for at least a good year or two, (but i do like the naga invasion, i love that idea!) if blizz is doing this like they did BC, then Arthas wont come for a while, he will be in patch 3.4 and then cataclysm will come out. As for the zone PvP , that sounds pretty cool, something like nagrand, yet totally different.but why South sshore and tarrenmill? why not the places in badlands?