The Caverns of Time... of the future!
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 8th 2007 at 10:47AM
Kermras of Khadgar wonders what I'm sure a lot of players have: what exactly is behind that boat in the Caverns of Time? Along with Escape from Durnholde, the Black Morass, and the currently unfinished Mount Hyjal instances in there, there's also a huge pirate-looking ship in there, with a portal that is "perhaps" (according to Drysc) going to be a future instance. Yup, one word. That's all he gave us.Fortunately for you, we're better at speculation than that. The Keepers of Time in front of the portal say the ship is a "Kaldorei vessel," which points directly to the Night Elves. Now, the Night Elves are not exactly a seagoing civilization, but there is one time in which lots of them perished at sea, and that's during the War of the Ancients and the ensuing fight over the Well of Eternity. I'll let Elizabeth give you the details in one of her great Know Your Lore features, but suffice it to say that Malfurion Stormrage (the greatest druid ever and Illidan's brother) stormed the old continent of Kalimdor to fight against the insane Aszhara and close the Well for good. In the process, the Well of Eternity was destroyed, Illidan did some evil stuff and escaped away, and lots of elves drowned (in fact, some of them became the Naga, and the Well itself became what we know of as the Maelstrom). So while we're not sure exactly what event the portal revolves around, it very well could be somewhere in there-- either fighting alongside Malfurion, helping Illidan escape (so we can fight him in the Black Temple), or helping the Kaldorei find their way out of the war to their current stomping grounds.
Still other guesses from players (about this and other upcoming instances in CoT) have to do with Illidan's treachery (any of it), the Theramore invasion fleet, or even a visit to the past of the Deadmines (lots of players want to see a pirate instance, I guess). Of course, there's always the chance that the Instance is just a placeholder, and that the boat is a red herring. Either way, Blizz has made it clear that the CoT is going to see a lot more action, wherever (and whenever) it takes place.
Filed under: Night Elves, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Instances, Expansions, Lore
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Stephen Mar 8th 2007 11:00AM
I thought that instance was supposed to be the PvP battleground for the Burning Crusade expansion until they moved it to the Netherstorm.
I'm all for Blizz adding new instances though.
jono123 Mar 12th 2007 3:53AM
lol same ere blizzard take ure time
Mokojin Mar 8th 2007 11:31AM
Lets have a Pirate BG!
Chris Mar 8th 2007 12:50PM
dude if this "future" instance isn't a starcraft instance i'm gonna quit WoW...
Zuuler Mar 8th 2007 11:42AM
I heard the same as #1, that this was going to be a battle ground set in the past, possibly war of the ancients, but that it was removed for some lore reason or something. Its been a while since I heard about this so my memory isn't clear.
Baluki Mar 8th 2007 11:51AM
Another possibility: it could detail the Highborne and their settling in Azeroth. Supposedly, they first hit land in Northwest Tirisfal (y'know...where there's a big blank spot on our maps right now) and many were driven mad by an ancient malevolent force from underground. I don't see how they would make that into a cool dungeon though, but they've amazed us in the past.
Turning the Well of Eternity battle into a dungeon would be extremely cool as well. We could fight alongside Malfurion, Tyrande, and Illidan (which would show people who've only played WoW that Illidan isn't just another evil boss monster to be looted) and maybe even the "future" characters from the War of the Ancients books, if that's now the official timeline, which I kinda doubt it is.
Zuuler Mar 8th 2007 12:00PM
Myabe a good way to round out the caverns of time would be a raid battle (like the planned battle of mount Hyjal) for the closing of the dark portal at the end of the second war. Fight along side, Danath, Turalyon, Alleria, and Khadgar as they close the portal. It could be like escape from durnholde too since you could see Hellfire Peninsula before it was destroyed by Nerzhuls portals.
Or maybe make it an AV type battle ground. Where alliance defend the portal, horde characters are tasked with defending Grom Hellscream and Kilrogg Deadeye as they lead their clans towards the portal in an attempt to escape.
Metaphyzxx Mar 8th 2007 12:10PM
I'm with #5 on this one, as it seems to make the most sense. Officially, we've already had the War of Ancients meddled with, temporally (read the books).
Of course, it could be a placeholder for a later x-pack, or event that hasn't yet taken place lore-wise as well.
Kyle Mar 8th 2007 12:21PM
#1: You are correct. The fourth wing of the Caverns of Time was to be a BG set during the Battle of Hellfire Peninsula in WC2 (when the Alliance Expedition pushed into Draenor).
Although an interesting idea, it, like #4 said, had some lore problems. We're supposed to be going back in time to fix things, but a BG would pit you against the other side, including whatever NPCs are sided with them. The Bronze flight would be crazy to let that happen.
Zuuler Mar 8th 2007 12:24PM
It would be cool to see an instance like Escape from Durnholde Keep where alliance characters are transformed into horde characters, like what happens to horde players when they go to that instance.
Maybe a battle in which you have to stop Nerzhul from warning the orc cheiftans to not drink the blood of Mannoroth. Or one where you have escort Guldan to the tomb of Sargeras and make sure he lives long enough to be destroyed by the crazed demons inside.
Zuuler Mar 8th 2007 12:34PM
@8
The same can be said about any other instance in the caverns of time. What happens if Thrall dies while escaping, or Medivh dies before the portal is opened? Or what happens if you lose the battle of Mount Hyjal? It would destroy the game as we know it, but nothing happens.
So having a battleground where one side could win and potentially change history would not be too far fetched, since the orcs could win control of the portal from the humans and end up destroying Azeroth only to reappear in tanaris (1 loading screen later) to turn in their quest.
Maybe a solution to this would be a combined horde/alliance battle ground. Where horde have a quest to complete, but can not interfere with the alliance quest, and vice versa. Horde has to help Grom escape from outland to azeroth, while alliance have to defent khadgar as he closes the portal. Mission accomplishment would be reliant on both sides completing their task. If the horde succeed in helping Grom escape to Azeroth, but the alliance fails to defend Khadgar, both sides lose and neither can consider their quest complete until they manage to accomplish both tasks in 1 battleground. Just make horde and alliance unable to attack each other, then maybe you could see cross-faction cooperation in completing these quests.
Kyle Mar 8th 2007 12:41PM
#10, that is true, I hadn't thought about that. And good idea there.
Metaphyzxx Mar 8th 2007 1:04PM
#12.. Can I have your stuff?
Mike Schramm Mar 8th 2007 3:59PM
#10 Zuuler, I thought that was weird, too. We wiped in Escape from Durnholde when I first tried it, and I frantically asked my guildies in the rest of the world if they were OK.
They said they were fine, so I figured that was just because we were going to rez and eventually beat the instance... and we did. :)
Dan Mar 8th 2007 5:05PM
"Perhaps" its a portal to an instance that ties WoW to the upcoming World of Starcraft.
Smithra Mar 8th 2007 5:37PM
@chris:
I'm pretty sure that "future" here refers to the development/release schedule rather than the contents of the instance. Although that would be a good way to initiate the marketing for World of Starcraft. Can't wait to get ganked by Ghosts when I'm at like 1/4 shields from killing zerglings for my quest.
Dience Mar 9th 2007 8:55AM
It leads to the secret of monkey island!
Zuuler Mar 9th 2007 9:26AM
I don't want to see world of starcraft. Spent too much time and money on WoW to start another one. Unless your WoW account can be linked with WoS so you are only paying one subscription fee, I am sticking with WoW.
Bubba Apr 23rd 2007 2:20PM
You now, the history of the war of te Ancients was changed already.... Brox, Rhonin and Krasus, I doubt that Bliz would do it again...