Hidden Wrath site discovered in Blizzard newsletter
by Dan O'Halloran 
Nov 1st 2007 at 11:27AM
On this special page is an extensive exploration of how the Warcraft team designed the Northrend 5-man instance, Utgarde Keep in the Howling Fjord zone. First they delve into the story elements that ramp up to your introduction to the "impenetrable fortress in the side of a mountain." Upon arriving by boat to Daggercap Bay, you will see the damage wrought by the enormous, native Viking race and their proto-dragon mounts.
Overland quests from there will tell the story of how these Vrykul have used Utgarde Keep as a staging area to wage a battle against what they see as an invading force of Alliance and Horde.
The page goes on to explain other design decisions that will play out in Utgarde: as a "starter" dungeon, it's designed to be finished quickly; it will be more mission based due to the popularity of Old Hillsbrad and Black Morass in Burning Crusade; and you will get glimpses of the end boss before finally encountering him.
The developers also talk about other lessons learned from Burning Crusade that they are applying to Wrath. The Hellfire Peninsula experience has taught them to give players a choice of two starter areas, while the Heroic dungeon experiment has led them to incorporate new bosses and new playable areas to the Heroic versions of Wrath instances.
The article is fascinating combination of a behind-the-scenes look at game design and a sneak peek at what lies ahead in one of Northrend's first instances. Plus, new artwork!
If all this talk of Utgarde Keep has you drooling for more ,check out our previous coverage of the instance with our articles on our first impressions based on Blizzcon demo play, our analysis of the 5-man map and bosses and a video of gameplay also from Blizzcon.
[Thanks Calypso for the tip!]
Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Instances, Expansions, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
superfrank Nov 1st 2007 11:38AM
BUT BUT BUT
I don't want WOTLK to come out because I'm nowhere near finishing TBC!!
pkitty Nov 1st 2007 12:17PM
This has been the most exciting news for WotLK. Lots of lore, questing, and inter-weaving storylines. Bravo!
braydn Nov 1st 2007 1:17PM
don't worry #1, WotLK won't be out for at least 8-9 more months, you've got plenty of time....
Ian O'Rourke Nov 1st 2007 1:38PM
Plenty of time. It's going to be a while. Probably Christmas 2008 knowing Blizzard.
Paul Nov 1st 2007 1:52PM
i finally got my main into outland about 6 weeks ago, and am still at level 65, but i am amazed at how well everything is layed out- old azeroth has become a pain to level alts through by comparison.
but if they are learning what worked and didn't from TBC, and i like that SO much better, I can only imagine how awesome WotLK will be
Bunkai Nov 1st 2007 4:55PM
It would be nice if they would go back and put their new-found knowledge to use in "correcting" the problems with quest direction and solid story-line development in Azeroth. I mean going through Outlands is a night and day difference from Azeroth quests, and I mean that in a good way.
I feel that they are taking the cop-out by just making Azeroth go by faster for all the new players. More XP from kills, smaller gaps between levels, etc. These kinds of fixes are just band-aids to cover the wound that will seemingly never heal.
It's great that they are building on their understanding of what players want and which content appeals the most to people, but IMO... the Old World of Azeroth needs some lovin' in a meaningful way. Otherwise, just let everyone roll at level 58 and do away with it altogether. That's not much different than pushing everyone into the express lane anyway.
J Nov 2nd 2007 3:28PM
@6
Why would Blizzard spend countless time and money to update Azeroth? It would BARELY benefit them at all. It's exactly why they aren't doing any major overhauls to Azeroth. It would be a waste of resources.
dpak Jan 3rd 2008 3:35PM
Because it would give more repeat play potential for those who have been in the game for a long time.
If you already have three 70s, you loath leveling another, to try a diff build/class/race.
if there was more quality injected to the old world, you would not mind it, heck might even look forward to it.
That way, you get NEW content with out leaving wow, and giving you monthly fee to someone else.