Tipster Dinnerbone threw us a bone (sorry, couldn't resist) by sending us information on the starting-to-bustle Underbelly of Dalaran. Whereas old builds of the Wrath Beta saw very little in this part of the magical city, the latest build revealed little changes that indicate that the Underbelly could very well shape up to be the funner side of Dalaran.

For one thing, the bottles that used to be scattered all over the place were once low-level potions but were now called Underbelly Elixirs. Drinking one -- and you really should be careful about drinking magical concoctions found discared in the sewers -- can create three known effects. One effect turns the imbiber into a wasp, which is pretty cool except that Dalaran itself is a no-fly zone and instantly zaps the user back into her original form. Using it in the Underbelly lets the player buzz around as a wasp for ten minutes, though.
Another effect will turn the imbiber into a naked Tuskarr with a +50 bonus to Fishing skill. The buff lasts 10 minutes, although it only works in Dalaran... so I'm not quite sure what you can do with +50 Fishing there. The last known buff will say that "You had always heard that this was "The City of Mages" but this is ridiculous!" and display everyone as a Mage in classic Netherwind regalia.

Useless buffs? Pretty much. But they're fun as heck, even though I couldn't test them myself as my Beta client kept crashing every time I went into the Underbelly. I always said I enjoyed what Blizzard was doing to make things interesting for players. It's little touches like these that make me feel that the game is special. I hope the Underbelly grows to be a truly bustling part of Dalaran... the darker flip side of the bright and glorious city. Kind of like the Troll Market in Hellboy II: The Golden Army or the Floating Market in Gaiman's Neverwhere. What's next? Weird foods? Silly arms and equipment? More Griftah goodness? There's so much potential for the Underbelly that I think I got excited for Wrath all over again. Check out dinnerbone's site for more elixir screenshots.

Tags: Dalaran, Humor, Potions, Underbelly, Underbelly-Elixir

Filed under: Humor, Wrath of the Lich King