Breakfast Topic: New Old Heroics
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Apr 5th 2009 at 8:00AM
So we were randomly discussing lore and the like here in the WoW Insider offices yesterday, and Alex came up with what I thought was a pretty awesome idea. With Wrath, Blizzard's worked at subtly moving along the story of Warcraft, with for example, taking the Westfall Brigade away from a now peaceful Westfall to serve in Northrend. Of course, back in Westfall, young players can still get missions from Gyran Stoutmantle to cut off Van Cleef's head as if nothing had happen.
But what if, Alex posited, Deadmines had a heroic mode? And what if this heroic mode unlocked a story line? Sure, Van Cleef's dead, but in Heroic Deadmines, the Bloodsail have taken over. There could, of course, be similar ideas all down the line. Sure, you've cleared Scholomance of the Scourge, but now the Twilight's Hammer has moved in, and are working at summoning a massive corrupted water elementals from the impure waters of Darrowmere. You could even change the geography of the dungeon a bit for even more new ideas. Maybe assume that the new occupants did some "redecorating." Imagine the previous Scholomance idea, for example, end with the walls of Scholomance being busted open while a massive humanoid water elemental reaches in to try to slay your party.
I have to admit, it's a pretty awesome idea. It lets you reuse old content and continue old storylines and concepts, while still keeping things fresh with new factions, new enemies, and new layouts. So I thought I'd throw it out here. What new "heroic" storylines might you want to see for old dungeons?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Instances, Lore, Bosses
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
robert Apr 5th 2009 8:09AM
That'd be so awesome. personally I'd love to see a heroic BRD, though I doubt it would happen. Heroic BRD - EPIC!
robert Apr 5th 2009 8:13AM
Actually, now I think about it, a heroic RFC would be really cool. We've defeated the troggs and those other guys (forgot the name) but now Arthas has found it and is slowly pouring in his forces through a portal or a tunnel at the end of it. We've got to stop him before its too late!
On second thought, Thrall would probably just go do it himself and wtfpwn all scourge nubs.
On third thought, when have our leaders EVER done anything for themselves? I can't really remember Thrall ever doing much except being overwhelmingly cool.
Timj11dude Apr 5th 2009 8:45AM
No! Not BRD! I have nightmares of grinding that instance to reach level 58. However a heroic mode for old school instances could be pretty cool. I would like to see maybe whole instances get a revamp so that, like the post says, a progression in story and time. The scarlet monastery where the dead bosses have become undead and are now fighting against their former friends.
pietrex Apr 5th 2009 9:06AM
Thrall did a thing or two in the Battle for Undercity... :)
Rai Apr 5th 2009 9:53AM
I agree with Tim. What if a citadel like Naxxramas floated over the now corpse-ridden Scarlet Monastery and just...raised everything as an undead to serve the Lich King?
That's a whole lotta undead.
yorg Apr 5th 2009 12:45PM
I liked BRD. It was long, but only if you did the whole thing. It was meant to be entered several times between 50-60 to do a different part each time. Maybe at 80 (or 90) we can re-enter to finish up the Fate of the Kingdom/Royal Rescue chain, by rescuing Moira's son (Magni's grandson). Since the Dark Iron borer technology allows bizz to teleport us anywhere underground, we could start near the end and fight our way out against lvl 80 mobs and such. Magni ultimately sends the boy back to his parents, confident that the young Thaurissan-Bronzbeard will grow up to become a just leader of the Dark Iron, and bring peace to the war with Ironforge.
tenny Apr 5th 2009 9:15PM
This article is "Welcome to 2008" I'm suprised this is the first you've thought about that...we call out H Deadmines as a joke every other day...since BC became boring...
rafamaster Apr 5th 2009 8:12AM
Great idea
muffin_of_chaos Apr 5th 2009 5:30PM
Heh, how is this a new idea? People've been screaming for heroic versions of old instances for years, to rekindle an interest in the world of World of Warcraft, not whichever new continent is in vogue.
Holydin Apr 5th 2009 8:12AM
Still waiting on Heroic Hogger. But yeah that is definetly a cool idea. It gives higher lvl players an excuse to go back to old instances and areas. I think its a great idea!
Alphasim Apr 5th 2009 12:55PM
Someone a good while ago, somewhere, mentioned an idea for Mecha-Hogger. I love the concept; Hogger, now a robot/cyborg thing, something like level70+, ready to level Goldshire and march of Stormwind. Let's see some fresh recruits get his paw then!
Matt "Hemmels" Apr 5th 2009 8:13AM
I've been saying since the whole "Heroic" system came out that you should be able to re-visit old dungeons at your current level.
But I suggest taking it 1 further and having each (lower than max level) dungeon be scaled to your party's level. This could only work if everyone in your party was within 5 levels of each other (for instance), in return for scaled green drops and maybe faction loot.
The idea that these dungeons could also be revisited at max level for alternative storylines would also be immense, but seems like a lot of work for Blizz to implement (coming soon?).
Scaled dungeons could wok though...not too much to code.
jjtwalton Apr 5th 2009 8:20AM
Well, i'm no lore nerd, but I definitely think there's a few dungeons that are just a waste of space at the moment:
Dire Maul
Maraudon
Gnomeregan
To name three..
There has to be a way Blizzard can spark some life into them, perhaps dailies to get new players up to DK-level gear making Outland a bit more even.
But let's be honest, the goal for 99.9% of people is to hit 80, rock some Heros and get epics. RP people sit at 29 and join 'The Protectors of Stormwind' and PvP people would level 450 cooking to bake a resilience pie if they could.
Asking Blizzard to put time, effort and money into rejuvenating old content is a no-hoper. It's better that they carry on with the Emerald Dream or Maelstrom (no water combat plx) rather than fudge some storyline about Stoutmantle turning rogue and over-taking the deadmines with a bunch of Gnolls...
Kylenne Apr 5th 2009 3:20PM
That's sort of a silly assumption to make about RPers. Yes, you do have the sub-level 30 wankers that sit around SMC inns all day with their godmodding RSPs (now joined by the level 58 DK). But a lot of people do RP as they level. Personally I prefer it because your character constantly has new experiences to work off of. My co-main is a demo lock who met her RP soulmate while leveling in Hellfire Peninsula (he saved her from getting lolpwnd by those orcs near the citadel). They've been working their way through the BC content together and getting a lot of interesting RP out of it. We're just about ready to take them into Northrend, and that will be REALLY fun, since she has a sister that was part of Illidan's expedition up there who's been missing all this time.
azuri Apr 5th 2009 8:24AM
My guildmates and me have been throwing this around idea for so long it's our fail safe way to get out of embarrassing situations. Said something in gc that was meant for significant other? Mention heroic Deadmines (among others) and it's instantly forgotten. But yeah, they could use the same mechanics they use in Northrend for the DB questline (anyone find a way to stop the screaming?). Could even apply to Gnomeregan so the gnomes can FINALLY go home. That way, newcomers can still enjoy (or dread) the old dungeon, and after completing the dungeon or some insane questline, unlock a new city. Yeah, I'm dreaming, but it's nice here :D
BobTGnome Apr 5th 2009 2:44PM
Actually mentioned exactly this in a post about wish lists or something earlier in the week. Bliz are putting schematic drops into Gnomeragan so I suppose it does show that they do think about getting people back into old content.... a little. After all who is it but end game toons that are going to go back and grind for the pet schematics.
Terag Apr 5th 2009 8:23AM
Most people never experience the later dungeons of outland and azeroth now that Burning Crusade/Wrath of the Lich King came out, so it would be nice to retrofit those dungeons, so all the people who joined the game later and missed them can check them out.
Erie Apr 5th 2009 8:25AM
I'm afraid I disagree. These ideas are sort of crazy, and I'd much prefer to see all new dungeons than revisit old ones under frankly unrealistic premises.
Why would the Twilight's Hammer randomly move into Scholomance? It has no connection to the Old Gods in any sense. Why (and how) would the Bloodsail uncover VanCleef's secret hideout and decide to invade it when they have trouble enough dealing with Booty Bay at the moment, let alone a random incursion into a now well defended Westfall.
You might as well throw a dragon into Ragefire Chasm and say it was there all along. I just think it's a bit of a cop out storywise.
Wulfkin Apr 5th 2009 11:34AM
I agree that those particular examples are, quite frankly, dumb, but the concept itself isn't necessarily a bad one. I personally think a reworked Scholomance, at its proper old 10-man raid status would be awesome. Storywise its not a stretch that a new detachment of Scourge forces may have infested the old ruins to reuse some of its valuable resources.
I also liked the idea someone had of scourgifying the Scarlet Monastery. Fight Herod.... but undead Herod.
Amaxe Apr 6th 2009 12:06AM
Seems to me the SM would be taken over by the next level of the Scarlet Crusade. Perhaps heading off an attack on a Alliance/Horde base would be the next level.
Bring back the nostalgia for the old places but with changes that could catch the careless player off guard,
I imagine they could do it with phasing. A level X character could unlock the new instance.
Or perhaps it would cut down on the farming of instances meaning people in the right range would have to run the instances (Anyone remember running SM with a group in their 30s, instead of the one level 80 babysitting?
It felt like you earned something back then...