World of Raids on Cataclysm's Hyjal
by Matthew Rossi 
Apr 22nd 2010 at 8:00PM
In Cataclysm, we'll actually get a chance to level in the zone (as we found out recently) and I'm stoked. So I was excited to see this preview map of Mount Hyjal modified by the folks at World of Raids to give you an idea of what the quest hubs will look like. It's interesting to see that this time levelling progression is taking flying mounts into account in their design of the zone (apparently, at least) rather than enforcing linear ground travel. Combined with the idea of getting to interact with Malfurion and possibly even resurrect Cenarius himself, I'm beside myself waiting to get a crack at defending the world tree from Ragnaros and his minions. It can't happen too soon as far as I'm concerned.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.Filed under: News items, Lore, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Garfuncle Apr 22nd 2010 8:08PM
Too bad Cenarius will have his wooden nuts skewered in order to be "Horde friendly."
N-train Apr 22nd 2010 8:22PM
Or people could get over the fact that:
-its not confirmed in the slightest that we'll actually be resurrecting him
-Tauren and Trolls have druids too now, remember, so they have just as much to devote to this cause as any night elf
-It sounds to me from the preview that the Night Elves themselves don't have their ducks in a row enough to battle Ragnaros and Deathwing's minions all at the same time, so they'll take the help they can get
-A resurrected Cenarius with the help of an orc is better than a still dead Cenarius
And from a gameplay perspective this is most likely an epicly huge questline and lore moment, and to not let half your playerbase experience it is kind of a jerk move.
Not only that, not letting Horde players partake would not make a lot of sense seeing as the orcs helped save Hyjal before, and that means you're essentially creating an Alliance-only zone, which means in the sake of fairness, you need to create a Horde-only zone, which limits people's play options and means you just spent all that time and energy that only half your playerbase can now use.
Cephas Apr 22nd 2010 8:26PM
And now, a short play.
Cenarius: Thank you, great hero, for resurrecting me. Wait, you're an orc. You're not just going to kill me again, are you?
Orc: I blame the demon blood.
Cenarius: Ok, that's cool.
busuan Apr 22nd 2010 8:30PM
M'uru foresaw his fate. Probably so did Cenarius.
'It's inevitable.'
Sky Apr 23rd 2010 12:21AM
Too.... Soon.....
Lemons Apr 22nd 2010 8:15PM
Seems like there's plenty of Alliance/Horde outposts scattered throughout the zone. It's probably massive if it needs that many quest hubs.
NotWarchiefThrall Apr 22nd 2010 8:34PM
On behalf of the new Orcish Horde we ask forgiveness from Cenarius but if you want revenge heres a map to the home of the son of the orc that killed you his name is Garrosh Hellscream and he lives at Warsong Hold in Borean Tundra.
theRaptor Apr 23rd 2010 1:38AM
Cenarius for warchief!
(Abesik Kampfire can still be mayor of Orgimmar)
Fletcher Apr 23rd 2010 2:06AM
If Cenarius is woken from the Dream there will *be* no warchief! Durotar will be a sea of blood! Orgrimmar will be an offal pit! With the Son of Elune to lead us we shall cleanse Azeroth of the Orcish taint! WARRIORS OF THE NIGHT, ASSEMBLE!
Okay, that moment of frothing-at-the-mouth Night Elven zealotry aside, I will be interested to see how they deal with this problem. There's no way Blizzard isn't *aware* of the problem, and although my proposed solutions as to Horde reparations (which *start* at "Every member of the Warsong Clan dead") are probably more extreme than their proposed solutions (which probably start at "Uh, yeah, sorry ... it was totally the demon blood dontlookatashenvaledontlookatashenvaledontlookatashenvale") ... I am sure that Blizzard *has* a solution.
Evandrial Apr 22nd 2010 8:41PM
wait, how did you explore hyjal? like, in the caverns of time instance, or is there a way to get there now?
Quidamtyra Apr 22nd 2010 8:42PM
the only way to explore MH is through the CoT instance. The zone itself is still sealed off in terms of legal explorations.
Cinarg Apr 22nd 2010 8:56PM
Long ago many off limit places were accessable by using a physics exploit (it went by many names but I preferred the term wall walking), where if you walked very carefully at a certain angle you could walk on sheer cliff faces you would normally fall off of. Hyjal was one such area you could go with this technique. You needed to start somewhere in Moonglade, and you could also get to the dancing troll village from there too. However Blizzard has since fixed the exploit (right before BC, stirred up a lot of controversy).
wutsconflag Apr 22nd 2010 9:34PM
There used to be a way, via the aforementioned wall-walking and some careful jumps, to get into Hyjal from the southern bit of Winterspring.
I have screenshots of some very pretty scenery. Some funny times were had there, summoning people at the bottom of a very deep pond, to see if they'd die from drowning before they made it to the surface, of "Under Construction" signs, and of another portal - similar to the Onyxia one - where all sorts of rumored raid instances were said to have been considered.
Hyjal was a truly interesting zone. It's a shame it took them this long to open it up, but I'm am pretty stoked to see it happening after all these long years.
jishdefish Apr 23rd 2010 1:22AM
Still possible to get to from the Winterspring route, via creative use of mounts, rocket boots, parachute cloaks/slow fall and auto-unstuck with a deleted hearthstone.
Unfortunately Blizzard added a debuff that teleports you out as soon as you enter the zone. There are a few methods to circumvent the debuff, including lagging your connection as much as possible without being disconnected, then flipping the off switch on your router. I've never gotten it to work like the videos, but I've climbed the wall of Winterspring since 3.3.3.
Quidamtyra Apr 22nd 2010 8:41PM
I'm probably in the minority when I say that I loved MH as a raid in BC. The waves of trash coupled with the style of the boss fights... just perfect. Then again, I loved BT, too, which people call me crazy for >.>
I like the style of major quest hubs like Quel'danas, Argent Tourny, etc.
I can't wait to be able to revisit this great zone!
Lowlight Apr 22nd 2010 8:51PM
Desolace.. Silithis... Azshara...
Kalimdor zones have always been trash.
Mt Hyjal will be no different.
Cinarg Apr 22nd 2010 8:57PM
Well they've had 2 expansions of practice making zones since then, so I'm optimistic.
wutsconflag Apr 22nd 2010 9:31PM
And yet, Azshara, while empty, was a very pretty zone. I wished they'd done more with it than just destroy it to make way for the Goblins in Cataclysm.
Also, Desolace lived up to its name. I actually enjoyed my time there.
Silithus, on the other hand, while another desert, was just painful.
Lowlight Apr 22nd 2010 10:46PM
Fanboys..
So delicious...
So invigorating!
Rule #1: if you are in a zone and a F'ing NIGHT ELF is giving you quests YOU ARE NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME.
Kylenne Apr 22nd 2010 11:22PM
It also has Un'Goro, Feralas, and Winterspring. Three of the prettiest and most fun places in the old world. Meanwhile the Eastern Kingdoms has the absolute glory that is shit like Westfall and Blasted Lands.
There is crap and good stuff everywhere. The entire point of Cataclysm is to get rid of the crap on both continents.