A couple posts back, I talked a bit on some possible Caverns of Time instance ideas. After all, it should be easy for them to fit new ones in, all branching off from the large room with that crazy hourglass in it. Just make a new tunnel somewheres!
Here’s the one I think they should make next, after the Stratholme Purge…
The Lordaeron Sewers
After the murder of King Menethil by his son Arthas, who returned from his trek to Northrend a Death Knight servant of the Lich King, Lordaeron quickly fell. Insurgent members of the kingdom’s citizenry rose up under their new Death Knight leader and heralded the coming armies of the undead. The human armies fought valiantly, but the forces of the dead were simply too numerous to completely stave off.
After the human kingdom fell, Arthas was set to the task of reviving Kel’Thuzad, the former necromancer slain by Arthas himself, into his new form as a Lich. To do this, much power was needed, the kind of power held nigh-exclusively by the high elves of Quel’Thalas, who lived in the forested regions to the northeast of Lordaeron itself. As the plagued and diseased people of the land continued to die, more forces were added to Arthas’ march to the lands of the elves.
When Arthas and his vast armies of skeletons, zombies, and necromancers arrived at the woods of Quel’Thalas, the elves were quickly overtaken. One elven commander, Sylvanas Windrunner, and her forces harried the Scourge for the entirety of their journey. It was too much however, and Arthas took great pleasure in turning Sylvanas into a Banshee servant.
The Scourge took the Sunwell and used its power to revive Kel’Thuzad into his new form as a lich, and the great, ancient kingdom of the elves was nearly completely destroyed.
Later, Arthas and the Scourge would go on to summon Archimonde into the world, and would require a joint effort by the Alliance and Horde to defeat, ultimately resulting in the Night Elves’ sacrificing their immortality to completely destroy Archimonde, and the World Tree with him.
After that defeat, it is suspected by the Burning Legion that the Lich King has plans of betrayal. With Archimonde gone, only the fickle dreadlords remain in control of the undead. The night elf Illidan makes a pact with the Legion to destroy the Frozen Throne, the home of the Lich King, a process which would nearly destroy the world itself, if not outright.
When Illidan consumes the Skull of Gul’Dan to accomplish this feat, the ritual begins, and the very world itself is shaken to its core. The act causes the Lich King’s powers to wane, and at this point Sylvanas is freed from Ner’Zhul’s grasp. Her mind now her own, but still twisted and evil, she and those others that were freed rename themselves the Forsaken, and set about claiming lands of their own. Sylvanas forces the dreadlord Varimathras to her cause, and also tricks the human commander Garithos (the one who alienated the remaining high elves from the Alliance) into helping her retake Lordaeron.
Those events lead up to this Caverns of Time instance.
The Infinite Dragonflight, seeking to weaken the Horde, has gone back in time again to meddle with the past and destroy the present and future. Their motives are still unknown, but their methods are obvious. Utilizing trickery and illusion, they change and alter the ideas of those in the past to change the events that occured in favor of one side. In this case, the Infinites will be taking on the guise of Dreadlord commanders in charge of the Scourge at Lordaeron.
Players will receive a quest at level 70-something, we’ll say 76. This quest is to go back in time and help ensure the events in the past play out as correctly as possible.
A group of 5 will be formed, and they will zone in to the instance much like any other. Unlike the others, however, there are no real nearby caves in Tirisfal, so the gated entrance to Deathknell could be replaced in this way. The group will be disguised as agents of the Forsaken, and upon exiting the cave will be greeted, as usual, by a member of the Bronze Dragonflight, who moves the party to the next stage of the quest. The next step in question is to ride a Bronze Dragon to the outskirts of Brill, where the Forsaken and Human armies prepare to lay siege to the city of Lordaeron. They are to meet with Sylvanas herself, who will have orders for them.
Sylvanas will greet the players to the South of the city, near where there now exists the Zeppelin tower. Looking down that hill, the players are able to view the armies amassing: undead abominations, meat wagons, banshees, and necromancers, accompanied by but separate from the human footmen, riflemen, sorcerers, siege engines, and gryphon riders.
Upon reaching Sylvanas, the players will be given their mission. To the west is a cave, guarded by a tower. This cave is connected to the sewers of the city. The players are to infiltrate the sewers in order to destroy a number of targets in preparation for the coming invasion.
Preceeded by the usual “Do not fail me,” the adventurers are set on their way. Their first objective is to get past and even take out the tower. Bombs will be provided of course. A number of pulls later, and the tower is gone. Down the nearby tunnel you go.
The tunnel will feature a set of mobs who are “aware” of the players’ presences. They know the tower’s been attacked, and are sending up reinforcements. This will be a “wave”-based encounter, much like the gauntlet section of Shattered Halls (“Invaders have breached the defenses!”). The mobs will of course be undead, commanded by a Nathrezim Dreadlord. Perhaps even include Gargoyles flying out, dropping bombs on the adventurers as they attempt to make headway.
The bottom of this area will feature the zone’s first boss, most likely a minor Dreadlord. Shadow-based abilities will be prevalent, stuff like fear and shadowbolts, perhaps use of Death Coil or a stacking DoT attack. Perhaps adds will spawn that will have the use of the dreadlord’s vampiric aura, that need to be fought in some way such that they are unable to take advantage of that (out of range or line of sight, for instance).
Once that is done, the party will continue through the sewers, the zone being a replica of the current Undercity, only less decorated. To make the scope a bit smaller than an entire capital city, much of the sewers could be “under construction” still, unfinished sections that are not yet traversable. The party will follow an obvious path to their objectives, take them out as needed, intercepted perhaps by more pulls and possibly another boss, and then finish with the objectives, ending their path at the final boss. Said final boss could easily be an Infinite Dragon disguised as a Dreadlord, the one who had the undead aware of the party’s presence, as opposed to oblivious as they were in the “real” past.
The final boss will be a reasonably difficult encounter, but maybe one that doesn’t rely on adds or waves thereof this time. He or she will have tricks of course, but will not so much rely on outside help. Having that fight take place in what is currently Sylvanas’ throne room could work great for some movement-based boss fighting, where positioning as well as timing are important parts of the fight. Try to make sure the dps members of the party are as involved as possible, ensuring the need for a quick-as-possible end. Have the boss stack a DoT on all members of the party, one which starts out miniscule and easily ignored, but escalates to nigh-unhealable amounts.
I would say that to make it a truly great instance, make it as visceral as possible. Perhaps the attack above begins as the party just takes its first steps out of the tunnel that leads into the city…and thus certain things begin happening as a result, like location-based damage from siege weaponry breaking through to roaming packs of undead leaving the sewers to be intercepted by the party as it maneuvers the area.
Also, cutscenes! The more the better! Make it epic!
Image from WoW Insider.
