Ask Spooner: So what About the Rest of Azeroth? Old Content getting anything New in Wrath?

Spooner,

I was just wondering if in the WotLK they have added any improvements to the “old world”? I’m sure they don’t really care about fixing things up there very much, but just little things like maybe, the Inn at Westfall is finally completed, or the village that the Draenei were building in eastern Ashenvale across from the Warsong lumber camp, I mean heck they added a flight point there some time back. Or anything else that we’ve all been “working on” for years of questing that hasn’t changed…the bridge in Redridge? Come on, we’ve surely collected enough [Iron Pike] by now….

I don’t know if they’ve gone back to change any of it, but I was just curious if you’ve noticed any changes. I do know that they are redoing the Onyxia quest line since it’s no longer applicable since the King is apparently back(? my lore is hazy), though that won’t be happening in this patch.

Just curious, I tend to be an Alt-o-holic, so I was wondering if I have anything new to look forward to, or if I can still expect that stupid Westfall Inn to be broken.

Peace,
Elgar

Elgar my friend, you tempt me and damn me at the same time with so much. I logged on my Alliance Warrior tonight in preparation for this reply. I instantly got hit with a level of sorrow and nostalgia that I never thought could be brought on by a game. Even Feiylnn looked in shock as she heard the tell tale of Stormwind music through the speakers, “Is that Spooner? Like the original Spooner?”

Getting a few tells from a few certain people instantly upon my logging on live snapped me back to reality and I remembered why I had logged on in the first place and why it would take nothing short of a miracle and possibly a few murders to get me to ever come back to the Alliance. At LEAST a new server for sure.

Getting past that, I switched to the Beta and as I walked around Stormwind in full tanking gear brandishing my coveted Quel’Serrar, I stopped to look at two of the only really GLARING changes the old world is getting as far as I can recall.

There is no Onyxia attunement anymore because the king of Stormwind is back and booted her ass out of the keep; and there’s a Harbor now that can take you to Northrend or DARNASSUS. So I’m pretty damn sure there won’t be ANY Night Elves in Darkshore/Ashenvale after Patch 3.0.2. And yes this will all be active when the patch goes live. Here are some images.

But you mentioned some really great examples, like the stupid inn of Sentinel Hill in Westfall or the Bridge in lakeshire being under construction for going on 4 years. Or even the relatively new Draenei city. This news right here might just give us some hope for these changes. I bet that if players were to ask enough for it, with the new technology, Blizzard would be able to make the changes.

So please link to this thread in the forums, leave feedback, try and spread the word as best you can and maybe we’ll get the little touches added in after Blizzard finishes their pass on some of the more end game content.

What is phasing?

It’s a new technology used throughout Northrend and in Ebon Hold. It allows you to play in a different version of the same area temporarily or permanently, but it differs from e.g. a “shadowy realm” used in many quests, because there you are alone, usually everyone sees his own unique “shadowy realm”. With phasing you may share the new version of the area with other players. An early form of it was used on the Isle of Quel’danas to create the phases of the basecamp expanding.

What’s it used for?

It’s an awesome story-telling device, it allows the world to become dynamic, it allows an area to be re-used to function as a new one. Whereas earlier constructing a new building in a town required client patching, phasing allows the same effect to be seen anytime, for anyone. Did you help a faction conquer an area? When you next return they’ll have a camp set up with vendors and other services and all the bad guys are gone! The same area now serves a different purpose reflecting your earlier work.

How does it work?

When you hit a certain point in a questline, as usual, you are asked to report the progress to someone far away. At this point your character is flagged to see the new version, so when you next return to the area every model, texture that loads is replaced with a new one. If you are inside a building from where you can’t see outside, everything may be replaced around you without you even noticing.

There are 2 versions of this technology. The first is a simple one where between phases only NPCs change, the second is when buildings, objects even the sky could change. This is being referred to as a world state change.

An example of the first version is when you free Gymer, King of the Storm Giants in Zul’drak, all the regular 8k HP mobs in the lower Zul’drak area disappear and new 50k HP elites (and some bosses) appear that are more suited for Gymer’s unique powers. This allows players to not interfere with other quests with their super-powerful new friend, but if someone else is also controlling Gymer, you can see them and you can help each other.

The entire story-telling of the Death Knight starting experience is based on phasing, the second version of it. At first everything is at peace in the Scarlet Enclave, but as you progress through the story, buildings are set on fire, NPCs move around, an army appears or a battle takes place. All without interfering with each other.

Are there any problems with it?

If you progress in a story to a new phase, you are removed from the previous one making you unable to see or help players in the earlier version. So far most areas that use phasing technology have 2 or 3 phases, and each of them are sufficiently long (or short) to make sure there is enough players in each phase to allow player interaction.

Another issue is that creating phases, especially world state changes seems to take up a lot of time, and cause problems like the same mob in a different phase doesn’t behave the same way, since it is in fact a different mob.

The technology is wonderful though, the more it’s used the more dynamic the world becomes!

Phasing explanation comes from Csulok at WOR. Thanks Csulok!