I always found Icecrown special.
From the very start, when Wrath was in its preview phases, Blizzard talked about how Icecrown was going to be this very hostile environment. The Alliance and Horde wouldn't even be able to clear enough safe ground to form camps, and forcing the quest hubs for each faction to simply be flying airships, constantly fending off frostwyrms as well as one another.
The Argent Crusade has to fight hard to defend their fort that's outside the actual Icecrown valley itself, pushing forward just enough to hold a single tower inside the icy region itself. Meanwhile, the Ebon Blade is much more daring, taking control of the Shadow Hold deep in Scourge territory.
And the rest of the zone is just undead monsters and frigid ice.
Admittedly, this effect is lessened by the presence of the Argent Tournament grounds, which is explicitly designed as a giant middle finger to Arthas, as well as a means for sifting through the troops sent into Icecrown Citadel to find only the most elite forces (just sending all your troops is a really bad idea when fighting a foe that can raise any soldiers it kills to serve them.) The Tournament is probably the weakest part of the Wrath expansion, and the oddly jolly atmosphere there is seriously at odds with the oppressive mood of the rest of Icecrown.
The expansion-long buildup to the fight at Icecrown Citadel is something I don't think they've quite pulled off since. We haven't had a final raid loom above us for a whole expansion since then - with the Dragon Soul tucked away in the Caverns of Time (despite not really being a time travel dungeon,) Siege of Orgrimmar only really exposed in the final patch, Hellfire Citadel not accessible until the final patch (you do get the intro in Tanaan, but can't see the actual building until 6.2,) Antorus hidden across the cosmos throughout Legion, and Ny'alotha not even remotely locatable until the invasions in Uldum and the Vale begin (hm, it just occurred to me that the Vale of Eternal Blossoms is the only zone to have the entrance of two expansion-ending raids, though you could argue more one and a half.)
The only thing comparable would be the Black Temple in Shadowmoon Valley, though that wound up not being the final raid after Blizzard realized they'd released too much of BC too early. Shadowmoon did certainly have a similar "this is the scariest place in the expansion" feel to it.
All this is to say that the Maw, I think, borrows a lot from the design of Icecrown.
We don't know that the Maw will house the final raid of Shadowlands. Indeed, there's some indication that the raid that follows Castle Nathria will take place there. But let's talk about the experience of the zone itself.
I should note here that I'm not talking about the max-level version of the zone. Given the XP nerf, despite having completed the loremaster achievement and a number of side quests, my Death Knight is still only about a quarter of the way into level 58.
But during your leveling through that main quest line, you'll make three visits to the Maw. The first is probably the longest, and takes place right as you begin the story of the expansion - before you even get to Oribos. Next, you go there toward the end of the Maldraxxus storyline. Finally, as part of the Revendreth story, you go there once more, this time getting a sort of preview version of Torghast, the procedurally-generated solo dungeon.
The Maw, in terms of lore, is Hell. It's the place where souls that are deemed utterly irredeemable are sent. You have to be a really, really horrible person to earn this honor (at least that's how it's supposed to work. I think Arthas really should have gone to Revendreth instead, where terrible sinners are sent to atone for their crimes. The only person we've met that I think is absolutely in the Maw is Gul'dan - and I'm really curious to see whether there are two of him or just one.)
And the Maw doesn't feel like just some dangerous adventure location, either. It really feels like a place you should not be, and they reinforce this in two ways:
First, you cannot mount. No, not just flying mounts. You can't summon any sort of steed here. You're on foot. This makes every distance meaningful, and means that any of the monsters you come across need to be handled in some way - it's not practical to just run away in most circumstances.
The second is that nothing seems to drop loot. For all the monsters you slay, your reward is not gold or even vendor trash. Your sojourns into the Maw are to complete your mission and get the hell out of there.
There's a part of me that almost wants them to prevent you from even using a map there - one of the things that makes Dark Souls and Bloodborne feel dangerous is the sense that there's no map - you're just lost in this nightmare environment, and I think the Maw could work with something like that (but in all honesty, I think that most players would revolt at that, so oh well.)
The enemies you face there are generally walking suits of armor or hooded spirits - nothing has anything recognizable as a personality.
I don't think we've ever seen anything like this in WoW. Even Antoran Wastes, while the heart of the Burning Legion, still had a sense of functionality, of purpose, and that it might feel at least useful to the demons that inhabit it. The Maw just feels like a place of cruel torment and despair.
I am, of course, very eager to see what sort of activities one actually does here at max level - clearly there needs to be a hook to keep people coming. But I kind of love how horrific it feels - it really raises the stakes of the expansion.
No comments:
Post a Comment