User:Zillen/The Ashen Depths

World of Warcraft: The Ashen Depths

Introduction
A new age of peace dawns over the world. With the final defeat of Deathwing, and the imprisonment of the elemental armies, the people of Azeroth have been granted a much needed respite; a time to fully examine the changes wrought by the great Cataclysm. But they will soon find that Deathwing's escape affected far more than their planet's surface...and old wounds never truly fade.

The second Sundering did far more than alter the surface of Azeroth-the very heart of the world has been scarred. The ancient powers binding the world together have broken, and the molten fire deep within the core has turned against the planet. The familiar apocalyptic disasters that preceded the Cataclysm have exploded back into motion once more. Terrifying tidal waves, eruptions and earthquakes rock the surface of Azeroth yet again. There is seemingly no end to the chaos, and to the residents of the dying world it seems that doomsday is at hand...

But there is always hope.

New breaches in the earth have been created, dark and gaping chasms leading down into a labyrinth of rock and magma below. An endless world of tunnels and labyrinths stretches throughout the depths of Azeroth, with its oldest and darkest secrets hidden within. Treasures, ruins, and new foes await...and even an abandoned city. The forgotten kingdom of the Titans, deep underground, has been broken up too, and within its halls could be the key to the planet's restoration. But some things are left untouched for a reason, and the Dark Halls (and its ancient residents) could prove terrifying beyond imagination.

It is a race against time for the Alliance and the Horde, and they must put their own battles aside if they are to save their planet from destruction. The mystery of the Dark Halls is their only hope, and they must solve it before a greater evil takes their last chance for its own. If their salvation indeed lies within the fiery deeps, then the champions of Azeroth must find it.

The time has come to face their fears,

And descend into the Ashen Depths.

Features
•	Level cap increased to 90

•	New “Superzone”-The Ashen Depths (See below)

•	Archaeology profession expanded: New artefacts too be found

•	New ground mounts to fit setting which can be used anywhere within the Ashen Depths

•	New class: Runemaster

•	Return of disasters to the surface of Azeroth; tidal waves, quakes and eruptions in volcanic areas to become common events in various zones

•	Removal of the Ragefire Chasm and Molten Core instances, which will be replaced with entrances to the Ashen Depths "starting zones"

The Ashen Depths
The titular new "superzone" which encompasses the majority of the new content in the expansion. It is composed of a huge network of tunnels, caverns, chasms and caves formed both by both nature and the meddlings of the Titans, which stretches under the whole of the part of Azeroth known to the Alliance and the Horde. It is made up of five normal zones, three of which will be dedicated to the great quest to save the world, one of which will support the great rivalry between the two factions, and one which will drive players towards the final, epic struggle to restore Azeroth.

The five zones are listed below.

1. The Catacombs (85-86): One of the expansions’s starting zones, designed for level 85 players. It will be entered via the area formerly known as Ragefire Chasm, which will be designed for Level 85 PvE activity and will no longer be an instance, but part of the overall Catacombs zone. It will focus on darkness and exploration, and will contain various underground water sources. It will be named so due to the large amounts of twisting tunnels and underground chambers that will make up the zone, with larger, open cavern spaces being extremely rare. Enemies encountered will be powerful versions of typical underground creatures, such as huge tunnelling worms, insects and mutated, mole-like animals.

2. The Molten Deeps (85-86): Another one of the two starting regions. Similar to Hyjal and Vashj’ir in Cataclysm, players can choose to go to either one of the two starting zones to get to level 86. It will be a more well-lit zone than the Catacombs, with large amounts of lava seen throughout. It will focus on a more open-spaced environment, with large caverns and rocky bridges and “islands” being common features, and even flying mounts being an option in some areas. Elementals will be the primary enemy here, and they will vastly outnumber beasts or humanoid enemies. The zone will be accessed through the area formerly known as the Molten Core, which will no longer be an instance, but a part of the overall Molten Deeps zone.

3. The Endless Caverns (86-88): This zone is unique because of several features. Firstly, the zone supports open PvP activity at all times, meaning that questing, especially ones that feature the collection of a certain number of items or killing a certain number of creatures will be especially tense due to the competition between factions. The second feature is that the zone will be primarily made up of a single massive cavern, with the “floor” being what the character travels across. There will also be many smaller caves and rock formations throughout the area, which is why the area also supports flying mounts. This is one of the only areas where flying is allowed virtually everywhere, although it will still be restricted when in a small tunnel or cave. Both Starting regions funnel players into this zone upon reaching level 86, and there are many Horde and Alliance settlements.

4. The Dark Halls (88-90): This is the penultimate zone of the expansion, and is where much of the storyline progression occurs. It will be an almost completely “indoors” experience, with the environment being based on the styles seen in Ulduar, but with a more dark and “sinister” flare, made up of huge halls and vast networks of corridors and rooms. It will be filled with smaller corridors, rooms, and areas that players can explore for fun, and doing so can bring about the finding of many various unique Archaeology artefacts, treasure, rare creatures with rare drops, and lore material (such as books and Titan computers and such). It will be slightly phased, with certain portions of the Halls being unlocked through different quests. It will feature many different dungeons and a raid that will focus on expanding the Old God storyline. Enemies found in this zone vary from Troggs, to horribly mutated versions of previously seen creatures, and even terrifying corrupted Titan robots.

5. The Heart of the World (90): This is a fully endgame zone, focusing on PvE activities such as questing and raiding. There will be several level 90 dungeons throughout the zone, and at this point the heroic versions of all the expansion’s instances become available. Quests give large amounts of gold instead of experience, and focus on gearing the player for endgame content. The zone roughly forms a huge quarter-ring shape around the massive fiery core of the planet, which is visible at all times. The zone is mainly made of a huge blackened, rocky floor, with several caves and tunnels littered throughout the uneven terrain. Huge temples and ruins are scattered throughout the zone, even floating on huge islands, as seen in places like Nagrand or Netherstorm. There are much fewer settlements, with the majority having only the most basic amenities (Repair, food and drink, etc.) There is only one inn for each faction in the zone. The types of enemies in the zone are mainly a mixture of all the one’s previously seen in the expansion, with fire elementals and Titan machinery being slightly more dominant. The only time that a player comes close to the gigantic molten ball that is the core will be in the last raid, in which the temple setting, through powerful magic, actually extends into the core itself. If a player manages to fall off the edge of the huge “ring” that forms the zone, their bodies will hurtle off towards the core and they will die, much like falling off of Outland.

Travel Points
Being set underground, the expansion features the utilisation of Travel Points instead of Flight points. Purchasing a travel option will cause the player to be mounted on a large underground-dwelling creature such as a worm or large insect which will run at lightning speeds over the ground to get to its destination. No enemies can dismount a player during their trip. Similar creatures will be featured as purchasable mounts which will go at slightly lower speeds, but still faster than the mounts used on the surface of Azeroth.

Final notes
''Thank you for reading this expansion idea. Concept created by Zillen, a US-Bloodscalp Death Knight. Not intended to infringe on any legal material in any way owned or related to Blizzard Entertainment or any other game studio or concept. Written solely for fun and from my own ideas.''