Guys...

What if Azhara uses the captured Neptulon to rise Ny'alotha from beneath the waves?

Kill two lore birds with one stone.

That's the intent, well she's using his Trident.

Regarding Naga Mounts, i think that it could be fixed by having two mount animations. One "princess" style for "small" mounts (snap dragons, horses, sabres) and one...i dont remember the word...how-the-female-night-elves sit for bigger ones

And had Blizz kept the Holy Magi Naga paladins you propose would actually have a Pre-Sundering backstory.

Alright, time for the zone list:

Ogrezonia (1-12):
Situated off the coast of Stranglethorn Vale, Ogrezonia was once a lush jungle paradise, before it was settled by various ogre tribes at the end of the Second War. Now its a barren wasteland, full of dry gulches, scorched plains, and the multitude of hovels its ogre population have constructed. An ogre lord named Chief Crushgore rules the island with an iron fist, and many young ogres have found him to be too harsh even by ogre standards. Rexxar and the Stonemaul clan have made landfall on the northern coast, perhaps they offer a better future for the people of Ogrezonia...

The Broken Isles (1-12):
Largely abandoned after Illidan stole the Eye of Sargeras, the Broken Isles have become a refuge for the Tideblade naga. But not all is well, the island quake and groan while the sea around them broils. Azshara's forces have arrived seeking revenge, and a group of night elves have found themselves caught in the middle of the conflict. Alliances will be forged, and the Broken Isles will be changed forever.

Ny'alotha:

In the land of Ny'alotha there is only sleep.

Lost Isles (90-91):
After the Bilgewater Cartel inadvertently triggered a massive volcanic erruption, the isles were abandoned and presumed destroyed. However, as alliance and horde forces sailed to Ny'alotha it became clear they had not only survived the eruption, but several new islands have risen up from the seafloor. The Stonemaul ogres have established a mighty stronghold and forward base known as Strong Hold, while the night elves at Whisperwind Landing clash with faceless ones and naga to the west.

Kul'Tiras (90-92):
The island kingdom of Kul'Tiras has fallen on dark times. Devastated by the Cataclysm, they stood no chance against the naga when Ny'alotha rose along its borders. Admiral Tandred Proudmoore directs the alliance war effort from Boralus, while Nathanos Blightcaller and the Royal Apothecary Society have taken over the town of Drisburg. The naga seem to close in from all sides, and at times the Forsaken appear to be more interested in fighting the alliance than their mutual foe.

The Black Forest (91-93):
Look around. They will all betray you. Flee screaming into the black forest.
The Black Forest is a place where nightmares and reality coexist. Raised from the seafloor, yet oddly lush, it is filled with warped and darkened trees, creatures perverted beyond recognition, and the unruly spirits of the dead. The druids known as the Emerald Guardians theorize this forest is actually a part of the Emerald Nightmare, somehow merged with Azeroth, but they have been unable to prove it. Meanwhile the Ellemayne seek to reclaim Black Rook Hold, which appears to be some sort of base for the malefic forces that infest the forest.

Brinemarch (92-93):
Only partially raised from the seafloor, the Brinemarch is covered in knee to waist deep water, with dead reefs and no-long sunken ships covering the land. The naga are especially at home here, and it serves as their main staging ground for war against the alliance and horde. At Tideblade Cove, Izhra'veer personally oversees the alliance's actions in the march, while at Brightsong Excursion the Reliquary both fights against the naga and surveys the multitude of highbourne ruins now brought up.

Kezan (93-94):
Abandoned after Mount Kajaro's eruption, the various goblin cartels started to recolonize their former home scant months before Ny'alotha emerged from the depths. In the meantime Azeroth's various bands of pirates had taken to looting the once great goblin empire. From nearby Plunder Isle, Duke Falrever has created the Bloodsail Allegiance, an alliance of all pirates in Azeroth hoping to make Undermine their new home. Baron Revilgaz and the cartels of Undermine will not stand for this, and will stop at nothing to reclaim their homeland.

Suramar (94-95):
After Ny'alotha's rise, the Broken Isles ceased to be islands. Now referred to by the name of the city they once held, Suramar has become a battlefield. The Warden-Seekers and Stormreaver Clan fight against the naga, while old hatreds and mistrust threaten to turn them against each other as well. At the Tomb of Sargeras, demons have begun to emerge, slaughtering all in their path...

The City of Ny'alotha (94-95):
Ny'alotha is a city of old, terrible, unnumbered crimes.
During the Titan's war with the Old God's, the land ruled by N'Zoth was deemed too dangerous to contain with a facility such as Ulduar or Ahn'Qiraj. Instead they sank it deep beneath the sea, within the Well of Eternity. They hoped the magic which the well contained would also act as a warding spell to prevent the horrors of Ny'alotha from escaping, but with the Sundering those wards dissipated, and N'Zoth influence has slowly grown ever since. Now brought back to the surface for the first time in countless years, the City of Ny'alotha serves as the dark base of operations for the Old God forces that seem to be the true power in the continent. The Cult of the Forgotten Shadow is attempting to master the dark magics at work here and use it against the horrors inside, but can they truly wield the Old God's power without succumbing?

Sea of Azshara (95):
Nazjatar, the seat of naga civilization and Azshara's personal residence, lay here on the edge of the Maelstrom. While still risen significantly from their original depth, with spires of Nazjatar towering far above the waves, much of the area is still partially submerged. Steamwrench Harbor, a floating town created by the gnomes, serves as the alliance's base of operations against Azshara. The tauren have made use of their fondess for high up cliffs to build the horde base, White Moon Summit, on a series of rocky spires as well.

Next time the dungeons.

So I was bored at work yesterday and typed this up - a different take on a Great Sea expansion. Kinda building off what IGoD wrote in his take. It's a bit rambly (I don't exactly have a private area to type this up at work, so it's a bit rushed and I'm too lazy to edit it) but there it goes.

I’ve been kicking around the notion of an “Echoes of the Past” expansion for a while now. It’d go something like this:

Azshara, using the Trident of Neptulon, unleashes a massive tsunami across Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms (along with her naga army). However, just before the wave hits the coast, it stops cold… perpetually flowing in place. The Bronze Dragonflight then appears, informing us that Azshara was never meant to hold this power or commit the acts she’s done, and that somehow we’ve been shifted into an alternate timeline. As such the entirety of the flight has come together to impose a time lock on the Great Sea, halting the passage of time between that bubble and the rest of Azeroth until the problem is sorted. Unfortunately, with the loss of Nozdormu’s powers, the Flight is unsure how this came to pass or how to fix it. All they know is that Azshara shifted the timeline at some point in her past, and that shift must be correct. So they’ve enlisted the help of the entire world lest this dark future come true.

The expansion “begins” in the Caverns of Time. You fly through a portal and end up at an Outland-esque expansion floating in the time-space. It’s a portion of the continent of Kalimdor before the Sundering and incorporates the first 1-4 zones of the expansion (along with a dungeon or two). It’s entirely neutral and focuses on exploration and discovery, digging into Azshara’s past and the other influencing cultures of the time (Trolls, Earthen, Tauren, etc). It’s centered over the Well of Eternity and covers a circle of continuous territory around it, possibly even including the original Zandalari capitol. The first arc of the story culminates in the creation of a portal somewhere in the territory that would transport you to the present day area within the time lock. The expansion content would then be featured on a continent essentially split into two layers – the ancient past and the present day, lined up geographically “on top” of each other.

The expansion would then continue in the present day. The area around the Maelstrom is in complete chaos. You begin in a zone called The Great Expanse. It’s a swath of turbulent waters, punctuated by jutting stone and jagged rock thrust up from the sea by Azshara’s power. All of this framed by the tsunami towering in the distant horizon. It would also include the isles of Suramar, island fortresses constructed by the Bronze Flight to maintain the time lock, and possibly Tel Abim. The quest content would include a mix of underwater exploration (similar to Vash’ir) and forays into the dry land on the isles. You also meet up with the remnants of your faction’s fleet here, which by chance were within the lock when it was put into place. The War then returns in force as both sides engage in pitched naval battles and fierce island skirmishes. They’re ultimately able to get reinforcements through the time lock, despite protests from the dragons, and thus really ramp up the fighting. Moreover, it’s discovered that anything entering the time lock will emerge at the same “time” they entered, despite whatever passed within the lock, thus providing an instantaneous passage across the Great Sea. Each side then begins desperately trying to secure a line across the Expanse, each trying to gain this crucial advantage over the other.

The fight eventually leads you to the next zone: the City of Ny’alotha. It’s a city-zone similar to Zul’Drak, completely submerged yet devoid of water within the actual structure of it (the water mysteriously stopping at gaps in the buildings, letting you peer out to the surrounding ocean or enter/leave the zone). It’s cavernous, large enough to fly around in, and the story would be your typical Titan/Old God affair. However the story would be largely focused on the origins of the naga and their nature, along with a legend of how the Titans enslaved N’Zoth within the city by means of some powerful artifact. Both sides begin searching and fighting for this artifact, gradually growing darker and paranoid as the story progresses. In parallel to this is, of course, an adventure with our friend Brann. You’d be investigating the Titan outpost within the city, trying to figure out just wtf is going on here. Ultimately you’d discover that the artifact is just a ruse created by N’Zoth to lure mortals deeper into the city. Apparently the lock to its prison can only be opened by a Titan creation, so it’d been trying to trick Brann (or you, if applicable) to open it up. Upon this revelation the illusion shatters – you find that the opposing faction NPCs you’ve been fighting were just phantoms. The friendly members of your faction? Faceless Ones. You find out that your faction has really been holed up in a corner of the city this entire time. You retreat, there’s some “to be continued” bit, and you segue into the final zone of the expansion: Naz’jatar.

The waters of the Maelstrom have expanded to reveal the naga city and the exposed sea floor around it. It’s all a twisted reflection of the Zin’Azshari you explored in the first zones, down to the Well of Eternity now a violent whirlpool at the center. The entire zone is wracked in constant storms and eldritch magic. The story refocuses on Azshara and the overlaying story of the expansion – finding a crack in Azshara’s plan and investigating just how the hell she pulled all this off. She’s too powerful to face at the moment, so you just kind of scurry around (similar to Icecrown). The into raiding tier would include a CoT-style raid set in the Past, a short raid set in the Expanse, and a top tier raid set in Naz’jatar where you take out the heart of the naga army.

The first major patch would focus on N’Zoth, the Emerald Dream, and Ny’alotha. The Emerald Dream would be introduced as a questing zone similar to the Molten Front / Firelands and would focus on beating back a now-renewed Nightmare. It would culminate at the Rift of Aln, ultimately severing the link to the Twisting Nether. The second raid would take place in the heart of Ny’alotha and would continue where the ED raid ended. It’d be an Ulduar-style raid and end with N’Zoth as the final boss. With N'Zoth's defeat the veil shrouding the timeways is lifted, and the Bronze Flight is finally able to discern the source of the shift - a little town called Suramar.

The second major patch would shift gears to the Tomb of Sargeras, the raid obviously being the tomb. You’d fight through the horrors, uncovering the connection between Azshara and the Legion, and facing down Gul’dan (or what’s left of him) as the final boss in the Tomb. Here is also where you’d uncover whatever Macguffin is needed to bring down Azshara.

The final patch would obviously be the final fight against Azshara. She’s ultimately defeated, the Trident secured, and the world saved. The Bronze flight permanently locks that bubble of time out of the timestream, causing the tsunami and everything in the expansion to vanish. It’s still accessible of course, setting the lore for going back to the expansion, but the story moves on to the world at large and now-revealed coming of the Legion.

__________________


"Winter Wolves" has earned the achievement [Classy Worgen]!
[Guild] [Odok]: wtf we're horde
[Guild] <GM>: doesn't matter. All worgen are classy.

Horde Bias!

That's pretty good too.

Not bad ideas. I'll admit, I'm not in the Ogre Fan club, but at the same time, I do have fond memories of Ogre Juggernauts, so it makes sense to include them in a seafaring expansion. Oh, and I love the idea of allowing two crafting professions along with a gathering profession.

Some thoughts on the races:
Ogres
-Me Smash: why not have that be an unarmed attack, whether they use weapons or not. I just remember a lot of ogres, including ogre-magi, punching the heck out of things.
-Colossal strength is a good idea. That said, if I might offer up an alternative, something along the lines of their weight, that makes them resistant to knockback or any other attack that tries to move them.


Naga
A while ago, and I want to say on a completely different website, I posted an idea for Naga that was somewhat different. The goal was to overcome the barrier of their tail, and also to incorporate another race that I figured was never going to make it (High Elves). Here's the idea, incorporate adapt it if you like:
A group of High Elves are transformed into Naga (probably against their will). Through some magic (probably having to do with the old Elven rituals involving Aquantion), they gain the ability to revert back to their Elven form, or at least most of the way back, afterwhich whenever they enter the Water, they revert to their Naga form.

Racial Attributes: Split Form: when on land, they can revert to their elven forms, allowing them access to mounts (I want to say unicorns), etc. Whenever they enter the water, they are transformed back into Naga. I'd also buff their archaeology if nothing else.