wow Secret Elven Island in Exile's Reach

[Starym 3,779]

 

It seems there's more to Exile's Reach than we knew! You've probably noticed an island way off in the distance in the zone with a clearly Elven tower on top, but now we know you can actually get there, with some difficulty! ArmouredSpacePony took his Shaman, leveled it to 8 to get the Reincarnation self-rez, and with a whole lot of patience waited for the cooldown every time he died to fatigue on his way to the island! But luckily we don't have to go through all that, as he chronicled his visit to the island, with some Stormheim and Naga assets, as well as the Elven tower and temple, Forsaken camp, ship and more.

Whether this was planned as part of the zone or was just thrown together to be a misty island in the background is unclear, but it's a cool video to check out nonetheless:

Source.

[Maddy 1]

After watching this video here all, most of the areas on this island reminds me of areas that were used in Stormheim in Legion.  They are identical.  he also mentioned that in the video as well.  

[Ulzorn 27]

13 minutes ago, Maddy said:

After watching this video here all, most of the areas on this island reminds me of areas that were used in Stormheim in Legion.  They are identical.  he also mentioned that in the video as well.  

considering exile's reach itself is mostly made from reused assets (highmaul exterior and part of the raid,for instance) its not that surprising

[ORCSMASH 29]

Dollars to doughnuts they were planning on this island being the 11-20 zone originally (or, perhaps, that ER was going to be 1-5 and this island was going to be 5-11). That is a LOT of assets (especially the underwater ones) to place and plan on that island for there to have been no plan aside from it being a backdrop. I don't think this is something to be used down the line. Since the second island is a mish-mash of parts like Exile's Reach is, I think it's meant to give players a taste of the world at large, not be the scene for an endgame event, since most endgame zones have a bit more continuity. This second island is essentially a visual portmanteau of all the zones in legion. Just feels like a "bit off more than they could chew" situation.

Regardless, I'm personally more interested the reason all the animals on ER are placed in such odd positions and seem to be communicating. It's so pervasive throughout that island that I really feel like there's a lore reason behind it. /shrug

[Ulzorn 27]

2 minutes ago, ORCSMASH said:

Dollars to doughnuts they were planning on this island being the 11-20 zone originally (or, perhaps, that ER was going to be 1-5 and this island was going to be 5-11). That is a LOT of assets (especially the underwater ones) to place and plan on that island for there to have been no plan aside from it being a backdrop. I don't think this is something to be used down the line. Since the second island is a mish-mash of parts like Exile's Reach is, I think it's meant to give players a taste of the world at large, not be the scene for an endgame event, since most endgame zones have a bit more continuity. This second island is essentially a visual portmanteau of all the zones in legion. Just feels like a "bit off more than they could chew" situation.

Regardless, I'm personally more interested the reason all the animals on ER are placed in such odd positions and seem to be communicating. It's so pervasive throughout that island that I really feel like there's a lore reason behind it. /shrug

reminds me of the original dark souls,where a low res version of firelink shrine exists where it's supposed to only be seen from far away,but can actually be reached even revealing a cut shortcut

[ORCSMASH 29]

1 minute ago, Ulzorn said:

considering exile's reach itself is mostly made from reused assets (highmaul exterior and part of the raid,for instance) its not that surprising

No, but what is surprising and a bit newsworthy here is that they actually built that whole second island and didn't invisible wall it or facade it, like Silvermoon City. That's a decent bit of hours to plan it, terraform it, choose assets, plan assets, place assets, test, etc. (even if nothing was made specifically for it) for there to have been no purpose. This isn't the "Outlands Testing Area" where they were just dumping stuff on a throw-away canvas to see what worked.

[Drone 0]

Anyone else feel that it’ll be for future allied races?? Looks like 4-5 different races sections like Naga, Vrykul, maybe some light based undead faction for alliance... 

[GryphonMD 18]

Wonder if the Horde were originally supposed to have a different starter area, and for some reason Blizz decided both would hit Exile's Reach?

Or, there'll be another class coming, and this is its starting zone...

 

[Halock 156]

5 hours ago, ORCSMASH said:

No, but what is surprising and a bit newsworthy here is that they actually built that whole second island and didn't invisible wall it or facade it, like Silvermoon City. That's a decent bit of hours to plan it, terraform it, choose assets, plan assets, place assets, test, etc. (even if nothing was made specifically for it) for there to have been no purpose. This isn't the "Outlands Testing Area" where they were just dumping stuff on a throw-away canvas to see what worked.

Outlands is a bit of an outlier though and was clearly not designed to be seen. It's more like old Stratholme or Quel'thalas, no (although more complex)? And it's similar to the plaguelands underneath Naxxramas in a sense. Heck, it's probably closest to Karazhan Crypts.

Which isn't to contradict you. Definitely weird. The Forsaken camp particularly, since it seems to be aimed at the main island, and the underwater assets are completely useless like you say. 

It's possible it could've been intended for a cutscene, perhaps. 

[Arcling 877]

Looks like typical cut content. Perhaps they had some more quests planned over there, but then decided to make whole introduction shorter.

[Bobbis 208]

6 hours ago, Arcling said:

Looks like typical cut content. Perhaps they had some more quests planned over there, but then decided to make whole introduction shorter.

It could also be that there was too much there? With the level squish and exp needed being reduced having a 2nd island could bring people out of it near level 20 which would be too high?

[Aeula 1]

Might be Exile’s reach has been planned since BfA or Legion and this is an early prototype they left in to provide some distant scenery.

[Halock 156]

On 10/22/2020 at 3:31 AM, Arcling said:

Looks like typical cut content. Perhaps they had some more quests planned over there, but then decided to make whole introduction shorter.

I suppose what's fuelling most of our wild speculation is the fact we don't really know what typical cut content looks like 100%. We know plenty gets cut, but at what stage?

Vanilla clearly had a lot of random stuff going on which never came to anything on release, but you kind of expect that from Vanilla. Did most of BFA's zones have large, later removed, areas built and sparsely populated like this?

Edited October 24, 2020 by Halock

[Arcling 877]

14 hours ago, Halock said:

I suppose what's fuelling most of our wild speculation is the fact we don't really know what typical cut content looks like 100%. We know plenty gets cut, but at what stage?

Vanilla clearly had a lot of random stuff going on which never came to anything on release, but you kind of expect that from Vanilla. Did most of BFA's zones have large, later removed, areas built and sparsely populated like this?

No idea, even if they had them, they would have to remove them, due to flying. I guess in vanilla they didn't have to bother with removing unfinished areas, since there were no flying mounts, so most people wouldn't see them anyway (except for those abusing jumping mechanics or some other exploits). Perhaps Exile's Reach was supposed to last longer. But even main are reuses existing assets. I find it rather strange for it to have Gorian structures from Draenor, when everywhere else ogres built simple huts. Yet somehow one group, settled on one remote island, was able to rebuilt structures in this style (and with same materials?).

[Halock 156]

13 hours ago, Arcling said:

I guess in vanilla they didn't have to bother with removing unfinished areas, since there were no flying mounts, so most people wouldn't see them anyway (except for those abusing jumping mechanics or some other exploits). 

True, but quite apart from that I assume there was simply more space for something to be started, abandoned and go unnoticed. I get the sense Vanilla's construction was way more haphazard than today's zones.

 

13 hours ago, Arcling said:

 I find it rather strange for it to have Gorian structures from Draenor, when everywhere else ogres built simple huts. Yet somehow one group, settled on one remote island, was able to rebuilt structures in this style (and with same materials?).

Damn. Of the things which have been bothering me about that zone, that just jumped to the top of my list.

Un-thank you.