#Zul'Drak

[findmeinshattrath]

When The Last Titan drops...

and we go back to Northrend, I wonder what the new capital will be for the expansion. I doubt they'll go with Dalaran again, so operating on the assumption that we'll be using an existing location, I think that the likely options will be...

Grizzlemaw - now ruled over by Furbolgs that are finally purified

Zul'Drak/Gundrak - Could easily see surviving Drakkari finally banding together to rebuild, and maybe opening up to the other factions to ensure survival/out of desperation. I like to think it would be a coalition of living and undead trolls

Wintergrasp - Finally find some greater use for it

Moa'ki Harbor - According to Exploring Northrend, the largest Tuskarr settlement since losing Kaskala

Kaskala - Finally reclaimed

Pal'ea - According to Exploring Northrend, has been reclaimed by the Tuskarr and is currently expanding

Isle of Conquest

Strand of the Ancients

Azjol-Nerub - Not too sure about this one considering what's going on in tWW, but I feel like it's a fair possibility

Coldarra/the Nexus

Crystalsong Forest - Unlikely, but I could see them rebuilding in the Highborne Ruins, especially if they go with a Dalaran connection and the elven factions. Doubt it though, considering the expansion before this will be so Elf-focused

Didn't consider any Storm Peaks locations, considering that it seems we'll be fighting the Titans who will be based out of Ulduar, or Icecrown locations, considering I doubt that anybody would choose that. Sholazar also has Titan connections and also no locations that seem like they would fit for a capital city.

[azerothtravel]

Bring It, Zul'Drak, December 9, 2008.

[emilylorange]

Zul'Drak ~2hrs each (Warcraft)

[darkelfguy]

Return to the world of Azeroth....in Morrowind, for today we're showcasing World of Morrocraft's beta release for the continent of Northrend!

A project two years in the making, World of Morrocraft aims to bring the realms of Azeroth to the game-world of Morrowind, largely using Morrowind assets to provide a new interpretation on the classic locations and environments found in World of Warcraft.

Tel Shadow's ambitious personal project, this beta release includes a mostly exterior complete continent of Northrend, covering the regional zones of the Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, Grizzly Hills, Crystalsong Forest, Icecrown, Storm Peaks, Sholazar Basin, and Lake Wintergrasp.

But this release is still exteriors only, no NPCs or enemies have been included yet, though NPCing and creatures might be included in the next update along with the zones Zul'Drak and Howling Fjord.

As a note, it needs to be emphasized that this is an interpretation of Northrend, not a 1:1 remaking of Northrend from World of Warcraft. Some things are different, like the city of Dalaran isn't floating in this version (due to performance issues), so keep in mind it won't look exactly the same (nor could it while primarily using Morrowind assets).

But either way, this is a really impressive project, with tons of verticality, and while there's not much gameplay just yet, the landscapes are a visual delight that manages to capture some of that nostalgic MMO magic!

[mcrtalstrike]

After helping out in the Emerald Dream, Rak'jirh finally took it upon himself to ACTUALLY take a break, offering to take dragons on tours around Northrend and recount the time he spent there years ago, before transmogrification.

Emmigosa is a frequent volunteer, fascinated by Northrend's history, particularly concerning what had become of her flight and the history of Zul'Drak.

[kissfortheelves]

Akan’ta the blood moon, the vengeance. She’s a pretty young troll. 

Akan’ta is angry at the whole world, she is full of uncontrollable rage, she has lost everything and she only lives for vengeance. She is HORRIBLE but she can also grow so much. She can learn, she can experience a softer side of life and she can create bonds...

She lives alone in the forests of Zul'drak (in my head it's much bigger and the there are huge, cold and dark forests, okay? xD), in an old hut of wood and rock abandoned by some hunters who left almost everything intact when they fled.

As for what the Drakkari did, Akan'ta understands especially well that most did what they did out of desperation and that a few took advantage of panic and despair for power. Part of her family consumed the loa and another part refused, however they were all hunted by foreigners who came to end the plague, without distinction between one and the other. In her there is no longer joy and tranquility, despite how young she is, barely a puppy reaching adulthood, she swore to her loa that she would hunt down those who put her people to the knife and she sees herself every day consumed by the sadness, anger and hate.

[mousterian-writes]

🚨My Official Expansion Rankings🚨

Stone Cold Locks of the Century...of the Week:

And by that I really just like these because they are relevant to my writing interests.

I'd be interested on seeing everyone else's expansion rankings (after your done throwing bricks)

Vanilla/Classic - Questing is fulfilling and the world is never richer than it is in this expansion. The classes feel flexible even if they have severe restrictions. It has flaws (the pvp ranking grind), but I think the positives outweigh the negatives. Also, has Naxxramas which is the best raid of all time

MOP - In my opinion the best ‘story’ driven expansion. Pandaria is awesome and well realized and has one of my favorite raids, the Throne of Thunder. 

Cata- Probably the most controversial placement. But Cata is interesting to me because it signifies a change in the status quo for the world. Has some really interesting questing zones with Stonetalon and Hillsbrad. I think all of the ‘Lordaeron’ zones were fairly strong, including the worgen starting zone. I also love Uldum, I think all the Harrison Jones stuff is very fun. Does have issues, I think it marks the beginning of the ‘casualification’ of the game for good or for ill. I only seriously raided during the Dragon Soul, and never really did Firelands but I know it is a popular raid.  

Wrath - Save your bricks for later. Wrath is nice. I dislike the nexus war plot and I hate that we kill Malygos. Has Ulduar and overall a great expansion soundtrack. I would consider this the first 'story' driven expansion, however the way it is implemented is weak. I feel like you really only get the impression that you are at total war with the Scourge for the introductory quests in Borean Tundra and when you are questing in Zul'Drak. I'm excluding Icecrown because it sucks except for the two quest lines that don't suck (more on those later). No one quests in Icecrown since its end game content and most of that is spent doing dailies and getting stuff for raid night. Trust me, I'm a loremaster. Anyway. If we are fighting the lich king everything should work towards that goal and it doesn't always feel that way. Ulduar is *kind of* a non sequitur. The Tournament is goofy and bad even if for some reason I like doing all of those dailies. The Nexus war is a blink and you miss it thing even though its KIND OF a huge deal.

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Honorable Mention

Warlords - Really? Well, this one is more of a conceptual Like. I did not play much WoD at all & I saw it as a cynical cash grab that they coincided with the movie’s release. Also, the premise is contrived and stupid. But, I really liked the lore about the ordering of Draenor and the struggle between the titan creatures and the botanie. I also think it is interesting that they have a whole other ‘element’ (spirit) on Draenor that they do not have on Azeroth. So there are some ideas that I like to incorporate into the background of my AU. 

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Stuff I don’t care about for whatever reason

BFA - Home Tree Burning? Interesting. Loyalist/Rebel? Also interesting. Class Warfare- gettin' spicy. Drustvar having 16th century witch trials but also accepting aid from my worgen death knight?  ......no. Blizzard also has no idea what to do with Jaina post MoP. Would have been more interesting if they focused more on the Azeroth part of Battle for Azeroth and treated it like a new Cata. But no. They didn't do that.

TBC - I’ve quested through here a million times. I played it back in the day and it was okay. But after no lifeing Classic and going to TBC it just has a brutal grind. Feels like it has very little lore that ties into later events. I do like the Kirin Var quests and Sabellian's quests, they are actually some of my favorites in the game. But, overall a boring expac. Hate all the raids except Kara (and I don’t even like that one that much) which should have been a raid in vanilla. I will say it has some very satisfying questing loops, so if you like efficiency it is not that bad. 

Legion - You may now throw bricks at me. I think I just hate fun. Which whatever. I don’t like the artifacts. I hate that the whole thing was able to start because of Draenor. I think its really funny that the high mountain Tauren and the Shal'dori join the Horde and then the Horde turn around and burn down home tree.

Dragonflight / Slands - The amount of bending over backwards, lore wise, is crazy. Sorry to all my mutual who exclusively write SL fics. And then on Dragonflight- the time of the dragon ended.

[thetantiger]

I JUST FOUND GONDRIA IN ZUL'DRAK AND I DISMOUNTED TO TAME IT BUT SOME OF MY OTHER PETS WERE OUT AND THEY INSTA KILLED IT I'M GOING TO FUCKING KMS

[prostopolinahehe]

zul'drak

[joseg90]

Let's take a look in some artwork about Zul'Drak from Wrath of Lich King Artbook! 🕹⌨🖱🎧🖲🕹🎧🖲🖱⌨🖱🖲💽🎧🖲📀🎧💽🖱 ___________________________________________________ Mi canal de Twitch: joseg90 My Merch Store 🔮: josegonline.live/merch 🖲🖱🕹⌨🖱⌨🕹🕹🕹🕹⌨⌨🖲🎧🖲⌨🖱⌨�� ___________________________________________________ ⬇️⬇️HASHTAGS ⬇️⬇️ ___________________________________________________ #gaming #videogames #gamers #gamerstyle #gamerguy #pcgaming #pcgamer  #screenshot #entertainment #worldofwarcraft #warcraft #blizzard #mmorpg #wow #español #latino #wrathoflichking #wrathoflichkingclassic https://www.instagram.com/p/Cnz_IktvqhJ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[findmeinshattrath]

This is EXTREMELY wishful thinking, but when Midnight and The Last Titan roll around, they would be GREAT opportunities for some Troll allied races

[azerothtravel]

Big Numbers, Zul'Drak, November 20, 2008.

[deepeningshadows]

[breadknight-likes-things]

Bread’s Game Journal 06/03/20: Wrath In The Frozen North: A Northrend Retrospective, Part 5: Zul’Drak

For an expansion based almost entirely around the massive threat of the Lich King and the Undead Scourge, it takes a little while to see clear proof of his threat to the rest of the world, Zul’Drak is that proof.  It’s impossible to see the strong, yet isolated, Troll Kingdom that Zul’Drak once was as you explore this zone.  Of course, it’s equally as impossible to see anything other than the Lich King’s total victory creeping ever closer as the leadership of this once great kingdom grow more and more desperate with every battle lost.  The fact the leadership genuinely decided that sacrificing and killing their own gods was worth even a fleeting victory against The Scourge is enough to make Zul’Drak one of Northrend’s most fascinating zones from a story perspective. As far as fond memories go I can’t really find many of them to bring up for Zul’Drak, there’s excellent content here, and one of the best zone story lines in World of Warcraft, but as far as I remember not much stands out as unique in the actual quest lines.  That being said, the story told over the zone as a whole is one of the best in the game, and, like I wrote a bit about yesterday, it doesn’t actually start anywhere in Zul’Drak.  Fresh off his big reveal as an agent of the Lich King in Drak’Theron Keep, Drakuru has been placed in charge of the total domination of his own former home.

There’s quite a few necropoli’ floating around in the lower regions of Zul’Drak, a sign that the battle is more or less already over.

There’s echoes in this story line of Arthas returning home to Lorderan and twisting his once peaceful home into the Plaguelands we now know.  Drakuru is doing much of the same, for the same basic reasons, a promise of power.  Only, Drakuru’s opponents are significantly more desperate than any of the people of Lorderan ever were in their final days.  It becomes clear partway through this zone, that the Ice Trolls Loa gods are dead, and the mystery of how they ended up so is fairly brief.  All of them were killed by the very same trolls who had once worshiped them, all in an attempt to usurp their power and beat back the encroaching hordes of the Undead.  The only problem with that plan being, the underlying knowledge most of the trolls have, that this battle has already been lost, and anything they do now to hold the line is only delaying the inevitability of their kingdom being wiped from the map.  To the point that even their gods won’t survive now, because they’re dead by the Trolls own hand. Troll kingdoms have had a rough go in World of Warcraft lore, they’ve been forced out of their homes by Elves, Humans, Naga, all sorts.  They’ve desperately clung to fading power over the world in their scattered strongholds, but none of their fates have ever been as grim as the one the ice trolls in Zul’Drak faced.  Betrayed by one of their own, desperate measures failing miserably.  Even the eventual full conclusion of their story being left on the cutting room floor!  Alright, so that last one isn’t really anything out of lore, but it is notable to talk about in this post about Zul’Drak.

Gun’Drak would have been imposing enough with out the whole “killing a literal god out front” thing.

It’s been rumored for quite a long time that Gun’Drak, the final part of the Zul’Drak story, and a very fun dungeon, was originally meant to be a much larger raid.  There’s hints and indications that there were supposed to be far more bosses found within the fortress, but they were cut left and right until we were left with the four boss, five player dungeon we ended up with.  The biggest and most interesting sight that’s leftover from these plans is of course the huge snake tail you can see over a balcony after fighting the Drakarri Colossus. It never fully appears, and it’s probably a good thing that it doesn’t because given how long the tail looks, the actual snake must have been hundreds of feet long. While Zul’Drak isn’t the best questing experience as a whole, it’s without a doubt one of the most interesting zones in Northrend.  Looking back, it’s odd how, though you absolutely tussle with them many times, the first zone to really be based around the Scourge takes near half the expansion to appear!  Heck, next zone I’ll be covering for this series barely has any of them at all, but it sure does carve out it’s own unique identity among the rest of this expansion! 

Bread’s Coveted “Best Town” Award: Zim’Torga

Oddly enough, the only thing even close to a surviving settlement in Zul’Drak is run by....the Zandalari.  Hope Princess Talanji eventually got these people out!

Stray Notes: 

- If the Drakkari trolls had simply not lived right next to the hotbed of horrifying abominations maybe this wouldn’t have happened to them!  Think Zul’Fly!

- I’m sorry I’m watching Back To The Future as I type this stray notes section, I love it so much people.

[oldeazeroth]

Amphitheater of Anguish, Zul’Drak (45,58)

[the-nerd-beast]

Playable Race concept: Ice Trolls

commissioned by @prototype-heart 

*disclaimer: This is a post for fun, it is in no way meant to be taken seriously. I have thoroughly combed the lore before making this post and is just a “what if” scenario just for shits and giggles and is meant to be taken with a grain of salt.*

Race: Ice Trolls

Faction: Horde

Languages: Zandali, Orcish

Summary: Ice Trolls are the largest, physically most powerful subspecies of troll still alive. Long ago they formed a powerful empire, the Drakkari, which rivaled the that of the Zandalari in size and power. Claiming the icy wastes of Northrend they clung on, until in recent history they were destroyed by the Scourge and betrayal from within. Now you could probably count the remaining living Drakkari on your fingers, a tribe doomed to extinction.

However from them originated several tribes that left the empire, such as the Winterax, the Icetusk and most notably the Frostmane tribe. The Frostmane tribe is the largest tribe of Ice Trolls that remain, not only numerous but even thriving despite the constant conflict they have with their neighbors the Dwarves of Dun Morogh. They have great respect for the Zandalari and through them have joined the Horde, even integrating the remaining Drakkari into their tribe where they have enriched the tribe for the better.

Classes:

Warrior

Priest

Rogue

Mage

Hunter, starting pet is a white bear (bear)

Shaman, totems resemble those of Darkspear but encrusted with ice.

Monk

Mount: Rhino

Racials: 

Breath of the North Wind: Active. The user blows a cold and bitter wind, dealing X frost damage and reducing the  melee, ranged and spell haste by 15% of all enemies in a 90 degree cone in front of the caster. 12 yard radius, 10 second duration, 3 minute cooldown.

Dire Fortitude. Passive. Reduces physical and frost damage taken by 1%.

Survivalist: Passive. Increased chance of looting meat and fish.

Clinging to Hope: Passive. Buff duration increased by 25%.

Whippin’ Up Some Voodoo: Passive. Alchemy skill increased by 15%.

Dances: Same as Trolls as new models would be based on those rigs.

Customization: Skin color, hair style, hair color, tusks, tattoos.

Male Flirts: 

“10 gold if you can find which part of my body is the warmest.”

“My need for you is dire.”

“You checking out my tusks or should I walk by again?”

“How much does a mammoth weigh? Enough to break the ice”

“I may be blue, but believe me I am happy to see you”

“No need for a fire when I can keep you warm”

Female Flirts:

“If you are cold without a scarf I could wrap around you instead.”

“You know, cuddling is a great way to get warm”

“Is that an icicle in your pocket or are you happy to see me?”

“Never thought I would see something more beautiful than the northern lights, then I saw you”

“My lips are lonely, let them meet yours”

“Black ice ain’t the only thing I’m falling for”

Male Jokes:

“Dwarves are such lousy neighbors, always shouting and drinking and firing their guns!...and not inviting me!”

“Ice ice baby”

“Mammoths are great mounts, they have plenty of space in the trunk!”

“Winter is coming”

“Don’t you have someone else you can annoy? Friends? Family?...Poisonous reptiles?”

“You wanna build a snow troll?”

Female Jokes:

“The cold never bothered me anyway.”

“I’m a frigid bitch? Flattery will get you nowhere”

“Ugh why does Durotar have to be so hot?”

“The Alliance and Horde are fighting again? You guys need to let it go.”

“What is the average temperature in Zul’Drak? There isn’t one.”

“Never play leapfrog with a rhino. *rubs butt* Trust me.”