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The Sunwell and the Lich King

By Keith Cross on Apr 24, 2008

An article from WoW Insider has been posted on the World of Warcraft official site, which takes a look at the Fury of Sunwell content update as well as the development of Wrath of the Lich King.

The Insider recently sat down with World of Warcraft lead producer J. Allen Brack and art director Chris Robinson to discuss some of the ideas that influenced the development of Fury of the Sunwell, the most recent content update for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. While we were at it, we also picked their brains about the lessons learned from The Burning Crusade and how they're influencing the design approach for Wrath of the Lich King....

Insider: In terms of lore, the Sunwell is one of the most important sites in Azerothian history. Revisiting this place in the Sunwell Plateau raid and the Magisters' Terrace dungeon doesn't just mark the high point of The Burning Crusade's PvE progression; it also doubles as the final act of the first expansion's story arc. How did this sense of a “grand finale” inspire the artistic direction of these settings?

Chris Robinson: The central theme we wanted to realize with the Sunwell's design was a clear revelation of blood elf culture in its highest form. With Sunwell Plateau and Magisters' Terrace, we also had an opportunity to take the gear that players first experienced in the blood elf starting areas and develop those items to their most evolved form. One way this concept was implemented was in the fully realized blood elf visual style of the Sunwell gear players can obtain from these new dungeons. Since the Sunwell represents the culmination of the blood elf storyline that started with The Burning Crusade, it made sense to take design cues from the blood elf starting gear and translate those into some really epic-looking, clearly blood elven armor and weapons.