Everyone knows how the war of the Cataclysm ended. The champions of Azeroth assisted the Dragon Aspects in defeating Deathwing mere moments before he brought about the end of the world, saving Azeroth and all those on it. However, players in the End Time get a glimpse at another future…
With the assistance of the Bronze Dragonflight, players are taken to a future Northrend where Deathwing successfully brought about the Cataclysm. While the view from the dungeon is somewhat limited, multiple classes are able to get outside the dungeon boundaries and explore the world in much more detail. The first 30 seconds of the video above detail the easiest method of getting past the barriers.
The first object of note is a crashed Horde Gunship. This is the gunship that Deathwing splits in half during the cinematic that plays after defeating Ultraxion in Dragon Soul. The ships two balloons lay crumpled and strewn a few hundred feet away.
Heading towards the Wyrmrest Temple, it’s hard to miss the massive corpse of Deathwing impaled upon it. A constant stream of lava flows from his mouth, forming molten pools at the base of the Temple. Rubble from the upper spires of the Temple lay scattered at its base.
However, you may be wondering why Deathwing would be here at all, given that this is the timeline where he defeats the heroes of Azeroth. The reason is somewhat sinister. After Deathwing successfully brought about the Cataclysm and ended all life on Azeroth, the Old Gods, no longer having a use for him, drove him mad and forced him to impale himself upon the temple.
As we travel south towards the Emerald Dragonshrine the sky abruptly turns pitch black. This is to give players the appearance that the Echo of Tyrande is cast into eternal darkness when they teleport to her Dragonshrine to fight her.
Traveling up the eastern boundary of the map, we pass through New Hearthglen, a small forsaken town, and most notably Wintergarde Keep. Unfortunately, the map starts rendering just a few feet short of Naxxramas, so we’re unable to see how the floating necropolis fared in the end of the world.
Returning to where we first escaped the dungeon and following the Path of the Titans leaves us overlooking the rendered half of Crystalsong Forest as well as the instanced version of Dalaran. While you can glide into Dalaran by climbing a mountain, it’s somewhat complex. You can find a guide at 13:39 in the video.
From the top of the mountain you can go two directions. North towards Dalaran, and south towards Wintergrasp. I elected to head towards Wintergrasp first, as you can more easily loop back around and climb the mountain again.
The first thing I noticed was that while the water hadn’t been added to Wintergrasp, the icebergs and white film they put at waterfalls to create the illusion of movement were both present. This resulted in smalls walkways of icebergs floating across various chasms.
Going back down into dragonblight, we pass through Azjol Nerub. While the dungeon portals are missing and an invisible wall blocks one of the tunnels, the summoning stone is still there and can be used to summon players. Though I’m not sure if it would send them to the End Time or Northrend.
Moving back north towards the mountain, we pass the Wrathgate as well as the respective Alliance and Horde encampments. The ground before the gate is still stained with plague and soot. Climbing back to the peak to reach Dalaran, we pass glimpses of the Icecrown architecture such as various parapets and the pit in Icecrown Citadel.
Upon reaching Dalaran, the zone music shifts from End Time music to the Dalaran theme, and you’ll join trade chat as if entering a capital city. Additionally, the mailboxes and guildbanks work like in the instanced Stormwind article from last week.
This zone is absolutely massive, and for all the locations I covered, there are many more I had to leave out for the sake of article length. Even more than usual, I’d say that the ruins of Azeroth in the End Time are well worth exploring for yourself.
