Decorating!

[Mathias]

Psst! You should definitely add homes to the Howling Fjord sometime in the future!

[FlyingSquirrel]

I sent you a PM concerning the above. Well, there's also a place in Howling Fjord that could basically be the same.

[Rigley]

I'll consider that request once my primary areas are fixed up, Squirrel.

I've begun work on Tirisfal, and there will be houses and doors along the road near Undercity before the day's out. There's a chapel as well. I'll be placing doors in Brill momentarily.

Doors have been added to Ravenholdt and soon GMI in both phase 1 and 2 for convenience of aesthetics in both.

There are also new huts in Mulgore.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Cool, thanks.

[Rigley]

An update!

Three new orcish bases have been added. These can be found north of Ratchet in the Barrens (above the A in Ratchet on the map), at Honor's Stand in the Barrens (The road leading into Stonetalon from the Barrens), and the the northwest of Ghostwalker Post in Desolace (path heading in from the north on Ghostwalker post).

These will be furnished as time allows it on my part; I'll post when furnishings are fully done, but people are welcome to use these locations for RP now.

[Mathias]

Nice. Thank you, Rigley.

[Rigley]

Ratchet outpost has had walls added to it; I will likely finish this one today when I return in an hour or so.

[Rigley]

The outpost by ratchet is finished! I'll consider any edits posed, but otherwise I believe I'm done with this build for now. I'll likely be moving to Desolace whenever I get to building once more.

[Rigley]

I thought I would make a quick note, since I've heard of complaints over the new Horde outposts being thrown up.

There's a reason I build where I build. I have heard some complaints that the bases are in Horde territory/near Horde land. This is primarily because it just makes sense-- Horde bases, especially ones with a good amount of fortification, are going to primarily be in Horde land. Over-expansion into a region makes it an even easier build as far as reasoning goes; buildings were erected, but in the long run fell out of use due to lack of the need for them in that specific area.

Furthermore, there areas are simply more accessible. Want to go RP in a base in the barrens? Sure, that's easy-- even as a level one you could probably make the run with minimal deaths from ratchet, and if you have a pal to help then your survival is almost guaranteed. If you're going to Outland, however, that isn't the case. Not only are there monsters swarming everwhere and bad terrain for building, but putting an RP location in Outlands makes it very inaccessible to non-grunts and characters that aren't profiled and leveled.

The only solutions are ones I'm just not fond of-- using phasing is an easy way to have your RP disrupted by a character getting D/C'd and then being mauled by the ogres/raptors/etc. around, and the other is to completely phase out an existing village or a large patch of NPCs-- something Kretol isn't the most keen to do. You also would have to factor in that Kretol himself would need to set up the portal and, while that may not be time-consuming, its still an extra step in this process.

To put it in perspective in terms of the NPCs moved; Desolace base: 1 NPC. Honor's Stand: 2 NPCs. About five at Ratchet. These NPCs were animals too, nothing that would really have any effect on lore or whathaveyou at all. That's why these locations were appealing, as well as the aforementioned notes.

So yeah. Anyways, that's enough from me for now. I'll be working on the Desolace base next I believe. Possibly late into tonight, though we'll have to see.

[Caravan]

Personally, I'm lovin' all these cool buildings popping up all over the place. Thank you for your hardwork

[ghaskan]

I agree with the poster above; the more RP locations the better (though I bet you're still leaving some open spaces, because those are good, too!), and add up to the immersion. Thank you very much for your work! I'll try to make good use of it.

[Xigo]

... To briefly hijack Rigley's thread, seeing as I've done some decorating of myself.

RED ROCKS
-Added two tents
-Added bonfire w/ benches and drum.
-Added flight tower containing two wyverns.

The flight tower was added to serve as an IC excuse for going there, instead of the only way up being some sort of awkward climb up the cliffs. One could presume there to be multiple Tauren villages should multiple people end up using it, serving as pit-stops for wind riders.

ALSO. KRET. CAN WE GET MORE TAUREN BUILDINGS? I HAD LIKE, TWO TO WORK WITH.

[Rigley]

Desolace base is done, and I expect the minor outpost by Honor's Stand to be completed soon as well, though I won't update for that.

Anyways! Let it never be said that I don't think of reasoning behind the things I build, because I thought it might be good to actually state the background of these new locations.

Gravewatcher Hold (Desolace):

Spoiler:

Gravewatcher Hold was an Orcish settlement erected during the Horde's initial period of expansion, so named due to the near Kodo Graveyard. A sizable settlement, it held a contingent of soldiers hailing primarily from the Black Tooth Grin and Warsong clan. The leadership of the settlement was split as well, also on the boundaries of the two clans, as neither leader of the respective contingent wished to be below the other. While they maintained an unsteady alliance throughout the Third War, the bickering began anew as their deployments dwindled and soldiers began to clash.

When the Twilight's Hammer began to take hold of the nearby Thunder Axe Fortress some their agents entreated a large sum of the Black Tooth grin, including their commander, into their ranks. A battle erupted in the hold soon after, resulting in a massacre by both sides as the clans turned on one another. The few survivors of the battle fled, and as the Horde began to stretch itself thin on Kalimdor the hold was forgotten and left abandoned.

Currently Gravewatcher Hold still stands uninhabited. The local Tauren of Ghost Walker Post claim that bad spirits still inhabit the place from the day the Orcs turned on one another, and keep a wide berth from the outpost. The only visitors it sees is a goblin merchant who makes camp by it for travel around the region, though even he doesn't care to enter the hold itself.

Bladebreaker Stronghold (Ratchet):

Spoiler:

Bladebreaker Stronghold is another settlement which was simply prey to the Horde's rampant expansion. During the initial arrival of the Horde Bladebreaker Stronghold was a settlement erected, never meant to be more than a quick defensive outpost against the local Centaur clans. Despite this when the Horde's claim to the Barrens and the surrounding areas was solidified, the base simply never stopped expanding. Bladebreaker was well used during battles with the regional forces of Centaur and Quillboar, and also lent its support to the mines nearby. As the Third War winded down though the Crossroads outpost was erected, holding a much more strategic position due to its placement along the roads of the Barrens, making supply caravans and merchants much more prone to travel on the safer roads than hike through the unguarded paths to Bladebreaker.

In the end Bladebreaker Stronghold simply became unnecessary; Caravans came only to deliver supplies, and slowly its standing forces were shipped to other regions of the Barrens. When Ratchet's construction was completed the settlement was simply abandoned altogether, the Goblin port making the nearly unused settlement even less visited, as lodging was available alongside much more palatable food than Grunt's rations.

The stronghold currently stands unoccupied, simply a relic of the Horde's expansionism.

Honor's Stand:

Spoiler:

The Orcish hold and blacksmith at Honor's stand were erected during the Horde's expansionism. While initially meant to be a full settlement, the build was abandoned shortly after the completion of the current buildings when present-day Malaka'jin was found to make for much better natural defenses. The building at Honor's Stand was left as is, moving down the path to the new build site and leaving the other standing as is for use in troop travel.

At present, the Honor's Stand buildings are all but unused by the occasional traveler on their way to and from Stonetalon. The only actively used facility is a watchtower a short distance from the hold, where the Horde maintains a barrier into Stonetalon. Even then this regiment of grunts is small, and chiefly uses the tower for shelter when changing out shifts to sleep and eat. The forge is the only structure still used, serving the grunts stationed at the border for repairs on their armor and weaponry.

Also Xigo, did you try the Tauren smokehut? :B

[Rigley]

All Horde bases are done.

I've also touched up the Red Rocks area; Xigo can feel free to delete any changes he deems unnecessary (or tell me to, so I can clean up my own mess)!

EDIT: As a note, now that my primary concerns (for the most part) are out of the way, are there any areas that people feel have been neglected? I'll check into your suggestions, and give you my report on changes I might make / reasons for not doing so.

[Rigley]

I think I'll bump this and field some more ideas.

On the docket:
>Hearthglen, which I began last night but could not finish due to sleep getting in the way. I expect to have it done sometime today, but as is it can be used for RP, since the corpses and hostiles from yesterday have been cleaned up.

>Furnishing of a house by Thunder Falls, Elwynn by the behest of a player.

That's actually all I've got on my mind immediately. If you have an idea for more stuff post below!