In working on the outline for Lord of Karazhan I've come to an open point. In the World of Warcraft there are several locations that act as focal points for story events and quests called 'instances'. An example would be Karazhan. Within the location there are several objectives to complete and special events that may be participated in.

While there are far more instances in WoW than I'd have any desire to write into my story, I do want to include several for both plot purposes and general fun. I've created a poll on my yahoo page asking for some reader input so I figured I'd do similar here. Won't create a poll, but input would be appreciated from the list provided.

Since there are several folks here who are not familiar with WoW I've taken the time to link each instance listed to a synopsis page from the WoWWiki.

• 
  Raid Instances - Please choose up to 3
• Zul'Gurub
• Ahn'Qiraj (Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj / Temple of Ahn'Qiraj)
• Molten Core
• Blackwing Lair
• Naxxramas
• Onyxia's Lair
  
  Normal Instances - Please choose up to 3
• Blackrock Depths
• Blackrock Spire (Lower / Upper)
• Stratholme
• Scholomance
• The Temple of Atal'Hakkar (a.k.a. Sunken Temple)
• The Scarlet Monastery
• Shadowfang Keep
• Hellfire Citadel(all wings minus Raid)
• Coilfang Reservoir (all wings minus Raid)
• Auchindoun (including all 4 wings)
• Tempest Keep (all wings minus Raid)

Players may notice several instances missing - this is intentional. Those instances are either already included in the story or have been excluded for other reasons.

As you're looking at the list above try to focus on which ones sound like they would be the most interesting to read about an adventure through. Don't worry about plot or character development when making your choices. I chose the options on this list for a reason.

So...input away!

 

Well, you've left a few of the low-level instances out (Blackfathom Deeps, Stockades, Deadmines, Gnomeregan) for one reason or another.

I vote Stratholme, The Scarlet Monestary and Hellfire Citadel from the normal instances, and Onyxia, Blackwing and Zul'Gurub for the raids.
Unless you want to wait and add in the new one Blizzard are releasing in 2.10.

 

Heh. Actually I limited the Outland instances for a reason. Namely...


Harry Potter and the War of the Black Temple
Darkness spreads at the command of the Betrayer and his Lieutenants. The Dark Portal has been overrun and Azeroth is once again threatened. Will the Last Guardian answer the call for aid?

Harry Potter and the Titan's Call
The Burning Legion has rallied behind its Lord and creator. The End Game is at hand. Will the worlds of Azeroth and Earth survive?



Yeah.

Plot bunnies SUCK.

 

Well... I'd choose:

1.) Blackwing Lair
Since it's the raidinstance I liked most in WoW without TBC and has a good lorebackground (Do i have to point out my name and avatar? )

2.) Molten Core.

As I think the whole Ragnaros, Lieutnant of the Old Gods, seems like something a guardian of Tirisfal may want to fight.

3.) Naxxamras

Seeing as it is THE scourge raiding instance and Medivh did fight against the scourge ( and the Burning Legion), it seems logical.

4.) The Scarlet Monastery is simply the best instance in the game and the lore surrounding the Scarlet Crusade is nice.

5.) Stratholme

Demon Lord, Scarlet crusade and Scourge, nuff said

6.) Coildfang Reservoir

Simply cause I despise the naga there for the times these guys have wiped me

 

This maybe isn't the proper place to ask, but if you ain't played WOW, is there any point reading your story or will it go straight over my head.

 

That's a great question.

A huge chunk of Lord of Karazhan is taken up by Harry learning about Azeroth, its people, and relearning its history. This means that as Harry discovers this strange new world the reader will too. If I do my job as an author then readers should have no problem following the story no matter their WoW knowledge level.

 

Right, well I'll give it a go and I'm sure you'll have done a good job, good luck with the fic!

 

Naxxramas
Molten Core
Black Wing Lair

Scholomance
Scarlet Monastary
Shadow Labyrinth (Death to Murmur!)

 

I didn't even notice you'd missed them out.

Then again, I've been playing WoW for all of a month and a half, and my highest levelled character is only 33. I've only actually been in Shadowfang Keep from your list (though I have been to the non-instanced section of Stratholme to get the expert first aid book).

 

Can't really say anything about the instances since I don't play WoW and just reading quick blurbs in that wiki does not really say much.

There is one question that this topic brought to my mind however. Will this be more of a WoW fanfic rather than a HP fanfic. What I mean is that you are planning on having Harry be sort of merged with a WoW character and apparently most of the action will take place in WoW world since you are planning on using several locations.

Would the story still be fully viable if instead of Harry, the character that Medivh reincarnated himself into would have been called Jupperuppe from the world of Bingibongo or do characters like Dumbledore, Voldy and other stuff from HP world actually play a real role? What I am asking for is that if we did not know that Harry is Harry could we still recognize him or the fact that the story is a HP crossover. If you used "find and replace" to change all Harry's to Jupperuppe's would things still work? That is one thing that bugs me a bit.

Not that there is anything wrong with pure WoW stories but not being a fan I am not particularly interested in them. I prefer HP stories.

Just curious.

 

Datakim,

The quick answer is that it'll be about 25/50/25. The story begins on Earth in the HP universe. Certain events will take place then Harry will leave for Azeroth. A large chunk of the story will take place on Azeroth then Harry will return to Earth to face off against Voldemort.

Harry's life and friends on Earth will continue to play a large roll in his adventures in Azeroth; more than that I'm not willing to admit here.

 

okay answer me these simple questions though,

1. IS Harry going to be in the lion house?
2. WILL he have the same friends?

 

The Harry Potter storyline leading up to the events of my story (post GoF, pre OotP) will not be changed in any way. Meaning yes, he will still be a Gryph and Ron and Hermione will still be his friends and annoying as ever.

Though I have plans for Ms. Know-it-all.

 

Why don't you just go with your gut instinct. There are many choices but suite something that would help harry learn through his adventures and not just magically. It is important that he survives and learns through these environments through magically and mundane.

I think letting us chose would only make it harder for you to chose as an author. But in my opinion i would choose the toughest, hardest and the worst environment you can find to keep harry in tip top shape.

 

It's going to be hard to realistically describe all the monsters in the game. Poisons and different magics hitting Harry aren't just going to take life points off him, they are going to maim him. Find some instances that aren't filled with things that Harry could be easily surprised by unless you are ready to write some damage control. How much are you going allow magic to heal in your story, anyways?

 

Well I was going to just have all the characters described as having little red and blue numbers floating over their heads...

 

While on that train of thought, how are you going to handle the whole death and resurrection thing?

Oh, and please, for the love of god, don't put Blackfathom Deeps in. I hate that instance with a passion.

 

That must be one of the less liked instance. ^^

So my choice...
Raid:
Molten Core.
Blackwing Lair.
Naxxramas.

Normal instance:
Stratholme.
Scholomance.
The Scarlet Monastery.

I choose them, because lore wise I believe they are the richest. I can't really see Medivh care about outland so I don't choose any instance there. And 3 seems too few for the normal instance.

I don't know if you told us what you will be the time frame in the Warcraft universe but i would be interested in the answer.

 

There will be more than 3 normal instances used, but they are part of the fundamental storyline so I didn't add them to this list of "optional" instances.

The timeframe for the WoW universe will be pretty much current game time.

 

What's Harry going to do about the Prince? I can't see him giving up his control