Update:
Progress over the Christmas period has been slow. The fact that we completed a series of triggers for difficulties and the different item drops through the instances got removed was an annoying step in the wrong direction. Although, now we know how to do them, they'll be easy enough to redo.

It's not all slow progress and bad news though. Here's a list of things that we've done over the last few days:

• The, 'Satyr Cave', instances is now fully completed, with mobs, bosses and doodads fully complete
• The first set of items brought by 'Toofs' have been completed
• The, 'Lost Oasis', has had all the doodads fully completed
• Certain areas of the map have been changed to add more room for a possible two more instances

I'm still working on the map, and I'll add more either later this evening, or tomorrow.

Overview

This is an overview of the entire map. The black line separating the top 1/3 is where the instances have been separated from the actual playable map.
I'm going to create a legend to help people be able to pick out individual areas and get a general scope on how the map works.

Preview of locations

To give people a general idea of what the map is shaping up like, I got several pictures of a variety of locations.


This depicts the entrance to the Blood-Axe Stronghold. The stronghold itself was cut out the side of a mountain, hence the rocky exterior, and multileveled design. Due to their nature of being paranoid, and defensive they have implemented many tiers of defence. The trebuchets, armored burrows, intimidating spiked walls and giant watch towers really create an atmosphere.


This next area is from one of the higher level instances. While in terms of storyline it's not as intricate as the Fel Orcs background, it is from the a Naga reoccurring theme that is apparent in this region. Since man first entered this region the Nagas held their ancient ruins, killing anyone foolish enough to try and help themselves to their artifacts. Several weeks prior to the heroes arrival however, an ancient Naga rose from the sea, and since his arrival (Or indeed return) the Naga's have expanded, and are now preparing for war. This warlord must be stopped before the gears of war are enabled.


This next image is a snip bit of the Human town you'll be using as your base of operations. Well defended, but isolated from the Alliance to the extent where the population is on a gradual decline from the conflict surrounding them. The town itself will be the hub for most of the quests available through-out the game. It will also include a variety of shops & a place to heal. It is also in close proximity to the Arena, and includes a flight master with all the destinations.


This area is... Well, nothing important. I merely thought it was somewhat pretty.

Map Information.

I will now go more in depth with what I hope to achieve on this map.
Terrain:

• A diverse and detailed landscape
• A centered city to allow players to easily explore the open world
• Lots of nooks and crannies with hidden items
• A fixed area for PvP between the players
• Doodads, terrain, and mobs have had their sizes modified to create a world that feels larger, and more enthralling

Heroes:

• All contain completely unique abilities, coupled with new icons
  
• All of them have clear uses as in; Rift Master is 'Damage', Inquisitor is 'Defence/Support', Grizzled War Veteran is 'Defense'. So basically, if one player used the 'Defence' based Warrior with the 'Damage', 'Support' or 'Healing' class they can optimize how you deal and traverse the lands. While this may seem a rather one dimensional idea in terms of gameplay, the idea is to mix and match the classes to create a unique way of dealing with problems
  
• Unique quests, rewards and unlockable ability
• Heroes have had certain aspects that appear in other RPG's limited. An example would be that only one class has an ability to increase allied attack speed, and attack damage. The same can be said for summons, as only two classes have the ability to do such. This has not been done to limit the enjoyment of the players, but to make teamwork more important through-out, and to make sure that classes labeled as 'Support' have powerful moves to make them stand out from other more directed classes

Instances:

• A wide, varied selection filled with dozens of unique items bound to them
• All instances have three different difficulties; Normal, Arduous, Insane. Designed so that as you level, you'll still have a variety of instances to enjoy and level in
• To keep people interested in doing instances on harder difficulties we've added completely unique items for each difficulty
• We're also adding a time based feature, so that players who complete the instance in the alloted time will receive additional items, and bonuses which would be otherwise impossible to get
• Instances are the only way of acquiring a certain type of currency called 'toofs' (Slang for tooth), which can be used alongside gold to acquire the more exotic items through the game
• While there will be no direct respawning through-out the instances, the end goal will be to have all the mobs instantly be respawned upon reentry
  

Gameplay:

• Dozens of repeatable quests through-out, to aid in leveling. Also a main quest which includes unique items to acquire, new bosses to be fought, and is the only method upon which to fight the ultimate boss
• Flight masters to quickly transport the player around the map
• A small, but diverse selection of shop
• Triggered battle events to add a new element to the fight e.g. The Gauntlet style run to gain access to the Blood-Axe Stronghold, where you'll have to face waves of opponents, while you dodge boulders and activate key switches
• A (hopefully) enjoyable storyline to play through, as well as the ability to view detailed information on bosses, and areas in the game
• Bosses are varied in design, and provide enjoyable unique fights
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