The official Cataclysm page has a preview of the Azshara zone up, and it's in the form of an interview with the zone's designers.
The zone itself will be for Horde players level 10-20 and it was designed to be an alternative to the Northern Barrens for that level span. The main focus centers around Goblins and will continue their race's story and so goblin characters are encouraged to quest there.
Q. You mentioned earlier that Azuregos is missing, but now he's being hunted. What's going on there?
A. Strangely, Azuregos has disappeared, and no one seems to know where he flew off to. After that last group of bloodthirsty adventurers came through on some sort of quest to make a now-useless quiver, he's just been... well, he's gone, and there have been whisperings of someone in Bilgewater Harbor who will pay handsomely for information on his whereabouts.
Q. What goes into redesigning a zone like this?
A.We wanted to maintain the original color palette and fall-foliage theme for Azshara, but beyond that, it was a complete rework from the ground up. Artists began the process by creating some incredible landmarks, including a giant cannon centerpiece for the new city and an entire "pleasure palace" complete with the goblin equivalent of Mount Rushmore, which just oozed goblin flavor. Level designers then reshaped the environment, literally moving mountains, parting waters, and erecting a colossal, zone-encompassing rocket freeway. We then worked to complement the new scenery by adding a bizarre array of quests befitting the unique and crazy capitalistic culture of the Bilgewater Cartel.
Check out the rest of the interview here.
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