Before anyone goes “Medievaldragon is looking wayyyyyyy too much into it” or “ZOMG what a wild stretch, N00b”, I will go ahead and say that myself. In fact, I will tag this in my mind as a no-news item.  Crygil came out with a thread that to be honest was very random and no apparent purpose at first glimpse.  The poll thread in question is titled … How Do You Feel About Gnomes?. Remember that other thread about Gilneas where a few employees had a posting spree teasing Gilneas?  Yea, that other “stretch post”. [ /facepalm ]

This new one deserves some attention out of curiosity and amusement. They are probably bored with the thousands-a-day threads they have to moderate, and are having some fun.  Or maybe … just mayyyybe, are leaking stuff in a playful way? Hmm.  Don’t mind me.  I am not on psychiatric treatment unfortunately.

Nethaera and Bornakk jumped into Crygil’s thread to add their answers about How Do You Feel About Gnomes?.  So we have two pseudo-teases now:  Gilneas and Gnomeregan Part 2?  That makes me scratch my forehead to the point I could open a hole there.

With the new Phase Technology used at the Wrathgate and at the Battle For Undercity (to name a few examples) and taking in mind there is a dropdown tool to choose whether you want to enter a normal or heroic dungeon—what if there could be two versions of Gnomeregan?  The normal dungeon [lvl 28-35], and a new open dungeon like Hall of Champions where you could enter the restored Gnomeregan as a new city, with NPCs, quest-givers, High Tinker Mekkatorque sitting at its Gnomeregan Throne.

Maybe a new Battlegrounds within Gnomeregan … that would be a great and deserved story progression.  And a very nice touch to the evolution of the MMO.

We claimed Gnomeregan back by defeating Mekgineer Thermaplugg, but we have no way to see Gnomeregan restored as a open to everyone city. Phase Technology is a very good tool to make it happen. Without making Undercity a dungeon, they created a phase where a level 40 character could be turning in the Razorfen Down quest to Dreadlord Varimathras. And at that very moment in time/space, a level 80 can be smacking the heck out of Varimathras and fighting King Varian Wrynn alongside Thrall and Sylvanas in The Battle For Undercity.  Technically, there is no need to instance Gnomeregan.  It could all be arranged with the Phase Technology so that after you do a quest, you become flagged, and from that moment forth you can only see the restored Gnomeregan as an open city where any Allliance player could go to interact with other players and NPCs like you do in Stormwind or Ironforge.

I am certain there would be a lot of Gnome players who would love this to happen.  The New World of Warcraft is an evolving immersive world. Not a static one.  We have now King Varian Wrynn involved in the world … past the Missing Diplomat questline for example.  The battle at the Wrathgate is no more. Now we see Alexstrasza and Krasus sitting there.  The same phase technology could be used around the world of Azeroth and Outland in very nice ways … say like the Emerald Dream, or adding new content and quests to places we have conquered in the past.

Is Crygil’s thread a stretch?  Sure it could be. Still … it does bring up a good speculation and community discussion topic.  Should Blizzard bring back Gnomeregan with Phase Technology? New Quests? New Battlegrounds within Gnomeregan City?  Hell, It’s About Time !

Blizzard Quote:
Crygil: How do you feel about Gnomes?

Bornakk: Destruction. Pure, unstoppable, maniacal, destruction.

Nethaera: I voted “hug”, but only because they make great cookies!

What the ….? They are spending too much time with Bashiok. [ROFL] (For the record, I met Bashiok and Nethaera at WWI 2008 and Blizzcon 2008 during the Fansites dinners, very nice and friendly folks … and fun.)