Drowned City

Where it lies

Off the coast of Stranglethorn Vale. A troll city that was under water and is not any more - it has risen, and with it everything that lived in it while it was down there. Blizzard's overview of 20 October is more precise: west of Grom'gol.

What it is about

Trolls and naga hold it, and they do not hold it together: the two are in each other's way. A wrecked pirate ship sits in the ruins, which is the kind of detail that tells you somebody got there before you and did not leave. This was the dungeon Blizzard put on the show floor at BlizzCon - the one attendees could actually play, which makes it the best-documented of the seven by hands-on report.

What stood there before

The Stranglethorn coast has always been troll country: Zul'Gurub sits inland, the Gurubashi ruins run through the jungle, and the water off the shore was where the map simply stopped. A drowned city is the obvious thing to put there and the one nobody built. What makes it a dungeon rather than scenery is that it came back up - so the question is not what sank, but what raised it, and Blizzard has not answered that. The naga inside are the closest thing to a hint: they are the faction that does not need a city to be above water.

What it is built for

Levels 35 to 40, from Blizzard's list. That is the bracket the Classic roster thins out in, between Razorfen Downs and Uldaman - and it is a stretch a lot of players remember as the part where levelling gets slow.

What the beta can show of it

Out of reach. The beta caps at 30 and this dungeon starts at 35, so nothing here can be verified in a client before launch - not the layout, not the encounters, not a single drop. What this page has instead is the one thing the others lack: people played it at BlizzCon and wrote down what they saw.

What is not known yet

Boss names and mechanics. The hands-on reports describe the place, not its encounters, and Blizzard has published neither. The entrance, at least, is settled: according to Blizzard's overview of 20 October you dive below the water to find it. Inside, the open-air dungeon changes around the group - mist and rain build into a full storm before the final confrontation.