I'll likely start a single unique thread for the top picks for each of the zone ideas I presented and asked people about which caught their interest.
Refer to the other two threads before this for reference:
Brainstorming New Areas For The Game
Quick Feedback Poll - New Zone Ideas
Pre-Thoughts
Initially when I was thinking of the Rockgrass Steppes idea, I was trying to bring some of the enemies from the North American wilderness into play. The Celestial Temple is much in the same vein as the Rockgrass Steppes as that the idea is based in that of American mythos and wonder.
The Celestial Temple is an idea based off of that of the Mesoamerican Pyramids. These are stepped pyramids that were built by the civilizations inhabiting Central America. Notably, they also had religious practices and gods that centered around the Sun and the Skies – also of note is that the Mayans had a lot of inclination around time as well (Zemekkys!).
One of the great things about the idea for the stepped pyramid is that it fits in extremely well with the rest of the ingame lore. The Celestial Temple could serve as a form of ruins abandoned by the Sunwall as they were pushed back by the Orcs, give a location where the player could see the ‘inquisitive nature’ that the Orcs have in learning and adapting, and the stepped pyramid itself could present an interesting layout as well. What's more, the area could feature unique 'Sunwall Lore', tell the player about the events from the Sunwalls point of view or about the faction.
The Area
I figure that the Celestial Temple could be an optional zone that the player could visit, and that it could spawn generally anywhere as random zones dictate. That said however, it shouldn’t be spawned too close to the Gates of Morning. Alternatively, it could be a Celestial only instance in the same vein of thought as the 'Cursed' Tranquil Meadows only instance.
The main aspect concerning the Celestial Temple is likely going to be its layout design. It’s based of a stepped pyramid, which could be visually demonstrated by having the zone get smaller and smaller with each progressive instance. IE, in a four instance design:
First instance – Comprises 100% area, 20% of the area around the borders of the map is outdoors while the other 80% of the area is indoors.
Second instance – Uses the 80% area that covered the indoor portion of the first instance. 25% of the area is now outdoors and the other 75% is indoors.
Third instance – Uses the 75% area that covered the indoor portion of the second instance. 33% of the area is now outdoors and the other 66% is indoors.
Fourth instance – Uses the 66% area that covered the indoor portion of the third instance. The area forms the Boss Fight arena.
In many ways the dungeon would have a sort of fixed layout, but the interior indoor areas could have walls and rooms randomly spawning perhaps along with the stairs appearing wherever inside. Enemies of course would just be randomly spawned everywhere.
Alternatively, the instance could have no interior areas. Each instance just comprises the outdoor areas the player gradually just climbs each step of the pyramid step by step.
For the tileset I would suggest using the regular stone walls for walls, but the floors could perhaps include a sort of ‘breached brick’ or some sort of ‘weathered brick’ type of pattern to simulate the outdoor nature of the dungeon.
Zone Enemies
In terms of enemies for the instance, I’m still clueless as to what exactly would be good talent sets for ‘Celestial Orcs in Training’ to use. In general I guess they would be a sort of mirror that of the Sunwall’s faction characters as a base. Potentially it might be a good zone to include some new Celestial Classes of ‘Orc Inspiration’ that the player could also start with. Maybe that would be a sort of class using the Darkness related categories combined with a Archer-ish playstyle or that of a Berserker/Marauder.
Along with the Orcs could also be some Celestial ‘spirit’ type of enemies. One example could be the Lightbringer along with perhaps a Moon counterpart. Maybe perhaps we could also make use of ‘Doppleganger’ enemies that appear in the instance that acts as a sort of pale-copy to that of the players character. Depending on if the Prisoner of War Camp idea is followed, traitorous Sunwall elements could come here as well.
Boss Fight
There is a lot of potentially for this instance to have a sort of 'Arena Boss Fight' type of setup, where the last level could be totally outside or inside with whatever shenanigans the boss will have in store for the player. The Boss itself could be a merger of Celestial talents - kind of like the Orc Pride bosses. Alternatively it could be two/three bosses which are based on Sun Paladin, Anorithil, and perhaps a third Celestial class shoudl one be made (Remember Diablo II Lord of the Destruction with the Three Barbarian Bosses?).
The Lore
The Celestial Temple is the perfect site to potentially include some ‘Sunwall’ Lore – much like the Orcish pieces relating to the story of Gar’Kul or the Orcs Perspective of events against them. Here we could have a story laced with writings relating to the perspective of the Sun Paladins and Anorithils as the Orcs quickly came down upon them.In great pyramid temple structures that reached towards the sun and moon, the members of the Sunwall practiced their Celestial Talents. With the arrival of the Orcs they were forced to abandon their Celestial Temple.
Since that time, the Orcs have occupied it and have studied the various tools and texts that were left behind. With it they have begun to practice Celetial Talents for their own uses in hopes that it can be helpful in bolstering the power of the Orcish Prides.
Within the confines of the Temple there remains some powerful artefacts of Celestial nature that may be of use in turning the tides in favor of the Sunwall.
If following an idea where this is a Celestial only area, Sun Paladins and Anorithils could potentially find a lot of their equipment very easily here, or perhaps even new equipment - a big draw to come here outside of just the lore.
If available to all characters, perhaps there could be some rewards that could appeal to all classes - perhaps we could have the Celestial/Light category given here - or bumped up 0.1 or 0.2 category levels for those who have it already. This could perhaps be another way of approaching Anorithil Escorts and what people consider to be an overpowered reward.
Other Thoughts
Maybe the instance could be opened up via a quest from Sunwall - much like the Ardhungol instance being opened up by Eight Legs of Wonder. Maybe the premise could follow something similar to the Diablo II Act III Quest III 'Gidbinn' idea where you are asked to pick up an artefact to do something or rather for the Sunwall - maybe help defend them so they can allow more patrols to wander about, or maybe to go on the offensive and have their patrols wander further out from the Gates of Morning general area.
Perhaps the instance could also make use of Teleport traps a bit - Anorithils have Jumpgates so maybe they had some 'portals' left around for easy movement around the temple or confusing infiltrators.
Comments & Feedback
I'll note that while I'm still brainstorming quite a bit, I do invite input in making these zone ideas at this point. Maybe someone could come up with an idea for the enemy sets specifically, or just give some thoughts to what the Boss Arena could be, etc.
