After playing and understanding the phasing quest system technology in the Death Knight starting location quests and the Battle For the Undercity, I had a hunch that this is merely a glimpse into what Blizzard is working on since 2003 … the Emerald Dream.
My hunch concerning the phasing technology and the use of it to create the Emerald Dream didn’t seem to far-fetched. As I was starting the first quests in Icecrown Glacier, a lengthy questline led me to Tirion Fordring who asked me to find an Argent Crusade member Bridenbrad at Silent’s Vigil (northeast of Icecrown region). He is plagued with the Undeath and refuses to be taken into the camp. Tirion sends you to talk to Arch Druid Lillindra who opens a portal to Moonglade so that you talk with Remulos.
To my surprise, Remulos asks us to gather three Emerald acorns from the Nightmare to attempt to cure Bridenbrad in the quest titled: Hope Into The Emerald. Next he casts a hibernate spell on you to sleep. Immediately the screen went green with a blindy mist. Remulos and the other NPCs phased out, while other NPCs phased in. The portion of the Emerald Dream nightmare I could witness was limited. That small area was surrounded by Aberration Ancients of War. As soon as you aggro them you get phased back into the living world. Overall, hopefully this means Blizzard is getting ready to announce the next expansion pack after Wrath of the Lich King.
I will show video soon of this quest.
Back on 2003 Jeff “Tigole” Kaplan responded to my thread about the Emerald Dream.
Tigole: “Actually, we have some pretty cool stuff planned for druids. They will definitely have a link to the Emerald Dream. There’s also a zone on the way to the peak of Mount Hyjal called Moonglade that will be very core to druid characters. Our *master of Warcraft lore*, Chris Metzen, is never short on ideas when it comes to the druid class. I was running around the Emerald Dream last Thursday… you guys are in for a treat. The level designers are doing a killer job.”—06 Dec 2003
Tigole: “The Emerald Dream is shaping up to be extremely cool. We don’t want to preview any of that content yet as it is *endgame* and we want some surprises for players. The zone is massive and beautiful. And once the content team is done with it, it will be exceedingly challenging >=]”—06 Dec 2003
Nethaera: “As for the Emerald Dream, there are no plans for anything as of yet but it is a consideration for the future. The Emerald Dream opens up a lot of different opportunities and the Burning Crusade is definitely not going to be the last of the expansion packs. There are many different places and story lines that can be pursued. The story is going to keep growing and as it does so, people will get to experience it.”—09 June 2006
