City of Dalaran

In Classic, Dalaran is hidden under a violet dome in Alterac Mountains. In Forever the dome is gone. The city stands rebuilt in the open world, a sanctuary full of Kirin Tor mages, vendors and bankers that players already visit in the beta. The Skyborne reach it by skycutter from Zephras Isle.

The dungeon is a second copy of this city, entered from below. At BlizzCon, Blizzard said the Kirin Tor would not want to be seen getting help from a group of adventurers, “but I’m sure we can find some roundabout way to get you into the city” (panel, 20:34). That way is the sewers. In the beta, Fairbanks drops through a grate in the streets, crosses the Underbelly and follows a long pipe to a purple portal. The game’s files also have a Dalaran Sewer Key.

The BlizzCon demo run started in the sewers too: the screen shows Sewer, Cantrips & Crows, then The Underbelly. The group then climbed up into the streets and finished in the Violet Citadel.

Santiago Reyes drew the city on two levels, the streets and the sewers under them. His drawing matches the city in the game’s files: the citadel’s tower at the north, the paved square in the middle, the gate at the south. The place names are those of Wrath of the Lich King’s Dalaran, and Forever’s files have all of them except Krasus’ Landing. No boss is on it yet: nobody knows where most of them stand.

At BlizzCon, Blizzard said a disruption has thrown Dalaran into chaos. The Kirin Tor had raised a barrier over the city to hide its restoration after Warcraft III, “but as you can see, the barrier seems to be down”. Then: “Enchantments backfiring, arcane constructs going haywire, demonic energy has been running rampant, there are cats everywhere.” (What’s Next panel, 19:37)

The demo shows a darker side. In the Underbelly, Kirin Tor Necromancers hold a ritual around a circle heaped with bodies, and skeletons keep rising. Two items in the beta’s files look tied to it: Tome of Dalaran, which casts “Ritual burn” and only works inside a “Ritual Circle”, and The Founding of Dalaran, a quest item every member of the group can loot. Neither has its text in the files yet.

The files first called the dungeon “Ruins of Dalaran”: the internal names of its areas and of its music start that way. One of its areas is Fel Grove, which the demo did not show.

Forever also adds a Kirin Tor reputation. Humans, dwarves, night elves and gnomes start at neutral, the High Order Skyborne at friendly, and the Kirin Tor Tabard asks for exalted.

The game’s files name nine bosses. Five were fought at the BlizzCon demo, in the order below, with their level there; the players were level 29 and 30. Xaryu’s video shows the whole run, from the sewers to the Violet Citadel.

Swipe horizontally to view the full table

Boss	Level at the demo	Creature
Met at the demo
Atrexis the Grave Knight In the Underbelly, at the ritual circle, with Kirin Tor Necromancers around him and skeletons that keep rising. He disarms. Seen dropping Gravespike Repeater, a crossbow.	29	Humanoid, elite
Arcane Anomaly Out of the sewers, on a round terrace in the streets. The group first pulled it out of a bubble. It casts Arcane Bolt and Focal Blast, a beam.	30	Elemental, elite
Fel Ancient A fel-green treant in the streets, among Suffused Treants.	32	Demon, elite
Unstable Sentinel An arcane golem by the Magus Commerce Exchange, with Angry Tomes as adds. Malfunction hits everyone within 25 yards: the group first ran out, then stayed in to finish it. Dropped Guardian’s Dualblade.	31	Elemental, elite
Shade of the Archmage The last boss of the run, in the Purple Parlor of the Violet Citadel. Bounding Mana goes to one player: don’t stand in line with them. He polymorphs the whole group, and resets if someone leaves the room. His last words: “What is this... fading...”. Dropped Ponderous Orb. The Legacy challenge counts the dungeon as done when he dies.	33	Elemental, elite
Named by the files, not seen yet
Mana Wraith A level 27 Mana Wraith was pulled with the trash in the streets. Nothing shows it was the boss.	–	Elemental, elite
Mana Devourer	–	Demon, elite
Mana Elemental	–	Elemental, elite
Lyn the Ignored With the Shade, it is the only boss whose kills the files count.	–	Humanoid, rare elite

In the middle of the city, the group saw “a big boss” behind a barrier, and thought they had to speak to four mages to bring it down. They never fought it, so which boss it is remains open.

Also seen: Drape of Shifting Energy, dropped by the Arcanic Enigma, an elite of the Path of Renewal that silences for 10 seconds and calls Arcane Manalings.

Names, order and fights can still change before the dungeon opens.

Only one group ran the dungeon on camera, at BlizzCon: Tyler1, Xaryu, AnnieFuchsia, Guzu and bbno$. The video above is Xaryu’s. The others, and the city in the beta:

• AnnieFuchsia, as the healer (the first 34 minutes)
• Tyler1, as the tank
• Nuyu’s tour of the city in the beta, down to the Underbelly (31 minutes)

The city and the dungeon play four “Dalaran” tracks by Russell Brower, who wrote Dalaran’s music for Wrath of the Lich King (put online by Wowhead).