Hall of Thanes: a dungeon in the dwarven kings’ tomb beneath Ironforge

The lowest-level of Forever’s nine new dungeons lies under one of the oldest Alliance cities. Blizzard’s dungeon preview, published on 20 October, places Hall of Thanes beneath Ironforge in Dun Morogh, for levels 13 to 18.

A tomb under the city

Most players know Ironforge from the inside of its walls: the bank, the auction house, the Great Forge. Hall of Thanes is what lies below. Blizzard describes it as the carefully tended final resting place of dwarven monarchs.

Intruders have broken into its corridors, and they are suspected to be Dark Iron dwarves. The preview adds ghostly whispers in the stone and hints that the break-in has stirred something in the halls, without saying what. It names no bosses.

“Suspected” is Blizzard’s word. A Dark Iron raid on Ironforge’s royal dead would fit the oldest feud in dwarven history, but the preview leaves room for the culprits, or whatever they woke, to turn out differently.

Easy for one faction, a journey for the other

The access note is blunt. Alliance players can reach the entrance easily from within their capital. Horde groups will need to brave the journey into Alliance territory.

For a Horde party in its mid-teens, that means planning the trip as well as the run, and making it on the enemy’s doorstep, which matters more on a PvP ruleset. The preview gives no route or entrance location, so do not count on an approach that avoids Ironforge’s guards.

A mirror on the Horde side

Hall of Thanes has a counterpart. Ruins of Lordaeron, for levels 15 to 20, sits above the Undercity with the access advantage reversed. Between them, each faction has an early new dungeon at home and one in enemy territory.