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  1. #1
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    What if they made Azeroth an actual globe?

    What if it was possible to fly from anywhere to anywhere, without having to use ships. So you wouldn't get fatigue when you fly across the sea. You could fly from Kalimdor to the Eastern Kingdoms. You could fly from Lordaeron to Silvermoon to the Sunwell and up til you're back in Stranglethorn again - like you're actually on a real globe. You could fly from Darnassus to the Exodar. You could fly from Ratchet over towards Stormwind and on your way there pass the Maelstrom and Kezan.

    It would maybe take longer than the ship route, but what if they fill the sea with lots of islands, small and big, for the next expansion. Some islands would be level up zones, some would feature nice things like the Timeless Isle that promotes a more open and free gameplay, and most importantly there would be lots of hidden things in that giant space, that would motivate players to go exploring.

    I'm thinking about games like the older Final Fantasy games, where you had airships and you could fly around the world and go explore. It was such a free feeling, I would love that in WoW.

  2. #2
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    So you want massive amounts of ocean to be included in the game data which will likely increase loading times and lag by a great deal, for what reason?

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Harmonious View Post
    So you want massive amounts of ocean to be included in the game data which will likely increase loading times and lag by a great deal, for what reason?
    The answer to that riddle lies in the OP.

  4. #4
    The Insane Aquamonkey's Avatar
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    I like the idea, but personally, I'd rather be able to do it from my own ship instead of a flying mount.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aquamonkey View Post
    I like the idea, but personally, I'd rather be able to do it from my own ship instead of a flying mount.
    Ship was also an idea I had, I was just wondering how cluttered the sea would look if everybody was sailing around.

  6. #6
    Over 9000! Golden Yak's Avatar
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    I think the technical limitations are too great to allow this currently. There are some games where your character can navigate around a round object, usually cartoonishly small, but I supposed it's not impossible to pull off with a world-sized object. I'm not sure what it would add to the game really - what if it happened? I'd be waiting a lot longer for my zeppelin rides to be over.

    Although now I want them to make an actual Azeroth globe that I can put on a shelf.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Nindoriel View Post
    Ship was also an idea I had, I was just wondering how cluttered the sea would look if everybody was sailing around.
    Yarrrrgh! to Pirates and Ship to Ship PVP with capturing etc Bloodsail Buccaneers FTW!

  8. #8
    Scarab Lord Arkenaw's Avatar
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    That would be awesome, but I don't think it would ever work properly with today's engines.


  9. #9
    If they could do it without making intercontinental travel slow, or bogging down the game with lag and loading times, then I might be fore it. But I don't see the benefit of this outweighing development costs.

  10. #10
    While theyre at it, make everything to scale so it takes 2 hours to traverse a zone.

  11. #11
    I am Murloc! Phookah's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Golden Yak View Post
    I think the technical limitations are too great to allow this currently. There are some games where your character can navigate around a round object, usually cartoonishly small, but I supposed it's not impossible to pull off with a world-sized object. I'm not sure what it would add to the game really - what if it happened? I'd be waiting a lot longer for my zeppelin rides to be over.

    Although now I want them to make an actual Azeroth globe that I can put on a shelf.
    Azeroth isn't anywhere near "world sized" It's actually fairly small converted to real world distances, about 12km if I remember right, can't be arsed to find the article.
    Besides, lots of games have a much bigger world, like Planetside.
    However I'm with you in the argument of "What would it add?" Alot of loading and downloading time, and nothing more I think.

  12. #12
    The Insane Aquamonkey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phookah View Post
    Azeroth isn't anywhere near "world sized" It's actually fairly small converted to real world distances, about 12km if I remember right, can't be arsed to find the article.
    Besides, lots of games have a much bigger world, like Planetside.
    However I'm with you in the argument of "What would it add?" Alot of loading and downloading time, and nothing more I think.
    The original digg post seems to be broken.
    http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/05/19/vi...size-compared/


    http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/26/a-...nteresting-08/ Says 12km and also has links to how those people figured out the size.
    Last edited by Aquamonkey; 2013-08-18 at 08:50 PM.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aquamonkey View Post
    The original digg post seems to be broken.
    http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/05/19/vi...size-compared/


    http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/26/a-...nteresting-08/ Says 12km and also has links to how those people figured out the size.
    In "reality" however, Azeroth is bigger. In novels you can read about how long they need to travel from one zone to another. Even Krasus in his dragon form needs hours to fly a short distance. A flight around earth takes what, about a day or two?

  14. #14
    Merely a Setback Kaleredar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nindoriel View Post
    In "reality" however, Azeroth is bigger. In novels you can read about how long they need to travel from one zone to another. Even Krasus in his dragon form needs hours to fly a short distance. A flight around earth takes what, about a day or two?
    Borean tundra is supposedly hundreds of miles from Howling Fjord... yet you can fly there in a matter of what... five minutes?
    “Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.” ~ Emily3, World of Tomorrow
    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    Kaleredar is right...
    Words to live by.

  15. #15
    If you fly through fatigue, you eventually meet an invisible wall far out in the ocean. If they change this wall into 'portal' that loads you into a roughly equivalent space in the next zone over, I think this could work out fine.
    It would significantly kill the usefulness of ships and what not though, which could be considered quiet a shame.

  16. #16
    Immortal FuxieDK's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nindoriel View Post
    What if it was possible to fly from anywhere to anywhere, without having to use ships. So you wouldn't get fatigue when you fly across the sea. You could fly from Kalimdor to the Eastern Kingdoms. You could fly from Lordaeron to Silvermoon to the Sunwell and up til you're back in Stranglethorn again - like you're actually on a real globe. You could fly from Darnassus to the Exodar. You could fly from Ratchet over towards Stormwind and on your way there pass the Maelstrom and Kezan.

    It would maybe take longer than the ship route, but what if they fill the sea with lots of islands, small and big, for the next expansion. Some islands would be level up zones, some would feature nice things like the Timeless Isle that promotes a more open and free gameplay, and most importantly there would be lots of hidden things in that giant space, that would motivate players to go exploring.

    I'm thinking about games like the older Final Fantasy games, where you had airships and you could fly around the world and go explore. It was such a free feeling, I would love that in WoW.
    Azeroth IS a globe. You can see it, in Ulduar..

    Game mechanics limits it, to what it is now, simply because EK/Kalimdor/Outland/Northrend/Pandaria are located on different physical computers.
    There are very few spots, wher you can cross from server to server (e.g. Blasted Lands to Outland, EPL to Ghostlands etc etc). If you had the option to fly west from Kalimdor, to arrive in EK, then too much of the server load, would be dedicated to keeping track of when people cross from server to server.
    You'd also have to expande the maps with nothing but water, only to accommodate this change, which would be irrellevant for the vast majority of players..
    Fact (because I say so): TBC > Cata > Legion > ShaLa > MoP > DF > BfA > WoD = WotLK

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  17. #17
    Scarab Lord Tyrgannus's Avatar
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    The image comparing game worlds uses 2004 WoW and had the map at 80 sq. miles. It's probably a lot closer to 300 sq. miles today. Not the biggest obviously, but more formidable when it comes to loading if it all loaded at once.

  18. #18
    so long as they kept my ships, I wouldn't care. If they took my ships out, that might just be the nail in the coffin... This sounds good on paper, but really, think about how long it would take to go from Kali to Northrend to EK...no 90+% of us would hate this. It works in games like the old FF games cause things are really tightly packed. Azeroth has a lot of empty space, a LOT of empty space, we'd be seeing water...and water...and oh look small island....and more water....

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by FuxieDK View Post
    Azeroth IS a globe. You can see it, in Ulduar..

    Game mechanics limits it, to what it is now, simply because EK/Kalimdor/Outland/Northrend/Pandaria are located on different physical computers.
    There are very few spots, wher you can cross from server to server (e.g. Blasted Lands to Outland, EPL to Ghostlands etc etc). If you had the option to fly west from Kalimdor, to arrive in EK, then too much of the server load, would be dedicated to keeping track of when people cross from server to server.
    You'd also have to expande the maps with nothing but water, only to accommodate this change, which would be irrellevant for the vast majority of players..
    I know that Azeroth is a globe, Jesus, that should've been obvious. I meant, that you would actually be able to move on that globe in that manner. Meaning if you're in Pandaria, you can fly south and get to Northrend. Right now it's just 4 separate continents and a few separate zones.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Moon Blade View Post
    That would require a lot of architecture that doesn't exist. If they are going to fully revamp the world and add more size to it, I'd rather they made each zone massive but give you the ability to rapidly switch between them (portals instead of flight paths).
    But how do you know that architecture doesn't exist, how do you know they've not been working on that. And I didn't say they should fully revamp the world.

  20. #20
    If they could find some way to actually pull it off, it certainly would be an interesting way to revamp the game.

    Not something I feel like is in any way necessary as WoW is now, but perhaps in the future such a huge retooling of the game's environment might be the breath of fresh air it needs.

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