Map of a potentially crowded Azeroth

[CountViceroy]

Great map!

[Nyel]

Great work mitotic!

[Icaras]

I tend to think of the Azeroth map as being like real world maps back in the days of sea exploration. The maps are designed around what lands are known, and as more get discovered, the scale used changes and the maps get redrawn.

[Gadzooks]

It might be possible to just stitch together the existing maps without remaking the entire world. The extra content underwater would presumably be part of an Eye of Azshara expansion, which may or may not ever come.

But if it's not possible to just stitch together existing content and new expansion content to make one cohesive world, then I completely agree -- better to just bring on a sequel! And hope that the sequel has a cohesive world from the beginning

\

It's not just a matter of shoving polygons together in a 3d file - there's a massive amount of enginnering and code taking place under the hood on the server to make it work. Each zone has it's own place on the HDs (if not seperate HDs for each zone - like Stormwind has it's own HD), and each continent is physically apart on it's own blade in the server rack. If you hit a loading screen, it means you're moving to a different place in the server racks. Making that seamless would be really, really hard.

Without going into it - don't hold your breath. It took them 6 years to fix Stormwind, and you still cant get to Azuremyst or the Ghostlands without a loading screen, or fly in those zones. Rebuild the entire game engine to make moving from location to location seamless? (And destroy the immersion some of the places being really far away, like Northrend, which requires a long boat ride to get to, and solving the problem of the Wandering Isle, which moves)

Don't hold your breath.

And WoW 4 being an MMO? I wouldn't bet on that, at least for not another decade. Releasing a NEW MMO into a market they've been losing traction in, not a good business plan.

[Stormspark]

honestly I love the idea and that's a pretty good map. They can always "stretch" the map so it's a bit less crowded, just make the sea between Eeastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor bigger. They have never and I doubt they'll ever address "the other size of Azeroth", is there is anything between the Eastern Edge of the Eastern Kingdoms and the western edge of Kalimdor.

Only ocean, unless there are some yet-undiscovered islands. You can see this very clearly on the various Azeroth globes in-game (particularly in Ulduar).

[Tojara]

Honestly the only way it makes sense to me is if things were stretched out a bit more. Kalimdor was a 'lost' land according to the Eastern Kingdoms that we didn't really discover until WC3. They knew of Northerend and the entirety of the Eastern Kingdoms and obviously Kul'tiras was a nation with high naval routes, so it being close to the EK shoreline makes sense.

Basically the islands would need to be smaller, Northrend would need to be more "North" and Broken Isles would need to be closer to Northrend (same distance as shown on the map, but just pushed more north in relation to Northrend moving more North), but far enough out in the ocean that people wouldn't randomly stumble upon it when they do go to Northrend. That and Jaina/Thrall's expedition to Kalimdor wouldn't bump into the Broken Isles when fleeing EK in WC3. I don't know exactly where Thrall departed from in WC3 but it was probably anywhere from around Gilneas to about the northern part of Tirisfal Glades, meaning that pretty much anything due west of that area should probably be open ocean, aside from running into the Darkspear Isles (which the map does reflect well).

As far as I'm aware it wasn't really known where the Broken Isles were to most of the population aside from the Night Elves, and probably the Trolls.

I'd also figure that Pandaria would be a bit more south. I'm under the impression that the mists cloaked the island, but it wouldn't necessarily stop people from stumbling upon it if they went anywhere off the coast of southern EK (and later once Kalimdor was found, it's hard to believe that pirates the occupy the southern seas now wouldn't have landed on Pandaria by accident.

[mitotic]

Sadly, I think you might have just killed your own hopes with this statement. I doubt Blizzard would be okay with having everything on one big server so you can fly anywhere at anytime if it causes the lore of certain places to be broken =/ I don't think they'd be okay with having the Broken Isles be the same size as Pandaria when they've clearly settled on it (lorewise) being smaller as supported by the map.

I hear what you're saying. But, I mean, Blizzard did make the Broken Isles nearly as large as Pandaria on the in-game map, right? It seems that Blizzard is more than comfortable with warping the lore a bit (especially things like scale) if it makes for a good story or good game experience.



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Honestly the only way it makes sense to me is if things were stretched out a bit more. Kalimdor was a 'lost' land according to the Eastern Kingdoms that we didn't really discover until WC3. They knew of Northerend and the entirety of the Eastern Kingdoms and obviously Kul'tiras was a nation with high naval routes, so it being close to the EK shoreline makes sense.

Yes, you're definitely right. I agree that lorewise it would make sense to stretch everything out considerably. Honestly, it would have to be way farther than even the in-game map does it. On the in-game map, the Broken Isles is just way to close to Northrend not to have been discovered. Pandaria isn't south enough -- surely a Booty Bay to Tanaris boat would have found it. Even Kalimdor and the EK aren't that far apart.

So, lorewise, everything should be stretched out a ton. But gameplay-wise, maybe it makes more sense to have things a bit more compact, so that players feel like Azeroth is a crowded, complete world rather than a couple of islands in a massive sea of unexplored nothing.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I'm just wondering what else there is to explore on Azeroth outside Blizzard doing another Pandaria(New continent new lore etc etc)

[Hctaz]

I hear what you're saying. But, I mean, Blizzard did make the Broken Isles nearly as large as Pandaria on the in-game map, right? It seems that Blizzard is more than comfortable with warping the lore a bit (especially things like scale) if it makes for a good story or good game experience.

I swear those islands were smaller when I was writing this. Maybe it can work out after all ^_^

[Chillson]

Sorry it won't let me post the link, but that quote is from wowwiki

"Plunder Isle is a small tropical island directly east of Kezan and southeast of Zandalar"

This would indicate, at least to me, that the location would need to be changed a bit.

Plunder Isle would need to move south a little bit as it currently sits northeast of Kezan, rather than directly east.

Additionally, that information would lead me to believe that Zandalar would be more towards the north of Kezan, rather than west.

Still, a very well done map!

[mitotic]

Sorry it won't let me post the link, but that quote is from wowwiki

"Plunder Isle is a small tropical island directly east of Kezan and southeast of Zandalar"

This would indicate, at least to me, that the location would need to be changed a bit.

Plunder Isle would need to move south a little bit as it currently sits northeast of Kezan, rather than directly east.

Additionally, that information would lead me to believe that Zandalar would be more towards the north of Kezan, rather than west.

Still, a very well done map!

Thanks for pointing this out! Yes, I agree -- the map should place Plunder Isle farther south. Especially since WoWwiki apparently also says "Booty Bay is the closest mainland port, to Plunder Isle’s northeast." I guess it should be around Gilijim's Island and Hiji, then. This makes sense, since some people think Hiji is another name for Plunder Isle.

[Chillson]

The map also seems to have omitted the Island of Doctor Lapidis which is supposedly located north of Gilijim's Island. Although I am not actually sure if this island appears in any of the lore or was intended to be something more of a starter zone that was scrapped during alpha (Given that it's namesake is a reference to a former Blizzard employee, apparently)

[guardian_titan]

One of the funny (and often irritating) is that fantasy maps ignore something called plate tectonics. While Blizzard blew any idea of basic climate out the window by having areas like Dun Morogh right next to Searing Gorge, Loch Modan, and Wetlands, they still ignore plate tectonics. We know the continents were once all one giant "Pangaea" but one of two things had to of happened to explain the continents splitting. Either:
1.) The water level rose and what we see now are effectively mountain tops.
2.) The plates under the continents drew apart (much like Earth).

Since Azeroth is now known to be a sleeping titan, unless the planet itself is an egg and the titan is within, plate tectonics don't work. Only way for plate tectonics to work in the case of the planet being an egg would be if the egg were cracking and thus hatching. Since it seems that's not the case, that means the water level rose instead. For Blizzard to bring back in new areas, the water level would have to effectively drop which would additionally mean areas like Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Northrend, and Pandaria would be made larger. That would also mean an area like Vashj'ir might effectively be gone due to now being above water. Blizzard's not going to do that since it'd be too much work.

Going off the map in the chronicle book with the assumption of the water levels having risen potentially removes a good many areas where something could have been. That's not to say there aren't other areas we have yet to see. Kul Tiras is out there after all. But the map really shouldn't be cluttered because that would suggest then that the Azeroth "Pangaea" was just one giant mountain. It would effectively be a pimple on the back of the titan (or its egg).

Technically, with either explanation, land will be lost. You can't break apart something and not lose something along the edge. You have to cut it to avoid losing anything and even then you can still lose something. Plate tectonics isn't a knife. It breaks things. So even if the water levels don't explain the continents moving apart, plate tectonics would which would ultimately result in many areas being lost to the ocean. But the funny thing is, if you line the Chronicle map up with the current Azeroth one, it only suggests Blizzard really knows nothing about basic planet structure. The various areas line up almost perfectly. So that again only suggests the water level just rose.

So neither way for how the land masses work in Azeroth are possible. Blizzard shot themselves in the foot. The simpler way to explain the land masses (plate tectonics) is often outright ignored and Blizzard screwed up by saying Azeroth is a sleeping titan anyway which removes this possibility. Then the other way to explain it is just too time consuming to implement.

And that's just outright ignoring how the hell an area covered in snow can be right next to a barren wasteland which is likely hot given the wild life that lives there.

Blizzard should have hired geographers when building WoW originally or at the very least focused on the map as a whole. Having each continent or even sub area of a continent with their own climate system makes things severely disconnected.

Then again, Blizzard's not against just adding things. Gilneas wasn't really visible from Hillsbrad before Cataclysm. Timeless nor Isle of Giants were visible in Pandaria before they got added. Uldum wasn't visible from Tanaris. Twilight Highlands wasn't visible from Wetlands.

Bit of a rant, I suppose, but I'd rather Azeroth not be cluttered. That just makes the evolution of the planet boring for those of us that actually enjoy things like that. It shows the developers look at even small things. But hey, Blizzard's really into doing stupid crap lately so why not just bring back everything and give us the Azeroth Pangaea? Make it one big continent.

[Orby]

Is 'Dragonmolt Isle' supposed to be the 'Dragon Isles'. Not sure if that's a typo, because they are known as the Dragon Isles a place mentioned in Warcraft 2

http://wow.gamepedia.com/Dragon_Isles

[mitotic]

The map also seems to have omitted the Island of Doctor Lapidis which is supposedly located north of Gilijim's Island. Although I am not actually sure if this island appears in any of the lore or was intended to be something more of a starter zone that was scrapped during alpha (Given that it's namesake is a reference to a former Blizzard employee, apparently)

Yes, at first I had drawn this island north of Gillijim's island, but at the last minute I removed it. It just sounded a bit too lighthearted for the more serious tone that WoW has taken recently, so I imagine it's probably scrapped for good at this point. But I'll add it back, since you never know!

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One of the funny (and often irritating) is that fantasy maps ignore something called plate tectonics. While Blizzard blew any idea of basic climate out the window by having areas like Dun Morogh right next to Searing Gorge, Loch Modan, and Wetlands, they still ignore plate tectonics. We know the continents were once all one giant "Pangaea" but one of two things had to of happened to explain the continents splitting. Either:
1.) The water level rose and what we see now are effectively mountain tops.
2.) The plates under the continents drew apart (much like Earth).

I'm pretty sure they're using a third explanation: That the Great Sundering created a massive unstable vortex in the center of the Kalimdor Pangaea, driving the continents apart and creating the Maelstrom. Which I always thought was an interesting way to kind of bypass real science with magic, but that's WoW I suppose!

[THEORACLE64]

that map is just slapping the lore straight into its written face.

Not really. Kalimdor was one giant continent, that was shattering during The Sundering. Especially after Deathwing, there's obviously potential that a bit of landmass got shoved back up.

[mitotic]

Is 'Dragonmolt Isle' supposed to be the 'Dragon Isles'. Not sure if that's a typo, because they are known as the Dragon Isles a place mentioned in Warcraft 2

Yes, I meant the Dragon Isles. Thank you for catching this!

[Deleted]

you do realize we got this?



EDIT:

Not really. Kalimdor was one giant continent, that was shattering during The Sundering. Especially after Deathwing, there's obviously potential that a bit of landmass got shoved back up.

Any isles brought to surface by the Cataclysm would be quite empty. Lorewise Cataclysm happened what, like three years ago? Not enough time to build up a notable fauna or flora, yet alone a civilization.

[mitotic]

you do realize we got this?

Yes, that's a wonderful resource for understanding what Azeroth currently looks like in lore. It's probably the best up-to-date map we have.

I'm more interested in what a bird's eye view of Azeroth might look like in the actual game, though, if Blizzard were to finally add in the many islands in the Great Sea and South Sea that we know about. Broken Isles is roughly the same size as Pandaria, for instance, in terms of the time in takes to fly across them (though not in the lore, of course). The Lost Isles are actually larger than Teldrassil, unlike what's shown on the map. And if Zandalar was ever to be added as an questing zone (rather than a PvP zone or raid), then I'd imagine it will be at least the size of Tanaris. In my ideal world, they'd also all be fairly compact, so that it's possible to traverse between them and so as to minimize the amount of empty ocean. But I understand that the world of Azeroth as it exists in lore will remain very different.

[THEORACLE64]

you do realize we got this?



EDIT:


Any isles brought to surface by the Cataclysm would be quite empty. Lorewise Cataclysm happened what, like three years ago? Not enough time to build up a notable fauna or flora, yet alone a civilization.

Flauna is fairly easy in that amount of time. But, we know that Blizzard's maps aren't final and never will be until they finish the damn game. Their maps are basically based upon what's known to the game at the time.