Gorgrond Orc Map *Potential Spoilers*

[Nightwatch]

Seein its Gorgrond, I can already tell we're talking Iron Horde suriviors here wanting to join the Horde on Azeroth. Why? Gorgrond is not a part of modern day Outland, now is it? Plus, the Outland orc clans are diminished to the few surviors in Garadar, Nagrand, of whom Garrosh was one and the remaining leaders are Geyah and Jorin Deadeye....who's done..............nothing? Hardly even a clan at all. Grommash and Durotan, however, have plenty of Iron Horde suriviors along with the the AU Frostwolf Clan and Laughing Skull to boost the Azeroth Horde with. Sure we wiped out the chieftains: Zaela, Blackhand, Fenris, Ner'z'hul, Kilrogg, Kargath, Azuka, but that does not mean the clans themselves ceases exist.

[Arrashi]

This seems to be artifact of very early design. Hence why you have small big of hellfire peninsula. I wouldnt overthink it.

[Highwhale]

Imagine Iron Orcs as Allied Race for Gnomes... Just because gnomes can BOOM! We all know Iron Horde have passion for explosions.

[Wildberry]

Seein its Gorgrond, I can already tell we're talking Iron Horde suriviors here wanting to join the Horde on Azeroth. Why? Gorgrond is not a part of modern day Outland, now is it? Plus, the Outland orc clans are diminished to the few surviors in Garadar, Nagrand, of whom Garrosh was one and the remaining leaders are Geyah and Jorin Deadeye....who's done..............nothing? Hardly even a clan at all. Grommash and Durotan, however, have plenty of Iron Horde suriviors along with the the AU Frostwolf Clan and Laughing Skull to boost the Azeroth Horde with. Sure we wiped out the chieftains: Zaela, Blackhand, Fenris, Ner'z'hul, Kilrogg, Kargath, Azuka, but that does not mean the clans themselves ceases exist.

Neither Grom nor Durotan can meaningfully interact with the world without cheapening the impact of their MU counterparts though. Jorin Deadeye can be developed and doesn't have that limitation.

[Kathranis]

Please also note that scenario minimaps are often not intended to be seen in full, as the accessible area may be restricted to only a relatively small section of the map itself. Water level differences are also common on scenario minimaps, but that's just how the map is rendered because it doesn't matter -- you can't get to that part of the map anyway.

Even ignoring that, it could well be for a scenario that's set in our timeline in the past, in our version of Gorgrond, before it was destroyed. Just food for thought.

[Castrum]

I'll bank on Blizz being lazy and wanting a Gorgrond with the bells and whistles the Beta WoD one had. Railways, less foliage, etc. That, or it's just a troll.

[zlygork]

My bet is they are going to use the most industrialized area (with rail tracks and stuff) to show the iron horde having developped in Draenor, players won't be able to get far past that area, so there won't be such things as the iron docks moving places in the canon. Excellent way of reusing "wasted" content imo, a good move.

[Wildberry]

Even ignoring that, it could well be for a scenario that's set in our timeline in the past, in our version of Gorgrond, before it was destroyed. Just food for thought.

Well, there's the whole issue of the Iron Docks, Grimrail Depot and the industrialized Blackrock capital.

[Salrik]

Y'know... It's a stretch, and I'm not sure how they'd explain it. But we might be getting just Mag'har instead of specifically Draenor orcs.
What if that Gorgrond map is pre-Outland Draenor from our universe? That might explain why the seas are all dry around it. And I don't see a Blackrock Foundry, just blackened terrain that might belong to the original Blackrocks?

[Wildberry]

Y'know... It's a stretch, and I'm not sure how they'd explain it. But we might be getting just Mag'har instead of specifically Draenor orcs.
What if that Gorgrond map is pre-Outland Draenor from our universe? That might explain why the seas are all dry around it. And I don't see a Blackrock Foundry, just blackened terrain that might belong to the original Blackrocks?

You don't see the massively industrialized spire overlooking the Pit in that minimap? You didn't notice the Grimrail tracks... or anything like that?

[Kathranis]

Well, there's the whole issue of the Iron Docks, Grimrail Depot and the industrialized Blackrock capital.

Only assuming that you can actually get to those locations in the scenario.

[Wildberry]

Only assuming that you can actually get to those locations in the scenario.

What's left to use that has none of those in sight? The Gronn Canyon?

[WolfRider]

Story wise, it seems obvious to me that Saurfang and/or Eitrigg, both former Blackrock orcs, will go to AU Draenor to recruit the Blackrock Clan.
They have the know-how to build powerful siege weapons and huge Iron Battleships, their leader Blackrock and his second in command Orgim Doomhammer are dead, the Iron Horde is dismissed, AU Draenor orcish clans are leaving in "peace".
As we can see on the map, Blackrock clan invaded Farahlon to end the nature threat.

It will be an opportunity to the Blackrock clan to join the Horde and use their blacksmith and naval construction knowledge for the war effort.

It makes sense to me.

[Kayb]

I'd much rather Mag'har from Outland than from AU Draenor tbh.

[Captain Kennedy]

It seems likely at this point that part of the zone will be used for an Allied Race opening scenario, rather than the full thing. So my point about the islands is mostly moot. However this does make Mag'Har more of a possibility.

The Iron Horde areas in Beta Gorgrond are significantly different enough from the live version. The difference would be really jarring for anyone familiar with it if an Iron Horde starting experience happened here. The southern canyons of Gorgrond are mostly the exact same as live, except with the absence of the Botani and their jungle (it's not the biggest stretch in the world if it was burnt to the ground). Now these could still easily be used for an Iron Horde Allied Race intro, however it would lack the defining Iron Horde aesthetic, which all of WoD's shit aside is actually really cool. These southern canyons away from the Iron Horde areas could easily double as our Draenor Pre-Outland if Blizzard wanted them too.

It's a stretch yes, but I just don't know what else they'd do with this map. Keep in mind they've modified it as well.

[Khaza-R]

I assume they are using this just to show that the Orcs have conquered Draenor. I agree probably only a small portion of the map will get used like the Lightforge scenario.

The map must be from a very early build. It looks like when Frostfire was planned to just be a purple desert.

[gcsmith]

So as we know, Draenor Orcs are coming as an allied race in one form or another. MMO recently put up a data mined mini map for "Gorgrond Orcs", showing a minimap map of Gorgrond. Have a look:
Gorgrond Orcs

However I'm sure you'll notice a number of differences, and not just some minor tweaks, we're talking major geographical changes to what we saw in WoD. I couldn't find a minimap map of WoD Gorgrond, but the major changes are apparent from just the zone map alone:
WoD Gorgrond

A user called Elfinoria was kind enough to post this comparison gif in the comments of the post. It doesnt include the railway for some reason though, and The Iron Docks are a dirt cut out:


Anyone familiar with WoD's beta though will likely recognise some the changes to the map. It bares a close resemblance to the alpha/beta Gorgrond:
Beta Gorgrond


The "Gorgrond Orc" map for BFA far closer resembles the beta version than the live version. The biggest difference being The Iron Docks are east of Blackrock Foundry, not north. Before anyone thinks this is just a mistake and Blizzard added the wrong map for this Allied Race / Scenario / whatever, you'll notice that there are not only minor changes from the beta map to the gorgrond orc map, but also additions. The islands off the north west and north east coast have been considerably expanded on. New tiny islands have risen south of The Iron Docks. And the lake north of The Iron Docks and the lake west of Blackrock Foundry are now land. So either Blizzard is expanding on the old beta Gorgrond, or this was a build of it that never saw the light of day and was added to the recent BFA build by mistake. A possibility, but doesn't seem likely.

The question is though, is this a retcon? Is it even WoD Draenor? Is this another alternate Draenor?
Thoughts?

I remember seeing it and going "I swear I remember the docks being north, must be wrong." I wonder if this is actually set on our outland in the past.

[Arrashi]

Welp seeing how they are adding "Mag'har" wolf, we can safely assume that iron horde won't be making comeback.

[MikeBogina]

Welp seeing how they are adding "Mag'har" wolf, we can safely assume that iron horde won't be making comeback.

Thought the same thing, but Blizzard likes to blur what is AU Draenor and MU Draenor's lore. Mag'har can just be a reused name for what's happened to the Horde in Draenor.

Or we could actually be getting those Orcs from Outland. But then there's still that new Gorgrond map datamind.

[omeomorfismo]

Thought the same thing, but Blizzard likes to blur what is AU Draenor and MU Draenor's lore. Mag'har can just be a reused name for what's happened to the Horde in Draenor.

Or we could actually be getting those Orcs from Outland. But then there's still that new Gorgrond map datamind.

it could be a flashback for when the maghar were quarantined by blackhand