Why do people think there's an "other side of Azeroth"?

[Wvvtayy]

We've seen Azeroth as a globe many times, so it's like looking at the map above and saying "hmm I wonder what's on the other side of earth"

[Zihilis]

Well unlike Earth, Blizzard has to ability to add to Azeroth. Ulduar,globes did not show Zandalar, Kul'tiras or Pandaria (albeot the last one was hidden.) On top of that people believe this,because,the southern most zones are deserts or lush jungles which would indicate that they are the equator. This last point may not indicate a back side of Azeroth but at least a southern half.

[Nathasil]

Because people are stupid and Flat-Earthers are a thing is some under-educated parts of the world. They see a 2d-image / map and simply cannot wrap their head around this being the surface of a globe...so they assume it's flat and therefore must have another side.

As for Azeroth, Blizzard is changing and extending the map constantly, so there even is a point there - it's just not "the other side".

[Izalla]

Blizz themselves made it seem like there was an "other side" that had yet to be explored, we know that earth is fully explored all the way around. And we've seen globes without landmasses we got later because they were current expac globes not spoiler globes. I dunno if Blizz has retconned the whole other side thing, probably at this point, but you'd think by now there would be some trade routes and boats between western Kalimdor and eastern EK...

[Akalaka]

Azeroth is a fictional world unlike Earth so that comparison is silly. We've seen globes of Azeroth before and then land masses were added later that weren’t on the globe. If Blizzard wants there to be something on the “other side of Azeroth”, they’ll put it there.

[Izalla]

Well unlike Earth, Blizzard has to ability to add to Azeroth. Ulduar,globes did not show Zandalar, Kul'tiras or Pandaria (albeot the last one was hidden.) On top of that people believe this,because,the southern most zones are deserts or lush jungles which would indicate that they are the equator. This last point may not indicate a back side of Azeroth but at least a southern half.

Also this

[Deleted]

Because as long as Blizzard can add land in between the base continents and push them to the side to make space for that new land, they can as easily add more land further away from the base continents, essentially implementing "the other side".

America was "the other side" before it was discovered, after all. It was believed that there was nothing over the sea.

[ReVnX]

"The world of Azeroth may have lands located at the other side, beyond the Veiled Sea to the west of Kalimdor, and beyond the Forbidding Sea to the east of the Eastern Kingdoms. No one is sure or has knowledge of what (if anything) lie on the other side of Azeroth. "A handful of ships have ventured from Kalimdor away from the Maelstrom — to the north, west, and south. None have yet returned."

[Nathasil]

Well unlike Earth, Blizzard has to ability to add to Azeroth. Ulduar,globes did not show Zandalar, Kul'tiras or Pandaria (albeot the last one was hidden.) On top of that people believe this,because,the southern most zones are deserts or lush jungles which would indicate that they are the equator. This last point may not indicate a back side of Azeroth but at least a southern half.

The point about the south being the hottest zones and therefore more likely to be an equator is really good - however it is far more likely that the map simply was designed by someone who never pictured Azeroth as a globe to begin with and therefore equated south = hot, north = cold because he was from the northern hemissphere.

If Azeroth was real, the middle zones would need to be the hottst and the far south would be just as cold as the far north. But it isn't and Blizzard simply messed up the climate. But you are right that this point is so screwed up that they may eventually chose to expand on it.

[Deleted]

Never use the in-game globes as proof, those were mere decoration which Blizzard seem to regret ever adding for that exact reason.

Comparing it to our real world map is ridiculous since we've actually explored the entirety of earth, and we know that there is nothing left to find. In Warcraft however they very clearly have not done this (considering how frequently they find new masses of land), so it would only be fair to assume that the "world map" you've looked at in-game merely depicts the known land masses, not to be considered everything that actually exists.

[RocketFuel98]

Because there is another side of Azeroth. Blizzard have referenced before that people who travel beyond the reaches of the map end up lost and never seen again. The map is just what we have so far because it's a game and it's always expanding. As said in Ulduar, we didn't see many locations we have now. It's just a matter of whether or not Blizzard are going to show us the other side or simply retcon and say there isn't one.

[Killeyedascope]

It's just a matter of whether or not Blizzard are going to show us the other side or simply retcon and say there isn't one.

"The world of Azeroth may have lands located at the other side, beyond the Veiled Sea to the west of Kalimdor, and beyond the Forbidding Sea to the east of the Eastern Kingdoms. No one is sure or has knowledge of what (if anything) lie on the other side of Azeroth. "A handful of ships have ventured from Kalimdor away from the Maelstrom — to the north, west, and south. None have yet returned."

A vague and indefinite quote from the Warcraft RPG book that came out in 2003, before even World of Warcraft was released, which was also replaced by the World of Warcraft RPG later on. As much as you may like it to be true, Chronicle, and what we see and read in-game is what's real.

I love people saying that there's another side to Azeroth because its a fictional world and doesn't compare to Earth, and other people agree and follow that up with saying how there must be southern hemisphere because the zones at the bottom of the continents behave like climates we see on Earth at the equator. You can't have it both ways.

We have known for a long time that Kalimdor was a mega-continent that was broken apart in the sundering, and that is the basis of the lore of what we explore in game.

The globes in-game not showing zones in the future because those zones weren't planned for future content yet, or if they were planned, they wouldn't be spoiled with an in-game map like that. Some of those maps are low-res and the continents that we did know existed were mis-represented on them as well.

I don't believe any lands were really "discovered" except Pandaria. The WC3 manual and In-Game content has referenced all other islands/zones that weren't yet playable and put on the world map in-game. Northrend, Kezan, The Lost Isles, The Broken Isles, Tol Barad, Kul Tiras, Zandalar - we knew all of these places existed, and have for a while. They are all parts of the leftovers of the sundering, which weren't added to the game because of content plans. Heck, we still don't know where Tel Abim is but we know it's out there. Only Pandaria was "new" as it was shrouded in mists and they took what was a joke from WC3 and made it into an expansion.

There's no other side, or southern hemisphere and if there were, it would feel completely foreign and not Warcraft-like, similar to the way MoP/Pandaria did, with only weak connections to the greater Warcraft universe, because none of it was previously established and they would have to make up so much new stuff that doesn't have any basis in any Warcraft material in game or otherwise, just like Pandaria.

[ro9ue]

It's probably the same people that think earth is flat.


Also, as above posters astutely point out. Blizzard has iterated on the world map multiple times to change things based on what they want this world to be. They can do so in the future.


Side note - I personally think they can do a lot with an underground/subterranean thing.

[Projectmars]

The Flat-Azeroth Society has deep roots in the state of WoW.

[IceMan1763]

The Flat-Azeroth Society has deep roots in the state of WoW.

I'm off to make a char on MoonGuard so I can convince people that Azeroth is flat in RP... later all!!!

[Echocho]

Because what we've seen so far is like the size of manhattan.

[BTHSE]

It's basically all because of this 2013 Blizzcon Q&A with Red Shirt Guy. I can't link the video so feel free to look it up but basically you have have the devs saying that the warm southern climates is a good observation, confirming they've been arguing about the subject, mentioning they weren't fond of having those in-game world globes....

As a side note you also have chronicles implying the Kalimdor super continent wasn't the only continent pre-sundering, it was only the biggest.


That does not mean that there factually is a hidden half or Azeroth, it just means that there is a real possibility of it becoming true later on at the developers whim.

[Izalla]

All these cracks about flat earthers are confusing me since flat earthers would be the ones who think that there is no "side" to anything because it's all just one flat surface. No flat earthers argue that there is more world under our map... This "other side" thing is about looking at Azeroth as we know it being only one half of the planet, with another unexplored face besides what we have maps of, not that Azeroth is a sheet of paper with a second map drawn underneath it...

Whether it's right or wrong the jabs about flat earthers in here are asinine and backwards.

- - - Updated - - -

The world map we look at in game cuts off after the land with barely any ocean to the left of Kalimdor and the right of EK. That ocean that is not represented is your "other side". It objectively exists, whether there is land there that is undiscovered or not is the question.

[jazen]

the boat between Kalimdor and the Eastern kingdoms only goes one route. apparently to the left of Kalimdor and the right of Eastern Kingdoms is unexplored.

[Deleted]

On top of that people believe this,because,the southern most zones are deserts or lush jungles which would indicate that they are the equator. This last point may not indicate a back side of Azeroth but at least a southern half.

No. South Africa, Chile and Australia all have deserts. Nothing is more south than them.