Preference? Big vs Small Expansion Capitals

[Redwyrm]

Back in WoD we were expecting Karabor and Bladespire as huge faction hub capitals. Blizzard's reasoning (or their rumored reasoning) was that huge capitals left places of interest to spread out and inconvenient. Players complained and time moved on.

With BfA came Dazar'Alor and Boralus. Massive faction hubs. Almost bordering on unofficial zones in their own right. Each with multple inns, flight paths (at least Dazar'Alor, haven't gotten to Alliance side yet).

So what is your preference now that we have a taste of both worlds? Dalaran type hubs with everything compact and a short run away? Or BfA hubs that may take a few minutes of running to get from one area to another, but give a sense of size and grandness.

[Holdodlig]

I'd say big capital. And it's not because it's big and fancy (even if it's well done it can be great) but because I think it will cause less performances issues. Dalaran has always been a lagfest compared to Shattrath of Boralus/Dazar because players were split

[op3l]

I always prefered Dalaran... It felt more lively cause players are spread out over a smaller area. It also doesn't take as long to get to places. Then add in the under belly which for me at least gave me a sense of mystery cause I still don't know all that's going on underneath.

[beanman12345]

Boralus isn't really that big, it's actually as a hub quite small everything in a minute run. Dazar'alor is just a lot of wasted air space cause of the design with the pyramid. I don't like that too much. Small is better in this case.

[MoanaLisa]

A capital city/hub should be sizable. I don't know how many people actually explored Karabor in Warlords but I thought it was too big.

That city is really beautiful and I recommend that anyone that hasn't seen it in detail mount up on a ground mount and ride through it to see the sights sometime. But it's huge and way too large to be a viable gathering place for players.

I've always thought that Dalaran was just about perfect in size and variety.

[damonskye]

Boralus isn't really that big, it's actually as a hub quite small everything in a minute run.

And let's face it... 95% of the players hang out in the Boralus central square and the dock area next to the main ship. Just like the interior of the Dazar'alor pyramid, and right out front, is where most Horde players congregate.

Dalaran at least had things spread out.

[qwerty123456]

And let's face it... 95% of the players hang out in the Boralus central square and the dock area next to the main ship. Just like the interior of the Dazar'alor pyramid, and right out front, is where most Horde players congregate.

Dalaran at least had things spread out.

Yeah but a capital city should feel like an actual city imo. Atleast there are homes for people in Boralus while Dalaran is just 7 shops.

[xChurch]

I think Boralus has it pretty good, the actual hub part is small but the city itself is huge and has different stuff going on around it. Dazar'alor, however, sucks, especially without flying. Having to walk down flights of stairs just to train my professions is just a drag and doesn't really have any positives. Having the player hub part be small with the rest of the city containing quests or vendors/npcs you don't need that often is my preferred way to design a capital.

[Echeyakee]

Dazar'alor is just 4 points of interest - main pyramid, the scap machine and AH down below, the flight path next to the transmog and coin vendor, and the facebook ship. Rest is just wasted space with nothing to it and a lot of terrain that is super annoying to navigate without flying (and just marginally annoying with it). I want to see a decently sized capital, bigger than Dalaran, but smaller than what we have now, with PoI actually spread around it. That, or just bring Dalaran with us everywhere, it's pretty good. Maybe expand it a bit.

[Schizoide]

I love big capital cities, but the horde BFA one is terribly spread-out. The central "hang out" area should be relatively small like Boralus, with the other spots being adventure areas.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Big works best if it's neutral. If they're faction-segregated keep them small.

[matrix123mko]

Zuldazar is great. Not only it looks awesome but it gives you feel of real city. Also, as someone said, it prevents lags that we get in that cursed Dalaran.

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I love big capital cities, but the horde BFA one is terribly spread-out. The central "hang out" area should be relatively small like Boralus, with the other spots being adventure areas.

I think that spread made it feel bigger and thus cooler.

[Lazuli]

Dazar'alor was atrocious to navigate even with flying so fuck big if that's how its gonna be. Boralus is perfect, its the same with stormwind vs org like idk why but horde structure is always fucking dumb.

[Chickat]

Medium Id day. Dazar'alor is too big. Something like Shatrath is perfect imo.

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Dazar'alor is just 4 points of interest - main pyramid, the scap machine and AH down below, the flight path next to the transmog and coin vendor, and the facebook ship. Rest is just wasted space with nothing to it and a lot of terrain that is super annoying to navigate without flying (and just marginally annoying with it). I want to see a decently sized capital, bigger than Dalaran, but smaller than what we have now, with PoI actually spread around it. That, or just bring Dalaran with us everywhere, it's pretty good. Maybe expand it a bit.

Yeah, which is why I recommend something like Shat. It's big, but not huge. Feels like a stronghold/town, and not a whole city.

[Aeula]

Big. Shrines and Trashcan capitals were horrible. Dalaran is also horrible to be fair.

As much of a pain as if is to navigate Dazar’alor, it’s better than those three.

[Nerovar]

I didn't like Boralus to be honest. It looks like a disney land pirate theme park and it's basically just everything cramped up in 10% of the space and the rest is just there without being used. They should probably stick to Stormwind/OG whenever it's possible. Dalaran was nice in Wotlk but I was kinda disappointed that they reused it in Legion. MoP shrines were also really bad.

I have to say that I really like Dazar'alor even though I didn't play a horde character in BfA (visited the place quite a few times with Warmode though).

[Julian Rayne]

Dalaran. Loved it in Wrath and was really excited that they brought it back in Legion. I was hoping it would be the capital in Expansion 8 but that's obviosly not going to happen.

It's like a home away from Stormwind. Most of the ammenities of home but much more compact.

[Razion]

Depends on flying.

Flying + large capitals are my favorite.
But if I don't have flying, I'd rather have a small capital.

[Sondrelk]

I would much rather Blizz attempts to de-incentivize players staying in towns/order halls like they have done the last few expansions.
The outside worl is nice and all, but with all the conveniences in a single place players do not really have a reason to stay anywhere else.

Though that might be a pipe dream, players will likely pick a convenient spot to AFK regardless. Would be nice to get a feel for what it is like to be compelled to put the Hearthstone somewhere other than the main city for once though.

[szandos]

Boralus and Dazar shows just why Blizzard scrapped Karabor. Big and most of it is empty with no reason to go there except to do the odd world quest. I really liked Dalaran. Good size, things were spread out just enough so you went around a bit and horde and alliance shared it.