My thoughts on the other side of Azeroth

[username993720]

There is nothing wrong with saying "the other side of Azeroth". Spheres have "other side", which is technically the side we're not currently looking at.

But, not to a flat map there isn't.
A flat map would wrap around a globe, not just half of it. Meaning, it covers all visible landmasses and oceans. That's why you don't need several maps to view the whole world. A flat map is just a condensed way to represent a 3D globe.

[Kaleredar]

People are getting way too persnickety about the way the OP phrased this.

Clearly, they mean an area that's west of kalimdor and east of the eastern kingdoms and is not currently shown

We simply assume that Azeroth's map shows it in its entirety. That could simply not be the case and the map that we see in-game does, indeed, only show part of azeroth's surface. In essence, that we're viewing but one hemisphere on Azeroth.

And I can hear the "well actually" people pushing up their glasses in anticipation of citing the titan globes found in Ulduar that clearly only show kalimdor and the eastern kingdoms and Northrend and nothing on the reverse face of the globe... that same titan globe also didn't show Pandaria... The broken isles... kul'tiras... or Zandalar... landmasses that we clearly know to exist... and whatever lore reason you might hem and haw to be the case that these landmasses didn't show, it's clear that that's simply because blizzard didn't plan that far in advance. The same could be said for anything on the reverse side of azeroth.

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You mean the kind of fauna that is decidedly bigger then european standards and out to kill you, me and anything else?

To be the "well actually" guy myself... Australian fauna, all things considered, is overall pretty small. It's just that those small things themselves tend to be offputtingly large or venomous.

I mean, think of the actual wild mammals that live in australia. They're pretty darn small and weak, by and large. The largest mammal is what... a kangaroo? How's that stack up to a kodiak bear or Bengal tiger? I'd take being lost in the australian wilderness over being lost in the alaskan wilderness or southeast asian wilderness any day.

That being said, a fantasy setting based on some of the more southern extremes of the globe would indeed be interesting, and something not actually all that covered in fantasy.

[Calfredd]

But, not to a flat map there isn't.
A flat map would wrap around a globe, not just half of it. Meaning, it covers all visible landmasses and oceans. That's why you don't need several maps to view the whole world. A flat map is just a condensed way to represent a 3D globe.

Except Earth has the Pacific on it's left and right but Azeroth has two differently named bodies of water lining it's edges which is why the "other side of Azeroth" exists.

[Kyphael]

There is nothing wrong with saying "the other side of Azeroth". Spheres have "other side", which is technically the side we're not currently looking at.

The map of Azeroth we see with the continents we know of is the whole of Azeroth. There is no "secret other side." Sure, they can invent any new landmass they want down the line, but right now, what we see represents all of Azeroth.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

The map of Azeroth we see with the continents we know of is the whole of Azeroth. There is no "secret other side." Sure, they can invent any new landmass they want down the line, but right now, what we see represents all of Azeroth.

Not necessarily true, even the Vanilla map didn't have Northrend yet but we knew it existed. So maps can be...not necessarily accurate.

[Kyphael]

Not necessarily true, even the Vanilla map didn't have Northrend yet but we knew it existed. So maps can be...not necessarily accurate.

Apples and oranges. We knew it was there in-lore, not just presented in-game at the time. As of now, Azeroth's map according to lore should be considered complete barring Dragon Isles, but any other major landmass to be discovered would be brand new lore, but it doesn't mean the current map is inaccurate.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Apples and oranges. We knew it was there in-lore, not just presented in-game at the time. As of now, Azeroth's map according to lore should be considered barring Dragon Isles, but any other major landmass to be discovered would be brand new lore, but it doesn't mean the current map is inaccurate.

No but even real maps got outdated over time(Until like post colonial times that is). Its not shocking another continent is out there but I don't see that as being a thing for awhile.

[Neforpubl]

Damn, would be cool to see what's on the other side of this map:

I lol'd so hard at this.

[loras]

I think that Blizz should address the other side of Azeroth. I like the idea of the way the cosmological forces are being written, but we could also have a whole new opportunities on the other side. Something like a proto-Azeroth, where the Keepers created proto-types and would later be perfected on Kalimdor (Blizz can easily add something like this, just look at Void Elves). For example, we can see a race that is the missing link between Trolls and Elves, or Humans and Vrykul. We can also have intelligent/evolved version of races that are considered a bit dumb by us: Gnolls, Yetis (I imagine their evolved versions looking like the Qunari from Dragon Age) or even completely new races, like a humanoid T-Rex. For the story, we can have it explained that the other side was hidden ina realm similar to the Elemental Planes, and something happens that connects us.

What do you think?

Good question, personally i'd hope that it's a better spot for new areas than just putting them in the middle of the current map (though lorewise it makes some sorta sense, what with i.e. the broken isles containing remnants of the old elven cities as far back as WC3).

More practically i hope that we're gonna see more of everything there: Forgotten human settlements resembling other cultures (Chinese humans anyone? Or other-than-anglosphere-humans for that matter...), biomes not yet visited (the australian fauna is a great suggestion imo), perhaps landmasses with variations of creatures already seen but that have taken on an entirely different evolutionary path? Think Galapagos in example.

Other than that there could be places for new arrivals to land, i mean between the Draenei and the Orcs there have been plenty of extraterrestial arrivals already, and given how most creatures evolving from titans and old god stuff have centered on old kalimdor there is also plenty of opportunity for creatures less influenced by such forces. One could have i.e. a non-aligned insectoid race recently evolved from some lost nonsapient silithid under the influence of some runaway azerite, or some recently awakened trees entirely different and unrelated to i.e. the ancients we have known so far (i'm personally thinking something along the style of Kolima forest from the Golden Sun games (google it, i can't post links yet, though i can really recommend the background music)

Or finally we could use it for memeable locations for funny conspiracies, like it could be that the long lost bard El Vis Presley has created a new settlement accompanied by his lost love, the Nathrezim-touched Othmar Garithos, on some giant piece of the moon that fell in the sea and turned out to be made of cheese.

[Ielenia]

But, not to a flat map there isn't.
A flat map would wrap around a globe, not just half of it. Meaning, it covers all visible landmasses and oceans. That's why you don't need several maps to view the whole world. A flat map is just a condensed way to represent a 3D globe.

You're assuming that the "flat map" is a representation of all of Azeroth and not, you know, only the charted parts of Azeroth.

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The map of Azeroth we see with the continents we know of is the whole of Azeroth. There is no "secret other side." Sure, they can invent any new landmass they want down the line, but right now, what we see represents all of Azeroth.

Really? As far as I recall, Blizzard has never stated what we currently see in the world map is all of Azeroth.

[Kyphael]

Really? As far as I recall, Blizzard has never stated what we currently see in the world map is all of Azeroth.

Of course not, but the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. Like I said, are they free to add more continents and landmasses in the sea? Absolutely. This is fiction, and we know there are still places not present in-game we know exists in-lore, like Dragon Isles. However, that doesn't mean the current map of Azeroth is inaccurate. What we see in 2020 is what we we know Azeroth as. In 2024 if they decide to introduce a new landmass, the map will be updated accordingly, and that will be the updated, accurate map of Azeroth.

The argument however, is "thoughts on other side of Azeroth." There is no other side of Azeroth unless you subscribe to a flat Earth mentality. That's the whole globe of Azeroth with potential unexplored islands or landmasses to be added later.

[Lorianus]

We spent a whole patch at the end of legion in a space ship on argus looking down at the planet, i think we would have seen it by now.

[THEORACLE64]

I think that Blizz should address the other side of Azeroth. I like the idea of the way the cosmological forces are being written, but we could also have a whole new opportunities on the other side. Something like a proto-Azeroth, where the Keepers created proto-types and would later be perfected on Kalimdor (Blizz can easily add something like this, just look at Void Elves). For example, we can see a race that is the missing link between Trolls and Elves, or Humans and Vrykul. We can also have intelligent/evolved version of races that are considered a bit dumb by us: Gnolls, Yetis (I imagine their evolved versions looking like the Qunari from Dragon Age) or even completely new races, like a humanoid T-Rex. For the story, we can have it explained that the other side was hidden ina realm similar to the Elemental Planes, and something happens that connects us.

What do you think?

There is no “other side” of Azeroth.

It’s like saying there’s another “side of earth” when looking at a map - there is not.

[Die]

But, not to a flat map there isn't.
A flat map would wrap around a globe, not just half of it. Meaning, it covers all visible landmasses and oceans. That's why you don't need several maps to view the whole world. A flat map is just a condensed way to represent a 3D globe.

There is no “other side” of Azeroth.

It’s like saying there’s another “side of earth” when looking at a map - there is not.

But not all maps display the entire planet. I have a map of Los Angeles on my desk. It doesn't represent the entire Earth. In fact, old time maps used to add dragons to the edges of the map to assert that the map is not complete and "there be dragons" i.e. unmapped areas beyond the edges of the map. I think some maps of Azeroth even have such dragons on the edges.

[Tyrathius]

We've seen Azeroth from space. At this point, the notion that half the planet is still unknown is ridiculous.

It's fine to add in previously unreachable areas (Pandaria) or previously insignificant ones (Broken Isles) but we should have a pretty good idea of all major continents and whatnot.

[THEORACLE64]

But not all maps display the entire planet. I have a map of Los Angeles on my desk. It doesn't represent the entire Earth. In fact, old time maps used to add dragons to the edges of the map to assert that the map is not complete and "there be dragons" i.e. unmapped areas beyond the edges of the map. I think some maps of Azeroth even have such dragons on the edges.

Apart from when looking from Space we can see the entirety of Earth - we did the same from The Vindicaar looking down at Azeroth as it rotated underneath us. There is no “other side” of Azeroth.

[Die]

Apples and oranges. We knew it was there in-lore, not just presented in-game at the time. As of now, Azeroth's map according to lore should be considered complete barring Dragon Isles, but any other major landmass to be discovered would be brand new lore, but it doesn't mean the current map is inaccurate.

That's just handcannon though. Nowhere has anyone definitively stated the map of Azeroth is complete.

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We've seen Azeroth from space. At this point, the notion that half the planet is still unknown is ridiculous.

It's fine to add in previously unreachable areas (Pandaria) or previously insignificant ones (Broken Isles) but we should have a pretty good idea of all major continents and whatnot.

We're dealing with a fictional universe where there is magic. All it would take is some magical shroud to hide the other side, even from space.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Apart from when looking from Space we can see the entirety of Earth - we did the same from The Vindicaar looking down at Azeroth as it rotated underneath us. There is no “other side” of Azeroth.

A lot of it was covered up by clouds so you can't definitively say there's no other side to Azeroth.

[Hobbidaggy]

Going underground would be more the next route. I think similar to deepholm and with added skyboxes like coloured lists or something to give the impression you’re not underground to help with the ‘same/same’ environment issue like they had with legion and green fel everywhere.
The next land mass will probably be similar to broken isle where we get dragon isles easy to flesh out 5 islands with a aspect/flight as the core theme and then we get various landscapes. The expansion can be cantered around all 5 aspects and a storyline to get their powers back and have Azeroth ready to fight the void or whatever they choose to make the big bad. Now the titans are back we can easily empower the aspects again.

[crakerjack]

Bilzz should just add 50 more races and give everyone a free race change for each of their characters @ level 50 or higher. That way people would stop talking about races. Although I'll happily take race talk more than class talk, #nomoreclasses.