Shouldn't zones become bigger?

[Heldamon]

In TBC and Northrend the zones where made MUCH bigger than those in first WoW to "justify the relative speeds at which flying mounts travel".

Now that we're gonna have flying mounts on old world shouldnt the areas expand?

[MortalWombat]

In TBC and Northrend the zones where made MUCH bigger than those in first WoW to "justify the relative speeds at which flying mounts travel".

Now that we're gonna have flying mounts on old world shouldnt the areas expand?

Do you really hate lowbies that much? =(

[stormshadow243]

In TBC and Northrend the zones where made MUCH bigger than those in first WoW to "justify the relative speeds at which flying mounts travel".

Now that we're gonna have flying mounts on old world shouldnt the areas expand?

You aren't going to have flying mounts at low levels, so those zones can remain the same size. And the new zones for high level players are massive.

[luccadeo]

One of the things I really enjoyed about playing LOTRO is that the zones are huge (at least 2-3 times larger) than the ones in WoW.

[Deleted]

In TBC and Northrend the zones where made MUCH bigger than those in first WoW to "justify the relative speeds at which flying mounts travel".

Now that we're gonna have flying mounts on old world shouldnt the areas expand?

Simply: yes, it is time that the areas acquire their true scale...

One of the things I really enjoyed about playing LOTRO is that the zones are huge (at least 2-3 times larger) than the ones in WoW.

Exactly, the biggest territories are the most fun.

[Krekko]

In TBC and Northrend the zones where made MUCH bigger than those in first WoW to "justify the relative speeds at which flying mounts travel".

Now that we're gonna have flying mounts on old world shouldnt the areas expand?

This would require an entire overhaul of the old zones starting close from scratch. Considering the circumstances of this expansion it is fine to drop this design philosophy which was built around them building entirely new zones from scratch and off of a pre-defined space template. Now, we're not losing any space, actually there will be more space this expansion than there was in the last two (not combined) so if thats a worry then write it off as nothing.

One of the things I really enjoyed about playing LOTRO is that the zones are huge (at least 2-3 times larger) than the ones in WoW.

The best I can say to this is where is the game now then. Scale and size is relative, does the game have more overall space than WoW or do they have 2-3 big zones instead of 8-10 smaller ones? Or is it 8-10 large zones.

Personally I like the size of blizzards zones. Big enough to feel nice and expansive, but not too big to where they feel overwhelming and where a lot of it's dead space. It could also be a trade off, less demographics visited and seen, for a single larger zone built around the same thing. Either way I guess it's purely preference.

[Heldamon]

Well lowbies get new quests where they dont have to travel from one side of the map to the other. They quest near their questhubs that have flightpaths. Also they get mounts on lvl 20.

[unillenium]

In TBC and Northrend the zones where made MUCH bigger than those in first WoW to "justify the relative speeds at which flying mounts travel".

Now that we're gonna have flying mounts on old world shouldnt the areas expand?

How would this fit the lore though?

[Heldamon]

It's cataclysm dude. Parts are removed, parts are added!

[LRCollier]

I disagree. You're right, zones in TBC and WotLK are larger to account for flying mount speed.

However low levels will be levelling in these zones, not high levels.

Not only that, but not everybody prefers vast zones. I for one like smaller/regular sized zones. I hate spending a very long time in a single zone, I get sick of it very fast and I feel extremely re-invigorated when I finally enter a new zone. It's fun to have some variety.

[Heldamon]

...and I'm not talking bout huge changes just add some blocks between non important parts to stretch the area.

[Paulosio]

It's going to be so painful for anyone below max level on PVP server. A hunter with track humanoids and a flying mount can scout an entire zone for lowbies in seconds... I'd never want to try levelling a new character on a PVP server when Cataclysm hits.

[Heldamon]

I dont understand what stops hunters do that now in bc and northrend areas.

Actually if the guy is an idiot he can do that either the zone is big or not.

[Deleted]

How would this fit the lore though?

According to lore, all areas should be much larger than the ones we see in the game. In fact, there are locations which appear in the lore but that can not appear in the game because no place for them ... is so crappy ... Conclusion: The scale should be increased.

[Elderer]

According to lore, all areas should be much larger than the ones we see in the game. In fact, there are locations which appear in the lore but that can not appear in the game because no place for them ... is so crappy ... Conclusion: The scale should be increased.

and what then?
Spawn those areas with random NPCS?we have that shit already, altho I agree, example is Dun Morogh and 1K Needles should be x2 bigger.

[Deipfryde]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you watch some of the beta videos, it still takes a while to get around. Overall, the continents are a lot bigger than Outland or Northrend. Going from, say, Ghostlands to Booty Bay will probably be a 15-20 minute flight, if not longer. Not exactly "speedy". It'll probably still be better to just take a taxi or port to a closer city. Given the size of Azeroth and the low cost of old-world taxis, I don't think we'll see too many people sticking exclusively to mounts to get around like we do in Northrend.

As for ganking, I don't think it's going to be any more of a problem now than it's ever been. I've leveled three 80s on a PvP server, and never had more than a few instances of unwarranted ganks. And most of those I could turn right back around on my rogue. I don't plan on leveling a new character right away.. By the time I get one or two of my top-level characters up to 85, the big "rush" of low level characters will have mostly passed, and the flying gankers will probably have gotten it out of their system. So I don't imagine my worgen will have too many problems.

[Dryade]

So basically Blizzard should say fuck it to the new zones and resize the entire world so you can do what? No, the zones do not need to be bigger and are fine the way they are now.

[Shidaku]

According to lore, all areas should be much larger than the ones we see in the game. In fact, there are locations which appear in the lore but that can not appear in the game because no place for them ... is so crappy ... Conclusion: The scale should be increased.

Conclusion the expansion should take another year or two to come out.

The statement about the zones needing to be bigger simply for flying mounts is utter nonsense. The old world already is bigger than the continents for the past two expansions. It doesn't matter if the zones are smaller because the continents are bigger. It is not about the size of the zones, it is about the size of the continents and they are already more than adequate. It takes Blizzard forever to create anything so "just add some blocks" is really shortsighted. It is not about what you want to see but about what is possible and Blizzard is known to be slow and "lazy".

[Donald Hellscream]

no because its boring to run around in huge zones even with a 100% mount.. heck i even find it boring to ride around in tanaris and that zone isnt that big.

[Malthurius]

The new 78-85 zones are HUGE. The 1-58 zones are perfect size given who is going to be questing and doing stuff in them.