More continents on "land mass" with Azeroth?

[Dooney]

Discussing the various continents on Draenor made me wonder what is on the other side of Azeroth, if anything?
I don't remember discussions from Warcraft/WoW lore about any other land masses other than those arises from the sundering.

Update: Was only wondering if the mega-continent Kalimdor was the ONLY continent/landmass BEFORE the sundering on Azeroth. We all know about the sundering and continental drift, but was it the only game in town? guessing yes fromthe responses.

[Matt0193]

Whatever it is, it needs to be "shrouded in mists" or "dispersed by titan technology as a failsafe" or what have you. When the Sundering (Well of Eternity exploding) occured, 85% of the Meta-Continent Kalimdor was destroyed, leaving the continents of Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms and Northrend, as well as various islands in the South Seas. Pandaria's existence was a retcon on that point, as it should've been destroyed, however it's retcon was fairly well written to be fair. An all-powerful, spiritual Emperor Shao Hao became one with the land and shielded it from the incoming Sundering. The question is, how many more retcons can you have on that point before it becomes "Really..?"

[Callous1970]

There's basically a "pacific ocean" from the east coast of the Eastern Kingdoms to the west coast of Kalimdor. So, ignoring the titan world maps/globes that have been shown in the game before, its possible for there to be other land masses out there somewhere.

However I think Blizz is more likely to have us take the fight to the Burning Legion after WoD, and that would mean going to the planets they currently control.

[BlissfulBlithe]

Whatever it is, it needs to be "shrouded in mists" or "dispersed by titan technology as a failsafe" or what have you. When the Sundering (Well of Eternity exploding) occured, 85% of the Meta-Continent Kalimdor was destroyed, leaving the continents of Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms and Northrend, as well as various islands in the South Seas. Pandaria's existence was a retcon on that point, as it should've been destroyed, however it's retcon was fairly well written to be fair. An all-powerful, spiritual Emperor Shao Hao became one with the land and shielded it from the incoming Sundering. The question is, how many more retcons can you have on that point before it becomes "Really..?"

The Well of Eternity's explosion was more of a continental rift than destruction. Sure it created a maelstrom, but most of what was surrounding the Well directly (such as the Night Elven city of Suramar) is underwater; and that was about it. The rest of the world (Kalimdor, Northrend, Eastern Kingdoms, Pandaria) are still what they were before the explosion of the Well, just less so. Azshara pre-Cataclysm (expansion) was a clear indication of that, as it was only partly under water; Winterspring was also spared from the destruction.

If you moved all of the continents together, into the middle, where the Maelstrom is; you'd have a complete pre-explosion continent apart from the immediate surrounding area of the Well (Suramar).

Other than that, there's not much else besides islands here and there.

[Kathranis]

Red Shirt Guy actually asked about this at Blizzcon, and the devs basically said that more landmasses are completely within the realm of possibility, but every time they have to redraw a world map or show a globe, it compounds the problem. They acknowledged the possibility that the continents we know may only constitute the northern hemisphere, based on the fact that all of the southernmost climates in the game are temperate/tropical. There's also been plenty of suggestion that the unexplored Veiled Sea could hide entire continents.


Just consider the evolution of Azeroth as we know it:


Azeroth, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994)


Azeroth, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995)


Azeroth, Warcraft III: Reign of Fire (2002)


Azeroth, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (2012)


I mean, if you're looking for cartographic consistency, this is obviously the wrong franchise. Khaz Modan, Lordaeron, and Quel'thalas did not exist in Warcraft, and Kalimdor and Northrend did not exist in Warcraft II. If we're being honest, the leap from the Warcraft III map of 2003 to the current Mists of Pandaria map isn't nearly as drastic.

[Matt0193]

The Well of Eternity's explosion was more of a continental rift than destruction. Sure it created a maelstrom, but most of what was surrounding the Well directly (such as the Night Elven city of Suramar) is underwater; and that was about it. The rest of the world (Kalimdor, Northrend, Eastern Kingdoms, Pandaria) are still what they were before the explosion of the Well, just less so. Azshara pre-Cataclysm (expansion) was a clear indication of that, as it was only partly under water; Winterspring was also spared from the destruction.

Prior to the Sundering, there was only one continent on Azeroth, referred to as Kalimdor. In the catastrophic explosion, eighty percent of the land mass was destroyed[2] leaving behind the major continents and scattered islands that are known today: Northrend, Kezan, Pandaria, the Eastern Kingdoms, and the remnant still referred to as Kalimdor.

http://wowpedia.org/Great_Sundering

80%, sorry. Unless that is retconned, again, the landmass was destroyed. It could be vague and imply that destroyed = lost, in which case places like Suramar are destroyed. But unless that it is said elsewhere, the land is gone. I would also note that Pandaria and Kezan were added to the last, previously it mentioned something along the lines of various islands. That list doesn't actually include the sink Zandalari island either.

[BlissfulBlithe]

[Asphyxiate9]

I find it interesting that somewhere in the game it says that ships that sail east into the forbidding sea never return, so I'm expecting some kind of landmass one day to exist there. Or simply a sea monster we will never see. and I really do like the idea of us existing in the northern hemisphere, it would make the world feel a lot larger.

[Matt0193]

-snip-

Is that actually a Blizzard publication or just a fan piece? I've never seen it as all. If it's just a fan piece, I'd be more inclined to go by what's been written by Blizzard previous, rather than a proposed map that speculates what Kalimdor once looked like.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Is that actually a Blizzard publication or just a fan piece? I've never seen it as all. If it's just a fan piece, I'd be more inclined to go by what's been written by Blizzard previous, rather than a proposed map that speculates what Kalimdor once looked like.

Seems to be fan based speculation based on things Blizzard has written. Cause it looks like a Blizzard design.

[Jokubas]

Honestly, I don't want to see any more major landmasses on Azeroth. Obviously, there are islands we know about and can't go to yet, and probably more small stuff like that, but they've already pulled the "mysterious landmass no one knew about" too many times at this point. There's only so many times you can keep reusing a plot like that, and I think Blizzard has hit the sweet spot.

Lordaeron and stuff made sense, because it was obvious the Warcraft I map wasn't even the entire continent, let alone a whole world. Northrend was all right because it was never treated as a mystery, just something not relevant to the First or Second Wars (we only ever saw one continent until Warcraft III, at least one more is expected). Kalimdor was okay because it was the first time a place was specifically supposed to be lost to the world we knew, with the Maelstrom preventing easy travel from one direction, and a massive ocean on the other side preventing it from the other. Even Pandaria wasn't a huge problem because we had known about it, and I don't think it's canonically as continental as the gameplay required.

But, it's really hard to go forward. World of Warcraft is an actual world. It's not an RTS anymore that can excuse that something was just never relevant. Here, we explore, we talk, we've seen the world. They can't just say there's more to the world that no one has bothered to go to yet, or for some reason never mentioned before. The reason no one crosses the Forbidding Sea doesn't need sea monsters or shrouded lands to explain. It's that, almost every eastern shore on the Eastern Kingdoms is a cliffside, so there's no reason to come to that side, no way to leave from that side, and the ocean is so huge your supplies would never last long enough to get you across. And if there was something over there, it would be really hard to explain why no one's brought it up. Warcraft has airships and spaceships and teleportation and scrying spells, and no one has used them to find out what's over there? The Burning Legion has never decided that these apparent masters of disguise and magic are worth attacking? The Old Gods have never tried to get us to harass them, or vice versa? Thrall didn't sense this when he sensed the whole world, including the Old God prisons and Magni's spirit? They'd have to be some horrifically powerful people to have such a large "somebody else's problem field," and why would people that powerful have been so distant? I'm sure Deathwing trying to destroy the world would have been relevant to them.

Azeroth has room for more land, but I don't think the story does.

[Gamespud]

Reminds me of that question from blizzcon. Someone at the lore Q+A panel pointed out that every southern zone including pandaria are either desert or jungle and because they all seem to be of a tropical nature he asked "Is this just the northern hemisphere? and is it possible theres a whole southern hemisphere" Chris metzen started nodding lol and said "Maybe. You people need to stop making globes of azeroth like in ulduar. You show a whole globe and theres no more mystery or anything to add later." (not exact quotes mind you but went something like that) Clearly chris metzen thinks theres more to add to azeroth at least.

[FunkyRaccoon]

Discussing the various continents on Draenor made me wonder what is on the other side of Azeroth, if anything?
I don't remember discussions from Warcraft/WoW lore about any other land masses other than those arises from the sundering.

Update: Was only wondering if the mega-continent Kalimdor was the ONLY continent/landmass BEFORE the sundering on Azeroth. We all know about the sundering and continental drift, but was it the only game in town? guessing yes fromthe responses.

Do you remember a history unit in grade school, where you were shown old maps of the "known world"? The four continents we see comprise the "known world" of Azeroth. I've long suspected that what we see is only one half of one hemisphere - ie, the Europe of Azeroth. I think there's lots of land out there yet to be discovered, that even the Turtle couldn't get to (because it just swims around in circles between Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. It would never have had any reason to swim further east or west, and we know it hasn't ventured south for centuries now.)


Yes, yes, the globe in Ulduar. But the Titans didn't put Pandaria on it, either - and really, that globe should show an unsundered Kalimdor. The Titans did their thing before the weird Nelf queen did her thing with Sargeras. And if I were them, I wouldn't be showing a map of the entire world, either, just the bits that the peasants would/should know. I'm sure there are places the Titans would have preferred to keep secret.

Speaking of Ulduar, is it soloable? I never went in there yet because I'm a big chicken.

[Gamespud]

Do you remember a history unit in grade school, where you were shown old maps of the "known world"? The four continents we see comprise the "known world" of Azeroth. I've long suspected that what we see is only one half of one hemisphere - ie, the Europe of Azeroth. I think there's lots of land out there yet to be discovered, that even the Turtle couldn't get to (because it just swims around in circles between Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. It would never have had any reason to swim further east or west, and we know it hasn't ventured south for centuries now.)

Yes, yes, the globe in Ulduar. But the Titans didn't put Pandaria on it, either - and really, that globe should show an unsundered Kalimdor. The Titans did their thing before the weird Nelf queen did her thing with Sargeras. And if I were them, I wouldn't be showing a map of the entire world, either, just the bits that the peasants would/should know. I'm sure there are places the Titans would have preferred to keep secret.

Yeah definitely this. Even metzen hates those globes from ulduar and as for the regular maps.. well there are maps of America that show California as an island... so yeah.

[FunkyRaccoon]

lol, really? I've never seen that map (the one that has California as an island). Is it marked with "here be dragons"?

[Gamespud]

Not bad considering but obviously someone made a huge assumption upon seeing the gulf of California lol.

[Deleted]

i dislike this idea alot that this is just a half of the world because it would be like pokemon, you turn 180% and whoop there is a whole new world never to be discovered

[Gamespud]

i dislike this idea alot that this is just a half of the world because it would be like pokemon, you turn 180% and whoop there is a whole new world never to be discovered

I think the thing to take from the whole southern hemisphere question is just that Metzen is big on the idea that we don't know all there is to azeroth yet. So I'd expect to see something more eventually.

[Sorrior]

It would probably get me back to see something entirely new...Or even somewhat

Like maybe orcs made it to Azeroth on another continent as well same for some ogres..

Would be REALLY interesting to see new/old races as well as how they are explained.

[mackenzie]

you turn 180%

You what now?