Category:Archived Maps

From wow.incgamers.com

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This is the repository (mainly) for maps that are currently not in use in World of Warcraft, but still has either historical value, or might be what future maps in the universe of Warcraft might be used for.

1 Introduction
2 Things that changed the most
3 Things that haven't changed
4 Maps
- 4.1 Game Maps

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Introduction

The First World Map

Maps have always been a point of interest in Warcraft, and the world map wasn't created all at once. There has also been changes and retcons along the development of the Warcraft universe, which can be interesting to see. To a great extent, you will see that there are map information found in WoW today that was present thirteen years ago when Warcraft: Orcs and Humans was released. Considering how basic the world was 1995 compared to today, it is amazing that so much details still have avoided retconning!

The Second Map

The greatest number of actual retcons came with the development of World of Warcraft. As Blizzard was building the actual MMO-world, as opposed to the RTS game where things are on a completely different scale, the shape of the world changed quite drastically. In order to support gaming zones, that needs to be "kind of square" in their shape, there had to be made certain changes to the world. You see Kalimdor went from an organicly formed continent to a slightly thick sausage, and the newly named Eastern Kingdoms was broadened around Khaz Modan in order to fit in the starting zone of the Dwarves. It then filled out downward as well, and we can speculate that the reason is aesthetics.

It is good to keep this in mind, as when Lord Anduin Lothar brought the people of Azeroth (now called Kingdom of Stormwind) over the Great Sea to Lordaeron, it was actually a great sea between the Northern coast of Azeroth and the Southern shores of Lordaeron. The sea contained the Island Kingdom of Kul Tiras among other things, which just simply would not fit on the WoW map we know of today.

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Things that changed the most

The main changes in terms of how they looked originally compared to in the current version is without a doubt Kalimdor. From being a somewhat rounded continent, it's now turned into what can best be described as a turd. While the exterior has been changed quite a bit, it's harder to say if there has been any internal changes, such as the location of Mount Hyjal or the like. The fact is that the shape of the continent has been so great that any comparison is very hard indeed.

Other big changes is the location of the minor continents/islands of the Great Sea. At the moment, it's hard to determine what is what, and some things that are speculated about what they are have moved leagues from their original locations. The continent of Azeroth has also gone through some changes, at least if you look at the sketches made in preparation for Warcraft 3 and WoW.

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Things that haven't changed

Some of the most persistant ideas that has been used for the Warcraft universe are the location of Capital City, Dalaran, Gilneas, Ironforge, Loch Modan and Lordamere Lake. You could also say that the general shape of the nortern part of the Eastern Kingdoms have stayed quite similar since the first map of it, as well as Northrend, even though that is such a new addition, that it would be strange otherwise.

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