Somehow, Azj-Kahet and the City of Threads in World of Warcraft: The War Within feel strange. There is a reason for this, as the concept is not round.
The world of The War Within was quite well received by players. While it is common in World of Warcraft to have new areas, Healing Crash, the Island of Thorn, and the Resonating Depths are particularly appreciated by many. Azj-Kahet falls a bit short of expectations.
Azj-Kahet was supposed to fulfill the role of Suramar, which was introduced in the Legion expansion. The City of Threads – meaning the outside area, not the dungeon – was meant to evoke the great city of the Nightborne. A large metropolis where one feels like an outsider, must earn the trust of a few residents, and then carries out various tasks inside to gradually disturb the stability and ultimately prepare for an attack against Queen Ansurek.
In theory, the City of Threads is exactly like Suramar. However, one small detail has drastically limited this experience: flying.
Flying is to Blame, it “Ruined” the City
An important aspect of the much-praised City of Suramar was that you could not fly at the beginning. Those who wanted to get around the city had to walk through its various streets or swing over the rooftops using grappling hooks. This forced players to get to know the city better. They learned which houses offered good hiding spots, where particularly many guards patrolled, or which paths were the fastest to reach different quest givers. This made many little details more noticeable that would otherwise have been overlooked.
It seems obvious that Blizzard originally intended to create the City of Threads with such restrictions. The entire architecture of the city is designed in a way that players should work their way through multiple levels. There are various vehicles or gondolas everywhere that allow for level changes. The whole layout looks as if meticulous attention was paid to ensuring that everything is easily and logically accessible on foot.
The same goes for all the quests and rumors (small mini-missions). Many of them are designed so that during the quest, you actually have to try to avoid the watchful eyes of the patrols – for instance, when you have to smuggle goods through the city to a secret stash. However, the difficulty of the quest is completely irrelevant because you can simply fly over all the guards.
Rewards Indicate the Plans
That the City of Threads was originally conceived as a no-fly zone can also be inferred from numerous rewards. There is a whole set of unlockable rewards designed to help navigate the city more easily.
For instance, players unlock different types of pheromones that visually reveal the detection radius of city guards, reduce their area of influence, and ultimately – as the final reward of the reputation faction – even completely disable them. The Queen’s pheromone, which costs a hefty 8,888 Kej, is actually a strong incentive.
However, these rewards only make sense in a game world where you cannot simply fly over all the city guards and land precisely where you need to go for the relevant quest.
Why Blizzard decided to allow flying in the City of Threads from the start – no idea. However, it is clear that it did not contribute positively to the experience of the City of Threads. Playing in a zone that was clearly developed with the thought that players would be grounded at least at the beginning loses a tremendous amount of appeal when all the little details that were considered can be simply flown over.
All areas in The War Within were obviously created with the intention that players move from the beginning with dynamic flying. Only the City of Threads is the exact opposite – the decision to remove flying restrictions here ensures that the area will never achieve the glory of Suramar. What a shame.
Another area is quite strong – even if the riddle about Beledar was only solved late.
