Dungeons in WoW: Classic were huge compared to today. But why is that? Because Blizzard thought you would only go in there once …
If you look at dungeons from World of Warcraft over the years, you will find some differences between the oldest and the newest dungeons. While the Deadmines or the Blackrock Depths are massive dungeons where you can spend several hours, modern dungeons like the Shrine of the Storm or the Depths of Valor are significantly smaller.
But why is that? Why were the first dungeons in WoW Classic so gigantic while later instances are smaller and can be completed in just about an hour? The reason lies not directly in World of Warcraft, but in its MMORPG predecessors.
Open World Dungeons were the model: The YouTuber hirumaredx has explored the past of WoW, analyzed some developer quotes, and came to some interesting conclusions.
Many developers of WoW had played EverQuest before their work. This MMORPG essentially had no instanced dungeons. Although there were world bosses, these mainly existed in dungeons that were located in the open world. A large castle was not separated from the game world by an instance portal, but all players could fight over the bosses and enemies in the same game area. This is why such “non-instanced dungeons” were also huge, so that many players could experience them simultaneously.
WoW brought the solution for everyone: The developers of WoW recognized this problem and understood what impact it had. Many players would never experience dungeons because it involved a large effort. Not only did you have to find a group, but you also had to contest bosses and loot with other groups. Separate dungeons for each group – that is, instances – were the solution to the problem.
Dungeons were planned as a one-time event: This inspiration from EverQuest and D&D also meant that dungeons were actually planned as one-time events. The developers simply did not assume that players would visit the dungeons more than once or twice and then become bored. Therefore, many dungeons were huge, had many branches or optional bosses, so the exploration took a lot of time and felt more like a grand adventure.
This, however, stood in stark contrast to the fact that the best loot came from dungeons. Here, the developers apparently were not “on the same wavelength”, so dungeons were quickly seen by players as something repeatable to farm gear.
Small dungeons quickly became popular: However, the shift already began in Classic. After the release of the Scarlet Monastery, the developers noticed that dungeons in a smaller format, divided into different wings, were well-received by the community. This continued later in the Shadowlands – this dungeon was also divided into individual areas.
This new style was fully adopted in “The Burning Crusade”. Both the dungeons of Hellfire Citadel and those of Auchindoun and the Fortress of Storms are essentially individual “wings” of a huge complex.
So when one says that dungeons in modern WoW are small because the developers want to please the current player base, then this is only partially true – Even in Classic, Blizzard quickly took this direction.
Old dungeons were pruned: Many of the original, gigantic dungeons were pruned over the years. For instance, Maraudon was split into individual wings, Scholomance was reduced and made more linear. While there are still a few exceptions to the rule, most dungeons have since shrunk – because the creators now know that players love to run them multiple times.
Sometimes players love large dungeons: However, although the design philosophy regarding the size of dungeons already changed in Classic, there is a group of players and developers who like huge dungeons. That is why from time to time there is a “megadungeon”, such as the Return to Karazhan or more recently Mechagon. These dungeons have more bosses than usual and are often larger, with optional bosses or different routes.
Should dungeons be large and extensive?
But now it’s your turn! Are dungeons in World of Warcraft better when they are larger? Or is the smaller, more modern design with multiple wings the better solution to cater to the player base?
If you want to elaborate on your opinion a bit more, please leave a comment under this article and join the discussion.
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