In World of Warcraft, Stormwind and Orgrimmar have served as the capitals of the Alliance and Horde factions since the game’s release. In the new patch 9.2.5, Blizzard makes minor changes to the capitals and introduces updates that seem aimed at new players. This sparks a discussion about whether the capitals should be fundamentally altered, as some believe they deserve a complete overhaul.
How are the capitals changing in the patch?
- The content creator Dan “MrGM” Carter is known for his content on World of Warcraft. He was on the WoW test server and checked out the new patch 9.2.5.
- He noticed two changes to the capitals: Stormwind received a new asset, a type of “stable” – and there is also a stable in Orgrimmar with patch 9.2.5, where no one is currently standing.
- Some speculate that the stables might indicate that new players could learn to ride earlier or that the way to obtain their first mount will be revised. Others joke: Maybe one could park their new dragon from Dragonflight there and pet it in the game.
„The two things have more polygons than the rest of the city“
This is the discussion being had: On Twitter, people are discussing the new buildings. One player says: “The things have more polygons than the rest of the city” (via twitter).
Another says: New assets are great in themselves, but when they are slapped onto old content, the old content just appears older.
Many wish for a redesign of the whole cities: It would look odd if new, modern buildings were now standing next to the “very old things.” Especially the trees or the statues in Stormwind are now seen as unsightly pixel heaps.
With Dragonflight, WoW aims to reconnect with its glorious past:
The problems an MMORPG has after 17 years
What is the problem? The “old world” of WoW was last majorly revised with the Cataclysm expansion. That was 12 years ago: The expansion came out because Blizzard believed it was time for a revision after 5 years.
Especially because new areas in WoW feel higher quality, some players desire a redesign of their “old cities.” Many argue they should be livelier and provide access to the new gimmicks that regularly come with expansions.
This is a problem with WoW that is often criticized: In WoW, new content exists that has been developed by modern standards, alongside old content that visibly shows its age.
This is likely a problem when an MMORPG is continuously developed and supplied with content for over 17 years.
A fundamental “overhaul” of WoW is repeatedly a topic. People like to publish videos showing how World of Warcraft would look if it had been developed with a modern engine, like Unreal Engine. The results are spectacular:
This is how beautiful WoW could look in modern cartoon graphics
