My most clear memory of gaming back in the day 2004, I started working for a computer company that was dealing with blizzard in some way (blizzard was using tech the company I was with made, so that you could play wow WHILE you downloaded it instead of having to download the whole thing then play) and so everyone at the company got beta accounts for wow, back when there was only content to lvl 40, and dire maul wasen't even in the game yet. I got good at wall jumping, and was able to explore many areas I was not supposed to get into. One of my favorites was in Badlands at the north edge of the zone there was many spots to get "in between" zones, and then explore the whole continent and see what was in between all the zones. I lead many raids directly into alliance towns by being a warlock, taking a few other warlocks, and then summon everyone to a spot where if you jump in a hole you appear in the basement of one of the buildings in town. GM's demanded I show how I got there, I showed them, and they changed the hill the make it impossible. I found another spot to get up in like 5 min lol
Dude - Can't thank you enough for this comment. I have big nostalgia for old school wow and absolutely LOVE old stories like this. Really appreciate your sharing. Your basement shortcut is amazing. Don't you wish you could have kept video of those old days? At least you remember. I have a vid called "First Achievement" where I digress into my experience in those first few months of WOW (not the beta like you though) you might appreciate some of the stuff I share. Thanks again! - Jeff -- ua-cam.com/video/zD2SzZiIGn8/v-deo.html
After playing SoD for a while and really experiencing these zones, it's so interesting to see what changed in Cata. SO many zones just didn't have coastlines, you were boxed in.
I was surprised to see how little they changed the Wetlands. They increased the water at the very start of the zone, and put Menethil under water but that's it. I remember thinking it was super flooded when I first saw it - probably because the upper half was plausibly flooded already.
It's also funny to think about what path Deathwing must have taken to make those patterns on the map. E.g. Making that 90 degree turn at 10:30 because it was a convenient zone border, then doubling back to burn a couple spots to the south. And the bird's eye view of Stormwind makes the park look really small, like he could've just torn through the whole city instead.
Never thought of Deathwing's actual path of destruction; very interesting point. In many cases it looked like topography changes were simply used to clear unfinished borders between zones so flying would work - like the big sundering across the entire continent basically follows unfinished zone border. Really appreciate the comment.
Hinterlands tunnel?! Hinterlands tunnel?!?! Hinterlands tunnel?!?!?! I have played retail between 2008 and 2011, multiple private servers since then and yet I have never heard of this tunnel.
Dude, I've played since 2004, as Horde almost exclusively, and I have NEVER been shown, told, or even heard about this passage in, err, well, passing. This is one of the best-kept "legit" secrets in all of WoW.
"It's always been there, you just don't remember it being there." Makes you wonder what the large unfinished area they removed from the east would have been, that was a huge landmass to just disappear.
Zangermarsh is the Barrens. eastern kingdoms can be lined up from the plaguelands to kalamdors azhara. It's all the same map/ world just different points in time(sorry for any misspellings)
@@720zone yeah you look at the content given 6 raids 14 dungeons then they also revamped quite a few leveling ones, they provided new zones, revamped world, talent reworks, and other QOL items. No other expansion after really compares to the amount of content. I feel if they squashed the bugs faster in the beginning and maybe stretched the high level content out to help that drought in the end of the expansion the expansion may have had a better light on it.
This is what i love to see. Not a single "Look at this stone. You see, it changed during Cataclysm and now it has no purpose. Compared to Classic WoW this stone was not as polished as the other stones in this area. You see, back in the old days this stone was useless but now it is just an object. Changed by time and Cataclysm this landmark now greets adventures as they travel along other stones. Did you know what else has changed? That's right! Raid: Shadow Legends..."
I thought they "reforged" the entire zones from scratch, but I can now see - with pleasure - that they only added, modified or removed stuff. The "base" map is still the same. Cheers
6:41 see the line at the bottom left of the map? That is actually walk able land at the edge of the map that is there and you could walk on it, and it had no fatigue. also, They should make the classic map fully accessible in modern wow. Could have a plot line that some titan device is found that is like a beta version of the world before they fully built the world, and the player can use it to go back to that map, or time travel, or something like that. Just mix classic and modern together. I feel the player base is getting too divided onto different servers.
Yes! You're 100% right on. These are technically a separate instance, and thereby a separate map from the Eastern Kingdoms in the game file, so I left them out.
Totally right. I call out Deadwind pass as part of Swamp of Sorrows at 14:50 // And Alterac is technically part of Hillsbrad at 4:01 -- Really appreciate your watching and commenting man. Thanks!
and this is why cata is probably the most disliked wow addon. they srewed with the loved old wow map, that the latetest point of classic wow. no wonder subscriptions went down up here onwards
So well said - I've made this same point. Cata, while having some fun elements to it, was a HUGE mistake. You can expand your game by deleting elements of the previous game, which is exactly what Cata did. Now they've made the same mistake again in Classic. And yes, all of the subscription charts show the peak at the end of WOTLK, and a decline starting with Cata. That's why I truly call WoW 1 classic through Wrath, ending with the epic kill of the most notorious boss, and best storyline, Arthas. Appreciate the comment man.
@@720zone Hard disagree. Actually Cata *was* the high point for subs in WoW, as the numbers and charts that are readily available prove quite easily. The thing is, though, without Arthas left anymore - and with WarCraft III's main villains and story wrapped up, a lot of players decided to call it quits between 4.0 and 4.1. Cataclysm was no mistake - it just didn't have the grip on players for the next set of stories until near the end of the expansion, after most players that were on the bubble had already left the game. Let's also not get into the huge spikes in population that we saw during MoP's launch and the almost-more-impressive spikes during WoD and Legion's launch. To be fair, I won't mention how subs consistently went down throughout WotLK until they spiked after Ruby Sanctum with players returning for Cata. ;0) Because, let's face it, WotLK was simply not a great expansion: it used outdated gameplay and mechanics even when it was current, and had way too many reused assets, encounters, and plot threads. The launch of the expansion was also one of the roughest WoW has ever had. All that said, If WotLK had any nearly any other antagonist for the final boss, I guarantee it would only be seen today as being marginally better than WoD, if that. I genuinely mean no offense by this, but this soon after seeing the expansion again with fresh, mature eyes, I can't believe how many players still have such rose-tinted goggles when it comes to WotLK. Subjectively, it just was not a great expansion both in terms of fresh, new content and in terms of pushing the gameplay and tech to new heights. Also, on the topic of the world revamp being a mistake and unnecessary: having to do 80 levels at that point just to bring your character up to current expansion content...well, it was a lot, especially with how Classic questing (the bulk of the leveling journey at the time) was "structured". Besides that, so many changes were made to the tech under the hood between WotLK and Cata that the whole world would have had to essentially been rebuilt anyways. (That comes from the Cataclysm behind-the-scenes interviews with the devs themselves.) If world revamps were a huge mistake, players would not be near-begging the devs since Legion to re-do the Old World and update many of it's zones AGAIN. Can you really tell me it's not interesting and fascinating and engaging to look back and forth between these maps and pull out all the little details that changed? Or to imagine, like I have many times during this video, the locations on the map as seen in the actual game world with a startle of recognition and astonishment at 'oh, I never knew..." or "I didn't realize..." or "It's so cool they changed _____ to ______"? I know I can't. Anyways, thanks for the video @720zone. I do hope you release the Kalimdor version of this soon - and I hope you take my comments merely for what they are: good-natured, good-humored spirited debate regarding a disagreement about something that doesn't really matter in the first place! XD Cheers!
I started in 2006, I didnt mind the zone changes, it was mostly the story alterations they made, they leaned far too much into parody with a lot of the zones and they lost their unique flavor. the actual zones themselves I think most were well made, and it was nice to see the parts that were simply optical illusions becoming fleshed out with cataclysm. a simple diorama becoming something more tangible.
My most clear memory of gaming back in the day 2004, I started working for a computer company that was dealing with blizzard in some way (blizzard was using tech the company I was with made, so that you could play wow WHILE you downloaded it instead of having to download the whole thing then play) and so everyone at the company got beta accounts for wow, back when there was only content to lvl 40, and dire maul wasen't even in the game yet. I got good at wall jumping, and was able to explore many areas I was not supposed to get into. One of my favorites was in Badlands at the north edge of the zone there was many spots to get "in between" zones, and then explore the whole continent and see what was in between all the zones. I lead many raids directly into alliance towns by being a warlock, taking a few other warlocks, and then summon everyone to a spot where if you jump in a hole you appear in the basement of one of the buildings in town. GM's demanded I show how I got there, I showed them, and they changed the hill the make it impossible. I found another spot to get up in like 5 min lol
When's the last time you went there
Dude - Can't thank you enough for this comment. I have big nostalgia for old school wow and absolutely LOVE old stories like this. Really appreciate your sharing. Your basement shortcut is amazing. Don't you wish you could have kept video of those old days? At least you remember. I have a vid called "First Achievement" where I digress into my experience in those first few months of WOW (not the beta like you though) you might appreciate some of the stuff I share. Thanks again! - Jeff -- ua-cam.com/video/zD2SzZiIGn8/v-deo.html
@@720zone I had 3 pvp videos on googlevideo, only 1 of which I mirrored here... sadge
But that technology of being able to play the game while it was still downloading didnt come after a few expansions?
@@KevinArcade87 yes it is... cataclysm. It was only after they updated wow launcher. So this guy just a liar :)
I love this. I can't wait for the Kalimdor one
After playing SoD for a while and really experiencing these zones, it's so interesting to see what changed in Cata. SO many zones just didn't have coastlines, you were boxed in.
and a lot of the ones that did have coastlines, they didnt feel like they were attached to the zone in question.
I was surprised to see how little they changed the Wetlands. They increased the water at the very start of the zone, and put Menethil under water but that's it. I remember thinking it was super flooded when I first saw it - probably because the upper half was plausibly flooded already.
It's also funny to think about what path Deathwing must have taken to make those patterns on the map. E.g. Making that 90 degree turn at 10:30 because it was a convenient zone border, then doubling back to burn a couple spots to the south.
And the bird's eye view of Stormwind makes the park look really small, like he could've just torn through the whole city instead.
Never thought of Deathwing's actual path of destruction; very interesting point. In many cases it looked like topography changes were simply used to clear unfinished borders between zones so flying would work - like the big sundering across the entire continent basically follows unfinished zone border. Really appreciate the comment.
Hinterlands tunnel?! Hinterlands tunnel?!?! Hinterlands tunnel?!?!?!
I have played retail between 2008 and 2011, multiple private servers since then and yet I have never heard of this tunnel.
hah! Check it out man!
Dude, I've played since 2004, as Horde almost exclusively, and I have NEVER been shown, told, or even heard about this passage in, err, well, passing. This is one of the best-kept "legit" secrets in all of WoW.
"It's always been there, you just don't remember it being there."
Makes you wonder what the large unfinished area they removed from the east would have been, that was a huge landmass to just disappear.
Zangermarsh is the Barrens. eastern kingdoms can be lined up from the plaguelands to kalamdors azhara. It's all the same map/ world just different points in time(sorry for any misspellings)
Dude thanks, ive been comparing them myself since I got back in these past months and this video sums it all up nicely.
Awesome man! Glad to know I'm not the only one interested in these maps.
Its so nice being able to see all the changes, thank you!! Are you planning on doing one for Kalimdor?
That's the plan!
Cata would have been loved way more if those resources went into other ideas.
It is the classic (heh) saying: If it isn't broken, don't fix it.
You have to admit whether you love or hate cata, so much work was shoved into the expansion
Exactly my opinion. I hate thay the world was changed but appreciate the effort.
@@720zone yeah you look at the content given 6 raids 14 dungeons then they also revamped quite a few leveling ones, they provided new zones, revamped world, talent reworks, and other QOL items. No other expansion after really compares to the amount of content. I feel if they squashed the bugs faster in the beginning and maybe stretched the high level content out to help that drought in the end of the expansion the expansion may have had a better light on it.
Andorhal is 1/2 sourge 1/4 alliance 1/4 horde
Those ships are horde in Silverpine
Appreciate the clarification; thank you!
Awesome vid thx
This is what i love to see. Not a single "Look at this stone. You see, it changed during Cataclysm and now it has no purpose. Compared to Classic WoW this stone was not as polished as the other stones in this area. You see, back in the old days this stone was useless but now it is just an object. Changed by time and Cataclysm this landmark now greets adventures as they travel along other stones. Did you know what else has changed? That's right! Raid: Shadow Legends..."
I thought they "reforged" the entire zones from scratch, but I can now see - with pleasure - that they only added, modified or removed stuff. The "base" map is still the same. Cheers
6:41 see the line at the bottom left of the map? That is actually walk able land at the edge of the map that is there and you could walk on it, and it had no fatigue.
also, They should make the classic map fully accessible in modern wow. Could have a plot line that some titan device is found that is like a beta version of the world before they fully built the world, and the player can use it to go back to that map, or time travel, or something like that. Just mix classic and modern together. I feel the player base is getting too divided onto different servers.
Really!?!?!? I'm going to try to get to the line today...
You forgot The Ghostlands, Eversong Forest and The Sunwell Isle.
Yes! You're 100% right on. These are technically a separate instance, and thereby a separate map from the Eastern Kingdoms in the game file, so I left them out.
I would prefer even live commentary over the map rather than specific text description - text is good but, you know it's a video
Hey man. Really appreciate this feedback.
@@720zone I've read my comment and it seemed kinda mean - I enjoyed the content! But the commentary would make it better, even if done hastily :)
I think it's better that way because I can pause and analize it by myself
Loch Modan, my beloved 😭
You forgot Alterac Mountains and Deadwind pass
You can see easily Alterac Mountains with Hillsbrad, it was one of the zones that barely changed in Cataclysm
Totally right. I call out Deadwind pass as part of Swamp of Sorrows at 14:50 // And Alterac is technically part of Hillsbrad at 4:01 -- Really appreciate your watching and commenting man. Thanks!
I am like number 86
How many years on are we and the Goblin's still haven't finished cleaning and repairing Booty Bay? And you guys think the Devs are lazy, pffft
HAH! Slackers!!
The first map was a big biggie mess. if you look close at each back and forth they changed so many blocky spots.
Twilight citadel was a big disappointment. Its just a portal that's on a huge tower for no reason. A massive eyesore anywhere outside the zone.
I think it was an attempt to replicate the feel of Icecrown with the need to fly to the raid instance portal, but it fell flat in the end.
TOTALLY agree. Completely changed the horizon a big section of the continent...for the worse.
and this is why cata is probably the most disliked wow addon. they srewed with the loved old wow map, that the latetest point of classic wow. no wonder subscriptions went down up here onwards
So well said - I've made this same point. Cata, while having some fun elements to it, was a HUGE mistake. You can expand your game by deleting elements of the previous game, which is exactly what Cata did. Now they've made the same mistake again in Classic. And yes, all of the subscription charts show the peak at the end of WOTLK, and a decline starting with Cata. That's why I truly call WoW 1 classic through Wrath, ending with the epic kill of the most notorious boss, and best storyline, Arthas. Appreciate the comment man.
@@720zone Hard disagree. Actually Cata *was* the high point for subs in WoW, as the numbers and charts that are readily available prove quite easily. The thing is, though, without Arthas left anymore - and with WarCraft III's main villains and story wrapped up, a lot of players decided to call it quits between 4.0 and 4.1. Cataclysm was no mistake - it just didn't have the grip on players for the next set of stories until near the end of the expansion, after most players that were on the bubble had already left the game.
Let's also not get into the huge spikes in population that we saw during MoP's launch and the almost-more-impressive spikes during WoD and Legion's launch. To be fair, I won't mention how subs consistently went down throughout WotLK until they spiked after Ruby Sanctum with players returning for Cata. ;0) Because, let's face it, WotLK was simply not a great expansion: it used outdated gameplay and mechanics even when it was current, and had way too many reused assets, encounters, and plot threads. The launch of the expansion was also one of the roughest WoW has ever had. All that said, If WotLK had any nearly any other antagonist for the final boss, I guarantee it would only be seen today as being marginally better than WoD, if that. I genuinely mean no offense by this, but this soon after seeing the expansion again with fresh, mature eyes, I can't believe how many players still have such rose-tinted goggles when it comes to WotLK. Subjectively, it just was not a great expansion both in terms of fresh, new content and in terms of pushing the gameplay and tech to new heights.
Also, on the topic of the world revamp being a mistake and unnecessary: having to do 80 levels at that point just to bring your character up to current expansion content...well, it was a lot, especially with how Classic questing (the bulk of the leveling journey at the time) was "structured". Besides that, so many changes were made to the tech under the hood between WotLK and Cata that the whole world would have had to essentially been rebuilt anyways. (That comes from the Cataclysm behind-the-scenes interviews with the devs themselves.) If world revamps were a huge mistake, players would not be near-begging the devs since Legion to re-do the Old World and update many of it's zones AGAIN.
Can you really tell me it's not interesting and fascinating and engaging to look back and forth between these maps and pull out all the little details that changed? Or to imagine, like I have many times during this video, the locations on the map as seen in the actual game world with a startle of recognition and astonishment at 'oh, I never knew..." or "I didn't realize..." or "It's so cool they changed _____ to ______"? I know I can't.
Anyways, thanks for the video @720zone. I do hope you release the Kalimdor version of this soon - and I hope you take my comments merely for what they are: good-natured, good-humored spirited debate regarding a disagreement about something that doesn't really matter in the first place! XD
Cheers!
I started in 2006, I didnt mind the zone changes, it was mostly the story alterations they made, they leaned far too much into parody with a lot of the zones and they lost their unique flavor. the actual zones themselves I think most were well made, and it was nice to see the parts that were simply optical illusions becoming fleshed out with cataclysm. a simple diorama becoming something more tangible.