Capital city confusion
by David Nelson 
Nov 1st 2006 at 9:00AM
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I admit it, I am a moron when it comes to directions. I have been driving with my wife to her parents house for years now, and I still need an occasional hint as to which direction we need to go on I-275.
My sense of direction in WoW is no different, which is why I was drawn to this WoW.com forum thread immediately. The thread simply asks...which capital city is the hardest to navigate? To be honest, I have had next to no issues getting around in the Alliance capitals, but all three Horde capitals gave me problems, whether I asked for directions or not. The Undercity was by far the hardest for me to get around in at the beginning. It is like a a tower, inside a donut, inside another donut. To make matters worse, the different wings are confusing to navigate individually. After numerous visits to the UC, I am now a bit of an expert. Due to my lack of visits to Thunder Bluff, that city is the one that still can give me fits. Not total frustration, but I occasionally end up on the opposite end of the map than I originally intended. Oops!
What about you guys? Which capital is the most confusing to get around in? Which one is the easiest? Could Stormwind be any easier to get around in?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
gen Nov 1st 2006 9:05AM
Orgrimmar wasn't as bad. Now Undercity... it's a freakin' labyrinth down there!!!
SW was well constructed with its bridges. Ironforge has to be the easiest to get around since it's just a big circle =P
Bulletdog Nov 1st 2006 9:15AM
A thought just occured whilst thinking about the need to know your way around a city.
When we all reach level 70 how easy will it be to raid the opposing factions capital city and kick ass!
Unless they raise the level of the city guards too.
I've not been in beta so this may have been addressed already.
Greg Nov 1st 2006 9:18AM
I agree, UC was by far the hardest city to navigate first time round.
Kyle Nov 1st 2006 9:25AM
I-275?! Are you in Michigan? :)
Trav Nov 1st 2006 9:29AM
Exodar is the hardest for me :P
Three wings, all very wide open... some with 2nd floors. The "core" has this downward spiral that you have to navigate around to get to the wings... it's hard to explain. Not to mention how long it takes to even get into the city from the surface.
and Bulletdog... the guards are 65 now.
I'll always say Undercity is in the original game... the whole layout just confuses me to this day.
Lucas Nov 1st 2006 9:41AM
Hehe Again, it's a simple sign that Alliance is all about Ezmode :)
Horde on the other hand is tough as nails, and our quests are more of a strain in the eye of even the toughest of people ;)
//Tallens'out
Sideshow Nov 1st 2006 9:46AM
UC? That one is so simple for me. Org was a bit odd at first, but now I know it like the back of my hand. TB still throws me off sometimes. My most confusing (or maybe just annoying) is Stormwind, but I've started to figure it out.
Shalkis Nov 1st 2006 10:03AM
Like Ironforge, Undercity basically just two big circles. Orgrimmar is basically two arches. The east arch is for the Horde, and the west arch is for the incoming Alliance raid groups. Unless you are a priest or a mage, there's no need to venture away from your part of the town.
Darnassus is pretty easy. Since there's no crowds or big buildings in the way, the fastest way from point a to point b is usually a straight line.
Thunder Bluff can be confusing until you realize that the totems of the bridge endpoint buildings also serve as signposts. 90% of the activity is on the bottom floor of the central bluff, so there's rarely any need to venture elsewhere.
I tend to get lost in Stormwind, though. Having played Horde for most of the time, I really can't stop in Stormwind to get my bearings. :)
Tool03 Nov 1st 2006 10:06AM
UC by far, then SW. But most of all Gnomer :p
Swiftlydead Nov 1st 2006 10:17AM
UC is incredibly easy. It's color coded duplo style on the overhead map. Once you go there ONCE and figure out the elevator thing, it's easy.
Orgrimmar is somewhat confusing with the non-popular things over by the drag existing on several levels, but nobody ever needs that stuff anyway -- I just wish the whole place wasn't so damn BIG. The good thing about UC is that everything is right next to everything else.
Thunder Bluff is an abomination.
Extorn Nov 1st 2006 10:23AM
I hate thunderbluff.
With a Passion.
Chleo Nov 1st 2006 10:31AM
Thunder Bluff is my favorite city by far... for my hunter at least. The forge, anvil, and stable master are RIGHT next to the bank, and the inn leads right to the hunter trainers and battlemasters. And the three mesas really aren't that hard to navigate either. Plus they sell bread and fish in addition to meat and fruit, which is great news depending on what your pet eats. (The only stuff they sell in org is meat and fruit >
Gog Nov 1st 2006 11:01AM
Undercity is the most confusing. No question at all. The bridges, the differenty levels... just too damn tricky. TB is a breeze after you've been there a bit, and Org isn't so much hard as it is huge. Seems like it takes an hour to walk around that place.
What's great about Ironforge and SW is that every section of the city looks different. The Park is very distinct from the Dwarven District which looks much different than the Mage District (or whatever it's called) where as the valleys in Org look exactly the same.
AcceptableRisk Nov 1st 2006 10:45AM
All three Horde cities are pretty easy to get around in after a couple of trips. I can't say I've spent enough time in Darnassus to get an idea of the place. In Stormwind it's always a pain for me to find what I'm looking for. There are so many seemingly worthless buildings all over the place and the city is freaking huge.
I also have a hard time getting around Ironforge, but that's pretty much because of the number of people always there. My framerate drops to crap and I always end up falling into the trenches because I can't see where I'm going.
Tim Engelbart Nov 1st 2006 2:34PM
I agree with the writer, all Horde capitals are hard. Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff are bad, but the Undercity is definetely the worst.
Mat Nov 1st 2006 11:24AM
I agree with Gog.
warforge Nov 1st 2006 11:30AM
Just wait till Worlds End.
OMFG tak about nightmare to find stuff.
Combine Ogrimmar slap UC tower in center and lower ramparts like IF together BAM you have Worlds End town.
=) ...boy if you have a hard time navigating Ogrimmar...you are gona pull your hair out in Burning Crusade.
Elderhorn Nov 1st 2006 11:47AM
UC, Org and IF are probs the easiest, UC is colour coded and each section has an obvious use (northeast is mage southeast is rogue etc etc) Org is ok, quite a few of the things are nicely grouped or easy to fnd, professionss are all along one route and alot of the trainers are grouped in different types, not spent much time in IF to be sure, but the layout is fairly simple, but the "trench of doom" can get rather annoying. Darnassus and TB require a litte work, they are easy to get round but you have to remember where everything is, I definately find SW hardest to get round though, all the alley ways, bridges placed right out of the way, everything so spread out and half the buldings don't actually have any use.
Argent Nov 1st 2006 11:47AM
og wasn't hard for me to learn (and i did it with my alliance toon, which kinda gave it that extra special wrinkle -- did the same with UC, incidentially)
TB isn't hard once you kind of get a hand where all the bridges are. i think it's actually the easiest of the horde cities.
UC can be a bit daunting, but once you go there a few times, it feels pretty straightforward.
on alliance side, i'd say SW is simplicity itself. ironforge takes some getting used to, but since you wind up spending most your time there, it ends up being pretty familiar.
darnassus to be is an example of bad city planning that unneccessariliy complicates things -- it's hard to get around, stuff is always in the weirdest places and oh yeah, it's the town you usually spend the least town in.
didn't have much trouble getting around the exodar, but i'd have to say that shatrath is a screaming mess bouind to drive people nuts for a while.
syu Nov 1st 2006 3:09PM
silvermoon city ftl