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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsCataclysm Worgen and Goblin starter zone maps
by Lesley Smith 
Aug 31st 2009 at 1:00PM
Both of the maps have a couple of unique touches. For example, both have images of their inhabitants on it. The Lost Isles map has a particularly ugly female Goblin in a bikini while Gilneas features a human in Victorian garb. The latter also has a couple of shredded bits as if a Worgen adventurer had used his or her claws when trying to read the map. The Goblin map features a scattering of indented gold coins at the corners, as if to hold it open. Both are awesome little touches that add that special bit of pizazz to the new zones.
But the maps do give us a proper glance at what we can expect from the two zones. Gilneas is dominated by Greymane Manor and the town of Duskhaven. Looking at it, I was expecting something a bit larger, but then you remember it is a starter zone. The Lost Isles is smaller still with an Alliance encampment to the North and an Orc settlement to the south, which explains their presence in the trailer.
We should note that the Gilneas map is only part of the Worgen starting zone. The city and the Greymane wall are due East of what's presented.
Check out the Goblin map and Worgen map over on WoW Todo.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.Filed under: Horde, Alliance, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items, Expansions, BlizzCon, Cataclysm, Worgen, Goblin
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 5)
Cyanea Aug 31st 2009 2:18PM
For the love of all that's holy, no new "hub" cities. Lagaran is brutal at peak times, but unfortunately you have to slog through there at less than a frame per second in order to do anything nowadays. If Deepholm works the way that they're saying, with it being connected to all the new zones, nobody's really that far off from any of the current capitals. Stormwind and Ironforge (for the Alliance) would probably become laggier because of a lack of a hub, but it would probably encourage more use of Darnassus or the Exodar because of people wanting to get away from the lag.
Alanid Aug 31st 2009 5:37PM
New Battleground: The Battle for Gilneas City
There answered your question, Gilneas City is one of the new BG's that is being shipped if I recall correctly. Worgen get a new district in Stormwind
Goblins: Shipwrecked on desert island - they move to Aszhara, wouldn't surprised me if Orgrimaar was extended for the goblins, like SW for the worgen.
lightning4 Aug 31st 2009 5:37PM
Yeah, from the looks of things we're moving back home to our own faction cities. So we'll actually start seeing people in Darnassus and Thunder Bluff again!
@theRaptor
"I forgot to mention that two of the starter races don't have cities either. Trolls have a tiny village, and Gnomes have an instance."
Well, if the story leaks are to be believed (some bits seem true, others can't be confirmed since blizzard obviously doesn't want to spoil the story), the gnomes may be taking back Gnomeregan. Whether it functions as an actual major city after retaken is yet to be determined. I would imagine that it might be effectively a major city, except smaller, and with obviously less people. I can't see why the trolls wouldn't get similar treatment, perhaps with the Echo Isles.
alpha5099 Aug 31st 2009 5:57PM
@theRaptor
"Blizzard stated: No new capital cities."
Where did they say this? I remember them talking about the ugly city the Goblins would be building in Azshara; maybe it'll be a small establishment, but I never saw any place where Blizzard confirmed that there would be no capitals for the Goblins or the Worgen.
Gielnor Aug 31st 2009 1:16PM
I think the reason the areas seem so small is that they're not the entire starting area; they may be just the "intro" starting area, kind of like Northshire Abbey or the Valley of Trials. In fact, if you look on the far right of the Gilneas map, you can see the outline of what may be Greymane City.
Lur Aug 31st 2009 1:17PM
They do look a bit small and I don't think this is all of what is planned. These are supposed to be 1-15, remember? If you look, the Gineas map shows roads going eastward and it doesn't appear to show the location of the Greymane Wall. You can see that one road turns North, but not where it leads. You can also see two unknown lakes at the map's East edge and there shape does not appear to match that of Lake Lordamere.
Lur Aug 31st 2009 1:22PM
In fact I think this map of Gilneas is the area West of Tirisfal Glades and I expect there is more to the South and East underneath Silverpine Forest.
Blood Elves and Draenei both got 2 starter zones, I can't imagine they would get cheap on zone allocation after the huge success of the BC starter zones.
Suzaku Aug 31st 2009 9:43PM
These maps are just the "zoomed in" level 1-6 regions of their starting areas, while they are progressing through the phased portions of their quests. When they join Azeroth proper, they will use the regular maps of Gilneas and the Lost Isles, which cover level 1-15.
It's similar to the Death Knight starting area, where they have a map of the Scarlet Enclave with a sketch of a Death Knight and skulls on the edges, but after exiting the phased portion of their quests they enter the Eastern Plaguelands, with Scarlet Enclave only a subzone on the edge of the map.
You can see the rest of Gilneas on the edge of the Worgen map, and you can see a second, larger island on the edge of the Goblin map.
ANeM Aug 31st 2009 1:20PM
"But the maps do give us a proper glance at what we can expect from the two zones. Gilneas is dominated by Greymane Manor and the town of Duskhaven. Looking at it, I was expecting something a bit larger, but then you remember it is a starter zone. The Lost Isles is smaller still with an Alliance encampment to the North and an Orc settlement to the south, which explains their presence in the trailer."
You're working on the assumption that these maps are for the entirety of their respective zones, which is a flawed assumption since there are clearly more areas on the east side of both maps. Well, that and The Lost Isles is plural, and the map only has one island on it, and Gilneas is a peninsula, and the land mass on that map is only bordered by water on two sides, while the eastern side is bordered by a series of lakes.
These maps are for the instanced, highly phased starting experience. They're focusing on a small area of a larger zone, similar to the map of the Scarlet Enclave for the DK experience, in comparison to the map for Eastern Plaguelands.
lumacman Aug 31st 2009 1:23PM
Ugly Goblin? oh come on! Female Goblins are gonna be HOT!
Taladan Aug 31st 2009 6:48PM
I won't say female gnomes are ugly. Their faces look kinda cute, but the way they move their shoulders when idle is freaking scary.
Shep Aug 31st 2009 1:24PM
Woops, looks like the teeming masses from Wow.com killed them. ^_^
mtsadowski Aug 31st 2009 1:25PM
This! I was thinking the same thing
Jeff Aug 31st 2009 1:26PM
Heh, I hope some of those are placeholder names. Somehow "Orc Camp" seems a little uninspired.
RogueJedi86 Aug 31st 2009 4:46PM
Well since they just arrived after a shipwrecked battle, I don't think they had time to make up some Fancy Heavy Metal Orc name. They probably don't expect to stay there very long either. Why give some grandiose name to a camp you only expect to be in for a few days at most? You don't give a name to your tent when you go camping.
Debesun Aug 31st 2009 1:27PM
If you look at the Goblin map you can see that the player is located off the displayed island and is actually on what I would expect to be the 'second' zone. This may help explain the sneak peak in the panel where they were showing the Props used in the Goblin areas and how they suggested you would use a rocket (placed on a turtle powered station...) to fly to other locations.
What more fitting way to get there than to be bread crumbed all around the starting island to get a general introduction to Goblins and the last NPC strapping you to a rocket to say Hi to the rest of the gang on the island next door :P
Monkeynugg Aug 31st 2009 1:28PM
Weird that the maps are done already. In the Alphas for both BC and Wrath the maps weren't in yet. Does this mean the starting zones are completely finished already?
Tes Aug 31st 2009 2:28PM
I think it means that the build is further along than the BC or Wrath builds were when we first saw them.
What did we see about Wrath besides an overmap (for example)? As i recall it wasn't even an in game map at the time.
I think they're alot further along in the build than we're used to and thus have shiny maps and some game models to show off.
xnn Aug 31st 2009 1:32PM
Can't get the links to work. Seems like they're broken atm.
xzor Aug 31st 2009 1:32PM
awesome. hotlinking the website because wow.com doesnt have the guts to post the maps on their own site in case blizz decides to send out a c&d.
of course what this really means is that wowtodo.com died.