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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWoW Moviewatch: Stormwind and Ironforge Alpha
by Adam Holisky 
Nov 23rd 2009 at 12:00PM
In celebration of today ushering in five years of WoW, let's take a step away from traditional Moviewatch material and look at some early alpha and beta footage from Stormwind and Ironforge.
The footage is quite astounding when you watch it. You'll notice that there are entire sections of both cities which have changed dramatically, and indeed Ironforge itself was nearly entirely revamped to remove the "second level" from it. You can see remnants of the second level of Ironforge today in that there are some oddly placed balconies and doors -- it all looks normal to us now, but when you watch the video you can see that it looks much more natural the way it was.
The "internet consensus" is that alpha Ironforge was changed because people were getting themselves lost all the time in it -- something which isn't very good for a starting city. However as far as I can tell that never came out of published comments from a WoW designer, so take it with a grain of salt.
And yes, before some you inevitably ask, Patches of Yesteryear will be returning this week -- although we'll only be running it once every other week due to time constraints.
Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.Filed under: WoW Moviewatch
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 5)
Daniel Nov 23rd 2009 8:29PM
Wow. The Ironforge section of that video looks like such a lost opportunity. IF is one of the most interesting cities in the game. To think that it could have made the servers healthier by trapping the Questhelper users like a pitcher plant as well...
Chris Nov 23rd 2009 4:36PM
Wow.
Multi-level Ironforge is nice looking.
spartan627 Nov 23rd 2009 4:42PM
What did blizz think they were doing! I much prefer the old ironforge. Is it too late to change it back?
Dracula Jones Nov 23rd 2009 5:26PM
Holy crap, I remember the old flight path in IF. Completely forgot about the bridges/overpasses before seeing this, though. It definitely gave IF a bigger feel and scale. And I remember the caverns underneath being the location of the newbie turnin, the first time you're sent to IF (the Senator's letter or something). He's now in the throne room.
Bronwyn Nov 23rd 2009 6:36PM
WoW, WTB that IF incarnation in game. It's fabulous.
Also, if they thought it was confusing, I'm curious as to why they have undercity the way it is. That place was a nightmare until I got used to it- I'm sure this IF would be similar. Noobs are always going to have a harder time getting around.
I saw a comment saying there were some flight path issues, but stuff like that could easily be worked out. I'd gladly suffer some getting lost for a city that looks so cool
Ringo Flinthammer Nov 23rd 2009 8:08PM
The modern Undercity IS simplified, Origrimmar, too. The originals were way worse.
uncaringbear Nov 23rd 2009 8:13PM
Great video, and very interesting to watch from a historical perspective. I really hope people will be making videos like this of the present game world in WoW. After Cataclysm arrives, many of the locations that we now know and love (and hate) will be changed forever.
We need an Azeroth Historical Society to record and preserve the world in WoW!
Mystur Nov 23rd 2009 9:56PM
The old design of Ironforge seems much more... natural and connected to the lore. Ironforge nowadays is nice and all, but doesn't have the 'oomph' I'd expect from the dwarves that originally carved it out from the mountain. Perhaps a mixture of the old and current into a fantastic new for Cataclysm/future expansion? I would LOVE exploring every inch of Ironforge (and probably set up a 'house' for myself somewhere). Or maybe I'm just partial and dreamy since I've been playing the same Dwarf Hunter for years now :P
Plus, mixing the two could be great for adapting to flying mounts. And... isn't there a rumor about the Gnomes 'retaking' Gnomeregan? o_O
Andrew R. Nov 24th 2009 7:30AM
I personally love the design of the old Ironforge. Everything fits together nicely and it's clean. The Ironforge today has this big open space above it. To me Undercity is no more confusing than the old Ironforge to a new player.