Breakfast Topic: Unfinished business
by James Koon 
May 16th 2010 at 8:00AM
What I found surprised me. In The Park alone, there are many unused buildings: an inn, an archery shop, another shop with scrolls on the counters, and yet another shop filled with wine barrels. All lack NPCs and purpose. In fact, out of all of the shops, there is only one NPC in any of the buildings: a night elf herbalism trainer, whose name you cannot see because it clips into the shelves above.
So I decided to actually pay attention to the rest of Stormwind. The buildings leading into Cut-Throat Alley are empty. There's a large hall in the Dwarven District that is also missing signs of life. These are just a few quick examples of unfinished areas in Azeroth. Other examples might include the unfinished dwarven farming area on the southern border of Wetlands, Old Ironforge or the upper ring of Undercity.
Our beloved Azeroth, in all of its awesomeness, at times seems utterly barren and unfinished. With Cataclysm on the horizon, I for one hope many of these lifeless areas are revisited by the development team and given purpose. What is your favorite unused area, and what do you think the Blizzard developers should do with it?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Knob May 16th 2010 8:03AM
See, Deathwing is actually removing redundancy by destroying the unused areas. Oh how he is misunderstood! :(
Nodonn May 16th 2010 8:05AM
You've never been on an RP server, have you?
jealouspirate May 16th 2010 8:25AM
What he said! On my server (RP-PVP), RP often happens in the Park and other such areas.
That large empty Hall in the Dwarven DIstrict you mentioned? That's where my guild holds our meetings! It's set up perfectly for a large group of players to congregate.
While I'm sure some areas were unfortunately left unfinished, I think Blizzard very deliberately left a few open and empty Halls/areas for players to use.
Tomatketchup May 16th 2010 8:47AM
In fact, the wine house in the Park is my shop on my RP server.
... wait a minute, how did you get in? Don't tell me you found my drug- ERRRR I MEAN beautiful weather today eh?
Zalvi24 May 16th 2010 8:52AM
anybody knows a good place to have S&M rp?
Amaxe-1 May 16th 2010 10:49AM
I think you do have the answer here. I think Blizzard provided places for people to do such things.
I know on Shadow Council they have (or at least had) in the Park a PC run tavern to do RP in. As I recall, they had a no DK/Warlock policy there.
I know when I was in a RP guild we occasionally went into one of the Ironforge apartments to meet.
LynMars May 16th 2010 11:12AM
Shadow Council still has a player-run tavern in the Park, and the "no DK" policy was from the previous owners. In fact, "The Golden Leaf" has changed hands multiple times over the last 5 years, but it has maintained a "most days of the week, for 2 hours a night" open policy, with other changes as current management sees fit. The only one usually maintained is "it's a public place, act like a person normally would in public so people can converse at the tables over their drinks."
We have our share of griefers we have to ask to stop being disruptive before we report to the GMs (and yes, we can; it's an RP server, so once someone refuses to respond to a polite whisper asking them to not be a jerk, they are reportable), but overall, it's been a very successful, long running social RP event for ShC.
We'll uh, see what happens in Cata, given some of the leaked screenshots of the Park...
Other empty buildings get used as homes, for guild meetings, parties, etc. Some RPers grumble there aren't -enough- empty places in some of the other cities/towns. Let alone guild or player housing capability.
Raeenith May 16th 2010 2:03PM
When running into buildings like the ones mentioned here, I've always wondered and imagined how it would be on an roleplaying server. So many unused taverns and inns that have tables, seats, and bartenders walking around just seem like the best places for RP. Makes me want to reroll on an RP server even more.
Endless May 17th 2010 11:59AM
@Zalvi24 - there's this little crypt underneath the Cathedral, complete with an iron maiden and a pervert priest for all your desires. :-)
Syme May 18th 2010 1:34PM
Ages ago, on my RP server, my main used to sell leatherworking out of the tent in Thunder Bluff between the mining trainers building and the ramp to Spirit Rise.
My hunter's guild uses one of the tents on Spirit Rise as a guild hut.
Oddly, I'm unaware of any unused spaces in Orgrimmar or Undercity. In fact, the Orgrimmar inscription trainer was put into a building with Drumlore, who has several quests dealing with the silithids.
Frankly, I hope Blizzard keeps some unused buildings available for the players to use. It adds a bit of variety to the server.
alurius May 16th 2010 8:07AM
i love ironforge airport. I made the trek there once on my warrior back in the start of BC, was just after i got my epic riding mount (yes i started in BC and not vanilla). Just the constant battle between the troggs and other npc's up there made the whole trip worth it. such a great place and i can't wait to be able to actually fly up there come cataclysm. Hopefully Blizz does something neat with the place.
pancakes May 16th 2010 8:52AM
A friend and I went up there, on his last night of playing WoW before he gave it up, so IF airport has always been a bit special for me.
jishdefish May 16th 2010 4:44PM
Yes, Dun Morogh Airfield should be integrated into Ironforge. I could see them adding a set of stairs to Tinker Town to lead up there. The only reason (I assume) it wasn't added was because it was part of the old two-floored Ironforge model. The second floor probably had an exit to it on the East side.
Now... if it was implemented, would they route the current flight path through that one, or make that Ironforge's flight path? I mean, Exodar has an inconveniently placed outdoor flight path, but then again, it doesn't connect to the main continent so it's not used much either.
Drakkenfyre May 16th 2010 8:08AM
The part you are missing are those are meant for RP purposes. Meeting places, taverns, shops, all meant for RP players to use. It's kind of hard to RP owning a bar, for example, if the bar has a bartender and is full of NPC's. Or are a shop owner, if the shop has an owner standing there, selling stuff.
BigBadGooz May 16th 2010 11:38AM
that or the recession is hitting stormwind harder than we knew
Gamer am I May 16th 2010 8:07AM
I think the unfinished buildings do serve a purpose. After all, remember when only Ironforge and Ogrimmar (sp?) had auction houses? The other capital cities needed a place to put them, so the empty buildings were useful for that purpose (granted, I don't know what was in them before, but if there was something in them already, I'm sure it was moved elsewhere, probably into one of those empty buildings). When things are added to the game, those things need a place to take up residence, and having a large selection of empty buildings to put them in allows the developers to not only have a place to put them, but also to be able to find a place with an atmosphere that fits what they are putting in.
Luke May 16th 2010 10:44AM
This is true of the Incription trainers as well. I know that in several cities they occupy places that were unused before.
CaryEverett May 16th 2010 8:07AM
I've poked my head around Orgrimmar, and I don't think there are any such empty buildings there.
Unless I'm mistaken, every hut has either some sorta food vender (quite helpful if ya have one of those Hunter pets with finickier tastes), or some grunts or whatever.
Darky May 16th 2010 8:46AM
Theres a glyph for mend pet to increase happiness, just in case you didn't know :)
CaryEverett May 16th 2010 9:03AM
I'm aware of it.
A long time ago, I used to keep the pink Tallstrider around for raw awesomeness. But he ate really weird things. I got used to poking my head in on one vender in Orgrimmar in particular to buy stuff to keep him happy.
http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/mobs/mob_mazzranache.html
Sadly he doesn't grace my presence as a vanity pet anymore. I should really take him outta the stables sometime.