Breakfast Topic: Where do you get lost?
by Lisa Poisso 
Jun 8th 2011 at 8:00AM
Things didn't improve much inside the cities. I know more than one player who peevishly deleted their dark elf character in utter frustration, unable to find their way out of Neriak to begin adventuring (or back in again to sell and train). Still, if you kept at it, learning a new city organically was like moving to a new city in real life -- kinda scary, sometimes annoying, but ultimately bursting with delightful little discoveries.
Nowhere in World of Warcraft evoked that same depth of feeling for me until I made my first undead character and arrived in the Undercity. Okay, yeah, we know, it's just a big circle, right? Sure -- but I could never figure out which way to head around to get where I wanted to go. Funny thing is, I always thought it was just me, until my guild moved Horde-side and I began noticing the minimap dots of my groupmates going round and round and round the circle, long after I'd finally settled on which way to run from the bank or flight point.
Is there one city in WoW that simply confounds your sense of direction? Is the real "rise" in Thunder Bluff the heat of your temper going up as you search for the connecting bridge you need? Do the changes brought by recent expansions to cities your characters have felt at home in for years still throw you for a loop?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
exogenesis. Jun 8th 2011 8:00AM
Karazhan.
exogenesis. Jun 8th 2011 8:01AM
Or, if we're talking ONLY about cities, then Darnassus and Exodar. Because I so very, very, very rarely go in them.
MattKrotzer Jun 8th 2011 8:04AM
I've never been able to find my way around in Orgrimmar. The place is a mess.
raingod Jun 8th 2011 9:22AM
Not really, even after the revamp it's still the easiest place to navigate through. Thunder Bluff on the other hand...
MattKrotzer Jun 8th 2011 9:23AM
Maybe Hordeside, but I'll take Stormwind or Ironforge any day.
shatto.a Jun 8th 2011 9:35AM
Are we gonna have a fight, Matt?
Orgrimmar makes sense to me. Stormwind is a jumbled, inefficient mess.
MattKrotzer Jun 8th 2011 10:30AM
You wouldn't be the first person to try and fight me on here. :P
Stormwind is a flat, evenly portioned city. Orgrimmar weaves up and around mesas, has sections that curve around underground, etc.
Even with the guards marking my map, it took me 20 minutes to find my way to the Goblin Slums from the Flight Path. If you use the guards to find anything in Stormwind, and it takes you 20 minutes, it's because you're RP walking... and going afk for 15 minutes.
Bigface Jun 8th 2011 10:36AM
Amen, Matt!
PKthe13thvah Jun 8th 2011 1:43PM
That and Undercity. Even the Exodar on its worst days are not worse than either Org or UC. Horde cities are just poorly laid out.
obeah Jun 8th 2011 2:29PM
Stormwind may be flat but before Cata it was actually a PITA to navigate by ground. Bridges are offset from the tunnels, so you were always having to make these 90-degree jogs... screw it up and you'd fall into the canals and get dismounted (back in the day when water auto-dismounted), and the canal sides were high enough that you couldn't just swim to the nearest wall and jump out. In short there was basically only one "right" path between two distant points. It used to be pretty easy to get HKs in SW when Horde would come to raid the king because there were always stragglers who took a wrong turn and became separated from the group.
The only place easier to find said stragglers was IF back in the day. I must have a thousand HKs in that place simply from hunting down poor hordies trying desperately to find a secluded corner near the High Seat from which to safely hearth out. The flanking corridors used to be choked with bones after yet another failed raid. Good times.
Makes Org look like the national mall by comparison.
raingod Jun 8th 2011 2:49PM
@MattKrotzer Fair enough. I haven't played any alliance toon I've started past 20, so can't comment on their cities much, but I do like Ironforge.
Baba Jun 8th 2011 8:05AM
Undercity. When I started, and still 3 years later I cannot ever go up the side with the flight master on it.
me Jun 8th 2011 8:18AM
I worked out a simple mnemonic for this. If I was wanting to fly out, I imagined heading south for warm climates. Flightmaster on the south side. For the mailbox, it was notsouth. Has worked well for me.
Though I have to say, it was only last weekend, after playing since just after the game started, that I noticed the exit archways in Undercity central hall had banners to identify and pick them out.
Sigh
Knob Jun 8th 2011 9:06AM
I remember going into Undercity on my first undead character in classic. I'd just started the game and was exploring the different races and classes to see which I'd like best. And damn, did UC make my choice easier...."I'M NOT PLAYING THIS RACE, IT CAN GO FO!! AAAAARGGGHHH!!!
I know looking back on it now it seems silly since the entire city is just a circle and everything is actually very conveniently located, but back then it was pure frustration. I actually didn't quest in Eastern KIngdoms at all for quite a while because of this...I didn't want to deal with going to UC and hunt for the flight path everytime.
Dboy Jun 8th 2011 9:24AM
I had the same problem with trying to remember which ramp was for the flight master and which was for the mailbox (especially back when there weren't so many of them). I remembered by thinking 'Bottom for Bats' and 'Top for leTTers' (top being north, bottom south).
paragorillabear Jun 8th 2011 10:46AM
It's on the SW part of the circle.
I always fly Southwest.
MusedMoose Jun 8th 2011 8:11AM
Since I usually play Alliance, I tend to get lost in Horde cities. My little blood elf hunter has to check the map constantly in Orgrimmar, and while Thunder Bluff isn't too bad, the different levels of that city and the Undercity get a bit confusing.
Good thing we can fly over those cities now, so when the Fire Festival comes, I won't be completely borked. @_@
Namy Jun 8th 2011 8:15AM
The Exodar definitely. I can never remember what is in each room or how the hell to get out! I also got lost in Maraudon for quite a while once. It was traumatic :P
Oh and for some reason Tanaris always gets me turned around. I can never work out which way I should be heading to get to Gadget or ZF! And Icecrown Citadel....and ummm....Gnomer!!! OK I get lost a lot :(
Ametrine Jun 8th 2011 9:37AM
I got my dwarf ported to Exodar once to pick up some blacksmithing plans (I'm not lazy or rich enough to buy vendor-sold plans at inflated AH prices) and it took me 15 minutes to get out.
I think I can understand why they crashed - if it's that hard to navigate the inside of the ship, no wonder they had trouble navigating outside of it.
bmongeg Jun 9th 2011 2:43AM
Haha, if you got lost in The Exoder, just imagine how it was for 15 hordes wandering around looking everywhere for Velen. I still rofl everytime I remember this! It's so much funnier if u get lost with ur guildies ;)