Breakfast Topic: Azerothian technology
by Amelia Ramstead 
Jun 16th 2011 at 8:00AM
It began in the Burning Crusade with the helicopters. They quickly became the must-have item for every fashionable Azerothian and Outlander. In Wrath, we saw the Mechanohog come about and the murmurings began. In Cataclysm, engineers continue to be able to make more modern looking weapons and the goblins ride around on their mechanical trikes. The goblin starting area has been described, both affectionately and derisively, as Grand Theft Auto: Isle of Kezan. At what point does modern technology in World of Warcraft go too far? How far can gnomish technology really go? Is the game becoming too "steampunky?" Is that even a word?
Do you feel that introducing items from modern-day Earth into Azeroth interferes with the immersion of the game? Is it impossible to properly roleplay when someone just roared past you on what appears to be a Harley-Davidson with a sidecar attached to it? Or do you just shrug it off as gnomish eccentricity? Are the items properly introduced with a logical argument for why they exist, or are they there for the sole purpose of giving engineers something to do (and a way to make money hand over fist)? Do you personally own one of the mechanical vehicles, and, if you are a roleplayer, how do you work it into your storyline?
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Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Nina Katarina Jun 16th 2011 8:09AM
Guns are what breaks it for me. I will keep a bad bow long past its usual life just so that I don't have to equip my medievalesque warrior with a gun.
Tovin Jun 16th 2011 8:37AM
It's part of Azeroth's history and development. We have to remember that the medieval period was a time period on Earth, and, as we all know, Azeroth is not Earth. Trying to force WoW's history to parallel Earth history doesn't make much sense. After all, if magic existed during Earth's medieval period, who's to say that our technological advancement would not have mirrored Azeroth's?
Jorges Jun 16th 2011 9:35AM
Well, speaking from a strict World of Warcraft view, technology (and that involves guns) makes total sense.
Consider this: the Titans were on Azeroth millions of years ago and they were obviously very technological and "steampunky" (Mimiron, just to name the most obvious), like we can appreciate in Ulduar (which is a total mechanopallooza). We also have Brann Bronzebeard uncovering all this "ancient" technology everywhere, and many years have passed since the appearance of mechanostriders in WoW (Vanilla). Technology evolves with the years, so yeah. It makes perfect sense from any point of view.
Jorges Jun 16th 2011 9:38AM
Also, Draenei have space ships!
Luotian Jun 16th 2011 10:26AM
Just gonna say, I'm with you. I'm fine with the other technology, I can deal with it, but there is something about a gun in WoW that I loathe. None of my hunters ever use them. I hate the noise, I hate the feel, I just can't stand them, best in slot or not.
Which is weird, because I have no problem with them in reality.
Elwoods Jun 16th 2011 11:22AM
Me? I LOVE guns, I'm a dwarf hunter and the first time I saw WoW was the video with the dwarf hunter + the polar bear!
I'm always peed off when there is no good gun in a tier of raiding!
Case in point - Opera event in Kara - every week running that for the gun!
Spark Jun 16th 2011 11:33AM
Achk! Thar do no be nuth'n like tha' smell 'o gunpowder an' a right good kick from a properly crafted dwarven hand cannon. Yeh kin no get tha' same from some bendy bit 'o wood. No right minded dwarf do be seen dead wit' bow in hand. Mind yeh - thar do no be mooch to be said fer bein' seen dead a'tall. So if tha' best yeh do be havin' at hand be tha' bendy wood, then may'hapse yeh do be need'n 'ta stick a few greenskins wit' sticks until they do no move much. But yeh best be havin' a good gun at hand fer tha' parade afterwoods o'erwise yeh do be like 'ta mistook fer some long-ear, true 'nuff.
One the other hand, tradition would suggest that the Kaldorei would be less inclined towards the disruption of dwarvish foolishness when a properly crafted bow is available. It is merely a pity that in these times, so few examples of such fine craft remain.
Krz Jun 16th 2011 2:51PM
It would seem that guns are so crap that bows and crossbows are still extremely viable alternatives.. Maybe a few expansions down the road I'll be worrying about the lost art of longbowmanship, but not now!
Pyromelter Jun 16th 2011 3:13PM
Guns have been around since the 1100s. The thing is they weren't terribly effective until about the 1700s. You'll notice that very few azerothian citizens actually use guns as their primary form of combat attack, I would argue this is consistent with later-age medieval times.
Thomas Higgins Jun 16th 2011 6:12PM
My Hunter found a silenced gun once. Loved it. Accurate, hit hard and made not a sound as he shot his prey.
Normal guns are fine, as are bows, I have no preferences, as long as what I am hitting with the weapon drops dead thats all I am looking for
undeadgoat Jun 16th 2011 7:36PM
So of course I thought of this response as soon as I left for work and didn't have time for WoW Insider at lunch . . . Anyways, my $.02 on the whole "Medieval" thing--the aesthetic of WoW is not really so much based on the actual Middle Ages here on Earth. At all. I am not a total architecture expert, but the cities and buildings we see are either completely imagined or drawn from a hodgepodge of historical times, it's not a dichotomy between medieval and steampunk. Even Stormwind, with its Gothic cathedral and crenelated walls, doesn't look much like any actual historical time/place combo.
And if you're basing this assumption on clothes, well, speaking as a "clothes nerd" (I have the same major as aspiring fashion designers), let's just take a look at cloth-wearing human females (which I am and my main is), who wear close-fitting bodices over a natural torso--that is, we can pretty safely assume no corsetry of any kind, just some sort of bosom support. (No jiggling.)
This is actually a very modern idea--the defined waist and fitted bodice first came into fashion in England in the twelfth century, but did not establish themselves firmly on the fashion landscape until the fourteenth--meaning that for most of the time period thought of as the Middle Ages, women in Western Europe (which I know is what you all mean when you say "Medieval") all wore loose-fitting robes, shifts or skirts. Because the fitted bodice was so closely associated with corsetry, it was not worn by women who needed to run or lift things--as our player characters do--for many hundreds of years after it was adopted by fashionable women. During the nineteenth century, women who performed physical labor sometimes wore restricting undergarments, but that didn't last. The "prom-dress" silhouette of a human female in a robe is very, very twentieth-century.
As far as the combinations of armor and guns--this is a world with magic. In the real world, we don't bring a knife to a gunfight, and we stopped wearing plate because once guns are in the picture it's just too encumbering and not protective enough; also because why would you spend that much money on cannon fodder? Whereas in WoW nearly everything the players use--our guns, our knives, our armor--is enchanted. When your toon puts on plate armor it can actually make you MORE agile than basic, close-fitting cloth, but somehow I still wear cotton/spandex blends when I do yoga.
I've only rolled one Horde character (I'm pretty much a total n00b) so I have less to say about their areas; but in a world where the Plains Indian-styled Tauren and the quasi-medieval Humans and some goat-inspired hotties from outer space with holographic technology are all in contact with each other is any less medieval than a world where gnomes build awesome shit out of gears.
MusedMoose Jun 16th 2011 8:12AM
It didn't begin in Burning Crusade, really. There were gnomish flying machines back in WarCraft 2, complete with the phrase "I've got a flying machine!" when you clicked on them. And gnomish mechanostriders have been around since vanilla, along with the tram from Ironforge to Stormwind. So the steampunk is nothing new, and with the advent of titan technology - as featured in this article's picture - it's no surprise that we've seen more. Also, considering that the goblins had access to kajamite and therefore were ridiculously intelligent for a while, it's no surprise that they have some technological advances that the rest of the world doesn't, even if they're not entirely reliable.
As for me personally, my fire mage is an engineer, and all the mounts she uses are mechanical. These things have been established for long enough that I don't see any problem with them existing in-game.
Debesun Jun 16th 2011 8:25AM
Don't forget the Oil Tankers and Gnomish Submarines in WCII :P
Yep, oil was a resource (along with gold and lumber) all the way back in WCII.
Daedalus Jun 16th 2011 10:10AM
Yeah I have to agree; complaining that there's too much steampunk tech in Warcraft is like complaining that there are too many elves in Tolkien, or too much space stuff in Star Wars; it's a fundamental part of the universe, and has been since the beginning.
Noyou Jun 16th 2011 1:51PM
Here here. I accept all the technology as part of the lore and the ability of the wonderful Gnome and Goblin engineering prowess. I find it silly when people complain that ______ is not realistic. Anytime we base anything compared to our own world and physics is just kind of unrealistic. It's a fantasy-sci-fi setting so yeah there's going to be a lot of things that break the realm of physics as we know it. I just go with the flow. It's better that way ;)
Marcosius Jun 16th 2011 5:49PM
As I recall reading the lore, Goblins actually were somewhere around or way past modern human technology, and a lot more reliable, until the Kaja'mite ran out and that their current tech (while still ridiculously advanced for the setting) is merely scraps of their former technological prowess that peaked some 500 years ago.
Of course, Cataclysm has probably retconned this what with Kaja'Cola and Kaja'mite readily available in Kezan, but who knows.
Revnah Jun 16th 2011 8:12AM
When I was a new player, I was kinda shocked seeing my first mechano-hog. It was loud and annoying and I thought it was SO out of place in Azeroth.
But I admit, they're so awesome that I've since come around and I love them now :-D
I'm such a pushover...
Noyou Jun 16th 2011 1:55PM
Aw man. When I saw one for the first time I was like- engineers make that? Gotta get one of those! Little did I know how much they would cost or that in due time 12.5k wouldn't be all that hard to raise up. I know have one on 3 toons. I never really felt they were out of place because they were already there when I started in Jan. '09. Had I started playing before they came out I might view it a little different. I think as they add more techy things it just adds more flavor.
Eros Jun 16th 2011 8:13AM
Warcraft has had a steampunk element since wc2. I don't see the harm (in terms of lore/immersion) in adding in more technology to wow.
direbadgercvlry Jun 16th 2011 8:15AM
I write it off as gnome and goblin insanity, neither of my characters care for either race because of the destruction they cause. It's clearly stated in both intros that the races are technologically based races and that's fair enough. The gnomes are always striving to create new things and they provide some decent firepower so a necessary evil. Same as the goblins except the goblins go too far