WoW is changing iconic capitals in the next patch – but some fans want more

In World of Warcraft, Stormwind and Orgrimmar have served as the capitals of the Alliance and Horde factions since the game’s release. In the new patch 9.2.5. Blizzard changes the capitals marginally and brings changes that are probably aimed at new players. This triggers a discussion as to whether the capitals should not be fundamentally changed. Because they deserve a thorough renovation, some believe.

How are capital cities changing in the patch?

• Content creator Dan “MrGM” Carter is known for his World of Warcraft content. He was on the WoW test server and looked at the new patch 9.2.5.
• He noticed two changes to the capitals: Storm wind got a new asset, a kind of “stable” – even in Orgrimmar there is patch 9.2.5. a barn where nobody is standing at the moment.
• Some are speculating that it’s stables right now, indicating that new players might learn to ride sooner, or that the way you get your first mount is being revamped. Others joke: Maybe you could park your new dragon there with Dragonflight and pet it in the game.

“Those two things have more polygons than the rest of the city“

That’s the discussion going on about it: The new buildings are being discussed on Twitter. One player says, “These things have more polygons than the rest of the city” (via twitter).

Another says: New assets are great in and of themselves, but when you clap them on top of old content, the old content just looks older.

Many would like an overhaul of the entire city: It would look weird if new, modern buildings are now next to the “very old things”. Especially the trees or the statues in Stormwind are now seen as unsightly piles of pixels.

With Dragonflight, WoW should tie back to glorious times:

The problems that an MMORPG has after 17 years

What is the problem? The “old world” of WoW was recently revised significantly with the expansion Catacylsm. That’s 12 years ago now: The expansion came back then because Blizzard felt that a revision would be due after 5 years.

Precisely because new areas in WoW have a higher quality, some players want their “old cities” to be revised. In any case, they should be busier, some claim, and give access to the new gimmicks that regularly come with expansions.

This is a problem of WoW that is often criticized: In WoW, new content that was developed according to modern standards exists at the same time as old content, which also shows its age.

This is arguably a problem when an MMORPG has been in development and content for more than 17 years.

A fundamental “overhaul” of WoW is always a topic. So people like to post videos showing what World of Warcraft would look like if it was developed with a modern engine like the Unreal Engine. The results are spectacular:

WoW could look so beautiful in modern comic graphics