<Rant>
Why is it that Stormwind has become the primary gathering place for everyone in classic, when most everything within the city is spread out and time consuming to get to? The only useful things contained within the trade district are the FP, Bank, Auction House, Mailbox, and Inn. For most everything else you’re going to find yourself trying to navigate the city’s maze-like road system to get to another district.
Want a class or profession trainer? They’re spread widely around the other districts. Want a cooking fire? Nearest one’s in the back of Old Town. The City’s portal room is deep in the Mage Quarter, the most complicated district in the city. If you’re a Priest, Hunter, Blacksmith, Miner, or Herbalist you’ll find yourself having to go to The Park or Dwarven District, both of which you need to pass or around through another district to access.
Compare this to Ironforge. The city itself is hands down the easiest to navigate in the entire game. You have the Outer Ring, and the Inner Ring (Great Forge), with tons of paths connecting the two. The city’s location is just as centralized as Stormwind, and has no significant increase in flight costs compared to it. The Commons contains all the amenities the Trade District contains, plus Braziers which work as cooking fires, and a very large open space which can be and is used as a gathering area. These things are all also much closer together than they are in Stormwind, and literally everything across the city has a simpler route to access.
Your class trainers can all be found in the Mystic Ward and Military Ward (except for Warlocks and Rogues who are in the Forlorn Cavern, still infinitely quicker to access than the Slaughtered Lamb and SI:7). Almost all profession trainers can be found within the Inner Ring, with the exception of a few in Tinker Town and the Fishing Trainer in the Forlorn Cavern. The Flight Point drops you off at a central point within The Great Forge, making it quick and easy to access anything you need from there.
So with all this mind, why are people still using Stormwind, a sprawling and claustrophobic city where getting to literally anything of value is a chore, as a primary city? </Rant>
Tell that to the Dwarven District lol. I can’t argue with something subjective too much, but Ironforge is definitely no Undercity. I’ll give you Elwynn being the best starting zone at least, but only one race starts there compared to Dun Morogh and Durotar which each have two.
People piled in stormwind/orgrimmar because those had the world buffs. You had to be in those cities to get them. Blizzard could have made it so you got the buffs in every city, but they never did. Also, these cities have dungeons and BG vendors.
Ironforge is my favourite Alliance city, it’s something to do with the mountain, walking up the road to the entrance, the snow and the whole dwarf drinking culture.