The thing I love most about Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms is that, with the exception of the Tedrussil and Blood Elf zones, you can fly across the entire continent. It feels like a world instead of small pockets of expansions that no one has a reason to visit after they’ve ended. I was positive that once Nazjatar was released, we would be using the new portal to Legion’s Dalaran to access the entrance of Nazjatar, since that area is right next to Nazjatar. Since Legion, the zones have felt small, too small to be considered a part of the classic WoW world. Argus didn’t live up to what Outland showed us it could be, the deserts of Vol’dun are far too small compared to Uldum, and Kul Tiras is barely a third of Northrend. Take 15 mins and fly around the old zones to fly around the new ones, then tell me how you feel about them. I miss when we had large, open world zones, even if they were a bit barren in content and design, they felt alive.
If they ever do another world revamp, and that’s a very big IF, I want them to bring all of azeroth onto the same map so we can fly between these places.
Stuff like outlands and draenor should of course still stay as separate maps.
That’s why I am hoping we get another WoD-like scenario with N’zoth, where we’re sent back in time to the Black Empire or something. I’d love to see all of the continents connected to one another.
Well in lore these island lands we’ve had recently are just that, islands. They’re not big. The world map isn’t even an accurate view of them because it scales them up. So a place like Vol’dun would never be the size of Uldum. Northrend and Pandaria are full continents in comparison.
But I do agree, I’d like to see more open spacious zones in the future. There doesn’t have to be cliffs or points of interest every few feet. Sometimes just open ground is nice.
Simple answer is for your own good.
Each continent is on its own instance. This helps create a much more stable world experience that doesn’t destroy server resources. If you want all continents on a single instance, you run the risk of being in Mechagon, and have your game go down to 2 fps because 40 Horde decided to PVP in Stormwind.
Believe me, this is one of the very few moments in this game where I can quote the infamous: “You think you want this, but you really don’t”
I’m not very interested in navigating through a bunch of empty waters like in Sea of Thieves.
You said it better than I could.
Fatigue will kill you before you get there, that’s why =p.
If you ever look into the hard mapping of the game itself, it’s not designed for that. As of right now every content zones are separated by expansions they were introduced outside of scenarios.
Which is why you still can’t fly in the draenei and blood elf start zones and why there is a loading screen upon moving between, because it’s trapped in the bc instancing. If they were to do it, they would have to do a revamp that is even more extensive than cataclysm was, or make an entirely new game.
Pandaria has extended it’s terratorial waters by establishing a number of artificial islands off the coast, one notably on the back of a turtle. Pandarians have established a no fly/no sail zone within this region (The South Pandaria Sea). They have also placed anti-flight missiles on these islands (goblin bombs mounted on Pandarian fireworks)