So people often post how much they want Gadgetzan updated to look like the Hearthstone expansion.
Well, not often. But when Gadgetzan comes up, people mention it.
But there’s a problem with that.
Despite showing the graphic of how Gadgetzan expanded in one of the trailers, virtually none of the artwork shown really resembles Gadgetzan. It’s all a New York or Chicago blend city. There’s almost no trace of the desert itself except I think on the Quilboar biker cards.
I tinfoil hat theory think they intended to use Kezan or Bilgewater Harbor initially, but took Gadgetzan for name recognition… despite the radical climate difference.
That said, Gadgetzan deserves to look like Gadgetzan, not Kezan, not Bilgewater Harbor, not New York, not Chicago. It is a desert city like Mos Eisley and should look like that.
This means more of what it already has, or things that fit the desert theme, not things that go completely against it or resemble a city that snows in winter.
In the second Traveler book, Gadgetzan is, indeed, a large, winding city, but the buildings aren’t made of grimy metal, they’re made of sandstone and wood. The roads themselves are paved of sandstone as well. It’s a plentiful material and works well at regulating heat in desert climates.
This is what I want Gadgetzan to look like — a larger, more complex version of itself.
I feel you. Gadgetzan is one of the coolest old school towns in the game and it shouldn’t be made to look like some slick city. It’s made a sandstone and stuff like you said and also gives me kind of a wild west feel. Like a wild town out in the harsh desert sands of Tanaris.
[If you grind the rep to exalted like a lunatic just to camp low levels there though I hate you]
While the hearthstone rendition doesn’t accurate portray the desert look of present Gadgetzan, it wouldn’t be too hard to believe that a massive overhaul of the city could occur by the hands of entrepreneur goblins who see a a buck in building a new city.
The thing that stands out to me that breaks the deal is the three gangs, or rather the absence of the Steamwheedle Cartel. I guess I can see the gangs paying them off, but the complete lack of a presence does lend itself to the theory the theme was already made and they just found a place that ‘fit.’
Just have to look at Hearthstone’s rendition of Scholomance. It’s like a kid’s version of Dalaran that never existed. But you know they had the idea and needed to find somewhere that fit. They already used Dalaran so, needed something else.
I’d love to see another revamp of the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, like Cataclysm did, focused on building the world up; new settlements, repairing and reclaiming lost ones, and of course, expanding on existing ones. Seeing Gadgetzan expanded and made more impressive would be great!
It was made canonical by the Travelers series. Post Cataclysm lots of people moved there and the city exploded overnight which is quite similar to how NYC and Chicago blew up overnight into huge metropolises. Same with many cities in the Western frontier which grew around areas where gold prospecting was popular or oil etc. So it’s not unrealistic, it’s a shame we don’t see it in game though.
It was kind of made canonical since it was described to be this urban sprawl in the second Traveler novel.
It was made canonical by the Travelers series.
No it didn’t. I’ve read the book and it doesn’t canonize it at all. I’m going to get the quotes and edit them in here.
At this point in the novel, the characters have to sneak through the city, so most of the text relates to their dialogue and avoiding ogres. The only passages that describe Gadgetzan reflect pretty much Gadgetzan in-game, but if it were more crowded/bigger (which is how most cities/towns in the series are described - a bigger version of their in-game selves).
Under cover of darkness, Aram and Makasa ventured out with the compass to find the next shard. It was Aram’s first real view of Gadgetzan, with it’s strange circular buildings, sand-covered sandstone streets, and perpetually scurrying populace (composed of every race known to him)
-Page 889 in the digital copy
Other passages amount to comments on sneaking through the winding paths or that Gadgetzan has a dock and multiple gate entrances (like in-game).
Looking at the architecture of Gadgetzan in the Hearthstone trailer…
The architecture isn’t really Chicago/New York. Everything is still mostly stone and mud brick with a mix of flat and domed roofs. I even see some exposed beams and an archway at 0:16. Architecturally, it actually reminds me of something more like Agrabah…
Minus the minarets.
Yeah. And the fact that Gadgetzan is clearly a play on X-stan suffix and is a neutral port city situated in a desert region and surrounded by Bedouin-inspired raiders (the Wastelanders). I’m thinking it’s inspired more by something like Algiers, Tunis, or Tangier. Someone else compared it to Mose Eisley and yeah- Mos Eiseley was also very obviously based on these cities, as most of the Tattooine segments were filmed in Northern Africa.
And it’s not that these aren’t/weren’t bustling trade cities; they’re just weren’t usually compared to London/Paris/Rome/Berlin. That and the fact that they were considered the last stop one makes before crossing the Sahara saw them transform into a sort of “gateway to the known” and “frontier” setting in popular culture.
The Chicago/New York feel is definitely there, but I think it comes more from the fashion, which is very urban 1920’s US. There’s also the focus on organized crime. Not to mention the jazzy soundtrack. And of course, the goblins with their accents.
I was surprised that the main trailer does sort of resemble the actual city. However, most of the other artwork does not. https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Mean_Streets_of_Gadgetzan
This bothered me a lot too, honestly. I think Auctionmaster Beardo and Noggenfogger might be the only cards from the city itself.
And yeah, I was thinking the same thing about Scholomance… it reminded me a lot more of Dalaran.
I would love to see more bustling goblin settlements of any kind, but especially in the old goblin architectural style with a wall surrounding domed structures made out of the local materials on hand (e.g., Gadgetzan, Everlook, Area 52, K3). I think it was during Cata when goblins, among other races, got an architectural revamp with new structure models. Maybe it is just nostalgia, but I miss the old “Mos Eisley” style of goblin outposts, and I hope we see one of them again some day!
Reminds me of Hogwarts actually. Which is naturally what Kel’Thuzad was going for when advertising the place. Wouldn’t surprise me if the Eredar in Scholomance Academy are infact Sargerei…
Now I’m imagining Gadgetzan being a bit like the Las Vegas, where the towering skyscrapers and bright urban lights are all centralized into one place while the rest of the area is just a barren desert. I wonder if that was the inspiration.
Obviously, the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan expansion (as with most of Hearthstone) is canonically an AU, and isn’t supposed to necessarily resemble Gadgetzan. I do find it strange that they picked that particular city though, I initially argued that Ratchet would’ve been a better pick but I like your idea of having used Kezan.
The only problem I see with Kezan (besides the state Gallywix left it in), is that it was the epicenter of Goblin power on Azeroth, where the authority of all the Trade Princes converged. There really wasn’t any room for multiple multi-racial crime syndicates to get a foothold of their own.
