After 18 years of content,World of Warcraftis packed with cities to explore. Each race has their own capital, every faction has set up shop in a city, and most expansions have added new hub cities for players to explore. There are a lot of cities dotting Azeroth, and they all help makeWorld of Warcraftfeel alive. However, only some of these cities actually serve a purpose.
So manycities inWorld of Warcraftare just sitting empty with only a few NPCs wandering the streets. Players have little reason to visit any city that is not their main faction hub or the current expansion’s hub, and that has made most of these cities feel like simple set dressing. Even previous expansion hubs are mostly barren once the next expansion rolls around. This makesWorld of Warcraftfeel smaller than it is, and Blizzard needs to fix this.
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World of Warcraft’s Capital Cities Need to Feel Important Again
Every race inWorld of Warcrafthas a city and region that they call home. The tauren live in the beautiful city of Thunder Bluff, the dwarves spend their time within the mines of Ironforge, the night elves call Darnassus their home, and the draenei live inside a crashed ship called the Exodar. Each locale is seeping with their specific race’s aesthetic, making them feel distinctly different from each other. Most players will begin their journey around these cities, but they never have any reason to come back.
The onlyWorld of Warcraftcitiesthat players will frequently return to are Orgrimmar, Stormwind City, or the current expansion’s hub city. These cities have all the amenities that players need, and they are often the focal point of whatever story is being told. Blizzard frequently adds to these cities whenever it introduces a new mechanic, and the current expansion’s hub often houses the core expansion feature. This means that players will spend a lot of their time within these cities, and the rest of the capitals are forgotten about.
SomeWorld of Warcraftraces do not even have access to their capital cities, even if players have reclaimed it years ago. Gnome players have been desperately waiting for Blizzard to let them explore Gnomeregan,worgen players have been clamoring to visit Gilneas, and most allied race capital cities are nonexistent or filled with enemies to kill. Blood elf players have also been asking Blizzard to finally repair Silvermoon City and allow flying, but the studio has left it mostly untouched since The Burning Crusade.
The capital cities ofWorld of Warcraftshould feel like real capital cities, and players should have a reason to return to them.Orgrimmar and Stormwind City are nice faction hubs, but they are not the only cities on Azeroth. Those two cities seem to house some ofWorld of Warcraft’smost important features, and that forces players to keep returning to them. If Blizzard added things like the Auction House, the Trading Post, and the portal rooms to other cities then players may have more of a reason to branch out.
Blizzard should also finally give many races their capital cities back. Rumor has it thatan Azeroth revampis on the way, and that should introduce new revised capital cities. Silvermoon City should finally be added to the rest of Azeroth, Gnomeregan and Gilneas should finally be accessible, and the allied races should finally have a physical place to call home. While most players may still congregate in the faction hubs, putting the other cities on the same level would go a long way in making Azeroth feel alive again.
World of Warcraftis available now on PC.
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