WoW Moviewatch: Stormwind and Ironforge Alpha
by Adam Holisky 
Nov 23rd 2009 at 12:00PM
In celebration of today ushering in five years of WoW, let's take a step away from traditional Moviewatch material and look at some early alpha and beta footage from Stormwind and Ironforge.
The footage is quite astounding when you watch it. You'll notice that there are entire sections of both cities which have changed dramatically, and indeed Ironforge itself was nearly entirely revamped to remove the "second level" from it. You can see remnants of the second level of Ironforge today in that there are some oddly placed balconies and doors -- it all looks normal to us now, but when you watch the video you can see that it looks much more natural the way it was.
The "internet consensus" is that alpha Ironforge was changed because people were getting themselves lost all the time in it -- something which isn't very good for a starting city. However as far as I can tell that never came out of published comments from a WoW designer, so take it with a grain of salt.
And yes, before some you inevitably ask, Patches of Yesteryear will be returning this week -- although we'll only be running it once every other week due to time constraints.
Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.Filed under: WoW Moviewatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
maeby Nov 23rd 2009 12:10PM
very cool
Alanid Nov 23rd 2009 12:54PM
Indeed, IF looks amazing in that video. Wish they had kept it that way.
Ichabod Nov 23rd 2009 1:07PM
THIS is the best pve movie about WoW - EVER!
dopefish's WoW Exploration movie with alpha/beta content from 2004/2005 incl. Old Ironforge etc (flash stream):
http://www.gamona.de/video,644669
Rob Nov 23rd 2009 4:53PM
@ichabod That's a WoW private server, not alpha. Bits of it are from the real game, but it's mostly BS.
Delphenus Nov 23rd 2009 12:20PM
It's also interesting to note the other related videos- the first trailers of WoW and etc.
Henrikos Nov 23rd 2009 12:19PM
why isn't there two levls on ironforge today? it looks sooooo cool!!!!
Screwblade Nov 23rd 2009 1:06PM
You wouldn't say that if you ever had to navigate around the old IF. It was a nightmare.
Flying into IF meant you had to fly around the ring to land at the FP that was near where Tinkertown is now. Leaving IF on a flight meant you continued on a trip 2/3 of the way around the ring to get out. Mind you, this was also before continous flight paths which meant you had to interact with each leg of your trip on a gryphon by selecting the next leg.
Players in those days avoided the old IF like the plague.
RetPallyJil Nov 23rd 2009 1:53PM
Yes, but we're smarter players now.
Deadly. Off. Topic. Nov 23rd 2009 1:59PM
I'd loved a 2nd floor for IF as well, but I know I'll get lost. Not because I'm stupid, but I am directionally challenged.
Henrikos Nov 23rd 2009 2:12PM
I think all of those things are easy to fix. And it dont need to look exactly THAT way, just the feeling inside there with more levels, not just one flat thing with some obstacles.
Henrikos Nov 23rd 2009 2:24PM
And if Gnomeregan came back to the gnomes, Blizzard would need to do an overhaul on both of the city's.
Kittens Nov 23rd 2009 3:59PM
I agree.. it looks wickedly awesome..! I'm not much of an IF fan now, but if it looked like this.. I would hang out there a LOT more. Probably also because I would get lost when I wanted to leave, yes (still gets lost in Undercity *cough*) ;)
It would be nice if they'd brought back some of this Ironforge when Cataclysm hits, with all the high levels returning to EK and Kalimdor. I think we can handle it..!
Kittens Nov 23rd 2009 4:01PM
' if they'd BRING'
WTB comment edit function aagh!
MightyBurebista Nov 23rd 2009 5:52PM
The most intriguing part to me is by far the original Gnomish quarter. Nowadays, they're all cramped up into those minuscule living quarters, suspension of disbelief aside. If we are to consider the size of Gnomregan, and how it very well seems like the largest of all Alliances "capitals" as depicted in-game, there were millions of the little buggers and they breeded like rabbits. :P
Utakata Nov 23rd 2009 6:43PM
I agree with Screwblade that the old IF design was way too busy...even though I wasn't there. It gave me a headache just looking at the video. Besides the idea of IF is supposed to be shaped like a cog wheel from the floor plan - thus, it's not be that complicated.
And as it stands now, the more minimalized version currently looks fantastic and awsome with it's central forging room. It's partly what sold me to the game when a friend of mine toured me threw there while I was shadowing her.
Lykofos Nov 24th 2009 6:21AM
I can see why IF was redesigned to it's current layout. Back in Classic, IF used be known among Alliance players as "Lagforge". It was not uncommon to lag into the trench between the AH and Bank. If the old IF layout was used for the release version of WoW, the lag issues would have been much worse with all the levels, bridges and additional pits to lag into. Couple that with the cramp spaces and it would have been very difficult to get around IF. I can see why players in the Alpha and early Beta days avoided IF.
Suzane Nov 24th 2009 11:50AM
It really does look very cool, but even just watching I can tell that I'd get lost all the time and avoid it because of that.
Mind you, I used to get lost a lot in IF as it is, but I also get lost easily.
kabshiel Nov 23rd 2009 12:19PM
If I remember correctly, Undercity also used to have a second floor. I can see how all that extra space, especially if it's not being used for anything, could be really confusing.
Falcon6 Nov 23rd 2009 12:27PM
Well, in Cataclysm, they are revamping the top part of Undercity as well as the entire city itself in order to better accommodate the flying mounts. Maybe they'll incorporate the original idea to that.
Which would be cool. I'd love to see the Forsaken architecture from Northrend come back home with us.
Matthew Nov 23rd 2009 12:31PM
To falcon: YES!!! ME TOO! It was so . . .unique. part haunted house, part victorian mansion (which of course is where our concept of haunted comes from) with undead green trim. Maybe a level cap to the upper level so noobs dont' get lost.
I used to have to hearth out of UC cuz i could never find my way out.