World of Warcraft first launched in 2004, and the game has begun to show its age. Many of the older zones across Azeroth are still utilizing old assets and textures that are in desperate need of a facelift. Azeroth has evolved over the years with the World of Warcraft story, and gaming technology has also advanced majorly. However, Azeroth looks almost exactly like how it did after the last world revamp in 2010. The world is just waiting for another large overhaul, and it is time for Blizzard to deliver.
New zones in World of Warcraft are usually well put together and feature some pretty nice models surrounded by fancy textures. The Shadowlands are engrossing and really represent what the team is capable of creating. That illusion is quickly broken when players return to older zones across Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms as these zones are filled with dated textures, older models, and a style that is very reminiscent of 2010. It makes sense that a game that has been running this long may have some rougher corners, but Blizzard needs to work on updating the landscape across Azeroth to make it look more like the current content.
World of Warcraft's Last Revamp Was Too Long Ago
World of Warcraft is no stranger to world revamps as it got a major facelift for the game's third expansion pack Cataclysm. Deathwing the Destroyer laid waste to Azeroth and caused a huge upheaval in the landscape. Giant chasms were formed in the center of zones, volcanoes billowed lava across others, and an entire zone became an ocean. It completely changed the lands of the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, and the game never looked back. Gone was the classic world of Azeroth that was introduced in 2004, and it was replaced by a new world that looked very different.
The Cataclysm world revamp has now been in the game for a lot longer than the classic Azeroth was. Classic Azeroth was introduced in 2004 and lasted up until the world revamp in 2010. The new version of Azeroth has been on the live servers for 12 years now, and the classic world only existed for around six. Azeroth has seen even more destruction and strife since Deathwing laid waste, and the danger of Cataclysm has also been thwarted. However, players would have no idea that the cataclysm was no longer an issue as the game still tells players that it is the minute they enter an old zone.
Azeroth Needs a Big Overhaul
The fact that the in-game world is still dealing with the events of Cataclysm is reason enough to deliver a new revamp, but there are even more reasons why Blizzard needs to give the game a facelift. For starters, certain zones like Eversong Woods have been cut off from Azeroth. Storywise, the zone should be sitting on the top of the Eastern Kingdoms, and it is. However, if players want to enter the city then they must go through a loading screen, and they enter a zone where they can no longer fly. This is due to the way Blizzard made new zones during The Burning Crusade, but it is an issue that has not been rectified all these years later.
The story has also seen huge change and evolution in various parts of Azeroth, and a lot of these changes have not been displayed in-game. The kingdom of Gilneas was allegedly retaken by the Alliance, but it is unexplorable. Gnomeregan has been retaken multiple times over the years, but no one can pop in and give the Gnomes a visit. Half of Silvermoon City is also still in ruins, even though enough years have passed that the Blood Elves would have fixed their capital by now. That is just a few of the places that should have had facelifts years ago; there are countless more.
Time has been unkind to many World of Warcraft zones. A lot of these zones have not had updated assets or textures since 2010, and technology has advanced greatly since then. As newer MMOs release with large modern worlds, and new World of Warcraft expansions introduce beautiful locales, the older zones of the game look even older, and that needs to change.
World of Warcraft is available now on PC.