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More WoW Maps using the Google Maps API
After posting the World of Mapcraft site the other day, I got quite a few comments and tweets about not only World of Mapcraft itself but other, similar projects that map the World of Warcraft. Here's a rundown of some of the links I've received. Cal Henderson, the creator of World of Mapcraft, actually wrote a post about the project on his personal blog in which he explains where he got the idea, how he extracted the data, and how he integrated it into the Google API. Mapwow.com is considered by many to be the granddaddy of WoW Google maps, and it inspired Cal to create his version. But far from covering just the base maps, it has a lot of useful menu bar features that show every thing from flight path connections to resource node locations. Unfortunately, everything on it is woefully out of date, and it doesn't even have the updated Cataclysm maps. That does, however, mean that it's perfect browsing for nostalgia purposes. Want to take one last long look at the unruined version of Southshore? You can at least get a bird's-eye view. Wyrimaps appears to be the most developed up-to-date version of WoW Google maps I've seen yet. It includes both Cataclysm- and Wrath-era maps and has a widget for resource nodes. It also appears to have the best ability to zoom, with more zoom levels on the way. Marlamin.com also has its own version of the project, which includes some preliminary Pandaria maps. Probably the most intriguing addition this version offers is the possibility of adding screenshot markers. It looks that whole WoW street view feature I wished for might be a possibility after all. As someone who's loved MMO fan cartography since the early days of EverQuest, when you had to use third-party programs and sites like EQAtlas to map zones because Sony didn't actually provide in-game maps, it's pretty exciting to see where it's going in WoW with modern technology. Thanks to everyone who commented or tweeted links.
Roadmap to Cataclysm zone overhauls
Okay, how did we miss this? We've been wondering about the level of change in each old-world zone for Cataclysm for months now, and the answer has actually been under our noses since BlizzCon. During the Art Panel, the above planning map was shown, along with some information to either side of it. We can't make out everything in it, but there's a lot of information if you know what you're looking at. The zone colors, from what we can infer, indicate the level of overhaul each zone is receiving. Red is a heavy overhaul, yellow is moderate, green is light, and blue means a brand-new zone. The yellow stars indicate a dungeon, and the red stars indicate a raid. The white tabs each have a letter on them, indicating what in the zone was being changed at that particular point -- L for level, Q for quests, etc. Astute readers will see some things jump out at them immediately, like Thousand Needles having two stars on it. The full list of visible zone changes after the break, along with other pertinent info. Disclaimer: While this image was captured during the BlizzCon 2009 Art Panel, the capture displays a photo taken by Blizzard staff, which is undated. We don't know if it was a day before BlizzCon 2009 or six months before. Things could have changed between when this picture was taken and when this article was published.
The geography of WoW space
World of Warcraft has seen the rise of a massive community of diverse players. Most of us do not simply log into WoW, but visit a number of news sources, fan sites, and web-bases resources to stay on top of new developments in the game. Tim Howgego has created a map of the virtual WoW community. In this image he has categorized some of the most popular spaces that players visit outside of Azeroth. His map is divided into several areas:
