Deadmines: The Design Problem That Changed WoW

Today we’re diving into one of the coolest *behind-the-scenes* stories from early World of Warcraft development and how a single design problem around the end of Deadmines actually shaped the philosophy of WoW’s dungeon design. Originally, VanCleef’s juggernaut was supposed to be moored outside, off the coast of southern Westfall… which caused a huge continuity issue. If players saw it from the open world, why couldn’t they swim to it? If they didn’t see it, the reveal inside felt strange. This debate pushed Blizzard to make a drastic engine change which opened the door for **massive interior spaces** think Onyxia’s Lair, Molten Core, and more. 🙏 John Staat's book: The World of Warcraft Diary: A Journal of Computer Game Development Kindle: https://amzn.to/43qGOlC Hardcover: https://amzn.to/3JVamkN 🙏 Thanks as always to Marlamin & Kruithne for WoW.tools and WoW.Export (https://www.kruithne.net/wow.export/) Thanks for watching, and have a great day!