I'd guess that this will be the in game explanation of why both the Alliance and the Horde refocus on Arthas-he'll somehow flex his muscles to the point of affecting the geography of Azeroth, and he'll probably make it a point to brag about that to the faction leaders.

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I saw on some other forum (can't remember where) that it appears to simply be an old alpha version of the game map (see http://www.wowwiki.com/Image:Azeroth-alphamap-cities.jpg) with Northrend and the Draenei areas tacked on.

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With the exception of Northrend, its almost identical to the map they used in Alpha Maybe its an oversight. http://www.wowwiki.com/Image:Azeroth-alphamap-cities.jpg

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apart from the fact the alpha map is clearly different in several places yes it's almost identical...

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My guess would be that the new area of land west of Stormwind is where the Alliance will be getting on boats and departing to Northrend.

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Sur-a-mar!Sur-a-mar!Sur-a-mar! Would be interesting to see what has become of the birthplace of the Stormrage Bros. and Tyrande.

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I've been trying to figure out how we will be getting to Northrend. The trailer shows us arriving on a boat and if that holds true, then the changes in the map might suggest where those ports will be.

I'm a little more curious about those new islands off the coast of the Eastern Kingdoms. Am I the only one who doesn't know what they're supposed to be?

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Maps change over time, maps are drawn by observations and measurements taken by explorers, and remember most of them are drunk dwarves of the Explorers League :P

What they dont explore know accurately, they guesstimate.

Just take a look at historical maps of the continent of Australia, 200-300 years ago the map was so off... since the whole coastline by ship was not explored, the map makers assumed most of the southern coastline of Australia, some maps assumed Australia was a horse shoe shape :P

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@8

While I do agree with that statement, I doubt Blizzard will use that excuse as a final reasoning, although knowing Blizz, they may use that excuse for the time being, until they're ready to unveil their plans for it, which may not come until a content patch post WotLK

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Seems also very much like the Alpha map to me.
@4 It is different to the TBC-Content and the Continent of Northrend, yes - apart from that its the Alpha-map.
Thanks for your comments, @2 and 3
Its cool to have bright readers at this blog.

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Yeah it is strange altering the map, could of been a mistake or they thought that this map clooked better for emphasis on northrend (The other two continents curve towards it more).

As to boats that alliance use to get there ive no idea where they leave from though I would guess alliance has one from each of thier main ports. The thing I do know for definite though is that the horde get a blimp from outside undercity using that 3rd platform thats always been empty. When you did a charachter copy to the blizzcon servers thats where it spawned you with an NPC telling you to wait for the blimp to Northrend.

I would bet their would be a blimp from Orgrimmar to northrend too.

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The map posted is just the artistic version, not the in-game version. For example, look at the artistic version of the pre-BC map:

http://www.worldofwconline.com/gallery/albums/maps/World.jpg

It contains some of those features that people are saying are new. However, they aren't in the in-game map. It's also evident that this is only an artistic version because of the extreme mountain detailing on the continents, which isn't nearly that extreme in-game.

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Wondering why they would rip off the chunk of Silithus that is AQ..

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Because AQ isn't quite that huge? Then again, I'd just shrug it off to concept art, modifying an old map to incorporate Northrend, Quel'thalas, and the Azuremyst Isle chain.

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TBH I think it is kinda strange that a Capital city doesn't have a dock, so if that little nodule is one it would make alot of sence and it would also eliviate alot of hastle going to and from Northrend. Regarding the two islands of the coast of Westfall, the Southern one looks alot like a crude image from a Warcraft Development dvd:
http://www.wowwiki.com/Image:Undermine.jpg

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No offense but if you think something is up out there it's totally stupid.
They used an alpha map, thats been linked twice now in preceding comments. Why? Im not sure, but Im betting you that since, as they said, they planned to release the game with Northrend at the start, this "new map" is nothing more than the ORIGINAL untrucked beta map with azuremyst and quel thalas changed.

They are not adding undermine, they are not adding another zone, they are not removing winterspring or felwood, they are not changing some random stuff. This would be huge enough to be at least announced at BlizzCon.

Speculating? Yeah right. I bet you Blizzard is lying and in fact Emerald Dream will be the real next expansion. After all, the files have been there since the release, aint they?!

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It makes sense that the chunk of land by Stormwind would be for boats, especially as neither stormwind or Ironforge currently has a port, which is basically insane. Also, that chunk of land would stop us hordies from swimming north of Westfall into "Stormwind", and yelling. : ) Wonder how often some lowbie druid in the park freaks out and reports a hordie, lol.

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It simply doesn't make sense why they would pull an old Alpha map out rather than using the newest world map.

It has some elements of the alpha map and maybe they brought some old elements to the newer map but if you notice on Kalimdor the two places that are noticeably missing the most is Silithus and Stonetalon mountains. The overhead map isn't accurate on either of those zones because there are still a few large areas that are undeveloped. Perhaps they have plans to remove them or just clean it up. And if this map does hold up to the release, the idea of Stormwind having a dock is interesting.

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@18 - repost

"Im betting you that since, as they said, they planned to release the game with Northrend at the start, this "new map" is nothing more than the ORIGINAL untrucked beta map with azuremyst and quel thalas changed."

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@13+14: If you go exploring along the southern shore of Kalimdor to where the map fragments lead you where the treasure is, climb into the hills from there -- there is a huge crater of unfinished landscape with ordinary textures. If it is still accessible (it is almost a year since I've been there). Maybe they removed that.

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