Old Stratholme Next To The Dragon Isles?! Exploring the World Of Warcraft Alpha (0.5.3)

Stratholme won the poll! Thanks so much for voting.
We take a look at Old Stratholme in the World of Warcraft Alpha version 0.5.3, try to solve the mystery of the zone north of Eastern Plaguelands, AND take a look at what might just be the Dragon Isles in the World Of Warcraft Alpha. I hope you'll enjoy today's video! Stratholme hasn't changed a whole bunch, so I decided to hopefully spice it up a bit and go beyond just running through the place and describing what we can see.
As always, let me know what you think! Do you enjoy this a little bit more in-depth style, or would you like me to keep it more simple? I'm open to suggestions. Thanks for watching everybody! I'll see you in the comments (hopefully).
Give some of my other videos a watch if you enjoyed this one:
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[@lazarusfitness3892]

Your channel reminds me so much of Hayven Games may he Rest in Peace. He was really hitting his stride when cancer took him. I can see this channel being what his was becoming and then some. Keep up the good work.

[@DArch706]

Thank you so so much for the kind words. Hayven Games is obviously a huge inspiration. His videos really got me back onto Vanilla WoW all the way back in 2015 or 2016. I don't think I deserve the comparison, but I appreciate it nonetheless. May he rest in peace indeed!

[@kurGG]

Falling out of bounds and swimming in the fatigue zones of WoW creeps me out too. It’s just that sense of endless nothing that is so unnerving

[@DArch706]

I know, right? Glad it's not just me! I'd love to actually explore this topic in a future video - doesn't just happen in WoW. Ever been on an empty map in a source game (like CS, Half-life, etc.)? It's the worst haha.

[@arnoldpalmer2241]

@@DArch706 it isnt just you - i was playing when i was 7 and i often have HORRIFYING WoW classic dreams where im in out of bounds areas. i had one the other nights where i was in the some even more demonic version of the tainted scar in blasted lands and it was super hot and there were weird portals/textures in the ground. lord kazzak was there and he was GIANT shooting shadowbolts at me LMAO

[@joshea7861]

Can we request an Alpha exploration of Alcaz Isle? Off the shore of Dustwallow Marsh. I have seen someone saying that King Varian Wrynn is held in a sewer on the island and he wasn't removed until patch 1.9!

[@DArch706]

That's right! I am absolutely planning on covering that :) Ties into the whole Missing Diplomat questline also, quite interesting.

[@rodrigobarraza]

Awesome video. The fact that out-of-bounds creeps you out is actually a great reason for you to do this channel. It means there is some passion and emotion behind the work! Keep it up bud!

[@DArch706]

So happy to see people are enjoying it! Thanks for your comment - and you're probably right! Hope I'll continue to creep myself out for your entertainment for a long time to come! :D

[@Schluviel]

I am 100% with you on the "Stratholme was supposed to be its own zone" - Thats why Naxx and stuff are still in it. For me it always felt like the Blackrock-Area. - Just a big hub for different raids, Dungeons and stuff, just because, lets be honest, its one of the major plotpoints before WoW came out! Although, as an explorer myself: There is a region called Dragon isles, that was also used until WotLK by devs as a "bigger GM island" - you can reach it by gm commands, and there's even stuff on it. It is - what they later called "Designer Island" - as it was not planned anymore and reused for testing purposes - that is why they removed it from the original map, and moved it into an area you can not reach anymore. - In the beginning though, you are right, the zone above Stratholme was planned to be the dragon isles. The Zone was removed from accessability really quick because people just swim everywhere!

[@DArch706]

Ohh I really like that comparison to the Blackrock hub! That's very nice! From what I can tell, designer Island is already present in the Alpha, and called as such. I'm pretty sure they just tested/added the Dragon Isle structures there, as they had the space for it. Not sure when they did that exactly, I went there on the alpha client and the structures are not there yet. Maybe during beta? or actual vanilla? Would be really interesting to know. Thanks for your comment! :)

[@eyevou]

According to the WoW Diary, John Staats' book, the portals were not stand-ins for dungeon locations but were legitimate areas the dark portal might have been located as its placement wasn't set in stone.

[@DArch706]

I can get behind this being the case for the earlier placements at one point in development, but remember, there is one such portal in the water outside Azshara: surely at one point, they were repurposed as signifying dungeon entrances? otherwise the orcs coming through the dark portal to the kingdom of stormwind during the 2nd war wouldn't make much sense at all, if it was located in Kalimdor.

[@eyevou]

​@@DArch706 Specifically for the portal in Azshara he stated that it was placed there as more of a "what if" instead of a real location.

[@DArch706]

@@eyevouInteresting! And weird, because I distinctly remember seeing beta footage of an underwater raid testing area in the Azshara location. I've been trying to find this footage for the last couple of days as I would have liked to make a video about it, but as of now I can't locate it. Last time I saw it must have been in 2017 or 2018, before the Classic flood ruined my google search results for the subject.

[@eyevou]

@@DArch706 I don't recall hearing about any raid testing for an underwater zone before Vash'ir in Cata. Anytime I talk about this stuff I always point to hirumaredx's video on the topic: FtWbXNgbaN0 (youtube watch ID)

[@DArch706]

I'll try to find it :) anyways as always, thanks for chiming in. Can't wait to get my hands on the book myself hehe@@eyevou

[@NumbertwoTV]

You're right that Stratholme during early development was intended to be it's own open-world zone, although they did still have plans to have a Strath dungeon located to the far north east inside of the zone as well. On the live WoW client, if you wall jump over the mountains into that empty area behind the UD Strath entrance that your dwarf ran through, you can still see the left over instance portal of what was meant to be the old entrance to the dungeon still floating there in mid air.

[@DArch706]

Really? :O Live client as in Dragonflight? If it's not too much trouble, could you provide a link or tell me which wall exactly? Would looooove to check it out for myself. Thank you so much for the comment :)

[@NumbertwoTV]

@@DArch706 Not sure about Dragonflight but it's definitely still in Classic/Wrath. I think it got removed with the Cata old world revamp. It's not really close to a wall, more kinda just floating in the middle of the north east end of that "mountain crater" area behind Strath.

[@DArch706]

@@NumbertwoTV Have to try to get there :) Thanks!

[@grim5115]

Please keep doing what you're doing! You've got something special going here. Keeping an eye out for your next video :)

[@DArch706]

Thank you so much for the kind words ! I will :) Already working on the next one hehe, hope to see you there

[@suomar-art]

Great video as always! Exploring Stratholme in Alpha and falling through the world there started my fear of falling out of bounds too lol, I’m glad there are warriors such as yourself still willing to show the rest of us what lies beyond the borders of the world

[@DArch706]

Haha it's reassuring to know I'm not the only one wrestling this irrational fear! Don't worry, I've got your back! Thanks for the comment :)

[@MagusFlorren]

Yo! Honestly, falling out of bounds in video games also gives me anxiety. Seeing those endless voids of grey or white, being completely alone and removed from the game itself is just so creepy. So I understand.

[@DArch706]

Haha yeah, it's actually the worst! So glad others share that anxiety though, makes me feel a little less silly. I've been doing some more falling through the world btw, so there's a new vid coming up very soon :D

[@KevinArcade87]

I think what remained of Dragon Isles is the landmass above Heartglen (Western Plaguelands)

[@DArch706]

Yeah I think so too!

[@jamesg9468]

I distinctly remember in Vanilla (2005 version), swimming east of the Eastern Plaguelands and reaching an area called Quel'thalas. It was nothing special, just an elven tower, a dock and some trees. Interestingly - it did put you in an actual zone called 'Quel'thalas', with its own General/trade chats. Guildies saw I was in this zone, and thought I had access to some future patch or something. Lol. However - in Classic (2019 version), while you can still reach this area, it does NOT put you in a 'Quel'thalas' zone. Very minor difference, I just found it weird that it never survived the copy + paste from Vanilla to Classic.

[@DArch706]

See, that's super interesting to know! Thank you so much for the insights. I showed a screenshot of the place you are describing close to the end of the video :) I did mention that I thought the zone name was changed at a later date (perhaps TBC or WOTLK) cause I also couldn't find that zone name in the Classic (1.13) version when I went there. However, with your information, I think what happened is the following: Since 1.13 (Classic 2019) is built on the Wrath architecture, sometime between Vanilla and Wrath (probably tbc with the addition of actual quel'thalas) the zone name must have been removed because it didn't make sense anymore. On the other hand, I swear I saw a video by a guy in Cata or Wrath clipping through the Naxxramas portal (still inside Strath) and landing in a zone called Quel'Thalas. So I suppose the zone marker wasn't removed for the instanced part? It's confusing as hell haha. Sorry for the long reply!

[@DrewPicklesTheDark]

I like how the untextured Naxx model looks much closer to a Black Citadel (Fully upgraded necropolis) from WC3, as opposed to the final one which looks just like a regular necropolis.

[@Dann0r]

Excellent video. Congrats on 1k, hope your channel continues to grow! Just wondering - is it possible to include a few more snippets of footage comparing the alpha and live versions? You're doing it a tiny bit already. For example "this would be the entrance, but obviously you can see it is missing" would be illustrated with a before and after shot. I appreciate this would require extra effort on your part, but I think it'd improve the videos. Perhaps just do it for key areas with significant changes? No big deal if you don't. But thanks for your hard work and filling some of the void that Hayven (RIP) left! Oh and I also recommend the WoW Diary, as mentioned by others.

[@DArch706]

Thank you so much for the kind words - and the excellent suggestion! Let's say I'm working up to it haha. I was actually aiming to include the comparison shots in this video the way you mentioned, but due to the awkward way my workflow is structured (it's getting better, I promise) it turned out to be quite hard to manage. The ultimate goal is to have a nicely flowing video, that alternates between live (1.12.) and alpha footage. So I absolutely hear you, and share your vision :)

[@domacleod]

Yea dragon isles was a thing very very early in wow dev, with leaked maps, leaked art, etc. I know I saw things about it as early as BC, don't know if there was anything in classic since I only started playing in BC 2.3.

[@DArch706]

Ya, the maps I showed are pre-dating even Classic, so it's fair to say this was planned for a while. Apparently they ultimately scrapped 'em cause it didn't make sense for lore-reasons, or something. And also probably time constraints :D

[@Notpoop906]

I always got the impression that area was meant to be a whole zone for Stratholme too, with the portal to Naxx being at the end. It just makes a lot more sense when u look at the world map and where Stratholme is in relation to the little "Quel'thalas" outpost with the tower. The Quel'thalas zone name probably just extends too far.

[@sonicsshadowemerald2256]

Some people on beta archive had found that there is part of the quelthalas/zulaman map data in the 0.5.3 alpha too.

[@DArch706]

That's really interesting. Any idea how I could look into that ?

[@sonicsshadowemerald2256]

​@@DArch706 @DArch706 on the betaarchive page for wow e3/alpha/beta discussion page 2. The map data is on programmer isle and matches some of the terrain of quel thalas seen at 13:49 in your video. I believe the textures for the were called Zulaman but that is as much as I know.

[@DArch706]

@@sonicsshadowemerald2256 Thank you so much for the reply! appreciate it a lot. I'll be sure to check it out :)

[@zanderrr666]

I love the alpha videos. Will you du teldrassil as well?

[@Schniiiiiiiiiiiiif]

grats on 1k and thanks for an amazing video.

[@DArch706]

Thank you very much! So glad you enjoyed it :) More to come!

[@GeoFrey-r6s]

Nice video, have you already browsed the alpha archive from the alpha core project ? There are many old maps where dragon isles are mentioned

[@DArch706]

I've browsed the alpha archive a fair bit, but not actually on that topic. I will get to it! The archive is really a treasure trove for future content :D Thank you for your comment!

[@GeoFrey-r6s]

There is also the Alpha Core Crawler which allows you to search pre-release documents (website, text, forums, etc.). It also has the ability to search for text in screenshots, this can be interesting when you are looking for very specific things @@DArch706

[@roli_cannoli]

These videos are awesome. Its fascinating to me which areas were completed first in wows esrly development.

[@DArch706]

Thank you so much! :) Got some more coming your way soon

[@lassdasi]

Are you using some kind of noise reduction filter? Sometimes you are hard to hear and I think the reason for this is that the filter is overreacting.

[@DArch706]

Upon rewatching (and listening) it would appear so, yes. I'll try and go over the software and figure it out. Thank you so much for the comment! Goes a long way towards improving my content :)

[@maxmcgrubor4028]

Love your content, man. Thank you!

[@DArch706]

No, thank YOU! :D

[@GreenBee-qz6xn]

Interesting theory 🤔 and informative video again. Thanks😊

[@DArch706]

Thank YOU! haha :)

[@Topic69]

As someone who has also done alot of digging into old wow maps/clients, I think you are close to the right answer with your theories but not 100%. TLDR, I think that Stratholme itself (the instance) is the "northern lordaeron" zone, the tan-coloured zone on the alpha overworld map is alpha Dragon Isles & the jade green zone you focused on is in fact Quel'Thalas. The Elven Dock that has the "Quel'Thalas" text channels from 1.12.1 and onwards simply has those text channels because of rough/inaccurate zone lines/borders due to several reshaping of northern EK throughout the alpha/beta/release process. Hell even in TBC, the shape of Quel'Thalas changed. What reasoning do I have to come to my conclusions? Simple, when you walk around the open world version of Stratholme and look on the finished world map from 1.12.1, you are standing in that "northern lordaeron" zone. Also, I am pretty sure that, canonically, Stratholme is a port city which means it must extend to the shore, especially since the humans of Lordaeron did business with the High Elves. You would assume in-game maps are meant to be canonical (with unexplored regions such as Northrend omitted openly and intentionally) therefore this zone MUST be, canonically speaking, Stratholme. As for the distinction between what is Dragon Isles and what is Quel'Thalas, I turn to the hidden "Designer Island" map. This map is quite obviously an early version of a Dragon Isles raid, dungeon or zone map. This is obvious when you compare the large Lovecraftian structure in the middle of zone to official artwork of the Dragon Isles that depicts the exact same structure. Also, the yellowy/tan colour of the mysterious alpha zone above WPL that you showed matches the colour of the ground on this "Designer Island" map. One final nail in the coffin for your theory I think is that there are official early IN-GAME (the important part) world maps that INCLUDE the Dragon Isles as an ADDITIONAL disconnected zone that is absent in the maps you showed. This means that the maps you were comparing these alpha zones to was incomplete. You were trying to fit 3 zones (strath, dragon isles & quel'thalas) into the space of 2. In reality, only the zone markers for Quel'Thalas & Strath exist on the maps you showed. You'd have to use the more complete map to figure out the Dragon Isle's placement. It's hard to convey my point in a youtube comment section but I hope I got it across with no pictures. EDIT: I also forgot to mention that it is safe to assume Quel'Thalas is the most likely candidate for the "green zone" because it also contains Zul'Aman, which would more likely be green than tan/sandy/deserty.

[@cryogenical_]

It's not entirely true that the dark portals are representative of dungeon/raid entrances. It was confirmed in the wow diary that they were experimenting with where exactly they wanted to place the dark portal. They weren't against retconning small pieces of the story, so they just slapped it around the game world. Some stuck around for later and later alphas and betas but ultimately they decided on blasted lands.

[@DArch706]

That's really nice to know! I was looking around the internet and this seemed to be the consensus for a lot of people, but apparently, that information is outdated. Thank you very much for the correction! :)

[@diddydoodat6764]

Without the fire it looks a lot more like stormwind

[@DArch706]

That's true actually! Good catch.

[@iseadasiris8320]

Nice video !

[@DArch706]

Glad you liked it :D

[@General12th]

Do you prefer using WoWWiki over Wowpedia (or the new Warcraft Wiki)?

[@DArch706]

I am fairly certain Wowpedia is more "current" (from what I know), however generally speaking I like to look at both to also see how stuff changed/how some speculation is interpreted now vs then for example. Warcraft Wiki I'm not familiar with, but will definitely take a look at it now too!

[@notsure7060]

Awesome ....

[@DArch706]

Good to see you again :D thanks for the comment!

[@nonameform]

If you need a copy of WoW Diary, I can send you one. Great read.

[@DArch706]

Thank you so much for offering! I actually really need to give that a read! Trying to get my kindle to work (its not so expensive that way), otherwise I'd gladly get back to that 😁

[@TheSurroundification]

Hey i like watching your videos! But try to improve your microphone settings, somehow it seems as if it is regulating down sometimes in a sentence. This is somewhat disturbing. Nervertheless good job and keep going!

[@DArch706]

Thanks so much for the kind words! I'm aware of the issue, the video was actually done yesterday but I spent another 2-3 hours in post today trying to fix this stuff. It was way worse before. I wonder why it's happening, haven't managed to figure it out yet. Any idea? I have a blue yeti from around 2013, so maybe it's just my old mic. Idk. Anyways thx again for the comment. I'm actively working on fixing these issues! :)

[@TheSurroundification]

@@DArch706 i am not sure but for me it sounds like to be a software/settings issue in your microsoft sound/microphone options. Dynamic leveling of input volume or something similar. In earlier Windows versions there was a checkbox for automatic leveling but i cant find it anymore in the current Windows 11 options.

[@DArch706]

@@TheSurroundification Thank you very much :) Will keep looking into it and (hopefully) improve it for the next one!

[@skvirtyn]

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