Blizzard chose not to include built-in dungeon and raid maps in World of Warcraft: Forever, just as it didn't in 2004 WoW Classic — to preserve the spirit of discovery. Artist Santiago Reyes decided to fill that gap with his own project on ArtStation, releasing maps in the game's style.

What's happening

In World of Warcraft: Forever, just as in 2004's WoW Classic, Blizzard deliberately left out built-in dungeon and raid maps — to preserve the spirit of discovery. The developers wanted players to learn the old and new dungeons on their own.

Artist Santiago Reyes agrees with that logic, but still decided to help anyone who'd rather not wander blind. He's been gradually publishing work from his project "Atlas of Azeroth: Forever" — maps of Forever's new dungeons and raids, drawn in the game's own style.

By September 28, the project had already posted its first pieces; he plans to cover 9 dungeons and raids in total. He's publishing them piece by piece on ArtStation.

Community reaction

Forum discussion split down the middle. Part of the playerbase argues that without built-in maps, running a dungeon is just plain awkward: if you don't know the route by heart, you have nothing to navigate by. Others defend Blizzard's choice and point out that in 2004 there were no map addons either, and that didn't stop WoW from becoming WoW. There's also a compromise idea in the air: unlock the dungeon map gradually as the player clears zones — the same way the open-world map works.