Why is Orgrimmar the main horde hangout?

[Dr. Doom]

Not really seeing it.
Ironforge being the main Alliance hangout is pretty easily understood. The city is the closest one to BRM and MC/BWL, since the combined flight time from there to Thorium Point, and then to the instances is noticeably shorter than flying from Stormwind to Morgan's Vigil and riding northwards. Once Naxxramas comes this will be even more notorious.

On top of that, the anvil/forge areas are pretty close to the main Commons AH/Bank part of the city, and the circular design makes the whole layout quite compact.

Seems to me that following that logic, Horde's preferred hangout would be Undercity. It's the only capital in the Eastern Kingdoms (BRM raids, and the closest city to Naxxramas) and therefore the only one that avoids you having to wait for a zeppelin to cross (a zeppelin that would leave you at UC's gates anyway), you also get a Grom'gol direct connection when doing ZG, and in terms of layout, there's also a lesser distance between the perimeter's AH NPCs, the bank at the center and the flight master. The circular compact design shows this.

On the contrary Orgrimmar doesn't seem to be closer to anything, even if AQ is considered Thunder Bluff is the nearest city, and having to go to the deepest part of the Valley of Honor to smelt or craft blacksmithing/engineering items, then having to go all the way to the Valley of Spirits to level first aid, and then returning to the center section for AH/bank seems to be a longer while.


Is this because of the earliest patches when (if I recall correctly anyway) there was only 1 auction house per faction, situated in Ironforge and Orgrimmar (reason why only these two have proper buildings, while other cities just have some makeshift location) ? Or why?

[xiaopingling]

Ony buff happens in org

[Dr. Doom]

Ony buff happens in org

I considered this too, but if that were a factor that overrides location/layout, then Stormwind would be the main Alliance hub.

[Rylox]

Double race starting area. Same with IF.
Also the old only AH cities.

[xiaopingling]

Is SW not the main place to do business as a lowbie? I always tended towards there while levelling my pally (gotta get that sweet sweet AP bonus to consecration), but I only got to like mid-30's on alliance so I dunno

Undercity's also really cramped/small, if you try to gather a bunch of people there you can't see shit, there's nowhere to sll stand about

[Dr. Doom]

Double race starting area. Same with IF.
Also the old only AH cities.

I'm leaning for the latter yes. Seems like the sole feature that is shared by both cities.

Frankly if you ask a random number of Alliance/Horde people why they favour Ironforge/Orgrimmar, the answer is relational: I'm here because everyone else does business here. Probably it drags on from the retail vanilla tradition.

But finding the root originating factor isn't that. I'm inclined to think the 2 race point isn't that relevant. It'd be important if the combined dwarf+gnome or orc+troll population was majoritary and so pulled everyone else, but humans are more than dwarves and gnomes combined, and I think UD might be more numerous on their own too.

[Dr. Doom]

Is SW not the main place to do business as a lowbie? I always tended towards there while levelling my pally (gotta get that sweet sweet AP bonus to consecration), but I only got to like mid-30's on alliance so I dunno

Undercity's also really cramped/small, if you try to gather a bunch of people there you can't see shit, there's nowhere to sll stand about

Ironforge is where most enchanting, blacksmithing, etc is done. Stormwind is usually visited often by pre-30 characters since there are a good deal of quests starting from, or including a visit to, the city. Specially since a chunk of people level in Westfall, Redridge and Duskwood, all human areas, but unless you want to trade lowbie green items it doesn't make much sense to look for business there.

Just like the bulk of the afking pop is in the little slope in the Valley of Strength between the bank/mailbox and the AH, Alliance congregates in the bridge and Commons area of Ironforge.

[thenuclearwalrus]

Because its Orgrimmar. You dont go to New York state to hang out in Albany, you go to New York to go to NYC. Its the same with Org.

[Pottu]

Off-topic

[wiseoldenemy]

Now that you mention it, I actually don't know why people hang out at Org. I can tell you why I do though, it was like that in retail and orgrimmar always gives me fond memories of being inside my room in grade 7 on a rainy day trying to build up my engineering on my first toon. The walk from the anvil and AH though...

I think it's cause orgrimmar just looks better than UC, unless you are in a goth mood.