The new insider at the WoW Europe site reveals a lot behind the current status of Northrend, specially concerning transportation to Northrend. As well as PvP and PvE factors. This insider interview features the following WoW Developers: J. Allen Brack and Chris Robinson.
J. Allen Brack: That reminds me of another example: the turtle boat. If you look at Northrend, the continent is shaped a little bit like a crescent, with the two starting zones, Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra, at the ends. There’s a port located in the middle of the coast between these zones, and we wanted to have an easy method for traveling between the zones. The method of transportation we settled on is a giant turtle with a deck mounted on top of its shell, very much like the turtles from Warcraft II. It’s simple, effective, grounded in Warcraft lore, but it’s also one of those light moments that are so important to create the iconic Warcraft feel.
