How Big Is World of Warcraft? Map Size Explained

World of Warcraft has gained countless fans and millions of dedicated players over the years, and plenty of gamers have been stumped by the sheer size of the World of Warcraft map. Since the game has seen numerous expansions since its initial release in 2004, many fans are curious to know exactly how big World of Warcraft is in terms of its overall map size.

How big is the World of Warcraft map?

Open-world exploration was one of the major attractions when World of Warcraft was originally released many years ago, allowing players to explore their in-game surroundings with limitless potential. This aspect was greatly enhanced by how massive the game’s map was from the very beginning – most of its players would argue that World of Warcraft truly is a world of its own.

Dedicated fans have attempted to find the exact size of the World of Warcraft map over the years, but this figure has been impacted by the game’s various expansions. There are now far more locations and zones within the game, many of which are grouped into individual maps of their own – as opposed to all locations simply being comprised on one inclusive map.

The base vanilla game started with a map that measured approximately 70 square kilometers or 44 square miles, and it grew to the point of being close to the size of Newcastle in 2008. It didn’t take long for the World of Warcraft map to almost quadruple in size, thanks to a handful of expansion packs, and the map hit 321 square kilometers or 200 square miles shortly after the game began expanding.

In recent years, the map of Azeroth has been pushed well over the 1,000 square kilometer mark. The size of Azeroth is often used as a base figure since the majority of the game takes place in Azeroth, but the dimensions of the entire World of Warcraft universe are significantly higher based on relative expansions to the game.

Calculating the World of Warcraft map size with real-world metrics

In terms of metrics, the World of Warcraft map is measured in units – more specifically, imperial unit yards, with 1 yard being equal to approximately 0.914 meters or 2.99 ft in the real world. Since this metric can be hard to calculate visually, many players have tried taking more creative approaches to find a general measurement to work with.

Esports.Net used this metric in combination with time values to find a conclusive figure, considering that the running speed in World of Warcraft is 7 seconds per yard, 6.5 meters, or 21.3 ft. However, since there are countless obstacles within the World of Warcraft map, and the terrain is often unforgiving, it’s essentially impossible to calculate the size of the World of Warcraft map by simply running in a straight line from one side of the map to the other.

As such, this experiment involved using the flying mount – although this approach increases the time variable by 10%, meaning that the new general formula would equate to covering 26.65 meters or 87.43 ft per second. Using the given formula, it’s been found that Azeroth measures approximately 1,200 square kilometers or 745.64 miles, with a land area of approximately 200 square kilometers or 124.27 miles.

Based on these measurements, it’s believed that Azeroth is close to the size of Rome in the real world, which measures approximately 1,286 square kilometers or 799 miles. It’s believed that Azeroth would be comparable to one of Earth’s third-tier cities, and would be able to fit into New York City in the real world.

A similar approach was taken by a curious World of Warcraft player with a Mage setup, later shared on Stack Exchange, as Mage players can use “Blink” to jump forward 20 yards. This experiment was conducted on Kalimdor, whereby 100 yards would equate to 14.12 seconds.

While similar obstructions would still apply, and we would not be able to find a completely accurate surface area in all directions, it was quite an interesting and scientific approach to the task. The player concluded that Kalimdor measured approximately 96.72 square kilometers or 60.1 square miles – around 3 times the size of Manhattan in the real world.

How big is the planet of Azeroth in World of Warcraft?

Esports.Net expanded on the found figures by using the spherical surface formula (S= 4πr²) to calculate the diameter of the World of Warcraft planet as a whole, resulting in approximately 20 kilometers or 12.42 miles. This would mean that the Earth is around 600 times larger than Azeroth in World of Warcraft – still making this planet far larger than many anticipated.

The Cosmic Map in World of Warcraft

With all that being said, the World of Warcraft map is much larger when including the additional locations seen on the Cosmic Map, as well as those that are not even included on this map. The Cosmic Map is the farthest players can zoom out on their map interface, and it includes Outland, Draenor, and Shadowlands since the Shadowlands update.

There are still places that are not included on the Cosmic Map as well, such as Argus which is shown on the in-universe Broken Isles map, as well as Deepholm, Molten Front, Helheim, Emerald Dreamway, Dreadscar Rift, Niskara, Mardum, the Shattered Abyss, and Telogrus Rift. As such, the entire World of Warcraft map is significantly larger than the classic Azeroth map when including all expansions.

Will the World of Warcraft map be expanded in the future?

Although there is a colossal player base for World of Warcraft, it seems that the in-game map is large and comfortable enough for all of the game’s players to enjoy. This is primarily due to the game being divided into multiple servers that can hold up to a maximum of between 5,000 and 8,000 players at any given moment.

Players can enjoy the game without the World of Warcraft map becoming too crowded, and it’s estimated that the Azeroth map can occupy approximately 50 players per square kilometer – which is similar to the average population density seen in the real world. The game continues to undergo updates and expansions, but fans are unsure if the current map will be expanded further.

That’s everything there is to know about the World of Warcraft map, how big it is in-game, as well as how the World of Warcraft map measures in terms of real-world metrics. While there’s still debate as to whether or not the developers will add more locations and zones over time, it’s safe to say that there is still plenty of room for just about any player’s WoW adventures.

What do you think about the size of the World of Warcraft map? Let us know in the comments below!