Which service matches your destination?
Blizzard's Found Photos recap, checked October 8, describes three services. The diagram on the world map page is a connection sketch, not a measured sea route.
| Announced service | Use it to plan | Before boarding |
|---|---|---|
| Stormwind Harbor ↔ Auberdine | A crossing between Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor | Confirm the named destination on the vessel or dock; do not identify it only by its appearance. |
| Menethil / Southshore / Auberdine | A trip involving one of these three ports | Check the next stop, especially if you only want the Southshore leg. A list of ports does not state stop order. |
| Steamwheedle, Tanaris ↔ Powderfuse Port, Riverglades | A future Riverglades visit | Check current boarding and area access before bringing the party to Tanaris. |
The source does not give coordinates, departures per hour, faction boarding permissions or required quests. Those fields stay unknown here. A route being listed does not certify that every character can use it in the current Beta.
Make a travel plan that survives a missed boat
Our method starts with four decisions: destination, departure port, meeting side and fallback. Resolve them before asking everyone to travel.
- Name the arrival port. “Meet in Kalimdor” leaves too much room for confusion. “Meet at Auberdine after the crossing” gives the group a shared arrival task.
- Choose the service after the destination. Both the Stormwind connection and the three-port service name Auberdine. Start from the option your character can actually reach; the existence of both does not make their approach journeys equally short.
- Decide whether to meet before or after boarding. Meeting before departure is easier to coordinate when the party is already nearby. Meeting at the arrival port avoids waiting for someone still crossing the other continent.
- Agree on a missed-boat fallback. For example: the first arrivals wait at the agreed port landmark and send the vessel's observed destination to the late player. This is a coordination plan, not a sailing-time estimate.
Write the plan as one sentence: “We will meet at [port and landmark], use the vessel showing [destination], and wait at [arrival landmark] if someone misses it.” The blank landmarks must come from your group’s visible client observations.
Southshore: check the next stop, not just the final continent
In the public-transport discussion, checked October 8, draft-map author Fienx initially says the service has not been personally verified. JimmytheNice replies that it stops at Southshore in both directions and says they rode all three services. This is a player ride report, not an official timetable. Confirm the next stop on your current client.
If you want Southshore, keep that as the arrival task. Check the approaching vessel's destination information and, once aboard, confirm the next dock before disembarking. If the boat leaves for a different leg, tell your party what happened rather than presenting a historical ride report as a universal timetable.
For a useful correction record, keep the client build, departure, observed intermediate stop and arrival together. A screenshot of a boat by itself cannot establish the whole service order. Report only the leg you actually rode.
Riverglades: separate travel from quest readiness
The Riverglades guide contains the actual beta-client region image and the announced mid-level setting. The October 1 official Beta notes raised the cap to 30; Riverglades' earlier announced questing range is roughly 35–45. That comparison does not prove the area is closed or that lower-level characters cannot enter. It means this guide cannot promise a ready-to-play leveling route for a capped Beta character.
For friends planning a later visit, agree on Powderfuse Port as the destination, then check each character's access and available quests separately. Reaching the same harbor is not evidence that everyone has the same prerequisites.
When a trip goes wrong
Dated transport fix: Blizzard's October 6 follow-up lists a fix for occasional elevator or transport disconnects. If it recurs, note the vessel or elevator, build and disconnect step. This does not establish a new route, timetable or access rule.
| What you observe | Useful next check | Avoid this conclusion |
|---|---|---|
| No vessel at the dock right now | Verify the port and intended service, then watch the next arrival | “The route was removed.” One wait is not a timetable. |
| You reached a different stop | Compare the observed destination and stop with the party's plan | “All boats follow this order.” You observed one leg. |
| A route addon suggests a crossing you cannot use | Check its faction setting and each named transport stop | “The addon has verified my permissions.” |
| Friends cannot see each other after arrival | Compare area names, landmarks and recent party changes | “The boat is broken.” A meeting mismatch is a separate problem. |
For flight-ticket arithmetic and dated route-addon observations, use the travel checks. If the next task is a dungeon, continue with the dungeon map guide before agreeing on an entrance.
Questions from the campfire
Is the boat diagram a geographic map?
No. It describes announced port connections; it does not establish distance, sailing direction, stop order or a timetable.
Does the Menethil–Auberdine boat stop at Southshore?
Blizzard lists all three ports on one service. A player in the public-transport discussion reports a Southshore stop in both directions. This is not an official timetable; confirm the next stop in your current client.
Does the Tanaris connection prove Riverglades is open today?
No. An announced connection and a beta map file are different from a current access check. The announced Riverglades questing range is also higher than the level-30 cap in the October 1 Beta notes.