This absurdly accurate Valheim build recreates one of WoW's most infamous starting areas

This absurdly accurate Valheim build recreates one of WoW’s most infamous starting areas

Time Stamp: May 10, 2023 9:57 AM

There’s nothing quite like hearing the ambient music from Elwynn Forest to send you running to create a brand new character in World of Warcraft. It’s natural to want to recapture that feeling of excitement and discovery, but Reddit user Stockkube (opens in new tab) took that even further by recreating Goldshire inside Iron Gate’s hit survival game Valheim.

If you’ve leveled an alliance character in World of Warcraft, you might be familiar with the small town as one of the first quest hubs you’ll visit as a human. It’s also pretty notorious as a gathering place for certain roleplaying… err… activities. 

Goldshire build in Valheim! Tried to capture as much detail as I could. The path leads all the way back to Stormwind, and I will be detailing the forest with the graveyards etc. Next stop Lakeshire. Hope you like it! from r/wow

The video posted on Reddit walks you through the small village on the forest’s edge, starting down the road leading from Stormwind City. The approach is complete with the familiar buildings and the signposts that point towards other nearby locations. The video tour even takes you inside Lion’s Pride Inn, which is surprisingly accurate. The basement is there too, with stairs leading down from the kitchen. Then there’s the blacksmithing building opposite, which is similarly detailed. 

Several mods were used for the build, according to the author, including one which turns off structural integrity. Anyone that’s played Valheim probably knows the pain of building something too high to then have it collapse on you. So while everything still had to be mapped out and built, at least there wasn’t that worry to contend with.

While the representation isn’t perfect with some of the proportions, it’s accurate enough to be unmistakable for anyone who has quested there.  “Well, looks like I’m re-rolling a human warrior for the hundredth time,” states one commenter, while another checks on the creator’s health with “Are you okay? This is amazing to the point of concern”.

It’s not the first time a place from World of Warcraft has been recreated in Valheim. One modder managed to get the map of Northrend into the survival game (opens in new tab). Minecraft players do it all the time too, as seen with this version of WoW’s Silvermoon City (opens in new tab). Stockkube, the Redditor responsible for this Goldshire recreation, has also built Lakeshire (opens in new tab) and part of Stormwind City (opens in new tab) too, the latter of which was started last year.

No matter how many times locations are recreated inside game like Valheim or Minecraft, it’s always fascinating to see how much detail—and time—must’ve gone into these projects. This particular creation is a double-edged sword, though: Do I start leveling yet another character in World of Warcraft, or do I start my own building project in Valheim? Decisions, decisions.

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