Forgotten Crypt
- For the Season of Discovery dungeon, see Karazhan Crypts.
The Forgotten Crypt lies behind the tower of Karazhan, accessed in the cemetery at Morgan's Plot in Deadwind Pass. For the catacomb that has an entrance at the base of the tower itself, see Karazhan Catacombs.
History
The Forgotten Crypt was present at launch but was closed off for many years. For a time it could be accessed by dying close to the gate and running through it as a ghost, but this method was blocked in The Burning Crusade.
For a long time, the purpose of the crypt was unknown. Players theorized it may have been a test area for developers or an unfinished instance. Many players believed that the crypt was never fully implemented because of the mildly disturbing content, in particular the Upside-down Sinners room, would have made World of Warcraft's ESRB rating become M for Mature. On January 24th, 2014, Blizzard community manager Bashiok responded to a post inquiring to the reasons the crypt was never used and provided some insights on Blizzard's design processes back during the days of its creation, stating the reason it was abandoned was more than likely that Blizzard simply changed their minds about using it.
Why was the crypt not opened? | 2014-01-25 03:28 | 
Bashiok
In a Reddit AMA in September 2018, John Staats confirmed that the crypts were meant to be questing areas, but that it turned out they weren't needed, so they were closed off and never finished.[1]
In Legion the Well of the Forgotten area finally became accessible, and in patch 7.3.0 the entire crypt was opened for all players who could solve an extremely difficult puzzle.
Gallery
Gate
Altar
Altar
Altar
Altar
Karazhan Crypts art in Season of Discovery.
Trivia
- Using WoW Map Viewer, you can see that the crypt runs under Tranquil Gardens Cemetery in Duskwood.
- Even though there's a wooden barrier separating the Well of the Forgotten from the rest of the crypt, warlocks can still get past it with
[Demonic Gateway]. - In October 2015, the crypt was highlighted in "Haunted Azeroth: The Frightening and Bizarre," an official blog post about creepy places throughout Azeroth.
Patch changes
Patch 7.3.0 (2017-08-29): Rest of the area opened. - Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Subzone renamed from Crypt to Forgotten Crypt, and is now partially accessible.
References
- ^ John Staats 2018-09-12. John Staats AMA, author of 'The World of Warcraft Diary'. “Additional quest areas. I turned out we didn't need them so I never finished them. They're only half-baked play spaces. :P”
External links
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