Opinions on Pre-Sundering Azeroth?

[Beltharean]

I haven't been on the server for a while so my lore's a bit rusty, but I don't think anyone had been able to find a solid answer for this one anyway; How Azeroth, pre-sundering was shaped. Were the continents split and blown away from each other with the original looking like this:

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Or did the continents as they currently are never move, but were connected by a landmass that fell into the sea like so:

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or

I'd say there are good arguments for both sides, really, but I'd argue that Kalimdor was previously one large continent with its shores set where the shores currently are on Kalimdor on the Eastern Kingdom (On the west and east sides, respectively) with The Great Sea covered in land. A lot can be explained away with magic, but I don't think an explosion, even by the Well of Eternity could really explain billions of years of plate tectonics shifting chunks of the continent hundreds of miles away.

More importantly though, if the explosion -had- blown everything 'outward' then one would assume that anything close by would have been pushed away too. The ruins of Suramar on the Broken Isles are still in such close proximity to the Maelstrom however, where we know the Well of Eternity originally was, that it would be rather strange for such massive chunks of land as Kalimdor, the Eastern Kingdoms, and Northrend to move, but not Suramar itself.

We know from flavor text, the RPG Books (for what they're worth), and Knaak's Trilogy (I'd argue that's worth even less), that earthquakes were the main source of damage across the planet with the destruction of the Well of Eternity. That being said, I'd argue it makes more sense for a huge swath of land to have sunk and turned into the Great Sea rather than the Well creating fault lines that moved so drastically that they created three separate continents. A massive sink hole being formed would explain how the ruins of Suramar and other various ruins of Kal'dorei and Troll origin exist under the ocean in a recognizable state.

Any who, I just wanted to see what the rest of you guys thought. Most people I've talked to about it view Ancient Kalimdor as it's pictured in the first pictures, but I haven't had all too many discussions about it honestly.

[FlyingSquirrel]

With his powers over earth, Neltharion caused volcanoes to rise along with the destruction already caused by the Well of Eternity's implosion, sinking most of Kalimdor below the ocean.

I believe that it looked more like the second, and that Deathwing had a higher hand in making it so than many think. In fact, I believe that it was teamwork between the Well of Eternity and Deathwing. As lands buckled and broke under Deathwing's command, water summoned from the Well of Eternity filled in the cracks left. In fact, even if it was the first map, then the Well of Eternity still did not have a hand in moving it; after all, Arcane has small dominion merely over water and, to a lesser degree, fire. It cannot bend and break earth. I have much more thoughts on the manner, but they're going all over the place.

TL;DR; Deathwing did it, not the Well of Eternity.

Edit: I forgot a source for the above quote. Here, right before it delves into RPG land under the Rise of the Destroyer tab.

[Beltharean]

I don't think it was necessarily the magic that moved it, but rather the implosion of the well having an effect on the planet.

Here's a quote from the Great sundering Wowpedia page:

Prior to the Sundering, there was only one continent on Azeroth, referred to as Kalimdor. In the catastrophic explosion, eighty percent of the land mass was destroyed[2] leaving behind the major continents and scattered islands that are known today: Northrend, Kezan, Pandaria, the Eastern Kingdoms, and the remnant still referred to as Kalimdor.

The part about 80% of the landmass being destroyed I hadn't heard before, but I guess that just helps our point about the second group of maps being closer to what it would have actually been. Still, I think the Well had a large part to play in the Sundering, just as much as if not more than Deathwing.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Hm. If that number's accurate, then really neither of the pictures would be accurate. And yea, I do agree that the Well had a large part in it. However, whether it was equal to what Deathwing did is debatable. In fact, I looked more into my quote, and Deathwing didn't cause damages while the Well of Eternity was going. He took what had already happened and instead expanded upon it with volcanoes and mountain ranges. But yea, the main bit was the Well, then Deathwing capitalized on it afterwards.

[Beltharean]

Yeah, the 80% figure kinda threw me off, and it looks like that quote is originally from the WC3 manual... Which also says Druids are telepathic and carry vials of water from the Well of Eternity lol. Other than that, yeah, I never finished Knaak's series because I couldn't stand it any more, so I never got to see how Deathwing really affected the Sundering.

[FlyingSquirrel]

I believe that @Zenethen's read them.

[Maulbane]

Be mindful that a lot of the zones were assumedly made that way during the Sundering - I know at the least, Stonetalon Mountains was (in the RPG books, which might drive people away - oops!) driven up by said event. I dunno.

[Beltharean]

The sources listed on the Dire Maul page of Wowpedia and Wowwiki say that the Sundering triggered massive Earthquakes that actually caused most of the damage, so that might explain mountain ranges being forced up. I personally like the RPG books still. A lot of things haven't really been clarified in-game or in more modern sources, so it's nice to fill in the gaps at least in theory, with some of the stuff from the books. At least to get an idea of what may have happened!

Plus, I've read... I think every RPG book cover to cover like four times, so I don't want that to have gone to waste xD

[Zenethen]

According to the War of the Ancients series, 'the Sundering' was basically the Well of Eternity going haywire and everything, land, tree, and person, just collapsed downward, like the classic water-strikes-the-cliffs-and-erodes-them but like... 10000000000% faster.

The books don't describe much other than the Nelves going 'OH CRAP GOTTA RUN THE WORLD'S KINDA CAVING IN ON ITSELF' as the 'shores of the Well of Eternity constantly expanded farther out before the oceans from the north and south filled in the empty space'. (which would lead me to believe that a -lot- of the stuff we know today might have actually been underwater that whole time, since... Y'know... You don't just fill in the entire center of the compass' portion of water without losing some from the shoreline... Right? (Blizzard has been known to not employ logic)