Old Ironforge
Difficulty Rating: **** (out of 4)
(** out of 4 using the mage sheep trick)
2.0 Status:
My route: Unknown. Sheep trick: Unknown.
Old Ironforge ...
The name used to send shivers of excitement through me as a young explorer. I would wander up to the doors in the King's Chamber and run my fingers up and down the seal of the entrance which zealously guarded the entombed secrets. I felt a pang of jealousy at the fact it used to be so easy to get inside and that so many explorers had been able to see it before me. The easy exploit simply involved dying and then running up to the door and passing through it as your ghost. After it was nerfed, it had at various times been called closed and unreachable, only to be disproved with each patch as new methods were found. I was determined to see it. Why? It's not particularly beautiful, nor is it very big. But I wanted to be among those who had experienced it. Plus the method I had chosen to reach it presented a unique challenge that I could not pass up. How much of a challenge it would be, I would soon find out...
First, a little history. Old Ironforge appears to have been intended in the original game but removed for reasons unknown. While the section that we can see now is relatively short, it was supposed to be the starting area of greater content. Once you reached the doors that are at the bottom of the stone column that occupies the main chamber, you could either travel to the Ironforge Airport (and access the currently inactive Flight Master) or travel further into a tunnel which leads to the Wetlands Farm, which is situated on a plateau above Menthil Harbor. You can see both the airport and the farm when you are traveling by Gryphon from IF to the Harbor. Next time you are flying past above the airport on the way to Menthil Harbor, be sure to look on the left-hand side for a tunnel that leads into Ironforge Mountain. This is what was supposed to have been the exit from Old Ironforge. However, the wetlands tunnel is the more significant of the two. If it had been put into the game, it would have been possible to travel on foot from Ironforge to Menthil Harbor, via Old Ironforge and the Wetlands Tunnel. This would have been a much more sensible solution for Night Elves wishing to travel to Ironforge instead of the laborious journey through Dun Morogh they have now.
It is rumored that you used to be able to access further content beyond the doors in previous patches. In this posting on Thottbot, a person describes cracking one of the doors with a seaforium charge:
If you go to the bottom of Old IF there are two doors. One of them will crack with a seaforium. It opens into a narrow corridor that is very dark inside. If you go straight into it for a few seconds and hang a right and then a left it will open into a wider and very high cavern. In the middle of the cavern is an excavation area around a gigantic diamond looking rock with a light beam coming out the top called the Tear of Thor. It hums like some kind of generator so I guess IF is drawing power from it. It's under the mage section of IF so maybe its magical energy. On the far end of the cavern there is a ledge that goes deeper into darkness but I couldn't find a way over it. There is a mountaineer that walks a path through the cavern but he won't talk. You can also hear the sound of picks but there are no miners. Other than that it's pretty dead.
This information can't be verified, as if you search for "The Tear of Thor", you cannot find any other mention of it aside from this post. Regardless, the doors can no longer be interacted with, so they cannot be picked or blasted open.
So, on to my adventure. It started off simply enough with me searching for a route to get in during the 1.10 patch. I had heard about the sheep trick but difficulties in finding a mage in the wee hours of the morning made me decide to strike out on my own route. While browsing Thottbot, I found a posting where one person described how they had been able to access the area by flying under IF and then stepping through the tunnel walls underneath the main IF floor. It sounded completely bizarre but I had to give it a try. It also made sense at the time, since I had just finished exploring the Airport and the Wetlands farm, two areas which I first needed to visit before getting under IF. In a sense, this adventure is a quadruple exploit --- not only do you visit the Airport and Wetlands Farm, you also get to be under IF and then get into Old IF. How could I pass it up?
What happened over the next two weeks made me seriously think that I should have passed it up. The whole thing was a massive exercise in frustration. The basics of the technique goes like this ... Make your way to the tunnel which is in the Wetland farm. From the tunnel, jump into the endless void using slow fall, aiming for a specific direction towards the forge. Once you arrive there, you will be swimming under Old IF in lava but will not be taking damage. From there, you must position yourself carefully and swim until you are almost outside the tunnels which extend below IF. Once you have reached it, you can swim into the tunnels and you will be inside.
The problem is that the posting which I read gave me the basics of what I was supposed to do but lacked specific information. Not only that, some of the information was simply wrong, which took me awhile to straighten out. So while I was experimenting, I would face death after death. If you swam too far below, you would fall and die. If you swam too far to the edges or if you touched an existing wall, you would fall and die. If you swam too far up, you would appear in the real lava and you would burn and die. The falling deaths required me to resurrect at the spirit healer, so the repair bills mounted. In the midst of all this dying, I needed to figure out exactly where the tunnels were and how far up. The problem is that when you are in the lava, you don't have a lot to orient yourself. It also has the depth of about 8 Olympic pools stacked on top of each other, so there is a lot of space to cover. Another problem is that when you are outside the tunnels, you cannot see them. You can only discovery them by looking around with you camera, so it becomes tricky to line yourself up so that you can swim into them.
However, approximately two weeks after I began and much sweat expelled, I finally got my bearings and got to the correct location. I saw the tunnels with my camera and was able to move myself inside on the first try, much to my relief.
Inside I found a zig-zag of narrow tunnels which extended below the main floor of Ironforge. At the top, there was the sealed door to the King's chamber, which could not be interacted with from the inside. However, I could detect people and NPCs with my mouse if they were in a certain spot. From the entrance, the tunnel winds down two floors and then comes to an entrance into a medium sized chamber. Inside the chamber is a large stone column that rests in a pool of lava, accented by a beautiful ceiling of glinting purple crystals. There are stairs that lead left at go up to the top of the column which has a platform. There are no objects on the platform, however, but it seems to be intended as a place for players to meet with certain NPCs. There is a second path that leads to the right and spirals down the stone column to the lower level. At the lower level, just above the lava, two small bridges branch off to doors set into the wall of the chamber, one the right and one on the left but neither can be opened or interacted with. And that's it. Two weeks of searching for viewing a small amount of content.
Was it worth? Hell, yes. I don't regret my grand adventure. It's true there wasn't much to see, but like they say, getting there is half the fun. 
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Exploration Update:
I did not have any time to write during the Christmas break but now I am back at work, I can finish updates during my breaks. So expect a flurry of posts in the coming week.
Fortunately, I did have time for exploring in the wee hours. During my break I was able to complete a variety of things on my wish list, along with some new ones:
- Search for the Emerald Dream is called off. I have learned of the method to reach it in 2.0 from other people but it is very difficult and accomplishing it would take too much of my time. So I will wait until TBC to see it. However, contact me in-game and I will explain the details. Be warned, it is very hardcore, even for me.
- As well, I am no longer looking for the Azshara Crater, an unfinished PVP battleground. After doing research it seems it's only viewable with a map editor.
- Exploration of the mysterious green mists on the mountain behind Bough Shadow complete (Ashenvale).
- Discovery of the source of the Southfury River at the top of the falls, which winds past Orgrimmar.
- Under the Undercity (although I keep falling to my death in front of a bunch of amused Horde)
- Exploration of Western Tristifal Glades, in which a large portion is normally inaccessible.
- Exploration of inside the mountain range of Strangethorn Vale. (Method found Monday evening and will fully explore Wednesday)
- In addition, I have had some "near misses". I have almost made it to Exodar, the Draenei home city, coming within a few seconds from being within non-fatigued water. However, I believe this is the best I can do so I will leave it for the moment. I have also found a way up the entrance of the Blackwing Lair which rests in the side of Blackrock Mountain. No, I don't mean the one inside UBRS - there is a separate entrance built into the side of the mountain. Look for it next time your are in the Searing Gorge or The Burning Steeples. Disappointingly, however, I am able to get up the same level where the balcony is but there is no way to reach the balcony itself, so I will have to enjoy a partial success for now.
- And finally, the best for last ---
The Bloodelf starting zone, Quel'Thalas (Ghostlands, Eversong Forest), has been explored. Details in a special report tomorrow. 
Kalak
Another excellent addition to the series - this makes me want to get up off my big mage arse and get up into those hills exploring the world.
This is so very cool! I wish I had half your determination (and free quiet time) to devote to this. Keep them coming!