Think you know everything there is to know about World of Warcraft? Think again! With such an expansive long-standing universe, there is simply no way to possibly know everything. However, if you are a random fact and useless trivia fan like I am, you will sure try.

Read onward to find 20 facts and trivia that you might not know about the game. Even the most die-hard veterans of the game may find themselves surprised at some of the following revelations. I know I was.

For the Alliance

While the gap isn't as large as it once was the Alliance is still the preferred faction commanding a little over half the player base. The introduction of Blood Elves in the Burning Crusade expansion helped to even the playing field and bridge population gap.

Humans Love Humans

What do all WoW players have in common? We are all human. It seems that we humans tend to identify with and prefer to play other humans, thus the human race is the most played race in game.

Torches Anyone?

Nighttime on Azeorth was planned to be dark, very dark. In fact, nighttime was supposed to be so dark that players would not be able to see at all. Several zones, like Duskwood, were also planned to harbor this level of darkness. To combat it, players would need to take up the Survival profession and create torches. These torches would then provide the light needed to navigate around dark places.

World of Fight

With a game as popular as World of Warcraft, it was only a matter of time before someone made a shameless knockoff. In this case it was World of Fight, a Chinese game that undeniably reeks of WoW. Even the domain name, www.wofchina.com is suspiciously similar.

Lost in Undercity

If you think Undercity is difficult to navigate now, you may want to count your blessings. When this city was first envisioned it had not one but two floors for players to get lost in. Realizing it was a bit complicated for travel, the second floor was removed; although it is still accessible in game.

Talisman of Binding Shard

The Talisman of Binding Shard was the very first legendary item to drop. Looted from Baron Geddon, the necklace was removed from the loot table. However, the one and only person to get this item was allowed to keep it.

Melee Hunters...and Priests?

In one of the early versions of the game, both Hunters and Priests had melee talent trees. Hunters who wished to melee would choose the Survival tree. Priests would choose the Discipline tree, which explains why Inner Fire increased attack power.

“Epic” Mounts

In the early days of World of Warcraft, epic mounts weren't so epic looking. In fact, they were just recolored versions of their normal counterparts. The cool armor got added much later.

Captain Placeholder

In the beta version of the game, the boat system was not quite all there. With many boat paths not in place and glitches and bugs galore, traveling was a bit of a problem. As a temporary measure, Blizzard placed Captain Placeholder, an NPC that would teleport players from Menethil Harbor to Auberdine.

The good Captain become so popular that, after he was replaced by Captain Noteo, players mourned his loss and a lament was even created for him. While many thought we would never see the good Captain again, he reappeared in the Cataclysm expansion (renamed to Cap'n Placeholder) as an Horde-aligned character. He can be found dancing on the Goblin Raceway.

Ricole Nichie

Almost everyone is familiar with the Haris Pilton NPC found in Shattrath City. However, few know that her frienemy, Ricole Nichie is located nearby. Standing directly next to Haris, Ricole is totally invisible to almost everyone. Only Priests with the Eye of Divinity equipped can see her. '

Deeprun Tram

Ah the Deeprun Tram. The connector between the great cities of Stormwind and Ironforge. However, it wasn't always this way. Originally, the tram was meant to connect Stormwind with another Alliance city; Darnassus.

Fluorescent Green Mechanostrider

Considered to be (by those that know of it) the rarest mount in game. The Fluorescent Green Mechanostrider is one of a kind. The story behind this mount starts out like this; an unfortunate Gnome deleted his Mechanostrider. Upon asking a GM to replace it, he was erroneously awarded this mount instead. This means this mount is the only one in the world and cannot be obtained by any other player, making this the rarest mount in game and our Gnome friend a very lucky little fellow.

Wasted Loot

Before TBC, Shaman were Horde only and Paladins were Alliance only. The Burning Crusade expansion changed all of that. However, during the transition period, Shaman loot started dropping for Alliance players and Paladin loot started dropping for Horde; before either class was playable by that faction. This loot was utterly useless and a total waste.

OOC

When pulling a boss or trash in an early WoW raid instance, not all players were instantly put into combat. In fact, you had to directly heal or do damage to be pulled into the battle. Players took advantage of this fact by typically keeping at least one player out of combat (OOC), usually a Shaman, especially during boss fights. This player would serve as an extra resurrection if needed, a testament to the difficulty of these early raids.

Samantha Swifthoof

Have you ever thought your Tauren was a little over-sized for a mount? Blizzard thought the same thing at one point during the beta version of the game. In fact, Taurens originally earned Plainsrunning instead of the mount skill. The Plainsrunning skill was taut by a now defunct NPC named Samantha Swifthoof. Before her removal, but after Plainsrunning was removed, poor Samantha become a prime kill target for Alliance players.

Female Trolls

Before female Trolls had any real concept art or models, Blizzard decided to just slap some female attributes on the male Troll model. Big mistake. Female Trolls ended up looking, literally, like trolls. Resembling a hunched monstrosity out of your worst nightmares, we can all be thankful that female Trolls are much more pleasing to look at today.

Fly Into Karazhan

At the top of Karazhan tower players will notice a flight path nest and griffin. IT seems that at one point, this was meant to be a flight path to allow easy access to the instance, the side door, and bosses later in the instance. For unknown reasons the flight path was never used and players have been making the long trek to Karazhan ever since.

Big Ironforge

Ironforge is the home of the hearty Dwarves and a pretty impressive city. However, it was first designed to be even more impressive. In fact, Ironforge was originally planned to be the largest city in the game. Instead of one giant circle, players would have had multiple floors with connecting staircases. In the name of fairness and realizing that navigation would be a nightmare, the game devs sized down Ironforge immensely.

Bucklers vs. Shields

In the beginning of the game, Rogues and Hunters could wear bucklers. The buckler was a different item from a shield and only wearable by these two classes. Later, this item was removed and Blizzard decided to go with just one shield type. Rogues and Hunters wouldn't enjoy the benefits of the shield though, as they were henceforth unable to equip them. The term buckler can still be found in game, but it is still considered to be a shield.

Azshara Sucks!

Before the change to this zone in Cataclysm, Azshara was one of the worst questing zones in the game. This was in large part due to the fact that it was incomplete. Blizzard came to the realization, to late, that the quest line here was bad and players were going to hate it. Instead of fixing it immediately, they basically gave up on the zone and instead chose to wait until the Cataclysm revamp to fix it.

That wraps up our list of 20 things you might not have known about World of Warcraft. Which of these facts surprised you most? What are some other surprising facts about the game that you have stored in your knowledge bank? Share them with us in the comments section below!