Area 52
From WoWWiki
Area 52 is a neutral goblin-run town found on the southwestern most island of Netherstorm. It is a settlement structured much like Gadgetzan and Everlook, with a short wall surrounding a small hovel of buildings. The goblins are seen building a rocket ship to journey into the Twisting Nether named the X-52 Nether-Rocket.
The town features a flight master, an innkeeper, and a bank.
Notes
- The new Arena rewards are now available for viewing here with Vixton Pinchwhistle <Arena Vendor>.
- The city can be reached via [Dimensional Ripper - Area 52].
- The innkeeper in Area 52 does not sell any goods, but food and drink can be purchased from another goblin in town.
There are numerous areas where you can attack the opposing factions (and vice versa) and guards will not be aggroed. It is advisable to stay in a building or fly above the ground if you need to go away from keyboard if you play in a PvP realm or are PvP flagged. Area 52 death machines kill roof-campers, but engineers can control them with [Gnomish Universal Remote].
Pop-culture References
Area 52 has a few references to the outside world in it. The name of the town itself is a reference.
- The X2 Nether Rocket has many goblins working on it, most of whom are clad in Star Trek inspired uniforms.
- Two of the goblins working on the X2 Nether Rocket have a dialogue running along the lines of Elton John's Rocket Man.
- The X2 name is a reference to the X-plane, the experimental US airplane/rocket program.
- The town's name is a reference to Area 51, a US military base which has strong pop culture ties to extra-terrestrials and their space-faring technology.
- When going through the doors, players receive a short "debuff" (with no apparent effects) from the A-52 Neuralyzer, which says "The flash of light you did not see did not erase your memories." In the film Men in Black, agents were issued a device, also called a Neuralyzer, that wiped people's memories with a flash of light whenever they had any contact with aliens.
- Innkeeper Remi Dodoso's name in Area 52 spells out the notes 'Re' 'Mi' 'Do' 'Do' 'So' in the solfege scale. This is a reference to the musical theme used in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind to communicate with the aliens which have landed on Earth.
- Area 52 and the X2 rocket also periodically get attacked by Negatron, a reference to Megatron from the Transformers series.
