What's up with these stairs to a blank wall in Moria?

[Boraxxe]

In Durin's Way in Moria, at the first sharp turn when leaving the Camber of the Crossroads:

4.8s
110.2W

Big wide staircase, about 80 ft wide and approx. 25 steps....into a big solid stone wall.


???

[Feirlain]

In Durin's Way in Moria, at the first sharp turn when leaving the Camber of the Crossroads:

4.8s
110.2W

Big wide staircase, about 80 ft wide and approx. 25 steps....into a big solid stone wall.


???

Welcome to Moria - the Winchester Mystery House of Middle Earth

(Honestly have no idea. Maybe a future expansion or other content the devs never got to? Quest/Raid entrance doorway that didn't spawn?)

[DavidmeetHal]

Moria has always been weird like that.

[Boraxxe]

I was just wondering if it's a world-building error that just never got fixed.

[Flaxie]

I always thought of them as "started construction that never finished before the fall of Moria".
(ALL of them, as things like that are, indeed, all over Moria)

[Morat]

Stairs to nowhere, and still no handrails!

[Uroc]

That maybe look like stairs but maybe it is just a place where dwarves took pictures. You know... when you take class pictures in school then sometimes some people climb on bench and so... Or maybe that was theater seats?

[CloudCastle]

That maybe look like stairs but maybe it is just a place where dwarves took pictures. You know... when you take class pictures in school then sometimes some people climb on bench and so... Or maybe that was theater seats?

This answer wins for creativity! I'm chuckling over the image of a bunch of little bearded dwarf kids lining up on some stairs for their school pictures. I'm sure they are pushing each other, and making noise, and tugging on each other's beards too, all while the teachers try to quiet them down and get them to stand straight.

[Boraxxe]

This answer wins for creativity! I'm chuckling over the image of a bunch of little bearded dwarf kids lining up on some stairs for their school pictures. I'm sure they are pushing each other, and making noise, and tugging on each other's beards too, all while the teachers try to quiet them down and get them to stand straight.

Prepubescent dwarves tugging on each others beards....that hasta make ya grin.

[Uroc]

This answer wins for creativity! I'm chuckling over the image of a bunch of little bearded dwarf kids lining up on some stairs for their school pictures. I'm sure they are pushing each other, and making noise, and tugging on each other's beards too, all while the teachers try to quiet them down and get them to stand straight.

Thank you , indeed funny picture

[DavidmeetHal]

Damn, that’s funny. I’m gonna be laughing for a while.

[Galadh]

In many zones, you can see spots where the devs left a place for expansion or an entrance to an instance in case it was ever needed. I always just thought places like that were for that.

[Boraxxe]

In many zones, you can see spots where the devs left a place for expansion or an entrance to an instance in case it was ever needed. I always just thought places like that were for that.

This place doesn't really look like it is a place like that:


Here's a closer view:

[Mirhaen]

I always thought of them as "started construction that never finished before the fall of Moria".
(ALL of them, as things like that are, indeed, all over Moria)

Yup, or new construction built over old one. Former hall, estate or perhaps a part of the original Durin's Way

[Dusalan]

My bet is there is a secret door there that we just haven't discovered yet.

Possible future expansion: Moria Premium Housing, new exploration area, new hidden room/rooms for a future quest looking for lost items in Moria (similar to the Secret Stone quest), etc...

Or maybe it's, as noted, the favorite location for students from Durin's Elementary School to get their class pictures.

[auximenes]

My question is has this stair to nowhere always existed, did it appear with the Moria revamp, or did it appear after that. I suspect it's been there since the start and it's just an artifact of the original design but if it was changed later then it warrants speculation.

[Flaxie]

My question is has this stair to nowhere always existed, did it appear with the Moria revamp, or did it appear after that. I suspect it's been there since the start and it's just an artifact of the original design but if it was changed later then it warrants speculation.

It's been there at least since 2013. (when I started)

[DavidmeetHal]

This answer wins for creativity! I'm chuckling over the image of a bunch of little bearded dwarf kids lining up on some stairs for their school pictures. I'm sure they are pushing each other, and making noise, and tugging on each other's beards too, all while the teachers try to quiet them down and get them to stand straight.

I came back to check on this thread and started laughing again.

[Boraxxe]

It's been there at least since 2013. (when I started)

Been there since I first entered Moria...I started in 2007 but don't think I made it to Moria that year (since it didn't exist...grin).

I've always noticed it, just never bothered to ask...

[Pontin_Finnberry]

Either its an error or possible there was an idea for secret door quest that never came to be, but the stairs were left to nowhere, or the dwarf who made this never finished his work.

[Mithithil]

There used to be an entire area just south of the 21st hall, go out of the south door, turn left and instead of where you now jump down where stairs are missing there was also a ledge you could walk along and enter an empty hall with a couple of rooms off. It was closed off a couple of years after Moria launched. Fall in the right spot near the Bridge and there's an area to explore down there, not much to see but it does exist. I've seen, a while ago, several claim that you can reach the bit of Endless Stair you can see from Jazargund but I've never managed that one.

[Lambtron]

This is obvious. It's just like Fiddler on the Roof:

"There would be one long staircase just going up
And one even longer coming down
And one more leading nowhere, just for show".

Mystery solved.

[Estelwyn]

Maybe a Moria mirror illuminates a secret door on the wall. Speak Friend and Enter!

[auximenes]

There used to be an entire area just south of the 21st hall, go out of the south door, turn left and instead of where you now jump down where stairs are missing there was also a ledge you could walk along and enter an empty hall with a couple of rooms off. It was closed off a couple of years after Moria launched. Fall in the right spot near the Bridge and there's an area to explore down there, not much to see but it does exist.

Coords if you have them handy?

[Mithithil]

Coords if you have them handy?

Ledge was around 6.8S 104.6W just on form the pile of weapons you collect for the epic. Its now inaccessible or was when last I was there. The jump into the chasm crossed by the Bridge was about 5.5S 99.7W for where we survived and ran about the area there, not much to see TBH. I can't advise on the Jazargund clams as I never managed that despite having the title for the jumping into pits.