Your favourite WoW Zones? (before and after Cataclysm)

[Sixcess]

So I got 7 free days to lure me back into WoW. It's the first time I'm seeing the zone revamp that Cataclysm brought in, and so far I'm finding it... underwhelming. I'm hoping that things will improve once I get past what used to be my favourite zones...

Pre-Cata Favourites:

Ghostlands
Silverpine Forest
Tirisfal Glades

(Yeah, I'm a horde player through and through.)

Post-Cata Favourites:

None yet. Tirisfal is... okay, I guess, though it seems an awful lot simpler than before. Silverpine and Hillsbrad are horrible though - cluttered and set piece heavy, and in Hillsbrad's case, utterly schizophrenic in tone as it lurches from 4th wall breaking jokes to genuinely horrific situations that lose all impact by being ridiculously easy and riddled with 'comedy' details and gimmicky quests.

Ghostlands, thankfully, wasn't revamped.

I'm not a WoW hater by any means - I enjoy the game, in moderation, but what I'm seeing in Cata just makes me think Blizzard have stopped giving a damn. I'll keep my fingers crossed it gets better.

 

[Vegosiux]

My favorite WoW zone ever? Storm Peaks.

Pre-Wrath? Ashenvale.

Post-Cata? Dunno, I quit.

 

[Fappy]

I like how some of the Kalimdore zones actually mattered after Cata. Really the only good thing about the expansion.

 

[joe-h2o]

I loved Terrokar Forest in BC, and Ashenvale in vanilla - I liked quite a lot of Kalimdor, since the atmosphere of the zones really clicked there, probably because they were less populated.

I always used to level alts in Darkshore in that level range, rather than the usual Alliance zones (although I did the minimum necessary to do Deadmines.

Saying that, Duskwood was also a very nice zone to level in.

 

[Kajt]

I rather enjoyed both the aesthetics and leveling in Hellfire Peninsula, both as Alliance and Horde. The Fel Reaver, Lord Khazzak, Hellfire Citadel and the outdoor PvP objectives made it really memorable to me. Easily my favourite zone in the entire game and The Burning Crusade my favourite expansion.

The Howling Fjord was also a beautiful and fun zone and instance (Utgarde Keep) to level in, plus, it had incredible BGM. It lacked the outdoor PvP objectives and world bosses of Hellfire Peninsula, though.

I did not find any of the pre-TBC zones to be all that great and I have played far too little of Cataclysm to comment on that.

 

[Raika]

My favorite zone in the game will always be Bloodmyst Isle. If I were to ever play that game again, I would never play as anything other than a draenei. God, I love draenei.

 

[The Madman]

In terms of ambience I always loved Ashenvale. I think the first time I ever walked through there with that absolutely beautiful music playing in the background was one of the experience that made me initially fall in love with the game.

Spoiler: soundtrack

When I briefly played after Cataclysm I was genuinely sad to see what had been done to that place. What the Horde aren't chopping down is on fire from a volcano. Bit demoralizing to see one of the zones that got me into the game so changed, and not for the better.

Duskwood was also really good because of all the games initial questing areas that one probably had the best overall story and mood. Still remember the first time I 'summoned' Stitches. And this was early in the games release too, back when Stitches was fully capable of wiping out half the town if players didn't stop him. Very cool to see him fighting with the town guards, players running everywhere and knowing it was all my fault.

Storm Peaks from wotlk was also stunning. Maybe it's just the Canadian in me, but I loved those snowy wind-swept mountains. Grizzly Hills was also very, very nice. Loved the visuals in both those zones and the music was fantastic. Hell, ever the quests were fun.

Spoiler: soundtrack

I don't play anymore, but I still have some fond memories of the game. I'm sure some day I'll go back if only to explore those zones one last time. I'm in no hurry however and I very much doubt WOW is going anywhere any time soon.

 

[Stevey M]

Pre-Cata: Duskwood. I just like the storyline accompanied with the eerie, atmospheric vibe.
Post-Cata: I haven't played that much, but 1k Needles was revamped beyond recognition, and in a great way.

 

[J-Alfred]

I personally enjoy My Bedroom, a special Wow-free Zone where I can retreat with a book and not have to deal with other people.

 

[cefm]

Thousand Needles is a lot of fun now that it's flooded - the quests around the floating barge city are fun and relatively easy and all hang together pretty well. Plus it's a wonderful place to mine Mithril as the swim-speed boost lets you get around really fast.

RedRidge Mountains has to be the best re-vamp in Cataclysm I've seen with the John J. Keeshan "Rambo" quest line.

Unfortunately I found all of the new Cataclysm level 80+ zones to kind of suck.

 

[1-up]

Un'Goro always has a special place in my heart - those ninja dinosaurs really made you respect the place.

That said, EPL always demanded a degree of respect as well. Run through the wrong area and you were looking at running back from a graveyard.

 

[joe-h2o]

Un'Goro always has a special place in my heart - those ninja dinosaurs really made you respect the place.

That said, EPL always demanded a degree of respect as well. Run through the wrong area and you were looking at running back from a graveyard.

EPL was annoying on everything but my priest, since she could cure disease.

However, that little town just west of Light's Hope Chapel - the town with the little lake and the water elemental in it - will always be remembered, since it was the place where my very first character dinged 60.

Ah, so long ago.

 

[Calum9218]

Pre Cataclysm, Loch Modan but they ruined it in Cata.
Post Cataclysm... Durotar? I dunno, you dont seem to spend as much time in the zones as you used too.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

Hard to think of a favorite Azerothian pre-cataclysm zone.

I guess if I had to pick one it would the The Ghostlands. I'm not a super huge fan of the Blood Elves but I did enjoy the fact that their starting areas had a more coherent narrative than as lot of the zones in Old Azeroth did.

Post Cataclysm.

I love Silverpine, in terms of layout...yeah it's not great and I think they may have done well to cut back on the number of flight paths to just under 2 dozen.

But I really like the story that is told there. I've been playing since before BC and my main character has always been Forsaken.
I've always been of the mindset that the Horde were never the villains of this game, and even within their ranks the Forsaken weren't an "evil" race.
The story told in post Cataclysm Silverpine just drives that home all the more for me.

 

[Sixcess]

Post Cataclysm... Durotar? I dunno, you dont seem to spend as much time in the zones as you used too.

You don't. E.g. Hillsbrad Foothills used to be a 20-30 zone (albeit with an awkward quest gap in the early 20s that sent me off to the Barrens to level up a bit) but now it's 20-25. Oddly enough there appears to be less content per zone than there used to be - I remember spending a long afternoon on the human town and nearby mines, whereas the town has now been replaced by a heavily scripted sequence that I sleep walkd through in an hour.

However, apparently to make up for it the XP rewards in Cata are insane - 1600xp for watching a cutscene...

 

[skywolfblue]

Grizzly Hills - This has to be my favorite zone of all time. The log cabins, evergreen forest, and the music all combines with extremely powerful effect. I could practically smell the fresh-cut logs.

Howling Fjord - Boy is there a lot to see in this zone. From viking fortresses, burning forest, suspended ship that's on fire over the entrance to the fjord, Walrus village, it's a nice summation of everything great about norse environments.

Nagrand - Beautiful floating rocks done right. A very pretty zone.

But really I love almost all of them. (well, not Blades Edge, Barrens, Durotar, 1k Needles, Blasted Lands)

[PS] Well, I can't talk about WoW zones without giving Netherstorm the honorable mention it deserves. One of the most creative zones I've seen in gaming.

"Outer space? With Robots? how does that work in a fantasy world like WoW?"
Answer: It works extremely well!

 

[Sixcess]

My favorite zone in the game will always be Bloodmyst Isle. If I were to ever play that game again, I would never play as anything other than a draenei. God, I love draenei.

It's the accent, right? Just admit it's the accent.

(Actually Draenei are the only Alliance race I've ever managed to play past the starting zones. I did enjoy Bloodmyst Isle. And the accent.)

 

[ace_of_something]

I always enjoyed Thousand Needles and Desolace back in the day. Possibly because there weren't as many people around.

I only played it for like a month 1/2 after cataclysm. I honestly can't recall what I enjoyed. It was a blur.

Something with... with a volcano?

Trolls are the best Roll.

 

[Raika]

My favorite zone in the game will always be Bloodmyst Isle. If I were to ever play that game again, I would never play as anything other than a draenei. God, I love draenei.

It's the accent, right? Just admit it's the accent.

(Actually Draenei are the only Alliance race I've ever managed to play past the starting zones. I did enjoy Bloodmyst Isle. And the accent.)

It's a combination of the hips, the horns, the blue skin, and the accent.

 

[Baneat]

The Nesingwary eco-domes, STV, Nagrand and Terrokar.

The cataclysm hasn't changed any of these zones in any meaningful way.