Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Favorite WoW zones

Everybody likes something different when it comes to zones in WoW. I for one do not like the desert zones. I also dont care for zones that are full of yellow like Westfall. For some people, it reminds them of home. For me, here are my top three zones by expansion.

1. Vanilla WoW: Since the upgrades they made to it during BC, Dustwallow Marsh has become one of my favorite zones. It has a very cool swampy vibe, tons of easy quests, and even an old school raid instance. It is also a very nice hub to get to the other places in Kalimdor. This zone used to more or less be a desolate wasteland with not a whole lot to do outside of visiting Tabetha for a few quests. They added Mudsprocket and a ton of other quests to spice it up a bit. Not to mention that it is the home to the dopest fisherman in Azeroth, Nat Pagle.

2. Burning Crusade: In BC, Nagrand was far and away my favorite zone. It may be my favorite zone in the entire game. It has absolutely beautiful scenery all around the zone. You also get to help out that crazy hunter Nessingwary wipe out the animal population yet again. The zone is full of lakes, green fields, trees, and awesome floating islands. There are even several waterfalls for your viewing pleasure. This is the one zone I always make sure to visit before I head to Northrend on any of my characters. The quests arent really the greatest, but it makes up for it in atmosphere.

3. Wrath of the Lichking: My favorite zone in all of Wrath has to be Howling Fjorde. It is just an awesome looking zone to me. I love the whole Braveheart/Higlander feel to it. The stories in the zone are decent, but the looks are what really get me. If you want some great lore, go to Icecrown and Storm Peaks. If you want a beautiful zone, Howling Fjorde is it. An honorable mention goes to Grizzly Hills which is a very nice looking zone as well.

What are you favorite areas in all of WoW. Where is your happy place?


9 comments:

Leiandra said...

Two words for Terrokar Forrest: Ewok Village. I rest my case.

Anonymous said...

I know that everyone hates Desolace but I always had a soft spot for Shadowprey Village. It's a laid back fishing town with its own private beach, set in crystal blue waters. I always thought it'd be a great place to retire ;)


Also I love Aszhara. The falling leaves are so pretty, and it was always so empty.

Jong said...

Howling Fjorde for me too, mostly because I love the zone music.

Drazmor said...

in vanilla WoW, I actually loved Azuremyst Isle. As for scenery, I think it might be my fav. zone in the game. I loved the whole 'New World' feel to it.

Anonymous said...

Oooh, I'm actually pretty shallow when it comes to WoW zones actually. I like places that are pretty.

So I love Aszhara even though there's nothing there, it's just so melancholy and quiet and autumnal. I would totally retire there and maybe sit on a rock somewhere, singing sad songs of, um, PUGs gone bad.

From TBC, yep, Nagrand is just *gorgeous*. I loved it. Also Nesingwary! Bravo!

And I'm not mad keen on Northrend in general, but I do like the look of Scholazar Basin.

*vlad* said...

Vanilla WoW:
Best: I loved Elwynn Forest. It was the starter zone that grabbed my attention and kept it.

Worst: Silithus. Tough as nails mobs with rubbish drops and rubbish quests.

Burning Crusade:
Best: Nagrand, though the quest rewards totally sucked, and Nesingwary has always been the king of pointless grinds.

Worst: Blades Edge Mountains. A 'filler' zone if ever there was one.

Wrath
Best: Howling Fjorde. Love the scenery and the Viking-style lore.

Worst: Boring Tundra. It started off ok, then decended into stupid Goblin quests (searching wolf poo for photographs etc) rubbish.

@Drazmor. Azuremyst Isle only came with the BC expansion, so you can't call it vanilla WoW.

Zaphind said...

Maybe I'm not the most qualified to comment on this topic. Since I didn't start WoW until well after WotLK was released, I skipped a LOT of zones on my speed-run to level 80.

Still, it is interesting that I closed my eyes and thought for a minute or two after reading the initial question, and managed to match two of your three choices: Dustwallow Marsh, and Nagrand. The latter seems to be pretty much a consensus, so no surprise there. (Like someone was going to pick Hellfire Peninsula? As if.)

But Howling Fjord? Seriously?? I have nightmares of the sound that the Vykrul make when they aggro... a strange grunt that I can't even imagine how to put into writing. ("YahUHH") And I swear if one more of them tells me that he's going to eat my heart... Not to mention the equally annoying wolf-aggro sound. And the wolves that look like they were drawn by the creators of South Park; they are sort of blocky and without much detail or expression. I always get the sense that the release date was drawing near and they had to cut a few corners, and Howling Fjord got thrown together.

The best Northrend zone, by far, has to be Sholazar Basin. It is essentially the Nagrand of Northrend. Lots of lush greenery and wild animals, waterfalls and lakes... and that douchebag Nesingwary running around taunting your hunting skills.

"D" said...

Ooh, always a fun topic. :-)

Vanilla WoW: I LOVE the look, music, and feel of Winterspring. Even today, I happily go there to grind herbs or leather. The quests are nothing special, but the beautiful sparkling whiteness of the north edge by the Winterspring Saber trainer to the grand canyon filled with giants on the southern edge to the area with the owlkin that gets darker as you walk into it .. love every bit of it.

Worst: I remember leveling my first main, my priest, and coming across Desolace. "Ew, this place is gross," I thought, and told my boyfriend as much. After questing there for a bit, I was killing some scorpid or centaur or something and up pops in general chat: "Ew, I forgot how gross this zone is." Heh. (Honorable mention is the Badlands, where you can't walk two steps without aggroing a stupid vulture, hyena, or earth elemental.)

Burning Crusade: Does the Isle of Quel'danas count? I love the Blood Elf world - if the Isle doesn't count, then I'd have to say Blood Elf level 1-10 area. Seriously, the music is gorgeous and the quests are relatively fun and easy. And all the pretty, pretty Blood Elves! (If I'm forced to pick somewhere in Outlands, I guess I sort of kind of enjoyed the open prettiness of Nagrand.)

Worst: Hellfire Penninsula, ugh. Annoying, ugly, and horribly boring quests. :-P I'm glad that I'll be able to just fly over the zone after this upcoming patch.

Northrend: I like Howling Fjord a lot, but my favorite zone ever since I first laid eyes on it while exploring at level 70-71 is Grizzly Hills. The music reminds me of the Two Towers LotR movie, and I can almost smell the scent of pine in the air by Amberpine Lodge. Bears fishing in the river and eagles soaring overhead - it's just gorgeous. The music on the eastern side, though? Best music in the game, in my opinion. Epic and beautiful! Technically, it is also the music for the northern snowy parts of Howling Fjord, but I never had the pleasure of questing up there. Once I do, I may change my mind about my favorite area, since there are beautiful, beautiful parts to Howling Fjord as well.

Worst: I'd have to say Icecrown. Unlike Storm Peaks, it's not cold and beautiful. It's cold and drab and ugly. The quests are excruciating unless you have epic flying, and even then they still take forever, and having to be in a group for a good number of the quests is just grating (I'm a priest, so no I can't solo those quests, you overpowered feral druids and ret and prot paladins.)

Unknown said...

Vanilla WoW:
Hmm... I'd actually go for Duskwood. At start i didnt like the whole dark and creepy scenery but the worgen quest chain rly made me love the zone and the lore in it.
Worst: Un'Goro Crater.
BC:
I know every1 loves nagrand but tbh, i skipped that zone. Zangarmarsh was my favourite.
Worst: Blade's Edge ofc

WoTLK:
Storm Peaks was my fav because of the lore
Worst: Borean Tundra