Breakfast Topic: Favorite zone
by Elizabeth Harper 
Feb 13th 2007 at 8:00AM
Everyone seems to have their favorite places in Azeroth (and now, Outland!). Zones you always look forward to leveling high enough to play in -- and zones you dread leveling high enough to play in. My own favorites are Duskwood (when playing Alliance) and Ghostlands (when playing Horde) for their immensely creepy feel. And my least favorite? That would have to be Stranglethorn Vale, the zone where, with every character I've played thus far, I give up on my obsessive need to complete every quest in a zone. What about you -- have any particular favorites or least favorites?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Features
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Twinny Feb 13th 2007 8:22AM
azshara, i have been fascinated with that zone since i first stepped into it.
Xyndra Feb 13th 2007 8:25AM
My favorate has to be Nagrand. It's so open and peaceful. I sometimes like to sit on the top of a hill looking over a valley and just listen to the music. Very calming.
Ben Feb 13th 2007 8:26AM
Shadowmoon Valley. The terrain is a bit on the bland side, but the quests there are just amazingly well designed. The chains are long and winding, often culminating with some epic battle and/or awesome scripted sequence. The stories are all engaging and relevant to Warcraft lore. And the tasks you're asked to carry out almost never feel bland or repetitive. Sure there are a handful of "kill 10 of this mob" type objectives, but even then the motivation is often interesting enough that it's not so bad, and then you get awesome and different goals like feeding dragons or taking control of a Fel Reaver.
All in all, it's the zone where I've had the most fun in the game so far.
shkss Feb 13th 2007 8:40AM
My favourite place must be, it's not an actual region, but it runs through two. It's the dead scar. It's just amazing to first set ees on the pretty colours of sunstrider isle, then move trough falconwing square and see the utter devastation of the scourge attacking guards by the ruins of the old silvermoon wall. My least favourite zone is thousand needles. It's a barren wasteland with little to do, and for some reason, it makes me uneasy. No idea why. Oh I have a deep hatred with the Ghostlands as well.
Zuuler Feb 13th 2007 8:44AM
I think my favorite zone so far has been Hellfire Peninsula. Four flight paths makes getting around very easy. The quests were well designed quest rewards were great for a lvl 60 who has never had any epic gear. Only enounter I hated was the head and hand of Kilrogg event in front of the citadel, where the guy spawns repeatedly, and you have to kill him 1 time for each member in your group that is doing that quest. The only thing I didn't like about Hellfire Peninsula was I went there right after the expansion was released. I had a terrible time getting named mobs, or even sometimes doing the "kill x mob y times" quests since it was a comopetition to get the instant cast off. And the worst of all things was people who would ride through the pools of agonar on their epic mounts and aggro a bunch of stuff then head right for you. At least have the courtesy to go around and not cause me a death when you drop aggro and they all come running back to me.
Most hated zones, well theres a lot. Desolace was probably the first zone I entered that I hated. I disliked stonetalon mountains but Desolace just sucked, especially since at lvl 30, if you want to go there you really need an escort to get through Manoroc Coven (killed by lvl 38 succubus). Unfortunately, being a warlock, I had several class quests to go there. Un'Goro was the next zone. No humanoids means no cannibalizing for health. Not to mention the dinosaurs that can one chomp kill you. Silithus wasn't any better. Taking a quest to kill lvl 53 mobs that spawn lvl 58 mobs when you're at lvl 51 isn't a good quest. I didn't go back there until 60, and that was to complete quests for gold.
Azshara is probably my most hated of all zones. It seems like a waste of a zone. It has a dungeon that was never implemented. It has a battle ground entrance that was never implemented. What few roads run through the zone are clogged with naga. If you are riding through their while still hated by the timerbermaw you have no easy way to cross the zone. It seems like the only useful thing in the zone is the guy who gives you MC quests and hes clear across the zone. Theres no inn, no mailbox, nothing more than a flight master and a few quest givers, and a world dragon. Seems like a zone blizzard could have done great things with but never did.
Kabira-Fenris Feb 13th 2007 8:55AM
I absolutely adore both Duskwood and Zangarmarsh. Least favorite? It has to be Teldrassil, followed closely by Badlands.
Hiroshi Feb 14th 2007 5:34PM
It's funny you say that about STV Liz, cause that's the first zone that comes to mind as my favorite. I love to PVP, and leveling is more of a necessity than a fun journey. In STV, the PVP is in abundance, and I can be picky about exp-efficient quests and still feel like every mob I kill is accomplishing some quest. As a result, the 30-40 stretch is always the fastest 10+ levels for me, and it's unfortunate as I hit less-accomodating zones shortly after.
Although my former main is only 62, it did seem like questing in Outland is fairly smooth and the PVP will undoubtedly be there with the contested towers and PVP rewards. I can't wait to get my new BE paladin caught up with the retired dwarf (Light rest his soul D:).
chaz Feb 13th 2007 8:49AM
For Questing Purposes
--------------------
Hate = Desolace
Love = WPL
For Visual Appeal:
--------------------
Hate = Desolace (I really hate this zone)
Love = STV (specifically the Vile Reef)
kirigoe Feb 13th 2007 9:35AM
I have kind of a special bond with Feralas, because I can still remember when I dinged 40 and got my mount as a human mage, got the hell out of STV (if you think STV is bad on a normal server, try PvP :/) and rode off to Feralas, just me and my trustworthy steed. Then again I was amazed at how beautiful Silvermoon was when leveling up my Blood Elf, even though we all have our favorites, I think we can all agree that all zones are really skillfully designed.
Dr. Funbags Feb 13th 2007 8:58AM
I am on a PVP server and I once loathed STV - but then I rerolled Rogue and surprisingly it is now one of my favorites.
yotix Feb 13th 2007 9:02AM
Favorite zone? Depends on the level of the twink ...
[Ally] My 44 Pala, 33 mage and 32 Rogue all went the same routes, doing mostly the same quests ...
~20: I hate, detest, despise Redridge...
~25: Duskwood, mainly because it's fairly close to SW. Some good fun to be had on the cemetery (if you avoid Mor'Ladim)
~30: At that level I parked the twink in the Duskwood inn. Whenever I feel like it, I go grind the undead around Stalvan's house. Oh, there's nearly always a chest either next to Stalvan's house, or next to a tree a bit to the northeast.
35: Are you going to want to do The Scarlet Monastery? If so, go get the quests. [Stormwind Cathedral, northeast cellar -> sends you to Brother Anton in Desolace -> you need to kill 30 undead in Southern Desolace -> go to Southshore -> get quest to kill all the bosses in the Monastery. Quest Rewards for this are okay.]
~35: Almost ready to hit the Badlands! Some fun quests vs. the Ogers (northwest); see if you're ready to face 35 elite mobs (Uldaman main entrance). Big bonus: Doing the quest for the Stopwatch (from Lotwil Veriatus I think; you need to farm earth elementals) will usually yield a couple of elemental earths.
~40: Feathermoon Fortress, Feralas. Basically I park the twink there, farm for wolves / naga whenever I get bored, and try to do the "defeat the Naga Lord" quest [cave on the little island just souh of FFF].
Feathermoon is also close to Gadgetzan, so if you manage to find a group for ZulFarrak ...
~43: If you're on a PvE server, go Gadgetzan and do the quests (killing desert thieves). Don't forget to visit the steam cartel village East of Gadgetzan, you get more quests [killing pirates on the east coast].
~45: Time to start huntin' for teddy bears ... southern Feldwood, here we come.
~48: Time to start thinking about the flight points near Blackrock: You want the one in Thorium Spike and the one in Morgan's Guard, though I've probably messed up re-translated the names to English. The point is: Start doing the Marshal Windsor quest early if you want to ever see Onyxia. (Many people HATE this quest (because they've done it so often) :-)
~50: You should now get a class quest in Azhara ...
~50: Fed up with grinding for teddy bear reputation yet? Go see the Argent Dawn guys in western plaguelands (first quest: 10 skeletons and ghouls each ... remember when people farmed these by the millions? ;)
~58: Go to Hellfire Peninsula :)
And in the new world? Favorite grinding spot right now is the Moor east of Telredor ... Herbalism 320+ means you can skin the giants, so each single giant gives you:
16-17 reputation with Sporeggar
a minimum of some 8 silver (in grey items)
very often Unidentified Plants Parts [trade for Cenarius Rep]
sometimes high-level herbs, up to & including fel lotus.
Bobonice Feb 13th 2007 9:06AM
I HATE Teldrassil.
I spent so long on that isle as a noob on my first character, exploring every nook and cranny. then I found out that I could take a boat to somewhere else.
Sweet salvation.
Larawen Feb 13th 2007 9:13AM
I absolutely love the feel of Duskwood, the questing is good and its one of the few places that I actually read the quest text in its entirety before level 50ish.
The worst zone has to be Desolace, It just amazing that painted the whole area with different shades of gray. The only positive aspect of Decolace is that no one wants to be there so ganking is at a minimum. In contrast to the other alternative to Decolace STV (my second most hated place (yes i am on a pvp server(yes i just did use triple brackets (can you tell that I'm a programmer, its like nested comments))));
Kryz Feb 13th 2007 9:25AM
For leveling, I always loved STV. Mobs weren't that hard, and a lot of stacking quests and stacking chains. Tanaris was another one I always looked forward to.
Now with Outlands, I really like being in Nagrand. Something about it makes me feel comfortable. It's like a Mario brothers game color scheme.
Romnious Feb 13th 2007 9:30AM
@6.. i like your style. im stealing it :P
For Questing Purposes
--------------------
Hate = zangermarsh... WORST EVER. its just one huge grind, over and over, kill 50 mobs for 10 items. droprate of everything in this zone is like 5%, and when i reroll, im really dreading going to back to this place. i guess if i play Hellfire right, i could probly skip zangar and go to trekforest, or whatever its called :P
Love = Hillsbrad foothills i love. its just plain fun, Hellfire was way fun, and i love all the quests in Nagrand.
For Visual Appeal:
--------------------
Hate = 1k Needles, Desolace, and sithlus just plain suck.
Love = STV is fun to look at, but not play when trying to level. And basicly all the new areas of outlands, i really like nagrand. im only lvl 65, so there are more areas to explore.
Orin Feb 13th 2007 9:34AM
I've played WoW for a LONG time, and Nagrand so far is my absolute favorite. The quests aren't very original, but the feel of the zone is much nicer than the rest that I've been to. Very bright and friendly feeling.
Keith Feb 13th 2007 9:49AM
Un'Goro Crater.
Reminds me of when I was a little kid and dinosaurs were the coolest thing in the world.
Laukidh Feb 13th 2007 10:43AM
Hate Hillsbrad because of the ganking... its fine every so often, but getting stealth ganked multiple times every quest... I'll pass. Same for STV.
Zangarmarsh sucks to get around, but I like some of the concepts of the zone. I dig the sporregar/bog lord war that's going on... and introducing murlocs to the marsh as a quest was just awesome.
Nagrand is just beautiful. So far, the most visually appealing zone in the game. It was also really cool to see some higher level beasts duke it out like wolves chasing rabbits in the old world.
Ravven Feb 13th 2007 10:09AM
My favourite zone is Azshara. There's not a whole lot to do there, which is unfortunate because it's absolutely gorgeous. I love the green, rich look of Nagrand, and the clean, cold feel of Winterspring - WoW is great at conveying the amosphere of place. I also love STV - perhaps because I've never played on a PvP server. :)
Least favourite zones would be Stonetalon and Desolace - barren, ugly places. Tanaris is barren but nicely done, and is actually quite pretty at various times of the day.
Anthony Feb 13th 2007 9:57AM
I love the Shimmering Flats.
The quests are simple, and the area itself is awesome. It's totally flat, meaning I can see for a long distance in any direction. It's a self-enclosed circle. Oh and it's absolutely perfect for grinding, because half the mobs are turtles and aren't linked or aggro when you run through.