Breakfast Topic: The starting zones you most love or hate
by Heather McMillion 
Nov 28th 2010 at 8:00AM
With Cataclysm looming, I find myself tearfully saying goodbye to the game as I've always known it. I have leveled (well, at least partially leveled) a character of every race on the Horde side (except an orc), and I've leveled a night elf out of the starting zone on the Alliance side. Now, everything has changed. The starting zones that I grew to love or hate are already different, and I'm not sure what to think about that.
I loved the tauren starting experience, and I hope that it only gets better with the new expansion. However, I quickly tired of the orc/troll starting zone. Likewise, I did not have the urge to go through the blood elf starting experience with multiple characters. But once I gave it a chance, I enjoyed the undead experience quite a bit. I think what I enjoyed about the tauren and undead experiences was that I felt like I was involved in the lore. Additionally, I found that the scenery of Mulgore and Tirisfal Glades made the leveling experience more enjoyable.
Which pre-Shattering starting zones do you think were the best, and which ones were the worst? With the world having undergone such a drastic change this week and more still to come, which new leveling experiences are you looking forward to the most?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Cataclysm, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Ste Nov 28th 2010 8:04AM
Has to be the blood elf starting area I think, Durotar second.
Oplenty Villarreal Nov 28th 2010 8:14AM
Azuremyst FTW
you get a good gear the chain quest are good and you can get a Blood Elf Bandit Mask if you get lucky
Straz Nov 28th 2010 12:25PM
I absolutely loved Azuremyst and Bloodmyst. Instead of questing to learn about what already happened, you are actually learning about your race as the lore is happening. The quests are fun, the locale is beautiful, and the music is tense yet ambient. As far as immersion goes, it's probably the most well done starting zone in the game. Not to mention the whole "we just crash-landed" aspect makes you not feel like you're doing a quest for lazy questgivers, instead you feel like you're helping out because you're desperately needed.
The Blood Elf starting area was well done as well, but I tired quickly of being reminded to remember the Sunwell.
My least favorites would have to be Dun Morogh because of poor quest flow and unimpressive lore integration, Mulgore because of bad drop rates and tons of unnecessary travel, and Elwynn because of the enormous amount of backtracking you end up doing.
Malon Nov 28th 2010 8:14AM
I actually love the Blood Elf starting area; pre-Shattering it was by far my favourite starting zone, and I play Alliance. Conversely I really didn't like the Draenei one; I guess it all felt a bit temporary, the Exodar having just crash-landed, with a mashup of different cultures (Furbold, Human, Night Elf, Gnome), and the Draenei culture never came through.
Parker Nov 28th 2010 8:09AM
I HATE Mulgore, and I love Shadowglen.
Killik Nov 28th 2010 10:17AM
Mulgore is nice, if you enjoy a lot of running through grassy meadows.
Tirrimas Nov 28th 2010 11:20AM
Mulgore has vastly improved with the Shattering. The questlines have been streamlined and transportation provided between quest hubs. It was actually enjoyable on my pally kau.
Magicdave Nov 28th 2010 8:13AM
Dwarf and gnome starting area! Crunchy snow, warbling flute ambient music... Kind of missed it when I joined horde, but then they made Northrend- nice.
Skizzit Nov 28th 2010 10:20AM
I also was always a big fan of the Dwarf land, even though I play Horde. The very first character I ever made was a dwarf hunter way back in the vanilla beta and I still remember being completely in awe of the Dwarf starting zone. Everything was just so amazing looking and such an incredible attention to detail down to the little things like the crunch of the snow and the footprints left behind. No MMO out then was even close.
As far as the new areas, I cannot wait to play them all. So far I have done the Undead, Troll and Gnome's and if the rest are similar, Blizzard has really done a great job with them. If you liked the Mulgore and Tirisfal Glades because they felt like they were a part of the Lore, then you will love the new starting zone. Gone are the "kill 10 rats" type of quests for the most part. All of the quests are pieces of an overall story. Complete with NPC's that sometimes join in the questing with you (I miss you Darnell) Really loads of fun.
Schadenfreude Nov 28th 2010 11:17AM
I loved the Dwarf/Gnome starting area too.
mosiah Nov 30th 2010 11:09AM
Is it just me or is there some kazoo music in the dwarf/gnome starting area now?
Artificial Nov 28th 2010 3:33PM
Pre-Shattering, I hated Dun Morogh, and there seemed to be next to nothing in Loch Modan. The Kharanos quests in particular gave new meaning to loreless, boring grind-fest. After my first dwarf, every subsequent dwarf or gnome I've made, as soon as they could make it through the tunnel, immediately headed for the tram and went to Elwynn Forest.
I imagine it's much improved now... I'll have to see.
ISA Nov 28th 2010 8:23AM
Looking forward to the Worgen starter zone. The scenery/town looks like something out of a Sherlock Holmes story.
The only starter zone I didnt like was the Tauren starter zone. There wasnt really any story lines to follow, pretty boring/bland quests, and got worse when I hit Barrens.
iammurlocftw Nov 28th 2010 11:44AM
Have to disagree with you on the no interesting storylines. i thought the one where i think it was trials of some sort and you got to follow a ghost wolf was neat
NielsdeJONG Nov 28th 2010 8:14AM
The Worgen one ofcourse XD
Sure, the Goblin starting zone has had more attention from Blizzard, and it's pretty nice to look at, but it's pretty much a comidical relief scene for the Horde. It's just a whole lot of pop culture references tied together in what makes it look like a cartoon instead of something lorewise. The only upside is that your going to meet Thrall, but that's about it.
I will play through it once mind you, but it is the Worgen starting zone that really has me excited!
The storyline is much more serieus, and you can really feel the gloomy atmosphere it gives you! Also the way your character plays through it makes you sympathize with their plight and their fight against the Forsaken.
Don't get me wrong, I like how original the Forsaken starting zone was, and it had some really hilarious moments in it. But after I found that your pretty much becoming a murdering servent of the Lich queen, it kinda lost it's appeal to me. I don't mind the morally questionable characters, but killing an entire town of NPC's which belong to a neutral faction such as Dalaran kinda made me wish they would never recognise me there :P Still, it was a well made zone.
Can't wait to level my Worgen drood and go after Deadwing. I already have a full heirloom equipment set ready for him for the first 80 levels :)
Nick Nov 28th 2010 8:20AM
Up until now forsake was actually my favourite.
To prepare for cata I have rolled a gnome priest (already got a human one) and a gnome rogue. I'm Dual Boxing them with an RAF account I made, got a gnome mage to go with the priest and a nelf druid to go with the rogue.
I'll play my worgen druid (got a nelf one on my main account already) through the starting zone, then use my raf levels to bump him up to 60 before taking it slow through Outland and Northrend.
I have all the heirloom gear anyways, but am slowly running out of character slots!
Dabeastdruid Nov 28th 2010 9:17AM
@Nick then ull miss the cata fun
Nick Nov 28th 2010 9:29AM
not really, get the new questing experience now on the rogue/druid combo and priest/mage combo.
I'll still do the worgen starting zone, but after that it'll be same old same old.
xavs42 Nov 28th 2010 7:00PM
Alliance: Draenei
Horde: Blood elves, although I liked the Tauren one too.
I just made a new Tauren yesterday though, and I have to say that the changes to the starting zone are pretty awesome and I really love it.
DeathPaladin Nov 28th 2010 8:17AM
Favorite Pre-Shattering starting zone (not including Death Knight): Draenei
Least Favorite Pre-Shattering starting zone: Tie between Orc/Troll and Dwarf/Gnome
The Blood Elf zone also gets an honorable mention in the least favorite section because it is an absolutely massive zone effectively split in two by a path of angry undead that has to be navigated on foot. I'm sure its been spruced up a bit with the addition of extra flight paths, though.
As for Post-Shattering, the only starting zone I've done so far is Night Elf, and I'd consider the new Night Elf zone to be better than the old Draenei one. I'm most looking forward to checking out the Worgen zone, though.