I have to say that, while I can, in principle, agree with almost all of the criticisms leveled here, Hyjal is still one of, if not actually, my favorite of the 80+ zones. It just works for me.

I'd argue that it's the best strictly linear zone Blizz has done. Deepholme is more non-linear, especially at the beginning, but I was bored halfway through my first tiem there. Personal taste, I know. Uldum is beautiful, and it's neat that it has two storylines that branch pretty early, giving you the option to choose which to pursue, but has way too many non-skippable cutscenes. Cutscenes are fine, but let me skip them the second or third or fourth time I've seen them. The Ramkahen storyline was also kind of a non-starter. There's never any sense of the Tol'Vir being any significant threat to the Ramkahen, much less the Alliance or Horde, should it come to that. Vashj'ir is more like what you want, a constant stream or disasters and near-disasters the whole way through, but suffers for being entirely too long. Like, way, way, way too long. Twilight Highlands is pretty cool, but as it's so faction oriented, I'll withhold judgment until I'm able to complete it Horde-side. I will say that playing it Alliance makes me want to drop the hammer on the Dragonmaw en masse, for whatever that's worth.

Reply