Breakfast Topic: What place in Azeroth scares you?
by Brandon Cox 
Jun 30th 2011 at 8:00AM
If Amnesia: The Dark Descent has taught us nothing else, it has taught us that minds can be broken, and even the most brave and unshakable of men will succumb to fear and terror with simply ambient noise. Jump scares are aplenty, but it's the ambient sound constantly echoing throughout the dark halls of that game that really make my blood run cold. The anticipation of something around the next corner, not the thing itself; the unknown, not the known. In this way, anything, anywhere, anyone can be scary -- even Azeroth.
What area of Azeroth scares you the most? The first thing that comes to the minds of most is the infamous Karazhan Crypt. It has all the makings of a great horror story: ambient noise, suspiciously empty chambers, an ancient feel, and just a hint of a terrible backstory. Not to mention, of course, the scores of bodies hanging upside-down on rusted hooks submerged in water. The place is high octane nightmare fuel, and we know next to nothing about it.
I, personally, am far more terrified by the northern region of Deadwind Pass. The strange campsite called "Ariden's Camp" has haunted me since my first character, a lowly gnome warlock who had just ventured through Duskwood. Who was Ariden? Why is the camp abandoned? What of the Dark Riders mentioned in Duskwood? The not knowing ate away at my thoughts, and I began to create grisly links between the scant clues. That Blizzard has offered no explanation has done little to ease my fears, and to this day, I avoid the northern region of Deadwind Pass if at all possible.
Where do you find fear in the World of Warcraft, and why is it a scary place for you?<
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
MusedMoose Jun 30th 2011 8:07AM
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: silithid nests. Their weird organic nature, the glowing bugs used as light sources (are those things alive?!), the silithid themselves and the alien way they move, and those damned giant legs that stick up into the air AND TWITCH. LIKE THEY'RE ALIVE.
*shudder*
And of course, this just made it worse:
http://wow.joystiq.com/photos/around-azeroth-ph/full/#3818373
Cheb Jun 30th 2011 8:11AM
Silithid nests and the part in heroic Deadmines when you're in Helix's nightmare with all the spiders. Oh my god, every time I do that part I zoom in my camera as much as possible and heal facing the door. So many spiders. :(
Hillazon Jun 30th 2011 10:02AM
THIS x1000.
The slithid zones creep me out, so I avoid them whenever possible. Even though I LIKE spiders.
Beldoro Jun 30th 2011 11:18AM
oh oh - you are NOT going to enjoy Beth'tilac and her friends!
Noyou Jun 30th 2011 11:38AM
I don't think it's fear but insects bug the shit out of me. Even the baby ones in Un'Goro when I was 20-25 levels higher than them. That and they drop friggen bug parts when they die. As for things that scare me in game- not much usually when a player sneaks up with PoF on and you get that WHOOPSH! suddenly. That got me a few times I'm not going to lie. The zone's like swamp of sorrows where you have that greenish hue cast on you- kind of creepy/annoying.
The Giant Jun 30th 2011 11:58AM
If you want dangerous and creepy spiders with that eerie music lurking in the background, tearing you down, try questing in the Spider Hill area of Fallen Earth. I haven't been there in a while, but that place was giving me goosebumps.
Electrical spiders with the worst screech ever.
Wulfkin Jun 30th 2011 12:40PM
The 'scary spiders in an MMO' award has to go to Drachnids in Everquest. Half-elf, half-spider, all evil!
Pic: http://everquest.allakhazam.com/scenery/rage-drachnids.jpg
Plus they're all casters so you get hordes of spider-people rooting you to the ground so you can't get away....
Evil.
StClair Jun 30th 2011 1:44PM
Came here just to say this, and here you are with the first post.
venslor Jun 30th 2011 4:53PM
The glowing bugs hanging from the ceiling are actually based on a type of ant. These ants sit in place, and are fed food. They store the food in their abdomens, and can regurgitate the food for the colonies workers.
Here is a link: https://quantumbiologist.wordpress.com/tag/desert-life/
I hope that this actually makes these places creepier for you. hahaha You're welcome.
Halvan Jun 30th 2011 8:10AM
The first place that scared me while playing WoW was Raven Hill Cemetery. It went from gleefully killing Gnolls and Defias to a deserted cemetery filled with zombies and skeleton warriors. I was a WC noob back then so the sudden shift in environment was really jarring. Also Stitches. Just...Stitches.
patgamer Jun 30th 2011 8:12AM
Zul'Drak, the BIG wall on the outer edge.. And you can't see the water below.. infact the whole northern coast of Northrend freaks me out.
The underlight canyon or whatever it is in Vashj'ir? with all the neon blue seaweed stuff and it's really dark.. I'll swim through quickly if I'm mining/herbing on my alt every few weeks but yeah, that's only because I tend to never see other people gathering in that area.
Stardusted Jun 30th 2011 8:15AM
Any and every outhouse in the game. I've seen the things the various races eat...
Krishaa-ah-an Jun 30th 2011 8:17AM
The login-screen to UBRS/LBRS. Always catches me off guard :(
Duncan Jun 30th 2011 8:20AM
trade chat
MattKrotzer Jun 30th 2011 8:23AM
My gnome had a mental break after his encounter with the sand gnomes outside Auchindoun. Sand gnomes were a frequent myth told by gnomish parents to scare their children into good behavior... when he encountered one, he spent hours rocking back and forth, muttering "They come from below!" over and over.
(I really wish we had some lore explaining the sand gnome phenomenon.)
Knob Jun 30th 2011 8:26AM
The first and only time I got a knot in my stomach while playing WoW was when I was in Vahsj'ir...near the big cave at the end of the quest-flow of the zone, outside which the Abyssal Maw whirlpool exists. I decided to go down near the whirlpool.....now near the cave and on the normal "questing level" of Vashj'ir, the water is a mild blue and isn't that overwhelming. But once I neared the Abyssal Maw, the environment took on a very dark blue tone....it felt so constricting, I can't really explain it. I immediately swam back up.
Wulfkin Jun 30th 2011 12:46PM
With you on that one. There is something very creepy about dark water. Dark water in a zone which has old god tentacles in...
/shudder
Darias.Perenolde Jun 30th 2011 2:18PM
Yeah, I kept thinking it was a practical joke my guildies were playing on me. "Swim to the bottom so you can discover the entrance." Yeah, right. Hair standing up on the back of my neck, shoulders tense, eyes wide, I swam down in a panic.
...all sitting in my office chair, safe in my basement. Wimp.
KiwiYa Jun 30th 2011 8:28AM
I'm gonna second Raven Hill Cemetery! I was such an innocent little newbie the first time I quested through there; I had never seen the ghouls in the game before and even though they act kind of brainless and comical, I still think that dry-wood-for-skin makes them some of the creepiest monsters.
Abercrombie and Stitches have always been really haunting to me, too. IIRC, Stitches used to be Abercrombie's dead wife that you unwittingly helped him bring back, right? Or maybe daughter? Even if that never actually was part of the quest, that's how I must've interpreted it back in the day, because that's how I remember it. It was the first time an NPC ever betrayed me... D:
Interficio Jun 30th 2011 12:48PM
I would agree, when i first started playing wow a frw years ago i had a paladin happily leveling through elwyn, westfall, and redridge. But then came duskwood. The town, the trees, the worgen, and the enormous dragon in the middle. Not to mention running away (back when you didnt get mounts till 40) from a gigantic stitches. Then the raven hill, soo creepy. Even being a paladin i was scared and since then i have NEVER leveled a character in that area ever again.