This is entry #9 in the 30 days of WarCraft series of articles.
My favorite zones…
Classic WoW
Kalimdor
Darkshore – I love this area probably for sentimental reasons. Venturing through Darkshore always reminds me of the best of times — the simpler times, when I was a fledgling little Night Elf huntlet, filled with wonderment, and experiencing Azeroth for the first time. Deathwing’s ripped it up pretty bad, so these days it doesn’t hold the same sentiment for me, but back in the day I always enjoyed leveling alts through there.
Ashenvale – I like Ashenvale for many of the same reasons as Darkshore, but even more so. It’s probably my favorite Kalimdor zone. This area had some really interesting quests, with loads of content variety. There were Naga, Furbolgs, cultists, elementals, bog creatures, werewolves, angry dead druids and that evil warlock guy with all his minions. Ashenvale was also a hot spot for Alliance/Horde conflict. I recall some pretty fun fights vs the horde in Astranaar. 🙂
Ashenvale was also home to one of my most sought after rare pets — Mist Howler. I scouted for him for-ev-er on my dwarf hunter. I had begun to think he was only a myth, but then one day…
Stonetalon Mountains – I’m not a huge fan of the entire zone, but I think Sun Rock Retreat is one of the greatest places in the entire game. If Blizz ever lets us buy a slice of land in the game (god forbid), I’d like to set my Orc hunter up there. It’s one of these pieces of game scenery that just makes me go aaaahhh…
Eastern Kingdoms
Duskwood – I like the spooky atmosphere of Duskwood. I’m a fan of old horror movies, so the feel of this place really appeals to me. The quest chains involving Mor’Ladim, Stitches and Stalvan Mistmantle are a few of my favorites. I like the sprawling catacombs beneath Raven Hill Cemetary, with all of its hidden passages and so forth. There also used to be two pretty cool rares that could spawn in there — Lord Malathorn & Commander Felstrom. Malathorn used to drop a Spiked Collar, which was a pretty fun and gimmicky item for low level BGs.
Stranglethorn Vale – STV was probably the first zone that absolutely blew my mind. I was amazed at the graphics in that area. All of the waterfalls, bright foliage, the coastal scenery, the reefs, etc… and it just doesn’t get much better than Booty Bay. 🙂 Blizz did an amazing job in creating the layout and feel of Booty Bay. Being someone who enjoys all things piratey, I’d have to say Booty Bay is one of the most colorful major cities in all of WoW.
STV also reminds me of countless battles in the Gurubashi Arena. Whether it was me attempting to solo the chest with one of my twinks, or to help fellow guild mates loot their tokens, I had many a fun time there. 🙂
Hinterlands – The Hinterlands has always been a favorite zone of mine. I remember back when I had to venture there to advance my leatherworking — for the life of me, I could not figure out how to get there. For starters, I’d never even heard of the place. When I did find out where it was located, I had the damnedest time trying to find the way there. At that point in time, I had yet to start looking to outside internet resources to assist me in-game. I was still finding everything out the hard way. 😉
When I did reach the place I was not only gratified by having finally reached my destination, but also taken by the scenery and character of the place. I love: the lush rolling meadows, the woodsy feel of the place, and I like how it transitions from an alpine village to a coastal area, with lots of lakes in between.
There are a lot of nasty trolls there, as well as green sludge oozing about. Apart from that though, the place is great!
This is turning into a decent size post, so I think I may make it a multiple-parter. I’ll add additional entries for TBC, WotLK and Cataclym.
So, what are your favorite classic zones?
“Duskwood – I like the spooky atmosphere of Duskwood. I’m a fan of old horror movies, so the feel of this place really appeals to me.”
I used to freak out when I noticed the pairs of glowing and blinking red eyes hidden inside the bushes around the zone.
And I was so noob to get obessed with taking down the elite fat undead guy wandering the main road, in hopes of getting an awesome drop, although his level seemed ?? :P.
Winterspring – so quiet and peaceful. I also love the sound of the snow crunching under your feet. It is by far my favorite area in all of Azeroth.
Vanilla – Darkshore/Ashenvale, pre Shattering
BC – Nagrand
LK – Sholazar and Stormpeaks equal
Cata – Hands down Hyjal, glad we get to go back for 4.2
I love STV. I loved the scenery and questlines the first time I did it on my Alliance hunter, and absolutely adored having two flight paths and towns, and direct access to Orgrimmar on my Horde hunter. The added benefit of having a bank in the zone tipped it over the top! And I play on a PVP server, so it’s a gankfest while leveling, but I love it anyway. I was so worried they would ruin it in Cataclysm, but it looks great!
My favorite zones oddly enough always seen to contain Nesingwary and his crew:
Vanilla: STV
BC: Nagrand
LK: Sholazar Basin
Cata: Hyjall
If I had to pick a favorite zone overall, I’d go with Hyjall. I love the varied terrain, totally immersive lore and the mobs I fight in there are all pretty cool.
Stranglethorn Vale: Thar be trolls here!
Hinterlands: Thar be more trolls here! (Home to the Revantusk Tribe, which is the tribe I role played as belonging to, that is till I switched to playing a goblin).
Guess we are naming off all our favorite zones, so here are the rest of mine.
BC (Eversong Woods): Love the look and music of this area.
LK (Icecrown): Home to the Lich King, nuff said.
CATA (Uldum): Loved the whole “Indiana Jones” spoof questline.
Un’goro Crater. I loved the dinosaurs everywhere, and I enjoyed all the hints of an ancient past that you see scattered around everywhere. The big T Rex wandering around is pretty terrifying, and the high-level stone golems add a lot of mystery to it. The Link quest was fun, and back then, I had the patience for such a long chain.
Agreed about Duskwood, for the ambiance. The first time I played Warcraft, I played a paladin, and I had great fun zapping zombies with the glory of the light. The first time I saw Stitches walking down the road was amazing. I died to him, and when I respawned some higher-level toon was tanking him with a zillion lowbies taking potshots.
The Altar of Storms in Searing Gorge. Not the whole zone, but it was awesome flying over it for months before being high enough level to go visit it in person. Kinda like how the doors to Uldum taunted us for years before we got to see what’s on the other side.