Continuing my series from yesterday: Pike’s opinions of the zones of World of Warcraft.
Ah, Eastern Kingdoms. I tend to avoid it while leveling, primarily because despite my soft spot for Alliance and for normal PvE servers, the vast majority of my alts have somehow wound up being Horde on a PvP server (irony much?) and as such, you are considerably less likely to be ganked in Kalimdor (Ashenvale being the big exception). Eastern Kingdoms, on the other hand, is filled with more places to avoid. Anyways, let’s take a look.
Isle of Quel’danas: I pretty much lived here in Burning Crusade for a good month or two. It’s how I saved up money for my epic flyer. Once I had it, I vowed to never go back. >.> I did go back for a brief moment with Lunapike, my second 70, unfortunately that was on my PvP server and it was pretty much the Revenge of the Wrath of Gankzilla so I wound up doing the Shatt dailies instead. I did like that one daily where you flung bombs at people, though…
Eversong Woods: It’s pretty and there are magical brooms like from Fantasia, and there’s a fun quest where you get to polymorph this guy. I only really quested here once, though. I went back later with a troll, but promptly encountered the Ammo Vendor NPC who refused to sell me ammo because I was a smelly troll. You may think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not, I swear to heck I couldn’t buy ammo. So, being a proud troll, I left. Hmph, I say.
Ghostlands: I quested about half of this place once before growing extremely bored and scrapping that character entirely. Since then my Ghostlands experience has pretty much been narrowed down to two things: Zul’Aman meeting stone, and exploring the crazy undead stuff in the southern end of the zone when I was curious to see what it was.
Everybody tells me this is the place to quest so I may end up giving it a second try. Maybe. We’ll see…
Tirisfal Glades: Was always a little too creepy and dark for me personally, although the Eastern edge by the plaguelands grows randomly pretty for a moment or two. No, seriously, it does. Anyways, my fondness for this zone depends greatly on my mood and if the character I’m playing has a good reason to be there or not.
Oh wait, I just remembered Scarlet Monastery, aka Second Best Thing in the Game After Karazhan. Yeah, Tirisfal can stay. *nod*
Western Plaguelands: I like all the “kill the skeletons” quests cause they’re short n’ sweet but I typically don’t do much here beyond that. Scholo is a brilliant instance though, but I’m not quite as obsessed with it as my significant other is (he has been farming that place for Headmaster’s Charge for years and has never seen it. Also, once he drew me a detailed map of that whole instance from memory. This was promptly followed by maps of Naxx and Stratholme. But I digress.)
Eastern Plaguelands: Crazy zone that I’d love to do more in but I always get distracted by Winterspring. *cough* I love the little dialogue that goes on in Light’s Hope Chapel. One time they gave me a quest to go to Naxx and kill stuff. It was a level 60 quest. I completed it in level 80 Naxx. I got 40 silver for it. It was great.
Gosh, I will never forget the day before patch 3.0. I got keyed for old Naxx and then me and some friends went inside. I’d never been in before.
Bigglesworth never gets a break, does he?
There was also a random Night Elf NPC sitting by the wall who I seem to recall having some really suggestive dialogue though I can’t remember the specifics. (It’s also possible I was just really tired at the time.) We– hunter, warlock, paladin– attempted to three-man a couple pulls, one of them was the spiders in Spider Wing (lolwipe) and one of them was a gargoyle which we eventually aalllllmost DPS’d down and healed my pet through, at which point the gargoyle promptly healed himself. /facepalm @ us.
The boyfriend and paladin friend decided to log out in Naxx. The night before it was deleted. The next day they couldn’t log in because the whole game would crash and they had to contact GMs. I giggled.
Silverpine Forest: GO HERE IF YOU WANT TO FARM BRIARTHORN. I’m serious.
Also, Shadowfang Keep is awesome.
Alterac Mountains: This zone is fun. And it used to be hard. Remember when that ogre town was all elites? Good times.
Hillsbrad Foothills: I really liked this zone on my RP server. Then I made the mistake of going there on my RP-PvP server. Hillsbrad… I will quest no more forever.
Arathi Highlands: Probably one of my favorite zones period; it’s so pretty and Stromgarde is a lot of fun. You used to have to go there to get First Aid training as an Alliance. I don’t think you do anymore, which is sort of sad, because it was fun that it was out in the middle of freakin’ nowhere.
The Hinterlands: Tragic tale with this zone. I loved this zone. I loved it a lot. I loved it so much that I did millions of quests there and then… I got sick of it. I can hardly stand the place now. I go there, do the Jintha’alor quests (another place that used to be crazy challening and fun but it was nerfed… it’s still pretty fun though), and then leave once those are finished.
Also: getting to the Horde town in this zone is a royal pain in the rear. WTB a better map so I stop hurtling to my death off of the cliff. >.>
Wetlands: I have a soft spot for this zone. I spent a lot of time there on my first character and so it’s pretty nostalgic. When I was level six and being run to Stormwind, though, those crocodiles? *shudder*
Dun Morogh: It’s no Winterspring, but it’s not bad. By the way, I like Gnomeregan. *is shunned*
Loch Modan: It’s so pretty! But I have a hard time getting into the quests here. And some of the quests here are hard. Those troggs, eesh.
I remember the first time I did the Children’s Week quests. I was level 16 or so and my orphan kid wanted to go to the big dam here. I went there for the first time and was just as awed as my orphan. I always think of that when I think of this zone. <3 Searing Gorge: I maintain my stance that Blackrock Mountain is basically the most epic thing Blizzard has ever done. As such, I like Searing Gorge by default, even though the quests there tend to be a pain in the butt.
Burning Steppes: See above. I think I might actually like Burning Steppes a little more than Searing Gorge. Mostly because of the whole Ruins of Thaurissan which has this whole creepy and epic feel to it.
Badlands: I remember the first time I went here as a Hordie. It was like “FINALLY AT LONG LAST I CAN FLY FROM UNDERCITY TO BOOTY BAY!” And gosh, getting there as a Hordie was a pain, too.
Anyways, this is an okay zone that I’ll usually do a quest or two in before moving on. The random-mob-who-likes-to-aggro-on-you population density seems to be unusually high here, though, so I typically don’t spend much time here because I get annoyed.
Elwynn Forest: Love it, it’s Nostalgia Central. All we need is for Goldshire and its vampire RP conclave to be taken off the face of Azeroth and we’ll be good to go.
Redridge Mountains: Full of fun quests although said quests said to be a notch high in the difficulty level, I’ve noticed. I die here a lot as a lowbie. >.> I still enjoy this zone overall.
Westfall: Say what you will, this zone is awesome. The Defias questline is made of three parts win and two parts fun, and Deadmines is one of the bestest instances ever. <3 Westfall. Darkshire: The last time I seriously quested here was on my first character, Tawyn. This was back when Mor’ladim would show up behind you and OMGPWN you in about two hits, and back when Stitches was the scariest thing known to mankind. The quests here were really great; I have no idea why I haven’t quested here since my first toon. I should do that again. *puts on “To do” list*
Gosh… those questlines… some of the best in the game, really, at least until you get to Zul’drak. Good stuff.
*giggles at level 29 Wash*
Deadwind Pass: The first time I went in here out of curiosity, I was owned by these level ?? carrion birds. Then I saw a level 70 brazenly run into those birds. I was like, “Noooooo!!!!!!!” but on he went, completely unfazed. I was astounded.
Anyways, Karazhan is my favorite thing ever so by extension, I love me some Deadwind Pass. It could really use some more love.
Swamp of Sorrows: Horde has some decent quests. Alliance has some annoying quests. Sunken Temple is my LEAST favorite instance of all time to the point that even Gundrak is painful because it’s all too familiar. Final Verdict: B- , but extra credit because Stonard is a nifty lil’ lore town.
Blasted Lands: You know those quests where you kill millions of different animals to make these elixirs and stuff for you? Pretty sure those quests have the worst drop rate in the entire game. Just sayin’.
Used to be the awesome place for leveling weapon skill because of those mobs that never die but I think they nerfed that. >.>
This one time, I tried to solo one of the demons in the Tainted Scar. Yeah, that didn’t work…
Stranglethorn Vale: “And back in my day, we walked up and down Stranglethorn Vale– no mounts, no extra flight points– uphill both ways!” *waves cane*
Ahem, I actually enjoyed this zone on my first character. I felt like I was there for fifteen-bloomin’-levels, but I liked it nonetheless.
Then pretty much all my alts after that were on a PvP server aaaaaaaand yeah. I’ll wake up really early in the morning to do the Nesingwary quests cause they have good loot, then I run far, far away…
Next time: Outlands and Northrend! STAY TUNED~
Stranglethorn Vale… I first did the quest there on my main when she was a max-lvl-70 – both my main and main-alt got so incredibly slaughtered over and over again just by stepping foot in that freaking zone! On the flip side, yeah I like the zone as well – did them at proper levl on my hunter (when the hiatus before Wrath had kicked in so not much going on at all anywhere) and it was just so much fun!
“Hillsbrad… I will quest no more forever.”
I wonder how many of your readers will recognize this reference.
I tried soloing one of those felguard elites in the Tainted Scar on my prot pally in BC and it ended quite terribly.
I recently went back on my death knight tank to see what it would be like and it was kind of sad. I mopped the floor with the first one, pulled three at a time to see if that ramped up the difficulty and even then it was still a breeze.
Loved both the articles! Lets see….. I don’t have too much experience in kalimdor – I am a diehard alliance, and my main is a human….. But I did get to play in ungoro, tanaris, Theremore, and Darkshore on various alts, and I think I like Darkshore the best. I agree – a dark/dank pacific northwest hits it right on the head, now that I think about it. Gosh, as I am picturing it in my head, I can almost smell the salty air.
As for eastern kingdoms, my favorite place, by far, is Darkshire. The ambiance in there, themeing, really lends itself to the dark side of azeroth (better than most zones in northrend). The quests in there are epic, and are awesome to the max.
What a great idea for a series of articles pike! I don’t think I will do a replica of this, but I think I would like to do the 5-Man instances!
I am really really really really really looking forward to doing Duskwood on my Alliance toons. Just sayin’. All the Alliance zones are very much “Oooo, aaaah” to me right now.
Oh Jintha. Have you seen it lately? All the Trolls got beefy, it’s kinda awesome (if you like that model, which I do ohyes)
I’d like to see Pike top 5 best and worst instances too.. just to see how it compares to mine.
Loving these posts!!
I have recently just rolled my first Horde I plan on taking to 80 (Orc Hunter), now that you can roll Alliance and Horde on the same PVP server. I have yet to do many of the Horde areas.
With that said, I am with many others in saying one of my favorite zones is the Darkshire/Duskwood area. The mood, ambience, quests, and STITCHES!
As for STV, I have a love/hate relationship with that place being on a PVP server. I hated it while leveling because I was a noob and never PVP’ed. Love it because of the quests, the vastness of it, and Booty Bay! Now that I primarily PVP, maybe its time to level another toon in there and see how well I fair.
For some reason I always finish all Duskwood quests on all my alli alts. Even though I hate, HATE the long walk between the graveyard and Darkshire, I never seem to get enough of the quests there. The place has really grown on me. <3
Elwynn Forest… I can deal with the vampire conclave… can we just nuke the bleep out of all the ERP?
I mean seriously, the next time a not dressed NE wiggles up to me and asks if I wanna have some fun, I’m going to just snap.
I would LOVE to quest in Goldshire (typed Goldshite originally) if it weren’t for the ERPers that seem to pounce on me as soon as I step foot in the Inn long enough to do the few quests pertaining to it… not to mention the Darkshire one that leads you back there….
Though, on an RP server, running out of the Inn screaming that its gonna kill me (Darkshire Quest Chain) is always good for at least one person to stop dead, stare, and then ask if I’ve just been ERP’d.
And, I’ve been reminded I need to go back and murder Stitches… thank you.
I remember the period of BC when new talents were released before Wrath launched. As a prot paladin, I was able to successfully solo a fel reaver. A few days later I stopped by the Tainted Scar and decided it’d be fun to kill some felguards down there.
Five minutes later, a very dead paladin was corpserunning back towards the Tainted Scar. I’ve been scared of the elite demons in the Blasted Lands ever since.
I mostly remember Hillsbrad for how impossible it was to quest there. These days though, I can bring in a level 80 main if someone is really annoying me. I leveled on a PvP server just long enough to know Hillsbrad is its own special kind of nightmare on a PvP server. The zones I’ve enjoyed the best though are probably Dun Morogh, Loch Modan, the Hinterlands and Arathi Highlands. Several of my human characters hail from Arathi in their backstory, which helps. The zone has a certain feel of Mulgore to it that I’ve always liked.
I just recently rolled a few Alliance toons, and I must say, I am quite in agreement about Duskwood, it’s quite epic….and Westfall. The amount of lore I was missing out on by only playing Horde … >.<
aww STV. I was there on my first toon… I spent my lvl 30-50 in STV and Tanaris. And then lvl 50-60 in Felwood. yay for slow lvling! :3
Kohaku