In the end of my previous article about World of Warcraft I mentioned 5 most and least favorite zones. Many of these were opposite of what other players call their favorites. Here I decided to write a little bit about each zone and why I liked or disliked them.
Ashenvale (also Teldrassil and Darnassus as they use the same palette and art) This one is rather unsurprising for me personally. I already mentioned that I like Night Elves in WoW as well as their zone. I ever wrote why. While I can vaguely tell why say few players call Eastern Plaguelands their favorite zone, it is rather surprising why hardly anyone names Ashenvale among their favorites.
Ashenvale is Night Elves and Night Elves are Ashenvale. This zone and all that is within them define this race and its civilization. Constant night, gloving shrubs on the side of paved roads. Magical trees, driads, ancient ruins, wisps. There are mystery and magic in every corner. This is a zone you just cannot imagine existing in real life and that is what is good about it. It is unmistakenly otherworldly. It also reflects well on Night Elves as people; they are ancient mysterious. They were great once and mighty once and ruins scattered around them is testament to that. Just looking at what was left of them allows you to imagine just how great this civilization was in its prime. It was much greater, timeless, eternal even than anything else this world has. Night Elves who leave among the remnants of that ancient civilization reflect its glory a lot better than Blood Elves with their rather shoddy constructs. You can also learn more of Night Elves former glory by visiting Dire Maul dungeon in Feralas.
Ashenvale is definitive outlandish zone of magical mystery of night and a definitive fantasy.
Azshara is one of the most underrated zones in WoW. There are few quests there and no real questing hubs, so few people ever visit there. High cliffs make navigation challenging and annoying. Yes, practical reasons do not favor this zone, but I like it not because of that but because of how it looks and feels.
Azshara is Night Elf biome meets autumn beauty. Autumn is a peculiar season, sang and acclaimed by poets such as Pushkin in some of their most famous poems. I may be biased as I was born in the middle of this season, but I find autumn beautiful, not as much as tropical beach paradise such as Maldives and Teneriffe, but beautiful, nonetheless. Speaking of tropical paradises, Azshara has lots of coastline with beautiful beaches inhabitant by Nagas. Sea there is large and bountiful, many small rocks and islands, one is even a home to a mysterious hermit, Loramus, surrounded by several felhounds. More inland areas have Night Elven Hyppogryphs and mountain giants. All of them manage to coexist in peace and serenity. Serenity is one of the defining feels of this zone, everything is so magically peaceful, minds its own business and does not bother you. Beaches and the sea have a hint of sunset tinge to them, just at the perfect moment of evening twilight. Finally, there are even more Highborne ruins than in other Elven zones.
All in all, Azshara is the definitive zone of twilight of the Highborne civilization. I was almost inclined to rate it higher than Ashenvale, but eternal night and mystery edges it by a bit.
Desolace is often named as one of the least popular zones by other players. Some sure will be surprised to see it among my favorites. Nonetheless it is not a typo or mistake, I like Desolace and I will explain why.
Desolace is a place of large spaces, even larger kodo bones. Middle is a gray desert, but it is a very spacious desert that make you feel free and unencumbered. There is something eternal about all these bones and long wide roads that cut across this endless space. It feels you can go anywhere and keep going there for as long as you want. Horizon has a sunset feel to it. There are occasional statues and other monumental structures here and there, that gives you a hint it's not completely empty or barren.
However, far western and far eastern sides of Desolace have even more to offer. Far western areas have sparce vegetation, growing on the rocky cliffs, a biome peculiar to Greece and Greek islands. It has a unique rare beauty, that few manage to notice over the noise around them. Deep inland areas in contrast have satyrs and demons, together with the darkness they bring with them. As a warlock player, I do not find demonic darkness unpleasant, I would not be playing as warlock otherwise. In contrast I find it curious and stimulating, something to indulge myself into.
All in all, Desolace has a lot more to offer than what initially meets the eye. And that is without even touching Maraudon, that has some very interesting areas inside.
Westfall is probably the most normal zone of my favorites. Something others can possibly relate to.
Westfall is another more prosaic face of autumn: golden fields, ready to for harvest. Harvest is a very pleasant time for a farmer. Westfall combines some of the elements from Azshara and Desolace. From Azshara is takes autumn and from Desolace the space. It is a zone for those who like colour yellow, and I do like it. It is the colour of gold, sun, beer, butter and bread as well as the warm light inside a hospitable home. Westfall is ultimate livable zone, even more so than say Elvyn Forest. Its peaceful, its spacious and it even has some variety, a town, a tower, a mine, a coast a lighthouse and even a river. You can see far and wide there and that gives me certain comfort.
Westfall is warm, dry, cozy and very livable, what not to like.
Eastern Plaguelands is probably the hardest to understand. Toxic mist, ruins, decay, corruption and scourge monsters everywhere. Why would anyone like it?
The reason Plaguelands are here is because it is also an ultimate fantasy zone, a be it in this case it is a dark fantasy. Plaguelands is an example of how far a Scourge can go to twist and pervert everything in their image. Western Plagueland are half finished product while Eastern Ones are the complete work. It's all dead there, only undead roam the ruins.
However, seeing this monstrarium roaming the plains and even being one of them is one of the reasons people play fantasy games to begin with. In a game you can be a monster too, unaffected by the plague, you roam around, killing the innocent helpless humans and animals that dare to venture there.
Plaguelands also make a good backdrop for a tragic story of heroism where brave heroes took their last stand against the Scourge, fell and now roam these lands as undead. Stories like these drive fantasy forward. Lack of lands as desolated as Plaguelands in later expansion makes their storytelling cheap in comparison, whatever egg problem these dragons of Dragonflight are having, it's hardly more important and tragic that this.
Desolation of Plaguelands is what drives the story of World of Warcraft forward and gives meaning to many efforts, players put in the game.
Least favorite zones
Un'Goro is often mentioned as favorite zone by many players out there. Dinosaurs roam there and titans left something behind too. Why I hate it instead?
Un'Goro it just to green to my taste. It's completely unfiltered wilderness with nothing but wilderness. It's all green, green and nothing but green; you can't see the sky or more than 25 meters ahead. There is not a single building or something from a civilization. Despite being rather flat, it's hard to navigate and easy to get lost there. Everyone trying to eat you and most of them are hard to notice as they are as green as everything else here. There is even a green haze to make even non-green things greener. It's as digestible as eating lemons or sugar cubes raw without even drinking water along the way.
Redridge Mountains are also single colour like Un'Goro but too red instead. Mountains are reddish, roofs are red and there is hardly anything else aside from red in that zone. For an early level zone, it can be surprisingly hard to navigate, these mountains are very tall. Not as hard as Azshara but Azshara is endgame zone, by the time you reach Azshara you have mounts and other tools. In Redridge its all on foot and it can take forever.
Overall, there is just not enough in this zone to make it interesting. Its redness keeps you alert rather than calm and happy.
Dun Morogh is dwarf starting zone. This is a snow zone, and I am no big fan of snow. Compared to a rival winter zone, Winterspring, Dun Morogh loses because its more mixed bag than Winterspring. Parts of Winterspring looks like a picturesque winter fairytale from books and stories. That is what puts Winterspting ahead of Dun Morogh. Winter in Dun Morogh is too ordinary and boring, just everyone keeps going on despite the cold and shit. Not my cup of coffee.
Wetlands are another mostly dwarven zone, there is human settlement, but progression leads you there from dwarven Loch Modan. Wetlands is a dark swampy zone with not much interesting going on. It's kind of lost in the middle of nowhere, there are some orks, dark iron dwarfs, murlocs, gnolls and even ghosts of Kul'Tiran humans. It has no cohesive theme and overall, rather bleak. Yes, Dustwallow Marsh is even bleaker, darker and swampier, but it has white and shiny Theramore island, dragon areas and a Goblin outpost and a crashed zeppeling full of strange tech.
Finally, Feralas and north Strangelthorn Vale are much like Un'Goro, but Feralas has Dire Maul and Strangthorn has overall warmer shade of green that appeal to me more than one from Un'Goro. Stranglethorn Vale has many nicer areas mostly in the south around Booty Bay, but north is just too much wilderness.
I can mention a few more areas, but I will leave it at that instead. I think that gives good idea just what I like and why.
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