Zoning out

One of the things that I think is very well done in WoW is the variety of zones you play through while leveling up. It isn't just that there are different climates and creatures, or that each zone has its own history that you learn about as you quest there and a lot of it coincides with Warcraft history in general which is cool if you've played the other games. No, it's more how you can change your progression through the game just based on what zones you choose to go through. I mean seriously, if each time you started a new character you had to play through the game the same way as you did before, why would you bother to do it? We require more variety than just playing through the game as a different class or race, we need to do the whole thing differently. Luckily the game is set up like this, with two or three different zones for each level bracket. Not only that, but beginners probably don't know about the options they have, but the game makes up for that by having quests that send you between zones, allowing you to explore new areas and maybe find out you'd rather be questing in Ashenvale than in Redridge. I know each alt I have runs through the game differently, just to add some variety. Besides, if they only had one zone per level bracket then every zone would end up like STV, gankfest galore.

Alright, I don't hate every aspect of STV, actually, it's one of my favorite zones. No, I don't go around with one of my high level characters and gank n00bs left and right, I just like the variety of quests and just how much there is to do in just this one zone. It's almost like two zones actually, with the northern area and the Nesingwary quests being for slightly lower levels, then progressing south as you get to higher levels and do more quests for Booty Bay. I also like Un'Goro Crater and its prehistoric feel, with dinosaurs, volcanoes, and you always have to watch your back for those wandering devilsaurs that always seem to sneak up on you, even though they are huge. My favorite zone though, is Duskwood. I'm not really sure why, but while the zone gives me the creeps, and the run from Darkshire to Raven Hill sucks when you don't have a mount, I still like the way many of the quests coincide with each other and tell stories in the process. I always do the Morbent Fel and Stalvan quest lines, even though they send you all over the world and take a lot of time to complete, just because they are really cool story lines and make me feel like I've accomplished something more than just completing a quest. I'm gonna miss that place, as all my Alliance alts are past that point now and Horde don't quest there.

Now as far as zones I hate, I would have to say STV again. Wait, didn't I just say it's one of my favorite zones? Don't worry, I did, but playing on a PVP server has taught me to love the PVE aspect of STV but hate the PVP aspect, mainly the massive amounts of ganking that goes on there. While most zones in the game can be bypassed in favor of other zones of the same level, STV is pretty much required if you use questing as your primary means of leveling. Sure you could go to Desolace or Hillsbrad, but those zones are slightly limited in the number of quests you can do, so STV is the place to be for pretty much everyone in that span of levels, plus the high level ganking bastards that have nothing better to do. Other zones that I don't particularly like are Azshara and Stonetalon. Azshara is just the middle of nowhere and gets boring real fast, and Stonetalon seems like it's only a viable zone for Horde. I did Stonetalon while leveling my druid it I hated it, of course that was before Stonetalon Peak had a flight path or innkeeper, but it's still pretty much on the opposite side of the map from every quest they give you. And the number one crappy zone would be...Desolace. As mentioned before, you can go there instead of STV, but it sucks, and as the name implies, is very desolate. I think Ratshag described it best as a "bunghole", which is pretty much dead on, I just can't think of a better word for it.