I feel like the zones of Dragonflight do not have an identity. In other expansions, I used to love questing over and over again in the same zone, because they used to have a theme and almost all the quests were interesting. In DF, I feel that each zone is a huge whatever-land with too much unused space and almost all the quests are either memes or goofy stuff. I might have preferred if there were far more, smaller zones with their distinct themes. I can’t find any DF zone to be memorable and there is no questline I’d return to.
I can’t compare any DF zone to Eversong Woods (Perfectly introducing you to the race and its struggles), Bloodmyst Island (the red corruption was definitely a unique sight and the quests focusing on getting rid of the Belf threat), Dragonblight (hosts some of the best questlines, like the New Hearthglen for horde and the outside naxxramas questlines for alliance), Gilneas (same case with Eversong woods) , Hyjal (had the clear theme of pushing out the invaders and the phasing, indicative of our victories), Icecrown (similar to Hyjal with the phasing), Dread wastes (setting free the paragons and working for future enemies), Suramar (amazing storyline), Vol’dun (trying to survive the desert theme) and Drustvar (had some great, creepy questlines). Shadowlands’ zones had a distinct theme too but apart from Revendreth, the other locations felt soulless.
I don’t know what exactly I don’t like, maybe I’d love having a central quest hub again in each zone, whereas Dragonflight has tons of irrelevant outposts with flight paths with a single questline and too much dead space (Ohn’nara is a giant forgettable grassland), I miss phasing quests, a single location in Wrath or Cataclysm had 10-20 quests in the same location with phasing, this had you stay in the same location for long and actually made it memorable. Right now, I feel that each location has 3 quests in each subzone of the same pattern 1)kill enemies 2)loot smth 3)kill mini boss. It feels more like a repetitive chore and less immersive. And finally I miss race-introducing zones. I mentioned above how amazing Eversong woods and Gilneas feel and I’d make a new chara just to play through them again and again.
Sorry for the long post, but I couldn’t place my thoughts any shorter. Do you agree with any of these or it’s just me being nostalgic?
Well whats wrong with not every part being used? In bfa or shadowlands basicly every single part of the zone had a purpose and the zones did not feel like real zones but like a themepark. Atleast the dragonflight zones feel more of a world feeling than that.
and not every part being used makes it easier to reuse or add quests later on if we ever return there
I do too, because phasing quests actually made you feel like your deeds chanced something. But the problem with them was grouping up with other people. I have seen so many people wich joined for a group quests or another reason to group up in the world. And you just couldnt see eachother because they were on a different phase.
icecrown for example for a phasing hell when they still used alot of phasing. I remember grouping up so many times back in the days only to arrive on the spot and having to find new people because someone was people were in a different phase.
they don’t have a soul yes you are right. that’s because they don’t design these new zones with content in mind. every new zone just serves as a place for few campaign quests(which are also badly design that you dont get to use the zone) or few boring events . this game is no longer being designed to provide that type of content. it’s all about optimising the road to m+ and raids. the main zones of dragonflight is just random content dump but it’s not even good content. i think shadowlands did a way better job with zones. in wotlk , when you do quests in storm peaks you know you are in storm peaks . old wow zones & quests makes you wonder what’s the story behind them. i still dont know the ohnaran stuff because it’s just not interesting
Exactly, quest dump. I mean, I used to be an altoholic, having each class maxed because I loved questing again and again, for the sake of immersion. Dragonflight questing feels so basic.
The thing with any game, is that the content is subjective to us all.
You may find the zones meh, where as another person finds it amazing. So this is why it’s near impossible to create something, which 100% of the player base all agrees.
Personally, I like some of the zones for the visual aspect, but when it comes to the story/quests and such, this is something I’ve never paid attention too. I’m one of those gamers, who picks up a quests, does it, moves onto the next quest. I don’t read into who is doing what, why they’re doing it and the outcome of said thing.
It’s all about getting all the area completed and moving onto the next spot, so I don’t have to look back and go “damn I missed one quest there!” gamer OCD xD
And zones before dragonflight did not feel generic? It basicly was always the same mandatory plains, forest,desert zones just like in bfa.
and it should be world of warcraft not themepark of warcraft. Every zone being cramped and stuffed with quests makes sense for zones wich are supposed to be dense like a city zone like suramar. But theme wise it makes little sense when you are supposed to be in the wilds or some uninhabitable zone like the dessert in zandalar
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t say every single inch should have a quest, but DF’s dead space in comparison to other expansions is way bigger, because it’s the first time I’ve felt it and I’ve played through every single expansion.
I mean yeah its bigger, but trough dragonflying you also get around much faster. So it being bigger really shouldnt be any issue unless you have some sort of disability wich makes you unable to make use of it like motion sickness
The zones were meant to feel big to give Dragon Riding meaning. Although a starter isle/area is always going to be jam packed because you don’t generally have a mount so everything is a nice travel distance at a walking/running pace.
I hope you mean the pre Cata zones, because if you run the Cataclysm content now and pay attention to the stories in the zones they are full of akward pop culture references.
I think this is what land should be. There were places in shadowlands where you literally couldn’t walk from A to B without some mob chasing you. Like others alluded to, its a world, not a themepark jam packed with attractions.
And yes, I think you have a healthy dose of nostalgia too. Places like Cata were overdone with pop culture.
I don’t so much think that the new zones don’t have soul, but more so that all of the zones, tribes, factions, basically say the same story but in a slightly different way. Nothing feels unique.
I’ll only remember 3 DF questlines: The blue flight story quest, the old red dragon quest line (dragon visage form fella) and finally the one about the 2 orcs. Some credit due to the quest line with Baine Bloodhoof that was introduced later, as it did express a more interesting story about Tauren history with Centaurs, tribe culture etc. Everything else was just so dull and uninteresting to me.
Blizzard is clearly trying to understand how to design these new extra large zones which are meant to be navigated with dragon flying. They’re very empty. All “towns” look more like small camping settlements. You would have thought with the new size of the map, they’d also be richer villages and towns, with more buildings and curious npcs that are worth exploring.
Without being too nostalgic, a lot of passed zones, particularly vanilla and WOTLK had very different kind of stories. Think questing in Silithus or Tanaris vs questing in the plaguelands, Zul Drak vs Sholazar Bassin.
Then there was SL, where although yes, every zone had a massive difference in character, all 4 stories were “fight the evil version of the allied faction”. Was particularly disappointed in Bastion’s story as it had the biggest potential to explore an interesting about story of duty, ideology and rebellion.
I’ve felt the same about DF zones too. Although I’m wondering if it’s my eyesight that is making me feel this way. It’s changed quite a bit since the last time I thought wow zones were really good (MOP). WoD and BFA zones were fine, better than those Legion and SL in any case.
The zones are too big now to wander around them, you pretty much have to fly. This is why I thought that the zones did feel good to me. But others have said they feel these zones are more like the older zones.
So I think it’s a combination of flying most places and my eyesight meaning I can’t really see the world as I whizz overhead.
My old pc with a view distance of about 3 yards doesn’t help.
Yeah this was the biggest reason i disliked cataclysm so much. the horde had some nice updated zones like for example all zones for the forsaken leveling.
meanwhile on the alliance side westfall became csi miami and redridge was rambo. gnomeregan was the A-team
Agreed and I didn’t highlight any remade cata zone for this reason. However several zones were treated appropriately too, where they kept the good elements of old quests, like Duskwood.
And to be fair, when you remake what, 50 zones? I get they are excused. But when you make 4 zones per expansion and they lack substance?
Personally I love the big zones and empty spaces, I disliked the design where everything felt cramped and on top of each other. To me there is more space for the world to breathe in, and I enjoy the old slow flying through the zones and just appreciating the views.
I agree on the quests tho, the writing isn’t that great a lot of the time in DF. And it’s not strange if that leads to less attachment to the places, there is little emotional investment going on.
Hard disagree, at least with the zones. Dragon Isles feel amazing. They feel as big as Azeroth. And much more realistic. Yes vast amounts of space and I love that. Designed with dragonflight in mind. It also has some of the most beautiful zones (onhara and Azure span) in WoW imho.
I do agree with the quest part though. The quests are absolute crap and forgettable. I mean the one for the onhara tribe was alright I guess?
But its also not fair comparing it to classic or leveling expanssions like BFA. In BFA you level through the expansion and each zone therefore has its own lore and story and they were indeed very cool.
Dragonflight you level through the main story. and not even that now. You just do the Emerald Dream and quickly get to 70. Its not a levelling zone and its not designed to be.
I really wish that in The War Within, while the Zones not sure if I’ll like as much as Dragonflight, I am really hoping you have good quests chains for each region. Not just a central plot that takes you through each zone like in DF, but like in BFA, each zone has its own story. I really hope they bring it back. I also hope if we do we could level through the new expansion. I don’t think leveling in DF will be very fun tbf. I mean if you are a new player I can see it feeling better and less overwhelming than BFA, but with Metzen at the Helm I hope we get again zone themed questlines and that they allow us to level there from 10-80.
If they only design the new zones to be for 70-80 the experience will be just as boring again and we will probably will just be following a main story like in DF.
Part of the problem personally for me is that its too easy and fast to level and you can basically speed run it with Dungeona so i cant blame devs not putting much of an effort in quests and zones anymore when people barely spend any time on them since they rush their 10 levels in an afternoon in dungeons. But they only have themselves to blame for designing the levelling like that.
Another part of the problem is that now with dragon flight all the zones will be designed like this. You never walk anywhere anymore you literally just jump from one spot to 200m away on your dragon. Its difficult to solve. It detracts from the sense of exploring the world and going through it. On the otherhand, if they were to restrict dragonflight until say you reach cap level, I think people would kick off. So not sure if there is a solution.
