Which starting area you hate the most and which one you like the most? (Let’s exclude Exile’s reach, as it is new one and fresh so we will tend to like it).
Personally I detest Pandaren starting area (I have total of one Pandaren, made and leveled for potential future herritage quest and armor). I really dislike those mobs - hozen, then those angry white mice, then those elementals which are kind of friendly. Whole lore is meh. While I have multiple of other races, I doubt I will ever make another Pandaren.
I like Troll starting area - lore, mobs, environment, everything. I still remember when Cata launched and I made my troll druid, boy was it fun.
The Human and Draenei are the ones I’m not so keen on, pretty boring. But the Goblin zone is the one I love the most. Its not that its super exciting or anything but its a little amusing and who doesnt love a Goblin?
I hate night elves starting zone the most. Literally everything is green / purple no matter where you tun the camera , this specific color combination is so depressing to me. When it comes to favourite zone it must be dwarves/gnomes one - Dun Morogh. My very first toon many years ago used to be a gnome so that’s probably a major factor which leads to this decision.
Favorite: I can’t choose. So many good ones. I did enjoy the Panda one it’s something new, felt like it’s own game.
Worgen is looong but the story is nice. First you fight Ware wolves, then earthquake, then flood, then Ogres, then Forsaken. So much action!
Eversong is the most nostalgic and popular, but it’s mostly kill this, kill that.
Echo isles is cool! I would never get tired of it.
Goblin feels like GTA sometimes haha, which is good. I love the mount car thing.
Worst: I guess Death knight. I love the theme of being a bad guy and everything, but doing it more than once is annoying. Plus I always die during that Level when you ride a dragon
I absolutely hated Exile’s Reach actually. Even the music stressed me out, and if I started playing the game now, that zone would likely make me not bother. I kinda feel sorry for new players being forced into such a generic place. The zone has no mystery, no appealing story(to me - I am not even sure it actually had a story? I was so bored I really struggled to follow it), no appealing visuals. It just lacked everything I look for in a game.
Another zone I also never really enjoyed is the Pandaren starting zone. I am not sure what it is about it, but I did it once, and I never wanted to do it again. Sadly i don’t remember much of the zone at all anymore, so maybe I should give it another chance. I mostly just remember that I did not enjoy it.
My favourite starting zone is Teldrassil. This zone has everything I look for; the music, the ambience, the feeling of mystery, like they lost something and trying to regain it. A feeling of connection to the past, and will to move out in the world. The colour palette is also very good, but I like zones to differ from each other, so obviously I would not want all zones having this palette.
Besides that most other starting zones are pretty okay. Goblin one is fun fits the race but I think it is a great shame they ruined Aszhara with it. Worgen one has great visuals and a nice story too, similar quality to the Nightelven one I guess(imo)
that’s really my opinion too about exile’s reach. It doesn’t add up to the game and makes new players not knowing a bit of the lore about their race. I want it to be removed as soon as possible
They really should not force new players into Exile’s Reach, but guessing they won’t change their mind on that.
I think they can recommend new players to Exiles Reach, but they should also offer them to start in an actual racial starting zone, because Exile’s Reach does a really poor job at hitting a varied audience, imo.
Exile´s reach the worst and I found dwarven always kinda weird
On the other hand the best ones were BElves and Draenei. The thing was, that they awarded very good equipment rewards vs any onther starting location At least during TBC, Wotlk.
I like them all, I like the flavour they bring. Even if some of them are more longwinded than others.
The only one that has bugged out for me from time to time is the Worgen starting area. The quest you have to fight you way through the town in kind of phases ending with Sylvanas frequently used to bug in the past and you’d find you’d have to go start again, it’s on a timer as well so you can’t just restart straight away.
I am not a fan of having to kill the nightsabres at the start of Night Elf. And the terrain seems very dated these days.
Worgen was a bit off putting because of the time spent running around as a dull human. Bleh. But, once I got further into the story I really enjoyed it.
I actually like Exiles Reach - it’s meant to be a tutorial for brand new players. I think it will do a good job of that, plus you come out of it with some decent transmog gear.
I do wonder if we are going to see those Ogres show up elsewhere though.
At least during TBC, Wotlk.