Dont you just miss Old Thousand needles?

[Will]

Idk. There is only 1 thing I remember fondly about 1k Needles from before, and that's Shimmering Flats with all those grind quests (tho I still can't forget the dissappointment of discovering that at the end of the chain you do NOT actually get to race). The rest was mostly boring go-and-kill quests, most of which were pretty annoying, like the Darkcloud Pinnacle one.

Cataclysm changed a lot in the zone, and for me, it's kind of interesting seeing it flooded like that. Moreover, having your own ship to sail through the zone is absolutely amazing. Yeah, Shimmering Flats of Endless Grind are gone, and that's a bummer, but the "go to the other end of the zone to kill a few wyverns, then return" quests are gone, and I won't really miss them. Hell, even the ghost pirate quest was pretty damn fun. For me it's an improvement.

I'm the exact opposite, I found the shimmering flats/mirage raceway to be the dullest part of the zone. It's just a big, expansive, flat and boring pancake with atrocious quests like going around gathering 30 rocket car parts. The needles section of the zone is by far the most interesting: Running around the bases of the spires, climbing them up those twisty footbridges (since we couldn't fly) and fighting atop them on the footbridges, a colossal drop below the planks.

I like the new zone too and overall the quests are more interesting, BUT it makes me kind of sad that basically 99% of the zone is flooded underwater. All those centaur caves and villages, hidden away underwater.

- - - Updated - - -

I can't think of a single zone that improved with Cataclysm.

Redridge Mountains - Landscape remains more or less similar, but quests are far better. Love the J.J. Keeshan series.

StV - entire experience feels more streamlined, lots of the spammy quests toned down, less running back and forth doing Nesingwary stuff (though sadistically I did enjoy collecting all the missing pages!) and love the new quest chain that sends you inside ZG, have you tried that?

Ashenvale, Stonetalon Mountains - The zones are just WAY WAY better, especially Stonetalon as Horde with the whole Krom'gar thing. Get to drive a siege engine at the end and wreck shit up.

Western Plaguelands - Andorhal is just better in every way. Landscape is largely unchanged, but I do miss the cauldron quests.

I could probably come up with more examples with ease but I'm running out of time for now. The point is, plenty of zones were improved in Cata. Well, IMO obviously. I'm sorry to hear you're so difficult to please. And yeah some zones got worse (Hinterlands for example, they ruined Jintha'alor) but generally the zones are better, flow better, have better quests. Even Swamp of Sorrows is better with the whole Stonard vs. Whatsitcalled battle thing going on.

[Deleted]

Yeah I miss it. I loved questing in Thousand Needles. It felt so barren and desolate in a way, it added to the atmosphere.

[endersblade]

Yeah. Used to just putz around at the old race track with friends all the time. Nobody was ever out there, except the occasional leveler. Now it's all underwater. So sad.

[Alvito]

It was a cool change at first to help show the impact of the cataclysm. Now it is a zone I skip due to the annoyance it is.

My server had a few planned pvp events there since it was wide open. A multiple raid on each side pvp huge battle. Not being able to do that again os a bit of a bummer. They have now been relocated to Arathi or blastedlands. A new twist with los, but not the same.

[runique]

Okay..so I liked it better when it was less underwater - but "sad" about it? Did you go there daily to take in the scenery? When do you typically visit the place? during 5 levels of questing when levelling an alt, right? Yeah...it is exactly around lv 35 when I go..."Ok, next area 1l needles....oh shit..it is under water..right...not going there"

Actually, I at least used to pass through thousand needles all the time back before there were ways to portal to CoT/Uldum. Tanaris/Gadgetzan used to be quite bumping and I always traveled through to get there.

[Deleted]

I miss most pre-cata zones and I'm usually not the nostalgic type. I can't explain it really, but they had more character.

[Alvito]

One of the coolest things from when I first started was seeing the 2 lifts on the northwestern side. It immediately showed how big the game was. It was very impactful, I am a little dad to see it gone.

[McNeil]

I still remember having some trouble with that hyena quest mob that was accompanied by some others, it was a pain in the ass to kill it. The place looked really cool, but I don't remember that much of its questing in vanilla. The Cata version is meh, traveling around the whole zone with that boat gets old really fast.

[Deleted]

Oh god, while I enjoyed the quests there, I never really enjoyed the layout.

So many times I went the wrong way on the rope bridges or went into the wrong cave, as I leveled back in the day of 'Go south west, find the cave, then travel north up the bridge to hand the quest in to whoever' so trying to get the directions right, after forgetting where I got the quest in the first place, was a nightmare xD

Do I have to travel up to the bluffs? Do I go to the other end of the zone? Ugh...kinda like Azshara of you fall down, you're lost and have to walk all the way if you didn't die already xD

I enjoyed the zone as a whole, but I prefer having a boat...and flying, at least for that particular zone :P

[SteveRocks]

I can't think of a single zone that improved with Cataclysm.

The only zone I think improved from the Cataclysm was Desolace. I absolutely hate what they did to Darkshore; removing the awesome ambient music replacing all the coolness with flowers and crap

[Pull My Finger]

I feel it's one of the zones that really profited from the Cata revamp. It used to be one of those dead spots on Kalimdor - along with Desolace, Stonetalon ... the vast plains of nothingness. These places have actual content now, along with more interesting storylines and improved visuals, and are paced much better.

The only problem is that the leveling speed is so off that you don't really realize it because you outgrow the zones way too fast. But that's a scaling problem, not an issue with the zones themselves - and something Blizzard, luckily, has finally acknowledged and hopefully will be able to fix in the future.

[Nathreim]

Yeah the zone sucks now.

[Baracuda]

The ganking is pretty much the only thing I remember, good times.

[Astronom]

1000 needles used to be good for mining pre-cata, back when ore nodes used to be rare.

[Pull My Finger]

Actually, when I think about it ... I can't think of a single zone that was better pre-Cataclysm. I think that people who say they liked the old zones better are confusing their memories of the times they had with what is objectively there.

[Zyky]

This is a good example ^^, those places didn't do anything to the gameplay, but they were there and ment something and gave depth to the zones. Or the old Desolace was nice too, although a lot of people prefer the new one more, I remember farming those Centaur to get that rep up to max Honored.

I actually have one of the reps still at honored from WAY BACK WHEN. Was so much nicer back in the day

[Adoxe]

I've done Thousand Needles only a couple of times pre-cata as I wasn't that into leveling alts, but it is by far the zone that I miss the most.

[logintime]

I miss the old Azshara more, but something was definitely lost in the Thousand Needles revamp.

[Berengil]

I can't think of a single zone that improved with Cataclysm.

Desolace.

Fck. Vanilla. Desolace.

[Kivana]

The only reason same people went there was for the carrot trinket that gave mounts 3% faster run speed. I for one do not miss it as a zone at all, it was shit pre Cata and is shit now.